I'm no metrosexual. Actually, I'm the exact opposite of what you would call metrosexual. The only cosmetic I use is boroline(during the winters to prevent bleeding lips), if you can call it a cosmetic.

Now I've no dearth of friends who fret over what they look like. Some allege this indifference to my very average looks. The indifference might be attributed to the knowledge that no amount of grooming can turn me into a stud. I can't comment. Who knows what a bit of good looks could have done to priorities? But if that be the case, I'm very grateful to be born looking average.

Yes, fretting over looks does irritate me. There are very few things that can touch me enough to irritate me and this is one of them. Do people have nothing better to do for themselves and for the world when so much always remains to be done? I apologize if I sound preachy.

But look at it the other way. I'm no admirer of the classic blonde, but how many average looking gals do I notice on the street? And yes, most guys try to get cozy with the pretty looking gal, while a more refined average looking person rarely becomes the center of attraction. I bet it's the same with the opposite sex as well.

And yes, if I can hone and flaunt my intellect and be dubbed intellectual, why do I fret when a person tries so hard to be called beautiful? On a purely logical level, I guess it's the same.

It's all very confusing, isn't it? And that's why it's so amazing. You can keep debating with yourself for ever.

Not many people ask me this question, but some do. This post is not an endeavor to answer them. Rather it is an effort to answer myself.

Now, I do not look good but I do not look ugly either. Since I was destined to study computers, God had decided to fit me into a skin and bones wafer-thin package. Other than that I am your pretty normal, average looking guy.

I'm certainly not Wilhelm Kanaris but I talk sense mostly and nonsense otherwise. I'm a bit geeky and some complain that I've this touch of a cynic, but gals can't possibly know that, can they??

I run on a tight budget but everyone knows that I would be earning the software big bucks, so that should not be much of a problem.

So to find the answer, let's dig a bit into history. After all that's the reason I had been made to study history in school, to find answers to today's questions in yesterday's problems. See, I told you guys I was intelligent!

Thanks to my wafer slim size and harmless countenance, I actually used to sit beside gals till class 5(What a miss!). I was too young to feel anything back then. But some more ripe guys started poking me because I sat beside gals. So guess what, I changed my seat and never sat beside a gal since!

By the time I did ripen up, the same honchos who had made me abandon my seat had girlfriends. Most of the better gals in my class were taken. Not that it mattered since it was something mom had warned me against and I always listened to her. (Not that I do not now, but back then it was like a disease). So I moved out of class 10 thinking that I was too young and should give myself more time. What a duffer!

Class 12. I'm no longer @ home but @ hostel. So I spend time sleeping and sleeping even more. I hardly get to school and on those rare occasions that I do, gals fail to notice, fair deal. I miss out again but friends promise me that once I get into an engineering college, I would start feeling like a playboy. God, I did believe them!!

College. My friends were probably right. But I made it to a decent college. Pretty gals do not study in decent engineering colleges. Those rare gals that do, have a huge queue of suitors. My wafer slim frame is too slim to get noticed. It's too late now. Unless you have a string of break-ups behind you(read experienced), there's no way a gal is even going to look at you. Once a loser, always a loser.

Some duffers still believe that once they join their jobs, they would get girlfriends. Don't you still get it guys?? See, I told you I was intelligent.

What?? Why did I never look for gals other than those in my school and college?? What am I supposed to do? Chat up with a pretty faced in the middle of the street? Or call up random gals in the middle of the night by indexing into a telephone directory? Think before you speak man.

The day was the 11th of September, 2008. It was a sad day in the history of progressive people, for it was the day when the great, indomitable, unconquered Mahul Bhattacharya formally sold himself to International Business Machines. And with that ended his quest and zeal to constantly innovate, create and design.

I have been constantly asking myself, why did I get this job??

I did not answer a single technical question in a selection process that lasted 13 hours. Can you believe that? Not a single technical question! This could well have been an interview for a receptionist or a call center executive.

Actually I got this job because all goddamned guys in the United States of America would charge the same amount that I charge for a month to work for an hour. I can think of no better reason than that.

Let's hope that 2-3 years from now the enslaved, unhappy, frustrated and weather beaten Mahul Bhattacharya would manage to emerge from the whirlpool of the IT industry to do what he does best- design and innovate.

It's not what he can or what he might do. It's what he must.

Even the most familiar things can spring surprising surprises.

An object which you perhaps see every day, and see nothing new about it, can surprise you, trust me. The minute graphics in the pen you use every day but never cared to look, the sunlight on the wall next to your bed.... it might well be anything. It just shows how amazing, mysterious and beautiful our world is, if only we would care to look.
I was browsing through some old college photographs last night when I came across some which suddenly seemed funny. Now these images were all in the background and I had never noticed.
Here's a set of four for you if you would care to look.

Today I met up one of my favorite profs, over a DRDO contest we are planning to participate in.

It brought back memories of my first interaction with him, it was quite an interesting one.

This one was way back in fourth semester. It was a robotics contest we had decided to participate in.( We were three, but one of us was down with loose motion, so it was just the two of us). We had zero experience and near zero knowledge.

Someone suggested we meet up with a certain Prof from the computer science department and we did. We were excited and fired up, it wasn't a good approach. However. the person turned out to be quite supportive. He listened patiently and promised us help. Finally, he asked us to consult the person in question from the Department of Applied Mechanics for the mechanical design.

So the further excited duo walk into the mechatronics lab one fine morning. It's a 30'*25' room full of arms and motors and gears that do look robotic. On one side there is an array of computers. In the middle of the paraphernalia sits a pleasant looking middle aged gentleman. A couple of guys I know are sitting at a machine in one corner of the room.

I'm the public face of the team, so the onus is on me to start the conversation. I steal a glance and a smile at the familiar guys in the corner.

I>> May I come in Sir?

P>>(Looking up from his laptop and grunting) Hmmm..
I>> Sir, I'm fourth sem IT and he is fourth sem ETC.

P>> Ok.So?

I>> We want to participate in the so and so contest. Sir, we've decided to go for the .....tracker problem. We...

P>> (Cutting me off) No you won't.

I>> (Getting the shock of my life) Sir?? (can't manage more)

P>> One team is already participating( he points to the familiar guys, Grrr.... So that's the reason the buggers are here).
There isn't any more time and you don't know anything, so you can't participate.

I>> But sir...

P>> No no, please don't bother me with this(eyes almost going back to the laptop).

I>> (By this time, I'm desperate, angry and red. What the hell do those buggers know that we don't?? Just because they are mechanical guys.... no I can't let this be).
But Sir, we just had a chat with Prof ... and he has agreed to help us. In fact it was he who told us to consult you for the mechanical design.
(eyes get back to me and I seize the opportunity. I bring out a pen from my jeans pocket and yank the notebook out of my friend's hand, not letting P open his mouth in between).
We have done our homework, we gathered info about the probable drive systems( the pen has started to run and my partner had started a live commentary of what I'm doing, even the familiar guys have started to notice. Almost all of what we knew comes out in the next two minutes ).


P>> (By this time P is genuinely interested and is almost as shocked with me as I was with him. He clarifies few areas) Ok, you meet me this evening.

We>> ( Fist pumping has almost started ). Sure Sir. Thank you sir.
(We leave).

That evening he offered to fund a part of our project. And after a fortnight of net surfing, the familiar guys ditched their project.

These days, we buggers who hardly know a thing about mechatronics, are celebrities in the lab.(overstatement)

It was the day I won!

Tough call.

IBM, Infosys and Ericsson comming over to my university campus this month. I got to decide which to sit for and which to eliminate.
None of the packages are interesting, I must confess. And well, I have already gained notoreity around my campus for skipping jobs. ( The list includes Wipro, Tech Mahindra , M.N. Dastur and ITC Infotech ).
And hello, all this doesn't assume that I'll manage whichever job I want to.
Any suggestions anyone??