Pratik Poddar

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/extraordinaryissue/entry/the-art-of-managing-fame Interesting article... Sees inefficiency, bureaucracy, nepotism from a positive side.. Managing fame.. Also, interesting comments made below... One says: Yes, Mr Obama was surprised on the announcement of Nobel Peace Prize 2009. He felt humbled, not embarrassed. It appears he was awarded for his forward thinking aspirations, expectations of achievements. and other says This is quite a damning and hard hitting article on the Peace Nobel to Obama, and understandably so. After all, the world is so much at a loss of words to justify the honour! The article is refreshing in the sense that it goes beyond mere criticism of the award, and looks at the motives (or machinations) behind it. Quite conspicuously, there are hints of the award having been packaged, fixed or managed, probably without the consent or knowledge of Obama, to enhance his fame. It is sad that such controversial choices by ...

1) Father: money doesn't grow on trees Son: But if you grow mangoes and sell them? 2) Mother: u will understand only when ur a mother and have a daughter like u Daughter: Ya right!! Heard of twin sisters.. here comes this twin pair(mother-daughter).. :P 3) Father: have'nt you seen your cousin or neighbour's child? ...how well beahaved they are. Son: Then go and adopt him!! 4) Father: See how XYZ scores good marks! Son: u can say see how that uncle makes so much money! 5) Father: When we were at your age, this isn't what we did Son: Ya I know!! You didn't have TV then and you didn't wear full pants till your 10th class! Thanx for the pant btw. :P 6) Father: When Rajendra Prasad was of your age he went to school swimming across a river. Son: Dude, when he was of your age, he was the president of India!! 7) Shaddi kar le iss TV se..waise bhi toh din raat issi se chipka rehta hai ! 8) Ise Boarding school bhejenge tab hi sudherega .............

Nice article by Chetan Bhagat in TOI http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Wheres-My-Nobel-Prize/articleshow/5153978.cms I wonder why I like reading blogs and articles by IITians so much.. :P Indeed the article is one of the most profound articles I have read in recent times.. I have always felt the same way.. Putting it in simpler words, is he not saying that we should have no nepotism/cronyism in the country... (New words learnt for GRE!! :D) In all, if corruption in this form is eliminated from the spheres like sports, R&D, management, e.t.c. where talent is really more important, India would become a talent-driven country and this would go a long way in making India a world power... Interesting idea!! The writer ( Chetan Bhagat ) is a best selling novelist.

Interesting site: Results are pretty interesting and sort of true..

Great article here by Atanu Dey A few excerpts: There is a "joint entrance exam", or JEE, to get admission into an IIT and an estimated 400,000 students appear for it. That means about two out of every 100 who apply get into an IIT. To a first approximation, as economists put it, nobody gets into IITs. Getting into an IIT is serious business. The insane level of competition to get into an IIT infects not just the students but also their families. Preparations start years before, often when the student is in the 8th grade - a full four years of slogging. There is a mad rush to get into the better JEE coaching classes. Let's call them A-level coaching institutes. A-level institutes have to conduct their own entrance exams not only because their capacity is limited but also to select the best among the students. So there are coaching institutes - let's call them B-level - whose business is to coach students to pass the A-level institutes' entrance exams. I su...

I have to take GRE on 26th.. My vocabulary was definitely "poor".. I never paid attention to improve my word power.. The effect being I had to work significantly harder than most people around me.. I have not read Word Lists.. I have only read Word Power Made Easy (By Normal Lewis), including the word-list given in the end. I have started practising from Power Prep, hoping to complete all practice tests and all practice questions given. Given that I have not studied much, I am not expecting a great result (1300 I think is good enough for me). But preparing for GRE has provided the following to me: 1) If not of the level of GRE or if not of the level of the "magniloquent" people, I have definitely improved my vocab to a normal acceptable level. 2) It might help me in CAT. I practised a few CAT questions with my sister. I think the preparation is helping. 3) I have developed an interest for languages. I am now able to relate Sanskrit, English, Latin, German, Hind...

Answer the following questions and then match the answer. You will be surprised to know how less we know about India or Mumbai: Lets start with a simple one. 1) Population of the country in 2009? 2) Population in 1961? 3) Rate of increase? 4) Percentage of Hindu population in India? 5) Population of Mumbai in 2009? 6) GDP of India? 7) GDP growth? 8) GDP per capita? 9) Inflation? 10) Population below poverty line? 11) Unemployment? Answers: 1) 116 crores 2) 40 crores 3) 1.58% 4) 80% 5) 1.2 crores 6) $1.209 trillion 7) 6.7% 8) $1016 9) 7.8% 10) 22% 11) 6.8% Did any one of you get it even 80% correct? Update: (19/11/2009) In fact, I was doing this for case interview practice. I read these wiki pages to learn some basic facts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai_Suburban_Railway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Railways Enjoy!!!