As of yesterday, I finished my last class at the ISB. I never realized that it was my last class at the ISB. The Prof was summarizing leadership lessons and then it was 12.20pm. He said Thank You and it was all over. I wasn't too sentimental about this place right from the beginning. To be frank, this place has not made me feel that way. I miss everything about Pilani though (where I did my under-grad). That place was a different ecosystem. And maybe it was because of the 4 yrs I spent. This place was more like a short stay compared to that. But, when the class got over, I did feel a bit different. It struck me that I was never going to enter that lecture theater again. The lecture theaters have been our life for the last 50 odd weeks and suddenly we have to say goodbye and yes, it does feel a bit strange.
Now when I look back, I do realize that even this short stay has impacted our lives with a magnitude that is quite significant. Under grad was more fun and bonding. The MBA is rather a self realization. Don't ask me what I have realized. Its a million dollar question and I can never give a definite answer to that.
Sometimes it truly feels that school is such a nice place to be in. You don't have to worry about earning your bread or supporting others. You can stay in serviced apartments and attend classes (atleast here). Parties and festivals, sports activities are always there to keep you engaged, other than the academic grind. When you get out of this place, reality hits you. Its a totally different world outside and its got more challenges, might be interesting to face but I am not sure how much. The MBA was a simulated environment and all that it affected was your grades and in this place, it never mattered about what grades you got as long as you managed to keep your neck above the water level. Further on, its your life. Although the last one year hasn't changed much about me, I can sincerely say that the next few years are going to... I don't know... maybe burn my brain? I need to keep a tab on that.
But, this has been by far, the best roller coaster ride I have had. The people I have seen here and interacted with - every one is unique and fun to be with. We did the drama on Tuesday. It was about our life at the ISB and we made a mock on some professors, people in the administration and some students. For every act, the audience was so happy and cheerful. The hall was packed. Students could identify with what happened in the last one year and no one took a literal offense (now thats a big lie - we did manage to get a few people upset. in fact, some of them came to us and almost made a fight, but thats life). all we did was to honor some people for their contributions.
I think I have totally lost track of what I started to write about. Anyway, I won't say that I will miss this place. Anyone who stays in just one place for a prolonged period of time would start liking that place. It was the same for me in London. I just didn't want to get out of that city. Same is the case here. Suddenly I remembered these lines by Lord Tennyson - "For men may come and men may go, But I go on for ever". Me and my life is the brook here. We need to get going - explore a whole new world, every now and then and keep the journey adventurous. Now that definitely calls for the post to end.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Its almost time
Yes, its almost time to get the **** out of this place. This is the last week of academics on campus. In fact, classes for most courses have ended and we just have a few end term exams to get over. I have one more assignment due on Thursday evening. I haven't even started on it, rather haven't thought about writing anything.
Too many things to handle in the last few days. Suddenly I got pulled into the drama club activity. The drama will happen today at the auditorium. Its extremely hilarious. I am just waiting to get the soft copy and put it on You Tube. Then there is the yearbook for which a bunch of us have been running around for the last few weeks. We had to get 416 profiles, testimonials and stuff like that. We were working like mad dogs collecting photos, emails and a lot of other creative stuff. Getting the first few students to write testimonials was quite easy. And they there were some laggards. They have this feeling that they are god's gift. I was talking to one such moron the other day. He was acting so silly and I had a mind to give him a tight slap. One thing I ask - "You volunteered on your own to write a testimonial for someone and then now you say that you don't have time". These are the same people who talk about taking a stride into the corporate world with a lot of responsibility and leadership traits. They are just going to shit bricks. Anyway, my rants will just go on.
Frisbee on campus has picked up momentum like never. There are more people on the ground than anyone can ever imagine. Its full house. Now that work has started on the basketball court - the wooden floors will be up before the first exam for the next batch, no more indoor games. That calls for more people on the field.
People have started packing off books and clothing. Exit forms are out. All the departments have brought out their survey questionnaires. And its mandatory to fill some of them, otherwise you won't get the graduation certificate. I have done my bit of surveys for the IT, Library, Career Services and PGP Office.
Photography club arranged for a free trip to the Golconda Fort last weekend. It was an amazing trip. My unfinished trip had finished. The last time we went to Golconda was with Section C. We started pretty late and then before we could leave campus, the bus did not have enough fuel. The driver got some fuel to get the bus to the fuel station and then by the time we reached the fort, it was drizzling and the fort had closed for the evening. This time we were there very early and we also had a professional photographer giving us tips.
A view from the TOP.
After the Light and Sound Show.
Too many things to handle in the last few days. Suddenly I got pulled into the drama club activity. The drama will happen today at the auditorium. Its extremely hilarious. I am just waiting to get the soft copy and put it on You Tube. Then there is the yearbook for which a bunch of us have been running around for the last few weeks. We had to get 416 profiles, testimonials and stuff like that. We were working like mad dogs collecting photos, emails and a lot of other creative stuff. Getting the first few students to write testimonials was quite easy. And they there were some laggards. They have this feeling that they are god's gift. I was talking to one such moron the other day. He was acting so silly and I had a mind to give him a tight slap. One thing I ask - "You volunteered on your own to write a testimonial for someone and then now you say that you don't have time". These are the same people who talk about taking a stride into the corporate world with a lot of responsibility and leadership traits. They are just going to shit bricks. Anyway, my rants will just go on.
Frisbee on campus has picked up momentum like never. There are more people on the ground than anyone can ever imagine. Its full house. Now that work has started on the basketball court - the wooden floors will be up before the first exam for the next batch, no more indoor games. That calls for more people on the field.
People have started packing off books and clothing. Exit forms are out. All the departments have brought out their survey questionnaires. And its mandatory to fill some of them, otherwise you won't get the graduation certificate. I have done my bit of surveys for the IT, Library, Career Services and PGP Office.
Photography club arranged for a free trip to the Golconda Fort last weekend. It was an amazing trip. My unfinished trip had finished. The last time we went to Golconda was with Section C. We started pretty late and then before we could leave campus, the bus did not have enough fuel. The driver got some fuel to get the bus to the fuel station and then by the time we reached the fort, it was drizzling and the fort had closed for the evening. This time we were there very early and we also had a professional photographer giving us tips.
A view from the TOP.
After the Light and Sound Show.
Friday, March 23, 2007
The best TA award
This funny event happened a few days back. It was for the Leadership course. So, we have final assignment due. It was a group project. We were given the topic - Practical Leadership, Getting Things Done. There was this unbearable task of writing 3000 words on god knows what. awesome gas i would say.
anyway, the funny part was about the teaching assistant for the course. the deadline for submission was given as Wednesday night 12pm. by then we had to submit a soft copy of the report to the TA's email id and the profs email id. after that we had to drop a hard copy of the report in a box somewhere in the academic center. we had too many assignments this week and we were pressed for time. and no one had the intention to work for any project.
someone suggested to me that they should not have a term 8 in the course. thats the level of interest in the people here. people come to class without reading a page from the course pack. then the professor gives them 15 minutes of class time to read and then continues the discussion. imagine the situation. it was just the opposite less than a month back. there used to be atleast 10 hands in the air to answer questions and now, every student has his face looking only at his laptop and nowhere else. when the prof asks a question, they don't even bother to look at him and acknowledge. this is applicable to the deans listers too. whatever.
so the TA for leadership lessons sends out an email when we asked for a deadline extension. Email says -
"Note that the deadline extension is for hard copy not for soft copy. This extension is made for your convenience. You need to mail the soft copy by tonight."
How intelligent. This was perhaps the most innovative solution that someone has given ever. My friend called the TA and explained the situation personally about the deadline extension and the TA goes again - "we have already given you an extension. you just have to submit the soft copy by 12pm. hard copy can be given later". And my friend was like - "does that make any difference?"
Apart from these silly things, there isn't anything important thats happening campus. The PGP Forum would happen today. That's going to be something like a mini war field between the students and the management. I am hoping to get some fun content from there. The Frisbee field has had good action in the last few days.
And one thing I hate to talk about but still have to is cricket. I don't know what the team is doing out there, rather I am not bothered, but we have this blue billion campaign that I hate, detest, whatever. We have so many important things to think about than wasting time on this. The Pepsi ad is just irritating. and then another rumor that about the Pope dying in 1981 and India winning 2 yrs later. then pope dying in 2005 and India winning this year. for Christ's sake, it was the same pope in 1981 and 2005. in 1981, he just got shot at. he never died. i don't know where from people make up such stupid reasons. its so baseless.
anyway, the funny part was about the teaching assistant for the course. the deadline for submission was given as Wednesday night 12pm. by then we had to submit a soft copy of the report to the TA's email id and the profs email id. after that we had to drop a hard copy of the report in a box somewhere in the academic center. we had too many assignments this week and we were pressed for time. and no one had the intention to work for any project.
someone suggested to me that they should not have a term 8 in the course. thats the level of interest in the people here. people come to class without reading a page from the course pack. then the professor gives them 15 minutes of class time to read and then continues the discussion. imagine the situation. it was just the opposite less than a month back. there used to be atleast 10 hands in the air to answer questions and now, every student has his face looking only at his laptop and nowhere else. when the prof asks a question, they don't even bother to look at him and acknowledge. this is applicable to the deans listers too. whatever.
so the TA for leadership lessons sends out an email when we asked for a deadline extension. Email says -
"Note that the deadline extension is for hard copy not for soft copy. This extension is made for your convenience. You need to mail the soft copy by tonight."
How intelligent. This was perhaps the most innovative solution that someone has given ever. My friend called the TA and explained the situation personally about the deadline extension and the TA goes again - "we have already given you an extension. you just have to submit the soft copy by 12pm. hard copy can be given later". And my friend was like - "does that make any difference?"
Apart from these silly things, there isn't anything important thats happening campus. The PGP Forum would happen today. That's going to be something like a mini war field between the students and the management. I am hoping to get some fun content from there. The Frisbee field has had good action in the last few days.
And one thing I hate to talk about but still have to is cricket. I don't know what the team is doing out there, rather I am not bothered, but we have this blue billion campaign that I hate, detest, whatever. We have so many important things to think about than wasting time on this. The Pepsi ad is just irritating. and then another rumor that about the Pope dying in 1981 and India winning 2 yrs later. then pope dying in 2005 and India winning this year. for Christ's sake, it was the same pope in 1981 and 2005. in 1981, he just got shot at. he never died. i don't know where from people make up such stupid reasons. its so baseless.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Some things never change
I was in the Strategic Partnerships class today. We were discussing the airline alliances case, specifically about Star Alliance - dunno if you have heard of this. I hadn't. I just new BA's One-world alliance. This was new to me. Anyway, thats not the point here.
Some things I realized after the class discussions in Term 8. Maturity levels are still the same. I mean - they were quite low to start with and have pretty much stayed there. One thing that didn't interest me is that we were actually discussing case facts. Whats the point in talking about something that someone has already written. Anyway, that was the structure of the lecture, so we cant debate that. But then lets turn around and look at the so-called MBAs who are going to graduate out of this place in a little more than 2 weeks. They still talk like politicians. They just know that they have to say something - in all probability, whatever they say will be totally unconnected what the Prof is asking. But still, they would make their point. Its felt like sitting in a Summer session of the Indian Parliament. So, the Prof asked one student about his reaction to someone's comment. Clearly this person did not have an answer. I could see that stupid look on his face. But then he had raised his hands and the Prof asked him. And this was his only opportunity to get those 2 marks for class participation. He promptly replied - "Actually, I have a different view" and I was like - "Yeah, you will".
I had this idea in my mind that somehow things will turn around, the placement season would set things right for a lot of people, it would change their attitude. I thought they would get wiser by the day. Its been a total let down. Even though the MBA has taught so many jargons; marketing & financial models, it has still left a big hole in the personal skills space.
The buzz on campus is about graduation passes. People have generously invited their uncles, aunties and everyone beginning from their three year old cousin to attend the graduation. And now they have started spamming the batch asking for someone to donate extra passes to them. Well, we spamming doesn't really work well with MBAs. So what do we need? Yes, an EXCEL Sheet. A new excel sheet has been created in the shared drive for this purpose. After all, what are MBAs for. They can make good presentations, write some numbers in an excel sheet that no one can understand and comment about anything and everything in this world. I am sure that Bill Gates must be a strong supporter of B-Schools for having propagated the use of Microsoft Tools. And I am happy that he has kept most of them on the consumer side and not a part of his business.
Some things I realized after the class discussions in Term 8. Maturity levels are still the same. I mean - they were quite low to start with and have pretty much stayed there. One thing that didn't interest me is that we were actually discussing case facts. Whats the point in talking about something that someone has already written. Anyway, that was the structure of the lecture, so we cant debate that. But then lets turn around and look at the so-called MBAs who are going to graduate out of this place in a little more than 2 weeks. They still talk like politicians. They just know that they have to say something - in all probability, whatever they say will be totally unconnected what the Prof is asking. But still, they would make their point. Its felt like sitting in a Summer session of the Indian Parliament. So, the Prof asked one student about his reaction to someone's comment. Clearly this person did not have an answer. I could see that stupid look on his face. But then he had raised his hands and the Prof asked him. And this was his only opportunity to get those 2 marks for class participation. He promptly replied - "Actually, I have a different view" and I was like - "Yeah, you will".
I had this idea in my mind that somehow things will turn around, the placement season would set things right for a lot of people, it would change their attitude. I thought they would get wiser by the day. Its been a total let down. Even though the MBA has taught so many jargons; marketing & financial models, it has still left a big hole in the personal skills space.
The buzz on campus is about graduation passes. People have generously invited their uncles, aunties and everyone beginning from their three year old cousin to attend the graduation. And now they have started spamming the batch asking for someone to donate extra passes to them. Well, we spamming doesn't really work well with MBAs. So what do we need? Yes, an EXCEL Sheet. A new excel sheet has been created in the shared drive for this purpose. After all, what are MBAs for. They can make good presentations, write some numbers in an excel sheet that no one can understand and comment about anything and everything in this world. I am sure that Bill Gates must be a strong supporter of B-Schools for having propagated the use of Microsoft Tools. And I am happy that he has kept most of them on the consumer side and not a part of his business.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Leadership Lessons from 22000 feet
It was time to know what the ultimate essence of leadership was. And considering the kind of jobs we were going to get into in the next few months, it was important that we heard it from someone who had been there and done that because we'd probably never do such things in this lifetime.
It was time to meet Capt. Raghu Ram who was working with Mahindra. He was in the army for 11 years and he was on campus to talk to us about "leadership lessons from siachen". A thought provoking speech for one hour. At the end of it, I felt that I was fortunate to do what I was doing. Nothing could get better.
So, what do soldiers give their lives for? Answers from the student body said - will, love for country, awards, fighting spirit, sense of duty etc. But we were all wrong. The only reason was the superior officer. Soldiers never want to be there and do that. They are there only because someone has inspired them to be there. Thats the dedication a leader brings at that level.
Most of us didn't even know where Siachen exactly was. After looking at some of the pictures that he had shown us, I was horrified. A place where you can't return until you have completed the allotted duration of stay, which could range from 3 months to a year. The glacier is famous for more than 50% not returning back home. The temperatures are close to -35 degrees Celsius and your bofy metabolism drops to 20%. There is a good chance of loss of life. Avalanches are very common. You eat very less and answer the nature's call once in 2 days. Sometimes people have to wear warm clothing that just weighs 17 kilos. But you have to live and bear it. Sometimes even letters from home with unhappy messages are not given. Letters following that unhappy letter never get through too. All letters are screened so that people don't lose their spirit and concentration.
At the glacier its all about guarding your post and keeping it. It the Pakistani military captures a post, then the next time Indians have to get it. There is enough exchange of ammunition everyday. But thats the life there.
If you remember the movie Vertical Limit, where in the climax, the guy cuts off the rope to save the woman from falling into the crevasse. I cant imagine such things. But all this is bound to happen in Siachen and that incredible amount of leadership is required to make such decisions. It is a matter of life and death. But as a captain, you are responsible for the lives of your team. So, you also decide whether they are going to be with you or not. There have been situations when a comrade has been dead and you have to keep the dead-body till the next copter arrives to pick it up and that might be even 3 months. Its total trauma and everyday is a nightmare.
Imagine being there and making such decisions. Imagine a team of yours is not responding to you at night and you need to make a call whether you have to send another team to search. In fact, the lost team would just be less than 100 mtrs from your camp, but you still cant locate them due to harsh weather conditions. The enemy is watching you always. They can open fire anytime. Even your team cannot distinguish anyone at night. So, there is sufficient probability of your team killing you too.
Towards the end, I could never imagine myself making such decisions in my life. I can't do it at all. Being responsible for a person's life is not a joke. The cries of the family members after that message reaches them. Its you who's got to tell them too. At every point, you need that extra courage and balance of mind to do that. And they say - Trauma Transforms.
It was time to meet Capt. Raghu Ram who was working with Mahindra. He was in the army for 11 years and he was on campus to talk to us about "leadership lessons from siachen". A thought provoking speech for one hour. At the end of it, I felt that I was fortunate to do what I was doing. Nothing could get better.
So, what do soldiers give their lives for? Answers from the student body said - will, love for country, awards, fighting spirit, sense of duty etc. But we were all wrong. The only reason was the superior officer. Soldiers never want to be there and do that. They are there only because someone has inspired them to be there. Thats the dedication a leader brings at that level.
Most of us didn't even know where Siachen exactly was. After looking at some of the pictures that he had shown us, I was horrified. A place where you can't return until you have completed the allotted duration of stay, which could range from 3 months to a year. The glacier is famous for more than 50% not returning back home. The temperatures are close to -35 degrees Celsius and your bofy metabolism drops to 20%. There is a good chance of loss of life. Avalanches are very common. You eat very less and answer the nature's call once in 2 days. Sometimes people have to wear warm clothing that just weighs 17 kilos. But you have to live and bear it. Sometimes even letters from home with unhappy messages are not given. Letters following that unhappy letter never get through too. All letters are screened so that people don't lose their spirit and concentration.
At the glacier its all about guarding your post and keeping it. It the Pakistani military captures a post, then the next time Indians have to get it. There is enough exchange of ammunition everyday. But thats the life there.
If you remember the movie Vertical Limit, where in the climax, the guy cuts off the rope to save the woman from falling into the crevasse. I cant imagine such things. But all this is bound to happen in Siachen and that incredible amount of leadership is required to make such decisions. It is a matter of life and death. But as a captain, you are responsible for the lives of your team. So, you also decide whether they are going to be with you or not. There have been situations when a comrade has been dead and you have to keep the dead-body till the next copter arrives to pick it up and that might be even 3 months. Its total trauma and everyday is a nightmare.
Imagine being there and making such decisions. Imagine a team of yours is not responding to you at night and you need to make a call whether you have to send another team to search. In fact, the lost team would just be less than 100 mtrs from your camp, but you still cant locate them due to harsh weather conditions. The enemy is watching you always. They can open fire anytime. Even your team cannot distinguish anyone at night. So, there is sufficient probability of your team killing you too.
Towards the end, I could never imagine myself making such decisions in my life. I can't do it at all. Being responsible for a person's life is not a joke. The cries of the family members after that message reaches them. Its you who's got to tell them too. At every point, you need that extra courage and balance of mind to do that. And they say - Trauma Transforms.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Reflections from Term 4
We are working on the yearbook. I definitely need to write more on that. Reserve that for the next post as Term 4 is very important considering the fact that the next batch will be here in a month. Term 4 was the one that most of us wanted to be scrapped out of the ISB MBA program and perhaps convert it into a one month internship. This would have helped in getting more finance jobs on campus. The ELP wasn't doing any good at all. And moreover, Term 4 was adding zero value to the MBA.
Government Society and Business - taught by Mudit Kapoor and Shivakumar(one of the few profs in ISB who has a wikipedia page dedicated to him). Anyway, Shiva is one great person who is part of the National Advisory Council and works closely with the Prime Minister and people like Sonia Gandhi. So the insights he brought during the second half of the course were pretty good. He touched upon the realities quite well and gave us the clean picture. Not like the cliched bottom of the pyramid crap. He talked about harsh realities, the way forward for the country and its poor people. The first half of the course was total gas. We talked about taliban, china and just wasted time.
Investment Analysis - the last finance course you are forced to take up. Taken by Tom Nohel. It was his first time on campus and he really didn't know what to do. He was teaching us the same stuff that we had done in corporate finance for almost 5 classes. Then he shifted gears and talked about something that I don't even remember vaguely. That was my interest in the class. I was also sitting in the last row this term. So my enthu to listen to the prof was zero and all of us in the last row had our laptops open. We didn't bother.
Management of Organizations - totally intoxicated with management gas. Taken by Mary Watson, all we did during this course was filling out survey questionnaires for the professor. And this happened in every class. Mega time pass. The only thing I remember about this course is an article about "Selection Bias". The second half was taken by our Negotiation Prof Dishan Kamdar. He was quite good and lenient too. The exam was horrible. All theory and total nonsense.
Strategic Analysis of IT - The only IT course in the core terms handled by Rajiv Banker and Sandra Slaughter. This course was also a bit on the waste course category. We could have still managed without doing this course. Almost half the batch is from the IT industry and all this course talks about is outsourcing, off shoring, in sourcing and multi sourcing. So, for a non IT guy, this course is a nightmare because he'll find that the IT guys have their hands up all the time to talk in class. The in-class quiz is good fun. It accounts for 40% of the grade I guess. This course also had an end-term quiz, but then in our batch, we had to go through the major fiasco of getting the exam postponed and things like that. It was fun.
Government Society and Business - taught by Mudit Kapoor and Shivakumar(one of the few profs in ISB who has a wikipedia page dedicated to him). Anyway, Shiva is one great person who is part of the National Advisory Council and works closely with the Prime Minister and people like Sonia Gandhi. So the insights he brought during the second half of the course were pretty good. He touched upon the realities quite well and gave us the clean picture. Not like the cliched bottom of the pyramid crap. He talked about harsh realities, the way forward for the country and its poor people. The first half of the course was total gas. We talked about taliban, china and just wasted time.
Investment Analysis - the last finance course you are forced to take up. Taken by Tom Nohel. It was his first time on campus and he really didn't know what to do. He was teaching us the same stuff that we had done in corporate finance for almost 5 classes. Then he shifted gears and talked about something that I don't even remember vaguely. That was my interest in the class. I was also sitting in the last row this term. So my enthu to listen to the prof was zero and all of us in the last row had our laptops open. We didn't bother.
Management of Organizations - totally intoxicated with management gas. Taken by Mary Watson, all we did during this course was filling out survey questionnaires for the professor. And this happened in every class. Mega time pass. The only thing I remember about this course is an article about "Selection Bias". The second half was taken by our Negotiation Prof Dishan Kamdar. He was quite good and lenient too. The exam was horrible. All theory and total nonsense.
Strategic Analysis of IT - The only IT course in the core terms handled by Rajiv Banker and Sandra Slaughter. This course was also a bit on the waste course category. We could have still managed without doing this course. Almost half the batch is from the IT industry and all this course talks about is outsourcing, off shoring, in sourcing and multi sourcing. So, for a non IT guy, this course is a nightmare because he'll find that the IT guys have their hands up all the time to talk in class. The in-class quiz is good fun. It accounts for 40% of the grade I guess. This course also had an end-term quiz, but then in our batch, we had to go through the major fiasco of getting the exam postponed and things like that. It was fun.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Global Social Venture Competition
The GSVC Asia Semi Final has started in ISB today. We had the elevator pitch and it was awesome to see 16 teams on the stage. Our team is there as well. I am thrilled that we are part of a global competition. Our team is one of the 16 and we have 5 ISB teams in total. I hope ISB wins the semis.
For the people from the next batch who read my blog, I am going to be in campus for the orientation. I have been nominated - Can I say that? You get invited to be here to meet the next batch. Its a privilege rather. Whatever.
I remember the last new product development class and the Prof by mistake asked the students to relate their work experience to the case study in hand. I guess she would have definitely realized that she had made the worst mistake in her 5 classes at the ISB. The students never stopped. They went on and on and on about their experiences in the IT firms they have worked with. I mean its all the same. Its the same alcohol in different bottles. And you know the MBA students at the ISB - given a chance to talk and also the fact that there are points for class participation, they will talk till their last breath. And there will always be one extraordinary creature who will add on to what one guy has said, because he doesn't have anything to say from his own mind. Rather he is too dumb to talk something sensible.
We had Leadership lessons from World Literature too. Our group did an awesome presentation on Shakuntala and Dushanta - the Kalidasa version. Well, I made use of my leadership development program to the best. Walked into the leadership space, took control of the audience, made the right gestures and pauses. Pretty impressive I must say. Oh Narayan, would you please stop this nonsense. But yeah, it would have helped if I had done some more preparation. And yes, speaking to a big crowd is a piece of cake - ain't it?
Strategic Partnerships is another course that is leading me into a totally different plane about strategy and decisions. The course content is phenomenal. Its a must for all, no matter what major you are doing. The kind of insights that you get from this course makes you think like a CEO. Well, thats too much gas for a day eh.
So thats the status about my courses this term on campus. When its weekend, people just take off for a nice vacation to anywhere nearby. Official countdowns have begun, people have started writing that as their status message on GTalk and Yahoo. Some people are just getting wasted every day.
And last Tuesday was my worst day on campus. I had 4 classes the next day and 5 assignments to submit on the same day. And then about a 100 pages to read too. I was totally stretched for time. I am the only guy on campus who had this misfortune, that too in Term 8. Ciao.
For the people from the next batch who read my blog, I am going to be in campus for the orientation. I have been nominated - Can I say that? You get invited to be here to meet the next batch. Its a privilege rather. Whatever.
I remember the last new product development class and the Prof by mistake asked the students to relate their work experience to the case study in hand. I guess she would have definitely realized that she had made the worst mistake in her 5 classes at the ISB. The students never stopped. They went on and on and on about their experiences in the IT firms they have worked with. I mean its all the same. Its the same alcohol in different bottles. And you know the MBA students at the ISB - given a chance to talk and also the fact that there are points for class participation, they will talk till their last breath. And there will always be one extraordinary creature who will add on to what one guy has said, because he doesn't have anything to say from his own mind. Rather he is too dumb to talk something sensible.
We had Leadership lessons from World Literature too. Our group did an awesome presentation on Shakuntala and Dushanta - the Kalidasa version. Well, I made use of my leadership development program to the best. Walked into the leadership space, took control of the audience, made the right gestures and pauses. Pretty impressive I must say. Oh Narayan, would you please stop this nonsense. But yeah, it would have helped if I had done some more preparation. And yes, speaking to a big crowd is a piece of cake - ain't it?
Strategic Partnerships is another course that is leading me into a totally different plane about strategy and decisions. The course content is phenomenal. Its a must for all, no matter what major you are doing. The kind of insights that you get from this course makes you think like a CEO. Well, thats too much gas for a day eh.
So thats the status about my courses this term on campus. When its weekend, people just take off for a nice vacation to anywhere nearby. Official countdowns have begun, people have started writing that as their status message on GTalk and Yahoo. Some people are just getting wasted every day.
And last Tuesday was my worst day on campus. I had 4 classes the next day and 5 assignments to submit on the same day. And then about a 100 pages to read too. I was totally stretched for time. I am the only guy on campus who had this misfortune, that too in Term 8. Ciao.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Happy Women's Day
To all the women I have met at the Indian School of Business,
(please switch on the speakers)
Send this eCard !
All the very best for a great future.
Cheers
Narayan
(please switch on the speakers)
Send this eCard !
All the very best for a great future.
Cheers
Narayan
Monday, March 05, 2007
Reflections from Term 3
The weekend was very tiring. I think this would happen in every ISB student's life. He or she would have the best Holi party ever, only on campus. It was awesome. Six glasses of Bhang and in about four hours I was floating. It was an amazing feeling. I just loved the whole day. A riot of colors followed since 9.30am in the morning. Towards the end people started tearing the t-shirts of the men. You can see my Flickr Tab for some photos that I have borrowed from Doc.
By Term 3, you are almost done with your studies. I mean, the people who wanted to catch the best of the grades would have done that by now and from now on, for them, its just keep sailing the right way and stay on the good side of the tide. For the others, this term is to catch up for all that was left behind in the last two terms.
Corporate Finance - taught by Bhagwan Chowdhry for three sections. The rest have another prof. One Prof, who will let you know clearly as to what he would expect from you in the exam and what you need to study. Although I wasn't too keen about knowing stuff in finance, his classes were interesting. I vaguely remember Black Scholes, Modigliani Miller, WACC and CAPM. He always drew parallels to his family and the students in general, so you wouldn't really fall asleep. His exams were purely multiple choice. Make sure that you read, I'd rather say mug up, all the sample question papers and the answers. You will get around 30% questions from that stuff. Also read some extra stuff available from the textbook's webpage. That might be useful too.
Managerial Accounting - Two accounting disasters in one term. Thats something you can avoid this term. Its definitely a pain if you had assignments to submit for both. The other sections had assignments every day for Corp Fin. Thank god, we had none. But we had some horrible case studies where we had to crunch numbers. My group mates were my saviors for accounting assignments. Prof Sri Sridharan was the ManAcc prof for us. Before him, Prof. Khalid Nainar took the first 5 classes and introduced us to the course. Once Sridharan was in-charge, the assignments started pouring in. This was the term where we had something like three or four assignments due the next day, all due at the same time. I remember the night-out I put for a silly case in ManAcc. It was called Kota Fibres and I still don't have a clue of what that case was all about. Sridharan is a very nice person to talk to. You must try and catch him during breakfast and engage him for a nice conversation. If you are a CA, then be prepared for some questions about Indian Accounting. That's a forewarning.
Entrepreneurship - taught by S Venkataraman and Rama Velamuri. Awesome course. They say that entrepreneurship cannot be taught in a classroom. Yes, that is definitely true. But this course exposes you to some of the best entrepreneurs, rather entr-based case studies in different industries such that you get a very deep understanding of the whole idea of entrepreneurship. Lots to read and we had 40% class participation. A very well organized class, handled extremely well by both professors. Prof. Venkat, being a BITSian, gave us some of his insights about the field and his BITS days. Imagine learning from a person who wrote the initial business plan for the Wipro Information Technology. This Darden Prof had done work in WIPRO that was worth 7 yrs in less than 2.5 years. If you prepare well for this class, then you will rock.
Operations Management - taught by Prof Sridhar Seshadri and Prof Sudhakar Deshkmukh. Prof Seshadri is perhaps the best prof i have listened to for operations related stuff. He is amazing. The insights he brings into the OPS case studies are awesome. He deals with a few simple case studies but the way he handles the case is just enough to throw your thought process off-guard. It helps to prepare yourself for his class. You can get a few CP marks because not too many people would study to make a CP in OPS. Prof Deshmukh, the Danny Devito of the ISB, is a great man. His book is the recommended reading for the course. His concepts on supply chain management will totally bombard you. He'd always play this music on his laptop when you go for a break. When the music ends, he will start the class, no matter what. Each Prof has his own way to handle his students.
By Term 3, you are almost done with your studies. I mean, the people who wanted to catch the best of the grades would have done that by now and from now on, for them, its just keep sailing the right way and stay on the good side of the tide. For the others, this term is to catch up for all that was left behind in the last two terms.
Corporate Finance - taught by Bhagwan Chowdhry for three sections. The rest have another prof. One Prof, who will let you know clearly as to what he would expect from you in the exam and what you need to study. Although I wasn't too keen about knowing stuff in finance, his classes were interesting. I vaguely remember Black Scholes, Modigliani Miller, WACC and CAPM. He always drew parallels to his family and the students in general, so you wouldn't really fall asleep. His exams were purely multiple choice. Make sure that you read, I'd rather say mug up, all the sample question papers and the answers. You will get around 30% questions from that stuff. Also read some extra stuff available from the textbook's webpage. That might be useful too.
Managerial Accounting - Two accounting disasters in one term. Thats something you can avoid this term. Its definitely a pain if you had assignments to submit for both. The other sections had assignments every day for Corp Fin. Thank god, we had none. But we had some horrible case studies where we had to crunch numbers. My group mates were my saviors for accounting assignments. Prof Sri Sridharan was the ManAcc prof for us. Before him, Prof. Khalid Nainar took the first 5 classes and introduced us to the course. Once Sridharan was in-charge, the assignments started pouring in. This was the term where we had something like three or four assignments due the next day, all due at the same time. I remember the night-out I put for a silly case in ManAcc. It was called Kota Fibres and I still don't have a clue of what that case was all about. Sridharan is a very nice person to talk to. You must try and catch him during breakfast and engage him for a nice conversation. If you are a CA, then be prepared for some questions about Indian Accounting. That's a forewarning.
Entrepreneurship - taught by S Venkataraman and Rama Velamuri. Awesome course. They say that entrepreneurship cannot be taught in a classroom. Yes, that is definitely true. But this course exposes you to some of the best entrepreneurs, rather entr-based case studies in different industries such that you get a very deep understanding of the whole idea of entrepreneurship. Lots to read and we had 40% class participation. A very well organized class, handled extremely well by both professors. Prof. Venkat, being a BITSian, gave us some of his insights about the field and his BITS days. Imagine learning from a person who wrote the initial business plan for the Wipro Information Technology. This Darden Prof had done work in WIPRO that was worth 7 yrs in less than 2.5 years. If you prepare well for this class, then you will rock.
Operations Management - taught by Prof Sridhar Seshadri and Prof Sudhakar Deshkmukh. Prof Seshadri is perhaps the best prof i have listened to for operations related stuff. He is amazing. The insights he brings into the OPS case studies are awesome. He deals with a few simple case studies but the way he handles the case is just enough to throw your thought process off-guard. It helps to prepare yourself for his class. You can get a few CP marks because not too many people would study to make a CP in OPS. Prof Deshmukh, the Danny Devito of the ISB, is a great man. His book is the recommended reading for the course. His concepts on supply chain management will totally bombard you. He'd always play this music on his laptop when you go for a break. When the music ends, he will start the class, no matter what. Each Prof has his own way to handle his students.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Reflections from Term 2
So, after two lazy days in which I didn't do anything relevant to coursework, I finished yet another day of 4 classes in Term 8. The first party of term 8 was started by section D. The next party will be during the weekend - that's for HOLI.
People literally aren't bothered about attending classes. They come late to class, never do reading. And some never attend. The MBA life has taken a totally different turn. Its a new world that I am seeing. The strangest of the people are in the recreation center these days. Those who I haven't even seen walking on the side of the center lawns are in the gym for almost an hour!!! Nowadays people spend more time at the REC Center. They swim, then play Frisbee, then workout, play tennis, finally finish with yoga and then reach the dining hall. This is a complete new phenomenon. I have never seen such a thing before. The swimming pool looks like a pond with a new ecosystem.
Competitive Strategy - One course in Term 2 where most of the cases actually gave me the MBA flavor. New frameworks were taught - especially the Porter's Five Forces for industry analysis. Nandini Lahiri took the first half of the class. The second half was handled in the most skillful way by Harbir Singh. Watch out for Prof. Harbir guys. You just can't mess with him. Do your readings properly atleast before his class. If you put up your hand and try to just live by saying something, then you are in for a big joyride. You'll definitely regret that.
Global Economics - The course where you learn about macroeconomic policies, trade between countries, some strange laws formulated by great economists who lived in the industrial era. Prof. Krishnakumar taught the first half of the course where he introduced us to the Asian Financial Crisis, Keynesian models, Commanding Heights (you'll definitely love this movie). Then Ravi Bansal would talk about monetary policy, exchange rates, interest rates, savings, and inflation. Interesting stuff. It keeps you thinking about what the FED and the FM does. Also helps you understand why the RBI changes the rates and its effects.
Optimisation - handled by Sandeep Juneja and Milind Sohoni. Lots of work on Excel modeling problems and making interpretations out of graphs. If you don't listen to what's being told in class, then you can be happy that you'll get a B-Neg. Nothing below that. The Profs are quite reasonable.
Marketing Decision Making - handled by Pradeep Bhardwaj and Jag Raju. Bhardwaj is quite good although you will not spend a lot of time listening to him in class, which I think you should try and avoid. The concepts he talks about in class are quite useful for the exams. Most of the time during Bhardwaj's sessions will be spent making MarkStrat decisions with your group. So, you'll be asked to compete with 4 other groups in an industry, launch products, track expenditures on production, sales and distribution - everything that's part of the whole chain of deciding to make the product and launching the same in the market. Its fun if you get it right and then work out the best way to make more money. Once you start crashing in the revenue graph, then there is no chance of getting back, unless you realize that pretty early on and change your strategy. Don't ask me the best strategy to win. And don't ask anyone else. Its no fun and you'll NEVER LEARN by asking your alums for the right answer. Raju will come during the second half and he'll screw around with your happiness. This course was so bad for so many people on campus. I lost my interest in marketing after his 5 lectures. Anyway, thats about me. There were so many people who loved his class. They can talk for days about him. I'd rather spend less than a minute.
TIPS FOR THE NEXT BATCH
* The Radio Station has been taken. So, maybe you guys can start a TV station. The Radio station has got publicity like its the first radio station in the country. Maybe you guys can do something!
* This year we had 50 participants for the Hyderabad 10K. So, one of you can start a new RUNNING CLUB and have a president and few vice presidents and some directors.
* We had a new Arts and Creativity Club. So, next thing can be a Drama Club, Dance Club.
* Make you sure you know to send out colorful emails to catch the attention of Professors and the Management. Keep thanking them once in a while so that they remember you. It doesn't matter what you did. The publicity you make is the most important criteria.
* There is a lot of value add if you can make movies using flash and windows movie maker. You can keep showing it around and get credits.
* Since the Radio Station is here, we can have a Radio Club too. It can create room for some presidents, directors etc.
I am sure a lot of you can get extremely creative and form more clubs and do more work. But yes, the more you do such kind of things, you can run for all the awards and attention on campus. It doesn't matter whether your club does any work. You can just claim that you did something of great impact and nobody will have time to verify all that.
People literally aren't bothered about attending classes. They come late to class, never do reading. And some never attend. The MBA life has taken a totally different turn. Its a new world that I am seeing. The strangest of the people are in the recreation center these days. Those who I haven't even seen walking on the side of the center lawns are in the gym for almost an hour!!! Nowadays people spend more time at the REC Center. They swim, then play Frisbee, then workout, play tennis, finally finish with yoga and then reach the dining hall. This is a complete new phenomenon. I have never seen such a thing before. The swimming pool looks like a pond with a new ecosystem.
Competitive Strategy - One course in Term 2 where most of the cases actually gave me the MBA flavor. New frameworks were taught - especially the Porter's Five Forces for industry analysis. Nandini Lahiri took the first half of the class. The second half was handled in the most skillful way by Harbir Singh. Watch out for Prof. Harbir guys. You just can't mess with him. Do your readings properly atleast before his class. If you put up your hand and try to just live by saying something, then you are in for a big joyride. You'll definitely regret that.
Global Economics - The course where you learn about macroeconomic policies, trade between countries, some strange laws formulated by great economists who lived in the industrial era. Prof. Krishnakumar taught the first half of the course where he introduced us to the Asian Financial Crisis, Keynesian models, Commanding Heights (you'll definitely love this movie). Then Ravi Bansal would talk about monetary policy, exchange rates, interest rates, savings, and inflation. Interesting stuff. It keeps you thinking about what the FED and the FM does. Also helps you understand why the RBI changes the rates and its effects.
Optimisation - handled by Sandeep Juneja and Milind Sohoni. Lots of work on Excel modeling problems and making interpretations out of graphs. If you don't listen to what's being told in class, then you can be happy that you'll get a B-Neg. Nothing below that. The Profs are quite reasonable.
Marketing Decision Making - handled by Pradeep Bhardwaj and Jag Raju. Bhardwaj is quite good although you will not spend a lot of time listening to him in class, which I think you should try and avoid. The concepts he talks about in class are quite useful for the exams. Most of the time during Bhardwaj's sessions will be spent making MarkStrat decisions with your group. So, you'll be asked to compete with 4 other groups in an industry, launch products, track expenditures on production, sales and distribution - everything that's part of the whole chain of deciding to make the product and launching the same in the market. Its fun if you get it right and then work out the best way to make more money. Once you start crashing in the revenue graph, then there is no chance of getting back, unless you realize that pretty early on and change your strategy. Don't ask me the best strategy to win. And don't ask anyone else. Its no fun and you'll NEVER LEARN by asking your alums for the right answer. Raju will come during the second half and he'll screw around with your happiness. This course was so bad for so many people on campus. I lost my interest in marketing after his 5 lectures. Anyway, thats about me. There were so many people who loved his class. They can talk for days about him. I'd rather spend less than a minute.
TIPS FOR THE NEXT BATCH
* The Radio Station has been taken. So, maybe you guys can start a TV station. The Radio station has got publicity like its the first radio station in the country. Maybe you guys can do something!
* This year we had 50 participants for the Hyderabad 10K. So, one of you can start a new RUNNING CLUB and have a president and few vice presidents and some directors.
* We had a new Arts and Creativity Club. So, next thing can be a Drama Club, Dance Club.
* Make you sure you know to send out colorful emails to catch the attention of Professors and the Management. Keep thanking them once in a while so that they remember you. It doesn't matter what you did. The publicity you make is the most important criteria.
* There is a lot of value add if you can make movies using flash and windows movie maker. You can keep showing it around and get credits.
* Since the Radio Station is here, we can have a Radio Club too. It can create room for some presidents, directors etc.
I am sure a lot of you can get extremely creative and form more clubs and do more work. But yes, the more you do such kind of things, you can run for all the awards and attention on campus. It doesn't matter whether your club does any work. You can just claim that you did something of great impact and nobody will have time to verify all that.
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