Sir Roy Keane

Confessions of a Pancreatic Mind!

2010-11-29T06:44:00.001-08:00

Stretching has become a part of life now! Being an integral part of the custom set-up at Grail teaches an individual the nuances of sitting through an arduous session of researching and analyzing drugs for colo-rectal cancer and the subsequent dosage requirements which would subject an individual’s not so sound body to anti-cancerous amounts of Irinotecan Hydrochloride.

If that doesn’t turn you on, then speaking to a receptionist working in the ministry of economic development in some corner of Brasilia will! (For some, the equivalent delight would come from analyzing Tomato Paste market in Nigeria) Well, to be fair, there are guys for whom Deliverables, Client Deadlines, Formatting, 0-51-102 has the same effect that ‘Pamela Anderson Nude’ has on normal men.

As I approach my 11th month into this firm, I see myself transforming into someone whose waist line is showing no symptoms of curtailing itself. I guess that’s what happens when you like doing something. Sitting in office for countless hours analyzing anything and everything from drugs for Small cell lung cancer to the ARPU of some god-damn-firm in Sofia, I have taught myself the art of dwelling into things in a way I never thought I could, even while doing my MBA.

Happiness during such times comes not only through times when the job is well done, but also when you have something to look forward to in your social life. And for me, that social setting would come from placing myself like a slob in front of the television watching some high quality football. (I have absolutely no idea as to how I managed to get this discussion around football again)

As I was saying, watching United demolish Rovers the other day brought back not so great memories of the Arsenal of 2003-04. We played with great flair, demonstrated excellent wing-play, and to cap it all, Mr. Bulgaria reminded us that he was indeed worth all that money!

We are known as the team that warms up during the winter chill, and I hope this season is no different. While I am sitting in office waiting for my PL to review my slides (Teva Pharmaceuticals are in deep fish and litigation in underway in the Eastern court of Pennsylvania to screw them up) I can’t help but think about the El-classico tonight at the Nou Camp.

One of those matches when you have two teams coming into a game on the back of super –prime form.Probably one of those days when you tend to feel great even after putting 14 straight hours at work.

But this is what life is! And football is where the buck stops!

This is El classico! Where everything else will cease to exist!

5 hours from now, and its glory time!

Hala Madrista, Barca Feura! :D

Internship : 10 days on

2009-05-16T23:46:00.000-07:00

I'm one of those souls headhunted by Bank of Baroda through campus rec.my project title is as follows

'International operations : product and process innovations to meet customer needs in global scenario' (I've been placed in the forex vertical)

my project involves analysing the various products/services introduced by peer banks and whether/how the same could be integrated into BOB's working structure. The above also include bringing about any changes to their existing schemes, mooting new product proposals etc (for ex - gift schemes by amex, bank conditionalities etc etc)

I'm 10 days into my internship and the experience has been pretty so-so. as a fresher, there were a lot of apprehensions/questions/curiosity going into my internship.

First day started off with me 'self-introducing' myself to the AGM. Then I was introduced to the forex dept head.I was given some documents to study .This pertained to the various transactions that had taken place in the last some days. The above included going through LC's, BOE, commercial Invoices, understanding the documentation process, trade procedures so on and so forth.

Then I was introduced to (and briefed about) the various financial products and services pertaining to the forex vertical and other products in general.

I share my cabin with the seond in line of forex dept (rather, he shares it with me) and there are a lot of transactions that take place between him and customers/company representatives on an hour to hour basis.

I learned about how the spot and forward transactions are done and how the same is processed through computers. people have been very friendly and co-operative (probably cos i'm the only intern in the branch) ; and the workplace ambience has been praiseworthy

Its been a good 10 days, and i'm enjoying working on the project. here's believing that i'l be able to do justice to the same (and to the teas & coffees that happens to be served on an intermittant basis )

ps -.....and contrary to popular beliefs, people in sarkari offices do work hard ;)

Fcuk me!!!

2009-03-14T08:07:00.000-07:00

Today would have to be one of my darkest days as a united supporter. Am absolutely crushed!

you just cant have liverpool coming to your backyard and score 4 past you! its simply not done!

there's this convention, you lose to anyone, but not to liverpool! (those pompous asses from maine road could also be included in this category)

You had united and pool both coming into this game at the back of great performances. while we had seen off inter, pool had mauled madrid.

Pool-utd fixture is a different ball game all together! it really doesn't matter what you've done before, whether you've scored 4 or 400 counts for zilch!

But what transpired at OT today is just not it!

while we are still sitting pretty at the top of the league with one hand on the trophy, this fixture would be there, for all the wrong reasons, ceratinly for a good few years to haunt you.

I was distraught when porto knocked us out of the CL in 2004, even more when we lost to citeh the day when manchester was mourning busby babes' 50th anniversary. This result would prolly be right down there.

we can still go out there and do the mothaf'in quintaple, thats very much on the cards, but this fixture just cant change the fact that pool beat us by four!

conceeding 4 against liverpool at old trafford is not acceptable, it simply isn't!!!!!

Busby Babes - Lest we forget!

2009-02-07T05:28:00.000-08:00

A broken heart , a broken dream , a broken plane , a broken team, no words were said a silent vow, we loved you then , we love you now, The red flag will always fly, for man. united will never die.

51 years on, remembered always.

Gone, But never ever forgotten, AMEN

Maine Road Madness! :mg:

2009-01-21T12:19:00.000-08:00

The prospect of kaka coming to maine road would have changed the very face of BPL , atleast in the short run!

Kaka looked out of sorts over the past season and particularly since the arrival of Ronaldinho at Milan.

In terms of a cash value, City had placed a figure of £100m on the Brazilian playmaker, with a weekly wage of £500,000 being suggested almost unanimously.

But then , Kaka aint robinho! (am i glad!)

He would never do something like Robinho, who, just to earn more, contented himself with a solution that was not a winning one.

Not doubting robinho's talent to turn city's fortunes around , but at the EOD , you cant get in someone into the scheme of things hoping for a turnaround!

Their multilingual midfield looks completely out of sorts , and their defence could let even pamela anderson run through them!

Co-ordination and stability (& common sense) holds the key for citeh , if they nurture any ambition to be among the top brass in the PL.

Textual harrasment!

2009-01-15T11:17:00.000-08:00

17th december 2007 was the day me came across pagalguy , a site famed for its expertise about the B-world!

Initially , the name dint strike a chord. What a weird name for a site me thought.

That 'delusion' became history and Over time , I got the oppurtunity to interact with , argubly , the best brains in the country , about the different propositions that were on offer for a fresher about to embark on a journey towards becoming a manager.

It dint take me long to discover what pagalguy really had in store. You could literally choose your pick on topics ranging from movies to football to Mckinsey to Bernard madoff to what not!

Pagalguy , as time went by , went from becoming more than just 'an other MBA website'.

The potential for constructive discussions was top notch. The level of maturity that was on offer was praiseworthy.

Here's where a scouser and a manc could fight over CR7's theatrics and still close off the argument having the same utmost respect as before.

Pagalguy was fun , and I enjoyed scripting posts like never before , whether it be on topics like wharton , harvard or on nice little things like gemma atkinson ;) .

I soon became the green eyed boy having 1000+ posts to my credit.

Today ,Whenever my comp is not taken over by 'ahsan mannan khan bhutta' (and the likes) I Do make an honest attempt to contribute whatever i've learned over course of time through this legendry medium!

Pagalguy means a lot , and the scripting of posts shall continue forever...

Dedicated to - prem ravi , tenacity , sumitrocks , fire_kris , coolroy , joker , andy4you , swagatsinha , anvesh23 , ambujesh , Vkris81 , estranged_gnrs , polpot , PSL , diablorulez , deep agarwal , ande_ka_funda, the egonomist , deepu , rockball , ankit_insane , monsterkarthik...

...and many more who've made this place so very special!

The Homecoming

2008-12-11T12:28:00.000-08:00

After five months of dealing with keynesian theories , cash flows , eclectic paradigms , marketing mixes and trade policies , I'm finally done with my first semester at DU.

Its been a memorable journey so far , be it the friends that i've made , the unprecedented honour of being at JP, the long walk down north campus , the TT battles at ISH , the late night paranthas at maurice nagar , the political F-ups at mansarowar ; its been bloody brilliant!

Its time for home now , and I could'nt have been more excited. Its been five months since i've seen a movie on HBO / Star Movies , five fishin months since i've had a filter coffee. make no mistake , I shall make amends.

I would miss delhi , but then , god's own country shall take precedence over the next 25 days. Eight more hours , and i'l be off baby..

With the likelihood of catching up with old pals and cousins , i'm bloody looking forward to being home.

Sunday shall be the day.

Get the eff in you guys!

In memoriam , Mumbai 26/11

2008-12-07T22:19:00.000-08:00

Unexplained paradoxes!

2008-11-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

A few days back , I had to go to this place called 'piccadelhi' which happens to be at some distance from the place where I live. I had to reach this place by 3 , so I had timed my departure in such a way that I could be there well ahead of time.

Now , I had the divine privelege to be accompanied by this friend of mine (read pretty woman)

There are a few things which I would want to bring to everyone's notice.

( read - lessons which me learned the not so easy way during the course of the journey)

lesson no 1 - women always tend to walk slow.

I am yet to unravel the mysteries of nature, so I have accepted it at face value.

The person in contention had this uncanny nack of covering 1.45345 mm every 3 seconds. I had no option but to walk at the same 'pace'.

lesson no 2 - women just love their mobiles.

'her highness' was always on the phone throughout the journey (read sleek nokia cell).

Yours truly had this dinosaur zamane ka 'nokia 3310' which he was very reluctant to expose in broad daylight. The situation wasn't helped by the fact that her walkin pace (read walkin slow) was extraordinarily,fantastically and absolutely slow.

her 'pace' was so slow that even liverpool could have won the premier league before she reached the destination.

lesson 3 - never get lost while with a woman.

At the rate at which we were walkin (read - she was walkin) , by the time we reached the venue , maria sharapova would have turned 40.

yours truly tried explaining to 'her highness' about the paucity of time. we reached the metro station and took the escalator towards exit.

In the crowd , by the time I had taken the escalator , she was nowhere to be seen. soon , me found myself lost (I believe she had increased her speed in such a manner which would have made even sputnik proud)

lesson 4 - Never annoy a woman

now , yours truly was truly lost. when contacted , this friend of mine tried explaining to me the directions so that we could catch up (but to no avail)

As I found out in due time , when women get annoyed , you would have a lot of 'get lost' and 'shut up' coming your way.

(you would also have a lot of other words which would come your way. I wont elaborate)

finally she had to come back again to the 'tentative' place at which me thought we got lost. (at that point of time , I was smart enough to understand not to have any eye contact whatsoever)

we made our way out of the metro station.

finally , the impossible was achieved and we managed to reach picadelhi. (Pheeew!)

moral - There are some paradoxes which are yet to be explained.

ps - leontief , over to you!

North campus , Delhi University

2008-10-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

As someone who has spent 13 years in bombay , 4 years in bangalore and 4 years in manipal , the very thought of a place like delhi offering something new was unlikely.

Chole kulche , aloo tikki and the metro proved me wrong.

Three months have passed since I have taken refuge in the comfort of north campus , delhi university.

The place for one is serene. Lots of trees , no traffic , brilliant roads.

My impression of delhi being a crowded , hustle-bustle type of a place had been defied ; atleast by north campus (although places like Chandni chowk , chawri bazaar have stood out in its own pristine glory)

There are lots of things thats there to be said about north campus.

Firstly , the aura of being right here in DU .

People that I have come across here have taken serious pride of being a part of this university. There are many who consider this the mecca for learning. I still haven't learnt the nuances of being a DU'ite , but people have vouched for the fact that with time , I would have DU-liq flowing in my blood.

As someone who has just finished his engineering from a college which spread 160 acres , the very thought of being in a place , as small as the one that DSE has to offer , was somewhat hard to digest. But it dint take me long to figure out the 'intensity' of this place.

A Professional PG course did take its toll in the last 3 months. the pressure , the agony , the frustration , the reading up on things so on and so forth.

As I figured out in due time , north campus had an answer to this , especially for a hostelier like me. A walk down north campus late at night proved to be 'the' thing for me.

Since NC is an area thats cut off from traffic , come night , it is only me and the road. The beauty thats there to witness is unparalled. Such is the pleasure , that one wouldn't mind admiring the place for a good couple of hours. As winter starts to set in , I can very well fathom what the place would be like.

As lights torch mansarowar in the dead of the night in lieu of diwali , here's hoping that north campus continues to be the place that it is for times to come.

Haka | Kapa o pango!

2008-10-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

The first time I saw it , it sent a shiver down my spine!

The next time I saw it , it gave me goosebumps!

Before I realized , I was in awe of maori culture!

Seldom has something captivated me the way haka has! Argubly , The greatest sporting spectacle of all time.

The haka is known to millions courtesy the 'all blacks' , but most people mistake it for a war cry. The haka , infact, is more of a traditional dance genre of the maoris' (a tribe in new zealand)

The interpretation of the lyrics differ (from whats performed on the field to its original meaning); its usually taken at face value as a 'cry of war' when the all blacks perform the same.

My tryst with rugby started with haka. I remember those days when I used to look up the schedule of TOI just to mark out any rugby fixtures featuring the all blacks.

The joy of watching the all blacks perform the haka was next to none. The Icing on the cake was when carlos spencer did the honours.

Before I realized it , I found myself supporting the all blacks , cherishing every win of theirs and mourning each of their losses.

In the fall of 2005 , the all blacks re-defined intimidation through 'kapa o pango'. south africans were the first to witness it. Tana umaga did the honours.

Come to think of it , it still hurts me that I couldn't catch the game live and had the watch the same on youtube

The kapa o pango was definately the bigger brother among the two with its typical cut-throat ending hogging the limelight.

With times , the haka has changed , but the intensity remains unmatched.you'd still be feeling the goosebumps , immaterial of the no. of times you see the same being performed.

Never would a sporting spectacle be able to generate such passion , intensity , emotions as these two dance genres have! ( keane leading his team out of the tunnel at OT would come a not-so-distant second ;) )

Haka and kapa o pango certainly have etched their names on heaven's lining!

Nothing has , and nothing will , ever , match the intensity of these two great sporting spectacles!

Sir Heath Ledger

2008-10-04T10:48:00.000-07:00

Fantabulous would be a grand understatement when it comes to describing ledger's performance in dark knight!

My sincerest thanks to 'one comment' which 'forced' me to go see this movie.

Now , I would be the last person people would associate to go see a batman movie! One fine day as I was surfing , there was this article on dark knight which caught my eye! Fair enough , lets check it out I thought!

That was about the time when i realized the 'significance' of this film regards heath ledger! ( get the drift? read on!)

The person in question opined that if ledger dint get an oscar for his performance , the next best thing would be to boyott the oscars.

Darn! Now it really would have been some performance on heath's part for the writer to be coming out with such an audacious statement (or some balls on the writer's part to be as assertive as this!)

Now come hell or high, I wanted to see the movie! I dint care who in the blue hell the knight was , all I wanted was to see joker . I wanted to see the movie only for ledger!

What followed suit was one of the finest performances one could ever witness on a 72 mm screen! captivating , breath-taking , phenomenal , ledger's performance had it all!

It would have taken some effort on whomsoever's part to drift away from the conventionality that joker was known for to this psycopatic , deranged maniac! Had ledger not got it right , brand batman would very well have been ridiculed!

Harvey complimented joker well , but this film rode on joker!

A performance that bludgeoned the very existance of other characters! An execution so perfect , that you could see the movie a thousand times and not get bored.

A master-performance that would surely be remembered for years to come.

Sir heath had well and truly nailed it!

Sir Roy Keane

2008-10-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

It was the most emphatic display of selflessness I have seen on a football field. Pounding over every blade of grass, competing if he would rather die of exhaustion than lose, he inspired all around him. I felt it was an honour to be associated with such a player - SAF on Keane's Semi final perfomance against juventus in '99

The above lines can be read a thousand times but the intensity of which would never be dimmed!

Roy maurice Keane epitomized leadership. 'Happiness is not being afraid' , these words sure described the way keano played the game all these years. It was sheer pleasure to see the great man in action, for he changed the way football was played in the midfield.

Roy's influence on the field changed the way I went about things , and I can vouch for the fact that it would have influenced thousands all over! His dedication on the field was exemplary , his passion , unmatched! I felt priveleged to be sitting in front of the tv watching the great man do what he did for it is players like him that inspired people like me.

Today , times have changed , the devils have marched on to new territories , but keano's contribution remain etched in the minds of all!Fail to prepare , prepare to fail , these words by roy have always shattered the tranquility of any doubts that I ever had about myself .

Although 18-11-05 witnessed the departure of one of the greatest players ever to have graced the lawns of Old Trafford , the 12 years that he spent at OT would be remembered for years to come!

Today , As I see united battle it out , one thing is for certain , Today is good , and these guys are definately good , but there are no Roy Keanes!