German, French or Spanish?

This was one dilemma that I was facing, which language should I learn. I had three options in my list viz. German, French and Spanish. I knew I had to add at least one of these languages to my repertoire. I discussed with my friends about the advantages of each. Personally, German for some reason was with the lowest priority on my list. I figured, German is mostly spoken in Germany (apart from Austria and Switzerland) and at least at this point, I have no plans (at least for study) to go to these places. Also, with the ken of how wretched my company is, I know I am never going there at least for my company's sake.

As far as French goes, I am really a little apprehensive to go to France. I fail to understand the point, in ONLY speaking French in the country. It is understandable to the extent that it is imperative for the people in the country to speak the language, but it is absolutely untenable to make it imperative for the tourists to speak French. Sadly, its an ignominy on the part of the French to do so. How do you justify (indirectly) asking a tourist to learn the language for a sojourn. Consequently, French was out of the list now.

Spanish was now the only language remaining on the list. I had a chat with my friend Rahul who’s in the US pursuing his Master's degree. He advised me to go for Spanish. Just to shed some light on Spanish, it is the second language in the US. Also, 13% of the populace in the States speak Spanish. Moreover, it is the official language of 22 countries. These were reasons enough for me to take up Spanish. For someone planning to go to the US, having a certification in Spanish is definitely an added advantage.

My mind was set. Spanish was the language for me. Without much ado, I inquired about a couple of classes. Among those, Multiversity seemed a good choice. I've got the admission now and classes start form 1st Nov. Let's see how it works out, will keep you guys updated.

Catch ya later,

Swapnesh

Sarkha Chatit Dukhtay

'Sarkha Chatit Dukhtay', translates to '(My) Chest is paining continuously' is a Marathi play which stars Ashok Saraf and Nivedita Saraf in the lead roles. The play is an experience that might let you have a stomach pain if not a chest pain. Although full of clichés and a banal story-line, the play is worth a watch for the mere panache of Ashok Saraf.

The story mainly involves Bhau Taishette, played by Ashok Saraf, a 50 odd year librarian who is always concerned and nagging about is health. His wife, played by real life spouse Nivedita Saraf is a naive house wife, unknown to the deceitful ways of the world. Bhau finds out his end is near and is troubled by the incessant fear of how his wife will survive after his death. The story takes a turn when Rajan Bhise, Nivedita's college time friend and one who has had amorous feelings for her in college comes to visit India. He stays with the family for some days giving Bhau the idea to unite the pair that couldn't be united in college.

The story revolves around the confusion that is created by Bhau's drunkard lawyer (played by Vinay Yedekar) about Bhau's affair with his assistant. The story is predictable every step of the way, but still manages to be hilarious due to excellent performances by Ashok Saraf, Nivedita Saraf and Rajan Bhise. Vinay Yedekar is brassy is always and tends to irritate with his repetitive appearances. Sanjay Mone does justice to his role although he only has two 10 minute cameos.

The play is worth watching once if you are a fan of Ashok Saraf. If you go in with the expectation of something novel, 'Sarkha Chatit Duktae' is not the play for you.

I give it two and a half stars.

A succinct explanation of the battle

Hello guys,

Sorry for not updating the blog yesterday. I had gone to a drama with my parents and got home very late, but more on that later. First, to complete the exam experience.

In the story so far, I had finished my breakfast and left for the exam center. It took be about 20-25 mins to reach there. By my watch (I'd borrowed one from my Dad), it was 8:55. The exam was scheduled at 10 and I still had one full hour to go. I decided to shop for a bottle of mineral water to kill some time. It did kill 10 mins but that was not enough. Finally, I decided to go the hall and check to see if someone else had also come. To my surprise, there were two people already present, discussing about the exam and admissions. It didn't take us long to get introduced to each other. The discussion was mostly related to the exam and the sections of the exam, but later, it shifted to the colleges which offer MBA, various countries, etc. After 10-15 minutes some more people arrived. Now the discussion started to become intriguing with each one of us sharing his experience of the preparation exam. Four of us were from IT (that in itself explained how common our profile was, IIM - Indian IT Male), one from a mechanical background and one a business analyst. We had a very interesting discussion none the less. It was now 10:00 and the person at the counter asked for our passports. Fear now started to insinuate itself in our hearts. It was not long before the first person was called to start off with the initial formalities.

I was the second person to get in. The first procedure is to match your sign with the one on your passport. Then they take your hand print and your photo. The procedures were now done and they showed us the boxes where we would sit to give the exam. The instructor logged us in and the exam started. I guess it would be a bore if I describe the exam experience to you (Frankly, I am a lil bored to write all of that :)) All in all, it was experience that will certainly help me for my next exam.

Tomorrow, I'll post a review of the Marathi Play 'Sarkha Chatit Duktae'

Till then,

Adieus Amigos

The night before the battle

Hello people,

A warm welcome to all of you. This is my first entry in the blog. It's been a long time since I have been thinking now of starting a blog and finally I've found the time to make it a reality. I figured writing one should be a piece of cake, since any drab and dingy kid on the block is starting to write one now. Jokes apart, it's 00:48, make that 00:49 by my laptop's clock. I had lain down some time ago and was thinking of useless things like many of us do while embarking into slumber, but I just couldn't get that much wanted sleep. Then I thought to myself, this looks like de-ja-vu all over again from two days back. It was a Friday night, I went to bed at around 2300 hrs. Y so early u ask, well I had my GMAT CAT the next morning (seems such a hep name doesn't it when u write CAT after the GMAT. GMAT by itself doesn't sound that imposing).

Believe you me, I had absolutely no tensions about the exam and there was nothing that could keep me from sleeping, also, I had no qualms of having been to Pune Central one day before the exam. I had got up at 8 in the morning that day, add to that the travel from Nira (place where my Mom n Dad stay). All this should have been sufficient to ensure a good night's sleep. After one hour of rolling in bed, trying each position to get the comfortable position for sleeping, I got up, had some water and said to myself, 'C'mon man, now you'll sleep, it's midnight and your daily time of sleeping has come. Seven hours of sleep is enough'. I kept the bottle and was flat on the back again. Five minutes into the bed and there it was, a god damn sneeze, two seconds and another one, and it continued till like 8 - 10. As if insomnia was bad enough, a vicious cold set in. I was now frustrated to the hilt. Another hour went by with no sleep and an hour in which my best friend became by handkerchief. My friend had warned my to make it a habit of sleeping early so that I can sleep on time before the exam. But clearly, two past midnight was way of limits. I'd always be in deep sleep by then. Anyways, finally I lost my much unwanted unconsciousness but before you know it, I was up again. As frustrating it was to not get sleep, it was more frustrating to get it and again wake up. I was thinking to myself, 'Don't worry dude, you've never slept more than 4 hrs before any exam in your life (this was not b'coz I am sincere, but hey, face it you can't waste much time on sleeping when u have 12 hrs to prepare for an entire engineering subject)'. The whole night went on with short spells of sleep and distortions of sleep. To add to my nusiance, the sleep spells were dream-ridden ( I should say nightmare-ridden really), dreams of Critical Reasoning questions from the exam. It was the worst sleep anyone could ever have, when you have an exam the next morning, you can imagine how happy I elated I was!!

It was now 7.15 and the alarm in my mobile started ringing. It took me 2 seconds to get yup (it wasn't difficult since I was not doing a particularly good job at sleeping anyway). I got fresh, took a warm bath and got ready by 8.15, fully dressed. I checked with all the stuff required for the exam, got good luck wishes from my roomies and was off to have some breakfast. Normally I have cornflakes and eggs from breakfast but today just wasn't the day to get the milk, boil the eggs, etc. I went to the hotel below and ordered a plate of 'idli sambhar'. I had got some notes in my bag to read till my order gets in. Wouldn't you know it, that day the waiter got the order in 5 minutes. I had the idli and a glass of milk that I'd ordered and I took off.

Guys, I'll write the details about the actual stuff at the exam center and how I fared in the exam tomorrow. It's 1:30 and I'll try to get that sleep now. Also, I have to create a blog to post this stuff. I am hard-pressed to find a name for the blog. Umm, how do you like Swapnesh's Endeavours, or Swapnesh's Ventures? I guess the later is a lil of the mark, I'll go with the first one.

Till tomorrow then,

Ciao
Swappy