2
Prabhjot Virk
The Editor
iMAG
Congratulations on your first outlet. As
scintillating is the essence of the word “iMAGine”,
I hope the publication leaves tremendous impact
on its readers and gets its much deserved
felicitation.
Dreams are the manifestation of our imagination
that catches the span of the moment. A dream is
abstractly defined as that you see during your
sleep. So when your screechy alarm rings tearing
your ears off, just snooze the button and dream a
little more. Dreams are depicted as aim &
pursuance of life, or even a step further as higher
motive in life and passion. But let me halt you for
a minute; aren't these the steps to achieve our goal
in life? They say ideas and thoughts just don't
come out of the blue but as a matter of fact, they
do.
A dream, seen either during the day while you are
in middle of a lecture, or in the night during the
sleep actually scintillates you for an aim. It creates
a rousing, a craving that drives you to fulfill your
dream. The scintillation, nonetheless, may die in
the budding stage or go on to the extent of ultimate
zenith of the individual's life; as the case may be.
Quoting Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, he said, “Dream,
Dream & Dream”. A dream can be so worthy and
inspirational as an innovative idea that Einstein
had postulated and given hypothesis of relativistic
physics just on the basis of thought experiments!
So now you see that your seemingly worthless
dreams and out of the world thoughts can turn out
be quite fruitful if applied properly with utmost
optimism. So if you think you can dream then you
can dare to pursue it too. Remember making a
dream your aim is harder than pursuing it.
Regards,
Navpreet Singh
UIET,Panjab University
Roadie5.0
letters to the editor
The Editor
iMAG
One of the most favorite places (not mine, please note) of my class to hang out while at college, is not Stu-C, or the green benches
to bask in sun, or the new canteen, or the cool PU market, but the cute little photostat shop residing peacefully near the stairs of
ground floor of the Academic Block 1, UIET Sector 25, conveniently adjacent to the class of Biotech 2010. Already the biotech
people are notorious for their highest number of subjects & huge syllabus, being in the vicinity of the photostat shop adds to their
joy & to my misery. They savour the tiny cubicle before & after every lecture, practicals, and in some extreme cases, even during
our rare bunks, like I may visit an apparel showroom or the Archies; for asking the Bhaiya for ANY NEW, repeat, ANY, notes, or
transparencies the teachers may have given. On the days there are none, they come back empty handed, eyes downcast with
sorrow, in total contrast to the jumps of joys and smiles of excitement when there are; as the whole set of 70 odd students gather
their way outside the shop. It has to be noted that the group also consists of a very reluctant me. They wave the warm sheets in air,
showing off. A day well spent. They return to their homes, eyes shining with the prospect of studying and cramming something
different and new, while, I, clutching the new notes look around hopelessly for someone, Anyone, who would share my feelings &
offer sympathy would agree that as students of UIET, we are not supposed to be so studious and obedient. Finding none, I keep the
pages in the back pocket of my bag, which has grown substantially heavy by the addition of these daily intrusions. I never get
around to open the pocket, let alone removing them from my bag and reading them, till the night before sessionals. Question is, am
I a True UIETian, or are They ?
Regards,
Vidhi Verma
Biotech, UIET
The Editor
iMAG
I am nearing almost 3 years in college and I am still without a girlfriend. Is it required to have a steady boy-
friend/girl-friend in college? "Chandramukhi ho ya paaro, ki farak painda hai yaaro!" The fleeting pleasures that
the college dudes and dames wake up with every morning from day ONE in college, is to become two from one!
Guys without girlfriends and bikes are treated as pariah in the college community. You can call them DESPOS
(and yes, that's what everyone becomes)! The Dream-boy/girl personifies in the figurative form of Angelina Jolie
(walking and holding hands on a beach), or Tom Cruise (sipping the fruit punch mock tails from the same glass).
The thoughts get wilder and more whimsical until they finally start going around with a person of their choice or
else they simply compromise just for the heck of the “committed status” symbol. Else they simply moan and groan
under the heavy yoke of “singleton-ism”.
Regards,
Anonymous
I write-down to speak-up!
 3

WORDICT

In ‘Harry Potter and the

Irina Brar: Chandigarh Golf Icon, has been a winner all the way... The nation's Chamber of Secrets’,
top ranked lady golfer at the age of 16! She faced a rough patch owing to spinal everybody at the
injury in November, 2002, but here is the winner continuing... Hogwarts school of
Witchcraft is scared
1. You had won a medal in figure skating as a 4 year old. So how did golf happen because one by one,
to you? students are being
My mom is a golfer. So I used to go hang out at the golf club waiting for mom. I petrified and nobody
thought it was too slow, but I got inspired to start while watching a PGA tour event knows by whom. A
in USA in 1995. Then I bought a golf set, and realized I was really good at it, and friend asked what
was hooked! Japinder Gill petrified meant, and I
said, “Pathar-ified.” Did
it strike you that petros,
2. In India, sports other than cricket do not enjoy as much support, especially
the Latin word for stone (and the source of
financially; on top of that, women in sports earn only a small fraction of what
both petrify and petroleum) and our pathar
their male counterparts earn. Does this situation bother you?
have the same consonants? Is it just a
We definitely need more sponsors to support golf and women's golf in particular. It
coincidence? The answer is “No.” All the
gets really expensive to play the tour, and until we get sponsors, the numbers won't increase. Cricket overshadows
languages of Europe, of North-India and of
every other sport into oblivion.
western Asia have one common ancestor- the
Proto-Indo European (PIE) language- which
3. You became the nation's top-ranked lady golfer on your 16th birthday. That is something like doing a Sachin was spoken around 7000 years ago. Those
Tendulkar in golf. How does that feel? people then migrated in waves to different
It felt good. I was lucky to have great social support, my mom would travel with me, dad would finance the travel, parts of the Eurasian landmass, taking with
and school and friends were supportive. them their shared words. Millennia have
passed, but a few words still remain
4. You saw a rough patch in your career when you fractured your lowest vertebra in November 2002. How did recognizable across the tongues.
you cope up with it?
It was hard to take a break when playing one's best. Mom was great, she kept me entertained and pampered even The Latin os means ‘bone’, hence the words
when I was on bed rest. I am a very positive person, so there was no moping around; it was seen as an opportunity ossify and osseous. We call the bony remains
to relax instead of a forced break. of a dead man asthi. A desiccated thing is
totally dried up, because the Latin siccus
means ‘dry’, exactly what the Punjabi sukka
5. Coming back after 11 months of a forced hiatus (after November 2002), you clinched the Punjab Ladies and the Hindi sukha means.
Open Amateur Golf Championship title by a big margin. That really shows your class. What inspires
you/inspired you to go on? The words potent, potentate, omnipotent,
I really missed the game during the break. I was dreaming golf, eating golf….so when I could play; I was just so impotent, potential, all centre on the Latin
motivated and excited that when I was back, the scores took care of themselves. root potis, meaning ‘powerful, able.’ The pati
of an Indian woman is her master and her
6. You have modeled for a Mumbai jewellery outlet and are also the brand girl for Nike. How was that lord.
experience?
It was interesting, my friends made so much fun of me though. Fame is fun while it lasts. The words young, juvenile and junior have
the same consonants as our yauvan and
jawaan, and mean the same too.
7. The best compliment you ever got?
Don't remember. Probably that I inspired many girls to take up golf. We call our cattle pashu and the Latin word
was pecu. When money had not yet been
8. Could you tell us something about your future plans? Where do you see yourself and Indian golf 5 years invented, the wealth of a man was
from now? determined by the size of his flock. That is
I am currently pursuing a second Masters degree in Sport Psychology from USA. Next year I start a PhD, and will how the Latin word pecuniarius which meant
be a practicing sport psychologist. I also plan to get back to golf after my back heals. Indian golf is growing at a ‘related to cattle’ came to mean ‘related to
fantastic rate. In 5 years hopefully we will have many Indians playing the PGA Tour, and hopefully Jeev would wealth’ and gave us both pecuniary and
have won a Major! impecunious.

9. Whom do you look up to for inspiration? Naash for us means death or complete
Tiger Woods. Need I say more? destruction. The Latin nox means ‘harm,
injury’ and nex, ‘death, murder.’ These roots
engendered innocent, innocuous, noxious,
10. How have your parents' supported you as a professional golfer? obnoxious, pernicious, internecine, necrosis
My parents have supported me in every way possible. Dad helped with the finances, Mom is my sport and necromancy. For us, death is maut or
psychologist, mentor, everything rolled into one. I would not be where I am without their involvement. mrityu, and the act of dying, marna. The
Latin for death is mortis and morire means
11. So what is it that really takes to be an 'Irina Brar'? ‘to die.’ The words it produced are murder,
Interesting question. To sum it up, I would say: I am not afraid of being different. And I work hard to be the best mortal, immortal, mortify, moribund,
at whatever I am doing. mortuary, mortician and postmortem. Our
mythology said that Amrita (a-mrita) was the
Quick Facts: drink of gods which could make one
1. The book that you're currently reading: The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying immortal. Similarly, the Greeks believed in
2. The last movie you saw and loved: Marley and Me. Ambrosia, the food of gods (a- + mbrotos,
3. What did you dream last night? I didn't get enough hours of sleep to dream!! Don't remember, usually I do. related to mortos , ‘mortal.’)
4. One thing that you would want to say to the readers of iMAG? Life is 10% what happens to you and 90%
how you deal with it. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are
5. The craziest thing you've done? Moved to a different country to an alien place to pursue my dream. many more of such fantastic correlations
waiting to be discovered by you! Think what
Interviewed by: you call your throat, sugar, your father and
Amita & Kriti your mother, or look up at the night sky.
They all will lead you to more such PIE
roots. Keep exploring! Have fun!

It’s beter to let people think you are an idiot, than to open your mouth and prove it!
 MAGink
4

X`g.k
varj eaMy bl Hkw
eaMy esa
dHkh ;gha Fkk I;kj cM+k
HkkbZ HkkbZ rc u yM+rs
Fks
vuqt Fkk pUnz vkSj

Choices lw;Z cM+k

;gk¡ ogk¡ cSBk djrs Fks
etes djrs nksuks jpk
I died in the last hour somehow...I don't know Oh! He was an angel with those wings and that golden ring. pUnz Fkk ekSth vkokjk
And God opened his gates - it was the time to go Maybe he was here to demonstrate the effect - (I'll miss but) the
lk
I didn't lament dying as it didn't feel so bad heavens can bring.
Only the pain of my kin was what made me sad Though sad, I approached him and saluted with a spirited air. vxzt dk rstl Fkk
Because forever in my life, at its every juncture, And he replied the following, tossing back his blond hair. Hkjk
My life had been dear to me...but death had been the next great "O son of the LORD - as thou comest' here, be proud for thee see ts"B] lw;Z dk C;kg Hkh
adventure. the heaven from wherest' thou art' standing.
Thou art' the 7th man to comest' here and who hast' been fair in his gqvk rks
So I walked on... judgment and understanding." o/q Hkh rstLkouh gh
On that path through a heavenly lawn. Fkh
I can easily recall, that not much had I walked, And suddenly it dawned upon me,
When on that cobbled track, I reached a fork. That I was the 7th man here to be. jkS'ku jkS'ku nksuksa djrs
On a signboard was written "RIGHT HELL" and "LEFT That's why the road was rugged and shriveled, uke Hkh mldk jkS'kuh
HEAVEN" BECAUSE it was the road less travelled! Fkk
And it also gave the direction to some cloud numbered 7. And I asked the angel if God was on the cloud 7
The way to hell was ragged and hard He affirmed, since the cloud favored the 'RIGHT' pUnz rks Bgjk nhokuk
While the same to heaven was handsome and smart. The actual way towards heaven. lk
And the cloud 7 was up there ....where no way went. bd dU;k ds pDdj
It just stood there...to the "RIGHT" slightly bent. And then a magnificent door appeared esa iM+k
And as I entered, my doubts all cleared,
But leaving that I thought about my whole life A deep divine voice spoke to me, lqanj vkSj lq'khy og
About all those times when I had put my parents through strife. That before, "The Heavens" I should see, Fkh gh]
About those moments, when because of me my brother had cried I must know why and how I'm there. Hkweh lqanj uke iM+k
And about all those insects...under my feet which had died. Although in my whole life I had been a liar
It's true that after death, you see your life as a movie. Although many sins I had committed, HkrkZ Jh vkx ccwys
And you have to decide whether it is horror or emotional, cruel or And to my many desires I had submitted. tkr ikr esa fo'okl Fks
groovy. Then why in the name of heaven.....in the hell I don't lie? djrs
I had also shoplifted my favorite - Bryllcream hair gel And I was answered there and then...
And so I decided...that heaven may be good but I deserved the hell. Doubts and problems life puts forward when, vkX;k Hkh ,d
It never matters with God, whether you win or you loose, /eZladV Fkk
And so heavily, hesitantly and unwantingly I took the right - the But it does matter with him...WHAT YOU CHOOSE. Hkwfe dh Fkh fupyh
way which was rugged and broken. The ways of the RIGHT or the ways of the WRONG,
tkrsa
Dry bushes, sand and stones were its only token. On these decisions of yours....his decisions about you throng.
With a regretting heart I noticed that the way was comfortable Because his destiny is not governed by man's talents or vices... izse jksx nksuksa dks gh
So much that I wondered, if hell was likable! But wholly, solely and only by....HIS CHOICES. Fkk
And as I approached the gates of the hell, ij dj u ldk dqN
I could figure out Satan and he was dressed well! Love Upadhyay
Remembering his job, I felt pity on the devil's plight, UICET, Panjab University pUnzek
And when I noticed it - I couldn't understand...DEFYING HkbZ;k ds dgus ij
TRADITIONS, HE WAS DRESSED IN WHITE!!?? mlus
pk¡nuh dk gkFk gh

Just For You Artificial hands, artificial sand...

Fkkek
Hkwfe Hkh jksbZ fpYYkkbZ
jkst+ 'ks"k og izdV Fkh
djrh
I always wanted to talk, but could never dare. Artificial hands and artificial sand,
Whenever you came in front, I could not help but stare. What's then slipping??? vc mlus ;g fy;k
I had my ideas and feelings to share, Slipping out of hand. Bku
But still I wasn't convinced that you really care. No feelings, no opportunities, j{kk djuh lksph mlus]
What's there to lose?
You had filled my dull life with zeal, When you've nothing… vkSj dqN ugha viuh
Just a talk with you had become a big deal. Absolutely nothing, vku
There's so much about you, that I feel, from which to choose! fn[kk dj lkgl py
You will never know, how hard this was, to conceal. Why this worry?
Why this rush? iM+h oks
Everybody's life does take a turn, Carry on with your mundane task, vcyk ukjh fcuk xgu
But for my mind, your memories were difficult to burn. with peace and calm, feVk ds n`f"V ls HkrksZa
Evaluation of my past, tells me that I was wrong, And maybe, just maybe,
dh
And here's how I have changed my love song. you won't lose that charm!
It's this place, this world, fd;k Fkk mlus lw;Z
There was a time when I could do nothing but stare, It's this time, x`g.k
But now my life has changed its gear. It's NOW!
I'm ready to say what you always wanted to hear,
Yes, yes I want you to come near.
Gaurav
Abhishek Kashyap Seemant Dadwal Chibbar
UIET,Panjab University UIET,Panjab University UIET, Panjab
University
If pun is bad, poetry is verse!
 Books I like
5

Life Of Pi
Yann Martel
The Death Cauldron
Sitting by the window side in my house, with a cup of coffee in hand, I can feel the zephyr Genre: Fiction
blowing on my face. The tintinnabulation of the sea waves and the sound of the cuckoos bring a balmy Publisher : Penguin Books
feeling to me. My house is located on the suburbs of kanyakumari, away from the kerfuffle of the city. It (Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2002)
is not very far away from the sea, with a beautiful kaleyard with lanky trees in abundance. My wife and I
Piscine Molitor Patel, self-christened as Pi,
shifted to this beautiful house last year after getting married. With no kindred here, we had started our and interestingly named after a swimming
married life with full zest. I am a doctor by profession and run my personal clinic. My wife Anamika, pool, lives in Pondicherry, where his father
was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, high on pulchritude, absolutely an angel. She was a owns a zoo. As the protangonist of the story he
teacher by profession. She was as beautiful as a goddess. Her seducing eyes, outlined with kohl and the comes forth as a sensitive, observant, earnest
kisscurl on her face made my heart flutter. She had the serenity and the innocence of a child on her face. young person who refuses to take facts for
Her lissom body and her presence made the temperature sour upto several degrees. She made my heart what they are. Though born a Hindu, he
kindle with emotions. She was paramount to anything else in the world for me. Today, sitting by the embraces Christianity's message of love and
window side, I remember my dear wife. I am all alone. I feel completely knackered with a feeling of also becomes a devout Muslim. As the priest,
being kaput. pandit and imam tell him to choose one, Yann
beautifully moulds the frivolity of religious
dissent.
It all happened three months after our wedding. It was a wonderful evening. Anamika was too When he is sixteen, his parents decide to
excited as she had been promoted and had received kudos at work. To celebrate her success, I decided to emigrate to Canada, taking an entire shipload
prepare supper. She went to the kaleyard to collect fruits and kales. Suddenly I heard a klaxon in the of now-yankee animals with them.
backyard and I heard Anamika scream. I rushed to the kaleyard and saw Anamika being pushed in a car. Tradegy however strikes when the ship sinks
Before I could rescue her, the car drove away. With my hands on my knees, I knelt on the ground. I was and he is left to fend for himself, cope up with
shattered. The pain was unbearable. the loss of his family, and, survive with a
hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a 450 pound
royal Bengal tiger on a single lifeboat.
Five months have passed now. The serenity suddenly turns into sounds of kookaburra. I hit my The story takes interesting turns as the true
nature of the human psyche rips apart in the
knuckles hard. There is a yearning to get rid of my frustration. My heart begins to swelter with the heat
face of crisis.
of retaliation. My life has been out of kilter for a long time. There is an urge to transform the jangling The story is not just an effortless allegory but
discords of my mind into peace. I move out of the house, with proper kit I had arranged for this very day. infact an unputdownable adventure. Life of Pi
Driving the car through the countryside, I reach a cottage amidst a murky place on a small hummock. I is a novel that sees, wonders, explores; a piece
rush and open the lock. A woman is tied to a chair, almost unconscious. She is my wife. She had been of art that that challenges life itself with the
tortured enough. But today would be her end. This would be her final kip. I would put the kibosh on her claws of survival, and enchants all with the
life. This knave woman will die today. I take out the kalashnikov from my kit and finally shoot my dear ripping quality of its being. Just when you
wife. She is dead. I then take the petrol can and spill kerosene on her body and burn the corpse so that no thought you were done with fiction, Yann
one would ever recognize her. I then pack the seared cadaver in a rucksack and dispose it off in a drain. I Martel makes you gobble those thoughts up,
am finally at peace. I am driving back home with a feeling of joy. I will kick off my life with new zeal. with helpless certainty and unimaginable
charm.
She has finally paid the price of betrayal, for betraying my trust, my love for her, by indulging in an
Martel is powerful in language, simplistic in
affair with Ayaan. The fire started when one day I saw her with Ayaan outside her school while I was thought and a master at storytelling the
returning from my clinic. I also heard her talking on phone with him. He was one person in her life about perfect ingredients for an-edge-of-the-seat
whom I did not know. voyage that excites, enchants, hypnotizes, and
I could not see her with anyone other than me. My intense love for her prompted me to get her most of all keeps you turning that page. Just
kidnapped, so that no one would have the sleekest idea that I did it all. And now I have achieved my one more time.
goal. I feel happy and contended, like a Kaiser. Now I will live life king-size. My life will no more be
kinky. I reach my bedroom and open her cupboard. I wanted to simply erase that woman out of my life. I
wanted to dispose off all her assets. Taking out all the knick-knacks, I find a diary under her clothes. I
read her diary. Her diary was the perfect epitome of her love for me. All she had written was that she The Google Story
loved me a lot. The diary entry of the day before I got her kidnapped was: David A.Wise
“Today I met Ayaan. I did not tell about the meeting to my Genre: Non-Fiction
husband. I know this is wrong. But this is all I could do. My Publisher : Pan Books
eternal love for my husband has prompted me to have an
affair with Ayaan or else he will kill my husband. I love my
husband a lot. I hope he will forgive me for my sins. God It's the 'TO DO' book! It's not just a dry
please forgive me for my sins. account of how one of the defining turn points
Please show me a way out. I am sorry. “ of our time came to be, but is definitely more
than that. A lot more! It's an inspiration, how
to carry on even with the odds majorly
stacked against you and tread steady for what
I felt a lump going down my throat. I wish I had read this you believe in even when the world goes the
and known the veracity of the findings before killing my other way.
wife. If I had trust on my wife, I would not have killed her so The story has been given in a uniquely
savagely. Today, I am all alone, living in grief, in love of my wife, leading a life I have orchestrated capturing way. The best part is that it starts
myself. I have shattered my life into smithereens. I have mucked up and vandalized my life myself. I am from the very beginning… No kidding! It
paralysed and there is no motive of my existence. In the throes of gloom, I have locked myself in a kinda takes you into the minds of the two
single room. Life is repugnant without her. I have my wife's diary as the only relic of her memory. I am brilliant 'Google Boys'. It starts with their
living vicariously with her and will die for her. I don't expect my wife to forgive me for my sins. I background to how they met to how they
deserve something more than death. I have created this cauldron of death myself…. materialized the one unfathomable task
without which we are paralyzed in today's
world, 'GOOGLE'. It also gives an account of
how Google functions, where its think tank
lies and how it continues to build up wonders.
Mansi Arora So, if you wanna know how Google came into
UIET, Panjab University being and how its thirty-two-year-old
founders managed to take Google from just
another search engine to a company that has a
market value worth billions, just grab yourself
a copy and start Googling!
Copy from one person and it’s plagiarism.Copy from more and it’s research.
6 7
Have you ever thought:
"I wish I wasn't an engineer?”... not because it's tough to cram up 5-6 different
subjects every semester, for 4 years, along with managing the lab work; but
because you feel you're not cut to apply yourself in the core technicalities of
your stream.
"I wish I wasn't a doctor, or a dentist, for that matter?”... not because it still
gives you a shiver when working with cadavers, or its overwhelming and
uninteresting at times to learn all about the physiologies and anatomies of the
human body; but because you feel you wanted to achieve stardom, gain instant
money, and worry about the latest fashion trends rather than curing everyone
around you.
"I wish I could have tried harder to convince my parents to send me off to the
acting school?"... because you still feel more alive than ever while you are
practicing for the annual college fest.
"I wish I hadn't given up my dream of joining the Men-In-Blue?"…just
because your tutions seemed more important to you at that time, or your small
city didn't have too many facilities to offer.
In our college gang, hostel friends and everywhere in the people around us, we all
know the joker of the group, the one who can make us laugh endlessly by his gags
& pranks, yet didn't pursue his talent; and the girl who paints so well that your
eyes widen in appreciation every time you see the beauty she has created; or the
captain of the college cricket team (whose good luck every cricket player admires,
but very few know it was due to family pressure that he had to give up his place
on the Ranji Team); or the bubbly girl whose dressing sense is so 'chic' that you
used to wonder how she got her style, until she told you she'd missed the interview
at NIFT barely, and didn't appear for the 2nd time, "for personal reasons".
So it's happened to all of us, or to someone who's close to
us. Engineering, Medical, Law & Commerce are the
predominant professions one can think of. All the parents
want their kids to become one of the above or some of the
above, and for same old clichéd reasons: job stability
(though recession has changed the current equation
everywhere!), money, and respect, even though it's a known
fact a "theatre production manager" would raise more
eyebrows than a simple C.A.!!
Which of course brings us to probe these rather ostensible facts of life.
Is money worth giving up your dreams for? Or are dreams meant to be dreamt
and got over with, when the real world is as ugly as it can get? There's no denying
the fact that if you're not pulling yourself up, then someone will pull you down.
Nor that, non-science students (unless exceptional) are not treated with the same
respect that science students get. Nor the fact that while engineers (in non
recession times) are on the financial joyride at 22, most artists move in to
comfortable living posthumously.
Remember when you were 8 yrs old & your reply to the "What will you become
when you grow up?" Answers like Astronomer, Newspaper boy, Chef, Heroine,
Dancer, or even Superman came without the slightest hesitation. Of course, it is
unfair to compare because you were immature and hardly had any knowledge
except for the people around you. But what these answers reflect is your spirit of
adventure. We all think of our childhood dreams with a touch of nostalgia, yet few
work hard enough to get those dreams into action.
Taking
On asking a couple of UIET girls about their dream career, one said, on condition
of anonymity, "I wanted to become an FBI agent, because it's so adventurous and
thrilling. I regularly used to watch serials like Medical Detectives, Tehkikaat and
X-Files. However, I felt that my physique wasn't good enough for this".
When asked whether she would pursue the same if given the
opportunity now, the answer came as a surprising no. "I will
not be much successful if I join FBI at this stage, considering
all the practicalities. However, I'd love to pursue it as a side
kick.”
Ah well, reality bites.
Are dreams not worth it? Is life not worth taking the leap?
Says career counsellor, Varsha Verma, “A large section of
students are unaware of what they really want to achieve in
life. This amounts to a situation like boarding a train without
knowing one's destination. Undoubtedly it may result in waste of precious time as
well as money. As such parents direct them to a safer option, which is not wrong
either.”
However, as it is evident from the fall of global
economy, it is unlikely that we would get the job for
which we have slogged for the past 4 years anyway.
This is the time when our old dreams haunt us the
most. There's no way the psychiatrist is going to lose
her job, or the newspaper reporter will go starving (not
literally), or the chef will be out of business.
According to Varsha Verma, presently, due to
recession, jobs related to environment and nature will
survive. Recession has 2 types of effects:
1) Primary and Direct effect on IT sector, tourism, luxury, highly specialized jobs,
and
2) Secondary and indirect effect on conventional jobs.
In a survey conducted by Team @ iMAGine, we asked some pertinent questions
(sample space 120 Students) and found that a whopping 69% of the respondents
were not pursuing a career of their choice. The main reason that they were stuck in
more conventional, high paying jobs was mainly due to parental influence and
friends.
P. Mannar Jawahar, Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, Chennai:
says, “Graduates should continue the learning process and equip themselves in
their respective fields even after graduation.”*
In the wake of the current crisis, here's hoping that we learn to think deeper, soar
higher, live more. Even if it means taking that leap.
I wish I could,
I wish I would,
I know I should,
I wonder, I stood.
Q1. Is your present career the one you wanted to pursue from the beginning?
The Leap...
RJ Meenakshi is the bubbly and vivacious host of MY FM, Chandigarh’s “Oye
Hoye Meenakshi!” Her show targets the youth of the city and helps them express
their love on-air. She invites listners to play the game of love and test their love
they share. She plays cupid on-air and helps those who wish to convey their
liking for someone by proposing on behalf of the caller. Her honesty ensures that Interviewed by:
people confide in her. Vidhi & Umang
Compiled by:
Vidhi
Q. How did you end up being an RJ?
M : I never wanted to become an RJ. I was more into theatre. I have done 17 plays, and was selected for a
movie opposite Dino Moreo. But my mom and dad didn't let me go to the Big Bad World of Mumbai.
I was very disappointed. I had won the Best Actress Award for 3 years consecutively at NSD, and I could
see my Bollywood Dream just crashing. Then radio happened. I went to this certain radio station, and from
more than thousand people, got selected in the top 3. So that's it! My journey!
Q. Why do you think people relate to you so well?
M : Basically I am a very expressive person. And more importantly, I'm very genuine in my show. It
doesn't make any difference to me whether I am "On air" or "Off air". I don't become some other
personality when I am in front of the mic. I am the same Meenakshi who's talking to you right now. I am
not like : "Yo man! Hey! Ho! You're listening to Blah Blah Blah .. “ I can't do it.
Q. How did you come up with this idea, of hosting a love show? Q. : It's not an easy task to keep a daily show alive. You need to have fresh
M : Because I truly believe in love. I love everybody. It's a never ending feeling ideas for every moment, because the audience is pretty constant. But you have
for me. It's like Meenakshi = Love. I can do any other show but love is the best. done this. What's the secret behind this creativity?
M : I am thinking about my show 24/7. Even while sleeping or eating. I see some
Q. How come you are so good at listening to people, solving their problems and weird guy on road and I think okay I'll talk about him today. I can't separate radio
most important, at match making? Your shows are always a great hit, with from my mind and lifeIn a nutshell, "Its a passion for me, so it's easy.."
calls pouring in and in.
M : I was like this right from childhood. Used to pair up my friends, first Q. What is the best thing that you like about yourself as an RJ?
approaching the gal from guy's side and then the guy's, with the girls' answer. I M : I love people! I just love people, and that's the biggest advantage I have. I
feel this is very natural with me. In fact, I used to solve up all the fights between haven't seen God, so the people are God for me.
my friends and family. So much so, that at the end of the day, the fight between
mom and dad was never resolved until Meenakshi interfered. It's natural for me Q. What qualities should a person have for being an RJ?
to listen to people and give them advice. M : Passion, and only Passion for your profession. You have to be passionate
about people, because they are the ones who'll make you successful. You can't
Q. How did you come up with this latest show of yours? "Fantasy nights?" fake this, because if you do, you can't sustain for long.
M : I thought that Meenakshi has brought so many people together and has
solved so many of their problems. What next? I needed to take things to a new Q. : How can I prepare to become an RJ? What about training?
level. The Chandigarh audience was pretty shy and liked to keep things in the M : Anybody can be an RJ, but he needs to have the above qualities. And as per
closet. No one believed me when they heard my idea. They said no one would training : the basic training starts at home. Have a recorder and tape yourself.
call up and we'd have to make fake calls. But I said I've never taken fake calls, You're the best judge of yourself. You'll know how good or bad you sound. But,
and won't take them this time too. I'd rather end the show. But when the show at the same time, if you've participated in Elocutions at school level, it really
actually surfaced, the response was amazing. It's such a hit now that I get calls helps.And about the formal training, I think theatre teaches amazing voice
till 1 at night... modulation. My experience in theatre has taught me a lot. It's better to do theatre
than to do training.
Quick Facts:
Belongs to: Chandigarh
Education: BSc. Chemistry (Gold Medalist) Q2.What made you join this field?
Love to me is: Where you can be yourself
Qualities of an ideal partner: Real, passionate and a good sense of humour.
Last book read: The 3 mistakes of my life
Hate: Maths
Favourite movie: Dil Se
Believes in Blind Dating: Yes
Favourite dish: Vegetarian sizzlers
Ethnic or modern? Fusion
Beach or hill top? Beach
Favourite place to hang out around Chandigarh: Kasauli
What's more important for an RJ: Spontaneity or Sensibility: Spontaneity
8
CROSSWORDS
Religion Is The Root Cause Of
Terrorism
FOR
Jet fuel fire balls bellowed orange as two jet liners crashed through
and through the New York City skyline. The air turned black, acrid as
people screamed, squirmed, cried, in mute shock and utter disbelief -
at the blatant reality of the brazenly obvious.
If only, we had thought.
In the worthy words of Osama Bin Laden, 'We must understand our
religion. Fighting is a part of Sharia and hostility towards America is
religious duty. We will be rewarded.'
Well, if only we had thought.
The bloodiest attack, ever, on Indian soil.
3 Days. 183 Dead. 11 Targets. One Root.
Ajmal Kasab. Lashkar-e-taiba. Pakistan. One Root.
If only, we had thought.
Terrorism is the organized use of violence directed primarily at non
combatants. A recent report discusses how the face of terrorism has
been completely revamped in the times. Its not just a national problem
anymore, it's a global malaise. And it propogates the rule of the sword.
Blatant. Indiscriminate. Audacious. Impune.
The recent spate of terrorist attacks should help us get to the root of
this mess, if nothing else. The Godhra riots 2002, The Ayodhya
massacre (Babri Masjid), and the 1993 Serial blasts stand as grim
witnesses to a rather checkered history of religious riots.
To say that poverty is the root cause of terrorism is like saying that
obesity is the root cause of lung cancer. Terrorism in our age is fuelled
by the rich, wealthy, educated. Besides, there is poverty in many
regions of the world from which terrorism doesn't originate. Take
Africa for eg. poor, diseased and ignorant. Just how many terrorists
has it produced?
Forget the fact that terrorism requires an inordinate amount of wealth,
terrorism cannot, may not and will not survive without an ideology
behind it. An extremist, fundamentalist ideology, which meets
nefarious intentions and hits where it hails the bulls eye. Religion.
The attacks on the christians in Orrisa, and the Kashmiri Pandit issue
are among others in the sea of examples. And it is not merely that the
goals of the terrorists do not justify the means that they choose. It is
merely the means that they choose to tell us what their goals are.
Saddam Hussain, for eg was not really seeking to defend his people
but to subjugate his neighbours.
The LeT was not just creating a scare, but disrupting international
relations with the US in particular and the west in general.
You can't but it. And you dare not bargain.
You can't appease it. And you dare not ignore.
You can't win it. And you dare not dare.
Ah, well, if only we had thought.
Amanpreet Kalra
UIET, Panjab University
It is not best that we all should think alike, it is differences of opinion that make horse races
AGAINST
“The first crime was committed on the day when someone fenced a piece of land and
said, 'This is mine'. So mine and thine are the mother of all crimes in this world.
When somebody murders a person, only the convicted is punished. Why not the
weapon? No my friends I refuse to say so that religion is the root cause of terrorism.
If you have studied science you should agree that root of every invention is not the
theory it's the practical.
If you are familiar with biology you should agree that the root of diabetes is not the
sugar but the root is a weak pancreas.
The root of every solution is not the calculation but the counting numbers.
If you are a homemaker you must understand that it's not the salt but it's the vegetable
which is the basic thing you require.
Now today we are here not to talk about fiction we are here to talk about logics.
Religion can never be the root of terrorism. Just like theory helps to understand the
invention, sugar adds to diabetes, calculations make easy way to solutions, salts
adds to taste the same way religion adds fuel to fire.
It will be entirely wrong if I say the religion has nothing to do with terrorism but here
the theme is not about the different factors of terrorism it's about the basic root of
terrorism. The basic root of terrorism is not the religion but the human greed, the
greed to have more money, the greed to have power, and the greed to rule the people.
Apparently terrorists say that it is Jihad, but if they are fighting for jihad then I must
say that they don't know its meaning in the first place. This was a peek into just one
phase of terrorism. Where is the question of religion where terrorist groups like
LTTE work. Are you going to believe it that a terrorist like Daud Ebrahim is
conducting illegal activities for the religion? Not at all. It has nothing to do with the
religion. If Osama Bin Laden is a terrorist just because of religion then why
America, why London, why not India first?
Religion is never the root of terrorism though it adds fuel to fire. I am not saying that
religion only teaches us the peace and love. In today's era the world is quite topsy-
turvy:
We have schools and colleges, that are supposed to educate us, which instead keep us
ignorant of real knowledge, while making us memorize useless facts (the battle of
Panipat was fought in Panipat in the year 1789) We have complicated Judicial
systems, where justice is often delayed, seldom delivered. We have medical
systems, which try to keep us forever sick, instead of making us healthy. We have
fashion which is less about clothes and more about nudity. We have governments
which instead of governing and protect us from looter, loot us through high taxes.
So it's quite natural that in such a world, we have religions that are supposed to be
about love, peace, compassion and harmony, but somehow manage to preach the
opposite and drive people to kill, burn, destroy and rape in its name.
Religion seems to create a peculiar 'my savior is better than your savior' type of
mindset. Is this much different from 'My Dad's richer than your Dad!'?
When we are speaking of religion, we are meaning something artificially placed or
superimposed on the living entity. After all, what was there before you started
calling yourself a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, or a Buddhist? What characteristics
of yourself existed before you started calling yourself any of those things? We've
already established that the first quality of the living being is that you are eternal,
spirit soul. You cannot take this quality away from yourself.
All religions are founded on the fear of the many and on the cleverness of the few.
The point is that those clever people have always used the religion as a tool.
When it rains, the prostitute and the Pope get wet just the same. But all these
factors are far away from establishing that religion is the root of terrorism. We must
divert our attention towards somewhere else and try to find out the roots of
terrorism.
Atul
UILS, Panjab University
 9
Know Your Stars
Aries : Jupiter and Saturn are playing hide and
seek this summer, it'll be great if you can stay away
from the den. If your house has got a den, change
the house immediately, or better still burn down /
Goodbye Cupid, I'm not stupid... blow up the den. Life is bound to take a turn, for the better
or for the worse.
For better luck, follow the simple upayaya : add the digits
Interestingly, I don't really know why such things happen around me. Or is it may be I notice too much. By the end of currency number of the ten rupee note in your pocket.
of December, the biggest gift galleries are loaded with super-cute collections of stuff toys, cards, gifts and what not! Multiply by 5, add 3 and subtract 2. Add the digits till you
You name it, & it's there. Yup, in the “bye-cya-tc” age is it that difficult to express love, that you need toys to mime get a single number. Write this number on a paper.
Make a paper plane. Fly it from your terrace while facing
you??? the south west direction. Your bad luck will fly away.
Well, LOL! Not really. No matter how much the so called “West” progresses it certainly doesn't really determine the
“East”. If you eat, drink, surf the net, check your mails, talk to friends or yell at your siblings, without the west Taurus : If you're being bullish, remember you're
interfering with it; then why blame it for things like Valentine's Day. You've accepted it yourself. just being foolish. Watch your step. For the sun is
slowly but steadily slipping behind the moon and
However, this over-hyped concept of this most romantic day in the year, I believe is a cause of worry for many. Not may affect your balance. Physical or mental is yet to
to those who don't have reasons to celebrate; but instead to those who have enough reasons to be happy. The one's be ascertained. If you never liked corns before, try again,
who are dating, are just so confused on “101-tips-to-be-a-great-bf” or replace it with gf instead. Just which out of the your tastes may have changed. You're acting way too cheesy
101 tips, to follow man! these days anyways.
And just imagine the ambiguity in the minds of those who are two-timing or probably three-timing. How Gemini : You might have a strong urge to go out
unconventional would be the way of dealing with three phone calls after 11pm. One needs to learn the art of “time- hiking, or biking. However the other half of your
management” from such great luminary chieftains. And how can they actually break through the waves like a split personality might want to stay indoors. So you
spindrift! may act either way. To get rid of this split, try the
following upayaya: take out all the split ends of your hair.
Why Young India, wants to take center-stage and perform the Romeo and Juliet (Version 2009) every now and then. Collect them, count them and add 3 to the number. Multiply
Frankly, the more this part of India, tries to be the hot-topic, latest proofs of their idiotism are achieved. The epical with 5 and now, throw it in the dustbin. A Piscean with a
love story ends in nothing but, an exaggerated Indian “saas-bahu” soap; adding another episode to the list. golden incisor might help you bite in- to success.
Oh please, get the latest fashion statement right; what is happening is “not happening”.
Cancer : Love will come your way if you let it. If
If we ought to take out one day like V-Day from the year, for those we love then there is more to it. you don't it'll hit you over the head and run away
Originally, V-Day is nothing but the day when the martyr St.Valentine is believed to have been buried. And the really fast. Really really fast. For better luck, try
Catholics thereafter, wanted peace and chimes of amity to be everywhere after his execution. So, they jumping a traffic light. I mean literally. Also, fruit
indiscriminately did sprinkle love everywhere. And not just gave a piece of it to their spouses, alone. is about to give you a pending message. This message could
come in the form of a choking fit, a zinging-zap of pain in a
The enchanting red rose, was the favorite of the Roman Goddess of Love Venus. But, never did she set any rules cracked lip from a citrus fruit, or possibly just spasmic,
that it could only be given to your girlfriend? Ever tried thinking of giving one to your mother? I don't think one uncontrolled excruciating bowel cramps. Whatever it is, try
needs to be so self-absorbed. peeling the fruit in an up-down manner, while facing the
You certainly can buy an iPod-nano for your dad, if your bf's got a 'Rolex' from you. It costs almost one-tenth. south and only after the 18th, that's when the sun moves out
of the fit-ting orbit.
Why can't any of us break-free from the stereotypical ideology of spending
the fourteenth day of the second month of each year, away from family? I Leo : Keep track of the reality shows, you are
just can't comprehend. bound to be a pop star.
For that, I've just got few words for the little baby with wings, for the Eat more popcorn, act all corny and at night, don't
forget to gaze at the stars. If you can find your
Cupid. For if you can strike your golden arrow at everyone who matters to name in a constellation, that's a sure shot indicator of star-
me, my entire world; then let me tell you I'm completely indoctrinated by dum(b). The universe conspires to make you win if you can
your love potion. find 'loser'. Chant 'mera naam chin-chin-choo', on a full
And say, if you cannot, I still adore you. But then I'll need to rethink and moon night while facing west for better luck at the
auditions.
reflect and say, “Goodbye Cupid, I'm not stupid...”
Virgo : You're in luck!
Ishana Luthra If you think it's my job to tell you that, you're
UIET, Panjab University highly, highly mistaken. You're going down, Mr!
As upayaya, stand still (motionless as well as
expressionless) on 3 limbs (2 legs and one hand) near the
water cooler, while keeping the water flowing. Continue for
One Miss Call 3 hours, 3 minutes and 3 seconds. Now use the free hand to
turn off the tap.
It's 10 o'clock at night and I've just received a missed call from a friend. According to our norms, it means that
Libra : Today is not your lucky day. It's tomorrow
she had done with her dinner and refreshments and has just sat down to study. I smile. She's my old class fellow instead! So you can seek some solace while picking
from school days, back in Haridwar, my hometown. We've been friends for long but now she's away, in Jhansi. up your broken teeth with a prosthetic arm. Keep a
Watching the “1 missed call” message on my mobile simply tells me that she misses me as much I do. And that white elephant to avoid a black eye. Always
I'm really not alone and forgotten in this strange city of Lucknow where I stay, alone, to take care of my balance the act. You must offer a lavish meal to Saturn and
Jupiter who are conniving against you. Offer at 6AM sharp,
education. while facing west. If it does not get accepted, consume it
However, I return to my studies. Struggling with physics, it's soon 11:30 & I definitely need a break. Ah! Here's yourself. No point wasting food in this time of global
recession.
one... Suddenly my cell flashes &and vibrates for maybe a second. This time it's another friend from Chandigarh
who must be feeling the need of a break too. She's a childhood pal. A buddy with whom I spent many evenings Scorpio : I'll give you a hint in three words :
voluptuous, gorgeous, curvy. For you the future
with, playing Badminton, Hide and Seek, and numerous other small-children games. Seeing her name, I suddenly comes in like a lion. Yes you're roaring, and you're
feel full of energy as nostalgic memories of our jovial and candid friendship brush past me. A perfect timing, I the king of the jungle. If only you live in one that
is. And the three words were my last three dictionary 'words
realize. Surely the mind wireless system works accurately. I pick up my cell and launch a reply missed call to her of the day', nothing to do with you, forever-craving animals.
before keeping it aside to start struggling with another set of physics problems. My name flashing on her mobile
Sagittarius : The sun is now in the fourth house
must have assured her that her friends are in the same boat as she is, in strange surroundings, loads of studies, and the moon is right opposite in the fourth
window. To avoid influence, close all doors and
heaps of work, and away from parents and home. The community feeling of belongingness hasn't lost its way windows of your house. You will have a bad hair
anytime. day this entire week, so it's better that you stay
indoors anyway. A Virgo with polka dotted red socks will be
Never mind, I'm back again to my books. It's over an hour since I last received a missed call. Of course, it's not your lucky charm this week.
late in coming. Before that, I launch a reply call to my best friend in Pantnagar, who had buzzed in for exactly
Capricorn : Venus is prone to hic(cups) this week.
two rings at 2am the last night, signalling me Good Night & that it's time for me to sleep as well. As soon as I put Do not drink before /after dinner. The feeling in the
away my mobile, it starts ringing, and rings and rings. I see the caller. It's a classmate from the same city. The pit of your stomach is going to explode at noon. Or
sometime afterwards.
phone rings for 50 seconds before hanging up. I do not make any attempt to pick up as it's a rule among us that Do not read anything today. Not even a word. Or a letter. If
whoever has a dialler tone set up must not pick up in the first call. She must be taking a break, I realize, listening you just did, you will have bad luck for the next three days.

to the latest Fanaa melody. Getting bored with studies. I smile. This missed call business has surely fetched me a Aquarius : Change the frame of your specs to a
bright electric blue. Your vision will extend
lot of smiley moments today, heart to heart connections with my buddies, without ever tampering with my cell beyond horizons and you will finally 'see' success
phone balance. Soon its 2am, my sleeping time. Studies over for the day, I launch a final call to my best friend in all its true colours. Open your room lock 101
times in 3 minutes and the key to success is all
again, calling it a day. All my dearest friends, so far, yet so close to my heart. Giving me a sense of security, the yours. Just iMAGine, it never was!
feeling of love, support and concern. I drift off to a deep sleep, only to be woken up in the morning at 6:30 am by
Pisces : The water God smells something fishy.
a Beethoven symphony my ringtone. The phone rings for a good twenty seconds before getting quiet. I blink my You're a small fish in a big pond and what's worse,
eyes, stare at the screen and groan. Its mom, telling me to wake up and get going. you even stink like one. Stop acting like a cold fish
even if all that you are fishing for is compliments.
Remember, there are plenty of other fish in the sea,
even if you're a master at the fish tale.

Any problem in career, family, or relationships?

Contact us : theteam.imagine@gmail.com
The power of Thought, the magic of the Mind! Note: Meant only in serious humour. Not intended to hurt or endorse
personal belief. Follow at your own risk.
 I.n.corporate
Hirdesh Madan is the regional head of
10 renowned CAT coaching institute of Chandigarh-
Bulls Eye. He is engineer MBA with consistent
university ranks. He is also an expert career
counselor and a regular speaker at CII seminars.
The P in PhD
IMAGine: Why do you think students should
When you think about it, it's hard to write about 'PhD'. People don't do a PhD for the sake of a aspire for MBA? Do u think every student is made
PhD; they do it because they're interested in something that's worth the time that a PhD takes. for MBA?
This, if you're wondering, is near five years. And honestly, stating such blatant facts doesn't
even get you anywhere near a PhD. So having put things in a bit of a 'perspective', why even HM: A student shouldn't definitely go for MBA .It
bother with one? Good point. Let me tell you a little something about the doctorate. is just a shorter path to reach higher level where
It's fun. Trust me. You'll go four days trying to squeeze in time to write an article for a lots of responsibility and leadership is required.
magazine, and when do you finally get the time? Two in the morning, after you just came MBA makes it easier.MBA is basically an
home from the office finishing up a report that you're supposed to mail your advisor before the
next morning, having been reading up on pending journal articles (no you silly thing, I don't mean the secret diary of American concept and MBA people have better
Adrian Mole, aged 13 and three quarters) all evening, that since you couldn't take some decent time out during the day skill set, so industries started accepting them.
from the classes and labs. So, fun, right? If you knew me, you'd know I'm saving my big rusty box of sarcasm for later. Conclusively, it is just a chase for money. And No,
When people ask me what kind of research I do, here's what I tell them- The work I do tries to figure out why and how it every student is not made for MBA.
rains. I'm selling the notion that you've gotta love what you're doing. Keeping an eye on a million droplets (we love fancy
words- think of a droplet as something that's a hundredth the size of what falls on your head during rainfall) buzzing
around in a cloud-gone-ballistic isn't the sort of thing most people would get a kick out of. IMAGine: How many hours should a student
Don't be fooled though, not everyone I know here lives at the office, and 'visits' the house for food and a quick nap. Heck, spend for CAT preparation?
most people I know don't! So doing your doctorate isn't inherently about working 20 hours a day, and not saving up HM: Two hours everyday of consistent self study
enough time for a shave. It isn't- you could probably very well do with 8. But you've gotta be willing to work, because at
can help the student to crack CAT.
the end of the day, being successful here is no different than being successful at an MBA- which, I'll tell you, more often
than not wrenches out 30 hours a day from you.
Where do I go from here? And the answer to that is- I have only a faint clue, which is IMAGine: More IIM institutes shall be opened in
really a good thing. You need to have a slice of uncertainty going about, because if you India soon; do u think it is a good decision or will
eat it right, you'll sense a funny feeling that I call optimism. It's good to have optimism. It
it compromise on the quality?
lets you pick the better of three doors, when the best two shut themselves on your face.
And what you can bet your bucks on is that little lantern of 'doing what I like, and doing it HM: This decision was a long overdue, 40 years
right'. Heck, even with our research, we like stochastic turbulence better than and only 7 institutes in country as big as India! The
deterministic, because it's more challenging, which really, makes it more FUN! gesture is a good intention and will serve good for
Harmandeep Khare, people though quality will be challenged to some
Graduate Student, UD
extent.

CAT Scan. IMAGine: What is your take on the reserved seats

for SC/ST in B-schools?
Things are never the way they seem. Sometimes things never should be the way they seem. Lots of us realize this painful
HM: Inspite of all this being politically motivated,
lesson at some point of time or the other... getting dumped by someone, flunking in exams, just an overwhelming feeling
none of the admissions in these reserved categories
of nothingness... without rhyme, without reason.
have percentile less than that of 98. So they very
A lot of us had that “something's wrong” feeling after CAT. Something dreamt about slowly, but surely
well deserve it.
vanishing into the thin smoky realms of dead aspirations. For many of us there was just one B- School
in India, IIM-A. The pride of being “Branded for Life”. There was optimism also. An absolute,
IMAGine: What do you think that engineers
unheralded, never say die optimism about the whole thing. Results came. IIFT started the trend. It was a
possess which makes them better performers in
no-go, but once again the optimism kicked back. “Not even interested in Foreign Trade for God's sake
CAT than others?
man”. “I heard that the only thing kick ass about the institute is the chicken parantha waala outside the
HM: The potential of engineering students is
campus” (true!). The whole campus was rife with the scores, but mixed in somewhere, under the excited chattering, and
filtered at class X level. They are good in mental
slightly nervous calculations was the expectation. Would the call come? Would the score in English clear the- cut off? The
aptitude and have practical knowledge. So,
cut- offs in a state of perpetual motion would never cease. One morning they would be inexorably high, to be crossed by
undoubtedly they are better performers and don't
only the mighty few, by the evening they would have touched depressing lows, vaulted across easily by the vast hordes.
lack anything.
The results came out. The depression followed. For some it was a brilliant result. Cause of even more depression for the
rest of us. Foul play some cried. “That person dint study at all. I know because we marroed gehris together. How did he
IMAGine: What makes Bulls Eye unique?
get the call and not me?” but we all knew the bitter truth. CAT rewards the bright, not the harder working. A day's result, a
HM: Faculty makes Bulls Eye unique from other
year's hard work, a lifetime's dream, didn't add up somehow. Some played safe. Took GRE and TOEFL and thought of
institutes.
higher technical education with a bit more enthusiasm. Some took solace in the fact that at least they had a job to go to
after college. Some of us hung on still...a few good colleges still willing to take a chance. What riled the most was the
IMAGine: What made you decide to go for MBA?
rejection for the calls.. 'Sorry, while we do believe you are brilliant, you just aren't good enough for our institute'. Some of
HM: Initially I thought of taking the gate
the calls for the GDs started coming in. Tutorials for the same started. New fundas, new ways to 'present' yourself and
examination, but then my mind changed and I
newer college interview panels to please. Interviews over, it was finally time to unwind.
decided upon MBA.I took IMS material and
Results came in.
studied from it. After my graduation I went for 1
Some with top institute calls couldn't convert any, some with just one good college cracked it, some didn't care by that
year of job and then sat for MBA entrance exams.
time.
After completing my degree, I went for job for one
There was a lot of growing up we did as individuals. Realized the truth of the cliché “life ain't fair” and kind of made
year again and then finally decided to go for
peace with it. Right from the friend who took a piece of the brick of the IIM-A wall for motivation to the guy who decided
counseling.
to pursue a PHd, life did go on. Because you see, this CAT thing isn't really all it is cracked up to be. It is an exam at the
end of the day pure and simple. Not the life and death scenario it is made out to be. One year post the carnage, I say with
IMAGine: If not at Bulls Eye what would you
confidence that the CAT was one of the biggest learning experiences of our lives yet, but not in the ways we probably had
have been doing?
imagined. We didn't learn faster ways to calculate as much as the art of staring at failure and still trudging on. We didn't
HM: Working in the corporate sector.
learn proper grammar usage as much as understanding ourselves. Life will not come to a stop because of one paper and we
have more strength than to let one paper get us down. And now we look at the future a bit differently...not with less
Quick Facts:
optimism... but with more wisdom. Knowing that sometimes things work out if only you give
1) Last book read? - The book of numbers.
your best and just forget about the result!
2) Craziest thing done in B-School? In the classes,
Shakespeare probably said it best...
we rotated chairs.
‘Tis over, this fight, who cares who won, for,
3) Last movie you saw? GURU
a battle may not decide, the tide of the war'.
4) The next best institute after Bulls Eye? Career
Karandeep Singh Kapany
Launcher
MICA.
5) Describe 'The Hindu, An interesting read'. I
don't read Hindu.
Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard
Interviewed by: Amita & Tanvi
 11

i’s on U
The College Anatomy
It's been close to three years at college now. Here is an outpour on the various blends of guys you come across in a
college.
The Dude
Justice will stand in denial if we start the proceedings with things other than an ode to The Dude and his dude-ness. The Dude (with a capital first 'd') is
an individual who, as per the perception of the non-Dudes, is destined to have a ball of time during the entire run of the college. The Dude is prima facie
good-looking, has an expertise in woo-talks and thus, manages to find an immediate and frequent reckoning in the otherwise coveted uptown lanes of
the equally good looking ladies at the college. Things usually end up falling well in place without much of an effort on his part, and he's seen making a
public appearance everyday with his girlfriend for the rest of the college tenure. Not to mention, his college tenure is usually marked with unsubdued
rumors of his ventures amongst the girls of other colleges as well. He, in secret, will be humble enough to attribute his meteoric shoot to glory to the
concept of MTV & the associated tidbits (lingo, fashion, damn ya !! attitude etc.). The Dude is usually pseudo intellectual but his aura makes him appear
witty and Mr. Know-it-all. He is usually given to sophistication & lavishness.
Variants of The Dude may include the one blessed with good brains as well. In this case, The Dude will be the Zeus and will go down immortal in the
history of the college and fables of him will be narrated to the subsequent generations.
The Wannabe
The Wannabe belongs to the most thriving and rapidly growing breed in the college. The Wannabe is basically a Cut-Copy-Paste identity. The Wannabe fears
his fellow wannabes for they might outshine him at some point of time. On the other hand, The Wannabe keeps on hunting opportunities for seeking
attention or a brief stint with stardom. The Wannabe might manage to get a girlfriend for himself during his vanity fair at the college, but that'll depend on his
luck, his extent of being a Wannabe and the girl.
We must actually consider certain typical wannabes hereby:

The Wannabe Dude: Idolises the Dude of the college and befriends him so as to give an impression to the world that he is a part of the cool bandwagon. He
poses and fakes hard in order to come at par with The Dude. The influences can be seen in his fashion which is marred by the style he has borrowed from
elsewhere. The Wannabe will be spotted adorning himself with low slung jeans and T-shirts with one-liners targeting the ladies. The Wannabe Dude will
have an air of arrogance for reasons unknown, even to himself. All in all, The Wannabe Dude is an adjective that symbolizes "The Fall of Dude".
The Wannabe Rockstar: This genre of wannabes is the next generation phenomena. The degree of being a wannabe is the highest under this subcategory. The Wannabe
Rockstar is incited by his surroundings to develop a sudden appetite for rock music in the first year of college. He manages to give an ear to certain tracks from certain
rock bands for a month. What follows soon is his rechristening himself as a 'metalhead' and growing up longer locks. He makes it a point to update the music section of his
profile on social networking websites with an elaborate list of bands ranging right from Jefferson Airplane, Clash to Meshuggah. Not to forget, The
Wannabe Rockstar hasn't listened to most of them and has copied the list from the profile of probably another wannabe rockstar. He loves to sport
T-Shirts of bands which are preferably unheard (he hasn't heard them as well) and sound cool. The Wannabe Rockstar is smart though. Before
wearing these T-Shirts, he makes it a point to check into Wikipedia regarding the name of the band members and a list of popular numbers. On
being asked about the band t-shirt he is wearing, he vents out the Wikipedia homework and is hailed thereafter.
The Wannabe Intellectual: The Wannabe Intellectual identifies the fact that intellectual pursuits might bring him recognition and thus shuns, in
his word 'worldly pleasures' and resorts to stimulating his grey cells. He gets bored soon and thus ends up staying a wannabe.
The Bright Bigshot
The Bright Bigshot is the meritorious and the righteous one. The Bright Bigshot has things well in place for him and will stay well. He is focused
and understands that he must study hard because this is what he is supposed to be doing. Consequently, The Bright Bigshot gets good grades
throughout and is known to the professors of the college. The Bright Bigshot has his own methods of getting (not seeking) attention by being quick enough to write a
C++ code or setting up the connections during the practical sessions. Seemingly, the Bright Bigshot has qualms in accepting that he is a bigshot and therefore his official
statement at the eleventh hour of the examination is always like "Kya yaar, kuch bhi nahi aata". Perhaps, he tries to play the tranquilizer or express empathy with the sorry
state of the non-bigshots or probably it's just his way of looking cool by giving an impression that he didn't study much but managed to go on a scoring spree. He is rest of
the class' ready reckoner on class schedule, ongoing subject topics and whether the next lecture is to be bunked or not. Not to mention, the Bright Bigshot is the show
spoiler when it comes to mass bunking. The Bright Bigshot and gets happy sharing a joke with another Bigshot about how he once committed a
stupid syntax error in a computer program.
The Bandit
The Bandit is an evolutionary consequence. In other words, very few enter the college as Bandits. It is after a series of academic results or other
events at college that a Bandit is born. It's an inborn curse on The Bandit that makes its presence felt at this stage. Before any further articulation, we
must consider the chief variants of The Bandit.
"I used to be nice" Bandit: This category must be pitied upon. The Bandit belonging to this category is an erstwhile brilliant student. Hard luck
took a toll upon him and he ended up getting bad grades or a couple of reappears in the exams. This marks the beginning of a vicious circle of
failures and the lad gives in. He keeps off from studies even at the most crucial hours and stays in his own living space doing nothing. The teachers
rebuke him and victimize him of their 'dark sarcasm'. The ladies despise him, The Bright Bigshots mock at him in their conversations and The Dude
hardly notices him because he is busy elsewhere.
"You got fags??" Bandit: Another kind of The Bandit is the one who is lured by the highs of the human mind. Drugs, that is. The Bandit, in this case forgets the world
outside and serves himself throughout the day by staying stoned and rolling a joint, with Jimi Hendrix crooning "Excuse me while I kiss the sky"
in the background. College is passé.
The Underground Man
The Underground Man is an unsung hero at the college. He has certain distinguished talents but never comes under the limelight. The
Underground dwells on the backbenches of the classroom and is largely overshadowed by the Dudes, the Wannabes and the Bright Bigshots and if
spared by them, is bullied by the Bandit. The Underground Man isn't exceptionally good at academics. In certain cases, he might be as bad as The
Bandit, but then you wouldn't associate the word 'meaningless' with him. Much is not known about The Underground. All in all, he is away from
recognition and ladies.
So, which bill do you fit in ??
PS: Any resemblance to person, dead or alive, is purely coincidental.
Bhupinder Singh
UIET, Panjab University

I'll talk, they'll turn deaf Restrictions I'm in But think you don't want to
I Don't Know
I'll come, they'll blind I like it, I hate it; I want you to see
Why themselves; From friends I want, but But feel you can't
Handcuffs I'm in, I Family not, I don't know I want to continue
don't know why; why;
Insecure I am But I'll stop,
With my failure, I want to talk but am silent
of people, I don't know You know why
they'll leave
why I want to act, but am still
If I fall, I'll keep
They'll go, they'll vanish I want everything, yet not, I
lying; Cheistha Kochhar
I'll be waiting, I don't don't know why;
I'm sinking in the Sri Venkateswara
know why; I want you to listen
ground, I don't know why; college,DU

i's on u : because winners don’t write different things, they write things
differently