Placement season kicked in a while ago. Nervous faces, quick skimming through pages of books that are blighted by shiny fluorescent ink, endless hours of petty quarreling and the loss of one of the most patient persons temper are just a few distinct signs that people are shitting their pants. But these signals are extremely subtle so you'll have to pay very close attention to detail or you might just miss them.

Talks of economic crisis, global financial meltdown and the new American Presidential regime are glued on everyone's minds right now but the real terror which noone speaks about involves being unemployed - jobless and destitute. If you want to witness over 300 grown men and women grope around in the dark in a savagely primitive manner, whilst simultaneously displaying and entertaining those very urges and instincts that would make Darwin's theory look ridiculously absurd, then look no further than B-school. Of course i clearly speak analogically.

Now, there are a few though, who refuse to participate in the madness. Reasons for their denial are complex and may vary drastically. Arrogance, greed, 'jugad', or a simple sense of not following the mob - call it whatever you may, but in my opinion these are the handful of people that'll end up living fruitful lives ultimately in the long run. Sure, it may not be the most extravagant or indulgent lifestyle, but it would certainly be one of the most satisfying and content of the lot. And I'm not so sure if one really needs anything more than that.

These so-called 'hardened times' are a gift for us, a blessing in disguise. Here is an opportunity to look beyond the ordinary and venture out into unchartered territories and do dangerous things. Things that we would never even consider doing under normal circumstances. Then again, normality is just a relative term. And for all we know, it could be so that after years of living in darkness and ignorance maybe this is what normal really feels like.

Taking chances was never clearer or simpler for us than it is right now and there is absolutely no necessity to drown in a sea of self-pity, sympathy, apathy and jealousy. This is an encrypted message to the lot of us from a higher being. All that remains to be seen now is how many can break the cipher.