Book Challenge- list of 10 books that have influenced your life

This is the latest challenge that is doing rounds on social networking sites these days. Today I have a lot of time and so thought maybe should pen down my own list though 10 books would never do justice to lifetime of reading. And this would also help in reviving my blog which have been neglected for almost 5 years now. So here it goes:

1.Childhood Mystery Novels: Famous Five (Enid Blyton), Hardy Boys and Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators- Thanks to these intriguing stories, my reading habit took off.

2.Teenage Mystery Novels: Sherlock Holmes entire collection (Sir Arthur Conan Doyale), Dan Brown Novels (Angels and Demons, Da Vinci Code, Deception Point, Digital Fortress, Lost Symbol) and Agatha Cristie Novels especially featuring Hercule Poirot- These Novels provided solace during the time of preparation for engineering entrance exams.

3.Harry Potter Series- JK Rowling: Need I say more?

4.Cold Steel: LN Mittal and the mutli billion dollar battle for a global empire- Tim Bouquet, Byron Ousey- A takeover story couldn’t have been described in a more exciting way

5.When Genius Failed- Roger Lowenstein: Story about rise and fall of the biggest hedge fund in 90s, truly sensational.

6.A Random walk down wall street- Burton G Malkiel: Depicts remarkable nature of investing. Really fascinating especially the idea that a blindfolded monkey throwing darts at a newspaper’s financial pages could select a portfolio that would do just as well as one carefully selected by experts

7.Habit of Winning- Prakash Iyer: Very inspirational book showing how different people have behaved in numerous atrocities and how you can do the same

8.Michael Lewis Books- Liar’s Poker, The Big Short, Boomerang: Definitely the most breathtaking non fiction novels are written by this author

9.Breakout Nations- Ruchir Sharma: Tells you what is next after BRICS and views on Emerging Markets

10.Autobiographies/Biographies- Losing my Virginity (Richard Branson), Jobs (Walter Issacson), Rafa(Rafael Nadal), Simplifly (Capt. Gopinath), Open (Andre Agassi): All of them really inspirational and provides an insight on how great people think

Special mention to Five Point Someone- Chetan Bhagat since it reminded so much of our own college life in Goa during that time.

Life these days

I have finally spent more than a week in the campus continuously and settled down :P. This is our penultimate month in the campus and life has never been better here. With no subjects and classes (though it hardly matters as I can see looking at others’ routine), I have the liberty and flexibility to do anything anytime.

This semester has been dominated by quickies (trips planned in less then 10 minutes) and our perseverance of staying outside hostel for as much as we can. Everything looks so much accessible and bogmalo is the new jhopdi where you can go daily and just relax. The other sensation has been the hukkah which I could not bring to the room because of so much of dancing around (DISCO’s) these days, but got to know of places where we can go every now and then. Pool has become our alternative to daily exercise with Kesarval conveniently placed. Hiring cabs has been forbidden now for Goa is a nice place with nice people ready to give lifts anytime and sometimes I just think why did I shelled out so much bucks on transport earlier. (even Sethi got a lift yesterday!)

The heat is trying its best to keep us inside but damn, we are good! Lunch takes average one hour these days followed by a trip to juice corner. Snacks have been tagged with the ‘choti jhopdi’ and dinner with whatever we do not visit in the day. It’s only breakfast to which injustice has been done but that is because sleep is really good at convincing us to ignore it :P. Now just about a month left in the campus, really want to make the best out of it. Tennis court would get completed by weekend and what we had planned of playing since the start of semester would finally be materialized. Lots of things happening for the first time in the last semester and others are reviving themselves in one way or another. We have actually started going to children's park and benches again (one of our first year's regulars).Road trips have become frequent and nite outs too. Discussing about our stay over here and the things we have done is the best time pass.It feels really great doing nothing and just living for the moment for you know these moments would be hard to come by again.

PS: Resist temptation from evil (i.e discussing maggi revolution). Amen.

Good to be back

And here I am.Back to the place which has been my home and friends who have been my family for the past 3 years. This time it is special because we have come after a 6 month break and moreover this is our last semseter in BITS GOA.
I plan to do lot many things in this sem and a 'TO DO' list is being made with the assistance of my friends. We have ticked the first thing on the list and I think we should have done it way before and that is 'New year celebration in Goa'.Living in goa for past 3 years is different and celebrating new year over here is something else! To cut it short, it was the awesomest new year ever. If this happens when beach parties are banned and security is tight, I can't even imagine what must be the case like when everything was allowed. Nonetheless we had an awesome time. Be it the club we danced till 4 in night or the beach where firecrackers mesmerized us at midnight, or the hot Indian chicks( Foreigners are a common view now you see ;)) or the pole dance by drunk chicks in clubs, had a memorable new year!
Now coming back to campus life,had a dreadful time first two days since campus was deserted and I was allotted AH3. But my heart sways for AH4 and I finally managed to get a room in it. This is the hostel where I have had the most pleasant moments in Goa.Today we have our registration in some one hour. Campus is buzzing with kids I don't know, first yearites probably whom we are still to interact with ;). Nobody is speaking about placements and I think people have accepted the fact that there won't be any this sem :P. So better to enjoy the last sem. Two mba results out,the 'big' one is due this week. Lotsa thing in mind, but hardly any time to apply my thoughts on anything.
All I can say is it feels good to be back.Good to find the old faces moving pass the corridor. Eating at our joints(although they suck) and doing nothing but vellagiri which we are best at. People are skeptical that they would have nothing to do after two months. But as of now, I am enjoying the campus and hopefully would find ways to keep us all entertained :D.

PS:HAPPY NEW YEAR :D

Being a Bitsian

As semester end is approaching fast, I have so many thoughts that it's indeed difficult to jot all of them down. One thing that surely separates this end from other semesters is that each semester we cribbed about final comprehensive exams and prayed them to get over quickly so that we all can run our home, but this time around every one wants to stay. Be it people who are doing their PS(practice school) or those who are still in college, every one wants to live the romance which is coming to an end with each passing moment.

People in college know that this is time to bid final goodbye to Goa and the wonderful lives we all had for past 3 years.Now is there time to see the corporate world closely and have all together different experience.And others who have to go back campus have accustomed to such an independent and unrestricted life that it would be really hard to be back in rooms by 11pm and eat at our beloved Atish's mess in the college. But I guess that's what happens to every Bitsian at some point or other and experiencing this cross road has groomed us all very well indeed.

Next semester also gonna be the placements speaking about which has become a taboo as of now :P. Economy is on a roll(sense the sarcasm) and we are fortunate enough to be facing our placements in such a situation(yah its still going on).Also people will be waiting for the results of different MBA exams they appeared for and universities they applied for MS.

The end of the semester reminds me of the reasons I took PS in first sem:
1.Getting a job during internship
2.Had a gut feeling that I'll prepare better for CAT in Bangalore
3.Almost all my friends were going for PS in first sem.

Just had the (3.) to look forward to next sem. Thanks to recruitment freeze,no chance of placement during internship and my mediocre performance in CAT,I guess I didn't get what I had sought for.Anyways no regrets,looking forward to next semester.

PS: Infosys has got the distinction of registering as the first company on campus :D

What an irony

I was tempted to write this post after I was drenched by the rains of Bangalore for like tenth time in past 2 months! And now I am not sure I even like rains or not.. first time it was sure fun, second time too, and maybe third time.. but I guess I have had enough of rains this monsoon..
Then I wondered what it used to be like when I was in my hometown Jodhpur, a part of Marwar, the not so wet zone of Rajasthan :P ..
I spent the first 17 years of my life in Rajasthan and who could have thought that I'll be doing my engineering in some place called Goa?? I still remember the day my barber asked me "Bhaiya aap padne ke liye kahan jaa rahe ho" and I replied "Goa"..and he was like :O "Goa???? wahan padne ja rahe ho aap?"..and I don't blame him..Because you can only think of the beaches and the rains and certainly not anything even close to studies..The rains which I have witnessed in Goa in past 3 years and now in Bangalore, I think makes up not only for the last 17 years in Jodhpur but maybe the entire time I have yet to spend there..
I remember monsoon was like the most awaited thing in Jodhpur and every one used to become so excited and we used to plan all our trips in rainy weather..and now the first thing that comes in my mind when I see droplets of water pouring down my face, "Not again!(sigh)"..And yah, it could be all together a different thing for a person living in Mumbai and now working in Delhi..WHAT AN IRONY
Moral of the story(well I hate to write it,but I guess that makes my post a little serious,just experimenting ;))-
1.Everything is balanced in this world..If you are not getting a thing right now,there is surely something good in store for you in future..and sooner or later you will realize that
2.Excess of everything is bad :D (be it rains)
3.Everything has its own charm..Be it the monsoon,be it winters,or summers or anything else for that matter...Just enjoy it at present.
4.Small things like getting drenched in rain can make you write a blog :P

PS:I still love the weather in Bangalore and for that matter Goa too..its simply awesome!