Our biology measurement techniques lab was going on. For that particular experiment the instructor in charge deliberately asked us to “donate” our blood. She always keeps a cool head and the very fact that something weird is happening made some of us who were drowsing off in the aftermath of a good lunch to come back to the normal senses… She repeated the question and suddenly one of my brave friends decided to take up the challenge. She took the needle and he suddenly beamed like a patriot. But the apparatus was different from the one we see in hospitals. Seconds passed by and even minutes seemed to be longer than usual . Our valiant lad is now sweating profusely, his nervousness quite evident. In desperation he said, “madam this is taking too much time. Actually I have no experience with this beforehand .” Then the confused teacher replied, “beta don’t worry, we will manage, even I am a first timer.” The whole class burst into laughters at the birth of a new martyr who ‘took pains’ to give blood at least if not life!

Contributed by JAM reader, Alim Khan N, BITS Pilani, Rajasthan.

Our biology measurement techniques lab was going on. For that particular experiment the instructor in charge deliberately asked us to “donate” our blood. She always keeps a cool head and the very fact that something weird is happening made some of us who were drowsing off in the aftermath of a good lunch […]

Yes, its the same college you see on the Mumbai-Pune expressway (looks really good na!) The truth is it’s like a jail. And the story is this. Just a few of us were left in hostel. We were cracking patakhe a day before Diwali outside the hostel (its in the rule as per our warden told us). We did some blasts. Suddenly the warden of other hostel comes stopped us. He told us to submit our ID cards and as usual we didn’t submit. He called the main security officer. Again bekaar ka lafda. He told the thing (so seriously) which thrilled us “patakhe mat jalao; ye buildings gir sakti hain” we dint know how to react?? Again he started “aap log abhi patakhe mat jalao college authority have arranged a time for us, its 7 - 9 am in the morning”…now what to say???

 - received  from JAM reader Praveer, Sinhgad Institute of Technology, Lonavla.

Yes, its the same college you see on the Mumbai-Pune expressway (looks really good na!) The truth is it’s like a jail. And the story is this. Just a few of us were left in hostel. We were cracking patakhe a day before Diwali outside the hostel (its in the rule as per our warden […]

For all those who love Linkin Park and also those who hate it, this is a parody by the famous comedian Brandon Muller.

Got any other awesome online videos to share with JAMBlog readers? Drop a line in the comments section.

For all those who love Linkin Park and also those who hate it, this is a parody by the famous comedian Brandon Muller.

Got any other awesome online videos to share with JAMBlog readers? Drop a line in the comments section.

Was going through a friend’s profile on Hindu matrimony. (she wanted some editing done by expert hands I spent sometime in going through other profiles. As usual the site did not dissapoint.
First things first. My friend would NEVER pose in front of a bright-Red background, in a neon shirt with her mobile in hand and have the starting words of her write-up as “Myself Naina…”.

- One guy went on and on about his brother while he was the intended candidate. Apparently his brother was well-settled and the “good catch” in the family. Sadly enough he’d already been caught. Toh kya fayda hua?

- One chap wronte (AND I QUOTE), ” i have one mother, one father, one brother, one sister. My brother is married and my bhabhi is good-looking girl from good family and has one cute child.” Obviously the prize catch!!

It makes for interesting reading although I have to wonder how many of them come away happy at the end of the day. Is it wrong to recognise and settle for traits and situations in life which are similar to your own? Why piggyback on someone more upwardly mobile when you can have the satisfaction of doing it on your own steam.

-”….my niece likes to live a nice, simple, hygenic life”. And WE don’t?

“Travelling also suits me during holidays.” The rest of the days I’m an agoraphobic.

“My daughter is convented”. Eeeeks! that sounds awful.

“I am in this position because of my bro & parents. Thanks you all. Good luck bro” Ahem..are we at the Oscars?

The best of the lot so far? An ad that was pointed out to me in the matrimonial section of the Sunday paper a while back.

- “wanted beautiful girl homely caste no BRA.” ????

SWAAHAA!!

( ps: It’s bitchy, I know, to write this way, but one has to read the kind of expectations those same people have. God bless anxcious parents and in attention to Wren and Martin…)

Was going through a friend’s profile on Hindu matrimony. (she wanted some editing done by expert hands I spent sometime in going through other profiles. As usual the site did not dissapoint.
First things first. My friend would NEVER pose in front of a bright-Red background, in a neon shirt with her mobile in hand […]

Naa, this is not a post on Dharam-paaji…here’s a bizarre piece of news in an Arizona newspaper:

“Woman stabs tied-up lover to drink his blood”

It reads straight off a cheesy B grade horror flick, doesn’t it?
Makes you wonder if it was just a crazy halloween prank gone horribly wrong.
It is reported that the woman was under heavy influence of drugs and alcohol when she committed the act.
Well, I reckon she was just bloody horny.
The victim, poor bloke will now have to go around with the not so punny tag “tied and tasted”.
Scarred for life, I wonder what will run through his mind the next time he comes into contact with any woman.
Meanwhile the woman’s defense attorney claims that she suffers from a personality disorder,which was the reason for her ‘batty’ behavior.
Yeah sure ..  she’s half vamp - half vampire.

For the full news article read this

Naa, this is not a post on Dharam-paaji…here’s a bizarre piece of news in an Arizona newspaper:
“Woman stabs tied-up lover to drink his blood”
It reads straight off a cheesy B grade horror flick, doesn’t it?
Makes you wonder if it was just a crazy halloween prank gone horribly wrong.
It is reported that the woman was under […]

The third Sunday in November will no longer be the same. According to news reports, the CAT exam may soon go online and also offer multiple test dates - just like GRE and GMAT. In fact US based online testing company Prometric (which is now part of ETS) is likely to execute the project.

TOI quotes a member of the CAT committes: “It is difficult to conduct and manage the test at different centres across the country. Availability of latest technology will enable us to make an easy shift to online system. So we are talking to a few players and examining feasibility of the same.” The body is working out ways to prepare a question bank that can be used for the online test.

What does this mean? Well, we think the entire MBA entrance exam calendar will undergo a drastic change. As per tradition CAT is the first exam aspirants take - Sunday after Sunday the rest follow. With more CAT test dates other exams too may go the online route and/or offer multiple test dates. Or the option of taking the test whenever you feel you’re ready - like GRE. (NMAT from NMIMS already operates like that).

Of course the question is: With the CAT upgrading itself need we have so many exams at all? Hopefully not. The CAT score should become a universal test score like GMAT. Currently 111 bschools use CAT for entry. Why not all the 1000 + bschools in India?

In any case each school can evolve its own entrance criteria. The CAT score is only one dimension although in India most bschools use it to establish a cut-off point.

Some schools might worry about losing the revenue they earn from holding an independent test. But I am sure an acceptable revenue share can be worked out. As in GRE your CAT score would get sent to say 8 bschools free of cost and to apply to more, you pay a fee.

The downside of all this is that the cost of giving the exam may go up. And in a country like India one does have to worry: by going exclusively online will the test become elitist and exclude those who are not computer-savvy?

Either way, it’s a giant project and will take time. Let’s wait and watch!

The third Sunday in November will no longer be the same. According to news reports, the CAT exam may soon go online and also offer multiple test dates - just like GRE and GMAT. In fact US based online testing company Prometric (which is now part of ETS) is likely to execute the project.
TOI quotes […]

The fallout of Chiranjeevi’s daughter Srija eloping with Shishir is newsreports like this (in today’s DNA):

As Hyderabad woke up to the news of Srija’s wedding, movie tycoons as well as real estate and corporate groups virtually clamped the shutters on the freedom of their kith and kin. The measures that have come in to force in the wake of the incident include a 24×7 watch on their movements, investigations by private agencies into the background of their friends, discreet surveillance of eating and watering holes, armed escorts to teens and finally house arrests too.

“My parents have cancelled my trip to Bangkok and instead want me to spend my holidays with my aunt at Kolkata”, cribs a scion of a powerful Reddy clan in Hyderabad. The head of a private security agency, who did not want to be named, says he has signed up overnight 12 new clients who not only want their wards “watched” but also to enquire into the backgrounds of people they met and hung around with.

This is in addition to reports of parents hiring detectives to tail their kids during Navratri. Mainly because every year there are reports of increase in abortions right after the festival.

Now all this may make parents feel a bit ’safer’ but there is something horribly wrong about the idea that a parent can control an adult child - that is someone who is over the age of 18. Each of us must live and learn, and even be allowed to make mistakes.

As the poet Kahlil Gibran put it so beautifully:
‘On Children’
Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let our bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Words which ring true - hundreds of years after they were written!

The fallout of Chiranjeevi’s daughter Srija eloping with Shishir is newsreports like this (in today’s DNA):
As Hyderabad woke up to the news of Srija’s wedding, movie tycoons as well as real estate and corporate groups virtually clamped the shutters on the freedom of their kith and kin. The measures that have come in to force […]