Seven Eleven Remembered

Year 2006 same date - Britain came under a big shock. There was an attack. In train stations and bus stations. I still remember that day. I was on the train in south east london, much farther from where the events had happened. A typical early morning where I walked into the crowded Docklands Light Rail, popularly known as the DLR for Londoners. Unaware of anything that happened, people were busy browsing through newspapers and some fiddling with their ipod, rest with a novel. Within 15 minutes of travel, I reached my station Canary Wharf, where I work and we were informed that the train wouldnt travel past till the Bank Station which was probably another 15 mins away. Surprising that on a busy morning, the train suddenly stopped mid-way. When I get into the office, I learn that there has been a power failure in the station. Still the news isnt out. My parents were visiting me and they were supposed to take a train or a bus to see Tower Bridge. For their luck, the news had trickled down through a few local ears and they walked back to the apartment. Within a few hours the BBC made the official announcement and the country was in SHOCK.

It was just the previous day that London won the bid for the Olympics. The whole country was overjoyed. There was celebration all around Trafalgar Square. And that day was the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. For which, there were enough protests.

This event happened and everything came to a standstill. Mobile networks were completely jammed. Transport systems went belly up. Chaos everywhere and while sitting at office with the radio I could sense the agony and pain that family and friends of the injured and dead would go through. I think this was the closest I have gotten to being part of a serious situation and it was very disturbing.

And these events are still happening - people from the same community. Ruthless lunatics they are. Now they are giving another threat for Rushdie's knighthood. They quote the permission of Allah. Did they ever read the Quran in their lifetime? Because it never said anything close to what they are claiming. And they go around killing their own people. I guess, God gave these people too much oil, a new religion but no brains to be protective and productive.

The death of the cassette tape

I am running out of time to write a post. Hence, I decided to post this stuff I read a few months back. Very interesting - reminds me about product life cycle and markets. For readers from the ISB, might be a very good example for a CP during your elective courses.

THE eject button has been pressed on the audio cassette for the very last time.

Currys, the UK’s biggest electronics retailer, yesterday announced it is to stop selling the tapes.

Woolworths and HMV have already removed them from their shelves.

Currys also predicts this Christmas will be the last time it sells hi-fi systems with tape decks included.

Compact cassettes could be frustrating at times — hissing, stretching or getting chewed up in tape decks — but while MP3s and downloads are all the rage now, tapes played an important role in musical culture for more than 40 years.

The recordable tape was introduced to Europe in 1963 by Philips.

Originally designed for dictation, tapes soon became used for home recording and even data storage for computers.

For younger readers, the compact cassette consisted of two miniature spools between which a magnetic tape was passed and wound. This mechanism was housed in a protective plastic shell.

Cassettes took off in the Seventies, offering a recordable alternative to LPs. Pre-recorded cassettes went on sale in Europe in 1965, and from the Seventies to the Nineties became one of the most common formats on which to buy music.

The appeal of the cassette was boosted by the launch of portable music players such as the Sony Walkman in 1979.

A massive 83million tapes were sold in the UK in 1989. Yet by last year the figure had fallen to a mere 100,000.

In the Nineties sales of pre-recorded tapes were overtaken by CDs and record companies started phasing them out.

And in recent years the digital music revolution has pressed pause on the old-fashioned practice of “home dubbing”.

Even Currys managing director Peter Keenan said he will look back with “fondness” at cassettes.

Indeed, the tapes and the players had their good points.

They were more resistent to dust, heat and shocks than most digital media and fixing cassettes didn’t need hi-tech equipment — any tape which spooled out could be wound back in using a Biro.

Their durability saw them act as catalysts for social change, taking rock and punk music behind the Iron Curtain and creating a foothold for Western culture.

But cassettes were not popular with everyone — especially record companies.

In the Eighties the British Phonographic Institute launched an anti-copyright infringement campaign under the slogan “Home Taping Is Killing Music”.

In 1988 the House of Lords ruled in favour of Sir Alan Sugar’s Amstrad that producing a high-speed twin cassette deck did not infringe copyright laws.

Despite the digital music revolution, it is thought around 500million tapes are still in circulation.

And beware, here are other devices we reckon could be on the way out next:

Answering machines; Fax machines; Portable CD players; Watches

You have been warned . . .

Weekly roundup

I didn't realize that its been a week since i wrote something on this space. A friend of mine who reads this space regularly had to remind me of that. He did ask me whether it was because of work. my frank answer is - is definitely because i have been trying hard to find work in the last one week.

ever since Sivaji happened, i have following up quite regularly on the movie. a whopping budget of 90 crore (international readers please excuse me for using crore) indian rupees - can you believe that. and i also heard that the superstar got 17 crore as salary, which is the fixed component and then a variable pay that would come from distribution revenues. mba stuff happening here too.

anyway, during the last week, i hardly went for work. on monday i was in bangalore attending a wedding and catching up with few friends from b-school. then on wednesday, mr.manjeri(the coimby man on my blog's main page) and i left to tirupati to attend another wedding. during this time, my manager decided to get me into a new project. all this while i was supposed to work for a chicago based bank's projects. not that i had started work on that. just that the allocation had been done and the people in that team were doing some knowledge transfer - very much like the gyaan sessions at ISB. too many PPTs and stuff like that. on friday i was introduced to the new project and i said yes. although its 90 percent confirmed that i will start work on this one from monday, anything can happen. bottomline: i still dont have work.

another funny incident happened at office on friday - a friend of mine entered the office lobby wearing sandals and the security guard stopped him. he wanted my friend to get permission from the HR because there was a slight violation of the dress code. i was furious. this is a place where people walk in like a herd of cattle especially between 9 and 10 am. nobody checks a shit you could walk in with a detonator and that silly guy wouldn't know a thing. with such a security lapse uncared for, this guy demands a dress code authorization. extraordinarily funny.

every IT consulting company in india is preparing to start a full fledged technology consulting arm. and we are also seeing whats happening with the dollar. azim premji had once said that it would take 36 yrs for the rupee to be at par with the dollar, but i kinda feel that it might happen in like 10 years. suddenly all firms are aggressively looking at revenues from europe. and i got to hear that Infosys is trying to get something from Cap Gemini. Thats actually a very good strategy. CG is headquartered in Paris and a large portion of its revenues is from Europe. They always say - quicker the better and this is also some kind of first mover advantage. companies want to pay less and thats why a lot of them are moving out of india as well. today, we are in a different game. the cost advantage is no longer with us. we need a new and radical strategy.

Sivaji - a visual treat

GRANDIOSE - if i could use just one word to describe the movie. Now you can add all the adjectives that describe pomp and show to follow on. Exorbitant song sets, fight settings and many more is what you will feel when you walk out of this entertainer.

For all readers in Chennai, I must tell you that Abhirami theater is one hopeless place to watch this movie. Its such a congested place with no planning. All efforts have been made only to make money and create inconvenience for the public. Abhirami Ramanathan who is supposedly making a killing because of buying the movie rights for this movie is just filling his bank accounts. He seems to be least bothered if the public have so much trouble getting into his establishment. The idea of a wholesome entertainment gets lost when one walks into such a theater. Broken seats, unclean surroundings, uninvited visitors like rats are part of your blockbuster movie.

ARR has surpassed everyone's expectations by giving just the right beats to keep the audience tapping their toes. As it happens in most Superstar movies, Superstar begins his reign embellished with SPB's enchanting voice and we can feel that vibrating in the "Balleilakka" song. Nayantara (seems to have toned up a lot for Superstar) who just appears for the first song has done a neat job. Supporting dancers with painted faces of the Superstar on their body is different. Director Shankar has brought in the flavor of the "Andan Kaakka" song from Anniyan into this too, but obviously is much more extravagant.

"Vaaji Vaaji" that follows next is probably on the Prince of Persia theme. Crores of rupees have been spent in almost every song. This one was phenomenal with an exotic harem. It seemed to me that all efforts have been made to make sure that Shreya wears just the amount of clothes thats required to get the pass certificate from the censor board. If you told me that Shreya is the most beautiful girl you've seen on screen, I wouldn't bother to disagree because thats 100% true. I am just short of words, but This lissome beauty is crazy beautiful and awesome. In this song, Shreya is like an Egyptian Queen. If Cleopatra was alive today, she would be of no comparison to Shreya.

"Oru Koodai sunlight", which I think is also called "Style", reminds you of some music themes from 50 cents. Another wonderful attempt accepted very well. All care has been made to make sure that the music in every song complements Superstar's moves, especially the STYLE sequence in this song keeps you highly enthused.

"Sahana Saral" shot inside glasshouses (location looks like a new ecosystem) with a classical theme is worth mentioning. Singer Udit Narayan's rendition doesn't sound like a north indian's attempt on tamil music. He has worked a lot on the diction part and the result is very good indeed. Again Shreya is a treat to watch with her princess looks.

"Athiradee Kaalam" is another remarkable song by AR Rahman. The song does remind you some beats from Michael Jacksons compositions, but still rocks. Rahman is the singer here and when he sings we get reminded of own style, which just repeats. Shreya looks like a Latino woman here - reminds me of Salma Hayek.

Fight sequences have also been given equal importance although there is not logic when Superstar fights. Everything thats questionable is defied. The sequence in the instrument store is organized, but i wonder why the director chose to break all the instruments. I hate it when someone tampers with the music instrument. Here is someone breaking them. Superstar also reminds you of Agent Smith and Neo is certain places. Towards the end he completes it by also becoming Morpheus.

Comedy is just right. Superstar does not have punch dialogs. Comedy King Vivek does most of the work required. The amount of seriousness that the movie brings along is complemented with an equal amount of comedy that keeps the audience laughing to an extent. Director Shankar has continued with his anti corruption theme - it black money this time.

I'd definitely watch this movie again.

Intelligence ???

Although I dont totally believe in this particular prediction, its somewhat fun.

Your Dominant Intelligence is Musical Intelligence

Every part of your life has a beat, and you're often tapping your fingers or toes. You enjoy sounds of all types, but you also find sound can distract you at the wrong time. You are probably a gifted musician of some sort - even if you haven't realized it. Also a music lover, you tend to appreciate artists of all kinds. You would make a great musician, disc jockey, singer, or composer.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

The temporary status continues

I cant believe that I still dont have an employee id. I have given up now. I have better things to do. Since yesterday, I have been looking up a good number of websites on furniture design, suspended bridges, architects etc. Its good fun to read something new.

Office etiquette has been shown the backdoor at my workplace. Every 5 minutes you can hear someone's phone ringing. The volume level is extremely high. The ringtones are also picked up from the Tamil movies and hence its almost like listening to a radio station. Apart from this, I have a jobless neighbor at office who keeps entertaining me with his activities. He uses the phone (both land and hand) extensively to talk to anyone and everyone about anything other than work. And apart from this, his phone gives this stupid alarm when he gets an SMS - "Excuse me Boss, you have a text message", as if its as important as "Houston, we have a problem". The sounds dont end here. There are some managers, sitting in open cabins, around me who use the speaker phone to talk to their friends, or family or banks.

During the entrepreneurship conference that happened in ISB last year, a professor from one of the IITs told us that his team had come up with a mobile jamming application - one that would stop all the mobiles within a particular area, from ringing loud. I definitely think we need one of that here.

I was listening to Burt Rutan's talk from the TED Conference, where he was mentioning about innovation cycles being reduced to none and how the US had crossed two generations of no innovation in the space exploration area. It was also interesting to listen to his observation of how airplanes became successful only because of the theory of natural selection.

Bill Clinton meets Dick Cheney.
Bill Clinton says - "Nowadays, you Republicans get away with everything you do. When I just took a shot at someone, I got impeached for that."

Chennai 600028

My friend had rightly said about this movie - "The Kollywood answer to Dil Chahtha Hai" and it truly was a movie like that.



The weekend in the Manchester of South India was fabulous. A good reason to get away from the hot and humid madras, although i keep complaining about madras, i never get bored of this place. maybe its because of the 27 year itch.

Chennai 28 was a treat in the form of a movie. Made on a very low budget, hats off to the guy who wrote the screenplay. There wasnt really a story line - its just a year of life along with everyday friends in your community and passion for cricket. With such a simple theme, every shade of a bachelor's life has been touched upon in a vivid fashion with intricate details. Comedy is just apt to prove that laughter is the best medicine. In certain instances, some would just feel that this wasnt a joke at all. But for all those people who have been on the streets during those few years in college, every moment can be related to some way or the other.

Outlook India carries this article - The circle of Frisson, where it talks about the family being a faraway world and friends defining the new relationships. Click on the bold words to read the full article. This movie was yet another reminder to such a theme.

As Dil Chahtha Hai did to a lot of us - you walk out of the movie hall with a feeling that you have been inside the theatre for just the right experience. No message, no evil and no good triumph. Its the same good old feeling here too.

Anyway, after all that good stuff, I am back to simple interest, compound interest and stuff like that. People at work have this feeling that a management programme at one of the best schools in the country is no proof that you are qualified to be on the job. They have given me some hopeless learning modules to read on.

And I still dont have my employee id. Is someone doing the Hewitt Survey or anything of that sort. Please take a note of this.

Its Training Time.. Alleluya

"Icebergs are those things that, on the surface, appear much more trivial than they are. Unlike the Titanic, they don’t always sink your project, but they may knock it way off course."

This is what i read from one of the presentations.

For the funniest part, I still havent got my employee id. Today is the fifth day. The latest reason that the HR has found to tell me is - the server has crashed and it will take more than 2 days to rectify that. I was like(in my mind) - Huh!, do you know where you are working? A company that boasts of being one of the top players in the IT services industry. And you tell me that it would take 2 days to get a server up and running. Would you tell something like that to your client?

So if you dont have your id, you cant do anything. No access to any floor. No coffee or tea or lunch without the help of others. YOU CANT EVEN GO TO THE LOO. Because of the funny way in which things are arranged around the office here (projects are demarcated within a single floor through access points), you cant get to any place without the ID card.

Every morning I keep talking to myself that today would be the day the bus driver would check if I had a valid pass and with that feeling I would try and sneak into the bus with that confident look on my face, that look which says that I am one of those old-timers in the organization and you better be smart enough before you pop up any question to me. But yes, if he got brave enough to do that, then I dont know what to say. I definitely cant tell him that the SERVER CRASHED.

Work starts on a cold note

If I could get paid for studying or living in a university campus, that would be absolutely great. Work isnt any interesting. We started off on a not so good note. The so called auditorium was freezing and maintenance was so responsive that they did not bother to turn the temperature up even after frantic calls from us. Thats the beginning i guess. and then we had these boring presentations from the various teams and the people representing the senior management. it was more or less like the PPT we had on campus. i wonder why we had that again. maybe it was a refresher that out me to sleep.

presentations overshot the allocated time by more than an hour. then it was the turn of all the banks and the mobile service providers to make their pitch. out of the four banks that made their offers, citibank was the only one to screw up big time. well, we always know that the second largest bank in the world had to make a big noise and then defame itself knowingly. and then they say that they are not the tom dick and harry of the banks in india. they just want to serve the best customers int he best way. sounds like a good customer value proposition, but never suits a country like india where there are so many people and the only way is volume. anyway, their strategy is best left to them.

i must also mention some things about my friends who joined from tier 2 and tier 3 business schools in india, who were asking a number of questions. they perhaps did not know that there were not being paid extra money for class participation.

the admin group at the office has not been very cooperative till now. they just want to throw some information at us and run off immediately before we ask them questions. with the HR, well, they could have managed this whole day in a much better way. yet another reason for WHY WE HATE HR. but they always want to be hated and hence will be the laggards. in fact, my first day at iflex was 100 times better than this one. i wonder if the joining procedures are different for undergrads and post-grads. forget all the fun. we were not even given a copy of the schedule for the day.

do you really think that the grass is greener on the other side?

i did want to make a mention about the under-underpants and the over-underpants. sounds confusing isnt it. but thats the fun i guess. lets see if i can get to write more about this.

Visual DNA

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Back again with views about bombay

05/06/2007
Originally uploaded by SuzyMBA

After that last post I did, I made a small trip to Bombay. People in bombay, whom i did not call - please do not get angry. first thing - i did not carry your numbers. i myself had a loaned phone. i was living in a place where the nearest internet cafe could not be located. and i was totally disoriented with the way the city lived.

perhaps bombay is such a nice place for millions of people. not for a person like me who needs some breathing space. in about every place in bombay there are more people per square feet than in any other city in india. you cant to any place soon. if that had to happen then it should be after 12pm and before 5am. a lot of people like the way bombay functions. i personally did not like it at all. everything is so fast. sometimes, the city life can be compared to how it is in New York. Even London is not this fast. although i did not explore the whole city in great depths, i was astonished to see asia's largest slum dharavi, while the aeroplane was descending. its HUGE - in the real sense, its HULK size. from the top i cud see all the small lanes inside the slum. these lanes were just enuff for one person to walk through and houses were placed on the landscape like a collage of matchboxes or maybe just a confetti.

the next funny thing to understand and practice was the suburban train. i stood stationary on the andheri platform for more than 30 minutes to get onto a train. the idea was to get onto the train before someone got off. and to do this, you had to be agile and fast because there were 50 other people trying to do the same thing. nevertheless, the all-ladies compartments were free of any trouble of getting in or out.

public transport as such is quite efficient. the city more or less is totally dependent on the public transport infrastructure. in that way its managed very efficiently. the auto-rickshaws are not allowed in some portions of the city. you can drive only cabs there. this keeps out the rickshaw drivers who keep shifting lanes every 10 mtrs and who do not see the vehicles coming behind before taking a U-Turn.

While I was browsing through some of the other blogs that I visit, I found this interesting picture. Click on it to read what it says

A Strange Journey

A saw a Malayalam movie yesterday called Vinodayathra which translates to the title of this post. The one and only maestro Ilayaraja (the Beethoven of this part of the world) has composed the music.

Listen to this piece from YouTube even if you dont understand the language. Its a perfect melody.

If you do track tamil music, this might remind you of a tune heard somewhere.



Sicilian Hothead mentioned in the previous post is ETNA, if you did not know.

Monte Carlo

Women sunbathe on a terrace as British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton steers his McLaren Mercedes during the second practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Sicilian hothead(4)

Still a good number of days left till I join work. My trip to see the Lord Venkateshwara in his residence in Tirupati was quite good. It was raining cats and dogs when we were outside his doors waiting to see him.

The VOLVO buses are seriously good. I was quite impressed. After a long time I was sitting in one that had been serviced well and maintained properly. I was happy to see that the seats were designed by the company I had interned with. While I was there, the R&D team was also working on a high tech driver seat and I could see the results of that on that bus too.

Riding on a local transport bus back home from where I got dropped was literally a menace. I got into one of these vestibule buses that have become so famous these days in chennai.



You can imagine how long such a bus would be on the road. Over and above, think of this being driven at speeds more than 50kmph on an extremely busy road from the airport. It was scary. The driver almost killed 10 people on the road. In such buses there is no control from the driver's seat for the part that is attached. And hence, if there is a small mistake in the way the vehicle is controlled, then there is a very good possibility of the bus turning a few degrees away from the desired path. First of all, such buses should never be driven past a speed of 40kmph and overtaking should be strictly prohibited. I can understand that most of these buses are express buses and are meant to save some time. But not at the expense of losing a heartbeat. Saving time in a crowded city means not stopping in the regular bus stops and not reckless driving. I hope there is someone who has the power to take action against all this. The drivers of these buses have no reason whatsoever to run slow. They are given a schedule and they are always rushed to finish their trip because then they can get those extra minutes of sleep in the bus station.

Salad in Fashion

Anger at using firearms(3)

Eight days since I blogged last. In the meantime, nothing much has happened in my life. The date for reporting to work got shifted to June 11th now. And who is going to pay me till that day. I have been trying to tell the HR people in my future firm to get me started early and they havent replied to a single email of mine. I have a heart to go and shout at them on Day One. I hope I get a chance to do it during the feedback.

I saw this movie called Just Married yesterday. A movie that brought out some serious stuff about how arranged marriages would work in an Indian setting. Or rather, what would happen in the case of arranged marriages - i mean the stuff that the man and the woman would go through. In a way it was a but over hyped. You know about indian cinema right, they cant keep quiet by saying only the facts, they have to add an extra large volume of gas to the whole concept and make it sound so melodramatic. But yes, good attempt at it.

Many more future father-in-laws have been calling home to speak to my mom and dad. Its interesting to hear to the questions they ask. One guy actually asked for my salary. WTF. Thats the state of arranged marriages in the country. They also say that there is a shortage for girls who are nubile. Not sure if the statistics are right.

While all that is happening, the state high school results were out and the next topic on everyone's mind is ragging. People want to ban ragging - they shouldnt be doing such things. There should be a ban only towards physical ragging. Any other thing should be ok. I mean whats the point in enforcing a rule and cutting off the relationship between a senior and a junior. There is no other way for interaction. And ragging is perhaps the best way to know someone. I knew like 300 of my seniors in the first 10 days of college only because of ragging. And then how can the seniors know the junior girls if there is no ragging. The only way to authoritatively flirt with a junior girl is through ragging. Please NO BAN.

Apple's stock went down by 4 billion dollars because someone sent out a SPAM EMAIL to the outside world saying that this was sent to all Apple Employees. How funny.

Chennai has a runners group. I found that yesterday. They meet every weekend and run for about 20-25 kms. I also heard from them that the local Nike store sponsored pairs of running shoes for some of their runners. Interesting stuff.

And I got myself a CAR. Its a HONDA CITY. I really didnt want to spend a lot of money on a new car and burn my pocket with another loan. I went to a used car dealer I knew from before and I saw this piece lying there. It was an 04 December Auto Transmission model bought in 05 and it had done just 9000 kms. Very Sparingly used and in immculate condition. The owner was relocating to the US and he wanted to sell it off. So I quickly decided to buy this Graphite Pearl colored beast. Pictures later.

This post's title is another clue. Its easy. The answer is within the clue itself. You just have to search for it.

Clean GI becomes divine(7)

The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu - MK, celebrated 50 years of being in dirty politics. The function was attended by the Prime Minister and few ministers from his cabinet, and a host of other people. I dont understand why we need to waste time on such a function, block all the traffic, create chaos and trouble the common man. The evening program wasnt even an entertainer. All the people came on stage and spoke about MK's life as a politician in english and tamil. That was it. For just this, they had a huge stage, police patrol, and other staff. Obviously they have used the taxpayer's money.

A few days back, a leading tamil daily conducted an opinion poll as to who would be the next contender for the chief minister's role. In the poll results, MK's son in Chennai received 70% votes and his other son (who is apparently a third rate criminal by profession) in Madurai received only 2%. This created a lot of havoc among supporters. I dont understand why. A newspaper has done a poll and this is quite common in other countries. The agitated people with the help of the Madurai Mayor (this one is a woman and she has attacked the newspaper office along with the other supporters. Does she really behave like a Mayor? She is needs to be skinned alive in the police station for doing such things), threw petrol bombs at the press office and all this caused the death of three people. Amidst all this, the police kept quiet because the problem has been started by the ruling party and if someone tried to stop this, he would get transferred to the worst territories in Tamil Nadu.

The press has reacted quite strongly against all this. But the case has notbeen registered against MK's second son. He is still out there enjoying his wine. The CBI has taken over the investigation, but what the hell, after a month or so, this case will also get shelved. The Hindu Editor Ram today spoke and appreciated MK for having handed over the case to CBI. Like the everyday news that gets printed in the HINDU newspaper, the editor supported the ruling party. It was such a stupid comment with no sense of seriousness and it showed extreme flattery. Three people have been killed for no reason and here is an editor who is praising the Chief Minister. I mean, this was a family feud and we are least bothered about MK and his stupid sons.

On the other hand, I also feel that this was a nice plan worked out by MK, his son in the city, and the newspaper team to get the other son out of the picture. If this plan works out well and if they can make this guy responsible for something, then these people can emerge as saviors and secure more votes the next time. The dumb voters here would believe them saying that MK was so great to eliminate the dirty politicians who could have emerged from within. How funny. Thats the situation here and the common man's head rolls.

Famous actor in the last post who also meant voyage was CRUISE. Remember TOM CRUISE!! This time its an anagram of CLEAN and GI and the word ultimately means divine. Isnt that easy?

Famous actor's voyage(6)

There is still a month left to join and I have already started hating the firm. They somehow seem to be laggards right from the beginning. And they dont seem to be interested in giving us work that they have postponed the joining dates to June.

Right from the beginning they had a screwed up way of looking at things. The interviews were chaotic. Totally disogranized. It could have been better. They'd promised a number of panels and on the day of the interviews, two or three people didnt land up and the whole thing turned topsy turvy. Is this the way you teach time commitments and orderliness to your new recruits? People were running helter skelter during the interviews and it was the same case with the interviewers. Even they werent sure of what needed to be done. Next was the signing deadline. They were so generous that they gave unlimited signing dates to students and this created more chaos. People didnt sign their intent till the last week of Term 8. And because of this, the offer letters came one day before graduation. Cud have changed my mind and not got the job, but other personal reasons made me stick.

Now I am at home sitting absolutely idle. I have nothing to do other than running, test driving, reading which I could do during the weekends as well. Another problem started here. Joining Dates. We got two dates and that started the problem. People took more freedom and asked for changes and now all that is being accomodated for. Outcome: No work till June. What's more needed than a month's vacation? And I never need to talk about the Human Resources team. They are so resourceful that they reply to your emails only if its more than a week old. For god's sake its their employee who has emailed them with a query and they are least bothered about all that. I used to think that my previous company was all shitty. But its the same story of grass being greener on the other side. As the company grows the problems get engulfed in its growth story. Every company big or small has such characters who just sit tight and never move their ass. I hope I get a chance to change some of these things.

"New developments in the centre" - last post title has not been solved yet. The answer is RECENT. Its jumble from centre and it refers to new developments.

This time, the clue is a bit tricky but its workable. Its a SIX letter word and it refers to voyage. THINK HOLLYWOOD!!!

New development in the centre

Spamming was never a problem. After we've graduated, we have successfully started off a new chain of spam emails on 101 things to do after graduating from the ISB. Its quite interesting to see what all people can think of and come up with.

This Friday, I saw yet another Tamil Movie that had released during April this year. After a long time, I liked a love theme tamil movie. And, after a long time in the history of tamil movies, the guy and the girl dont end up living happily ever after. There is a happy ending here too, but its the same guy and a different girl.

I remembered Gary Barlow's song called Love Wont Wait when I walked out of the movie hall.

So the storyline in just few words was: Keep questioning my character without taking time to understand me for what I am and even though I might be kind enough to accept you as you are, I might just be happy to walk away with another woman who can listen. Sounds quite typical of most love themes but when you see something like this after an array of stupid stereotypes, you just tend to love it. Thats what happened with me I guess.

My test drive season has been quite successful. I tried the Ford Fiesta sometime back which was excellent. I liked the American car but definitely for the reason that it is american, not too many sell in this country. The Reanult Logan is a cheap luxury. Its as big as any car in that segment and a lot cheaper - in fact, the cheapest. The fully loaded version is less than Rs.650000 but the car lacks style. Interiors have been compensated for to make it less expensive. And I dont like the customer service in Chennai. I havent got a call from them for almost a week now. Ford Guys keep calling me every other day. Hyundai launched an upgraded version of its Accent called Verna. Its affordable and comfortable but nothing compared to HONDA. Honda has exceeded all my expecations from a car in that segment it occupies. People say that Honda charges more for its name but thats ok. The car is amazing. The engine (Honda is the best in the world for its R&D on engines) is so small and very powerful. I used to wonder why very few Hondas came on the USED CAR Sale and now we know why. People dont want to sell it.

The crossword theme continues with this six letter word which is the answer for this clue. The answer is already there in the clue. YOu just have to find it!!!

Outside could be boring

I think i had mentioned before about "The Camel Club" - the book i was reading. got bored of it becos of the same old west wing politics and then stuff about the secret service. well it turned out to be somewhat interesting towards the end. i thought it was going to be the usual attack on the US president, but this has taken a small twist. ultimately it means that you have to waste your time reading about 500 pages and get to the best part.

some thoughts from the book - america talks about a free world, but they are least bothered about the problems of genocide in africa. they are more bothered about the middle east because there is more oil there. talking more about the free world, america is the country that held the blacks as slaves for so many hundred years. and did you know that america represents less than 5 percent of the world's population and consumes nearly one quarter of the energy? well, here i really dont know what the author is trying to prove. energy consumption is based on economic activity and industrialization and that is no way connected to the number of people. if business demands more energy then use it. but then the other problem of not accepting to conform to greenhouse gas effects comes into picture. when the whole world is worried about melting ice caps and rising water levels, mr.bush is busy fighting for more oil. if america claims that they are trying to make every country into a democracy, then why arent they trying anything in china? practically, they cannot. if they did something and china reacted, then the american economy would crumple down in minutes and that would be the end.

india might be the fourth largest when GDP is measured in terms of purchasing power parity but the country still has problems in improving the infrastrcuture of the rural economy. manufacturing still holds a lot of scope. social infrastructure has to be improved as well. primary education system is very poor when compared to china and our country still has significant poverty levels. The main question is whether India will be able to meet the expectations of such a vibrant and buoyant economy. Although, we have somewhat managed to ride on the wave in a not so efficient but happy-go-lucky way, it might trigger a social imbalance which would end up disastrous.

The Treaty of Rome completes 50 years this year and all through this while Europe has enjoyed a sufficient level of prosperity. But still the level of innovation has come down. we still see that most of the talen drifts away to the united states and never comes back. is there a need for another Renaissance?

i have started spending time on the hindu crossword these days and hence, my subject line has become a crossword clue. this one is seven letters long. leave your answer in the comments section.

Next to the runway

its past 10.30pm and i am sitting in one old cyber cafe in a god knows where location. its some place near the bangalore airport. for a fact that the place where i live is near the airport, i used that to take some good pictures of aircrafts in motion. with much difficulty i found this cafe and decided to devote some time to blog. the lankans are playing the aussies today. it would be great in the lankans win - will they? well, thats a big question given the force with which the aussies have been playing all through the world cup. the keyboard i am using right now is so weird. its got some kannada symbols on it and its confusing me so much.

shilpa shetty has hit the front page again! from big brother to hollywood mega star richard gere - she needs the credit. or should it go the extremely stupid and hopeless indian press. arent there better things in this country to worry about than two people kissing on stage? some talk abt the indian backround - WTF, the indian background has already gone to the dogs when teenagers started wearing their 9 year-old sibling's clothing to cinemas and pubs. as years go by, the length of the skirt has decreased considerably. the people who did not talk abt tradition then are opening their dirty mouths now? and according to that idiotic lawyer in jaipur, kissing on cheeks is a sexual activity. isnt there a limit to that insane guy's claims and for god's sake, he has some supporters too. well, in that case, every dad, mom, son and daughter in this country should be accused of sexual activity. sometimes my blood just boils and i feel like thrashing these lawyers who just want to make some publicity. especially this ***tard, who had filed some 50 odd public interest litigations before this one.

class of 2008 seems to be very focused on academics i heard. some ppl who write to me say that as a big worry for people who dont want to read. well, u'll learn abt handling all that in the next week when statistics starts. everyone falls on the normal curve somehow. its also called the bell curve. what it really means would be explained more in the lectures (let me not go into the details), but the bottom line is that there are always outliers. in the case of ISB, the ppl who dont study are the outliers. but they'll still fit into the curve - somehow and somewhere. and being an outlier is not bad at all. I WAS ONE. so, welcome to the jungle if you are reading this post.

Spending time at home

I realised its not easy to spend time while being at home. I started reading a David Baldacci. Never knew that he would write stories on american politics. im almost on the verge of finishing it, but its definitely not worth the bestseller title. the whole plot is just another presidential killing based on the lines of the muslim war, but here a few americans are also involved. ultimately, it gives us the feeling that its not just the muslims who are fighting the war, but there are a few people within the country, lets easily call them traitors who provide sufficient government information for some monetary benefits. its so common everywhere.

suddenly there is lots of time that you really dont know what to do. i've even started thinking of what would be the right time to have a shower in the morning. its so silly but thats the height of laziness. i checked the renault logan and the ford fiesta yesterday. although i didnt get to drive the logan, i felt that the car was a steal for the price. the ford was an awesome car. another one will be on its way to my house for a test drive sometime today.

A new planet has been discovered. I always wondered if there were aliens living somewhere in another planet or another galaxy, and if they were looking at the earth like a cartoon network on their television screen, laughing at what we were doing and planning to get here one day to surprise us.

the reservation quota result has been postponed for a while now. i am so happy that this was done right at the time of b-school admissions. after 60 years of indepedance, people still want reservation. for such reasons i would be so happy if india were ruled like how the chinese rule their country. moreover, members of the parliament should undergo an aptitude test before they appear for the elections. and decisions should be taken only by people with relevant qualifications and not based on number of votes gathered. doesnt this sound like a utopian government? well, for a fact, most MPs in the UK are masters graduates or lawyers from premier institutions, so wy cant we have people of such calibre in our parliament? barring a few like the minister of information technology and others whose names i fail to remember, we have a rustic lot who dont know the bigger picture. now thats MBA funda.

my future are-you-one-of-those-father-in-laws have started calling up. there are atleast a two everyday. its quite interesting to hear to the conversations. everyone has become so electronic. they ask for stuff over emails and my parents are still loyal to the indian postal service. as i am the only technically inclined person at home and also very lazy, i am serving as an intermediary for the time being.

Wind-up

From April 15th, when I last blogged on to this space, which was a Sunday, we've had three student parties, one dinner hosted by the administration and one hosted by our placement committee director - the last two were only for our batch. It was another roller coaster ride for all the alums on campus. For once, we got to be gurus of the little we knew about the place we had inhabited a year back. The handover process had techically begun on the 14th with the registration and it went on till talent nite yesterday evening. Between all that, myself and manu jointly managed to click 800 plus photographs of the new batch doing various things on campus. When it was time to leave, all of us felt very different about leaving campus and heading out to find our own goals. It never hit me so hard, but today morning, when one of them told me good-bye, I almost cried.

I was amazed to see the profile of the next batch. Although I heard more in detail only from section-c, i kind of had this feeling that i might have not got through to ISB if i had applied this year. the focus on technology has reduced drastically and next year, the infosys and wipros of the IT industry will have to fight to get those few mba's who want to get back to IT. now, there is more focus on learning from experience. and every year, ISB is taking that bold step to face new challenges. the increasing diversity of professions signify that we will need to cater to specific demands of the students. at the same time, it also makes ISB occupy a distinct space in the b-school education space.

all alums have answered questions like nobody's business. the knowledge dissipation has happened right from the phone number of gachibowli wines to what electives are better in term 8.

suddenly the incident in virginia shook me. i was trying to rationalize the whole thing. but it never made sense. i dont understand why people are allowed to possess a gun. i mean, why should guns be available for everyone to buy or access. in our country, we have a strict rule and you need a license issued by a controlling authority to possess a weapon, but it doesnt seem to be the same way in the united states. the gun culture in america had begun becos of hunting and militia. initially it could have been acceptable to use firearms to protect yourself from invasion or hostile indians, but it doesnt seem logical now when we have enough forces to protect the state. why are individuals allowed to possess a weapon. if you'd seen the movie CRASH, you'd be shocked to notice less than 20 yr olds stealing cars at gun point. sometimes they end up shooting too. is all of this because of bad education? in india, a bomb blast in kashmir is not a big thing. it happens almost every alternate day. as far as i know, america is a nation that has gone into mourning when just 5 of its soldiers were shot in iraq - the initial few days. and the school incidents are not anything new.

so where are we heading? with this thought, i am starting yet another phase in my life. a whole new perspective of the western world. i am trying to understand the larger motive behind this ever expanding cycle of crime, punishment and governance.

A new beginning

Five days since I wrote anything on this mind-space. After the Alum-Current Batch meet on Wednesday, I found some time to watch this Tam Movie called Mozhi which translates to "language". Towards the end of the movie my recommendation rating went from a B to a D. But for some reasons this movie was okay - the usage of bright colors which was quite contrasting from the usual movies that hit the screens. The blend of the colors in the movie in terms of the background, or the clothing used by the actors brought some good emotions. The humor was rich and natural. At some points, one could actually relate himself to being a part of the story. But I always keep wondering why all Tam movies and a lot of other movies as well, have happy endings. Its perhaps the influence of writings from ancient times - examples are of Ramayana and Mahabharata and yes, you can name a lot of other stories too - the kings and the might warriors. Almost every story has a happy ending and that is attributed to the thought-flow of the script writers. Yes, we do have people who write tragedies and that end up being good movies, but the audience does not accept that very positively.

It was time for team building again. We came to Hyderabad and found ourselves in GreenFields where we had to spend two days(the weekend). It wasnt quite an interesting event because we had done most of it and were actually getting trained to do it for the next batch. Living in tents and bamboo huts was quite an experience.

The Class of 2008 is very interesting. Since yesterday, there have been enough people who have asked me about jobs and outgoing salaries. Although it freaks me out that people are worried about jobs and nothing else from day one, I wonder what kind of demands would be made to administration to fulfill their needs. The class is much diverse compared to ours and I am really happy about that. Now people will never complain that the IT background proportion in the batch is very high. This time they are almost a minority. Which is very good because this puts a lot of responsibility on the students and the staff to work harder to get better companies on campus. Its a risk and at the same time very rewarding if efforts are channeled effectively. A number of people I met are worried about grades and scores as well. I hope their preferences change soon - either they study study and study or else they'll end up worrying for the next few terms as well. Some of them would be happy if there was a book on "How to be on the Dean's List", but there will come a time when they'll have that realization. And after every conversation, I always wondered why I did not have any such questions during my orientation. Is Gyaan (knowledge) too much of bad medicine?

Anyway, as things were - yesterday's party, scores least on my party rating scale for parties at ISB. Now that I am back on campus, I am completely out of touch from the outside world. It feels nice to be back and stay in Exec Housing - all expenses paid and taken care of, courtesy ISB.

The loan scare

As soon as most of us from isb step into the real world, we get struck by so many things. planning becomes so important for a lot of dreamers. and all this planning is for the monetary component of your dream. as such, there is huge dent in your pocket that would goon for the next ten years if you wished to. thats the education loan. apart from that each and everyone of us would have wanted to own a four-wheeler and/or a house of their own. that adds a huge crater. i was looking at what was available in the city to buy - we are talking of real estate here. actually, there isnt anything available in madras to buy. if there is, then you cant afford it with the post mba salary. there are some in the IT corridor, but the corridor is miles away, almost close to another town called mahabalipuram and almost half way to pondicherry. and if thot that these places were affordable, then the minimum is more than 5 times my CTC. i used to ask myself why people with lesser experience demanded more salaries on campus. wonder if they figured out all of this and were calculating future cash flows based on these market projections. well, what the hell.

i have this strange sickness in me i think. i get to a place and then i dont move from there again. happened to me at isb as well. i got there and i felt so strange. a totally new place and everything looked like a maze. i got into my room and then i felt like locking up myself and not doing anything. cant imagine myself doing that, but thats how it all started. same here right now. i can just sit idle in my home. at the same time, if i am out, i can put all my energy into doing something. really weird i must say.

Amethyst is a nice coffee shop in chennai - thats what some people say. we had a meeting with our next batch today evening. i didnt have much time to check out the place amidst the crazy questions that were coming across. i still wonder why i did not ask my seniors about academics, food and a lot of other things in ISB before i made plans to travel there - becos everyone today had a new question to ask and it felt like seeing that advertisement that used to feature on TV for Shah Rukh Khan's promo of Kaun Banega Crorepati (equivalent of who wants to be a millionare). oh yes, i managed to get it from youtube, watch it here....



another day or two and i will be back on campus again. now its time to just party and get drunk. the next batch will start the grind and we'll have fun giving them all sorts of Gyaan (what they call knowledge). and you dont have to teach ISB students to give gyaan. every mba student who graduates from the isb can give gyaan for the rest of their life about anything and everything. he/she will definitely not say - I dont know. Will they - lets find out next week.

Life in the real world

I graduated on Saturday morning with an MBA. If thats the way to put it. It was a packed hall. Almost 2000 people were there and it was filled with flashes from the camera as people walked on to the stage and collected their dummy certificates from Montek Singh Ahluwalia. It was quite an event for a number of people, especially the parents, to see their child walk down the red carpet to the seating area. Imagine Branjelina getting out and walking towards the Kodak Theater. It was like that. The flashes filled my eyes. I was surprised to see enthusiastic parents eagerly waiting for the son or daughter to walk past them and then they would think - ah! my child has done it.

Anyway, after the big not too interesting speech about the indian economy, we got our certificate. Technically I did not get mine because the bank has already taken it as a collateral for the loan I have availed. The food in the atrium sucked big time. It was the usual sarovar menu and it was pathetic. People queued around everywhere and were also taking photographs. We (my parents and I) had a quick lunch and then I took them for a tour around the academic center.

I got to see the yearbook too. I did get my copy. It was such an awesome feeling to hold that book in my hand. we had done so much work on it the last week including 2 sleepless nights and it had come out extremely well. it was a great moment of pride. no more words on that. its something that i will live with for some time atleast.

life in the real world has started from today. well i do get back for orientation coming friday, but till then its going to be something different and what i have to look forward to in the future. the first thing was the internet connection at home. it started playing up the moment i logged on. well, there is no 7555 to call up and ask what the problem is. no one will attend to your problem till 10am the next day. and this is something you cant fix on your own. it gave me a feeling of being totally left in the open without any support system. and this is what a comfortable b-school life does to you. now its not easy to have everything at the click of a button. and i am sure that i am going to see more of this reality everyday from now on.

yesterday, i had also been to this place called Srisailam - a few hundred miles away from hyderabad. i do have to write about that. but thats reserved for the next post.

The Yearbook

With ISB, life on the fast lane never ends. I generally pulled myself into working for the yearbook and here i am, having spent a whole night working on it with the designer. two of us - ali and myself, have been going to the designers' place for the last three days and yesterday was our marathon completion task of looking at all the profiles and finishing the last touches. we finished at 5 in the morning. for the first time i saw the moon setting down. the last time i did a night-out was i think for kota fibres in term 3.

and i missed the white and blue GSB party for the term. this was the last on-campus party for the students. i have been missing a lot of things because of the yearbook. i missed two football matches that our team played - one semis and one finals. missed some more parties. in the last few days we have had a sports theme party, a traffic signals lights theme party and the one that happened yesterday. we have one more today and one tomorrow that will give the finishing touches before graduation.

i dont know what else is happening on campus. the media should be here talking to a few people. the placement results will be out soon. every department is begging the students to do a survey. starting from the PGP ( for this they dont have to beg because if u dont do the survey u wont get ur certificate), IT survey, library survey etc. then we have to collect out t-shirts that we ordered a long time back, graduation gowns, finance department bills, laptop check (thank god, we dont have to format our laptop now - microsoft has given us free license for life).

when all this is happening around me, i am still working on the yearbook. after so many days of work, i have so much gyaan to give to the next batch on this. obviously this doesnt take any importance when u need a consulting job, but it takes the highest priority in term 8 atleast for the people who want to get it out on time.

all meal plans are gone. now we are paying at guest rates and eating here. thats totally insane. someone was suppsosed to work out a better deal for us poor souls who did not decide to travel anywhere (say bollocks to the yearbook), but nothing has worked out in our favor. amidst all this, i have to pack too. i havent done that at all. i hope to get some time tomorrow. thank god i managed a few minutes to write this post. it still feels like being in core terms. i thought i could chill out and relax for the whole week - i dont think i'll get one whole day with that much luxury.

The MBA is over

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Happy Women's Day

To all the women I have met at the Indian School of Business,
(please switch on the speakers)


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All the very best for a great future.

Cheers
Narayan

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.

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.