Sharon Andrea Serrao

The most beautiful girl from my MBA Class at ISB is no more. I just can't ******* believe this! She was only 33.

This happened a few days back and I haven't come to terms with it. I don't think I ever will. I will stay affected by this for my entire life. For me, this is just an unfair act of... well, I am not sure if I can use the word God here. Does God really exist? If he does, then what explanation can he or she give me? I am not expecting any philosophical thoughts saying - it was her time and there were other plans for her. That's just BS.

I met Sharon first in 2006. I wasn't very close to her and all that. We were just good friends. I remember sitting in the hall area of my apartment, looking out the window and seeing her get in and out of the student village. There was something about her presence. Maybe it was how tall she was and how she'd stand out among everyone else. Maybe it was how she conducted herself - very simple and genuine. 

I still remember, we used to call her "model" all the time we met her on campus. She'd blush a bit and hush our comments. She was pure awesome. When I recall stuff about her, I remember her birthday party in 2007. I was doing work for the yearbook and it was almost 2am when I got back from the publisher. She was still awake and in party mood. Most of them had retired. She was thrilled to see me drop in. It was a quiet few minutes well spent.

I didn't see Sharon after graduation or I don't clearly remember if I did any time later. We were only in touch through Facebook. A few years later, she invited me for her wedding. I couldn't go. I should have. I didn't meet her when I was in Dubai for WCBU. Time just passed by.

And one ******* day, she's gone! Her life has been taken off the earth just like that. I heard she was at work and she had a cardiac arrest. Absolutely unannounced.
Why did this have to happen? What wrong did her 10-month old son do? To have such an awesome person stripped of his life.

I am in real pain. Its bottled up so much within me. I was sitting at the Immigration Office in Melbourne when I kept getting messages and I wanted to burst out crying. I was on the verge of a breakdown. I am gonna have to let this out somewhere somehow. 

Someone I saw pretty much every day of my academic year at ISB is just not there. This is not about being healthy or fit or doing regular medical check-ups and not being stressed at work. All that is still not happening with many of my other friends - most of them are unhealthy, unfit and stressed AND they are ******* alive!

Sharon, you were such a lovely person. Actually, you still are a lovely person. The "were' doesn't apply to you. Just because someone irrational decided to pluck you out, doesn't mean that you don't exist for me. I think about you and I always keep hearing your voice, the way you say "dude". When I meet your son (whenever that is), I will definitely tell him about you. He will be loved by all of us.

Update - some comments said I used swear words. So I have put a * instead. This is not a eulogy.

FT Rankings 2008

Well, it was a cool surprise for me. I wasn't in the country and then suddenly I got to know through g-talk status messages that ISB has been ranked 20th in the world by the FT this year.



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Ok.. there was some content here (instead of the stars) since yesterday, and comments over that piece opened a Pandora box. So I have removed all of that.

Thanks for all the comments and I really appreciate the efforts. I do agree with whatever was told. Let the journey continue....

A sack of salt

In less than a month if I am right, it would be placements time at the ISB. This post goes out to all those people from the current batch who visit my blog.

Guys, I know its the most important time. I know that everything that happens during that time matters, but this is not the end. In fact, I would go and say that for most of us, the placement season is not even a beginning.

You'd enter the print room inside the student village to get a print out and you'll accidentally see your batch mate's resume lying there. Simple curiosity would pressurize you to have a quick glance at the highlighted bullets AND THEN?

Few of them would claim stories about the Innovation Challenge. The fact of the matter would be true to a large extent, but they would have twisted the information in such a skillful manner that it would be hard to believe.

Then you'd have people claiming "chosen from the whole batch to do this and that" - well the point here would be that - the administration would have no choice than to get someone from the GSB because according to them, the GSB represents the batch. But for some, this is also a resume spike.

Then you'll have some more people talking about scoring highest marks during the core terms. Okay, agreed. They worked extremely hard and scored the highest marks. But how does it matter? For all you know, that course was so difficult that even the guy who scored 20 marks less also got an A. In the end, its the A that matters - not who scored highest.

Then you'll have all the directors and deputy directors of the professional clubs going gaa-gaa about their work, when most work would have been done - either by the club president alone, or business development team at the ISB, or sponsors themselves or the administration.

Non-professional clubs are not be left too. You'll have some more presidents claiming about having started some new talk series - all they would have done is called one person to talk. after that no one would have had time to do anything. but the claim would continue.

And many many more...

That's why I am telling you that this is not the end. Its just a beginning. The world outside has at least another 1500 more of such people.

Not even 3 months and all of you will be out in the open trying to find a place for yourselves to settle down.

The time that is remaining is the best time guys. Make use of every minute. This is the time to make more friends - meet all those people who you haven't met all this while on campus. Get to know them. You don't know how long it will be before you meet them again. At that time, you don't want to be introducing yourself to your own batch mate.

And seriously, its quite impossible to keep in touch with everyone regularly. So make a list of 20 friends, if that is too small, then 30, with whom you'd want to be in touch with for the rest of your life. Spend quality time with them. Go out for dinners. Talk about stuff other than life inside campus. Get to know them well. I am telling you - this would help a lot. Not in the next one year. Much later. But sow the seeds right now. Its for mutual benefit.

Your friends on campus, whom you talk to everyday would need your support during the next month or so. Jobs wouldn't happen for everyone on day one or day two. After your first job, don't really bother about your second job. You'll get it. Stay with your friends and encourage them. The placement week is not just about you. Its about everybody around you. You'll be known for what you are.

Take everything that you see around you with a bag of salt. Reality is yet to come - it would strike around 6 months from when you join your first job. When you join work is when you'll realize that the company you thought to be excellent before signing the LoI is totally disgusting. The best of the jobs aren't always made on campus. A lot of it is made outside.

Bottomline: If you missed all the fun till now, there is still time. Don't miss the opportunity.

Holiday round-up

Last few days have been really crazy. On Friday I left to Sree Kalahasti - one of the Pancha Bhoota Shrines of Lord Shiva. The deity here is represented as Vaayu Linga, which is Air. On the way, we visited another temple called Surutapalli, which has got a very special story. My next post would be on that, since I need to upload a photograph too. Saturday morning darshan at the temple was very good. At the same time it was surprising to see that a lot of people now have started visiting temples. 10 years back, the story was different. The people who were going to temples were traditionally going to temples - i mean every year or through generations. But now, there is a lot of belief in the boxes that are part of the horoscope and the planets that reside in the same. People are ready to spend any amount of money as grants to temples or do any kind of puja. Its a totally new phenomenon.

This got over on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning was fun game in the rain. Then the next trip started. To Bangalore. Another ISB wedding. I caught the afternoon bus in great hopes to reach the reception early. But you can never rely on these people. The road was amazing. But the average speed was just over 65kms per hour which sucked big time. Sunday evening was a great day to catch up a lot of friends. Around 20 of them had come down from various other cities. There was food and booze - since it was in the army officers mess. The next day was a traditional Iyengar wedding. I was done with everything by 11am. In between all this I had to attend a few phone calls from my client, answer a few questions and ensure that my project was running on schedule. (These people never leave me alone!)

Caught the afternoon bus back to Madras. On the way stopped at a small eating joint and bought some pirated dvds. I havent checked whether the dvds play but I got 4 latest movies. This place is a few kilometers before Krishnagiri on the highway, when you are coming from Bangalore and the guy has any latest movie you ask for - hindi, english and tamil. If you are a cop reading this blog, then this a tip for you. There is a huge business that is thriving and perhaps a huge network of people are happily earning. Whats the point in catching the ones in the city. India's strength lies definitely in its villages.

Rushed to Courtyard Marriott for a team dinner. The buffet sucked. They served continental food. Some of the items were okay. The starters were extremely bad. No variety at all. Even in the main course, it wasn't anything worth mentioning. For the price that we paid, I felt that Residency Towers was a much better deal. Coming to the desserts, there were six ice cream flavors and JUST ONE SCOOP. On asking, the guy told me that the kitchen has only one scoop. Wow, thats something for a five star hotel! Ambience was good. I liked the live music concept.

Had another day off yesterday - a trip to Coimbatore. It was My Best Friend's Wedding. Still was bombarded with phone calls from office. Now I am back here waiting for the Saturday Game.