  am back in NITIE after 3 weeks of holidays.  it was probably the last time i will ever hav such a long vacation.  was in Bilaspur for 5 days,  then in Hyderabad for the remaining time.  mom had a cataract operation to over ther.  everything worked out well.
 while i was in Bilaspur,  a family friend of ours,  who is a good astrologer,  visited our place.  and said some very interesting things after having a look at my horoscope.  am writing them down,
 for future reference.  so that i can check out whether what he said turns out to be true,  some years down the line.  he said that my horoscope was a good’ un.  with budhaditya (
intelligence)  and mahalaxmi ( money)  yogs.  will hav a good career.  and hav specially bright chances in management.
 he strongly recommended that i sit for IAS at least once.  also said that i may get my 1st job in pune.  abt personal life,  he said that my wife will be a working woman,  who wud hav a younger brother settled abroad.  let’
s see how correct these predictions turn out to be.  had nothing to do most of the time in Hyderabad.  so read quite a few books.  ‘ Cosmos’  by Carl Sagan,
 was probably the best of the lot.  it was like 14 billion years of universal history rolled into one single book.  right from the sub- atomic to the inter- galactic.  ‘
Odyssey:  From Pepsi to Apple’  by John Sculley was another good’ un.  gave some great insights into marketing.  from FMCGs to PCs.
 ‘ The Veteran’  was a collection of short stories by Fredrick Forsyth.  am a big fan of his.  so greatly enjoyed all the intrigue.  finally,
 ‘ On The Other Side Of Midnight’  by Sydney Sheldon,  was regular run- of- the-
mill stuff.  had the chance to hang around a few places in Hyderabad.  Golcunda fort,  Hussainsagar lake,  Salarjung Museum,  hi-
tech city and so on.  went to big brother's sqwanky Oracle office in Cyber Enclave too.  and last but not the least,  ate loads and loads of hyderabadi biryani.  now it’ s back to business.
 time will be at a premium to the next 6 months.  till our placements.  it's the Final Countdown.
