Bakwas Bath

A gentle warning before you proceed any further: I am writing this article as a manifesto, a call to arms of sorts. One for me to come back to and reflect on from time to time. If you feel dear reader, that you can draw anything of substance from it, I will be glad. If not, well the name of my blog speaks for itself and you should have little reason to be disappointed. An MBA is going to be one of the most demanding, transformative, and enriching experiences. Lines like these litter the pamphlets and brochures of Business School websites trying to sell a dream to bright-eyed graduates.  A promise to give you everything you ever desired, provided you get an admit off course. And slog for two years on a work cycle that will push your mental faculties and resilience like never before. And also pay them a King’s ransom.  But yes, all your dreams will come true. Dreams that were perhaps never your own to begin with but you were told they were important dreams to dream so you dreamt...

The chicken is a peculiar bird. It can't fly, swim or run very fast. It’s neither aggressive nor possesses a beak or talons sharp enough to defend itself. It just lays eggs and trudges along, waiting to be made into nuggets to be offered to guests at house parties and little children for their school lunches. And yet this enterprising little bird carries in its blood the long-forgotten genes of the mighty dinosaurs of eras past, and those silent filial bonds express themselves in one character-defining endeavor which has become the cornerstone of this species’ cultural identity: its desire to cross the road. Which raises the question which has haunted philosophers, biologists, and Reddit shitposters alike: Why did the chicken cross the road? What great primordial need yearend this humble little avian forward as it decided to make the strenuous journey across the river of asphalt, braving the constant barrage of high-speed automobiles and disgruntled pedestrians. What great prize la...

January 2020:  The CAT scorecard flashed on my screen. 96.x percentile was the final score. Not great, but certainly not bad. For a guy who gave the exam just to complete his bingo book of floundering through engineering (at least once try and raise funding for an idea doomed from its inception, flunk one placement interview so bad you go underground for at least a week and spend a semester flirting with the idea of dropping everything for Civil Services are few more honorable mentions). But it planted a seed in my mind that perhaps I should come again later, with better preparation and more conviction of thought. June 2021:  I join work straight out of graduation. And it’s fun. Nice team, cool colleagues, and a very relaxed work environment. No real stress or anxiety of any kind as I begin to learn the nuances of IT. But at the back of my mind, a niggling thought was ever present- What next? Like any self-respecting son of middle-aged Bengali parents, I knew I was expected to...

Two separate and seemingly unrelated incidents incited me to write this blog post. First is my rank of a humble foot soldier in the all-conquering Bot Army ( the fandom of failed comedian, failed CEO, and general menace to society -Tanmay Bhat). Second is the horrid Gachibowli traffic which continues to be the bane of my existence as I sit pillion behind ever-disgruntled Rappido riders. You might wonder how these two seemingly mundane and unrelated aspects of my being could converge in this impromptu and poorly constructed defense of mediocrity. It all boils down to one of those random convergences of chance where coincidence meets an extremely bored little man with too much time on his hand and a penchant for bullshitting on this personal blog. So let us begin… The Original Bakchod: I have followed, laughed with, and deeply loved Tanmay Bhat right from his AIB days. But I only started respecting the man and viewing him as a role model after the failure of his media company and his res...

2022 was kind to me. I had started the year on rather unsure footing, a young professional with less than 6 months in the corporate jungle saying goodbye to the city he had called home for 23 years. Stuck at home amidst a seemingly unending pandemic my sanity was slipping before the first month had passed. Things definitely got better. I started taking better care of my body and felt fitter mentally and physically. Shifted again as I left the comfort of home for the first time and finally became a fully functional adult (sort of, my roommates got a strong ‘Papa’ energy) and made lots of new friends and cherished memories along the way. I got over the demons of my past and was able to let go of toxic bonds. And finally after 14 long years in the mud Arsenal feel like title contenders and Leo Messi; the undisputed GOAT( that's right, the debate is over) won the World Cup in the greatest final in sports history. 2022 was definitely very kind to me. But as any self respecting Bengali p...