Mr. Vivek Tripathi is the Human Resources Head of Adobe Systems India. An alumnus of XLRI Jamshedpur, he has found his dream job at Adobe after working with couple of organizations. The pride of working in a world class company is written large on his face. Especially, when he has contributed significantly to this stature of Adobe India. Business HR met him for this interview on a dusty evening in the sprawling campus of Adobe India.
Excerpts of the interview…..
BHR What should be in your opinion the HR deliverables to an organization. Can these be captured in a matrix? What way?
VT. Clear deliverables are very necessary to provide focus to HR. One of the key HR deliverables is to meet the human resources needs by hiring employees at a very high level of quality. The second, would be to create a high performance culture where employees contribute at their best. Developing management bench strength and the capability of the employees so that the organization can take up more responsibility is also a key deliverable. Also, creating an environment of openness and trust which encourages employees to contribute at their best is very important.
For any deliverable it is important to have a measure, so that we know how we are doing. We have metrics on our hiring rates, experience level, attrition etc. which we review .In addition we take feedback from employees periodically to know who we are doing.
BHR Could you share some of the good practices of HR in Adobe?
VT. We have small group employee meetings where we invite a a group of employees in a room and get feedback on all aspects of our working at Adobe. Employees raise issues and come up with great suggestions also. We have found it a great way to identify issues that are uppermost in the minds of our employees. We get back to the employees on what we did with their suggestions.
BHR How do you keep the people at Adobe engaged and motivated? Especially, when there is significant late sitting.
VT. The main motivator for our employees is the work that they do. The contribution they make in developing a world class product is the biggest motivator. We provide them with the best infrastructure and work environment so that they contribute at their fullest.
BHR What has been a key challenge you have faced so far with respect to the HR?
VT. The main challenge in HR is that one needs to execute at a very high level of efficiency as a service provider, and one also needs to think at a high level and proactively identify organizational issues. Both these tasks are critical to establish HR's credibility.
BHR How would you describe an Adobian's profile?
VT. Our engineers have outstanding ability. In addition they are ambitious, want to make a difference and have very high energy levels. One constantly learns from them.
Friday, May 28, 2004
Friday, February 20, 2004
Vishwanath Shenoy, 92 batch, Biryani Buff
Biryani BUFF
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2004/02/19/stories/2004021900070200.htm
Can you believe an MBA from XLRI giving up his flourishing career in marketing to get into the biryani business? Well, Vishy Shenoy did
Vishy Shenoy talks about the ubiquitous biryani as if it were a historical wonder.
SHIVA, SHIVA... a staunch vegetarian discussing the B word with a connoisseur of biryani over a meal of... biryani! What is the world coming to! But it's easy to listen to Vishy Shenoy, who talks so knowledgeably and passionately about a ubiquitous dish as though it were a historical wonder.
"Well, the biryani originated in the royal kitchens of Turkey and Arabia. The biryani of each area of the continent has its own history and its own unique character," says the sacred thread wearing, Kerala-grown Konkan. The MBA from XLRI gave up his enviable marketing career to make biryani his business.
No prizes for guessing what Vishy's favourite childhood food was. "While at school in Cochin, we used to bunk classes some time just to go and savour the biryani at Kaika's. But it was only three years back that my liking for the dish became an all-consuming passion — at a Bohri friend's wedding feast, the wide variety of biryanis was amazing!" recollects the man who is soon going to offer the Bangalorean a `total biryani experience' at the restaurant he is opening with his partners.
"The biryani needs to be relished — it is not a food to be eaten in a hurry. We want to give our customers a choice of biryanis — vegetarian, Malaysian, Indonesian, Hyderabadi, Dindikal curry, Bhatkal, and Kashmiri. Each will be made the way they were made in the old days," promises Shenoy, who could easily pass off as Abdul.
With meticulous detail, the man has been documenting the history and origin of each biryani, talking to old cooks in remote villages (including Mir Husain Ali Musadi, the direct descendant of Hyderabad's Nizam), and collecting `ingredients' for the coffee-table book on biryanis that he is working on.
Why biryani, I ask, conjuring up pictures of glossy lobsters and marinated fish. "Vegetable biryanis too have a history and are not just concoctions created by modern chefs to appease the vegetarians!" reveals Vishy. "In the courts of Muslim emperors, it was decided that the vast number of vegetarian officials should also have a taste of the dish — and thus was born the vegetable biryani."
"You'll find big chunks of potatoes in the Calcutta biryani," says Vishy, talking about the humbling of the meaty dish. "Kashmiri biryanis have a hearty dose of asafoetida, and the Calicut biryanis have a distinct flavour for they are cooked over coconut shells fires. A Bangladeshi recipe uses puffed rice instead of rice. And there is one in Arcot that uses iddiappams. North Indians use basmati rice, while in the South the preferred rice is the short-grained Zeera samba. In fact, Biryani is the only pan-Indian gourmet delicacy found in menus anywhere in the country. Of course, what you'll find in the restaurants won't be the authentic ones!" warns the man who orders biryani wherever he is eating.
People often can't differentiate between biryani, fried rice, and pulao. "For the first, one needs to fry the rice first, in the second the cooked rice is fried with the other sautéed ingredients. In the pulao, everything is cooked together." How about our own bisibelebhath? "The test of a good biryani is that when a handful is flung on a surface, each rice grain should rest separately," failing the bisibelebath in its effort to enter the biryani class.
Interestingly, when the jaws of some nawabs couldn't muster enough strength to indulge in biryanis, they invented the kababs — a soft version of almost everything that goes into a kabab. So, customers will find kababs too in Vishy Shenoy's soon-to-be-opened Biryani outlet. He is also working on packed and storable ready-to-eat biryanis.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did you know that there are over 26 varieties of biryani made in India?
Or that biryani comes from the Persian word 'birian' which means 'fried before cooking'?
Or that, though it is considered a royal dish of the Nizams and the Nawabs it was never ever served to the royal guests?
Thirty-six-year-old Vishwanath 'Vishy' Shenoy has trivia like this and the history of the biryani on his lips. He also has a restaurant dedicated to his passion: The Biryani Merchant, which he hopes to develop into a national chain.
About a month ago, the first restaurant was launched at Castle Street in Bangalore.
"Chennai is too conservative while Hyderabad places too much of premium on its knowing all about biryanis. Delhi isn't too hot on rice, while in Mumbai real estate is very expensive. Bangalore, with its cosmopolitan outlook, seemed the best place to do a proof of concept," says Vishy Shenoy, CEO, Epicurean Entrepreneurs Private Limited, the company that runs the restaurant.
Biryani Merchant is jointly owned by Vishy Shenoy, who gave up an career as head of sales and marketing in one of Sri Lanka's biggest industrial groups; Abhik Biswas, a technology professional with Cisco; and Ramesh Sivaram, a professional with specialisation in processed foods.
Claiming to offer the 'Quintessential Biryani Experience', Biryani Merchant has a range of biryanis that come complete with appetizers, accompaniments, desserts and a special Sulaimani Chai.
"Biryani Merchant is a showcase for biryani, a dish that has been abused like no other. The effort here is to apprise the guest of the origin, evolution and the history of the different varieties of biryani. Hygienically prepared and served with traditional accompaniments and desserts is what Biryani Merchant is all about," says Shenoy.
For the uninitiated, Shenoy offers a peek into the history of the biryani.
Biryani is believed to have been brought to India by Taimur Lang, or Taimur, the lame.
One branch of the biryani comes from the Mughals, who got the dish from Persia and subsequently during their reign in India, the biryani entrenched itself in places like Lucknow, Hyderabad, et cetera.
The other branch of biryani is supposed to have crossed the Arabian Sea and come to Calicut, brought in by the Arab traders. The Calicut Biryani is served with vinegar pickles and papads fried in coconut oil, is a softer variety and light on the stomach has no relation in terms of taste to the other biryanis in the country.
Almost every community today has its own version of the biryani. In the northwest is the Memoni Biryani (people who inhabited the area between Sindh Gujarat and Pakistan) is an extremely spicy biryani, while the Sindhi Mutton Biryani is distinctly different.
There is also the Turkish Pilaf and the Iranian Biryani. The Bohris have their version of biryani that is normally cooked for their weddings and is flavoured with a lot of tomatoes. The Kashmiri Bhuna Ghost Biryani and the Kashmiri Katche Ghost ki Biryani is the benevolence of the Mughal rulers to the northern-most state of India.
The Lucknow (Awadhi) Biryani is the footprint the Moghuls left on the eastern part of India. From Lucknow the biryani moved to Calcutta when, in 1856, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was deposed by the British.
His team of cooks moved with him and so did the biryani. In Kolkata the biryani entered poorer homes, which could not afford meat everyday, so the meat was replaced by potatoes.
Aurangzeb is believed to have invaded the South and installed the Nizam-ul-mulk who later as the Asfa Jahi ruler became the Nizam of Hyderabad.
That explains the movement of the Biryani down south, says Shenoy. From the Nizam's kitchen originated the Hyderabadi Biryani and the delicacies that go with it like the Mirchi ka Salan, Dhanshak and Baghare Baingan.
It is not difficult to imagine that the repertoire included 26 types because the Hyderabadi Biryani itself is made in different styles -- Katchi Biryani, where the meat is marinated in curd and then steamed with rice, and the Pakki Biryani, where the meat is cooked with all the accompanying spices and then the rice is simmered with the resultant gravy redolent of mace, ittar and kewra in a sealed handi with saffron and cardamom.
The Vegetable Biryani is the 'tarkari' version, which was originally made for the cashiers and financiers of the Nawabs, who were Mahajan Hindus. The Hyderabadi version of the mixed Vegetable Biryani is the Tahiri.
Marriages between the families of the Nizams of Hyderabad and the Nawab of Arcot explains the journey of the biryani into what is called Arcot Biryani, another distinct type of biryani, which is made with smaller grains of rice.
Naturally, many of these are on the menu at Biryani Merchant. But that itself is a contradiction, for there is no formal menu at the Biryani Merchant restaurant.
Instead, customers are asked if they are vegetarian or non-vegetarian.
For Rs 300, a full meal is then presented to the customer. The fare starts with Gazak (Kebabs) followed by three special biryanis each for vegetarians and non-vegetarians . That acts as a sample menu.
Once past it, the eaters can have as much as they want of a particular biryani or if they can stomach it, all the three. All the biryanis come with accompaniments.
There is also a desert and Sulaimani Chai, a fragrant black spiced tea to round off the meal with.
Biryani Merchant plans to open around 12 outlets over the next three years. Each outlet requires an investment of Rs 30 lakh (Rs 3 million) and Shenoy says they are looking at franchisee possibilities to expand.
After Bangalore, Pune would be the next stop for the Biryani Merchant in around September. By April 2005, Shenoy and his team hope to have three more restaurants in Mumbai, Delhi and in the United States.
"We have shortlisted the Gulf and European countries, considering the Indian populace and the travelling Indian population there and their craving for authentic Indian food. We already have enquiries and have initiated discussions with business associates in a couple of these cities," says Shenoy.
Along the way, Shenoy also hopes to clear some popular misconceptions about biryani.
"Biryani is always dum cooked. The rice is fried separately and parboiled while the meat or the vegetables are marinated separately. They two are then layered and cooked under a dum (an earthen cooking pot)," he says.
Being in Bangalore, it is inevitable, that information technology should play some role in the enterprise.
In this case, Biryani Merchant offers 'wireless Internet connectivity' -- or Wi-Fi -- for customers who want to stay connected or do a spot of surfing even as they eat.
And what's the test of a good biryani?
"Take a palm-full of the biryani and sprinkle it on the floor. If all the grains remain separate, then you have a good biryani. It means that the rice has been fried just right to ensure it doesn't stick. And, the biryani should not be too spicy. It should be fragrant," says Shenoy.
However, sprinkling it on the floor is certainly not a test that Shenoy is recommending to his customers.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2004/02/19/stories/2004021900070200.htm
Can you believe an MBA from XLRI giving up his flourishing career in marketing to get into the biryani business? Well, Vishy Shenoy did
Vishy Shenoy talks about the ubiquitous biryani as if it were a historical wonder.
SHIVA, SHIVA... a staunch vegetarian discussing the B word with a connoisseur of biryani over a meal of... biryani! What is the world coming to! But it's easy to listen to Vishy Shenoy, who talks so knowledgeably and passionately about a ubiquitous dish as though it were a historical wonder.
"Well, the biryani originated in the royal kitchens of Turkey and Arabia. The biryani of each area of the continent has its own history and its own unique character," says the sacred thread wearing, Kerala-grown Konkan. The MBA from XLRI gave up his enviable marketing career to make biryani his business.
No prizes for guessing what Vishy's favourite childhood food was. "While at school in Cochin, we used to bunk classes some time just to go and savour the biryani at Kaika's. But it was only three years back that my liking for the dish became an all-consuming passion — at a Bohri friend's wedding feast, the wide variety of biryanis was amazing!" recollects the man who is soon going to offer the Bangalorean a `total biryani experience' at the restaurant he is opening with his partners.
"The biryani needs to be relished — it is not a food to be eaten in a hurry. We want to give our customers a choice of biryanis — vegetarian, Malaysian, Indonesian, Hyderabadi, Dindikal curry, Bhatkal, and Kashmiri. Each will be made the way they were made in the old days," promises Shenoy, who could easily pass off as Abdul.
With meticulous detail, the man has been documenting the history and origin of each biryani, talking to old cooks in remote villages (including Mir Husain Ali Musadi, the direct descendant of Hyderabad's Nizam), and collecting `ingredients' for the coffee-table book on biryanis that he is working on.
Why biryani, I ask, conjuring up pictures of glossy lobsters and marinated fish. "Vegetable biryanis too have a history and are not just concoctions created by modern chefs to appease the vegetarians!" reveals Vishy. "In the courts of Muslim emperors, it was decided that the vast number of vegetarian officials should also have a taste of the dish — and thus was born the vegetable biryani."
"You'll find big chunks of potatoes in the Calcutta biryani," says Vishy, talking about the humbling of the meaty dish. "Kashmiri biryanis have a hearty dose of asafoetida, and the Calicut biryanis have a distinct flavour for they are cooked over coconut shells fires. A Bangladeshi recipe uses puffed rice instead of rice. And there is one in Arcot that uses iddiappams. North Indians use basmati rice, while in the South the preferred rice is the short-grained Zeera samba. In fact, Biryani is the only pan-Indian gourmet delicacy found in menus anywhere in the country. Of course, what you'll find in the restaurants won't be the authentic ones!" warns the man who orders biryani wherever he is eating.
People often can't differentiate between biryani, fried rice, and pulao. "For the first, one needs to fry the rice first, in the second the cooked rice is fried with the other sautéed ingredients. In the pulao, everything is cooked together." How about our own bisibelebhath? "The test of a good biryani is that when a handful is flung on a surface, each rice grain should rest separately," failing the bisibelebath in its effort to enter the biryani class.
Interestingly, when the jaws of some nawabs couldn't muster enough strength to indulge in biryanis, they invented the kababs — a soft version of almost everything that goes into a kabab. So, customers will find kababs too in Vishy Shenoy's soon-to-be-opened Biryani outlet. He is also working on packed and storable ready-to-eat biryanis.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did you know that there are over 26 varieties of biryani made in India?
Or that biryani comes from the Persian word 'birian' which means 'fried before cooking'?
Or that, though it is considered a royal dish of the Nizams and the Nawabs it was never ever served to the royal guests?
Thirty-six-year-old Vishwanath 'Vishy' Shenoy has trivia like this and the history of the biryani on his lips. He also has a restaurant dedicated to his passion: The Biryani Merchant, which he hopes to develop into a national chain.
About a month ago, the first restaurant was launched at Castle Street in Bangalore.
"Chennai is too conservative while Hyderabad places too much of premium on its knowing all about biryanis. Delhi isn't too hot on rice, while in Mumbai real estate is very expensive. Bangalore, with its cosmopolitan outlook, seemed the best place to do a proof of concept," says Vishy Shenoy, CEO, Epicurean Entrepreneurs Private Limited, the company that runs the restaurant.
Biryani Merchant is jointly owned by Vishy Shenoy, who gave up an career as head of sales and marketing in one of Sri Lanka's biggest industrial groups; Abhik Biswas, a technology professional with Cisco; and Ramesh Sivaram, a professional with specialisation in processed foods.
Claiming to offer the 'Quintessential Biryani Experience', Biryani Merchant has a range of biryanis that come complete with appetizers, accompaniments, desserts and a special Sulaimani Chai.
"Biryani Merchant is a showcase for biryani, a dish that has been abused like no other. The effort here is to apprise the guest of the origin, evolution and the history of the different varieties of biryani. Hygienically prepared and served with traditional accompaniments and desserts is what Biryani Merchant is all about," says Shenoy.
For the uninitiated, Shenoy offers a peek into the history of the biryani.
Biryani is believed to have been brought to India by Taimur Lang, or Taimur, the lame.
One branch of the biryani comes from the Mughals, who got the dish from Persia and subsequently during their reign in India, the biryani entrenched itself in places like Lucknow, Hyderabad, et cetera.
The other branch of biryani is supposed to have crossed the Arabian Sea and come to Calicut, brought in by the Arab traders. The Calicut Biryani is served with vinegar pickles and papads fried in coconut oil, is a softer variety and light on the stomach has no relation in terms of taste to the other biryanis in the country.
Almost every community today has its own version of the biryani. In the northwest is the Memoni Biryani (people who inhabited the area between Sindh Gujarat and Pakistan) is an extremely spicy biryani, while the Sindhi Mutton Biryani is distinctly different.
There is also the Turkish Pilaf and the Iranian Biryani. The Bohris have their version of biryani that is normally cooked for their weddings and is flavoured with a lot of tomatoes. The Kashmiri Bhuna Ghost Biryani and the Kashmiri Katche Ghost ki Biryani is the benevolence of the Mughal rulers to the northern-most state of India.
The Lucknow (Awadhi) Biryani is the footprint the Moghuls left on the eastern part of India. From Lucknow the biryani moved to Calcutta when, in 1856, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was deposed by the British.
His team of cooks moved with him and so did the biryani. In Kolkata the biryani entered poorer homes, which could not afford meat everyday, so the meat was replaced by potatoes.
Aurangzeb is believed to have invaded the South and installed the Nizam-ul-mulk who later as the Asfa Jahi ruler became the Nizam of Hyderabad.
That explains the movement of the Biryani down south, says Shenoy. From the Nizam's kitchen originated the Hyderabadi Biryani and the delicacies that go with it like the Mirchi ka Salan, Dhanshak and Baghare Baingan.
It is not difficult to imagine that the repertoire included 26 types because the Hyderabadi Biryani itself is made in different styles -- Katchi Biryani, where the meat is marinated in curd and then steamed with rice, and the Pakki Biryani, where the meat is cooked with all the accompanying spices and then the rice is simmered with the resultant gravy redolent of mace, ittar and kewra in a sealed handi with saffron and cardamom.
The Vegetable Biryani is the 'tarkari' version, which was originally made for the cashiers and financiers of the Nawabs, who were Mahajan Hindus. The Hyderabadi version of the mixed Vegetable Biryani is the Tahiri.
Marriages between the families of the Nizams of Hyderabad and the Nawab of Arcot explains the journey of the biryani into what is called Arcot Biryani, another distinct type of biryani, which is made with smaller grains of rice.
Naturally, many of these are on the menu at Biryani Merchant. But that itself is a contradiction, for there is no formal menu at the Biryani Merchant restaurant.
Instead, customers are asked if they are vegetarian or non-vegetarian.
For Rs 300, a full meal is then presented to the customer. The fare starts with Gazak (Kebabs) followed by three special biryanis each for vegetarians and non-vegetarians . That acts as a sample menu.
Once past it, the eaters can have as much as they want of a particular biryani or if they can stomach it, all the three. All the biryanis come with accompaniments.
There is also a desert and Sulaimani Chai, a fragrant black spiced tea to round off the meal with.
Biryani Merchant plans to open around 12 outlets over the next three years. Each outlet requires an investment of Rs 30 lakh (Rs 3 million) and Shenoy says they are looking at franchisee possibilities to expand.
After Bangalore, Pune would be the next stop for the Biryani Merchant in around September. By April 2005, Shenoy and his team hope to have three more restaurants in Mumbai, Delhi and in the United States.
"We have shortlisted the Gulf and European countries, considering the Indian populace and the travelling Indian population there and their craving for authentic Indian food. We already have enquiries and have initiated discussions with business associates in a couple of these cities," says Shenoy.
Along the way, Shenoy also hopes to clear some popular misconceptions about biryani.
"Biryani is always dum cooked. The rice is fried separately and parboiled while the meat or the vegetables are marinated separately. They two are then layered and cooked under a dum (an earthen cooking pot)," he says.
Being in Bangalore, it is inevitable, that information technology should play some role in the enterprise.
In this case, Biryani Merchant offers 'wireless Internet connectivity' -- or Wi-Fi -- for customers who want to stay connected or do a spot of surfing even as they eat.
And what's the test of a good biryani?
"Take a palm-full of the biryani and sprinkle it on the floor. If all the grains remain separate, then you have a good biryani. It means that the rice has been fried just right to ensure it doesn't stick. And, the biryani should not be too spicy. It should be fragrant," says Shenoy.
However, sprinkling it on the floor is certainly not a test that Shenoy is recommending to his customers.
Saturday, March 4, 2000
There is something about the road....
written by my juniors. Credits @ the end.
There is something about the road....
“into the sunset we ride
the road long and wide
the dark sky beckons on, the dust is our destiny…”
- - Rahul.
There is something about the road. Much has been written about it. It has been glorified, romanticised in poem, film, song, philosophy and legend. About how it is symbolises life, primarily. About how we must walk (or ride!) the long road, how we can not stay, how we must traverse every stony stretch, negotiate every tricky turn and precipice. Yeah, yeah. Beside all that soft headed jazz, its also bloody good fun.
Rahul, Ranjeev, Raman and Sidhu set out for what was perhaps considered the dumbest idea ever that a graduating batch had thought up. Riding back all the way from XL to New Delhi, a total of about 1300 kms on motorcycles. Raman and Ranjeev on Raman’s Hero Honda Splendour, Rahul and Sidhu on Sidhu's Enfield 350 Machismo aka Dhanno.
This included around 450 kms through some of the most notorious areas of Bihar, like Hazaribagh district, where one could get robbed on the highway in broad daylight. Well, about the toughest part was trying to keep from crying out loud, every time we ran over one of the million potholes dotting the entire length of a lame excuse for a National Highway (the G.T.) that Bihar has to offer. There were times when we actually drove through the fields in search of roads!!!
The first night at Dehri on Sone saw four dusty, weary, yet pleased as punch riders check into a seedy hotel. The bathing water was ice cold but the food was hot and the bedding adequate. On the road, you don’t choose your luxuries; you count your blessings. The rest was easy. Benares, with a halt at the ghats and the singing Hare Rama, Hare Krishna crowd, Allahabad and a halt at Fatehpur town. Not to be mistaken with Fatehpur Sikri. Again, a well-deserved rest at 100 bucks-a-night joint, which had multi coloured windows.
The next morning was perhaps the highlight. Instead of going through the NH we took a detour and what followed was a breathtaking stretch of country road through rural Kanpur. Fields of mustard in full bloom for miles, horse carts , ancient looking wells and small villages. The smell of a winter morning and a sense of eternal bliss in the cold, crisp air. The saddlebags strapped tight, the weathered leather jacket braving the morning dew and the 4-stroke bike engine chugging away tirelessly. This was God’s own country and God’s own time and everything worked perfectly.
The third night at Agra saw us pulling into a bright, well-lit city, decorated for some sort of tourist fest. This time, we had more time on our hands and hot water. Even a TV that sort of worked. We were up very early again. The only time to see the Taj Mahal in all its marble glory is at the break of dawn. Later, back at the hotel after tea and a quick shave we did the final stretch.
Agra to Delhi is perhaps one of the best roads in India. Black, smooth tarmac, multiple lanes, the works. We were on full throttle here, doing about 95 to just below 100 and we couldn’t get any faster. 3 hours later, we hit Delhi with its stream of traffic and a sea of humanity in our faces. We had reached our destination. Well…at least for now.
We don’t know whether our journey heralded a new beginning in our lives or an end to the ones we had left behind at XL. We don’t know if it encouraged future riders in its wake or was a swan song of the Bl@x. Either way, it was time to give the old riding gloves a rest.
Raman
Ranjeev
Rahul
Sidhu
IR 2000
There is something about the road....
“into the sunset we ride
the road long and wide
the dark sky beckons on, the dust is our destiny…”
- - Rahul.
There is something about the road. Much has been written about it. It has been glorified, romanticised in poem, film, song, philosophy and legend. About how it is symbolises life, primarily. About how we must walk (or ride!) the long road, how we can not stay, how we must traverse every stony stretch, negotiate every tricky turn and precipice. Yeah, yeah. Beside all that soft headed jazz, its also bloody good fun.
Rahul, Ranjeev, Raman and Sidhu set out for what was perhaps considered the dumbest idea ever that a graduating batch had thought up. Riding back all the way from XL to New Delhi, a total of about 1300 kms on motorcycles. Raman and Ranjeev on Raman’s Hero Honda Splendour, Rahul and Sidhu on Sidhu's Enfield 350 Machismo aka Dhanno.
This included around 450 kms through some of the most notorious areas of Bihar, like Hazaribagh district, where one could get robbed on the highway in broad daylight. Well, about the toughest part was trying to keep from crying out loud, every time we ran over one of the million potholes dotting the entire length of a lame excuse for a National Highway (the G.T.) that Bihar has to offer. There were times when we actually drove through the fields in search of roads!!!
The first night at Dehri on Sone saw four dusty, weary, yet pleased as punch riders check into a seedy hotel. The bathing water was ice cold but the food was hot and the bedding adequate. On the road, you don’t choose your luxuries; you count your blessings. The rest was easy. Benares, with a halt at the ghats and the singing Hare Rama, Hare Krishna crowd, Allahabad and a halt at Fatehpur town. Not to be mistaken with Fatehpur Sikri. Again, a well-deserved rest at 100 bucks-a-night joint, which had multi coloured windows.
The next morning was perhaps the highlight. Instead of going through the NH we took a detour and what followed was a breathtaking stretch of country road through rural Kanpur. Fields of mustard in full bloom for miles, horse carts , ancient looking wells and small villages. The smell of a winter morning and a sense of eternal bliss in the cold, crisp air. The saddlebags strapped tight, the weathered leather jacket braving the morning dew and the 4-stroke bike engine chugging away tirelessly. This was God’s own country and God’s own time and everything worked perfectly.
The third night at Agra saw us pulling into a bright, well-lit city, decorated for some sort of tourist fest. This time, we had more time on our hands and hot water. Even a TV that sort of worked. We were up very early again. The only time to see the Taj Mahal in all its marble glory is at the break of dawn. Later, back at the hotel after tea and a quick shave we did the final stretch.
Agra to Delhi is perhaps one of the best roads in India. Black, smooth tarmac, multiple lanes, the works. We were on full throttle here, doing about 95 to just below 100 and we couldn’t get any faster. 3 hours later, we hit Delhi with its stream of traffic and a sea of humanity in our faces. We had reached our destination. Well…at least for now.
We don’t know whether our journey heralded a new beginning in our lives or an end to the ones we had left behind at XL. We don’t know if it encouraged future riders in its wake or was a swan song of the Bl@x. Either way, it was time to give the old riding gloves a rest.
Raman
Ranjeev
Rahul
Sidhu
IR 2000
Sunday, October 3, 1999
October 1999 on campus
Hi guys,
It's been ages since i wrote last, so prepare yourselves for a really long letter.
September 3rd, we finished our exams, hols started. I was planning to catch the 11:15PM train to Bombay. While climbing down the platform steps, i tripped on the last one and have twisted my ankle. (yes again
!!!)
September 13th, i flew to cal. There were 5 juniors who were on the flight with me. We were waiting from 3:30pm in Howrah station for the 5:30 train. Quite a bit of junta joined us. we were around 15 in all. There was one empty train on the opposite platform in which the fans were running, so we started taking it in turns to sit inside that train. When i was taking my turn with 2 jrs in there, & almost dropping off to sleep, this empty train (except for the 3 of us who were inside) started moving. I had no option but to jump.
I seem to be just asking for trouble once i have come here to XL.
Then there was this jr guy, who was coming in from Bangalore by the Koromandel with 15 others. They all got down at Karaghpur, they bought tickets for the Kurla express. This guy V had done rg on the others and booked his ticket for the geetanjali before leaving jammpot. SO he said he would wait for the geetanjali.
Promptly at around 2:00 the geetanjali arrived. He checked the train and all that & sat in the train. He took out his book & was reading peacefully until the train came to a final halt. He got down & was suprised to see that so many changes had taken place in Jampot station, only after 15 minutes did he realise that he ws in Cal. He had caught the Geetanjali up instead of the Geetanjali down !
C had gone to Delhi for his hols. The whole junta from Delhi was travelling back on the 13th, when they reached Mugalsarai. Suddenly C decided that he wanted to see his mom, so he got off the train to catch the next train to B. He then came to college 2 days late. We told him to get a medical cert and come. He showed this to the new dean acads. Dean told him to go out & think it over for 15 mins as to whether he wanted him to accept the med cert. C stood his ground, but dean is not convinced.
Fr. George is leaving at the beginning of next month. He is going to XIMB. Fr. Augustine is going to be coming in his place. He was hostel dean when zac's brother was out here. I believe he comes at night to make a round of the MH.
The new LH is kind of ready, but not enough to move in. We seniors, who are currently being housed in the mdp have decided not to move , since this is a really hectic term for us. & generally we r just too comfortable to move.
Popc had been to Calicut for almost 3 months on some teaching assignment, he has just come back yesterday.
This time papa mathias has only guys in his Pub Speaking class & the 3 ir guys who r in this class are finding it a little strange to not have any girls in class (note: or batch was 66% women)
Premu is offering MCD to both batches in this term itself. So not only us, he too will be overworked. Small consolation that.
Our Strat Man prof is quite pathetic. Just lets everyone talk & the kind of arbid CP that comes out is incredible.
S in the 2nd class told prof that "i had no idea what strato was all about & hoped to find out in your class, instead after an hour i find that i am more confused than before"
In todays class, all we did was discuss the case on Honda. C today told her "Mam this is your 3rd class but my first. I think your strato is all wrong. A discussion should not go on for more than 45 minutes, becos then u start getting only crap out of the discussion. Honda was formed over 50 years ago and i am sure that at that time they would not have spoken as much crap as is being spoken in the class now" Her only reaction to that was "Next time read both the readings and the case before u come to class"
She caught A sleeping in class & told him "Please leave if u r not interested" A took to his heels & ran before she could change her mind.
Prof X is totally arbid in XXX. W has been asking him the same doubt since last class, till finally X joined his hands, bowed his head and said "maaf karna mere bhai" X keeps maaroing gandhe pjs in the class.
This new guy sengupta who we have for BFM is really good. He sees to it that everyone in class understands every word that he says. The latest joke on campus is the name of his dog. It is - Arindam.
This was sent to me by Mad Shuks at the beginning of this term and it is so reminiscent of XL that i just had to send it to u guys
To bring you back to the XL variety of reality, here are some new definitions which will help you grappling with it once again / making sense out of it:
Blamestorming:
Sitting around in a group discussing why a deadline was missed or a project could not be submitted in time - and who was responsible (often held at the end of the term)
Seagull Manager:
A species of student who flies in, makes a lot of noise, shits over everything and then leaves. (copyrighted by Richard Bach in Jonathan Livingstone Seagull)
Salmon term:
The experience of spending an entire term swimming upstream only to get screwed and die in the end.
Dilberted:
To be exploited and oppressed by the faculty. Derived from the experiences of Dilbert , the geek-in-hell comic strip character. e.g., "I've been dilberted again. The *@*!! (censored) revised the grade criteria /resceduled the class for the 7th time this term."
404:
Someone who's clueless (often found in the afternoon classes). From the World Wide Web error message "404 Not Found," meaning that the requested document could not be located. e.g., "Don't bother asking him . . . he's 404, man."
Persecutive Maintenance
The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device
(e.g.,computers) to get it to work again.
Generica;
Features of the XLRI landscape that are exactly the same no matter where one is, such as mess, class, cc, lib, helter-skelter, etc. Used as in "We were so lost in generica that I forgot the quiz today."
Adminisphere:
The rarefied organizational layers beginning just above the student population. Decisions that fall from the adminisphere are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve.
Anyone wanting to write to Madshuks can do so at Madhukar@xlri.ac.in
I guess I have gone on long enough. Before ending let me just tell u the important dates Summer Placements start this weekend, XL-iimc is October 17th & 18th
It's been ages since i wrote last, so prepare yourselves for a really long letter.
September 3rd, we finished our exams, hols started. I was planning to catch the 11:15PM train to Bombay. While climbing down the platform steps, i tripped on the last one and have twisted my ankle. (yes again
!!!)
September 13th, i flew to cal. There were 5 juniors who were on the flight with me. We were waiting from 3:30pm in Howrah station for the 5:30 train. Quite a bit of junta joined us. we were around 15 in all. There was one empty train on the opposite platform in which the fans were running, so we started taking it in turns to sit inside that train. When i was taking my turn with 2 jrs in there, & almost dropping off to sleep, this empty train (except for the 3 of us who were inside) started moving. I had no option but to jump.
I seem to be just asking for trouble once i have come here to XL.
Then there was this jr guy, who was coming in from Bangalore by the Koromandel with 15 others. They all got down at Karaghpur, they bought tickets for the Kurla express. This guy V had done rg on the others and booked his ticket for the geetanjali before leaving jammpot. SO he said he would wait for the geetanjali.
Promptly at around 2:00 the geetanjali arrived. He checked the train and all that & sat in the train. He took out his book & was reading peacefully until the train came to a final halt. He got down & was suprised to see that so many changes had taken place in Jampot station, only after 15 minutes did he realise that he ws in Cal. He had caught the Geetanjali up instead of the Geetanjali down !
C had gone to Delhi for his hols. The whole junta from Delhi was travelling back on the 13th, when they reached Mugalsarai. Suddenly C decided that he wanted to see his mom, so he got off the train to catch the next train to B. He then came to college 2 days late. We told him to get a medical cert and come. He showed this to the new dean acads. Dean told him to go out & think it over for 15 mins as to whether he wanted him to accept the med cert. C stood his ground, but dean is not convinced.
Fr. George is leaving at the beginning of next month. He is going to XIMB. Fr. Augustine is going to be coming in his place. He was hostel dean when zac's brother was out here. I believe he comes at night to make a round of the MH.
The new LH is kind of ready, but not enough to move in. We seniors, who are currently being housed in the mdp have decided not to move , since this is a really hectic term for us. & generally we r just too comfortable to move.
Popc had been to Calicut for almost 3 months on some teaching assignment, he has just come back yesterday.
This time papa mathias has only guys in his Pub Speaking class & the 3 ir guys who r in this class are finding it a little strange to not have any girls in class (note: or batch was 66% women)
Premu is offering MCD to both batches in this term itself. So not only us, he too will be overworked. Small consolation that.
Our Strat Man prof is quite pathetic. Just lets everyone talk & the kind of arbid CP that comes out is incredible.
S in the 2nd class told prof that "i had no idea what strato was all about & hoped to find out in your class, instead after an hour i find that i am more confused than before"
In todays class, all we did was discuss the case on Honda. C today told her "Mam this is your 3rd class but my first. I think your strato is all wrong. A discussion should not go on for more than 45 minutes, becos then u start getting only crap out of the discussion. Honda was formed over 50 years ago and i am sure that at that time they would not have spoken as much crap as is being spoken in the class now" Her only reaction to that was "Next time read both the readings and the case before u come to class"
She caught A sleeping in class & told him "Please leave if u r not interested" A took to his heels & ran before she could change her mind.
Prof X is totally arbid in XXX. W has been asking him the same doubt since last class, till finally X joined his hands, bowed his head and said "maaf karna mere bhai" X keeps maaroing gandhe pjs in the class.
This new guy sengupta who we have for BFM is really good. He sees to it that everyone in class understands every word that he says. The latest joke on campus is the name of his dog. It is - Arindam.
This was sent to me by Mad Shuks at the beginning of this term and it is so reminiscent of XL that i just had to send it to u guys
To bring you back to the XL variety of reality, here are some new definitions which will help you grappling with it once again / making sense out of it:
Blamestorming:
Sitting around in a group discussing why a deadline was missed or a project could not be submitted in time - and who was responsible (often held at the end of the term)
Seagull Manager:
A species of student who flies in, makes a lot of noise, shits over everything and then leaves. (copyrighted by Richard Bach in Jonathan Livingstone Seagull)
Salmon term:
The experience of spending an entire term swimming upstream only to get screwed and die in the end.
Dilberted:
To be exploited and oppressed by the faculty. Derived from the experiences of Dilbert , the geek-in-hell comic strip character. e.g., "I've been dilberted again. The *@*!! (censored) revised the grade criteria /resceduled the class for the 7th time this term."
404:
Someone who's clueless (often found in the afternoon classes). From the World Wide Web error message "404 Not Found," meaning that the requested document could not be located. e.g., "Don't bother asking him . . . he's 404, man."
Persecutive Maintenance
The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device
(e.g.,computers) to get it to work again.
Generica;
Features of the XLRI landscape that are exactly the same no matter where one is, such as mess, class, cc, lib, helter-skelter, etc. Used as in "We were so lost in generica that I forgot the quiz today."
Adminisphere:
The rarefied organizational layers beginning just above the student population. Decisions that fall from the adminisphere are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve.
Anyone wanting to write to Madshuks can do so at Madhukar@xlri.ac.in
I guess I have gone on long enough. Before ending let me just tell u the important dates Summer Placements start this weekend, XL-iimc is October 17th & 18th
Friday, September 3, 1999
September 1999 on campus
This is part of my nostalgia bit from my senior year on campus from way back in 1999.
Ps: First installment. leaving some of the names in place, to remind batchmates to send wishes where relevant.
~~~message
Right now we have just got in. There are a huge number of Junior girls. So there was no place for them in the hostel. The room which was supposed to be a single seater for me, is now being shared by 4 junior girls. I got such a shock to enter my room & see 4 beds in there.
My room had been the store room for summers and so I was shocked to find that all our stuff was thrown out of the room. Still havent located some of our stuff. Some of our cards and other personal belongings which were outside have been junked or torn to make into place cards by the jr women. Hmmm they havent endeared themselves to us. Lets c what happens over the coming weeks.
Anyway, this hapenned to about 15 of us, who were living in the faculty flats in the first year and had elected to stay on in there. First they had put us in small cramped rooms in the LH. Putting 3 or 4 in a room meant to house 2 at the most. Few of us protested until we were given rooms in the MDP hostel. The AC connection has been removed but the rooms are comfortable.
Great News :
As some of you might have already heard Ministhy S. delivered a baby girl on 31 August at 10.00 a.m. She and the baby are fine.
Great News 2:
RS got married on the 28th of this month in Madras, the guy is with Ernst & young in Muscat. She had sent an invite to XL.
There is this girl in the junior batch P ( had u guys heard about C fainting in Jomus room when he was taking Viva and kind of browbeating her last term ???) Well this P took it one step further. She fainted while doing her presentation. (The reason attributed was that she had put in 2 consequtive nite outs)
G fell down on the dance floor (abt a month back) and his leg is still in cast.
Football captain Ankush decided to have a jr-sr match on Aug 15th. The 'Independence Cup' was highly publicised, but didn't happen becos we had our lab law mid term on the same day.
The cc was in extremely bad shape inspite of upgrading to Windows NT, the hardware was in miserable shape, so Socrates threw down the towel. They refused to work in the cc any more and called a GBM in which they said that they would be like the other associations and concentrate on organising syposiums & lectures. So this match I was talking abt. Got rescheduled & was now called the 'Socrates Cup'. It got postponed again.
Then after all this hungama was created. Not without reason. We were losing our files. Word files would get converted into these tiny boxes and hazaar other problems. SO we were pushing for postponement of submissions (NO we r not a frax batch, the printer is till not working) finally we got a blanket ban postponing all submissions until the 21st of September. So the football match finally happened as the "Submission Postponement Cup'
Those interested in the result : it was a draw.
Interesting events : B has broken his nose.
He is much better now.
Right now, exams are on. We finish tomorrow. The way the new dean has set the timetable is that the last paper is a compulsory paper for both IR - II and BMD - II. So no one can go home before the other. We start again on the 14th of Septmeber.
Ps: First installment. leaving some of the names in place, to remind batchmates to send wishes where relevant.
~~~message
Right now we have just got in. There are a huge number of Junior girls. So there was no place for them in the hostel. The room which was supposed to be a single seater for me, is now being shared by 4 junior girls. I got such a shock to enter my room & see 4 beds in there.
My room had been the store room for summers and so I was shocked to find that all our stuff was thrown out of the room. Still havent located some of our stuff. Some of our cards and other personal belongings which were outside have been junked or torn to make into place cards by the jr women. Hmmm they havent endeared themselves to us. Lets c what happens over the coming weeks.
Anyway, this hapenned to about 15 of us, who were living in the faculty flats in the first year and had elected to stay on in there. First they had put us in small cramped rooms in the LH. Putting 3 or 4 in a room meant to house 2 at the most. Few of us protested until we were given rooms in the MDP hostel. The AC connection has been removed but the rooms are comfortable.
Great News :
As some of you might have already heard Ministhy S. delivered a baby girl on 31 August at 10.00 a.m. She and the baby are fine.
Great News 2:
RS got married on the 28th of this month in Madras, the guy is with Ernst & young in Muscat. She had sent an invite to XL.
There is this girl in the junior batch P ( had u guys heard about C fainting in Jomus room when he was taking Viva and kind of browbeating her last term ???) Well this P took it one step further. She fainted while doing her presentation. (The reason attributed was that she had put in 2 consequtive nite outs)
G fell down on the dance floor (abt a month back) and his leg is still in cast.
Football captain Ankush decided to have a jr-sr match on Aug 15th. The 'Independence Cup' was highly publicised, but didn't happen becos we had our lab law mid term on the same day.
The cc was in extremely bad shape inspite of upgrading to Windows NT, the hardware was in miserable shape, so Socrates threw down the towel. They refused to work in the cc any more and called a GBM in which they said that they would be like the other associations and concentrate on organising syposiums & lectures. So this match I was talking abt. Got rescheduled & was now called the 'Socrates Cup'. It got postponed again.
Then after all this hungama was created. Not without reason. We were losing our files. Word files would get converted into these tiny boxes and hazaar other problems. SO we were pushing for postponement of submissions (NO we r not a frax batch, the printer is till not working) finally we got a blanket ban postponing all submissions until the 21st of September. So the football match finally happened as the "Submission Postponement Cup'
Those interested in the result : it was a draw.
Interesting events : B has broken his nose.
He is much better now.
Right now, exams are on. We finish tomorrow. The way the new dean has set the timetable is that the last paper is a compulsory paper for both IR - II and BMD - II. So no one can go home before the other. We start again on the 14th of Septmeber.
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