Why can't you just Shut Up?

Well, this is one issue which I had wanted to write about for long, and its something which has always interested me- GDs.

What is a Group Discussion?? Okay, okay, don’t close the page, this is NOT a post which gives you a general discussion about GDs. You can get that in any magazine, which claims to be the Number 1 magazine in India. What this post will refer to, is how a GD can get screwed, courtesy- the Over-enthusiastic participants.

What happens when a GD gets too chaotic? Where everyone chirps in at once, each trying to outdo the other? Simple, we get a total mess, and the whole team or group gets negative points. In the worst case, the entire group may get eliminated and not a single person may get chosen(for the job/Bschool/etc).

Surely, that’s not what your objective is, right? After all, if you are an MBA aspirant, you would certainly want to give your best shot in a GD. So why does it happen that things go haywire? There are many reasons. Namely tension/nervousness, fear of getting trodden over by others(left behind), ego problem, over-excitement, etc.

Let us look at them one by one. Am leaving out the first point, since it’s quite obvious. Now, a situation might arise where you feel that you are not getting a chance to speak. So what do you do? Two choices, either you keep quiet, or you try to butt in. If you choose the later, again you get two choices, you can do so politely, or you can do so loudly and rudely. More often than not, one opts for the later. He may even tell the other person to shut up so that he can speak, or he can vehemently criticize and interrupt someone while he/she is in the middle of his talk. This is seen as a very negative trait and it should be avoided. Its better not to speak at all, rather than openly criticize and ridicule someone else. Starting an argument with someone midway, for the purpose of undermining him/her is just another distraction.

Of course, that does not mean, that you keep your mouth glued shut. In an ideal GD, you will get your turn to speak for an allotted time. However, in most GDs, it is seen that people start speaking at random, rarely giving the other person a chance to speak. Worse, many people keep speaking at the same time, so the GD becomes synonymous with a fish market type scenario. If somebody is speaking, it’s better to let him/her finish before you start. And if you feel he/she is speaking for too long, you can try interrupting politely with a ‘Excuse me, but since we are running out of time, we should give everyone a chance to speak, before we conclude’, or a similar remark.

Always remember, that you need to highlight your leadership qualities while speaking in a GD. And by leadership qualities, I do not mean that You should keep speaking all the time, and give others no chance to speak. This will only show that you are unfit to work in a team, since you prefer to do everything by yourself. If there is someone who has not yet spoken, or is feeling shy/uncomfortable, encourage him/her to come forward and speak.

And NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, ALWAYS KEEP CONTROL OVER YOUR EMOTIONS. Else you are a Goner, trust me! If you loose your temper, start using slangs, or abusing your team-mates, I needn’t complete the sentence. Do not take any firm stance, such as, ‘You are completely wrong and ignorant. I oppose you totally…’, etc.
Keep your ego in check. No matter what the other person says or does, you must maintain your cool. Even if you totally disagree with him/her. You can always disagree in a polite manner by saying, ‘Of course your point has some significance. However, if we see this from a different view…’

What we forget is that a Group needs to work together to achieve its goal, even though the participants are competing against each other. That is what the company/recruiter looks for. Think, rationalize, and speak when you get the chance. Or rather take the chance. Its always good to make a nice overall impression, even if you run short on points. Try to think differently and put forward a few unique or even abstract ideas- that will earn you bonus points.

I guess I will end here now. Will post more on GDs in future. Thanks for reading, folks.

Let the Light Burn!

All right, I have had it. I just cant take it any more. Today's parents need some serious counseling. The following extract from yesterdays Telegraph newspaper will make it clear(note, I have shortened the original article):

'...The 21 year old engineering student hanged herself yesterday because she wasnt doing well in her studies. Pragati Singh wanted to study commerce but her widowed mother wanted her to be an engineer, police said. It was the 32nd suicide by a student in Uttar Pradesh since January 20........ Cities like Lucknow, Allahabad, Kanpur and Varanasi recorded the highest number of student suicides, the report said.
.... She wanted to study commerce and felt she was losing out on a career....'

Dozens of students are committing suicide each day. Throughout the country. And nobody is doing anything about it. Everyone is blaming the system for this, but at the end of the day, the suicides continue unabated.

In this post, I will only be posting the parental pressure aspect, even though there may be hundreds of reasons for a person to commit suicide. Parental pressure is a prominent reason. When a child fails to meet the expectations of his/her parents, he feels stigmatized and gets a strong inferiority complex, so much so that he loses interest in everything, including living. He/she considers that suicide is the only option open to him. Parents are to blame for a very large extent for failing to understand the psychology of the kid. All they want is an outstanding performance in studies, sports, extra-curriculars, forcing the kid to do something which he does not want to. The reason being: They can boast to other people that 'See, my son/daughter is so good, blah blah, has won so many medals, blah blah, achievements.' Whereas the poor child feels ostracized from the amiable social life he deserves.

The second clash occurs when a child is about to take up higher studies, or is about to make a career choice. The parent feels that its his/her natural duty to guide the child into taking the right path, and almost always ends up doing something catastrophic instead. Its not that the father or mother does not have the child's best interest in mind. Certainly they want their children to prosper. But what they do not understand that the child may want to do what he likes, instead of following his parents wishes.

For the parents, the top priority is given to job security, they want their children to settle down into a good job, and earn a decent salary. Which is why they force them to become engineers and doctors, with the age-old belief that engineers and doctors are better off than everybody else. True, we certainly need good quality engineers and doctors, but forcing someone to do engineering, or medicine, just for a degree or job, is an outrageous act. But unfortunately, even in today, the 21st century India, the mentality of most middle class people is that their children should not do anything besides engineering, medicine or management. Fortunately the upper class have realized the importance of following an all around approach, and are letting their children do whichever course they want to. Of course they have the financial resources so they can send their children abroad, where he/she has thousands of career options. India still lags behind heavily, especially in imparting quality education.

No wonder so many students end up committing suicide. They feel that they have been pressurized into doing something they never liked. They loose interest in their subjects, and ultimately in life. So what can be done to avoid this situation? First of all, career counseling must be made mandatory in all primary schools, as is done in the US. Parents should be involved in this process and should be ascertained that their child will be happy and prosperous by following the career which he loves. Parents should understand that one cannot automatically become secure, by doing engineering or medicine. If one follows his passion, he will definitely become successful, whether that passion being becoming a wildlife photographer, or a comic book writer. Every child is special- He/she has many talents within him/her. Those talents must be nurtured and allowed to expand. He/she should be guided into making the right career choice.

Of course, many students blindly opt for engineering, since they believe it will give them a job. Moreover, many of them have not heard of colleges besides the IITs and NITs(or AIIMS). Much remains to be done in this regard, to make more high quality Arts, Commerce, Law,etc colleges to come up.

If both the child and the parent understand each other, life will become much better. This bonhomie is required in the present day India. Always follow your passion folks, and let your children do the same. Its for their own benefit.

Keep reading, signing out.

What makes it Right- The Change we Need.

Okay, today I am officially 21, and I can legally marry now. :), jokes apart, let me continue with this post. Dont worry, it wont be too long.

I want to discuss about what makes me really happy, and what makes me frustrated. Lets start with the happy part. What makes me really happy? Its watching other people follow their passion, and do something which will not only benefit them but others as well. For example, I have personally seen many students who have got the realization as to what their real interest is, and what they want to do in life.

I have met two of my college juniors who are quite enthusiastic about their passion. One is Satnam Singh, who loves making electrical models, which are quite good, trust me. The guy is an expert when it comes to dealing with machines, electrical or otherwise. And he never gives up, till he completes a project. Plus he is always ready to do something good and big. And he loves interacting with both seniors and juniors. I am quite sure that he will do something great in life, since he has married his first love- electrical and electronics engineering. :)

The second is Avishek Adhikari, a total computer genius. From Web Development, to Image Manipulation, to Photoshop, to Java and C++ programming, and ethical hacking. What not. He loves experimenting with things, and he does so quite beautifully. Its hard to express that in words. He will probably do great in the I.T. line. Any company will fight to keep him. But he may even become a talented entrepreneur. Reason- He follows his passion with utmost dedication.

I salute both of them, and thousands of others who are following their passion. For these are the people who will be really successful. And not those who are blindly running after money and jobs.

To end with a popular quote- ' Follow your passion. Pursue Knowledge. And success will surely follow.'

The Sadistic Individual Part 2

Ahem, I am finishing this post just for the sake of finishing, cause I dont have the necessary inspiration to post about sadism, AT PRESENT.

Where Was i? I even forgot the context, thanks to Eweek. Hmmm, after being National champions yet again, who cares to write about sadism.



But all said and done, a certain amount of sadism and masochism exists in every human being. Take ragging for example. Most people consider it as an innocuous act, designed to break the ice between seniors and juniors. Rather, it breaks everything(bones for eg) but the ice. If this is not sadism, then what is? We enjoy watching other people get humiliated. We take delight at other people's pain. But when we are at the receiving end, we expect others to show pity on us. This thought is pathetic. Beating or hurting someone else, gives us a kind of temporary pleasure, hard to define in words. It gives us a feeling of superiority, of power. That we have the power to inflict damage upon others. Never mind the fact that the 'other' is just a helpless victim unable to defend himself.

Then again comes the ego problem. 99% of all guys I have met suffer from it. They refuse to budge from their view-point under any circumstance. Even if they are wrong, they refuse to admit it. Pride to a certain extent is okay, but beyond that its only plain hubris. Ego and Sadism are linked as well. People with extremely high egos tend to be more sadistic. Plus the general thought is, 'If I have to go down, I will take him/her down with me.' Which is very stupid, according to me.

More often than not, a sadistic individual ends up hurting both another person and himself. Though at the time of committing the act, he does not realize it. Many a time, he ends up repenting when its too late. By the help of meditation and yoga, one can learn to control his emotions. The one thing to keep in mind is, 'Never act on immediate impulse.' Ie what we call as Josh. Its always better to be slow, calm and rational, rather than fast and fallacious. When the feeling of causing others harm rises, suppress it immediately. You can try thinking of the ramifications of committing that act.

For example, you have recently had a break up. But that girl is still on good terms with you. However, the sadistic individual rises inside you, and you want to send her a volley of slangs, parceled in a sms, or email. Before you realize it, you have clicked on the send button, and its too late to amend your nefarious act. Now she even stops talking with you, and ignores you. Making the situation even worse than before. Learn to gain self control.

Thats all for now. Looking forward to Aarohan 2010. :)

The Sadistic Individual Part 1

Well, I have been thinking about this for quite some time now, the element of
sadism which i believe is ubiquitous. It is there in all of us, though few of us realize it.

Consider this: was there a time when you felt a surge of jealousy when your classmate scored higher than you? Am taking the most simple example. Did you not wish then, that you should have scored higher, that you deserve more since you are a better student. Such envy is usually innocuous. But it can take more complicated forms.

The desire for revenge is yet another sadistic situation. Say a guy has been rejected by a girl. Or better still, he is involved in a break up. But he can't forget his ex-girlfriend, nor can he forgive her for leaving him, even if the break up resulted due to his fault and not hers. What does he do? Just leave her alone in peace? Perhaps, but rarely done. What he does instead is to hunt her out, and try to make sure that she suffers as much as possible. He just wants to inflict as much pain as he can, for he cannot accept the fact that he has been rejected.

Few of us actually have the capability to forgive a person who has wronged us. An eye for eye will make the whole world blind. Thats why blindness is on the rise, I suppose. Keeping grudges has become the latest trend, and blaming others takes the credit as well. Whenever we get frustrated, instantly we raise a finger at someone else. But rarely do we accept the fact that we did something wrong, and move on.

*To Be Continued

Happy Republic Day

So, am back again after another break. Tomorrow I shall start classes after a well deserved hiatus.

Anyways, one thought which always lingers in my mind is development. More specifically, I mean India’s development. I always wonder when India will become a fully developed country. Not for quite some time, at least, since it is plagued by a host of problems, most of which we are quite aware of, yet we refuse to do anything about it. If I start talking about all of them, I have to type for over 24 hours. So giving my fingers a break, I shall only focus on the major issues.

1) Overpopulation- This is the first thing that comes to my mind. Surprisingly, the Government is doing very little to curb population growth. One reason for this is, ‘More the people, the more votes we can get’ philosophy followed by many inept politicians. So let people produce more people and so on. Okay, enough of blaming the Government. Why can’t we do something about these ourselves? Everyday in the newspaper, I come across poor people who claim they cannot feed their family, comprising of 5-10 children. If you knew that you have financial problems, why on earth did you create so many children in the first place? Okay, some people will condone the poor guy, saying that he is illiterate, so he does not know about family planning. But I wonder, does one need education to understand the basic principle of ‘Short and Happy Family’? Can’t one use some common sense to realize that sustaining a large family is costly, as well as detrimental to the individual, society and the nation as a whole? Apparently not. The desire for a male child, combined with ignorance and superstition, is still the order of the day.

2) Corruption- Enough said, little done. Nothing is being done to break the nexus between criminals, politicians and law-upholders. Greed for money towers over everything else. I wonder what these people will do after siphoning so much money. Take it with them to the after-life? Eat it? Consume gallons of imported whiskey? Who knows. All we can say is that corruption has rooted itself in every section of the Indian bureaucracy. One step towards embellishing integrity, is the initiative taken by Nandan Nilekani. I am of course, speaking about the Rs. 150,000 crore Unique Identity Project.

3) Infrastructure- Even after 60 years of Independence, we have failed to establish or implement an impeccable Infrastructure design. Our roads are full of ditches and potholes, causing delays in transportation of goods(especially FMCG)- which results in losses worth millions of dollars per day. Go into any Government building, and you will be eager to get out ASAP. Not to mention the red-tapism which causes unnecessary delays. The private sector has done quite a lot, in this regard, but still the condition must be ameliorated further. Starting from schools, to hospitals, post offices and railway stations- we need a Total Refurbishment. If we even want to think of matching the Developed World Standards, ie.

4) Education- Any country which wants to get developed, must place the maximum emphasis on education and career development, especially in a country where the average age of people is quite low. But quite tragically and ironically, our country has neglected education more than any other sector(apart from maybe, health). At the beginning, the funding was abysmal. Now, the funding is there, but still little is being done. India actually has more number of educational institutes than the European Union and the USA combined, around 18,000 in number. Yet, quality-wise it lags far behind any developed country, and also many developing countries like China, which has gone light-years ahead of us as far as education is concerned. We just have a handful of colleges that provide good quality education(and they too are facing faculty shortages), and we are still following a monopolistic, unidirectional trend of education- that of engineering and management(Even in that we lag far behind compared to developed countries- No Indian institute even features in the top 100 worldwide). Whereas most of the developed countries follow an omni-directional approach, giving equal stress on Technology, Science, Research, Literature, Commerce, Law, Music, etc. In India, education is simply considered as a business. Rapacious businessmen set up colleges, since they know that most Indian students are degree-hungry. For the sake of a degree, they are glad to sacrifice everything else. I will continue discussing about education in my future posts.

5) Finally, comes the most important part- the Will. No country can get developed if its citizens refuse to participate in the development process. The trouble is, greed and poverty has acted as severe impediments for this progression. Most of the Indian citizens have not raised themselves above their self-interests for a greater cause- their country’s development. The reasons for this may be many- ranging from poverty to selfishness, to indolence. Japan was demolished after World War 2. Yet its citizens worked hard, and selflessly devoted themselves for their country. As a result, it is one of the biggest economies in the world today. Same was the case with the United States of America, and similar is the trend currently shown by China. Unfortunately, we Indians have failed to emulate this principle. We still stand divided, under the banner of nefarious political parties. We are busy accusing and blaming one another, rather than working in harmony. We like to protest, bash up people, and destroy our own national property. Our sadistic and lackadaisical nature has allowed ragging to flourish even today, in most colleges. We are busy filling up our own pockets, and backstabbing our colleagues at the same time. We claim to be united, but we fight in the name of religion, caste, sex, creed, state of origin, etc. The only reason why most of us go to school and colleges is just for a degree, and jobs, and not for learning or for gaining (and spreading) knowledge. We have not learnt to treat women on par with men, and crime continues to be rampant. Yet, we still proclaim ourselves to be righteous citizens of India.

The time for change is NOW. We must act now, for the betterment of our country, and our fellow citizens. We must learn to rise above our self interests for achieving a common goal- India’s All Around Development.

Happy Republic Day. Jai Hind!

A letter to an Editor

The following is a letter(email) which I wrote to an editor of CNN-IBN, in reference to an article written by her.



Respected Madam,

This is in reference to your article dated 17th January, 2010 which appeared in the ‘Hindustan Times’ newspaper.

For once, I was glad to see someone cover the ‘other’ aspect when it comes to the success of ‘3 Idiots’. You have given quite a different view, regarding the film and its impact on the modern day youth. But I would like to put my own counter-arguments for the same.

You have gone a tad too extreme when you proclaim that the film tells us that India’s system of education is idiotic, teachers are brutes, rote learning is always bad, etc. I don’t think that the film takes up such an extreme viewpoint. If you do look at it, our education system has quite a few major flaws. Personally, as an engineering student myself, I have come across very few talented or resplendent teachers who are ready to teach for a cause besides their own material gain. And most of them get into the teaching line because they don’t get a job elsewhere (a few were audacious enough to admit this fact explicitly). According to a recent newspaper report, 1 out of every 3 IIT faculty seats lies vacant. Not to speak of the other institutes.

The eminent IIT alumni you speak of, such as Nandan Nilekani, Narayan Murthy, etc have become famous not because they were IITians but because they dared to do something different from the rest, and their ideas were mostly original. You can also take the case of Chetan Bhagat or Harsha Bhogle, both IIM-A pass-outs. We know them not because they were in IIM, but because they followed their passion and came out as successful human beings(and not brainless machines) rather than following the traditional path. This is what the film is all about- Following one’s passion rather than giving in to someone else’s(parents, peers, etc) desires. This does not mean that Wildlife Photography requires no effort, or that you are better off singing songs than reading books.

In our country, every good student is encouraged to become an engineer and join IIT, even if the poor child has absolutely no interest in engineering with minimum inclination towards Science. As a result, he dislikes what he studies, and loses his faith in the education system. Over 90% of my school-mates are currently doing engineering, though I can say with perspicacity that less than 10% take any interest in their engineering subjects, simply because they were never meant to be engineers in the first place. If someone wants to do Arts or Commerce, he is looked down upon as a poor student. The main reason for this(which I feel) is that we do not have any Arts/Commerce college at par with the IITs. Why cant we have IIAs(Indian Institutes of Arts), IILs(Indian Institutes of Law), IICs(Indian Insitutes of Commerce), etc?

Moreover, I am sure you must be familiar with the contemporary trend of an average Indian male(youth). Most of the engineers(around 65%) end up taking IT jobs, irrespective of their disciplines. Thus we have a serious shortage of skilled engineers, as far as Core Engineering jobs are concerned. Moreover, the best students opt for Management and rarely do anything which is related to their engineering course. Isn’t that simply a wastage of a degree? This proves that for an average Indian student, all that matters is the degree- along with Fame of course. Nobody is bothered with obtaining knowledge. Otherwise, how can one account for the fact, that a Chemical engineer, doing an IT job, shifts into Management and finally join a Bank(for the sole reason of earning more money). If he wanted to work in a bank, why did he do engineering in the first place? (As clearly mentioned by Aamir Khan in the film).

You have pointed out quite unequivocally, that majority of the educational institutes have too few seats. Should ‘High Quality’ education be reserved for only the ‘Best of the best’ students- a miniscule minority?

I do not think that the film states, implicitly or subtly, that students should abuse their teachers, hate their books, etc. Your last sentence is somewhat fallacious as well - ‘…We are in no mood to study and delighted that idiocy is at last legitimate.’ Even the worst of the students in our college studies before the exams. I do not think that anyone wants to ‘screw’ or execrate the education system as such. The atrabiliousness in our youth is caused mainly by the fact that they do not like what they study, and as a result fail to get a job, due to inadequate skills. There is a huge gap in what we are taught (plain bookish/theoretical knowledge) in college, and what is actually required in the industry. However, very little has been done about this so far. One such initiative has been taken by Infosys to provide a Campus Training Programme for college students to bridge this gap.

What India really needs is young, dynamic entrepreneurs who are ready to follow their passion and work for a greater cause- which will act as succour for India’s economy. Whether they are from IITs or IIMs is inconsequential. Many such initiatives have been successful. To give a few examples: Mr. Car Wash(a car washing scheme), Calorie Care(for the calorie conscious), Adwallz(which advertises via Wall Coloring), Sacred Moments(distributes Puja Kits) to name a few. We need to promote innovation and creativity, something which is inconspicuous by its absence in the education system(of course there are exceptions, I know a few people who are making brilliant innovations, like cheap techniques of purifying water, saving the environment, micro-satellites, communication, etc). People who do ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking are looking down upon with disdain, rather than being encouraged. The ever increasing avarice in a rapacious lot of people, is simply promoting the rat race. Can one answer a simple question- Why do we have such a competitive MBA entrance examination(CAT), but we do not even have a national level examination for BBA? The answer is simple enough; we do not have any renowned institution for BBA. People will gladly sacrifice their interests to be a part of the rat race. No wonder we have so few Nobel Prize winners- a fact contributed to the lack of willingness of Indian Students to pursue research. After all, that is a tedious job which will not giving you instant riches, and requires loads of patience. But for an average Indian youth, all that matters is making fast bucks. The film highlights all these aspects.

Anyways, on the whole, your article made for a nice read. I am looking forward to reading more such articles in the future.

Thanking You,
Yours faithfully,
Satwinder Singh,
(3rd year Engineering student)
Durgapur,
West Bengal.