My M.S. thesis defense took place a couple of weeks back, so I can now officially put two degrees next to my name. The dual-degree has been extensively written and talked about and while my affiliations used to lie with the anti-dual group, I really have nothing to say which has not been said before.

The end of the dual degree is an extremely unsatisfying experience. The 4-year people have a nice farewell, then a set of end-sems followed by a couple of weeks of total freedom before the authorities force them to leave or fork out the summer rent for their rooms. A whole batch passes out as one, with promises of “staying in touch” and “meeting up later”. With a dual-degree, there is no real farewell, there is no last hurrah, no celebration after a final set of exams. There is no sense of accomplishment or even a feeling of finality. One fine day, you just defend your thesis, pack your bags, clear your room … and leave, never to return.

Similarly, Rome came along, with its emphasis on powerful storytelling and meticulous characer development. This, coupled with the visually gorgeous sets and an intriguing depiction of Roman depravity, set a standard for all things ancient Rome-related. Series like these two (and many others – Pushing Daisies, The Sopranos, The Office, etc) may not always be the most entertaining or the best 20 or 60 minutes you will spend glued to the TV/computer-screen, but tend to be ones you will remember the most.

Consider for a moment series like HIMYM or TBBT. Some episodes and some quotes are certainly memorable – “When I’m sad, I stop being sad, and be awesome instead” or “A little misunderstanding? Galileo and the Pope had a little misunderstanding…” being apt examples. However, a few months after a season is over, you rarely seem to remember much of the story. What about character development or a story arc? Anything suitably absurd is acceptable as long as it can be made into a joke. The series writer’s greed for a few extra laughs shines through in their writing, and apart from some LOLs and a handful of ROFLs, they leave very little by way of a lasting impression. This is where series like Pushing Daisies and to some extent, The Office (US) get it right.

Now onto the subject matter of this post – Spartacus : Blood and Sand. It is the story of a Roman gladiator/slave who, to put it simply, walks around killing stuff. He hacks and slashes, with sword and axe, as buckets of animated blood and guts spill to the floor and the object of his violence dies a painful and gruesome death. Being about gladiators, is it better than Rome? Definitely not. However, this is probably one of the most memorable series I have seen.

Why you should NOT see this -

1. How much is too much? The series starts off with an unhealthy overdose of nudity and blood. At times, you wonder if “Spartacus : Blood and Sand” was dreamed up by a horny, 300-obsessed  teenager. Every character when introduced, is shown either naked or with blood spewing out of them. John Hannah? Naked! Lucy Lawless? Naked. Erin Cummings? Fully clothed for a while, then … BAM! Naked! Andy Whitfield? Naked WITH blood! At one point, I was screaming “Enough naked people! Get on with the story!” into my monitor.
2. Low-ish budget. The sets seem fairly authentic, to be perfectly honest. However, when this series is inevitably compared with Rome, the limited-area sets seem like a major issue. The CG parts, especially in the first few episodes are a bit fake. The writers do the sensible thing, and rely less on fancy CG and more on solid acting as the series progresses.

Why you SHOULD see this -

1. It really improves as the season progresses. The first few episodes, as you can imagine, are watchable, but not particularly great. There is just way too much blood, the acting is a bit shit and you shake your head wondering if the next 40-minutes are worth the effort. Somewhere near episode 4, the series takes a turn for the glorious! The acting suddenly becomes very real, the blood is less a torrent and more a drizzle, the characters seem more lifelike, the story falls into place, the atmosphere reeks of ancient Rome’s decadence and you can almost feel the crowd’s lust for violence as the arena resonates with chants of “Kill!Kill!Kill!”
2. Story-first. A lot of TV series try to “protect” the main leads. These special characters build up a strong bond with the audience, and it makes commercial sense for the writers to somehow make sure that they survive. No matter what the odds, the storyline will be twisted in such a way as to ensure their survival for seasons 2, 3 and 4. Not with Spartacus, oh no! Everything is secondary to the story – the last episode is titled “Kill Them All“, and I was (pleasantly) surprised to see two major characters killed. These two characters were probably the best and most believable actors in the entire season, and here in the season finale, they lie in a pool of their own blood, with a sword sticking out their backs! Brilliant! This hammers in the message that “story is king” and the characters merely pawns. Plus, the story is actually pretty good. A lot of little sub-plots intertwine and make you exclaim “Holy hell! This is going to have an epic finale!“
3. Equality. A lot of series along such lines tend to show just the standard heterosexual male standpoint. In Spartacus, you almost pity the men, as they are objectified more than the women, and irrespective of sex, characters are shown to have a nasty, decadent side.
4. Well-done action sequences. Despite the blood flying around, all the major battles are well done – adrenalin pumping music, artful use of slow-motion ala Time Warp, helmet-cams, etc.

Final Verdict : Definitely watch it, if you can stomach it. The story is engrossing enough to make you forward through some of the pointless nudity. This series might well have been called “Spartacus : A level of depravity never seen before“, but for better or worse, this is one TV series you wont be forgetting anytime soon.

Coaching: I did not go for any coaching at any stage for the IIMA/IIMC admits. This fact made me pretty nervous in the run up to CAT and the interviews. The last time I went for coaching, I spent the weekends of XI and XII at one of the best coaching classes in Mumbai, attempting to crack JEE. I eventually ended up with 3k in screening and a 6k-ish rank in Mains. I did pretty badly, in a nutshell. I honestly did not feel like that coaching was any form of value-add 6 years ago, and during CAT/interviews, I was determined to go it alone.

The only reason I put this here is for the record. When I was slogging on my own for the interviews, I rarely came across anyone who said “I didn’t go for coaching at any stage, didn’t order in any standardized reading material and still got an admit“. Reading something along these lines would have been pretty helpful for my morale, and that is the reason I put this up here. However, I met a fair number of people at the interviews, who had come there without any coaching, and have A/C admits. I am sure there is a sizeable number, but people just don’t bother putting it up.

CAT: I consider the CAT a thoroughly unpleasant experience. I already had 2 degrees, so I wasn’t too serious about it. However, it was an examination I was attempting, and I intended to do justice to it. Most people already have a pretty good “speed-accuracy ratio” going for them during AIEEE/JEE, and it takes about a week of CAT-slogging to get rid of 4-engineering-years worth of rust. That was precisely what I did before the CAT. One week of slogging to get all the rust out of my system, and about another week to cover the syllabus. I eventually got a 99.68 percentile. However, it is entirely possible that I fluked a good score and like I read on forums, 8 months of prep and a hundred mocks are required to score well. I really have no idea. Coaching classes seem to send so many people to good MBA places, so I believe it may have been a huge value-add for them. I consider CAT to be a huge pain in the ass, and have no idea what works. Anything I have to say about it is probably not going to help anyone.

Calls: When the scores came out, along with interview calls from only A and C, I was a bit surprised. I assumed 88% and 91% in X and XII in CBSE, along with a cgpa of 8.45 in IIIT-H, as well as a dual degree would get me more calls. It didn’t. Once you have calls from A, B or C, a level of arrogance sets in, and you start looking at the rest of the calls as “practice sessions“. I was worried that I didn’t have any “practice sessions“. I am really embarrassed about this viewpoint and was an arrogant b*stard at the time, but this is ground reality. I mention it however, with a sense of shame, as dealing with this feeling is critical in doing well – you begin to feel a sense of being better than you really are, and think “If I did so well with so little prep for CAT, I will do similarly well in the interviews.“

That is downright unacceptable, and for the next couple of days, it was hard work keeping my feet on the ground. Complacency began to set in. I was basically walking around looking really smug – think Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man 2, only less good-looking. I had a month and a half for my interviews, and wasted about the first week doing absolutely nothing. Finally, reality caught up with me – I had just two shots, against the best in the country, with no coaching, and had to make each one of the interviews count.

TBC… Part III in a few days time.

P.S.: Hover over links.

I realize that there are 4 things shocking about the previous paragraph -

• I made 58 resolutions for 2010.
  • I refuse to comment on speculation that I pulled the number out of my posterior.
• I actually managed to keep 13 of them.
  • Thats like, an unparalleled 22.5% success rate! IN YOUR FACE!
• I will be posting FORTY-EIGHT more times this year!
  • May God have mercy on your souls, etc.
• I actually watch cricket and know who Dhoni is.
  • With Liverpool doing so splendidly well, I have gone back to supporting the team I used to in 2001 – Leeds United, who are second in the league. Which is the Coca Cola League One, but SECOND they are! However, due to their matches not coming on TV, I watch the dreadful sport of cricket instead.

Anyway, onto the subject matter of the post. “GD/PI experiences” are plentiful on the internet. They are especially abundant in that haven-of-Bschool-related-spamming that is the PagalGuy forum. Reading a dozen or so experiences are helpful, no doubt, to get a feel of the rough areas an IIM interviewer can cover. Beyond that, you just end up getting disoriented by the sheer volume of questions, most of which you dont stand a chance of being asked. Why? Because not everyone is from the same sodding place or has the same sodding background. Logic dictates that the interviewer will probably NOT ask you questions about some random village in Uttarkhand if you’re not from it.

Besides, the more the “experiences” you read about, the more you tend to overanalyze – seeing minor patterns which may/maynot really exist. After reading the thousandth GD/PI experience, you may exclaim “Ah! Now I know! IIMA asks academics from people with XYZ background!” or “Eureka! I’ve figured it out! IIMC asks about hobbies if they include ABC” , etc. Lady Luck is usually a bit of a bitch though, and such narrow preparation leaves you vulnerable to the vagaries of the average interview.

I was faced with the same dilemma, and I had a pretty simple solution – prepare everything, thoroughly, for every interview. Yes, it was a total overkill. And of course, it takes a fair bit of effort. This is especially hard while juggling a full time job. But if you aren’t willing to put in that effort, the question isnt “Will I clear the IIM interview?“, the question is “What am I doing in an IIM interview in the first place?“

Now is the time for some magic! I will make TWO posts out of ONE! Ta-da! Part 2 will be up soon. Well, unless I get lazy again. In which case this page will languish on this blog unread and unloved for a few months, before spam comments about real estate and real men flood my comment section. Lets be optimistic though, shall we? Part 2 will be up soon.

Writing a post which is simultaneously, sensible and relevant enough to engage an audience, and opinionated and quirky enough to be (somewhat) funny is hard. Attempting to do so after a break of eleven months falls under the category of madness, and is, as the title of the blog screams “An Exercise in Pointlessness”. So, I will not try.

New Years resolutions range from the obvious like “Must go to gym more” to the impractical “Must have more baths and use less deoderant” to the quirky “Must get my belching under control” to the downright ridiculous “Must stop stalking people on facebook”. Honestly, how silly could someone be? Why would you want to STOP stalking people on facebook? Its such total timepass. Or so people tell me. I am not on facebook. Yet. Yes, yes, that is one of my resolutions.

On the topic of personal resolutions, putting out fifty blog posts in the year of 2010 is one of them. Here goes Post No. 1/50. The following creation of Bill Waterson has been stolen from some random website on the internet. Damn, there goes resolution no. 42 “If you do stuff of questionable legality, do not admit to it“.

To quote directly from the wiki page, Monty Python “is a group of six comedians who created Monty Python’s Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show … the phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and impact… The group’s influence on comedy has been compared to The Beatles’ influence on music.” Their impact has been so great that not just do they have a word in the dictionary – Pythonesque, but they are also the inspiration behind the use of spam for junk mail.

Monty Python’s brand of humour is essentially absurdist (which means a lot of bizarre situations, a lot of things which are funny because they are illogical) – the Parrot sketch is a perfect example of this – a man walks into a pet shop and tries to get a dead parrot exchanged. This does not mean they are stuffy/tedious English-gentleman-types who are masters of the understatement. Their sketches seem to have almost every dimension of humour covered – from slapstick (like the Fish slapping dance), to caustic humour (Guy de Lombaird’s castle) to innuendo (Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook or Nudge,Nudge) to parodies (Four Yorkshireman) to surreal comedy (The Dirty Fork).

Apart from those mentioned above, a list of some of their best sketches -

1. Argument Clinic – a man walks into an “argument clinic”, where he pays to argue with a trained professional.

2. Self Defense Against Fresh Fruit – This sketch involves a man dressed as a martial arts instructor telling his “students” how to defend themselves against a man armed with a banana (first you shoot him with a gun, and then EAT the banana thus disarming him).

3. The Spanish Inquisition – Three pseudo-incompetent clergy (cardinals) are unable to decide how best to make up a scary intro dialogue and are ill-equipped to torture those deemed guilty.

4. The Funniest Joke in the World – A man writes a joke so funny, it kills anyone who understands it. It is then weaponised and used in “joke warfare” in the World War.

5. The Lumberjack Song – A song about a lumberjack who isnt quite as manly as he looks.

They also wrote/acted in some films, two of which are very well known – Life of Brian and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. These two are frequently voted in the top 10 comedy films ever made, and would make my top 10 among all the films I have seen. The Holy Grail is also a good starting place for those who dont know anything about the Pythons. Be warned though – watch it for too long, and you might actually laugh your way to death.

-> Badrinath.S

P.S.: Damn the international break. Liverpool could have used the momentum. Is Alex Ferguson the only manager who time and time again doesnt talk to the official press after a loss?

P.P.S.: A pointless post, but I have spent far too much time watching/admiring the work these six men have done to not pay a tribute to it.

I watch my fair share of films.  But if I were to make a list of films, sort them by language and count how many of each I have seen, hindi films would be in joint fourth.  English would lead the count, followed by Chinese (mostly from the erstwhile Hong Kong film industry – Jackie Chan, etc) and then Tamil. Admittedly, some of you may be tempted to compare me being asked my opinions on hindi films with asking a monkey its opinion on the Large Hadron Collider.

However, last I checked, I was no monkey and hindi films were usually dumb feel-good affairs – it was easier to “understand” a hindi film than it was to tie ones own shoelaces. Even a LOLcat would understand one – “BOY MEET GURL. PARENTS NOT LAIK. SHIT HAPPEN. HERO BE AWSUM. PARENTS AGREE. COUPLE CAN HAS MARRIAGE. HAPPY 4 EVER!!”

That appears to have changed over a fairly short period of time though. With serious cinema suddenly coming to the fore, I can finally watch hindi films without cringing. One such film is Gulaal, which I managed to catch on the big screen. With a quality backdrop, some stunning performances and hauntingly addictive music, it appears to have everything to be an outstanding film.

KayKay Menon (Dukey Bana) and Piyush Mishra (Prithvi Bana) are practically flawless in the portrayal of their respective characters. The incendiary speeches were especially well done. Abhimanyu Singh (as Rananjay) and Deepak Dobriyal (Bhati) are quite good as well. The whole film appears to have a bit too much red (obvious from the name/posters) but it just adds to the atmosphere. As mentioned before, the music score is addictive – after I got back, I simply HAD to listen to the music again.

The film does have its flaws though – mostly character development and a lack of a backstory for some of the main cast. Jesse Randhawa’s character seems particularly pointless. Additionally, the poster promises us a film on LUURVE, POWER and REVOLUSHUN. The power and revolution parts are particularly well executed but the LUURVE aspect is underwhelming. The second half of the film falls a bit flat on its face after the first half promised so much. Personally though, I felt the end was quite all right, but to each his own.

Imo, its a bloody good film which could have been better.

-> Badrinath.S

P.S.: Most images shamelessly lifted from the official website. Dont think they will mind.

P.P.S.: Two other movie reviews I have done – The Fall and Dhoom 2

P.P.P.S.: For those experiencing depression due to something they saw on TV, please call – 09 212121 141414. This is for fans of ManU only. Liverpool did the double over them this season.

I stepped out the door. Something hit my head. Crimson liquid streaming down my neck! My shirt was now stained blood red!

“Aaargh!! Sniper!” – I yelled, hitting the deck.

Laughter all around. I turned. “Happy holi!” – they screamed in unison.

—-

2. “War – what is it good for?” I thought, crouching low behind the bushes.

“There he is!” – someone yelled. I clutched my weapon tighter. I was spotted! I ran, felt something heavy explode on my back*, tripped and fell.

The hunt was over.

My pichkari slipped away as the other kids drenched me with coloured water.

—-

The running theme is “The reluctant Holi enthusiast”. The problem with themes is that everything after the first one is predictable. The ‘*’ where I refer to something exploding is about the now selectively-banned water balloons.

-> Badrinath.S

P.S. : People should be encouraged to write more 55-fiction. Its quick, dirty and fun. It takes at most 5 minutes to come up with an idea, and another 15 to heighten tension and correct the word limit. 20 minutes in all.

P.P.S. : Heppi holi etc.

P.P.P.S. : Shameless link to part I.

He raised his hand to wave. He would finally come out of his brother’s shadow.

He heard something snap. It was his last conscious thought.

“Death by blunt chest trauma” – announced the medic. “Owen Hart is dead.”

2. The office party was in full swing. She sat in a morose silence, oblivious to her drunk coworkers and they squeals of joy.

“Ready?” he asked her. “Does it matter?” she replied, taking the mike in her hands. She looked down at the paper in her hands. It was a list of names titled “Redundancies”.

3. She smiled as the memory of her piano concert came flooding back into her head. “Once in a generation genius” – the press had tagged her. “Everything will be okay, we are here now,” she heard her father’s reassuring voice.

She slid into consciousness. She was struck speechless as her eyes fell on her amputated arms.

—–

Not particularly good, but not too shabby either for a first (few) attempt(s) at 55-fiction. I seem to be shockingly good at writing 56-fiction. Every attempt went to exactly 56 words when I finished, after which many words were cut and sentences were rewritten. I was thinking about titling this “55 fiction : When Bad Shit Happens to Good People“, but decided against it – I dont need to explicitly state it. Parts II and III and so forth will probably be on themes like “KLPD”, “The vagaries of fate”, “aliens”,  “FML”, etc

-> Badrinath.S

P.S. : I decided to start writing depressing 55-fiction as it seemed so easy. Just so many possible endings – death, loss of limbs, loss of jobs, loss of mental faculties, loss of money, etc

P.P.S. : Now for the credits section. Two blogs on blogroll – this one and that one.

P.P.P.S. : Dont bother counting the words. I made sure they came to 55

(i know this doesn’t look anything like Maharashtra or Bihar. But what the hell.)

Situation I – “Migration” of Goods

Assume – Maharashtra (Mah) employs tens of thousands of people in the pot-making-industry. These people and their families depend on this local pot-sale to earn their livelihood. (Clay pots obviously, not the one used for *cough* * cough* medicinal purposes) Mah needs lots of clay pots, which it buys from Maharashtrian pot-makers, made out of locally available clay.

Assume – Bihar needs very few clay pots. One day in Bihar, somebody discovers huge, cheap, easily-harvestable raw clay deposits. Labour is also cheap. Bihar suddenly starts mass-producing cheap pots. But Bihar doesnt need so many pots. They decide to sell pots off to Mah. Bihari pots, cheap ones, start flooding the market. Mah pot workers are unable to compete, because – firstly their clay simply costs more. Second, the cost of living in Mah is higher than in Bihar. Basically, if the pot-maker needs 3000 bucks a month (just an assumption for comparison) in Mah, he would be able to live the same life at 2000 bucks in Bihar (I exaggerate. based on per capita income, I guess 1000 bucks in Bihar should be more than enough).

Bihari pots are an absolute rage simply because they are cheaper. Local pot-makers are losing jobs. No alternate source of income. Bihar creates wealth, but at what cost? At the cost of Mah’s. To prevent a situation like this, the Mah government (just taking an educated guess) levies taxes to make both pot costs comparable and then let the people decide. Fair? As ardent a supporter of Laissez-Faire as I am, this is certainly fair. This “regulation” is what is done when “goods” move from state to state. What about workers then?

(Makes me a bit queasy; putting this pic up in this context is slightly unethical. Apologies. Couldn’t find a better image.)

Situation II – “Migration” of Workers

Similar to the previous case. Mumbai based railway employees, taxi drivers, truck drivers, factory workers (small scale too), office peons etc live locally with their families. They buy food and clothing, pay for their kids schooling, etc at Mumbai-prices, which is far higher than Bihar prices. They need some “minimum income” to survive, say 3000 bucks a month. The Bihari/UP-ite can do with 2000 bucks a month. He offers to do the same job the Maharashtrian does at 2/3 the cost! Obviously companies and factories will hire this cheap labour. His family is back in Bihar/UP anyway, and if he can save even 1000 bucks and send it back, that would be a huge step up for them.

As of right now, Bihari/UP labour is plentiful – thus the supply is immense (1.2 billion of us around and all that), and the demand is only finite. The market pays just 2000 bucks for the job. The Maharashtrian will have to make do with that paltry sum (which isnt enough for him/his family), or remain jobless (which leads nowhere really) or try for a better job (unlikely with his skills) or most likely – move out of Mumbai, to eke out a living elsewhere (not a solution).

In the recent Railway exams, some figures said some 12k Biharis turned up for 3k jobs. What people fail to realize is that for every one migrant who has done something noteworthy for the city, there dozens of other migrants, from the same place as this one person, rotting in the slums. While goods are easy to regulate, is it necessary and possible to regulate this movement of labour?

To Conclude

Most people who see this situation do not understand it – this fight isn’t about those of us stuck in plush offices and well-decorated homes (so please dont bring rubbish about “corporate” jobs into the argument). It isn’t even about average people with average means (most normal desk jobs and lower rung jobs). Its about the autodrivers, factory workers and unskilled labourers. That is the keyword – UNSKILLED. Migration of people is all well and good. Problems arise when the only jobs they are capable of doing is manual labour (and a bit of driving, etc which does require “skill”, but it can be trained fairly easily. 12+3/4 years of education however, cannot. )

Next Part – The third part will raise more points for and against stopping this “migration”. Also, a bit about the perpetrators of the violence. May also discuss possible solutions. Promises to be far less boring. Will contain very bad attempts at humour. Oh, and a truly terrible analogy too. Perhaps.

“Fun” Fact – 60% of people in Mumbai live in the slums, and about 20% of people (an estimate which I remember reading somewhere) are from UP and Bihar. Which is a hell of a lot.

Further Reading : An Interview on Devil’s Advocate about the issue.