The Phoenix's Song..

When somebody I know and respect has reached the 111th position in the "Your Big Year"(YBY) contest from India, him being the only Indian to reach that position, I can't help but post about it. The aforementioned senior, is the 24 yr old One Young World Ambassador from India, Mr. Sujit Lalwani, also the founder of 36 meals.com , IU Y2C campaign etc. The reason I'm posting this is because I'm taken by the concept of Your Big Year, which is a 'Smaller Earth' initiative. Chris Arnold is the man behind this, and what he has to say about entrepreneurship and global citizenship is indeed commendable. Since young I have believed that being a citizen of a country is ok, but every human being must be a citizen of the world. Global citizenship must be promoted, and this is precisely where Chris Arnold strikes a chord with me. The top 12 finalists are to compete against each other in the month of March/ April in Liverpool, and the tasks that await them will put their...

Hello Folks! Time and again I vanish from the blogosphere, only to be pulled back by the delicate strings that tie me to this place. It's been ages since I've written that post on Huawei (3 months, to be precise), and a lot many friends have asked when the next post was coming. I don't know why I didn't post so long, but this is like the last piece of Chocolate that remains after sharing the choc with friends- you will definitely want to eat it. I opened my blog for some reason, couldn't go away without putting this up. And while I've been away, significant things have happened. Huawei has again been a mixture of fun and boredom- funny how almost everything in my life is like this- and while we've learnt some essential things, we've had more than our share of free time. And this is not one of the significant things that happened. Randy Pausch talks about why it's important to concentrate on the elephant in the room.. it seems like I have a soft spot ...

I know I'm joblessly importing the posts I'd put up on a website when I was interning with them to the blog here, and quite a few of you might be frustrated by the fact that you've already read those posts before, on the other site. Sorry for that, I'm just putting together everything under one roof, don't ask me why. The routineness of the job kicked in this week, and me being the type who cannot and will not be bogged down by a routine life, have taken up some interesting- though offbeat- threads, which I hope to convert into something big. *Fingers crossed* Also, though N and I work for the same company and get to talk to her on the intranet, I haven't seen her in ages. Imagine that. There are loads of things running on my mind, Looking back I see what I've left behind; Judge not this post, do be kind, Come back tomorrow, you'll see a post- refined!

What does the most famous malls and shopping complexes have in common apart from the fact that they’re the most flocked places in India? You go shopping-for clothes, footwear, accessories, household items, gifts, you’re inevitably hungry at the end of it. Hell, you go window shopping with friends, you see a place where you can relax and down some fast food which also happens to be light on the pocket. What am I driving at? McDonalds . Yes. You (and I) are more likely to walk in, than not. Which is what McDonalds is really all about. McDonalds founder, Ray Kroc once walked into a class of students at Harvard and asked them what they thought McDonalds was about. Burgers, they said. And he asked the million dollar question: “ How many of you can prepare better burgers than the ones made at McDonalds?” Several hands shot up in the air. He then told the class that burgers weren’t the deal, because obviously, there were so many people better at that. Infact, food itself didn’t qualify as t...

The weather was warm, the coffee exactly the way he wanted it, but this was not what Nick had expected. He had not expected someone of that age to come and meet him in person. And he certainly hadn’t had the slightest idea why the man wouldn’t just speak out the terms. He had insisted on Jason reading the letter, and walked away, not even staying long enough to finish the coffee. When Nick opened the letter, the contents of the letter and the handwriting had no connection, it seemed, because only an angelic hand could’ve scripted the words in the way they were, but the content, the content! He had to make a decision. And, he made one. Walking away was not a choice he could make, simply because this was about his daughter. When somebody was offering what he could not afford, he wasn’t going to turn it down, even after knowing the price he had to pay. He knew that everything comes at a cost. Kendra, a devout Catholic, had her hands joined in prayer. The old man in the last row watched he...

8th std, 1st hour, Math class: I forget to take my Math notes to class. A very senior,quite strict teacher handling Math. She walks in, and I'm almost ready to walk out.(Read as get thrown out). Before she begins the routine of asking students without notes to walk out, I go up and tell her I don't have my notes, and that I'm extremely sorry. She says it's ok! Get it tomorrow.I'm thinking, "Did I hear that right?".. I go back to my seat, and I'm not happy that she hasn't punished me.. I feel downright miserable. 8th std, Chemistry, 1st test results day: Tr.Alfonsa, calls my name, and says, Sandhya, 17/17. I'm not in the least amused by her announcement, I'm infact beduffled. I know she's given me marks by mistake, coz I already know my mistakes in that paper. I take my paper silently and walk back. After she has finished distributing all the papers,I go back to her, and tell her in the most pathetic of tones, that she's given me o...

First month of the First Job..One month into the job... and I'm taking every day by the minute, and what follows is a description of everything I've wanted to put here right from June 30th. an attempt to merge three posts into one.. First things first, Huawei hasn't lived up to expectations. Really. I was expecting a chilled first week, followed by getting into the groove of working a lot and going home real late and not having enough time for fun. What else could I have expected, with everyone around giving such rave reviews about the work culture? Who is to be blamed, that I didn't get what I expected? I for one, ain't complaining. Coz I got instead, one week of Induction-which I will admit was quite boring-though essential. Also got about 2 weeks of a mini-project, through which they ensured we learned the process.(Seniors didn't have this I heard) I give a wholehearted approval to the technique they used.. practical as against the much used theoretical sess...