CINDERELLA MAN-----a story that inspires

As said in the last post I have truly become a movie addict in this desolate bhavan having watched 7 movies in the last 36 hours.One movie was truly innervating and inspiring.It was "Cinderella Man". Well like my sweet friend Bancha please dont be under the illusion that its a marchen.Its a fairy tale but unlike the movie "Cinderella" ,"Cinderella Man" is painted with the brushes of reality.Its a true moving "fairy-tale" depicting the life of  James J Braddock ,an Irish-American boxer during the times of the Great Depression.

James was a successful amateur boxer who turned pro in 1926.In 1929, he broke his arthristis hand in several places at the finals of the world heavyweight championship.In the 1930s,the stock market crashed.The Great Depression then swept the USA and millions were afflicted by penury.James continued to fight with his injured hand because he needed money to survive,to support his family---his wife and his three little children.But he kept on losing until he was writ off,deemed an embarrasment to the sport and his boxing license revoked.And at a time when 15 million labourers were unemployed in US itself,James rarely got a job with his broken hand and it became an utopian task to feed his family.He could not even buy milk for his kids.

Envisioning a better life for his family became Braddock's paramount task.The government relief was too scarce to assuage their pain & hunger.In 1934 Braddock got a break to fill a spot as a temporary boxer .Critics said Braddock stood no chance--he was out of shape(his right hand still broken)and out of professional boxing for years.But defying all critics,he knocked his higher ranked opponent in the third round.Braddock knew this time he was fighting for his family & not for himself.He got more bouts because of his upset win. Withstanding all pains,he continued to win games after games against all odds.


  

In 1935,Braddock was pitted against Max Baer--a formidable opponent infamous for killing some of his opponents in the ring.People thought the magic of Braddock,dubbed "Cinderella Man" for his fairy tale revival of his mortified career,would have a grim ending in the bout against Baer. Braddock took a hard beating and had his ribs broken.But the poignant picture of his children in hunger steered him till the end.He won the bout unanimously and  became the world Heavyweight Champion.It was the biggest upset in boxing history.From an indigent worker with a broken hand,he overcame all odds to become the champion.Braddock's rise became the sole harbinger of hope and redemption in a country where millions were grovelling under the dungeons of misfortunes.


  

Braddock's life shows us that regardless of what others say,we need to have rock solid faith in ourselves and unleash the enormous potential in us.Adversaries and challenges bring out the best in a person.Braddock used his adverse situation as a catalyst to resurrect his career.We are the sole authors of our own  lives and can script our own stories despite all limitations if we have a strong will and determination.

I AM BACK

Heyaa everyone!!!!!! Its been a long time!!!! As I was entangled in a web of seemingly endless exams,lab tests,my blog has been kinda dead for the past month.....

The strenuous and wearisome exams at BITS ('Birla Institute of Test Series'is surely a more apt name???) being finally over to my great respite,I had another perplexing decision to make.There is hardly a week before my internship at Chennai begins.Should I go home or go to Chennai directly???Mulling over the pros & cons,I decided to stay put in Pilani itself.

   

And right now, me & one more guy,Rakesh are the only two estranged ghastly figures walking in the corridors of the desolate Vishwakarma bhavan otherwise  inhabited by some 400 odd students.Although I have some 30 odd movies in my laptop,it has been an uphill task to bide time in this lonely secluded place.To be frank,the scorching heat of 48 degree celcius coupled with frequent power cuts of 6 hours daily has already mocked my decision of not going home even if it were for two days!!

The positive aspect however is that I have a plenitude of time to write,watch movies and dream about my lady of amaranthine loveliness.So I AM BACK to instill life in my blog. Do keep tuning to this site!!

A BIZARRE DAY

April 1 celebrated as Fools Day always comes out with its spring of surprises and today was no exception. The only difference was that today I was baffled because I was wary and cautious!!!!Nevertheless today has been phenomenal.


Today is the day to play pranks and dupe our unsuspecting friends and acquaintances.So today you tend to be more sceptic and less gullible.I too was circumspect lest somebody should make fun of me.


I went to microprocessor class.Abhishek walked towards me and congratulated me (his wry smile on the face) for bagging the BITSAA scholarship.Well here starts the prank.I never applied for any such thing.Surely you must be kidding.Saurav reiterated my views,"Congrats if its true lekin mere ko lagta nahi ki yeh sach bol raha hain". The class was over and then Mohit came with the same news. The rumour has spread.Come on guys,I am not a buffoon.It seems there is a bunch of guys out there to bamboozle me.


But what if it is true???So setting aside my lethargy,I staggered towards the FD-2 notice board. There was the typical bright sun up in the sky glowing in its full intensity.Abhisekh you wont be spared  if its a prank.
Lol....Oh my god! Its true.I was on cloud nine.BITS Alumni Assoc. International Inc* (formed by Bitsians in U.S.) has selected me  for a  scholarship and my name was put forward by a board of faculty.25k bucks!!No words but surely that goes down as one of my happiest moments.Thank you Abhishek.I should have been a lot more credulous.


The fact that I was recieving the award in memory of the late Vamsi and Prasanna who died in September 11 WTC attacks,2002 made me lose the sheen of joy.May the Lord cut the bloody hands of terrorism and may the departed souls off all victims to terrorism remain in peace.It has been God's grace that I bagged this.Thanks to my parents,teachers ,sister and friends who have been supportive throughout.

SETTING MISTAKES RIGHT--WIKI STYLE

Amid much fanfare,our annual techfest APOGEE is over.As a part of a series of guest lectures,Wiki founder Jimmy Wales was here with his fiancee Andrea Weckerlea. A candid and jocular personality uncharacteristic of someone in Forbes Top 25 List,Jimmy spoke at length about his Wiki concepts.

Okkk......stay tuned.I am not going to make your lives hell by droning on his speech.I gonna speak only an incident which Jimmy elucidated.In its December 2005 issue,British journal 'Nature' brought out statistics that on an average, Britannica Encyclopaedia has 3 errors per article whereas Wikipedia has 4 errors per article.Britannica published a 50 page denunciation to repudiate the report.But Jimmy's response was different.He requested editors of 'Nature' to send a copy of the mistakes so that the errors that have crept in might be set right.

Well I am no connoisseur to provide insights into whether Wiki or Britannica is better.But the two different approaches brings out an inherent aspect of life.How do we react when people point out our flaws???

Like Britannica,many of us would probably give a blind eye to our mistakes and instead lambast the person.Why?Because our ego hurts.We feel the the other person is snarky or exhibiting an air of superiority.We wont let our self-esteem to be lowered,shall we?.Well this is perfectly normal.To be frank, even I feel hurt when somebody points out my blunders.There have been few incidents where I  resorted to verbal duel to defend my self-esteem. 

But Jimmy's response helped me to see things in a better light.A critique may be strongly worded but instead of indulging in altercations that bring no good to either side,we should take things in a lighter vein.We should not grumpily hurt the other person also.Infact if a person has pointed out our faults, we should appreciate it.Only people who genuinely care for us will make us notice our flaws.So transcend the limitations of the straitjacket that your ego engulfs you into. To err is human. Don't be vindictive,acknowledge your flaws humbly and do everything you can to set it right.Constructive criticism from others will only help us to get better.So the next time somebody points out my mistake I won't take it personally ;instead I will appreciate it and proactively fix my errors in a Wiki style.

for the 'Nature' incident you can refer to http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/online-encyclopedias-put-to-the-test/2005/12/14/1134500913345.html 

A NEW ORDER OF LIVING

Erudites say in the fleeting fast-paced modern lives, a purpose of living is a must to keep you rejunivated. What is this purpose???   

Well let me be clear.......I am no philosopher or of a reflective bent.Still Sagnik's motivational(??) quests led me to ponder over this.


In school(Moral Science) we were taught that we are merely actors playing our part on earth and blah blah. I must say its all bullshit. Life is an illusion but we are not puppets. We get  scores of opportunities to shape up our own lives."Life is what you make of it." Destiny is just a nonexistant terminology for me. Maybe Lady Luck plays her part but it all boils down to how we seize control of the boundless potentials of each and every moment.


One of my friend often whines ,"I suck in everything". Why this negative vibe??Its because we get disheartened by little failures : we let our focus to be squandered by trivial daily distractions.Lets free ourselves of this ephemeral happenings. Who doesn't get knocked down in life once in a while??? Surely every mortal. But the secret lies in learning from our failures and living life on our terms to achieve the subtle goals shrouded in the routines of our mundane existence.


The question remains whats our purpose in life and I have been beating about the bush.Well the answer is don't just give a damn  to this nonsensical and abstract purpose of life.(Leave it to the sages to decode it.) For us the bottomline is that Every day offers once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore and enjoy our life.Grab these chances and our purpose will unfold itself automatically.Believe that each day is special and make sure it is.We will be unknowingly directed to our 'purpose in life'.

20 n still counting

I am a sophomore from BITS Pilani presently pursuing my B.Tech in Electrical n Electronics Engg..Today on my 20th birthday, when I ponder over my bygone days, I reckon it to be an awesome tumultuous journey from Assam to Rajasthan.Life is facetious and I have always looked upon it with rosy eyes.Why take life seriously when noone is going out alive??????

Ruminating over my chidhood events,I feel I was a docile chid complying to the wishes of my parents(maybe sometimes at the fear of the rod).I was full of ebullience and loved playing games.My parents inculcated good habits in me and a spirit of fair competition.They were always elated at my success and eloquently inspired me to move on in case of any failure.Its bringing sparks of joy ot their faces that drives me the most to overcome any hurdles.Although my mom's reluctance to allow me to go out sometimes and her stance about me not getting too friendly with girls( till class 10) though irritated me then,now I realize that her anxieties and concerns were just a different form of expressing love.And my sweet little sister was always there searching for my flaws and foibles and reporting them to the higher authority(my parents).

I am an affable person and always love playing games and hanging out with friends.Though I won't go to the extent of saying I am altruistic, the plight of my friends/an unknown brethen do move me.My college life in class 11 and 12 was the most enjoyable as I became a free bird breaking the shackles of a rigorous school life. Freedom brings responsibility and I am glad that I performed decently in academics but honestly speaking( not intended to show modesty ) I reckon it to be a fortuituous happening.

Then the most defining moment of my life was my moving to BITS Pilani.I initially was a bit reticent and skeptic about how i can survive in an environment where talents flock in myriads.Two years have gone and I feel I am surviving well in the midst of tests and assignments that test your resilience and guts.But what I love here most is my friends.We(me,sag,sam,ali,raja,abhi,venky....) are a close knitted family in a home away from home.Our chit-chats on love, girls and future plans make this a fun-filled paridisal environment.

INDIA -- A SUPERPOWER

Gone are the days when Indians aspired to do a job in the US. We all were attracted by the higher standard of education and living, and a more liberal economy.The US supposed to be the power house of brains drained off the best talents form the developing countries.But today we are witnessing a shift in the balance of brain power towards India & China.

                     

                                       With India becoming a hot favourite destination for MNCs,a 'reverse brain trend' is the norm of the day.Thousands of Indian IT professionals working abroad have returned India. The "INDUS ENTREPENEURS" ,an association of Indian IT professionals in the USA estimates that some 80,000 IT Professionals returned India from California's "Silicon Valley" in the past year. Today Brand INDIA is booming & Indians abroad want to be a part of the development process.The negative aspects of being a second citizen abroad ,the greatly improved India's education system,family roots & greater avenue for advancement bring them to their motherland. The result of this influx is that India today has a large pool of talented technocrats and managers with global expertise and India is ready to take the world by storm.                                                  

                                  The US companies' foreign policies have also helped us. In 1980s & 1990s, only blue collar manufacturing jobs were outsourced to India for two reasons - quality labour at cheap cost..But late 1990s they started outsourcing knowledge -engineering technology,product design,research,software development to India. INTEL CEO Barret has warned the US Govt. that this outsourcing has created about 250 million highly skilled innovative technocrats in India and China.From the US perspective,its true that they are boosting profits in the short term.But in the long run, they are eroding their own creativity to generate new products.US presidential candidate Barack Obama mulls tougher tax scheme on companies outsourcing to India , but with 3.5 million jobs to be outsourced to India by 2015, the trend is set to continue. 

                                      India's education (technical) institutes have also come a long way.Today India produces 3.5 lacs engineers while US churns out only 70,000 engineers per year.Even George Bush admitted that Indian students fare better in maths and science as compared to their US counterparts.With India Govt. providing greater incentives in Research,Space Technology, the future looks rosy for India. The worrying factor for the US is that it has few home grown talent. 53% of the employees of Silicon Valley are foreign born.Since the post 9/11 clampdown on immigration,people applying for visas to work in the US in technology sector have come down by 55%.

                                      Thus India's pool of talents is increasing by manifolds but USA's pool has eroded.That India will overrun the US as the powerhouse of brains in the near future is ,therefore, definitely there on the cards.