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.