The name is Bond… James Bond… and with this trademark 007 quote the 21st movie of Ian Fleming’s famous character comes to an end… & much like the case with every bond movie, this again was an enthralling experience… full of action, suspense, charisma & of course romance… But then it was also different…

For “Casino Royale” marked the advent of ‘Daniel Craig’ as the sixth actor to step into the shoes of the British secret service agent - Avtar no. 6.

And the big question was did he make the cut into this extraordinary league???

Well I will say he was just fine… This may seem as the most gruesome lie on earth to all those Pierce Brosnan’s die hard fans, but then I am one of them too!!! The fact is that there is really no comparison between these two as both of them are entirely different.

But then as this hard chin Englishman with a mysterious smile showcases in the latest bond flick, that he deserves to be the next 007. The first blond bond has a good physique and is also more real than all of his predecessors. That’s because of the minimum no. of electric gadgets he uses, there is no invisible car, no special goggles any more… but there is the ‘Rough & Tough’ bond… so much to everyone’s delight he sheds his larger than life image.

The journey of this quintessential secret agent dates back to year 1952, when the first novel of Ian Fleming was published & there has been no looking back since. Before this sixth avatar, the ‘famous five’ that have dawned the Bond legacy are Sean Connery, George Lezenbi, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton & Pierce Brosnan. The most popular of them all is unarguably Sean Connery who starting with ‘Dr. No’, performed in six scintillating movies. Roger Moore holds the record for the most no. Of seven bond movies. And the charismatic Pierce Brosnan has four movies to his credit, including the best bond movie to date: “Golden Eye”.

The absolutely majestic ‘Aston Martin’ remains the 007 supercar in ‘Casino Royale’ as is the case with bond’s boss: M. And most importantly the bond beauties continue their famous bikini-act again. If last time she was Halle Berry, then this time she is Eva Green. So the 007 once again mesmerizes all his die hard fans(like me) in his latest masterpiece.
My advice to all of you is to forget the ‘Brosnan vs Craig’ debate & instead enjoy “Casino Royale”.

And last but not the least, the news is that Daniel Craig will again be Bond in the next movie. The name of this 22nd movie is “Bond 22”… And did I tell you that my birthday also falls on the 22nd … & voila of this month itself… what a coincidence… or is it???

The name is Sharma… Jitin Sharma!!!

Well I don’t exactly remember the Sunday when it all started, but it must be around 4-5 months back now… And then slowly but surely now it has expanded its horizons & become a ritual for me. For all these Sundays have somehow followed a curiously similar pattern & the credit for this goes to what they call it- “The Mock CAT’s”!!!

And as their name so shrewdly suggests they have always unfailingly delivered the goods in mocking me every time. Right from the start of this special day, which has now assumed special significance for me amongst all seven in the week, till the end it has always baffled me. From that “Good morning” sms on my cell, which serves as the alarm clock for me to wake up, & then performing those morning ablutions, to get ready at sharp 9.30 am. Then that not so long drive to the Career Launcher(CL) mock test center, it has really all been unbelievably same for quite some time now… And then the most disgusting part of it all, that “wait”, which I can’t bear. The official timings of the test are 10.30-1.00 am. But the CL Dehradun center people somehow always manage to be late & that too by the again “same” time interval- 30 mins. So the test starts at 11am, only to be interrupted again after 5 min. & now its time for Errata correction, as they say it, & after all these hustle & bustle, the “mock” takes-off again at 11.10am & to my deep relief it continues on without anymore speed-breakers to cross the finish line at 1.35am successfully. And then we have a swarm of CATers leaving the examination hall in such a mad hurry as if they have to catch up the next movie show at 2pm!!!

There are in excess of 200 students giving the “mock” on every Sunday & as u could very well imagine that there is not sufficient space for all of them to sit separately… so what happens is not a really exciting sight for any serious aspirant!!! For all of them sit in bunches of 2 & 3, as per their dear wishes, talking to each other as if they have arrived for a party… And the icing on this cake is the majestic sitting arrangement at the topmost floor of the building… As there is a round table there, around which 20 students sit side by side as if there is going to be a Group Discussion going to be held there, & not a written test… I really appreciate the CL people attitude to prepare students for the subsequent GD’s but alas! This is really not the way!!!

And though one could be forgiven for these errors once or twice but not everytime… In my opinion, this “Errata Correction” is even more important, so that budding aspirants can feel the real CAT atmosphere well in advance…

So this was my “Sunday Ritual” till today, i.e, 12th of November, the last mock test at the blessed CL center… But now there will be a slight variation indeed… For now its time for the real ones… the “Super Sundays”!!! For starting from next Sunday onwards till Almost January end… the scene would be pretty different as far as discipline & a time bound schedule is concerned… For their would be no late starters now, no doublets & triplets too & of course no round table conferences!!!

And the biggest of them all awaits me on the next “Super Sunday” itself!!! So its high time that we all leave behind the highs & lows of the mocks & get ready for the REAL CAT on “Sunday, the 19th”…


And for me to follow my “Sunday ritual” religiously as always…

It was almost as if Sourav Ganguly, the ‘Prince of Kolkata’, had made an unprecedented comeback to the Indian cricket team… the atmosphere was reminiscent of Durga Puja celebrations in West Bengal… but nothing of this sort was ‘The Reason’ behind the deafening uproar in the streets of Kolkata…

Infact it was a 15-year old teenager from Kolkata which had sparkled off such grandiloquent festivities- “Sanchita Bhattacharya”, a name unknown to almost everyone in India about 4 months ago, was now the toast of the nation in general, & Kolkata in particular. Well this was because she was just crowned “LITTLE CHAMP” by the Don- Shahrukh Khan himself in an enthralling grand finale in Mumbai itself.

The event started by ZEE TV aimed to find the young singing sensation of India among thousands of participants. It provided the right platform for all budding little ‘Kishore Kumar’s’ & ‘Lata Mangeshkar’s’ of India to showcase their talent on the big stage. After many rounds of screening in different districts all over the country, finally 10 lucky little champs were selected for the final rounds. The judges, famously known as the ‘Terrific Trio’, were Abhijit,Alka Yagnik & Bappi Da. And ‘Shaan’ was the one who superbly anchored the show all along.

From these 10, the top three who made to the grand finale were besides Sanchita: Diwakar Sharma from Delhi & Sameer Mohammad from Mumbai. And though all three were really very good. Still the main contest was between the two most consistent performers of the show- “Sanchita vs Sameer”! But the fact that votes from people all over India were to be considered in final evaluation of results made the contest a lot closer than expected. As Diwakar being blind had an undue advantage of sympathy factor along with him, so much so that until the ending stages of voting he was at the top position, only to be overtaken by Sanchita during the dying moments of a nail-biting encounter indeed.

But it once again put a huge ??? mark over the credibility of champions emerging as a result of these voting systems. And this indeed is a serious debate. There are many examples which reaffirm this fact time and again that its often not the winners of this show who deserve the title but the runners-up instead!!!

Be it Abhijit Sawant’s victory over Amit Sana in “Indian Idol 1”, Sunil Pal’s victory over Raju Srivastav in “Laughter Challenge 1”, Sandeep Acharya’s victory over Karunya in “Indian Idol 2” or the most recent & most debatable “Rauf Lala” of Pakistan emerging victorious over his much fancied rivals in “Laughter Challenge 2”, the list is endless…

So the fact is that this much fashionable “voting system” only serves the hosts to expand their bank balance by hefty amounts. Besides these, they not only undermine the quality of such contests but are also a source of a great deal of frustration for all deserving participants who have worked really hard to reach this far. Who is to blame: “Public or Media”??? is anybody’s guess..

But for now lets put all these topics on the back-burner & extend our heartiest congratulations to the winner… & a deserving winner too… finally!!!

Hats Off to the Little Champ, the lovely & melodious Sanchita… to put it in Shaan’s words “Just Amazing” little champs!!!

Now whether She would be able to fulfill the huge aspirations that are a part & parcel, which come along the “champions” tag & whether she would be able to escalate the same heights as that of the great “Lata Mangeshkar”, only time will tell…

So till then as Shaan would say it again lets…

HOLD TIME!!!

There is a very famous song of Green Day that goes: “Wake me up when September ends”… Well this song has all the more relevance when seen in context of the picturesque city of Dehradun… Because there is a unique buzz in the city, the air of doon feels different & you can’t ignore a sort of charismatic aura that engulfs every street here… As cometh the dawn of October, marks the arrival of a grand festival-
NO its not the festival of lights- Deepavali
NO its not the festival of sweets- Id either,
Infact it’s the festival of traditions- VIRASAT!!!

For nearly two weeks the whole city is mesmerized by some majestic performances by artists from all over India. And year 2006 marked another landmark achievement in its history as this cultural festival surpassed all boundaries and included pulsating displays from abroad too…

From an electrifying opening ceremony on 5th October in B.R.Ambedkar Stadium made all the more memorable by Ballet performance by Pt. Narendra Sharma, it set the trend for the whole event. The very next day on display was a world class Opera by Christine Matovich, USA.

But it was the 7th everyone was eagerly waiting for as the Ghazal maestro “Jagjit Singh” himself took center stage on the backdrop of a huge swarm of doonites hoping for sensational stuff from the magician… & Ah what an atmosphere it was… The man whose initials are same as that of mine (JS) started with “Kagaz ki kashti…” with a thunderous applause from the crowd & from there on he was simply unstoppable… For absolutely riveting ghazals poured from his gifted mouth one after another in a spellbinding display… & after more than two hours of heavenly abode, no one could quite comprehend that this show will ever end… such was the “Axe effect”…
Well having initials JS really helps…

In between those two weeks followed Quawwali by Warsi brothers, Kumaoni Holi, Mushaira & play reading by Dr. Mohan Agashe but all this went backstage to the most rocking night in the history of Virasat since it started from a modest beginning nearly 15 years ago… it was the night of 12th Oct… it was the night of the “Sufi King”…

Kailash Kher needs no introduction in the world of music… And if there was a show which could not only match the aroma of the JS night & even surpass it by quite some margin… it was the KK night… With “Manglam Manglam…”, he sat the stage on fire… & what followed was an ear piercing roar from the over enthusiastic Kailasha fans… Next up was “Teri Diwani”… & now the audience had gone crazy… the euphoria was just too amazing to contemplate. & with “Tauba Tauba…” , doubts in the mind of organizers(if any) about success of the show must have evaporated by now… King Kailasha ended his scintillating show with his most precious jewel… his opening hit… “Allah Ke Bande…” also promising that “Jo bhi ho Kal phir aaunaga…”!!!

But, though highly ironical, it’s a proven fact that everything on earth is in a state of constant equilibria… And for once if anyone had thought that Virasat was a smooth sailing all along… A fairy tale with everything perfect than it was unfortunately not the case…

What started with divine intervention with the accident of Wadali brothers that subsequently led to cancellation of their event… then this was only an indication of things to come… Since after the KK night… when the show reached its peak… it took a downward slope from there on… First ‘ Tumhari Amrita’, a play by Shabana Azmi was scrapped off… Then, the much awaited play by Anupam Kher- ‘Sab Kuch Ho Sakta Hai’ was shown the exit door… All these due to undisclosed reasons… & lame excuses like non-availability of dates of stars???

And last but not the least the cancellation of the enthralling Flute recital by the legendary Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia… which was to mark the closing ceremony of Virasat!!! All this was an absolute disgrace to an otherwise splendid & exquisite cultural event…

But all in all when the pros & cons of virasat would be weighed together, the result would be more positive than negative… more fantabolous then despairing… & the huge audience of doon would once again welcome “The Incredibles” next year for yet another rocking cultural festival…

But for the time being we all doonites now…

Bid Adieu Virasat…

Date: 19 November, 2006
Time: 10.30 am
Place: 50+ centers across India

“You can open your question paper now”, shouts the invigilator…
& with those magical words (much like “khul ja sim sim”), the race begins...
A race in which there are more than 2 lakh participants… And a race in which only a few thousand would succeed in reaching the podium… One false move and your doomed… 150 minutes of intense concentration, supreme determination, unparalleled dedication & loads of perseverance…
Well this and much more would be required in huge doses to be among those gifted few who would be smiling out of the examination hall at 1 pm after waging a gruesome battle!!!

Welcome to CAT 2006…

Some call it the Doomsday… some refer to it as their date with destiny…
Different people, different opinions…
CAT stands for Common Aptitude Test… But for me it means-
Uncommon Attitude Talent search test!!!

For the basic motto of the test is not to find common people but uncommon prodigies which have both the right aptitude as well as the attitude required to excel in the field of management. Those who don’t “work hard” but instead “work smart”. Those who rise to the occasion, who can sail past unknown shores, who can turnaround any situation…

Like the South African cricket team which believed it can chase 434 against world champions Australia…
Like Steven Gerrard led Liverpool who could recover from 0-3 down at half time to emerge as UEFA champs…
Like Michael Schumacher who is now level with Alonso in formula 1 after being 25 points short at one stage…

In a nutshell- “Those who think they can do it no matter what comes in their way”!!!

And the final countdown has begun & with hardly six weeks to go… As all serious aspirants gear up for that last push, look for that moment of inspiration, hoping against hope to land up on their dream destination…

The stage is set for the “battle royale” in which only the tough will survive…

And I being one of those “dreamers” myself wish everyone of those CATing around to be in “That league of Extraordinary Gentlemen & women”!!!

As the Nike saying goes: “JUST DO IT”!