First post MBA salary

My first ever job was when I was in 5th or 6th standard or maybe even younger. Me and a few friends brought together our comic books and started a rent shop. You as a customer could come in and rent our comic books and magazines for 50 paisa a day. I of course don’t remember now how much we made and how we spent that money. But today, I made the first purchases from my first post MBA salary.

Over the years I have worked and made quite a few things include the time I was working for HCL, Babel. I started my full time post MBA work here at my new company and today I spent my first salary. Of course I did not spend the entire amount but I did spend substantial amount. I bought R K Laxman's autobiography - The Tunnel of Time and That Man On The Road. Next on the list is Kaleidoscope.

And of course there would be more things ... This page shall be updated as and when I acquire them or think about acquiring them... !

Removing hpmsnt32.exe

After removing se.dll, today I had to remove Srchui.dll and hpmsnt32.exe. This file is also known as HP Compaq Presario driver file or HP Compaq driver or some variant.

I was back on my desktop after a few days and found something malicious has taken over it. A Virus? Trojan? Spyware? Something was bothering my poor desktop because all my anti-virus software were not working, Microsoft AntiSpyware was not working, taskmgr aka Task Manager was not working, regedit aka Registry Editor was not working and the computer was acting funny. Something was wrong.

I copied the file regedit.exe from the windows directory and pasted it on the desktop. Renamed it regedit1.exe. Opened it and realized that this file (hpmsnt32.exe) was there in CurrentVersion > Run. And here is the root of the problem. I thought I would have to wipe the hard disk clean and then install everything but again I thought lets try summoning the lady luck. And for a change, I indeed got lucky.

I copy pasted taskmgr.exe also and renamed it taskmgr1.exe. I executed it and killed the process in the memory. Opened registry using the regedit1.exe and deleted all the instances of the dreaded word. Turned the computer off (did not use the classical Shut Down method, just unplugged it). Restarted to find everything in working condition and it made my day :)

If there are any people reading this and are facing the same issue, please follow the steps of removal I mentioned above. Of course if someone wants a clearer picture and a DIY tutorial, please email me. I work for ipods ;)

Black

No, this is not about the excellent movie by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, but this is about troubles faced by black (or as they have started referring to us as - colored) people. I am one of those who are blessed with black color and there are times when things get interesting.

Every time I go to a barber to get a shave done (which is at least once in a week affair since I don't know how to shave and I just came back after getting a shave), people there assume that I want to look fairer and I am offered free samples of facial bleech, face massages, fairness creams and new hair color that would make me look fair. One question. Why do they think I want to look fairer? Can't I be happy the way I am? I do not want to look fairer. Fullstop. Period. I wonder how many fair people are offered darkness creams, sun lamp treatments etc.

Anyways, the problem is not only limited to a barber, there are other places where we could do with some freedom. If you ever had a dark cousin, you would know that one of the qualities of the suitable match for him/her is fair skin color. The match could be illiterate, dumb as a dodo, but should not be dark. (This could be biased; my family at least, wants to have fair colored members). This is again stupid. The most important decision of your life can not be just based on the color of the skin.

Goto a designer clothes showroom. They would recommend specific type of cloth material, specific colors, different styles all together just to make sure that you look fairer.

Barber - its ok, he is not bothered about you or your well being. He wants to sell more products and services and make money. Same is true for boutiques. Your family wants the best for you. They want you to get good looking (fairness is equal to good looking in India) partner. Did anyone ask me (us) my (our) preferences?

Just wondering if Mr. Charles Darwin was correct about his theory of natural selection and survival of the fittest, a day should come when all the dark colored members of the Homosapient species are ...

Xtra special song ... Phoolon Ka Taaron Ka

Here is yet another song ...

Title: Phoolon Ka Taaron Ka
Movie: Hare Rama Hare Krishna
Singer: Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar
Music: Rahul Dev Burman
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi

Lyrics
Phoolon Ka Taaron Ka Sabka Kehna Hai
Ek Hazaron Mein Meri Behna Hai
Sari Umar Hame Sang Rehna Hai

Ye Na Jaana Duniya Ne Tu Hai Kyon Udaas
Teri Pyaari Aankhon Mein Pyar Ki Hai Pyaas
Aa Mere Paas Aa Keh Jo Kehna Hai
Ek Hazaron Mein Meri Behna Hai

Jabse Meri Aankhon Se Ho Gayi Tu Door
Tabse Sare Jeevan Ke Sapne Hain Choor
Aankhon Mein Neend Na Dil Mein Chaina Hai
Ek Hazaron Mein Meri Behna Hai

Dekho Hum Tum Dono Hain Ek Dali Ke Phool
Maein Na Bhoola Tu Kaise Mujhko Gai Bhool
Aa Mere Paas Aa Keh Jo Kehna Hai
Ek Hazaron Mein Meri Behna Hai

Jeevan Kay Dukhon Sey Youn Darte Nahin Hain
Aise Bach Kay Sach Sey Gujarte Nahin Hain
Sukh Ki Hai Chah To Dukh Bhi Sehna Hai
Ek Hazaron Mein Meri Behna Hai

Haloscan discontinued

For a long time, comments were powered by Comments and TrackBack powered by HaloScan.

Starting today, I would use the comment feature on blogger.com only. I would loose some precious comments but as they say "You win some, you loose some"...

Indian - Unity in diversity?

We have always been taught all our lives - India represents Unity in Diversity. Spread over more than 26 states and union territories, we stand united whenever we are in dire straits. Indian Army, Indian Bureaucracy, Indian Sports teams etc. are made up of people from all the places in the country we can think of. We said moving from Kashmir to KanyaKumari we would change language every 500 kilometers and change lifestyle every 1000 kilometers. But in effect everyone "different" was bound by identical spirit of Indianism.

However behind this rosy picture, there is something glaring that probably we all have continued to miss and we maintain a blind eye towards it.

Anywhere in the country, schools, colleges, workplaces, research institutions, even defense forces, it is very easy to spot groups of people moving together. Groups not made out of interest, but groups made on regional basis. All north Indian stick together, all Maharastriyans move as a group, all Tamilians prefer to speak in Tamil even when in company of other people, all Bengalis would prefer to find other Bengalis. Army has a separate Jaat Regiment, Gurkha Rifles, so forth and so on (I don't know much about army though). And with this kind of segregation, where is the "unity in diversity" we always preached?

There was a time when people of the entire nation would stand together and fight for the common cause. Remember the fight for independence? Now people from a particular region would come together and demand their own state because they think that they are a distinct group and their unique problems can only be sorted out by a separate state.

It's a shame but I admit I don't know the exact number of states that we have now, when I was in school there were 25 states and 7 UTs but there have been splits ever since, difficult to keep track. I don't even remember how many splits have we had in last 15 years. There was one in Bihar, one in Madhya Pradesh, one in Uttar Pradesh. That's all I remember as of now. Are we soon approaching time when we have more than 1000 regions because we have that many number of major dialects?

People often ask me "where are you from?" question. If I say I am an Indian, they need further explanations. They just can not digest the fact that a person could just be an Indian. He has to be Marwari, Baniya, Punjabi, Sindhi etc. Can we come out of this silo mentality? What would it take to come out of the silo mentality?

As an Indian - only Indian, not as a Baniya, Marwari, Haryanvi I sincerely feels something ought to be done about this. Of course I don't have a "sensational" issue. There would be no support from Indian media until I throw some allegations of caste discrimination on a prominent leader.

Of chain letters, bad luck and misfortunes

Since I spend a bit too much time on internet, my email address is common knowledge and thus I get a huge number of chain letters. A typical letter asks me to forward the same to 7 guys on average (some even want me to send it to 10,000 people). They further proclaim that if I indeed send it to all those people, I shall be rewarded and if I don't, I shall rot in hell and face the wrath of misfortunes and bad lucks for my next seven lives.

Needless to say, I haven't forwarded a single chain letter ever and may be this is the sole reason for all my miseries? May be it's about time I started forwarding those letters, add my name to I-am-stupid list and wait for the luck gods to shower the blessings ????

The Nidhi Kapoor Story

Did you like this post? May be you want to read my first book - The Nidhi Kapoor Story.

Check it out on Amazon or Flipkart?