Bye bye 2005!

With a herculean effort I could sustain my interest levels for a week and complete the second module exams. Am sure this was better off than the first module exams for most of us at NITIE. The reason being, all of us studied more after the debacle of module 1.

Year 2006 beckons as we say adios to year 2005. It brings with it new hope, new resolutions, and newer surprises. The year gone by has been one of unexpected turns and twists for me. It all started with me getting settled down in SAP Labs as a Development Specialist....was really thinking of settling down in the job probably for a year or two and rethink my options later. CAT scores were pretty good, felt a little unlucky to miss out on the IIMs and really did'nt have any great interest in joining NITIE either.

After speaking to a few people about career prospects and a few more people about moolah aspects, finally settled down on taking up an MBA at NITIE. Leaving SAP was never too easy though, with my manager none too happy with my decision(as he put it.......why are u going to NIIT?.....oops sorry NITIE), I had to give a months notice and say quits.

NITIE beckoned and everything seemed rosy and a little too cosy( check my blog on Life in a B-School??!! ). In the meanwhile lots of stuff have happened- mandi, summers, prerana, mastishk and more recently laterals. Yeah with all that to add some twist, there was the nature's fury to reckon with, what with Mumbai flooded for a couple of days and creating much havoc and bringing untold miseries to the common man.

Meanwhile India has been emerging as a stronger location for MNCs to set base(Agriculture and Industry have maintained the Gandhian growth rate though). The BPO industry has moved again at 63% CAGR, and estimates are rife that it will continue to do so. IT companies continue to set up shop in India inspite of crumbling infrastructure. The year saw more than 200 companies set base in Bangalore alone(talking of the saturated infrastructure in the god*** city!). The forex reserves stand at a all time high of 143.8 bn$, relations between Pakistan has been more sweet than sour and UN Security seat to India seems a mirage once again.

The world has moved too, what with Bush weeding out Saddam(yeah, finally after spending 30 bn$; for heaven's sake that man would have voluntarily walked in for half that money!), terrorism remains as rooted as ever with Laden bringing his bag of tricks here and there, with a smattereing of sarcasm at the hallowed powers of the western world. Disaster has been the second name of the year and 'Tsunami' seems to be the second most searched word on the net(none can beat that first word though).

Finally to sum it up, rich have grown richer, the poor more poorer. Common man has again withstood everything and still hopes to become rich as in the desi bollywood films(by the way, film industry has done decently too...). Me too thinking of doing better than the soon forgettable year 05.

Will finish this off with one of my favourite poems by Oliver Goldsmith:

Hope, like the gleaming taper's light,
Adorns and cheers our way;
And still, as darker grows the night,
Emits a brighter ray.

Ciao till next time...Harsha