Room No 368

My experiments with Colors.

Vivek — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 06:36:46 +0000

Life ain’t fair. Neither am I. On numerous occasions in the past 23 years, I have reminded myself of this statement. I am 23 years old. I have lived in Jaipur,Delhi,Mumbai and Pune. I belong to a middle class family. I am studying pure sciences. I am working in technology startup. I have a great social circle. I am also a LEO. And yes, I have a “fairly” dark complexion. The last line adds a pinch of black to the entire picture. I say it form my experiences, that the world has 2 kinds of people – The Dark one’s (like me)– and the not so dark one’s.- This includes the whites (all shades), the browns, wheatish, and my lighter shades. It’s a different world altogether when looked from the eyes of a black skinned person. I will share some of my experiences – some good, some bad.

Considering that my grandfather is no more, I am probably the darkest soul in my family – both Paternal and Maternal, when it comes to color. I studied in 4 schools- Adarsh Vidya Mandir – Sirohi, St Paul School – Sirohi, Seedling Public School – Jaipur and Maheshwari Public School, Jaipur – and without fail I was the darkest student in all the classes. So the TAG – blacky came naturally to me. I have collected some very funny names all this while. Here are some of my favorites – Invisible After Sunlight (IAS), Kallu (klue,callu,klu), Kalia (I wish I was born in the Pre Sholay Era), Nigger, Nigero, Nigga, African, kalz, kalua. Lara and Black Mamba are the latest addition to the list.

It was probably in 3^rd standard I had my last fight with a guy who was 10 may be 15 “shades lighter than me” regarding one of those above names. I had almost killed him. I gave up after that. I realized that I was no hulk who could beat them all or Abraham Lincoln/Nelson Mandela who could not teach the world a lesson about Racism. I decided to give up – Give up on every single remark ever made about my complexion. (The world complexion sounds very “Britsh but – The place where I belong to, people like calling it Color. It sounds even better in when called “Rang”. )

I don’t know if I should blame my color – or the color of the fairer breed or the era when I was a student or Sholay or may be the city where I lived – I could never gather the confidence to go on stage. The only memory I have of going on stage was for a fancy dress competition where I was dressed as a joker – yes they painted me all white. The only time I ever went on stage after that was on my 16^th Birthday because all the birthday boys (I did my +2 from a boys school) were given a Birthday Card on stage.

Along with my color came the limited range of colors I could choose to pick my clothes. 3 shades of blue, 2 shades of green and anything that is Grey, yes that’s all you would find in my cup board. For me the color palette was always limited to Grey- Green-Blue. I always use to wonder why the costume designer in Telgu Films got orange shirts and red pants designed – Was he genuinely serious? Or did we miss the humor?

At this point I would like to introduce my family. Since I am the darkest one in my family, the entire family tried every possible fairness cream – Fair and Lovely, Garnier, Ponds, The_Cream_From_Dubai, even Amway. By the time I reached 8^th standard, I revolted. Then came the desi products – Besan, Multani Mitti. But as you can see, nothing literally nothing seemed to work on me. My family gave up against God’s wish of maintaining my dark color. Though the odd phone calls and advice about the_new_cream_of_vaseline come in till date. I could sense that their concern for my skin getting a shade or two lighter was absolutely valid – They probably believed that even if hell would break loose no “fair” bride would accept a black groom. At the age of 13 there is very little that I could do. I retained my stand. Actually, I had no options.

By this time I had my first crush in school. It took me over 10 years to confess it to her. Back in 8^th, I had assumed that black guys are destined to die single. Who in this world would fall for a black guy leave apart marrying him? My faith in my assumption was so strong that the thought of talking to the girl never crossed my mind. Though the circle I hanged out with had a lot of girls but I believe they were all friends with me because they thought I was “too safe”. Around the same time a cousin of mine introduced me to Sidney Sheldon. I picked up on reading. After reading 3 of those novels and confirming with my cousin I had assured myself that the jargon – Tall Dark and Handsome was a valid term and had no sarcasm attached. Though I continued to be skeptical about its validity in city I was living.

I was academically superior than a lot of my batch mates – probably that was the reason people did have some respect for me. Or wait it might have been pity also – You never know. As my school came to an end – thanks to everything around me – events, people, friends and family and my color – I had developed a shell around myself . The world I lived in had very few people – handpicked people who never thought twice before talking to a black guy. My color and not my potential had decided limits for me.

Life moved on but my color did not. Probably I was enjoying being black – it added an element of distinctness to me. I could be identified with ease in a crowd. While this feature at times can be quiet helpful, it can prove to be detrimental at times. For instance in a class of 150 students – the professor would be able to recall your face distinctly and can ask you awkward questions during the exam -” I didn’t see you after the first week of the semester, where have you been ?” For most of my friends, I invented “Black Humor”. Now I believe that I did. With college almost coming to an end, I don’t think I have to take more of this. I want to believe that my color is behind me but something inside tells me that the worst is yet to come. I have always had these questions intriguing me -

Why is black equivalent to being dangerous/bad/ugly ?

Why would they sit next to the white guy on the bus even if seat next to me is empty ?

Is having a dark complexion such a taboo ?

What is it with the fair skin that attracts all of you ?

Why do people frown when they see me with a fairer girl ?

Why can’t you love the dusky girl in your class but keep stating at bipasha basu’s wallpaper ?

By the way, the date on my computer screen is 15th Aug. Are we really free ?

P.S

We live in a country obsessed with Fair Color. The fairness and beauty product market as trends have it is close to 2500 CRORES. These are times when Sharukh Khan wants to get fairer by using fair and handsome, John Abraham needs Garnier Fairness Cream to impress a dusky beauty and Shahid Kapoor spends one minute on his Fairness. (CAN YOU BEAT THAT – ONE ENTIRE MINUTE !! ). We also live in times when every girl in the US wants to meet the tall, dark and handsome OLD Spice Man. Quiet an interesting era -isn’t it ?

Hype – Kills more than it Sells ?

Vivek — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 11:23:21 +0000

We live in a world where tickets are sold for weeks before movies are released. We live in a world where hype perturbs the relation between Demand and Supply. Royally. As a part of work routine – Monday evenings are compulsorily followed by a movie show irrespective of the movie being showcased. We even watched – Its a wonderful afterlife. You can well imagine, how strictly we follow our routines. On one such fine Monday we went down to see Kites – Apparently the most expected movie of the year. The reviews I must say were disappointing but as I mentioned this was more of a routine work rather than an interest being pursued. From the moment the movie started, we had no hopes, no expectations. End result- we actually like the movie.

Next on our to watch list was Rajneeti – obviously because of the hype attached with itself. Friends decided to watch the first day – last show. End result – The movie was tagged as a waste of time. A friend had once shared a great thought – “Leave expectations home, Carry curiosity”. Up next is Raavan. What do you think – Will the hype around Raavan kill it ?

Be it Google Wave or the Indian Film Industry – in most of the cases hype generated has the opposite effect. It generates an “Over Demanding” Demand which is unmanageable. For marketeers around – is it really worth to take this route ?

Why we need a liberal arts school ?

Vivek — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:49:20 +0000

Off the various experiences that one has during a hostel life, this one in particular is worth sharing. Due to lack of better things to do at 4 in the monring, for good or bad – me and Saurabh – were discussing the biggest HR question – Where do you see yourself 15 years down the line ? “While I was thinking of an answer, Saurabh reacted almost insataneously – I would like to start off with a liberal arts school in India.

Read the post here

How to choose an engineering college – 2

Vivek — Sat, 22 May 2010 09:53:39 +0000

The last time I talked about the culture of an engineering college that makes a visible impact on a fresher’s life. Another key point to keep in mind is the faculty and their history. Ideally the college should have this information available on the website. Some key points to look for are -

1.Academic Qualification of teaching faculty –

Most of the professors are highly qualified (minimum qualification is a Phd ) and comefrom a strong research background. While this might not be the case for private engineering colleges, do check – How many professors have done Phd ? How qualifified are professors- MTech, Msc or just B Tech ?

2.Research Background and Number of Papers published -

Ideally professors tend to have a storng research background. Unlike the IIT’s where all the professor’s have their own research lab and team, private engineering colleges might not have such infrastructure but do check their research areas and their work in the past 5 years. Simply put – Number of papers/published by a college/professor/ research lab is directly proportional to their excellence as a research team.

While evaluating a college, these two points should be taken into consideration. Next post – How important are placement records ?

How to choose a Engineering College ?

Vivek — Wed, 19 May 2010 02:53:17 +0000

Engineering – is the most over rated -yet looked upto profession in this country. The fact that 12 Lakh students appeared in AIEEE and over 3 Lakh for IIT JEE Engineer’s this year clearly establish my assumption. And then you see groups like ” I am looking for the one who said – Engineering main bada scope hai ” popping up on facebook.

More than this all engineers, well almost all of them will agree to the fact that the time they have spent in the 4 years “doing Engineering ” has made the least difference to them. So the big question is – Do i really want to do engineering is it is such a royal waste of time ? -or lets paraphrase the question – Do YOU HAVE ANY OTHER OPTION ? or Do you have any other passion that you have ever felt you have wanted to pursue – starting from Making Films, writing scripts, reading literature ?

For me the answer to this question 5 years back was a FLAT No. Probably science should students should have asked this question when they were in 10th standard – before they actually jumped in the rat race. But now that you have already taken science and coaching for entrance exams and have also appeared in a dozen of them – The question changes to – How do I really select a good college ?.

Here is my take -

1. You need a Institute – not a college -

In the 4 years of my IIT life, I haven’t met any iit’ian who ever referred to his IIT as a college. All of them have ALWAYS referred to their IIT’s as an institute untill and unless they are talking to someone who confuses the word institute with coaching center or to those who would start interrogating. This fact very well holds for the bestest of colleges – NID’s – IIM’s, IIIT’s NIT’s, BITS – all of them. I have distinctly observed this difference when I talk to my friends in private engineering college. The only common thing about all these colleges – their community.

More than the academia, in my humble opinion the reason that these institutes have excelled for so long is because they have had extremely strong and deep rooted communities.Students and Parents, more than often tend to assume that placement of the college as the deciding criteria while selecting a college. A fact that they need to understand is that, beoynd pay packages, a student has a lot to take away from the place where he graduates from. Its the experience of staying in a insititution that makes the difference. At 19 years of age – its can be a bit difficult to understand the importance of the word community but what one needs to understand is the fact that it is the cultue of the place they are joining that will make the most significant impact on their lives.

So the next time you are evaluating a college – do consider the age and history of the college and the existing culture of the college.

The NYC Trip and The Kairos Global Summit

Vivek — Fri, 14 May 2010 06:39:13 +0000

A lot has happened since the last post. I had a chance to attend the Kairos Global Summit in NYC last month. The conference led to – what was my first international visit and that started with New York. A quick round up on the overall summit experience -

1. What did I like about the Kairos -

The USP of Kairos is the network. The 700 odd students who came down for the conference represented some of the best schools all over the world including Harvard, MIT, Univ of Penn, IIT’s ,ESADE and many more. Meeting and spending time with some of the most brilliant people was a fantastic experience.

2.What could have been better ?

I still believe that the networking session could have been a bit more organised. Networking throughout the 2 day conference was a messy affair. Had this been a Barcamp -I would have enjoyed that but when you are asking people to dress up in Business Attire and Pay $1150 for the conference ticket – the last a participant could expect was to directly meet people with the same interest areas instead of hunting down for them. The Showcase at NYSE was more of a all startups packed into a giant space with no categorization. Tagging the showcase as Chaotic would be a exaggeration but it was definitely confusing to find who was where.

3.What could have been better ?

I should bot crib about these but yes the sessions as most of the conference were boring. One of the sessions by Simon Serek which was on Motivation Level was extremely interesting. The rest of the talks – were redundant. They could have seriously tried roping in some good speakers. While the profiles of the speakers was extremely strong on paper – none of them were actually able to hold on to the audiences.

4. What next ?

We plan to start the Kairos India Society in India soon with a vision of building a student driven elite community exclusively for student entrepreneurs. While NEN and AIESEC both have been trying to build the same but some how I personally feel the quality has been diluted over time.

Here is a glimpse of the showcase at NYSE.

The Kairos Global Summit

Vivek — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 02:56:15 +0000

Yes !! I have an exciting piece of news. I am heading off to attend The Kairos Global Summit. 20 of us from India will be heading to New York to attend the Kairos Global Summit.

The more exciting part is that Voicetap will be a part of the Top 100 Innovative Startups that will be showcasing during the summit. Here is a sneak peak about what all will be happening at the Summit on 17th April during the showcase at the New York Stock Exchange.

Here is a brief about the Kairos Society

The Kairos Society is an international student-run not-for-profit foundation based in the United States. We started with the belief that the key to improving our world lies in uniting the next generation of leaders to develop globally impactful innovations. Continue reading here

Here is a sneak peak at the summit itself –

The Intrepid Air and Space Museum

Kairos is bringing together some of the world’s most influential and globally impactful leaders to meet a select group of the world’s most innovative and entrepreneurial students. Aboard the former USS Intrepid Aircraft Carrier, these leaders will address the importance of the future generation of global leaders to work together on cutting edge innovation and ventures.

The Dinner Cruise over the Hudson River. During this special gala dinner cruise, students will have a chance to build lifelong friendships with other future leaders who share a common passion for entrepreneurship and come from different walks of life. These students will also have the opportunity to learn from and build valuable relationships with leading CEOs and mentors from diverse backgrounds

The innovations that will be showcased at NYSE will cover cover everything from new alternative energy technology to cross media entertainment platforms to global relief services.

Coming next – List and Profiles of people attending the summit. And yes I am super thrilled.

Cold Steel

Vivek — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 06:45:22 +0000

When was the last time you read a novel that had an Index page – actually a thriller novel that had a index page. Not to mention over 50 main characters.

Welcome to Cold Steel. A thriller that talks about the biggest acquisition in the history of Steel Industry. 300 pages that talk about the most powerful people in the Steel Industry,investment bankers, law firms,politicians, presidents of countries PR magicians and yes grand families. For those of you who secretly enjoy power and money would love to go through this book.

Here is a in depth review of the book on Business World.

Must read. Highly recommended.

Schadenfreude

Vivek — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 06:33:40 +0000

Here is something I wrote a couple of weeks back for SuperChooha blog.

When it comes to Human behavior enough is never enough. One of the most interesting traits of human behaviour is situations we tend to find comfort and solace in. More then the situation its the conversation that happens that has a pacifying effect -but then conversation do not necessarily have to be relevant… Read more here.