Going broke

If your are a student or have ever been one, you would know what that means.

For people like me, it doesnt matter whether Merill Lynch has gone down or not.. its recession anyway and inflation perpetually lingers beyond the levels of any country with Z names.

So, for the regulars, they would know that there are two types of broke statuses:

1) Cash broke: This is the first stage of being broke when you dont have any currency on you. Nothing in the name of paper notes or coins.. (sometimes coins can be lot of money!).

This is a funny state of brokery. When you arent exactly broke, but technically you are, because you cant spend. This happens when you either want to willingly cut down your expenses by believing that you are broke or your dad has just given you a nice long chat after looking at your bank account statement.

It also happens when you are a lazy bum and cant move your ass to the ATM. And the worst is when you are a miser and want to feign brokery and hence dont use your loaded card! Such individuals dont deserve to taint the spirit of a true broke.. they should be excluded from this conversation.

2) ATM broke: This is the second and more grave stage of brokery - when you neither have money on your wallet nor on your ATM card.

This situation demands that you keep some good friends handy, who can lend you in times of need, buy you dinner or invite you to their home for meals, with free TV. I often go into this type of brokery and manage to get by pretty decently.

Infact this morning when I inspected all my 5 bags, one wallet and all pajamas, jeans pockets, and realized that I am in possession of 1 five rupee coin, 4 one rupees coins, 1 two rupee coin and 2 fifty paisa coins aggregate - which accidentally is not enough to buy me breakfast, I declared myself in the state of brokery.

Reasons for running into brokery are simple - You are reckless and you cant manage your expenses and savings. You dont plan. And more importantly you are poor!! And I am all of these.

Brokery makes me realize that life so beautiful when your are a student and staying at a place like a hostel is a blessing. I remember days when I was working and used to go broke (yes even then!). though it was mostly cash brokery coz ATMs in gurgaon are in another city, I used to have a real hard time managing things - but here I can just walk into the rooms of any of the hundreds of angels staying in rooms across and get fast cash!

Brokery is also good in certain ways - Its like a safety valve on your expenses. Goes of when the pressure crosses the limits.

So next time you go broke - respect it !

Wrap-up Note

No.. I'm not wrapping up this blog.. but my thoughts on the two day event that brought together too many things to dwell upon..

Thought #1

Firstly, I must confess that im very thrilled with my newly discovered talent of photography. The photography event at Melange helped me discover it. This picture is based on the theme "illusion" and Im totally in love with it. Im so proud of my first professional attempt at photography. I might not win, but I feel like one :).. (u can see a watered down version of my master piece here)

Thought #2

Btw, I also participated in this Junkyard wars type of event yesterday called "Glitter the Litter", Again, I was utterly proud of my engineering skills. I made this ultimate bullock cart from hard-board, empty bottle, straws, matchsticks, some glue and icecream sticks. The main challenge was to get the base structure functional and sturdy.

Tarang and I at the JYW - trying to but not succeeding in looking good :P

By Jove - it was no easy task .... I mean piercing holes through the plastic bottle, cutting out perfect circles for wheels (hand drawn), making the straws sturdy by filling matcksticks in them, and finally passing strings across the holes to make the structure sturdy. I wish I had clicked pictures.. It wasnt an easy task etall... but in the end it came out well.. to the extent that we could impress the judges.

Junkyard wars used to be one of my favourite shows on TV and it truly an experience to get my hands dirty with it. Again a first time.

Thought #3

Next, I organized an event called "Bol Bachan" based on Hindi JAM (Just a minute). We expected a turnout of around 10.. but surprisingly there were nearly 40 registrations - highest number for any event on day 1. And whatta ruckuss we created there.. I mean there were groups of 8 participants speaking at a time and everytime one member commits one of the 7 sins.. the others shouted "Aapatti"!!.. ANd believe me.. there were more aapattis than words in the room in those two hours.. I was a time keeper.. My job was to note down the number of seconds each member speaks and number of times he raises aapatti.. u can imagine - i was on a rapid-fire! .. and honestly I never thought JAMS could be so much fun.. I had always seen the serious type of JAMs .. not the multiple meaning, witty and utterly humourous types as this one :).. and to add spice to it.. no english was allowed in the room .. kripya do kshan bhar hindi bhaasha ka sampurn prayog kar ke dekhiye yeh kitna kathin karya hai.. maine yeh karya do ghanton tak nibhaya..ha ha

Thought #4

A little thought to things I wanted to do but could not do..
1) Movie making - coz I ran out of time with my Hindi JAM clashing with this event
2) Board Game making - I had thought of a winning idea for this.. I was sure to win.. but sadly the event was scrapped due to low registrations..
3) Last Man Standing - This is something I really was keen upon.. but missed the registration deadline..
Never mind.. I have another time to cover these up.. Melange 2010.. here I come!

Thought #5

Well.. things I did without wanting to do them..
Sell - Hell , dunno why i participated.. and got eliminated in the first round itself. I have no interest nor inclination to sell stuff..It was funny how someone like me landed up in the event.. anything for friends i guess..
Sudoku - clashed with Junkyard wars.. sowent into the event took the problem .. then backed out.. coz my heart was stuck back in my junkyard..

Thought #6

It was disappointing to see such a low turnout of my classmates. They have once again proved that they are boring people. I know Im being harsh - maybe they had commitments - but Im sorry, I am disappointed!

Thought #7

I have a BR viva tomorrow and Im in no mood to study. I have just spent 1.5 hours writing this blog and now Im going off to sleep.
Today and yesterday completely dedicated to the spirit of Melange (which btw.. I kinda enjoyed.. except for a few dampners..but that is probably because I always over expect)..

Cheers to SIMSR Melange En Vogue 2009!!

Rest all (including thoughts about them) .. come another day ..

How do Colours fly?

Ever wondered how they could fly?

They are colours Oh.. my.. my!!

One just flew off my dress..

Where does it go next?

It goes n nests in the flower

Just a second before another color from my dress rushes towards the star!

But the colour that flew next was slow

So I’m worried how far does it go?

A butterfly futters by,

And winks at my colour heading to the sky..

The one on my ribbon just flew to the lakes

And one sprinkled itself on strawberry shakes!

Few colours flew from my pillow

And coloured the birdie singing on the willow

I look up and see,

A thousand colours flying at me!!

They are lovely, wild and free..

And I am flying with them.. Can’t you see?

(Inspired by my recent trim results and inputs from Kshama Singhania)

What’s in a Name?

As I sit and stare at my name on that email…

“Sana”

Or rather whenever I have seen it scribbled across any piece of paper or popping out of a chat window.. I get a weird feeling.. like Im looking at myself from a third persons perspective… like I’m being read by myself. Its strange how I look at that name as if it belonged to someone else.. that is the only time when I look as myself from the eyes of the World and somewhere I get this feeling that how I see myself is very different from how the others see me.. a vast dichotomy.

It’s a random thought, may not be true… but as a friend once said:

“Real though.. Surreal maybe”

Nomadic Verses

I think this is not the mood to be..

But nomads have neither moods nor place.

Living every single day

In its single - limitless way

A life where one day melts into the other

But forms a mosaic on the sands of time

Were he to barter even a day in this time

He wouldn’t give one for a million or a dime!

His wings might be clipped for flight

But sky is not the limit for him

Rising falling in his own emotions,

A nomad goes a thousand excursions..

Happy with the freedom of one

Bound with chains of none

He feels it flowing under his veins

Nomadic tunes of dunes and rains.

Tea cocktail

I just went down for tea at the “Mess”.. yeah mess I mean… ok.. so i had the option of choosing between

• Panjabi samosa ..don’t get worried whether the “Punjabi” samosa looks any different from the samosa next door… n for heaven’s sake don’t imagine it with a turban!!
• A confetti of biscuits… with about 6-7 assorted biscuits in a pack.. some salty ones, creamy ones, glucose ones and other ones whose contents I don’t know..

And then offcourse I can choose between tea and milk-water..

If you are interested in Operations research, take a look at my decision tree in the inset.

Ok so trying to minimize costs in terms of kilocals gained, I chose the option of biscuits and tea.

Further, when I opened the packet, I found certain creamy biscuits against my taste bud preferences.. and also possessing high contents of calorie.. then the concept of outsourcing struck me…

I decided to trade my creamy biscuits for lower cost (read calorie) salt biscuits with another friend..

He willingly agreed as the offered resource (read additional calories) was scarce in his territory… this going by the theory of comparative advantage..

I traded two for two.. then when my friend tried to push few more salty ones down me.. I declined.. you might ask why… and so did he..

My answer took us back to the early theories of trade wherein I was (imagine I am a country ) trying to run a positive balance of trade… if I took more biscuits than those I gave.. I would run a deficit. The theory that I am referring to, is called theory of Neo-merchantilism. Note that its not merchantilism as my motive for running the surplus is political.. i.e. to increase my “Sphere of influence”.. (CPJ will love this ;)..) and not economic benefits.

That’s International business for you.

I could have made it a more interesting conversation.. had I read more subjects..

Will try to come up with sequel to this once I do HR (then I can include appraisal and compensation aspects) and SCM.. (logistics.. its everywhere!)..

Please don’t expect Marketing until exam end.. as I will only do it when the exam is.

Cheers.

Mathematical Loneliness

I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three

The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine

For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic

I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality

When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three

As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer

We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands

Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed

(Adapted from an anonymous author... with due credits to him/her... i only take the credit of discovering it :))