Woes with Hues

"Don't see the world as black and white. It's actually varying shades of gray." This was a phrase I heard in a movie. Color adds beauty to this life, and the wonderful aesthetic feel which stimulates serotonin and then makes you happy.

At B school, we are taught to celebrate diversity. Yet, when it comes to grooming, for making our mark in those heady halls of corporate culture, which is our short term goal at the end of a year(s) - We are trained to be uniform. Uniformity may make it difficult to make those big shots pick yet, we are trained to look alike, speak alike, talk alike - such that we become black or white. 

A perpetual question for which no convincing answer has been given to is the query on why to look alike - wear only black and white. The politically correct are quick to qualify - light colors, not necessarily white and dark colors - not necessarily black. 

But despite being in a sea of engineers, they fail to clarify that light -> (tends to ) white, and dark ->(tends to) black, is what they are REALLY looking for. I suppose they are learning the language of journalists. However, the microminiscule minority of Arts students among us see light as a light shaded color, and dark as dark shaded color. Spoken in the language of science, learnt in hight school, (Ah! the memories) the light color which absorbs more and the dark color which reflects more. 

Yet to be presentable and to be present at the presentations and show ourselves as creme de la creme, literally, we are asked to be the color of cream/ softy ice cream on top on a "dark" bowl. 

If anything besides these light (read "white or tending to white") and dark (read "dark or tending to dark") colors, you just don't fit into the crowd that would make their mark in the heady halls of corporate culture. In other words, you are pulled out by the guards (Juvenile PRick), headed by Head of Security ( Senior PRick) , denied entry and made to watch the long line of potential markers in the heady hall of corporate culture.

To the scientists : Where art thou curiosity? To the managers : Where art thou diversity?

As for me , you won't see me. I am lost in this sea of white and black.

Picasso predominantly used grey, black, white and light blue during his “grey” or sad period, where he went hungry in the streets of Paris while awaiting his big break. Is this thine way of saying this is a premonition for the years to come?

We are told not to see the world as black and white but we are taught to be seen as such. Elementary, my dear Watson. C'est la vie. 

Everyone has a story..

This would be my first post after joining MBA, or PGP program to be more specific.

In the movie Rockstar, the Hindi one, Ranbir Kapoor cribs to his friend that he had no interesting life experiences to become a Jim Morrison. He says he was never adopted, and no major life changing event happened for him to get "inspired". Finally in the course of the movie he meets his "heartbreak machine", and while he got all that he dreamt of - the money, fame, appreciation for talent - he did not get the girl he loved.


Everyone has stories, and experiences and it is truly remarkable just to talk to them and get a feel of their experiences. I met a girl who taught in the centre for special education, who was two years my senior at school. She had an interesting story. Dyslexia - which is treated as a learning difficulty in other parts of the world, is treated as a disorder in India, and kids are sent to special education schools for dyslexia.

When I was little girl, I had always wondered how it felt like to be unconscious. Would I have any near-death or after-death like experiences ? I got to see how it actually felt while I "fell" off a bus in college. I had passed out for a few minutes, and then I realised it was all black.

There was a person, who was so curious, and so frustrated, with life in general, he chose to explore his then unchartered areas where the body could go. His frustrations found some solace in the carnal pleasures a certain country had to offer, which he mixed with his then business training.

Another person I studied with left her high paying corporate job to teach underprivileged school kids. Her most moving experience was living at the home of one of her students. Despite being  a cramped one bedroom house with a family of 5, the hospitality and generosity of the family was overwhelming. She went on to describe how the mother was adamant that my friend sleep on the single cot, despite her reservations of doing it.

It is also an experience when while traveling in a train, against the rickety noise of the engine, in the wee hours of the morning, when the sun has not climbed up the mountains, yet announcing its presence with those faint rays, your closest friend unravels some of his deepest, darkest secrets, and just as he finishes the first orange hits the sky.

Stories are numerous and all around us. Stories are plenty. Some cynics choose not to believe it. Some dreamers and optimists choose to and wonder at the beauty of it. Some braggards love to go a step beyond. Some love the shell they are in and refuse to venture out. But, the beauty in this world lies in the experiences and the stories. The beauty of everyday life is because of the stories which churn out. The beauty in life is discovering the stories both of yours and everyone else's.