Ketan Kulkarni

Eat healthy OR die filthy!

2009-05-04T22:43:00.001+01:00

Working on the ‘eat healthy or die filthy’ project was quite a healthy learning experience for me. Starting the project, brainstorming the ideas and coming up with an exiting one was a tedious exercise. But when the discussions started, we went on discussing about the current issues humans are facing and what could we work as a research team to help people.

The title ‘Eat healthy or Die filthy’ was an abrupt idea from our team while thinking about the topic. This was when I was discussing about a program, which I saw, on BBC, named, ‘Freaky eaters’. Further discussing about the title, I thought from my personal observation that, hearing the name ‘Freaky eaters’ provoked me to watch the show on the BBC channel. So we decided to keep the title bold and catchy. I also watched a program ‘super slim vs. super skinny’ on channel 4, which influenced me for thinking about the issue of poor eating diets. Watching unrelated documentaries, a couple of months back, on the TV proved useful. I feel so because, I had seen them while having my meals and they became useful information and a motivational kick for our project.

We all are from different cultural backgrounds, like, David is from the UK, Ahmed is from Saudi Arabia, Jegan from Srilanka and I am from India. This proved useful for us as we shared useful information regarding the food traditions, rituals and festivals in our respective countries. We came up with the issue of obesity in children, especially, the nursery children. Jegan, Ahmed and I explained the traditions and our experiences in Srilanka, Saudi Arabia and India, which we observed. We discussed about the growing hype of burgers and pizzas in the east and south Asian countries. We watched a couple of videos, on Youtube, of obese people. We also referred different articles on the Internet related to the increasing problem of poor diet in the nurseries. Dividing the work of literature research in four of us made it easier and quicker way of gathering more information within a short span.

Initially the ideas weren’t substantial but after searching for literature over the Internet and consequent discussions with Dr. Catriona MacAulay, we finalised a subject for concentration. We were now working on a research proposal about what factors are responsible for the poor diet of the nursery children. Again, each of us, being from different cultural background, discussed the scenario of the factors responsible for obesity in each country, such as, I discussed that, India was a country of villages and farmers. Eating more oily and fatty food was useful for the farmers working on the fields in earlier days, but currently the diet remains the same although the lifestyles have changed. People have started working in IT companies. The jobs they perform mostly comprise of sitting at one place for long hours, which is the prime reason for increasing obesity and related diseases. David and Dr. Catriona explained how the invention of heaters, in early 70s, decreased the burning of calories due to cold, which resulted in increase of obesity in Britain. We discussed about the difference in our childhoods, when we were in nurseries, and the situation right now.

Considering the exchange of Ideas and experiences discussed by us I feel that, brainstorming is a greatest exercise I have learnt by working on the earlier semester’s project and this one. Earlier, I was completely concentrating on individual work after a brief given by the client to work on a design.

It was a valuable experience working with an ethnographer. In our team Jegan was the only ethnographer and we three were designers. Being designers, our thinking was result oriented, with a substantial design outcome as a solution, for the problem. But ethnographers concentrate more on the research part of the problem and gathering information, which changed my vision towards a design solution. I thought, every time, being a designer, I think of a substantial design output, but never thought that a deep research study would be more multipurpose instead of running behind a design solution, which I did in the past. I learnt that putting more efforts into the research initially, than thinking about the design solution, widens the scope of the anticipated design outcome.

Working with the Gantt charts was the most important thing for me in this project. Up till now, I wasn’t aware of this method for planning the budget and the timeline of a project.

A detailed budget was impossible without a team while working on the monetary part of the project and discussing the financial needs throughout the research project. Each of us came with a different need throughout the time span, while discussing the proposal. Working on the time line of the project was a tough task, but all of us, being from a different field of study, and having commercial experience, it became easy as we went on. Jega, because of his experience in management in his previous employments, was fast and quick in visualising the Gantt chart and plotting down the information.

Working on the Gantt chart gave me an idea of developing a business model of my master’s project, which I elaborated in the 2500 word journalistic write up. I found useful for planning my master’s project in a timescale with the costs involved in each phase.

Initially, we planned to go for a project, which would last for three years, but then after having a chat with Dr. Catriona MacAulay, we finalised to work on a research report as the outcome of the project, rather than a substantial design outcome. Again being diversified due to our respective fields, we had different views in the dissemination part of the research proposal. This was a good point as it created a huge amount of Ideas for us to rate and it led to a variety of options to select as final.

Working with an ethnographer in the project was an added advantage for figuring out the research methods and methodologies for the research in depth. While working on the methods and methodologies, we referred the IDEO method cards from the library. We thought of active research as a major part of the research methods we discussed, which eventually provoked the idea of involving nutritionists, child psychologists in our research team.

Working on the presentation part of the research proposal, we distributed the time in four of us, according to our comfort and expertise. David was good in starting the presentation by creating a positive environment, which he did effectively. Ahmed was good at management of money and Jega was good in managing the planning and timescales as he had worked in visualising the Gantt chart, so they both elaborated the costs and Gantt chart respectively. I elaborated the research question and methods and methodologies required for the project.

Giving a presentation was much easier than in the last semester. It was more confident and a positive feeling remained while presentation was on. I feel that, after entering into the professional world, the level of confidence and presentation skills would be much more developed.

Group on facebook

2009-03-17T23:50:00.002Z

I just started a group named 'online social networking for stress relief' on facebook. Until now 20 members have joined the group. I am eagerly waiting for a broader response and being from an advertising school, I am publicising my group widely. I am also searching for related groups like, counter terrorism, social networking, internet & websites, etc. and sending the administrators of the respective groups a personal message to join my group.

I want to carry out my research through discussion forums and understand their psychology through short and decent questionnaires. I have already started a forum and put in two simple questions for people to answer. Response is slow and I think I need to do the marketing of my group in depth.

Digital creative arts against terrorism

2009-03-11T21:48:00.002Z

I have now changed the anticipated outcome for my masters project into a positive one. The concept is the same, "counter terrorism". I was quite depressed and disturbed reading about the radicalisation of young Muslims. Terrorism is a broader arena so I thought to turn towards the post terror event trauma suffered by general people, people who are suffering from a terror attack or the survivors of an attack. I am looking forward to understand the psychology of people suffering from depression because of these issues. Media hype about terror events is also increasing gradually making the environment more depressed.

I was just surfing through the web and encountered a website, www.wearenotafraid.com. This website is a simple portal with uploaded images from the people world wide. It contains images uploaded by people with their families, individuals or any snaps with a slogan "we are not afraid". This website was a medium for people to unite together and give a message to the radicals about their fearless attitude. This also was a notion of confidence building among the people.

I was reading through the art therapy for de-stressing people suffering from traumatic conditions. Drawing is a creative medium for expressing oneself and quite a pleasant activity as well (stating from my personal experience). Considering these things, I thought of developing a website comprehending creative art such as drawing, music composition, poetry writing, etc. in a digital paradigm. My project advisor suggested me to involve social networking into the website as a prime criteria. Resultant of this, the website would be a social networking website including digital creative art as the main aspect.

Now I am looking forward towards involving my peers in an interview and understanding their idea about their way of tackling depression, usage of internet when being depressed and such other things. A question and priority for myself, at the moment, is to generate a profound idea which would be a pitch-able product after my masters.

Live surgery

2009-03-02T18:56:00.004Z

I had a chance to watch a live surgery today. It was a colon surgery, the patient was suffering from crohn's disease. Initially, I though I would faint in the operation theatre, but the environment was quite friendly and not serious at all. There was music running on a small music system, doctors were chatting and cracking jokes while answering to our questions.

As I am working in a group in a project of redesigning a surgical stapler, the motive behind watching the live surgery was to understand the use of the surgical stapler. It basically consisted to observe the storage, its use by the prime stake holders, the surgeon, assistant surgeon and the scrub nurse, to learn about the usage of its packaging, and handling of the stapler by the surgeon and his assistant. A lot of information was revealed after watching the actual live procedure with the stapler's use.

It was an unforgettable morning in my life. Earlier, in the last days of my school, I used to feel like becoming a doctor and performing a surgical procedure. In my childhood, I used to perform a fake kiddies surgery on my grand parents while they were asleep, pasting wet white papers on their body as bandages. My grandpa also used to enjoy and praise the performance, making a relieving sound as a disguise of feeling better after the surgery. Today, even if I didn't perform a surgery, I actually felt like being a doctor. The picture below elaborates my feelings neatly. :)

That's Fiona (my colleague) and me, watching the surgery with a broad smile. :)

RESQROLL & AMBABA

2009-02-19T20:27:00.012Z

RESQROLL is a product invented and designed by Mr. Brian Carling. Its an amazing concept created to reduce the risk of spinal damage after an accident. Mr. Brian elaborated his process of designing this masterpiece product in the session on Tuesday 16th of February.

RESQROLL is a product designed to prevent post accident damages to the spine of an injured person. It may be any accident. According to Mr. Brian, the human spine bears the impact of the accident becomes weak. If after an accident the person is abruptly extricated, his spine may suffer a permanent damage. In this context, RESQROLL provides a solution for these post accidental damages.

To initiate the designing of the product, Mr. Brian started rough and random sketches, which he emphasised as an essential method to start any design. He also elaborated about the research he had to do in designing the product. The questions he encountered while designing were, the weight of the product, its reusability, materials to be used and its ease of use for any person. The point on which he was emphasising while the lecture was, to double the time schedule of any research project we undertake. He also revealed that he did the project while working on his existing job. That was a really inspiring insight to see someone be so much successful with strong will, determination and positive attitude.

It was really a valuable session. I got a glimpse of how a product with an innovative idea is designed from a scratch if you are determined. I also learned to be confident and believe on your instincts.

AMBABA

Ambaba is a company which develops reusable nappy pads for children. This company is run by Mel Woods and Roz Henderson. They make nappies which can be used for the kids, from infancy till they start using the toilets.

Personally, I am unaware about the nappy context as I haven't seen the use of nappies in my surroundings. Still, I found the project interesting. I felt motivated with the idea, basically to work for something which would encourage ecological balance. The idea of a disposable nappy and its design as a solution for ecological balance as well as its aesthetic model to make it look better as compared to the other hugely sized disposable nappies is an innovative venture, which I never thought of before.

This project motivated me to think about many more ecological issues today, which we face like the issue of non degradable medical products, the need of waste management, etc. It also provoked me to think from the disposable point of view in the medical stapler packaging design project, which I am currently working on.

Writing an email

2009-02-16T14:05:00.005Z

Today we had an eye opening lecture about writing formal emails by Dr Kathleen Mcmillan who is an academic writing advisor in our university.

I was in a blind mindset of polite email writing, until she described it as an Indian standard of writing an email. I learnt that the use of words such as "Can you kindly do...", which I wrote in almost every formal email of mine, was actually a negative way of approaching the recipient. Also the use of "Respected sir" as a salutation mark is inappropriate, as it exaggerates the plea of application, which was again used repeatedly by me in my emails. I wonder how much miscommunication I would have caused due to these minor things in my emails to the university staff, my tutors and other elder people up till now.

The lecture was quite interesting and humorous comparing emails with the other forms of communication such as telephone, text messages on a mobile or a one to one conversation. I learnt about the phrasal verbs, which must not be used in the emails and its relation to the history of German, French and Latin languages.

It was really an useful session to understand formal email writing, which is the most important way of communication in today's world.

Multimedia solution on "Dementia"

2009-02-04T23:42:00.003Z

We had a lecture on a research project led by Dr Norman Alm, a Senior Lecturer, Department of Applied Computing, University of Dundee. It was an interesting lecture about how the use of multimedia and technology can help elderly people suffering from dementia to express themselves.

He was describing about the context of the design problem, like, people suffering from dementia usually talk on same things repeatedly, which sometimes can be irritating for the care takers. While Dr. Norman Alm was explaining about the project and their team's interaction with elderly people, I recalled the memories with my grand mother. She wasn't suffering from dementia, but being old, she always wanted to share her stories and incidences in the past with we, young people. Sometimes, even if the stories were interesting it wasn't always possible for us to sit near her and listen to her stories. This project just gave me a nostalgic feeling about my interaction with my grand mother and felt that, such an interactive venture would be tipping point in terms of interacting with the elderly people, especially those suffering with dementia.

The project also made me think of the emerging problems and extraordinary design solutions. It changed my view towards design, and gave me a glimpse of an innovative design solution for a persistent problem. Listening to the lecture also helped me understand the experiences of Dr. Norman with his team mates, like selecting a research team, working with people of different background in teams, management of the team, etc.

It was an insightful and motivational lecture

Balloon quest

2009-02-04T09:54:00.005Z

On Monday, we had an amazing experience of briefing our Master's project. We were given a set of 15 questions and we had to answer them visually. It was not a regular write up task, on a sheet of paper, but it was answering those questions through a strange and interesting way. We had to blow 15 balloons and draw the 15 answers on each of the balloons.

I found it a quite interesting way of doing a task in a different way. It created an atmosphere of enthusiasm in the class. It was fun, everybody was helping each other in blowing the balloons, as it was the task of exhaustion. I feel that, because of this method my involvement in the task was more than what it would have been if it was mere writing on a sheet of paper.

from jail to jihad

2009-01-26T23:18:00.004Z

I watched a documentary, “From jail to jihad”, which was broadcasted on Monday, 16th of June 2008, at 8.00 PM, on Channel 4. It is based on the radicalization of British prisoners into extremists on false Islamic ideologies. It also deals with the problems faced as well as measures taken by the British government to neutralize these youngster's religious beliefs and stop the spread of extremism.

Reporter Mr. Amil Khan reveals how the prisoners are misled through extremists inside the prison by addressing false Islamic preaching to the young prisoners, or by supplying of DVDs containing the speeches of some Islamic revolutionaries, or through literature material distributed inside the prison. These young prisoners are motivated, through this preaching, to commit crimes and violence against non-Muslim masses and are convinced by their guru extremists that, if committed against any non-Muslim, Islam justifies these acts. British government is also now taking strict measures to allocate Imams for friday prayers, who are highly qualified and righteous in Islamic ideologies.

These youngsters are full of anguish due to the street lives they live in. Extremists take advantage of these troubled youngsters and contact them either by staying outside the mosques or through the prisons. They gradually drag them into terrorist activities, blinding them on the false religious beliefs and radicalize them into Jihad, for the sake of Allah, the almighty.

I am now thinking of using this context to be the focusing point of my project. I am thinking about how advertising design can change the viewpoints of these youngsters, towards Islam, political violence, and terrorism. Concluding this, my campaign would now be targeted towards these radicalized youngsters.

Terrorism

2009-01-22T00:51:00.006Z

Design to combat terrorism, is the topic for my Masters this year. Its a vast subject with varied definitions, none of which are substantial. All sorts of questions arise while you think about the topic. The first question is, why? Why does this happen? Why would they do it? Who motivates these people to this extent?

Terrorism, from what I am trying to understand, is not just the national attacks, suicide bombings, hijacks. The violent acts harming innocent or unarmed masses, rebellion of students in universities can also be termed as terrorism. Before I start to read - although I have just started reading on the topic - when I was thinking about terrorism, I imagined about the terrorism in Kashmir, the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008, the hugely hyped 9/11 attack on the twin towers, and such major events. But then I realized that its just a part of terrorism, though the events which have occurred are major ones.

I came to know that a student rebellion, which is against an institution, organization or university can also be called as terrorism. The protests, rallies, sometimes create destruction in the offices or campuses of the university, mostly not harming the innocents. I feel myself as a terrorist as well, when I recall those moments of my college life. We all did rebellions against the university for certain demands in favor of the students. We used to go out for rallies and protests on the road of Pune, walking or sometimes on our bikes. Only once we had the interference of police and the leaders of our rebellion were arrested for a short period of time. Luckily, I wasn't any of the leaders and also not present there at that time.

One more question I am thinking on is, why is the Islamic religion usually under the suspect of terrorism? Almost all the names we hear about the terrorists or terrorist organizations, those are from the islamic religion. I have a lot of good friends who are from the same religion and sometimes are frustrated due to these acts, as the whole religion becomes a target due to some minorities.

Being a graduate from a design school and advertising and illustration as my major subjects, I want to concentrate on an advertising campaign for counter terrorism. Use of visual communication to make people be aware and understand about any suspicious acts going around them, which would lead to any violence. I want to understand how people communicate regarding these issues, like websites, posters, rallies - like the recent ones in Mumbai after the mumbai terror attacks- , news papers, etc. Other things I want to understand is the design of building structures. If we consider the Chattrapati Shivaji Terminal station in Mumbai and compare it with the Kings Cross station in London, what are the major differences in the two in terms of security?

These are some of my ideas and future prospects of my research on my masters project. Please suggest or comment about your views, or any valuable information you have, which would help me explore the subject.

"Coming Late Syndrome" or "the CLS"

2008-10-06T14:56:00.028+01:00

Last week, I was waiting for one of my friend to come at the city centre in Dundee. I was patiently waiting approximately for an hour.After some time, I went for shopping inside the Overgate mall and bought a pair of socks from the cheapest Primark store. I was roaming in the Overgate shopping mall, waiting for his call, peeping into the showrooms which had a variety of clothing, food, medical stores, book stores. I was thinking, "How great it would have been if I was the son of Bill Gates?" I would buy anything I wanted in the most costliest countries in the world, the UK. Though I didn't buy a single thing, it was a good pass time, rather than waiting for my Srilankan friend in the freezing cold outside. He also suggested me to wait inside the mall due to the shivering cold, he must have felt, till he comes and gives me a call from outside. He is a nice person, cool, calm, friendly, and felt like my elder brother.

Finally he gave me a call that he's arriving in 15 minutes and I should wait outside the Overgate mall. I came out of the mall and waited outside the gate of the Overgate. I thought that only India had the "Coming Late Syndrome" (I call it the CLS), but I was happy to see the CLS is spreading worldwide! I waited outside for half an hour more, waiting for his 15 minutes to get complete.

While waiting, I was thinking about my past experiences of waiting for someone, and I started recalling the moments I waited for my friends, clients, family members, relatives, etc. I also thought of the people whom I kept waiting for long, following the CLS. I started recalling my experiences serially - as if I was writing a CV - and some times giggled and laughed thinking of them. I was lucky there were not much people around to see me laughing alone, without any reason. I thought and thought and then thought of writing those in my blog to share it with you people.

My first experience of waiting desperately started from the school days, when I was in the 8th standard. We had bought a new Pentium 3 computer. Me, being the most impatient person in our family, removed the covers and plugged the computer pins to electric board, after assembling the monitor and CPU connectivity. I was successful! I tried to connect the speakers to hear some music installed by the dealer. It was my first time of using the windows 98 version, after using windows 3.1 version on our earlier 486 machine. It was all new for me. My mom, who had purchased the machine for her use, was out with dad for some function. I took the advantage, and to surprise my mom with my smartness, I had assembled the machine by myself. I was actually acting over smart and wasn't knowing this at all. I started the Winamp someway and was getting more curious with the enhanced and cool interface of windows 98, one would obviously feel it after using the windows 3.1 version. I wasn't much familiar with the functionality of windows, may it be 3.1 or 98. Playing games and banging the keys was my business in terms of computers. I was completely unaware of the copy, cut, paste functionality every computer has, which is widely used by the programmers today. I just selected the entire song's folder. I someway got into the explorer, dragged the folder on the Winamp's desktop icon. Unfortunately the complete songs folder was dragged into the recycle bin which was below the Winamp's icon. I wasn't aware of it as I didn't know the recycle bin and other functionalities in windows at that time, as playing games was the only function my brain used to execute if it saw a computer - My mom had made it more easy by putting the different game icons on the desktop, just double click and the game starts. No efforts to learn windows apart from starting and shutting down the machine - The recycle bin didn't have the capacity to keep the songs folder into it and it popped in with a message - " Do you want to permanently delete the folder Songs?". I didn't read the message and thought that it was one from Winamp to play the songs. I said yes and then realized, I had just put my leg on the dog's tail! I wouldn't find the song's folder anywhere on my machine also in the recycle bin. It had some valuable marathi songs which my dad had brought from his friend, from far away. He was willing to listen to it in peace when he reached home, I remembered him saying this to mom while they were leaving. I was visualizing the scoldings I was going to get from my parents, I could imagine the words and even the phrases. I knew that all the parents like to pull out studies when they start scolding, it maybe any reason. I was shivering. I thought some major problem had occurred, and I wanted to fix this any how to avoid me getting the scoldings. Already my parents had admonished me for studying till they come back. I immediately called the dealer for the songs CD which he used to install the songs. I told him the problem and asked him to send any person from his office to install the songs immediately. This was the time when I waited for the computer guy and also wished god for my parents to come late. Earlier I was waiting eagerly for my parents to arrive so that I would show them my smartness of connecting the machine and starting it successfully. Though the computer guy came after my parents, I didn't get much scoldings and the guy installed the songs again. I still feel the pain of desperately waiting for someone for a long time, and then that person arriving at the wrong time. The computer guy explained my parents with all the things I had done, in the curiosity of playing the music. I didn't play games for the next week as a punishment from my mom.

My second experience was for my best friend Viraj. This guy was a brilliant in academics and was among the most spoken students in the college, for his computer skills. The only thing I hated in him was the CLS he suffered from. He was senior to me and I was just a newbie in college. Though I was among the very loyal and honest people in the college, I didn't have specs or oily hair. It was many times when we planned any outings and waited for this brilliant guy to reach, for hours after our arrival. But this time it was the heights of height. I waited for 4 hours on the Municipal Corporation bus stop. The time was 9 am to 1 pm in the afternoon, mid of the month, May. We were supposed to go to the I2IT at Hinjewadi for a freelance project we had received. I had called him in the morning 2 hours prior the scheduled timing of the bus. Busses were frequent and we had planned to travel by the 9 am bus. He agreed to the timing and asked me to wait near the bus stand. I came around 9.15 at the bus stop and felt the regression of being late. I arrived at the planned bus stop searching for Viraj. He wasn't there. I thought that he had left, as I had come late. I called at his place, and it was to my surprise that he was still leaving his place. I assumed that there would have been some problem which was the reason of him leaving now. He said he'll arrive in 30 minutes. I thought of roaming around till he comes. I went on the nearby bridge, which was a new construction by the PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation). It was a clean and plain tar road, than the other old bridges in Pune. I bought salted peanuts from a person standing at the other end of the bridge. I moved on the other side of the bridge while finishing the nuts. While eating, I was watching the flowing river water, people washing clothes, cows and buffalos having a bath, some kiddies completing the morning good habits of cleaning their bowels, and also the industrial waste flowing in the river. It was 10.00 am, I went to the bus stop thinking that Viraj must have come. What the fuck, He isn't arrived yet? was my reaction. I called his place for the second time, from the coin box telephone nearby. It was his brother on the line and he stated, "Viraj has left and would arrive anytime!". I was getting impatient and angry. I also couldn't leave alone, as the trip to Hinjewadi was very boring without a company, and also it was our work not mine, stated my ego from inside. My ego was pushing me more into aggression. He being my senior, I didn't usually expressed my anger towards him, but now I was thinking of the ways to do it. I was totally frustrated, and still waited till it turned 11.30 am. I was hungry and went to have some food in a restaurant, in front of the bus stop. I went there and ordered the famous Misal Paav. I ate and relaxed myself from the soaring heat with the help of a cold drink. it was 12.15 pm when I left the restaurant paying the bill at the counter. He wasn't arrived yet. I waited till 1 pm loyally. He arrived around 1 pm and gave a broad smile. I was to angry and didn't speak a word with him the whole journey. This was the final way, through which I expressed my anger. I never asked him the reasons why he was so late that day. But now, Viraj being a master in computer arts, has also mastered the art of obeying time schedules he promises.

Me, Mandar and Viraj were the best friends in college. Mandar was the second sufferer of the CLS after Viraj. He never managed to come on time in his whole college life! There is no such special waiting experience about Mandar like the one of Viraj. But I want to specially describe his qualities of explanation when I used to call him to ask the status of his arrival. Most of the times Mandar would promise to come at my place in the morning usually for outings or passing the time during the weekends or vacations, but his morning would arrive in the evening. When asked for a reason, he used to tell that he was busy with his factory work(he has a fabrication and sculpture factory) and his uncle didn't leave him. Once he was coming from Talegoan some 35 kms away from Pune at a friends place, where our group had gathered. I called him to ask where he was and got an answer that he had reached Shivajinagar. But suddenly some voice was heard from the background. It was someone asking him to go safely and call after reaching. I was stunned and I hung up the phone. He arrived from his so called Shivajinagar after 2 hours. A person hardly takes 20 - 30 mins to reach the Karvenagar(the place where we gathered) place from Shivajinagar. That day not me alone, everybody was waiting for him to come. So I wasn't the only patient person in the room. Most of the times, when Mandar and Viraj came late, they used to have a good and realistic explanation which would attract anyone's trust in a second. I always suggested them to work in the Marketing team of any agency. They were always in the last stage of the CLS in the college days, and I had tried all the possible ways of treating them for this disorder, but all was in vain. Finally when we graduated, these guys changed and their CLS was vanished. Now sometimes, I go 5-10 minutes late and they arrive a few minutes before the time.

The next experience was way later in my life, it was when I planned to study abroad. I used to go for counseling in the an agency in Pune. It was the final stage of my visa application. I went in the agency for the visa counseling, filing my form and for putting the documents in a proper order. I still remember, it was a real hectic day for me. I went at the counselor's desk, tensed, anxious and worried, asking her to help me filling up my form. I was waiting for 2 hours before going at her desk, in the waiting section. This added to my anxiety and frustration. Waiting in any organizing, and for friends are two very different experiences. We can yell at friends, but we cannot yell at the counsellor or an authorized person of any organization, as we need to complete our work with their help. I calmly waited for 2 hours until I got a chance of meeting the counsellor. I started filling the form as she explained. My anxiety was disturbing her, as I could see it on her face. She asked me to calm down and write the information slowly and carefully. Applying for a visa is like applying for a CAT examination. You don't know why you were rejected! My documentation work was going on for 8 hours, and I felt like I had started working for that agency from this day. I was sitting from 11 am till 7 pm in the evening. In my journey of form filling, came a lot of people discussing their problems with the counsellor. I was asked to wait outside, two times while I was in the process, once for lunch and the second time for a guy who had come early in the morning and had some minor problems regarding his visa application. I wished to slap the guy and the counsellor who couldn't manage the appointments. I was cursing the agency management from inside. Finally the guy finished and I went back to the counselor's desk. I was more tensed, anxious, worried about the visa application than I was before. I told the counselor in a friendly but serious manner that I won't get up from here until I complete my work, even if the manager comes in between. I was sitting till the end of the day and completed all the visa formalities and the poor counselor was waiting for me to help me complete the form and documentation, though, all the staff had gone home. I felt nice for her, after I completed my visa work. I thought, we become so nice and calm from inside with people who help us, but this is only when the work is complete. Earlier I was cursing the people and management like it had the worst management in the world. This experience taught me that we need to be polite, calm and patient even if we have to wait for hours, because its our work and we need it to be done at the earliest. Complaining things to the management just wastes your time, and the counselor then takes revenge while counseling.

My next experience was, when I reached Edinburgh airport. After a hectic flight from Mumbai to London and London to Edinburgh, I arrived on the Edinburgh airport at 1.30 pm in the afternoon. I was searching for the University people, as they had scheduled a pickup service. I went at the student help service desk near the checkout gate of the airport. I enquired about the bus timings and was informed that it was scheduled at 2.30, but would arrive a bit late. I thought of freshening up and eating something to keep the trip going. I had a bottle of water and a vegetarian sandwich regardless of the massive cost it had, being on the airport. I bought the eatables and sat besides an old Scottish personality. He was friendly and cool. He helped me keep a watch over my baggage when I went for buying the eatables. "That was so nice of you, sir!" I said and sat besides him eating a chocolate and sandwich, I had bought as my supper in the lunchtime. I was thinking about the differences in the Mumbai airport and the Edinburgh airport. At the airport in Mumbai, I would see all the Indians having a chat with the people around you and make good friendships within a few minutes of chat, even exchanging contact numbers most of the times. On the other hand, what I saw on the Edinburgh airport or London airport was a total contrast. People were engaged in their own lives, they were least concerned or bothered about the person sitting next to them. They were either engaged in reading books or they were watching movies on their laptops. Hardly anyone was seen chatting or having a friendly interaction. After all, this is what I examined on the airport; each person’s perspective is different. It was 2.20 pm. I got up, shook hands with the Scottish person and waited at the student’s service center for the bus to arrive. I couldn't stop my nationality, to speak with the people around. I started having a chat with one of the girl student waiting for the same university bus for which I was waiting. I started my conversion with the already known bus timings and schedule for the pickup service. Then she asked me about my course and also revealed about hers. She told me about her course in some human psychology, which was a four-year bachelor's course, and also that she was an American. Americans are more bold and helpful than the British, I thought for a second. Getting attracted to any nice looking girl, and feeling everything in relation to her as good and nice, is a common thing among the boys, even if she's from some rare African tribe. I put her on my luggage security and went to make a call at my home and confirm my safety. Unfortunately, I was unable to call, due to some problem. While I was giving it a second try, a fat American boy came to tell me that the bus has arrived. The caring American girl, with whom I interacted for an hour sent him. It was already 3.15 when the bus arrived. I thanked him and again waited near the American girl I was chatting with. There arrived the president of international students union, who had come to receive us on the airport. He checked our names and ticked them as he asked the names of each person in the university's newbie crowd. He looked generous, with a broad smile of welcome, and calm minded. Suddenly there were wrinkles on his forehead, he asked us to wait for 15 minutes more, as 8 of the total people were missing from the spot. May be they hadn't arrived yet I thought. I was frustrated, 15 minutes felt like 15 hours, the nice feelings about the president vanished and I felt like catching his collar tight and asking him to leave us in the accommodation, and then find other people. But I knew that was not possible as it wasn't a bollywood movie scene. If it were a movie scene, then I would have certainly done the act, to impress the American girl. He was running around the airport searching for the missing people. His 15 minutes slowly increased by more 30 minutes, adding an hour at the end. His search was in vain and the lost people weren't found. We left the airport at around 4.30 in the evening, and went through the beautiful roads of UK, especially Edinburgh. The scenery was simply like a bollywood romantic song for me. They shoot the whole movie in Mumbai and go out just for a single rubbish song, which has no meaning in the complete movie. The scenery was amazing; there were plain green lands, with wooden houses far away from each other, on the big landscapes. The cows and horses were simply looking as if they were retouched on Adobe Photoshop software, and given effects like high saturation, brightness & contrast, tint, etc. They looked simply amazing. I was sitting besides an Indian personality, I realized. He was an arrogant and friendly, a typical sardar from India. We interacted with each other immediately as we sat in the bus. We shared our courses and also blamed the University for its rise in the international tuition fees. Then came the typical chat about visas, future plans, part time jobs and all. Each Indian I've met in Dundee asks me to do a part time job. I know it’s a good advice, but now I am counting the number of advices I get everyday.
The waiting experience doesn't end now. Finally, I reached the city of Dundee, and bus dropped me into the Hub apartments, in which my stay for the year was planned. I was again waiting in the waiting room watching the TV with some weird channel on. The Scottish receptionist was having a real fast accent that was absolutely not understandable, especially to an Indian like me! I tried to understand but had to say, "pardon me" a hundred times. I understood 75% of the total things he told me. I was given the contract letter, which looked more like a dissertation done by a student on, “staying in the Hub”. I read across the whole 20-page contract, trying to understand the minute details. I was so exhausted that I had to read each sentence twice to understand its meaning. I desperately needed some sleep. After reading initial 10 pages carefully, I just scanned the rest and put my signature abruptly on the contract. I paid him 250 Pounds, thinking them as 21,250 Rs. Indians in the UK always tend to convert and calculate pounds into Rupees in their initial years. Some friends tell me that this habit vanishes as you start earning the money by yourself. True, I think. I gave him the contract and asked for the keys. He was still unwilling to give me the keys and asked me to give me any UK based guarantor's address. He asked as if I have all my relatives and family members from the UK. I asked him to give me some time so that I can contact some of my local UK friends to solve the problem. He asked me to wait in the waiting room again as he was completing some other formalities. I was frustrated, nervous, homesick, sleepy and a lot more exhausted. I stood up near the reception counter and asked him to complete the formalities faster. I was very firm and arrogant this time. He was quick too. He immediately prepared the agreement and took my signature. Then he gave me the details of the room equipments and other forms to fill sitting in the room. I was then given the keys and shown the way to my room. I felt like I was heading towards a heavenly gate, walking through clouds, and a very soft and warm bed, having the most finest cotton in the universe, in it, fabricated in gold, was waiting for me. I came in my heavenly room, had a wash and slept like the character of Kumbhakarna of the great mythological epic, the Ramayana. I reached my room at 8.00 pm, slept at 9.00, and woke up at 2 in the afternoon, the next day.

The Srilankan friend met me after an hour at the Overgate’s gate. We exchanged some sorry, and no problem, and went ahead with our next plan to go in the Tesco for shopping.

I just saw "A Wednesday"...

2008-10-01T23:12:00.004+01:00

I just watched the recent bollywood film "a Wednesday". I liked the movie too much. It is a practical movie of a frustrated common man in Mumbai, who plans to finish the terrorism by himself. Please do watch this movie. Its an amazing piece of direction, hats off for the director!

Please put me your comments when you watch this movie...!

Best advertisement ever

2008-09-29T10:54:00.001+01:00

Best video

2008-09-29T10:31:00.002+01:00

The day I started this blog...

2008-09-29T10:08:00.000+01:00

Today, 29th September 2008 is the day of writing something in my blog. This is a great experience to start with blogging. It really changed my view towards the internet.