Are you a Hugger or a Non Hugger?
I am a non-hugger. I come from a family where touching feet and joining hands to say Namaste is given more importance. I still join my both hands to say namaste than just moving my head slightly to complete the formality. I can only hug a few special people in my life but beyond that I become uncomfortable.
My biggest scare of hugging comes true on festivals and occasions. During these festive gatherings I come across people who are huggers and I have no rescue. I end up giving awkward hugs and more awkward smiles to people. 
At one occasion, I the non-hugger and my aunt, the bear-hugger had a chance to hug. She didn’t like the way I hugged. So she said, ” beta maza nahi aya, ek aur japphi paa le.“ What??? I wanted to run away from there but with a sheepish smile, I gave myself away in my bear-aunt’s arms.
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I read three books in past few days- Animal Farm by George Orwell, The White Tiger by Arvind Adiga and Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro. And I am midway through reading Emma by Jane Austen. I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of them. Of late I have realized that I am developing a sense of taste for my reading. Earlier I used to read whatever TG used to buy me but now I am becoming more picky about what passes through my hands. In fact, out of the 16-17 Louis L’Amour books that TG devoured last two months, I didn’t read even a single one. I tried but the books didn’t appeal my intellect. The only book that I liked by the author was the Lonesome Gods and that was a full stop. It would be too early to define my flavour for books but I think I am bending more towards books that are rich in literature. I am both liking and not liking this fact about me. I am liking it because this way I would be able to avoid gibberish such as Invisible man. I am disliking it because I might end up discarding some good stuff in the process. Gosh! there are so many books lying in the book shops that we are ignorant of. Do you think one lifetime is enough to gorge all the good stuff of this world?
Come November and December, a lot of students start their CAT preparation for the next year. You join coaching classes, get actively involved in online forums, buy CAT preparation material, download free stuff, set targets, make groups,. You are all energized, all passionate to make it or break it, and you are certain that no matter what you are all determined to crack the CAT. A lot of you are able to keep up with your will but a lot of you give up in between the preparation. Every year during this time of the year, I start receiving mails from the students saying that they don’t feel motivated enough to carry on. Some people may not give up physically but psychologically they would have comforted themselves with the thought that IIMs are far fetched. To give you an example, I was at Tathagat the other day and a student came up to TG and said, “Sir main IIM Shillong tick karna bhool gaya apne CAT form mein. ” Even before TG could suggest a solution, he said,” koi baat nahin sir, vaise bhi aur business schools hain. IIM mein nahin gaya to kya hua.“ It didn’t surprise me much because that’s one attitude. If you want to get into the habit of making compromises at the age of 22, then you will be doing that all your life. In a recent Wharton admission session, an alum was telling his reapplication story. He told that by the time he was applying again to Wharton, he had figured out what he wanted to do in life and that he was going to do it with or without Wharton. Finally, he got selected that year. It’s just your attitude that will make difference in your life.
My stint with reading started after I came to Delhi in 2002. I was doing BBA from an International University but we were asked that it would be best that we also have an Indian graduation degree. I came from PCM background but hated science. So going for B Sc. was out of question and since I had no background in commerce so B Com also took a backseat. I had three options, either I do simple BA, BA in English Hons. and BA in Political Science. BA Political Science didn’t interest me much, BA pass had Hindi as a compulsory subject and English Hons. was tough nut to crack for someone who didn’t know how to write and had never read a single novel in her life. Ooops! I eliminated political Science on the first thought and eliminated BA Paas because I could study any subject but Hindi. Even if I would have been given 6 years to complete the degree I would have flunked in all the 6 years in Hindi. The only option left was that I do English Hons. All my friends except one chose BA Paas because it required less studies to clear the examination. By the way, English Hons required both reading and writing skills, we had to complete around 40 books -poems/ literature in three years. My friends warned me against taking the huge burden but I had only one reason that I could not study Hindi. The other girl who took English Hons was a writer and had been reading novels since her childhood. Anyways, I took the challenge.
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