Orbituary

Doomsday

It was 5^th November 2011 ,Birthday celebration of my aunt, family had gathered. There was joy, togetherness and happiness, all of us had gathered after a really long time. She was happy to have each everyone visit together, sharing this kind of happiness. She didn’t speak much that day since sudden fever had caught her body making her a bit weak. The doctor visited home, he said “She’s perfectly fine, it’s just mild fever. She survived high blood pressure in June, fever is something much easier to fight. She will live   a 100 years.”

After hearing these confident words from the doctor, everyone seem to be at ease until next day, 6^th November,2011 around 6.30 am when she began breathing way heavier than normal. After rushing to the hospital before anyone would even know, she was gone. Reaching the heaven gates, seeing her family together made her smile. Perhaps making me,her grand daughter look at 6^th   of every month  as a Doomsday. It is ironical that as I type this obituary, my eye caught the date on the computer screen,it’s 6^th of March, 2014. It’s been 2 years and 4months since my maternal grandmother Indira Chetwani left us, smiling and monitoring us from the heaven gates, the beautiful memories with her remain fresh.

interview

In an interview with the 100 percentile scoring IIM toppers, following answers were obtained.


Common set of questions included :
1.Was it their first attempt or which number of attempt was it?
2.Why did they loose a seat at IIM last year?
3.Where do they come from?
4.What is the family background?
5.Which IIM centre they're hoping to get in?

Kumar Karthik Immaneni,22
After missing his turn to the desired IIM at Ahemdabad, Vijaywadi's Karthik Kumar knew he could bridge the 0.45 percentile gap from last year's 99.35 percentile score. Having lacked in the verbal section, he worked his way reading up newspapers and books finally making it to the CAT 2013toppers list with a 100 percentile. With a B.Tech and M.Tech degree in metallurgy and materials from IIT Kharakpur, he believes IIT is the pre-requisite to crack CAT examination.

Coming from a family of Chartered accountants, Kartik says “IIM was always a dream, verbal section was the only roadblock but working my way through it I have learnt that overcoming your weakness is the key to success.” Working with Oracle at Hyderabad as an application developer for the past six months, Kartik would be on duty from 10.30am- 6pm and post office spend 5 hours preparing for the examination.While last year he took XAT, CMAT and IIFT test, this year he only took theCAT. He also had calls from IIM Kozhikode, IIM Indore and FMS last year but could not convert.


Abhiram Iyer, 23

Hailing from Kalyan, with a dual degree(B.Tech and M.Tech) from IIT-Madras, Abhiram Iyer, with a 100 percentile stands amongst CAT 2013's Top 8. Having scored a 99.4 and 98.99 percentile in his first and second attempt respectively, Abhiram at the advice of his interview at IIM-Indore after his first attempt took up a job inorder to have an edge. To establish this grip, he began working with Ashok Leyland, Chennai as a project planner.

Having scored well in the last two attempts, Abhirarth said he faced difficulty in remembering definitions and formulas, rather than going back to books he would solve as many papers as possible, this helped him in better understanding of the paper. Coming from the IIT background, Iyer said, “ When it comes to the corporate world, one cannot survive merely on the basis of technical knowledge, a masters degree from a renowed institute helps in this case.” Apart from this, he had taken mocks from IMS and TIME. He has qualified for the IIFT. He has also taken XAT, NMAT, and CMAT.

Siva Surya Teja,24

Finally reaching a 100 percentile in his fourth attempt at the CAT examination 2013, Siva Surya Teja from Samalkot, Andhra Pradesh made it to toppers list.With what started off as a trial, he scored an 89 in his first attempt whichgradually became a 100 percentile in his fourth attempt in the CAT '2013 results. Currently working with Infosys at Hyderabad as a system engineer, he holds a B.tech degree in computer science from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University(JNTU)
Anantapur.

Being confident about Quant as Math is his strength, he maximized his strength on the verbal section by working on it day and night. Working at Infosys for the past two and a half years, Siva said, “ I believe in channelizing my energies to different parts of learning, having an engineering degree and then taking up CAT gave me a wider perspective of learning.”
Apart from CAT, Siva has also cleared qualified Indian Institute for Foreign Trade (IIFT), Delhi and will be going for the interview this year. He has also taken the Xavier's Aptitude Test (XAT). His dream b-school is IIM Ahmedabad, and he wants nothing less than Ahmedabad, Bangalore or Calcutta.

Food Review

Simply Complicated

Simply complicated! You ask why? Well no, rather what ? That would be an appropriate question. Just before you think my life is too dull and that I'm caught up in some paradoxical situation I can't handle. Letme tell you, this is just my way to start off a food review, Simply Complicated, just merely what I felt after I happened to visit Le cafe at Chembur last month on a thursday evening. The time being around 7.30 I wasn't exactly what you call terribly hungry, I was only looking at pampering my tastebud. 

With a seemingly eight word long name, Le Café Wood Fired Oven Baked Stuffed Mushrooms at Le Cafe Chembur, painted an image of steaming mushrooms settled around veggies served in a platter like fashion. As opposed to my imagination, the dish was served in a regular white quarter plate circled around a bowl of finely grated cabbage, carrot and beetroot as the central focus. Known for it’s bakery based products, Le Café situated two minutes from Chembur station serves as a great option for train commuters and local residents to grab a light supper. In a pursuit to fulfill my evening desire for something light yet tasty, I happened to visit this place on a weekday around 7.30p:m. As I was looking at pampering my tastebud and nothing too heavy, I called for it, after a minute which is how long it took to me ask for it and the waiter to interpret. Soaked in oil and soya, large coriander leaves covered the mushroom pieces giving it an appearance of circular dried manchurian or minced meat balls. As the name suggests, fired against wood, the texture of mushrooms seemed just right as opposed to under or over cooked mushrooms making it too soft or hard for one to digest. As one chews onto the mushroom, the flavors hit your palate directly. The dark essence of soya sauce against the mushiness of the oil rubs a strong pungent liquidity in your tongue. The crisp Coriander reduces the intensity of the oily blast in your mouth.

                      

After having it, I questioned , myself is it different from the other mushroom basedDishes I've had in the past? Well yes! But is it as happeing as the decription looks?

The answer to it was definitely no. So I realized, it' s more about a simple dish put up Complicatedly. 

Presentation-3.5/5 Taste-3/5

Ambiance-3/5 

Service-2/5 

Seating arrangement-3/5

Pricing-3/5

How to reach there? 

As suggested earlier, it is located at a 2 minutes walking distance from chembur station.

For an non-resident train would be the best op

tion. Gor locals, it couldn't get any 

More convenient since the place stands at an almost equidistant from P.L lokhande marg and Diamond garden.

Landmark-opposite BMC office

Editorial

Students and Women come forward to spread awareness

Captivating the attention of every eye in the crowd, a team of 12 members dressed in red kurta and white salwar with a dupatta firmly tied to their waist presented astreet play outside Kurla station on Tuesday. After a Jyoti was extinguished last December, the team from Bharitya Mahila Federation raised activism against gender based violence this year.

    
Believing in the nature of cause, Sulabai Patil, 46, a member of street play team said, “When women witness these activities, they come forward with their problems. When a victimized woman gets justice she encourages other women to step out of cruelty and injustice.”  With the idea of raising awareness in the light of female foeticide, declining female birth rate, domestic violence and human trafficking , thestreet play also brought up the 1990 Rinku Patil, burnt alive case and 1993 Meera(name changed) rape case. Started on 25^th November on account of International elimination of violence against crime, the 16 day activist campaign concluded on Tuesday 10^th December on account of Human Rights day. “The campaign conducted at various local stations ranging from CST to Kalyan has witnessed a brilliant response from the masses, it is great to see everyone, right from a cobbler to a business professional being equally sensitized by this issue.” said Geeta Mahajan , secretary, Bhartiya Mahila Federation.  

    The 12 member street play team includes men and women from various spheres of the society. Sayali Pawar , Tanmay Pawar, students from KBP College, Thane and Pratibha Yadav a class 9 student from  Gyaan Prasaran school,Kalva have come forward to join this movement.

Dhoom 3 Review

Dooming the audience

Rating-2.5/5

Released just a few days before Christmas, Dhoom 3 made it's way to the theaters, dominantly spread across all screens and show timings. Popularly known for being a cop and thief chase thriller, there is a shift of pattern in Dhoom 3, the genre somewhere seems to have moved from thriller to drama, wherein cops can’t get a hold of the obviously visible thieves before them. The movie is majorly characterized by clown masks, BMW bikes and Western Bank of Chicago. Making reference to the first two movies, the series has always showcased a major influence of the antagonist; it continues to follow the same trend, the only difference being this time the antagonist doesn't appear to be physically as strong and powerful. Unlike John Abraham and Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan fails to create that charismatic impression. Times where the antagonist is seen in softer moods, Aamir Khan manages to gain a huge applause. From trying hard to hold stern robber expressions to being the lead performer for Great Indian Circus, altering his speech at various points to meet the plot requirement and singing melodious songs for Katrina Kaif on the streets of Chicago and Switzerland, Aamir Khan’s half succeeded effort is commendable. Talking about the rest of the cast, like most of her other movies, Katrina Kaif’s role continues to be brief, with barely 5 dialogues in the 172 minutes long movie, she continues to appear in songs as the ‘Asian Goddess who can move like liquid and electricity’. Abhishek Bachchan successfully pulls off the character of a so called intelligent cop whose called upon to Chicago to solve the clown mystery whereas Uday Chopra does what suits him otherwise, a street side bugger turned sidekick. The best aspect of this movie is the location, Aamir Khan’s getaway on Chicago waterfront and the conclusion of the movie set on a dam is a visual treat, these are the scenes to lookout for.  Other than the location and Aamir Kan’s performance in the movie, the Video Effects deserve an appreciation, probably the best video effects Bollywood has seen in a longtime. Even though some scenes are meant to have a thrilling effect they turn out to appear comical, especially for the audience coming from Christopher Nolan movies. The plot is rather mainstream with anticipated twists and turns to it, the most notable change in the movie from the last two parts is the shift of target audience, Dhoom which is more like an Indian version of Fast Furious seemed to have shifted from the youth to the masses. Not only the youth, but families and migrants can understand and relate to the movie in some segments.     

Political Support for Hatekar pours in

Political Support for Hatekar pours in

Reference

Newspaper- The Hindu

Date- 8th January,2014

 Inorder to express their agitation towards the suspension of Professor Neeraj Hatekar, students from various departments at Mumbai University's Kalina Campus with placards in their hand and chanting slogans held a protest at 8.30 am on Wednesday, 8^th January,2014.

To strengthen their fight, Mayank Gandhi from AAP, Amol Matele from Rashtrawaadi Party joined the protest. Whereas, Shiv Sena and Dharamraj party also extended their support virtually.

 Dr Hatekar, a professor of Econometrics in the university's economic departments was suspended on Saturday, weeks after he went public with allegations of mismanagement by Vice Chancellor Rajan Welukar and blamed him for the downslide in the university's academic status, at a press conference last month. AAP's Mayank Gandhi said, "The Vice Chancellor has violated every rule by suspending Neeraj Hatekar. It's not justified." 

To further demonstrate their disappointment, students from the eco department bunked the macro and developmental economics lecture which was scheduled from 9 am to 1pm. On having the Vice Chancellor Rajan Welukar's presence in the Pheroz Shah Mehta Bhavan which is the Politics department at Kalina campus, the students gathered around the department in a pursuit to talk to Welukar but he chose not to face them. To add to their support, they've requested Dr. Mashelkar, the invited chief guest for the graduation convocation ceremony to not show up for the same which will be taking place  on Sunday.

 "Dr. Mashelkar's support would strengthen our fight against the suspension, By requesting him to not show up, we have asked for his support"  said, Amogh Gadabe, Research Assistant at the Eco dept and activist .

Following the rally, a sign campaign has also been undertaken by the students. A hard copy and soft copy signature indicating support has been signed by around 800 students from various departments at Mumbai University.