To kill a mocking bird

"It is a sin to kill a mocking bird" said Atticus, in the novel 'To Kill a mocking bird'. The novel revolves around the trial of a negro, who is not guilty of the charges of having raped a white girl, but the jury unanimously believes otherwise. The negro finally is battered with 11 bullet holes while he tries to run from the jail.

The preface and the description on the cover tell you the same story, only in some different words. Yet, it looses to give due attention to another killing. There is the murder of innocence and purity of Scout, the protagonist, who has been characterized as being in the 2nd grade. The child in her is murdered as she becomes a lady at ten. She observes her aunt and her neighbors as 'behaving' that way when they get to know about the Negro's death and slowly she too starts 'carrying' herself around. I wish to express my views on such transformation, but there is another killing of the mocking birds, which is currently taking place in most of the households that I see around that I want to discuss. The figurative 'killing' of the child.

India has 1.2 billion people living in it, with 30% of the people below 14 years. If you ask mothers about the routine of their kids, they would tell that their child goes to school at 6 in the morning, comes back at 1 pm, takes his/her lunch, studies till 4 pm, goes for tuition at 5pm, returns home at 9 pm, has dinner and goes to sleep. This grind happens 5 days a week. Non-stop.

Don't the mothers see the mocking birds in their children? Where is the time for the birds to sing? What a shame that the children have been gifted with wings to fly, but have had them clipped by the social pressure of studies. Why are the children forced to conform to the rat race before they even know the pros and cons of being rats?

I wish rather than running and making haste to their schools at 6, they would have been suggested to pause and look at the red of the sun. Just to get the warmth and the freshness to fly in this world rather than race like the rats.

On the flight back home!

I was recently reading about ‘experiential marketing’ on ‘Marketing Practices’, a blog by an IIM L professor on how marketing has evolved towards it. The example of HUL coming out with websites like ‘I am beautiful’ for its products like Ponds, Dove and Lux where customers share their product experiences from which HUL gains customer engagement are all recent examples of experiential marketing. I too have an example to showcase something on the same lines.
Today, I was travelling from IIM C to Delhi on an Indigo flight. As soon as the plane was level in the sky, the airhostess rolled their cart with food items. On asking them for a Coke, which unfortunately they were out of stock, I was quite surprised when after sometime they came back with a glass of Pepsi, offering it to me free of cost. They said that it was theirs and were not feeling good that they were not able to serve their customer well.
I believe that even though Indigo is the most low cost airline in the Indian market today; such experiences would delight the customers. This would ultimately lead to customer retention and royalty, with this becoming a win-win game for both the parties involved.
PS: just waiting for the Indigo IPO to happen ;)

CV

got done with CV making

what i learnt
1) IT work-ex does not count as 50% ppl have IT work-ex. If you want to show that you have done something different, do something different.
2) for finance, it is your acad record that matters. So, if you can still come up with a lot of patents, papers etc. , please do.
3) for consulting, considering that there are only 20 jobs in the big 4 for 1 campus, be different. National archers, international chess players, pilots after engineering, helicopter training, conquering mountain peaks, all count. Show that you have taken some initiatives. Be an entrepreneur, help NGO scale new heights. Winning national level case study competitions gives you the oomph.
4) for marketing have a lot of positions of responsibility. Manage big events somehow.
5) certifications give you added advantage. CFA for example.
6) the extra I in IIITA would always hurt. keep that in mind.
7) some guys can have a CGPA of 10/10 in undergrad. how would you compete with them?
8) National football players. Well, some of the recruiters might know them. Why would recruiters want know you?

i know that these might sound like big words. They are. But then, there are bigger achievements of people whom you will meet at elite institutions. Preparing for CAT is easier compared to such accomplishments.

Now just think about this for 2 minutes. .... ' how ready are you to give the CAT?'

Agony

Close those eyes.

Try to see those dots in the black sky, like stars.
Shimmering bright. Moving down.No, right.
And then a sudden push and to the top.
Off they go.
And these red and green and blue dots.
As if dancing in tandem, slow, with elegance.
And then this Tandava, like Shiva circling, with fury, the energy causes this spark, and, then the flames.Like Shiva circling.

And then the rain, the wetness.
Drops, like filling the thirst of the flames.

And then, agony.

Agony can be beautiful. Enjoy it.