Train No-2955

A picture is worth more then 1000 words.

Now,if you are thinking that i have exxaaggeerated the entitre thing by putting up this foto.
Beleive u me ..nothing less then this could explain the situation on 2955- BCT-JP Superfast Express.
























For this diwali ,and new year i just had a couple of resolutions---
I M NOT GOING BACK TO JAIPUR FOR THE NEXT DIWALI.
n
the reason for saying so is nothing but the journey of the lifetime i had in 2955 .

A train where booking a Tatkal seat can fetch you Endurance Award.
A train whose passenegers are awarded Red n White Bravery award .
A train where meeting people who were so close to the Confirmed Seat.
A train where atleast 100 passengers would claim the Waiting List 1-Title.
A train where people are willing to stand in the the Loo (both English and Indian) .
A train where you get to know about the High's and Low's of a Gujati Family.
A train where you can meet Jignesh,mahesh,suresh,Ramesh Babu and Deenanath ji.
A train where you would need to wait atleast 10 hours before you can actually see the "loo"

A train that teaches you --DONOT USE INDIAN RAILWAYS DURING VACATIONS.
n if you are really desparate use nothing less then a 2nd AC.

Information Explosion...

These are the best of times,these are the worst of times.For today we live in a era where almost each one of has access to an unimaginable breadth and depth of information.
But then the era of Information Explosion has more and more air blown into the Bubble.

Thanx to the information explosion.
SPAMMING ,although being the last thing that a marketer would ever like to do , seems to be on a high .
Filtering content is another challenge that people are now getting used to.
And to add to that the hyped Talks ,workshops,Sessions,Lectures are getting monotonous

The podcasts have replaced the interviews.
Slideshare has replaced powerpoint presentaions.
Youtube has better talks or workshops .
Add to that blogs .
To be precise , now you can actually choose to stay out of a event ,since you know for sure, the Internet has better alternatives.

As far as my experience goes ,yes i was a die hard fan of GYAN.
I craved for it.
I used to read almost over 100 blogs a day on social media,SEM-SEO,Blogging,Internet Marketing......
I loved the sessions at Barcamps.
I enjoyed being a part of this ecosystem that was evolving like never before.


But then , i guess what looked like the driving force for joining such communities, turned against itself. And the obvious reason being perhaps the INFORMATION OVERLOAD on the internet
Add to this -the general story telling .

"THE MOST CLICHED STORY"

I was a common man. I had a idea--but had no idea how to implement that. Then we thought over it .
But then we had no money. Then we bootstrapped Then we hunted for VC's. After n iterations in the product plan,
and 2n meeting's we got funded. n now ,I am THE ENTREPRENEUR.

With all due respect to the ecosystem and the entrepreneurs .Nobody would or even can/ever raise a question over your credibility as a entrepreneur or the amount of efforts you have put in.
But then,
As the audience we get this story everytime..in Livemint, on Radio,Podcasts,Blogs n everywhere.
If you can present the entire journey as a casestudy , it might add more value to the story.
Telling the general story,i guess really wont attract ME.

So today i think twice before i enter a session on Startup's or VC's speaking, or rules of blogging,tips on Internet Marketing,or for that matter even technology.
And even if i enter it ,the repetition of topics, drives me out.

The freshness quotient ,i guess has been lost or atleast decreasing.
Everytime i see a mailer/poster about a session by XYZ , i think !!!

DO WE REALLY NEED TO GO AND LISTEN TO THEM ?
WHY CANT WE LISTEN TO THEM ON A PODCAST
OR SIMPLY READ ABOUT THE RULES OF .........
WHY DO WE NEED THE SAME THING OVER N OVER N OVER?
DONT U FEEL saturated ALREADY?

I guess i need a break,BADLY. SO I shall logoff from the Community for a while.

M off for a India Tour ...

Now then..I have a killer news.
Back when i had started blogging @roomno368, i had written about Jagriti Yatra
however the yatra was postoponed to December and I almost assumed that I would have no chances.

However last monday an hour before Statistical Thermodynamics quiz , i happened to check my mail , and ROOM NO 368 got this .

"Acceptance letter Tuesday, October 15, 2008

Dear Applicant,

Congratulations on being selected for the Tata Jagriti Yatra 2008! There were several excellent candidates that applied and you should be justifiably proud of your achievement.

Our Yatra will begin on 24th Dec. 2008 in Mumbai and end on 11th Jan 2009 also in Mumbai. The countdown has already begun!"

So its official out that I have been selected for Jagriti Yatra.
For those who are not really sure about what they are reading --

Tata Jagriti Yatra '08 (December 24th 2008 - January 11th, 2009) is an annual train journey that will take 350 of India's highly motivated youth (with some participation of international students) between the ages of 18-25 on a eighteen day national odyssey, introducing them to unsung heroes of India. The aim is to awaken the spirit of entrepreneurship - both social and economic - within India's youth by exposing them to individuals and institutions that are developing unique solutions to India's challenges. Through this national event we will inspire them to lead and develop institutions nationally and within their communities.

Looking forward to meet 400 intellectually mature people
looking forward to traveling India in a Train
Looking forward to a adventure with a group of like minded individuals

P.S ---- The regsitrations are open ..so if u r think u r still 20 ..n the theme suits ur Bio ,register here.

Cheers

The Tragedy that never happened.

This one comes straight from my heart.
I have been thinking to right this from past one month but then, realised a brand name(Room No 368) was at stake.But then decided to against it.
For a change u shall read something really serious

When the Pathology Lab in IIT Hospital, claimed to be a nothing but just a bacterial infection,i like any other student would have.
By Wednesday they decided that it was Salmonella and not just another bacteria, so under the rules they had to name it TYPHOID.
First thing that came to my mind after that was the concept of REMIDSEM ,because it was already 28th, and the doctors had declared strict bed rest for 2 weeks after one week .

But then my WHITE BLOOD CELLS started disappearing , and then the entire Typhoid treatment was postponed for 5 days.
And it was on the 4th day , when the IIT Pathology Lab was closed (thanks god!!) another blood sample which was sent to Hiranandani Hospital came out clean.
NO TYPHOID
The worst part was the fact that another second year student had made plans to skip midsems simply because he was told that he too had TYPHOID.
And then on the fifth day just before getting admitted in ICU ,one of the doctors confessed that the PATHOLOGY DEPT is too primitive to not to detect typhoid.

Take home message--Being part of a institute that

• has funds well over 100 Crores
• hosts festivals with budget exceeding a crore (not to mention the ECell has few lakhs to spare)
• gets funded every second year from its Alumni
• also has students who opt to fall sick to justify their casual leaves.

But then blood test is something that is recommended to most of the people and that too quite frequently.
N to get it wrong ,with such a huge margin of error sends the wrong signal.
We can practically get screwed up.
We need to realize that there is something that is between Gulmohar and Convocation Hall, and if not all, some people do have Medical problems and this continues ,all we would be doing is wasting the doctors out there.

Throughout my experience at IIT hospital, the entire staff was amazingly cooperative and sweet and caring, something that was missing in Hiranandani and Riddhi Vinayak Hospitals.
But then it really wont make sense if they don't get the blood reports right.

I dont need to write what all can a false report lead to .
We all can well imagine the consequences.


P.S>>>
IF NYBODY FROM THE AUTHORIES HAPPENS TO VISIT THIS BLOG PLEASE TAKE THIS AHEAD AND GET THE LABORATORY EQUIPPED WITH THE LESSER PRIMITIVE TECHNOLOGY.WE SERIOUSLY NEED HELP.

Day# 3 Who's the patient.

Day-#3 who’s the patient.

The internet says, that a normal human does not require nything less than 2 days to recover from Urniary Traction Infection which the doctors claimed I had.

Another factual update-There are over 100+ types of fevers available out there and out of those 100 ,90+ come/or can become weird/really weird. I had dismissed the probability of my body getting nything but one of those 90 Elite fever Forms.

But then yes, I had my share of Highs n Lows. With a high of 103 , I had people coming in to meet me and all my whims and fancies taken care of. It was this day when the billion $ question was popped “Who’s the Patient”

It was almost post lunch, when the the Gang of three (Nick/PP/Goyal) invaded my bed in ward. The last thing you would expect is people visiting you to eat your share of hospital lunch .but then it happens. Every god damn thing is bound to happen when the TRIO gets into act. My lunch boxes,Biscuits,Namkeen,Mathri ,everything was raided .While I was made to sit on the stool,and Nikhil(Goyal) was playing Solitire and PP and Aniket were confused over what to eat Mathri or Namkeen, the SMO entered the ward. Also in the past three days,the last thing that would have changed was Appearance. With the trio on the bed and under utter confusion and frustration the SMO fired the question –Who’s the patient.

It took us while to recognize and declare that I was THE ONE. And thus the SMO rescued me from the attack of the TRIO.

But then, the hospital lab which was updated with my blood samples early morning ,came up.My affair with Salmonella was discovered and disclosed.

IT was declared officially,that i had TYPHOID.

Day# 2-- Who's the patient

Now then ...
The second day of the unplanned hospital trip was unexpected,for i had a discovered that what seemed like just nother tiring day had actually turned into a infection.

Now this is one thing somebody would not really appreciate about a Govt Hospital.
"Its like underworld ,u get in at ur will,n u get out at their will"
The last time somebody walked till lakeside , a security alarm was raised and we had jeeps and ambulance running in the campus.THIS WAS COVERED IN BUT OF COURSE AAJTAK.

Being media shy i really didnt want this to happen , so i decided to stay back n have a shot at the food out there.
But then since most experiments are bound to fail,this one did fail..n it failed bigtime.
Their so called" ultra nutritious food was definitely not meant for me.
Lets not talk about food here.
Back in ward, i had company of a Hepatitis A bearer.The third guy had practically patented malaria.
But then amidst this atmosphere, i realised something that people realise after they reach himalyas after reading "The Monk Who Sold His ferrari"
I was enlightened when i discovered the Punch line of my life
"Never take people/objects for granted"
It was then i realised that i was missing something more then nything else.

Now here comes the differentiator-
A common patient, in such conditions looks forward to company,sympathy,care,......
but
the first thing that an IITian would ask for would be his LAPTOP.and if possible with High Speed Internet connection as the Hospital Walls let everything but the WiFi network.

I missed u lan:(

But then ,i finally i got my laptop n then rest of day was religously devoted to "Jason Bourne".

Day# 1--Who's the patient?

Its been nother long break .. but then this was well deserved.
+ this time i got a story.
The famous question--"who's the patient.?"

What seemed like a prank to skip the "biotech quiz" on tuesday turned into a wild chase.
As i had mentioned earlies regarding my fling with salmonella.
The exact series of events might not seem to be really exciting but then yes, there were moments which certainly deserve to be on the blog.
So it all started out on monday when right in the middle of the night , i decided that i cannot sleep without a Air Conditioner, whose presence in RoomNo368 was by no means possible.
Since the dept labs stink, and the sofa in the office was locked, after waiting for over an hour i decided hospital would be the best place to sleep in.
I choose the emergency room to sleep in, after faking a 101 fever, but then there are times when u need to make compromises, which in this type of situation turned out to be a Syringe (rite in the middle of the ***)

But then yes, thanx to all the amazingly cute nurses out here, it went in peacefully.

My Affair with Salmonella

"It took me over 3 days to realize that something was going on between me and salmonella.
And another one day that things just might get out of control.

Salmonella was someone i had never heard about.
And falling for her was totally justified since I had no clue what so ever about it.
Add to that the "first time thing"- it was for the first i had fallen for somebody,so it was kinda weird ,but then the point to focus on is that "IT HAPPENED".

Hmmmm .....

Hmmmm is something many of us relate to.
When i asked my friends what comes to their mind when they see/hear/type/speak Hmmmm
Tried to aggregate some of the weird thoughts ..

Disclaimer---Some ,if not all the thoughts are definitely mine .lol

• How Milan/Mudra Met Mudra/Milan's Mother/Maid/Maa'm/Madame Master.......
• you are busy or pretending to be busy
• Ignoring somebody or manybody's
• Thinking !!! pretending to be thinking
• on Thought provoking questions ..just before before the answers..
• when your conversation reaches the "What's Up" syndrome.
• when do u dont have a answer like Joey
• when you answer diplomatically
• When u agree to somebody
• Even when u disagree but still to agree..
• While u try to show that u really have grey matter
• When u r really serious.
• agreeing Unanimously
• last but not the least--If u r into Marketing :D

Looking forward to update the list..
keep waiting :P

Attention Prof's and Studnets-

If u think you are the worst professor alive
believe you me you are definitely wrong.

There are people alive who claim to be professors with no talent what so ever when it comes to teaching and they can definitely beat you in the RAT race.

And if you think you are "THE STUDENT"
Believe u me ,this time u are definitely wrong.


P.S >>> Felt this on the 5th day of the 5 th Semester attending lectures of the 5th Course i registered for. This is definitely not Pre Sem/Insem/MideSem/EndSem frustration.
Genuine, honest thoughts of a Under Grad.