LORD OF THE MINDS

Ek duniya ko chodd aaya hoon,
Ek nayi duniya basaane.
Yaadon ko samet laya hoon,
Kuch nayi yaadein banane.

Woh college ke din,
Woh hostel ki raatein.
Yaad aati hain yaaron se saath,
Woh idhar udhar ki baatein.

Ab ek naye shahar mein,
Naye sapne sajaane aaya hoon.
MindTree ki waadion mein,
Naye dost banane aaya hoon.

Its now been a week since I have joined MindTree and I must say it has been a wonderful experience. I had never expected this much amount of fun, participation and enjoyment from the 1st day itself.
The 1st day, 2nd july, we had an orientation programme at St. John's Auditorium. There were sessions by Subroto Bagchi and Ashok Soota. What was most fascinating was the FAQ session taken up by Subroto Bagchi where he took up the questions presented by everyone with great confidence. The answers were simply stupendous. A really enjoyable session.
In the afternoon session taken up by Ashok Soota on values and vision, we got to know our goals and key improvement areas. A real eye opener. The cultural programme following that was beautiful. We witnessed a group song and also a dance performance by senior MINDs. Totally enjoyable.
The sesond day was not so enjoyable but nonetheless very important. We had to create our profiles, ICICI Bank accounts, ID Cards, Hutch Corporate connections and other forms. I finally got my employee id card and I must say, I feel proud to wear it everywhere.
On fri, 6th July we had to wear our MindTree T-shirts to office. We had a group photo session to look forward to. But before that we had a really enjoyable session. In the afternoon, we had something called 'House Assimilation'. Here we had to introduce ourselves to the housemates but in an innovative manner. Our section 1 of House of Joy were divided into groups of 10 each. Each group was told to choose a theme. Then each member of the group had to choose a character related to the theme. Now when they came up to the stage they had to first introduce the theme, why they chose it and then descirbe why they chose the character they mentioned. The themes ranged from colours to jungle to cartoon characters. People chose characters like Goofy and described themselves like it - Someone who goofs up all the time. Also someone chose Leaning Tower of Pisa, saying that they want to be like it - leaning but not falling off in spite of pressures.
The next section were told to write some task for one other group. But when their papers were taken, they had to do what they had written for other groups. This was really hilarious. One group had to exchange shoes amongst themselves and then do a catwalk. The group had 3 girls and 2 boys and the boys had a tough time not only fitting into the girls high-heeled shoes but actually do the catwalk. Awesome fun. Another group had to enact a scene from Sholay etc.
The third section was divided into two groups and had to play a kind of virtual volleyball. 1 member of a group calls the name of one other member of the other group and moves out. If at any time the person called does not exist or has moved out or one fails to call a name, his/her team lost a point and also had to come up on stage to introduce. This was total enjoyment because towards the end when one ran out of names people really goofed up. So you see it was full timepass and masti. Finally we had the photo session of the entire batch outside the food court.
In this way our first week got over at MindTree. The pressure of the training had not set in yet but the schedule given told us that we were in for a tough time. But sincerely, I believe that even after the rigours of this Learning programme (MindTree prefers to call it Learning Programme instead of Training cos we LEARN at MindTree, we are not trained), we will surely get our share of enjoyment. Here's looking forward to some awesome times ahead.

Its the month of June and my life at BESUS is coming to an end. A roller coaster ride really but nonetheless a lot satisfying. Its this mood of joy, sorrow, belonging etc that is set upon all of us of the 2007 batch.
The past few weeks have been mostly spent on planning out all the farewell parties, joining dates, shifting etc rather than on the final exams. Anyways, who cares about the exams now. We all know that we shall all pass (Just kidding! Kuch to likhna hi padega baap, warna marks kahan se aayenge).
One such farewell was the Department Farewell organized by the 2nd years for us. It was awesome. Instead of the typical ragging wherein all that was asked was who flirted with whom or who had a fling etc, we had songs, ball dances, dances with accidents etc. Good fun. Also we had some innovative ideas like a video on final year students, video messages by the final years, Ulti Jalzeera TV News and Quiz on BESUS. Hats off to the 2nd years for organizing such a wonderful farewell. We shall all remember it for the rest of our lives.



The plans for the other farewells are on. Rich Farewell shall take place after the final exam. So lots of fun to be had before I catch the 30th June flight to Bangalore which would signal the end of life as a student and the start of a new phase.
It sounds incredible that the four years have come to an end so fast. I can still feel the tension of my 1st day way back on 4th August, 2003 when I came here with my dad. The threat of the famous Shibpur ragging looming large upon me. Life goes fast and so have the 4 years out here. There have been so many wonderful moments in BESUS. 1st year welcome, REBECA (all 4 years), Life at Richardson, Campus placements etc. There is so much to take from all this.
Oh-my-god! Its getting way too emotional. Lets leave that crap out for the fairer sex. Suits them more. As for me, I just wanna enjoy this last month of unemployment. Here's to the next step of our lives!

The past week has been a maddening experience for all of us here. We had our postponed semester exams then. And the authority decided to rub it in. 4 examinations in 4 days. This kind of torture was not even in the first year. And even then, I had started preparing well before. But this was just a one night effort.
Last saturday, when I started to study VLSI Design it appeared as Latin and Hebrew. And the greatest problem was that although I had attended some classes, I had heard and understood nothing. How could I? The classes were at 8 in the morning. As it is it is tough to get up for that class. And even if I could, I used to sleep in the class. I had even yawned in front of the teacher. No wonder I see a sure supplementary in that paper staring in front of me.
Of the other papers, the most satisfying was Broadband communication. I achieved maximum efficiency in that paper. I had Cellular technology well and had 4 questions from it. What luck!
Now that its over, there is a lot to look forward to. I have a workshop of Mindtree (where I have got selected) next week. And since I am the representative from my university, I got lots of work to do. Hope to have a good time then.
Also the annual fest of my university, REBECA comes up within 4 weeks. And since its our final year, we are going to enjoy to the hilt.
I think thats enough for today. I got to rush. I've to take take part in the next match on the LAN which I hope to win this time. Have been having such bad luck that the worst player in Rich defeated me 7-4 in the last match. I think its just not my day today.
Anyways guys, do come back to read my blog. And even if you don't, who cares. Ha ha!

Today I watched a movie which I have been awaiting for the past few months. Its named 300. Based on a novel by Frank Miller, it concerns the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae. There the King of Sparta led his army against the advancing Persians. The battle is said to have inspired all of Greece to band together against the Persians, and helped usher in the world's first democracy.
The trailer was very impressive and the movie actually lived up to the hype created. The visuals were breath-taking and the dialogues apt. The use of light and colours was very impressive. So much so that to the layman it is a greater attraction than the story.
There were quite a number of memorable scenes like the scene when King Leonidas kicks the messenger saying "We are Spartans!" or the fight scenes or when he says "Tonight we die in hell". The creaters have really worked hard and that shows. A movie fully worth the investment made.

Its been about a month since I have updated my blog. And I seriously feel you folks have been missing me (just kidding, I know you haven't. Who cares!). Well a lot has happened since I lasted posted. The year has changed!! (Poor joke, I know) But still, its been quite a time.
We friends have had a lot of parties, mostly for the various placements of the group. And without doubt, they have been a lot of fun.
On 19th, we friends went for a trip to some of the suburbs of Kolkata. The places we visited were Chandannagore, Bandel and Chunchurah. We had a great time together and the photos have come out fine quite accurately describing the joy experienced there.
For the past few days, classes in the department have been low and its only IMS that has kept me busy on the academic front. Most of the time has gone to watching movies, downloading them and perhaps.. sleeping.
I don't think anyone has any more patience to read any further. So I better call it a day here. See ya around.

Finally.... After 2 months of constant mental pressure and sweating it out at Rich (Not literally, cos its quite cold for sweating), I have got back to my 'Home Sweet Home' for a much needed break.
The last week has been really harrowing. Life sucked big time cos we had to stay up in Rich to work on our project and its presentation when all the other department students went back after the sems. The mess was closed. So had to eat out. And that is plain AWFUL(Thats cos there's no comparison between the food at Rich and the food at Shyam Da)!
The presentations went off pretty well. The first day was for the project presentation. For that we had worked our socks off! We went to sleep at 4:30 am one night after finishing the work. And since I was the one o start, it was a bit chilling! But it went off well. The next day was cazz.
Now back home in Jamshedpur, I plan to chill out with my old mates. Am looking forward to a fun filled week. Hope you all have a rocking new year! Bbye!

Here are some of the pictures of my Placement Party at Deep Purple, a Bar and Restaurant at Jamshedpur on the 22nd of October, 2006. It was a day after diwali and as you can see, the people had loads of fun.

This last week at Rich has been like a dull time. Not much classes (who wants to attend them anyway even if they are going on) and certainly not much of fun. Most of the days are going on just lazily in my campus.
With no internet access (The bloody Sify providers have not been able to fix the disconnected cable even after a week) my computer is getting much needed rest in the night. I am desperately trying to finish up watching my entire DVD movie collection (which incidently has over 150 movies). But over the last 2 days, I have really liked to watch the old episodes of FRIENDS. Cool people and certainly a cool show.
Besides that, 2 of my buddies on our LAN have been playing 'Need For Speed Most Wanted'. We managed to finish up 6 blacklists in 3 days (I know thats not a big deal and there are better gamers than us. But we like to go at our pace). One of them is at Blacklist 4 and I gotta tell you, its getting bloody difficult to just keep the car on track. There's one thing that really catches the eye in the game and thats the Motion Blur. This comes on when we put on the nitro boost and honestly, its damn sexy. I have been an NFS fan since 9th standard when I used to play 'Need For Speed 2 Special Edition' with the FZR as the best car and Monolithic Studios as the best track. And I have to admit, I've been an admirer since then. I certainly look forward to NFS Carbon which releases shortly.
By next week, I shall be in jamshedpur and hopefully enjoying with my friends. We have been planning a booze party (oops...sorry.... Placement treat, whatever the name is. How does it matter? What matters is whats on store). And since I haven's touched alcohol for like 2 months (more because of my low bank balance than the urge. The urge is always there. And over the last couple of days it has certainly got bigger.), I am certainly looking forward to that. Just need to finalize the place and the buddies who would attend.
Also next week is the annual "Diwali Nite'. This is the official party of my dad's company for diwali. Its more like a moonh dikhai for me. Coz all the uncles and aunts ask me is like Kaise ho, Beta?; College me padhai kaisi chal rahi hai?; Job kahan mila?; Posting kahan hai? and stuff. It is only on the insistence of my mate, Prinshu that I go to this place. We end up having a good time together.
So I certainly look forward to this oppurtunity (To have booze, of course). Hope you guys have fun too over diwali. Bbye.......

It is that time of the year for which a Bengali always longs for. It is that time of the year for which a bong decks up his/her wardrobe for. Needless to say, I too had done the same.
Because of the postponement of the 7th mid-sems (or rather, we bunked it), I got the chance to catch up on some lost time for my puja shopping. One trip to the REEBOK store, one to the Pantaloons outlet at 22 Camac and I was done. I had enough clothing to last all the four (or rather, five) days of durga pujas plus the two days I had to dress up in ethnic clothes to give Anjali.
Our Richardson Hall's mess closed down on 27th september which was the day of panchami. So I neatly packed up my bag and took the bus to my grandmom's place at Paikpara, where I was to stay during the pujas. The plans started and my friends, who were mainly South Calcuttans (oops sorry, Kolkatans) came up with a whole night plan for Saptami (27th September). So since I had no plan for Panchami, I decided to spend the day lasily on the bed to catch up on some lost sleep. But before that, I had to give my examination at IMS. This one was called Mid-course assessment test (MCT 3) . Needless to say, it was pathetic. But who cares, I could already see the puja fun unfloding in front of my eyes.
The 28th of september which turned out to be Sashthi turned out to be dull. It rained all morning to afternoon leaving the roads waterlogged and making sure that I did not bring out my brand new Reeboks for an early puja opening show. In the evening, I went out with my mami and cousins for an early puja pandal hopping. First, we visited Deshbandhu Park & Jubabrinda. We then went to my mami's place to collect some much needed guest cards. After some refreshments there, we went on to Karbagan, Jubabrinda, Telengabagan and Gouribari. The pandals at the last two were especially well designed and I predicted that they would definitely win some awards(which came true 2 days later when the awards were announced). Since it was already 10pm, we came back home.
In the morning of 29th september, saptami, I could feel the pujas coming. Although it was just the first day of the festivities but my digital camera was already full of photographs of last evening's pujas. I had been invited to my youngest grandmom's place for lunch and which I duly obliged. After that at about 6pm I set out to meet my friends at Rabindra Sarobar Metro station to start off our night out.
I reached outside the metro at 7:30pm. Rik, Rajashik, Sabya, Arijit and Arkajeet joined me there. We then got up a bus to reach Jodhpur Park. There Arka, Shaon, Ayan, Zango and Sandy were waiting for us. Thus our group of 11 set out for our extravaganza.
First up, Jodhpur Park. Since it was 8 pm and saptami we got the maximum crowd there. Half and hour of pushing and sweating in the queue, we managed to reach the entrance of the pandal. But it was worth it. Not only was the durga pratima good, but the entire surroundings were beautiful too. I somehow managed to click 3 photographs of the entire surroundings.
Next up was Salim Pally. The queue was much much smaller and so we easily manouvered our way through the public there. The pandal and durga pratima were much smaller in size here. Subsequently we went on to see the pandals of Babubagan, Ekdalia Evergeen Club and Singhi Park.
Now it was 11pm and time for dinner. We headed off to the highly acclaimed restaurant of HATARI. This was on Rashbehari Avenue and by the size of the crowd that was standing outside, one could easily guess that there was a big rush too. We had to withstand a big confrontation with a lady (whom we guessed to be part of one of the following professions:
a) Teacher b) Politician c) Divorce lawyer d) Divorcee) before entering. It took us 60 mins to get inside the restaurant and an equally tiring 15 mins to decide upon our order. Finally, (and with some expert advice of Zango, who was a regular there and knew what was good and what was not) we ordered for some fried rice and schezuan chicken. Another 15 min wait to make it a full 90 mins of waiting, and our prasad, naa, food arrived.
The next hours went about visiting the pujas of Mudiali, 66 Palli, Md. Ali Park, College Square, Santosh Mitra Square etc. The themes for the pandals were indeed diverse. It ranged from Mudiali which had a Rajbari as its theme to Santosh Mitra Square which had the events of terrorist attacks as its theme. We covered the area of Central Kolkata at about the best time of the day (3am-5am). Minimum crowd, cool temperatures. It was only at about 5am that we were reminded of our tired limbs and minds. So the group broke up to go back home for a much needed sleep. When I got to Paikpara at 6am, I straight went to bed.
The next morning, or I should say the same morning because I had got home only 4 hours ago was Ashtami. And that meant the day of anjali to Goddess Durga. My grandmom broke into my sweet sleep and gave me a deadline of 11 am by which to get ready. I somehow managed to dress up. So I made the trip to the nearby pandal at 11 to offer my anjali. I was in the day's last batch.
It was Pamela called up at about 1 pm to inform me of the time and place to meet up. We decided to get to Rashbehari more where Souvik and Aritra would be joining us. At about 4 pm we got to the designated spot. We then had a nice tour down the area for about 3 hrs before we split up at Gariahat. I wanted to get back to bed coz I hadnt had that much of rest last night. So for me, my ashtami was over.
Navami morning was greeted by my dad who had come down from Jamshedpur that morning at 6. So had mom. By afternoon my uncles, aunts and cousins had come up. We had a nice get-together and lunch. By evening, and after completing a nice nap in the afternoon, my relatives decided to go out for some pandal hopping. But it was not until 8:30pm that we managed to go out.
Navami being the supposed last day of the pujas, draws the maximum crowd. We really had to evade through a lot of traffic to reach our starting point which was Cassipally lane near Scottish Church College. It was beautifully laden with gold-plating roofs etc. After that we went on to visit the pandals near Hatibagan.
At about 11pm, we reached Sovabazar Beniatola which had some mountain as its theme. Next up was Ahiritola which had a pagoda as its pandal theme surrounded by rickshaws. It was here that my dad obtained a pass for Kumartuli Park which he duly obliged and we justified our possessing it. Kumartuli Park had some kind of volcano as their pandal. Finally we rounded our tour with Bagbazar. It was 3am and my mom was constantly scolding me for keeping them out for so long.
Thus my Durga Puja '06 celebrations ended. I spent my next few days at home in Jamshedpur to complete my holidays. Just hope that wherever I be next year (coz I certainly wont be in Calcutta), I get to have the same fun I had this time.

There are some times in life when you wonder what you have done already and what it has caused. You tend to conduct an introspection into your actions, behavior and deeds. And it is then that a sense of cleansing comes into you.
It funny. I used to think that doing good deeds, helping out others, reaching out to people would earn me mileage. That it would earn me good reputation. But then I was wrong. I was wrong all the way. The world and the people in it do not remember what good you do to them. They start taking you for granted. And it is then that it hurts. It hurts you emotionally. It hurts you when you have to face embarassment for something you have not done just because they "expected" you to do it. And the worst part of it is to have to apologize. Apologize not because you were wrong. But apologize because you don't want to make enemies out of your supposed "friends".
The only thing that these materialistic people remember is your "achievements". They would never want to be a friend, or rather, be known as a friend of an under-achiever. That would not give them a good image in society and they don't want to be embarassed to call you a friend in public. Its as if you need to prove yourself to them all the time that you deserve to be their friend. But hey, thats not right. The only person(s) you need to prove yourself to is "YOU". Isn't that awkward? You would never to think it in that way. But it is true for sure. Because if you don't do that, you will be killing your own conscience. And without that, you are as hollow as a pipe.
So friends think about this sometime. Maybe this can help many of you to improve your lives...

Hope you like my next shayari...

Aapki aankhon me junoon nazar aata hai,
Aapke lavon par ikraar nazar aata hai.
Aap kahen yaa naa kahen,
Par hamen to aapke dil me apna chehra nazar aata hai.

Hi everybody,
Its been a long time that I have posted on my blog site. And as usual, the complaints were coming in. Needless to say, I was a touch busy with life. And not for the wrong reasons (plz.....).
A lot of changes have happenned in life since I last posted. My status has changed from unemployed to employed with my getting through into MINDTREE. So I'm a MINDTREE MIND now. Plz cut out jokes abt the name....
So here I am back to one of my favourite pastimes, blogging.... Hope you like my subsequent posts.
Bye. Mmmuuuaaahhhhh...
Abhishek Saha

Since this is my very first post, I would not like to bore you all who have taken the pain to visit this link.
I will start off with a shayari here. Hope you all like it...

Fursat nahi hai zakhmo par marham lagane ki,
nigahe badal gayi apne aur begaane ki!
Tum hamara saath na chodd dena kabhi,
warna tamanna na rahegi naye dost banane ki!!