Are you crazy?

Here's the speech I'm going to deliver in the speech contest...

Are you crazy?

How many of you have seen The sixth sense? You know, the movie that made M.Night Shyamalan famous. It’s the story of a boy who sees dead people that don't know they're dead and seeks the help of a child psychologist.
Mr Toastmaster, contest judges and dear guests, today I am going to tell you a little secret
I also recently consulted a psychiatrist, here is how the conversation went…
Me: I see crazy people.
Psychologist: In your dreams?
[I shake my head no]
Psychologist: While you're awake?
[I nod]
Psychologist: Crazy people like, in mental institutions? Did you go to Ranchi?
Me: Walking around like regular people. They don't see each other. They only see what they want to see. They don't know they're crazy.

It’s true. I see crazy people all the time; they are everywhere. I even see some in this room.
I get on a bus, and they are there. When I was in college, I once boarded a packed bus and I was hanging on to the rod for my dear life. The bus was speeding past other cars as if racing on a formula 1 track. There was suddenly a tap on my shoulders. I looked around and there was a man who was also hanging just like me. He looked like a saint, had a beard and was wearing grey robes. I thought maybe he wanted to discuss the philosophy of life – the inner meaning of this precarious situation and what it means in the after life. But, he had an even deeper question for me, of which I had no answer to. While another bus whooshed past me, he raised the solemn question, “Boss, why are you pushing me?” Crazy!

I turn on the TV and I see madness. A few months back when Suchitra Sen was admitted in hospital, I was watching an interview of her biographer, who was talking about Suchitra Sen’s favourite food items. Suddenly the breaking news flashed on the screen: I feared for the worst and …. There it was…
Suchitra Sen loved to eat jalebis in the morning. The prime time breaking news on a television channel: Suchitra Sen loves to eat jalebis. Crazy.

After analyzing all these situations, I have come to the conclusion that there are only 2 types of people in this world. Normal and crazy. The difference between the 2 groups is that the crazy people think that the world is normal and the normal people don’t realize that they are crazy themselves.

People in Nadia, a village in Bengal, call Sangeeta crazy. Sangeeta and Rina go to the same school every morning. Rina is in class 3, Sangeeta is in class 11. Sangeeta is Rina’s mother. Sangeeta had to leave school when she was in class 8 because her father couldn’t afford her tution. But all these years later, when her daughters were in school, she felt an inner urge to go back to school. She recently sat for her class 10 exams and cleared it with 63% marks.-Crazy!

So is Sangeeta really crazy? How does one know whether one is crazy? There are actually books on the market titled: Are You Crazy?: 18 Scientific Quizzes to Test Yourself
No, I am not asking you to buy that book.
I have an easier set of questions for you.

Do you feel that inner calling, that urge to do something different? Are your ambitions off the beaten track? Can you think outside the box or when there is no box? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then my friend, I have news for you. Believe it or not, you are crazy!

So now, what do you do?

Rabindranath Tagore had some ideas to counter that,
He who calls you lunatic today and throws dust in your eyes,
Will honour you tomorrow with a garland

Every great idea, every great thinker have been called mad at first
Just because the other people, whatever their pedigree criticize you, please don’t lose hope. Just because they are great, doesn’t mean they are not crazy! In 1943, Thomas Watson, the chairman of IBM said, “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” –Crazy! Albert Einstein just before the Manhattan project said, “There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable.”-Crazy! Just before this week, many people in this room said that India would never win an individual gold in Olympics- Crazy! I told you – I see crazy people in this room. So, the next time you have a crazy idea, say quit your job to join an NGO, go back to school, or win an Olympic Gold medal for India …Do remember that you will hear voices all around : “Are you crazy?”… “Are you crazy?”… “Are you crazy?”… “Are you crazy?”… Don’t forget to answer: Well, I am! Aren’t you?

ISB essay update

I am struggling with the ISB essays. I thought things have settled down and all the essays were in shape but a recent reviewer says, that the material is good but the presentation isn't. I'm now in the process of re-vamping my essays from scratch, especially the 1st one.
I feel that the essays lack one important question: Why MBA? (and also why ISB). There just isn't a place to put in Y MBA and my career goals. I feel that my career goal and why MBA are some of my differentiating factors. May be I can utilize the optional essay for this.

This have been quite "normal" at office. We are organizing a humorous speech contest next week. In order to prepare for that, I am switching between writing ISB student body presidential contest speech, humorous speech, responding to Zumba residents' protests and convincing ISB why they should take me. So life is good.

In toastmasters, I have now delivered 5 speeches. Next Wednesday it'll be my 6th speech. So pretty good going there. I hope I'm able to complete CL by this month and CC by Oct.
I'll post some of my past speeches next

Schools shortlisted and essay update

I have recently been reading up on a lot of blogs. I must say I was particularly impressed with Raja Banerjee's blog: http://isbpgp.blogspot.com/ on life pre, during and post ISB.
It gives one a clear snapshot of life in the great school.
ISB is certainly on top of my list.The question is, how realistic are my chances there. My GMAT certainly isn't my distinguishing factor. My work profile is varied but I'm not sure whether it can be my USP. So that just leaves me with XCs and community work. And certainly the essays.
The first 2 essays are a bit overlapping, I feel. Which experience to include in diversity essay and which one in leadership? Since I'm new to the whole application procedure, I'm also unsure about which aspects should be highlighted and how. Amidst all these confusions, I have just decided to stick to the thing I know best in this world. Me. I'll just let things flow. It's difficult (and risky) to second guess the Adcom's views. So I wouldn't try.
I had asked an ex-colleague to review the first drafts of the essays and had requested him to be frank in his feedback. Boy, was he frank! Excoriating-ly (is that even a word?) so. But he has awesome insights and has pointed out amazing things. No wonder he's made it to LBS this year! Another thing I worry about ISB is the lack of international experience. But as this colleague of mine says, this is not the time to focus on the have-nots but rather the time to focus on the have's. Time certainly is running out.

I figure that if I'm to have any chance to gain admission to any of the top schools, R1 is the way to go.

So, the colleges I've sent my scores to and the respective deadlines are:
ISB-15 Sep
Fuqua-Oct 15(EA)
Darden-Oct 28(EA?)
UNC-Oct 24(EA)
Emory-?

I'll not apply for the early action rounds as that means a payment of the huge acceptance fees before ISB's decision. I don't really have that much money to spare. In fact I'm not very sure about apping to all of the schools either. Miss Emory being schol friendly would certainly be getting a love letter from urs truly but mademoiselles Fuqua and Darden, being such up uptown girls may not be hearing from plebeian me.

Over and out

GMAT

After a few months of prep, I gave GMAT yesterday. I had planned the date for a long time. But the almighty surely has a wicked sense of humour. 4 days before the exam I came down with 103 degree fever. Since rescheduling within 7 days would cost me another 11K bucks, I decided to give it a go despite having 102 degrees on the day.
I scored 740 (50, 40)
Lack of stamina probably cost me 20 marks but what the hell: 740 is stll a pretty decent score.
No I'll have to start thinking of essays.
Over and out

Snow, headline and hospital

It has been a long time since I last posted. Towards end Aprial, I took a well deserved break and visited the North East. We were a group of 5 people: friends and family. We took the flight to Assam from Kolkata airport. Thgen the trip took us from the Kajiranga forest (elephant safary) in Assam to the land of the rising Sun: Arunachal Pradesh and then to Meghalaya.
In Arunachal Pradesh we had a great time visiting Tawang, PTSO lake and Madhuri lake (named after Madhuri Dixit as a song from Koyla was shot there). After a long long time I saw snow in Tawang. Military camps mushroomed everywhere we went in Arunachal but the military comprised very nice and helpful people who guided us a lot on the places to visit.














Pics: Sela Pass, Arunachal Pradesh: 13700 feet
It is said that every place, every name ha a history. The above pics are of Sela pass, named after very brave lady, Sela, who showed great resistance to ward off Chinese soldiers during the Chinese insurgency in the 1960s. The Chinese had killed her in the end.
Her memory is still alive in the region.

Then we spent a couple of days in Nemari forest (Assam) trekking in the dense forest and rafting in the river. In the last leg of the journey, we went to visit Shillong and Cherrapunji (locally known as Sohra, the place getting the highest rainfall in the world).
The whole journey took 9 days and was a thoroughly enjoyable and a refreshing experience.

I needed the calm serene break as a tempest awaited me back home. Soon after returning my mother fell ill and had to be admitted in hospital. In an ordeal of around 2 weeks, my father and I spent nearly 2 weeks shuttling between office and the hospital.

But thankfully she's back home now and on the way to recovery.

In the mean time, our toastmasters club has really taken of. It has got officially chartered and we (the club) have been featured twice in the past month in 2 leading dailies in the city.
Here's a link to the last one which also quotes me:The Telegraph
We have also launched our own website: TM website

So I guess it's been a mixed bag over the last 2 months. I got to experience best and the worst of times. It is said that one finds true friends in most trying of times. That was certainly true in my case. One gets to separate the chaff from the wheat in these times.

Well , one learns every day.

U me aur hum - A review

CRAP

Mr President

The office bearer elections have been held and the executive committee has been formed.

We are a full fledged Toastmasters club now.

I have been elected as the President! The election was conducted as transparently as possible – with an advanced Toastmaster who was not going to become a member of the club, chairing the meeting. Even I didn’t know beforehand who had nominated himself/herself for which role. However, immediately after the election, I faced an ego issue among some people.

We had 3 nominations each for the roles VP-Education and VP-Public Relations. Since the work required is huge, and so as not to disappoint anybody, we decided, in fact I decided to ask the runners up to take up the backup roles and

The eventual winners, who just previous to the elections were expressing interest in resolving the roles amicably without an election, were now taking on airs and refusing to work with the runners up.

I had to call separate meetings with respective parties and had a polite but firm talk with the team members to ensure that they work together. The situation seems to be under control as of now. Let’s see what the future brings.

The whole experience has been so enriching. When we started off, just 3 or 4 of us had the faith that we would eventually make it. But today there is a palpable enthusiasm running across the office. Many people are approaching me as well as the other office bearers about joining the club. It’s very encouraging. In fact there were various people who initially said that there’s no place for such whims in our office. The same people are now approaching us again wanting to join the club. I guess this is basic human psychology. When there’s no structure, people don’t want to get their hands dirty. But when they see a set stage they also want to share the limelight. I guess it’s an achievement on all our parts that we have successfully effected this change in the people.

Hope to have an even brighter future.