Thoughts@Mohta

2008-03-23T04:31:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel I should work in a call centre... 70% of my work happens over the phone... :(

9 ways to get rich

2008-02-22T09:06:00.001-08:00

Being rich is something that almost every human being looks forward to in this world. One keeps on wondering as to what could be the easiest route to being rich. Some of the factors and also some of the options that I have thought of are listed below

Resort to unlawful activities – obviously out of the question (I am a good guy)
Become a movie star – theoretically anythings possible, but am well aware of my build and acting skills to even make a mistake of thinking on these lines
Become a cricketer – unfortunate, I should have started training for this atleast 15 years back – tool late.
Direct/Produce a movie – Possible, but again who will finance me, where will the money come from, how is a movie made, do I have the slightest clue, what the hell, another impossibility
Become a politician – Almost similar to point no. 1. Out of scope
Do business – Need a good idea, some financial backing, lots of hardwork and lots and lots and lots and lots of G…G..G.gggggggguTs. Need to think not just twice, but atleast 10 times
Marry a Rich Girl – I guess quite a popular idea, but against ethics. Not in scope once again.
Become an MBA – The standard way out, but am yet to crack it.
Write a Book – The brightest idea of them all. And that is why I kept it at the last. One need not work out to keep on looking good. No need to study a lot. No need to put in extra hours at the office. No need to go against ethics, law etc. No office timings. No boss (this is the best one). No timelines. Just pen or keyboard. And ofcourse, imagination, creativity and a best seller. Seriously, if there is anyone who has the skill, one should give it a shot. I wish I had, but I know I don’t.

Did It

2008-02-07T18:11:00.000-08:00

Did some investment for the first time for myself yesterday. The agent that I had contacted in Haridwar was showing a lot of "bhao" so decided to go down to Dehradun instead and barge into the branches of the funds that I wanted to invest in and get it over with...

Strangely, it was a fantastic day yesterday. Went by a bus, and kept on listening to my favorite music all the way. At doon, went over to one funds office, the guy there was quite friendly and kept on advising me as to what to do, which part of the form to fill and blah blah ..

After that, I made a mistake of going to the CAMS office directly. CAMS stands for Computer Aided Management System - or something of that kind. Their office deals in processing of all the investments done at the location for a good no. of funds. The lady over there was also quite helpful, and since I was not carrying an attested PAN card, she directed me to the fund branch office, in which I wanted to make my second investment.

Anyways, after having done with all my investments, I did some shopping. Since nothing could fit my size, bought something for Mom and Dad. Bought some books for myself and one for my room mate as well, finished off with the rest of the work for which I was down in Dehradun and came over.

Anyways, my inquisitiveness for the financial world and all the jargon that these people are so used to using did arise yesterday. Ultimately understood that it is after all not that difficult a world to understand... just need a sustained effort. And since I am getting better and better these days and sustaining things... may be I should give it a shot at this as well... Atleast if not for anything else.. it will always be a nice topic of discussion with the older guys...

Hope to enjoy the weekend.... no off as I have already taken one this week.. so most of the next two days are gonna be spent at the factory...

Buh bye...

2008-02-06T20:06:00.000-08:00

Funds... well.. that is word that has been buzzing in my mind for the past few days... the stock market crash.. ITC is a hot pick... save tax... file tax returns.. .rent receipts...

Well... I must say.. that I am quite a "bigda hua" adult.... I dont manage my funds on my own.. my Dad does it... I have no clue as to where my money is...what I am supposed to do with it. Sometimes I think I should try.. the theoretical concepts are there in my mind in a somewhat right place.. but the need does not arise....

It did though about 3 - 4 days back.. when I realised that if I dont invest some of my money in any of the tax saving schemes.. I will be losing a lot of it... and that people sitting at the salaries and retirement funds office in Kolkata are not gonna wait for my declaration of savings for long...

and so.. have been "trying to .. but not really" working hard for the past couple of days to figure out where to put the money... any college goer reading my blog... take heed and start investing.. nothing is wrong with it... after all .. it is your money.. you will lose some.. and may be gain a lot..

Ramayana

2008-01-20T09:01:00.000-08:00

Have been reading Ramayana for the last couple of months.. Well, dont be surprised.. I am reading Ramayana written by Ashok K. Banker. My friend Shekhar had recommended this series of 6 volumes and although my initial opinion of the first book wasnt so great, I have begun to like it.

The whole story is written in six volumes. The author as claimed by him in the first few pages of each book, has done a lot of research and tried to depict through these books, the true story of Ram as understood by him.

Some aspects of the book can be quite offending. Ofcourse, one wouldn't expect Lakshman to be called "Luck" and Shatrugan to be called "Shot". Also, one would be quite surprised to find Lakshman teasing Ram about Sita.

On the whole, it isnt that "dharmic" as the title sounds. Quite an interesting read actually and difficult to keep down at times. The language is a little casual though. Would recommend all book lovers to definitely try it out.

Why... ???

2008-01-10T01:23:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of questions that keep cropping in my mind. A lot of them have already been there throughout my life. It is just that I have never been able to spell them out, or compile them properly enough, to be able to ask. Would like to ask them in this forum. Let me see if anyone is able to answer.

1. Why is it that for most of the Indian Girls, their names end with either "a" or "i" ? (Example - Rani, Aishwarya, Madhuri, Preeti, Deepika etc.....)

2. Why is it that drinking water after eating ghee filled food bad for health ? I remember my Mom always used to prohibit drinking water whenever we had "halua"

3. How come astrology exists as a profession ? Wouldnt the world be a better place astrology was actually a science (I am not even asking it to be exact), and not a post mortem report ? Wouldnt the astrologers just tell if India would be out of the world cup in the first round - atleast give a probability if not exactly predict.

Answer these questions people. I will keep pouring my doubts in this forum from now on.

2008-01-10T01:18:00.000-08:00

Phew !!! Its been a long time..My last post was sometime in May... The reason I am writing today is because I am already in a flow of it. Had written a stupid essay in the XAT entrance test a couple of days back. Am also write now filling up admission forms for a colleague. I guess it is very important to be in the habit... otherwise things get very difficult. I know because I faced a lot of problems in being able to write straight last Sunday. Forget the content.

Life's been having a lot of ups and downs. Didnt clear CAT. Well knew it that I am not clearing, but still, it feels horrible when the result is out in Black & White. Work is going on well, so no issues on that front. Boss keeps on giving work and I have to keep on obliging, but I guess that is a part of life, and will be till the time I have a boss.

Anyways.. will try and keep writing in the new year.. so long ppl... bbye

The Great Ganga Panga

2007-05-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

The title of this blog comes from the trekking and rafting trip which all the new recruits of Mckinsey go through in India. We also had a similar experience last Sunday, when we decided to take on take on some Panga at Ganga - a 12 km white water rafting trip from Shivpuri to Rishikesh.

We had started off pretty late from Haridwar and were just lucky to have reached Shivpuri on time to be able to catch up with one of the last boats that was about to leave for the rafting trip. Since there were only 3 of us, we were clubbed with another group from ICICI Lombard into an inflated boat. In all, there were 11 of us in the boat including 2 guides.

The rafting expedition started off with the guide shouting out some instructions and giving us some practice to follow his commands. I got to man one of the oars, about which I was quite thrilled initially but regretted it later on. (you will get to understand the reason as you read on).

The stretch consists of calm waters as well as sections which are called "rapids". The rapids have been given names such as "Golf Course", "Tee Off", "Double Trouble" etc. The flow of water is quite high and undergoes tremendous turbulent motion (much more than the seas), probably due to undulations in the bed of the river. Therefore, when your raft passes through any of the rapids, one can expect it to undergo all sorts of motions and if luck isnt on your side, it could even topple. The experience is fun, adventurous, as well as exciting. One actually at times feels helpless as the rowing doesnt seem to help much in those kind of waters.

Anyways, the whole experience can also sap all your energy, as rowing is not an easy exercise. My whole body pained for almost till the whole of next day.

Anyways, hoping to go on such expeditions time and again. Gotta check out Mussourie and Dehradun, as well as places somewhat far off in the mountains. Hoping to make good use of my Sundays.

General Updates

2007-04-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

1. My Brother and Bhabhi have recently become proud parents of a baby boy and me a Chacha / Kaka / Kaku. Have not yet been able to see him, as I am stuck, once again in a remote part of the country, this time its Haridwar

2. Life has been hectic, and interesting, for the past couple of months. Wont say that I am enjoying my job, but things have been pretty decent and have been quite busy since the time I have been put onto the Haridwar project.

3. Have taken up a house in Haridwar. It does not really deserve to be called a city, as there are no big shops, no autos, no even remotely decent cinema halls. In fact there is habitation only within a couple of kilometres of Har Ki Paudi.

4. Hoping to buy a bike. Have my mind pretty much decided on an Avenger. The tragedy of my life is that I dont know how to ride one, and wouldnt want to learn on a new one. Unfortunately, they dont teach bike riding in a driving school, as every male is expected to just know it.

Movie Marathon

2007-03-10T23:09:00.000-08:00

Me and my friend Piyush did a Movie Marathon yesterday.... can't call it a Marathon actually - a Mini Marathon would be appropriate... saw "The Pursuit of Happyness" and "Apocalypto" back to back at INOX.....

We did enjoy ourselves a lot. "The Pursuit of Happyness" was a very nice feel good movie about a guy trying to get things sorted in his life financially.. and the kind of struggle that he has to go through to succeed... It is based on a true story... and definitely worth watching....

Will not advise people to watch Apocalypto...an extremely "gory" movie.. trying to depict the Mayan civilization and how their end was like. Mel Gibson... certainly seems to have lost his mind making movies such as these....

Anyways... am sure to have another movie marathon next week... and will advise people to go for it... can be a lot of fun

The World Cup

2007-03-09T20:36:00.000-08:00

Guess, everyone must be geared right now for the world cup. Am myself looking forward to have a great time. Since the matches are gonna be telecasted at night - IST, following the matches should not be that difficult.

I strongly believe that India has a great chance of winning the world cup this time. The reasons that I have in mind are
1) Indians are not expected to do well. Greg Chappel and Rahul Dravid till date have not been able to prove much. Not that their performance has been dismal, but Saurav Ganguly's record of the no. of wins was much better before 2003 World Cup than that of Rahul Dravid.

@) Saurav Ganguly is back, and definitely much stronger than before. Who could have expected that he still had some steam left. He sure is a fighter, and has converted me into one of his fans with his comeback.

#) Sachin, though has silenced his critics to some extent with his performances in the last few one dayers, I would also expect him to put all speculations to rest with his performance in this world cup. He has been criticized of not performing on big occasions. Expect that to change this time as well. Plus, his record in the past world cups have been outstanding. Dont see any reason for it to be different this time.

$) Competition in the team, especially among fast bowlers, should give India a lot of comfort. We have as of now, 5 bowlers to choose from (Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Ajit Agarkar, Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan). Each of them can win us matches on their day. Rahul Dravid is gonna have a tough time choosing the right combinations in the final 11, and I only see it as good news for India.

%) The pitches should also favour India to some extent, considering that they are of the subcontinent type. Expect Kumble, Harbhajan and our part time turners - Sachin, Yuvraj and Sehwag to take as much advantage out of them as possible. The batting should also benefit as we have been prone to perform disastrously in the fast pitches of Australia and South Africa.

Just hoping that all these reasons put together should help Team India bringing back the World Cup after 24 years. Till then, Alvida....

Friendster to Blogspot

2007-01-01T03:46:00.000-08:00

First of all - a Very Happy and Prosperous New year to all the readers of this blog. As you may have already noticed, all my blogs till date seem to be have been posted on the same day. It is so because I have just switched over from writing my blogs at "friendster" to "blogspot". Thus, have copied all the posts that I had written on the friendster page to blogspot page. The primary reason for the change is that most of the readers are already registered on blogspot and therefore it is easier for them to give their valuable comments as compared to friendster where they may have to register.

Anyways, Happy New year once again, and Happy Blogging

P.S. The link to my friendster page is http://nitinmohta.blogs.friendster.com/my_blog/

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

2007-01-01T03:43:00.002-08:00

My experience today at the BSNL office has been quite exceptional. The normal perception is

1. Very difficult to get a Cell One SIM CARD. Post paid is probably impossible
2. Long queues
3. You need to have a source
4. Complicated documentation required
5. Rude officers
6. Lazy officers
7. Fish Market

Probably a good no. of more descriptors can be added.

My experience was

1. No queue, except for the normal bill payment queue, which I guess is always there
2. Cordial officer
3. Patiently listening and answering your doubts
4. At the same time, attending to other customers as well
5. Simple documentation
6. A very good tariff plan
7. Good network
8. A Post Paid connection within 1 hour - and that includes filling the form & stuff and slight waiting because the guy was really busy
9. A no. selected by them, after asking for your approval, and such a no. that you approve without even thinking twice. (the no. is 94498 - 17157, and my home no. in Cal is 2321 - 7157)
10. An activated card within 1 hour after you get your no. That includes a half hour lunch break at the BSNL office

What more can a customer ask for. I do not assure the readers that you can expect the same treatment whenever you go to a BSNL office but can definitely vouch for the fact that it has improved by leaps and bounds.
The only test left is to see how the connection works. Hope I will not be dissapointed.

On my last article - warning

2007-01-01T03:43:00.000-08:00

For all those who have not played AoE - please attempt to read my previous article at your own risk.

Management Lessons - From AoE

2007-01-01T03:41:00.000-08:00

From the time I have started playing AoE, and from the time I have understood the intricacies of the game - I have always tried to justify the game - in terms of all the lessons that one learns while playing it. This article is dedicated to all those who have spent countless nights especially during their college years - farming, cutting wood, mining, making buildings, building armies, fighting armies, plundering etc. AoE actually makes you do a lot of things in life.
Coming back to the management lessons, they are listed and justified as follows

1) JIT - The first lesson that I learnt from AoE. Today, almost all manufacturing companies talk about JIT, Lean, etc. Books like "The Goal", "Toyota Way" have become bibles for these organisations. A good player in AoE, ensures that

- There is no extra inventory of Wood, Food, Gold and Stone, and if he is maintaining them, it is only because he has some bulk usage in mind
- That none of his villagers are idle
- That if he is assigning a villager for a particular work, he has to ensure that the villager walks for the minimum amount of time to get to the place where he has to work, thereby minimising the losses in time due to walking
- That he does not have armies that are idle, and if they are, it is for a strategic reason, for example
- he could be waiting till he has enough army to attack
- That none of his buildings are idle, and are working full time in generating either more villagers, or more armies, based on the requirement and resources available

2) Lateral Thinking - Sometimes, a particular player may be completely thrashed in the game and may still turn out to be the winner. My friend Adi is a mastermind in this, and you could just never assume that you have defeated him. Guess, something that cannot be learnt as a lesson, it probably is a talent which is more inherent

3) Team Work - In a multiplayer game, without team work, assuming that the opposite teams are more or less balanced, winning a game is impossible. There have been numerous instances when, in trying to achieve personal glory, some members have made the team lose.

4) Managing Width - At any poing of time, a player may have to keep in mind numerous issues, such as, amount of gold, stone, wood and food available with him, population of his civilization, no. of army personnel, no. of villagers, no. of houses, no. of military buildings and their locations, mix of the army, position and condition of the enemy etc. The list is endless. To be able to tackle such requires tremendous alertness as well as an ability to reach decisions based on multiple variables.

The Game is undoubtedly one of the best strategic games ever developed. For all those who have never played it, I would urge you to try it out.

Quote a Quote

2007-01-01T03:40:00.000-08:00

Some of my favourite quotes
1) Lack of punctuality is lack of consideration for others - am a firm believer on this one.

2) Do a job you love and you will never have a work a single day in your life - this was written on the cupboard of a classroom when I was in class 8. We used to have our second language class in that room for only 35 minutes every day. It has been embedded in my mind since then, and I guess am never gonna forget it, and probably will not have to work a single day in my life

3) Do unto others as you would have them do unto you - Picked up from Bible, hammered in our minds by our class teacher of 9 - 10, Mr. Kochupara. Whatever he has taught have definitely been the things that have given me a lot of strength in whatever difficult situations I have come across.

4) Forgiveness is a scent a flower leaves on the heal that crushed it - Beautiful metaphor, dont remember where I came across it, but definitely one of my favourites

Yahoo Groups

2007-01-01T03:35:00.000-08:00

Was going thru some of the oldest posts made in some of the Yahoo Groups that I am a part of. The ones that have been mostly active are my wings group at Kgp - dfe_nehru@yahoogroups.com and that of Robotix group - robotix_iitkgp@yahoogroups.com. It turns out to be quite nostalgic and even seems strange going through posts that may be 2 - 3 years old.

The following is the first post by my friend JD at dfe_nehru@yahoogroups.com

hi junta.....
this is important news.
i am in d-220, i think u must all remembr ur room nos.
there is talk here among the super final yr junta that they will move intodfe.....in the absence of we ppl.
i hav already taken room here, am settled. if u guys can make it to kgp early itwud b best....the faster the betr.
shibu (who wont b here 4 1 sem has lockd up his room)...i.e. D-214.

all said n done, there is only one fact to our advantage - our reg is on 21st,but 4 suprfinal yr it is 23rd.

guys, get the otr wingies to join this group, and decide somthin in yourpersonal capacities, n kepp everyone posted.
adios
jd

While here this guy is worried about as to whether the 15 of us will be able to live together in the wing or not, today (after 3 and 1/2 years) 4 of us are outside india, 2 in Pune, 1 in Bangalore, 1 in Hyderabad, 1 in Ahmedabad, 1 in Silvassa, 1 in Gurgaon, 1 in Bombay, 1 in Cal, 1 in Kgp and 1 in Himachal (thats me). Its really strange considering that most of the IITians these days when in India are found in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune or Gurgaon, still out of 11 of us in India, only 2 are in the same city and the rest are scattered all over. Well I do hope the 15 of us will get to be together sometime in life. Probability is definitely low, but still there is hope.

The second group that I had been an active participant of is robotix_iitkgp@yahoogroups.com. Today hardly any posts are made on this as it is now considered the parent group and therefore is posted in whenever there is some information required to be passed on to the Alumni of the group.

The following is the first post by the head Biswanath Dutta in the group robotix_iitkgp@yahoogroups.com

Guys the following pending things need to becompleted.

1. The track:(most important of all !!!)guys in charge take notea. estimation of the prices--------not done yetb. concretely determine the materials and the fashionin which the track will be fabricated----not done yet.c.infrared modulated sensors for timing of thetrack.---not done yet.,

2. The publicity.guys in charge take note.a.posters in cal----not sentb.posters in every hall and dept.----not sentc.awareness workshop----not done

3. Robosoccer teamguys in charge take notea. uploading necessary manuals and required auxillaryinfo-----not doneb. setting up the required server details.guys should send regular updates of the progress thathas been made in their respective work groups to thisegroup. This is must for all group members.

DUTTA.

Well... post was made by Biswanath Dutta - he was the head of Robotix team for organisation of Robotix 2002. I was not even subscribed to the group when this post was made. That year - we got a decent no. of participants from within the campus. It was only the second year of the event and had been quite successful. Outside participation was out of the question.
Today - the event boasts of being the largest and the most popular Robotix event in the country. The no. of participants have multiplied some hundred times since 2002. The seeds that were laid by the heads of Robotix 2001 & 2002 have grown into one big tree and is still growing.

Life in Nangal / Tahliwal

2007-01-01T03:34:00.001-08:00

Well.. its been a week since I have come to this place near Chandigarh. Am staying in a hotel in Nangal (which is in Punjab) and the factory that I go to is in Tahliwal (which is in Himachal). The place is beautiful with greenery and freshness all around.
Life as of now is waking up at 7-nish in the morning and leaving for the plant at 8. Go through as much details as I am able to with respect to makin biskuts in the plant and come back by around 10. Spend some time reading something or the other (have just finished Harry Potter - 6) before I am off to sleep by around 12. Unfortunately, not many channels come on the TV and therefore is not such a great source of entertainment for me. There is thankfully a cyber cafe right next to my hotel and therefore am not so completely out of touch with the external world.
As of today, I am in Chandigarh, trying to do some TP. Bought a couple of more books which should atleast last for a month.
Thats it from my side.
Till then.... Happy Dussehra and Shubho Bijoya.

3rd Time Lucky - Hopefully

2007-01-01T03:24:00.000-08:00

As the title of the blog suggests, this is my third attempt at writing a blog. Have never had much of a flair for writing. I have forgotten the password for the account that I had created at blogspot. Had created a second account but do not have enough enthu to work further on that website. This new website as well as my bro's recent blogging have inspired and motivated me enough to give it another shot.
For all those who are unaware or with whom I have not been in touch for long - I am presently working at ITC Limited, currently placed in Bangalore. And no, am not placed in Bangalore as yet - will get to know in a couple of hours time as to where I will be in the next couple of months but will be in the long run visiting Bangalore often. That is so because am in the Foods Division of the company and its head office is in Bangalore. Would also like to let everyone know that I am associated with the Biscuits category of the division - which means that I will be dealing with issues related to manufacturing of "Sunfeast" biscuits.