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.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, April 09, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
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.
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.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Its almost time
Yes, its almost time to get the **** out of this place. This is the last week of academics on campus. In fact, classes for most courses have ended and we just have a few end term exams to get over. I have one more assignment due on Thursday evening. I haven't even started on it, rather haven't thought about writing anything.
Too many things to handle in the last few days. Suddenly I got pulled into the drama club activity. The drama will happen today at the auditorium. Its extremely hilarious. I am just waiting to get the soft copy and put it on You Tube. Then there is the yearbook for which a bunch of us have been running around for the last few weeks. We had to get 416 profiles, testimonials and stuff like that. We were working like mad dogs collecting photos, emails and a lot of other creative stuff. Getting the first few students to write testimonials was quite easy. And they there were some laggards. They have this feeling that they are god's gift. I was talking to one such moron the other day. He was acting so silly and I had a mind to give him a tight slap. One thing I ask - "You volunteered on your own to write a testimonial for someone and then now you say that you don't have time". These are the same people who talk about taking a stride into the corporate world with a lot of responsibility and leadership traits. They are just going to shit bricks. Anyway, my rants will just go on.
Frisbee on campus has picked up momentum like never. There are more people on the ground than anyone can ever imagine. Its full house. Now that work has started on the basketball court - the wooden floors will be up before the first exam for the next batch, no more indoor games. That calls for more people on the field.
People have started packing off books and clothing. Exit forms are out. All the departments have brought out their survey questionnaires. And its mandatory to fill some of them, otherwise you won't get the graduation certificate. I have done my bit of surveys for the IT, Library, Career Services and PGP Office.
Photography club arranged for a free trip to the Golconda Fort last weekend. It was an amazing trip. My unfinished trip had finished. The last time we went to Golconda was with Section C. We started pretty late and then before we could leave campus, the bus did not have enough fuel. The driver got some fuel to get the bus to the fuel station and then by the time we reached the fort, it was drizzling and the fort had closed for the evening. This time we were there very early and we also had a professional photographer giving us tips.
A view from the TOP.
After the Light and Sound Show.
Too many things to handle in the last few days. Suddenly I got pulled into the drama club activity. The drama will happen today at the auditorium. Its extremely hilarious. I am just waiting to get the soft copy and put it on You Tube. Then there is the yearbook for which a bunch of us have been running around for the last few weeks. We had to get 416 profiles, testimonials and stuff like that. We were working like mad dogs collecting photos, emails and a lot of other creative stuff. Getting the first few students to write testimonials was quite easy. And they there were some laggards. They have this feeling that they are god's gift. I was talking to one such moron the other day. He was acting so silly and I had a mind to give him a tight slap. One thing I ask - "You volunteered on your own to write a testimonial for someone and then now you say that you don't have time". These are the same people who talk about taking a stride into the corporate world with a lot of responsibility and leadership traits. They are just going to shit bricks. Anyway, my rants will just go on.
Frisbee on campus has picked up momentum like never. There are more people on the ground than anyone can ever imagine. Its full house. Now that work has started on the basketball court - the wooden floors will be up before the first exam for the next batch, no more indoor games. That calls for more people on the field.
People have started packing off books and clothing. Exit forms are out. All the departments have brought out their survey questionnaires. And its mandatory to fill some of them, otherwise you won't get the graduation certificate. I have done my bit of surveys for the IT, Library, Career Services and PGP Office.
Photography club arranged for a free trip to the Golconda Fort last weekend. It was an amazing trip. My unfinished trip had finished. The last time we went to Golconda was with Section C. We started pretty late and then before we could leave campus, the bus did not have enough fuel. The driver got some fuel to get the bus to the fuel station and then by the time we reached the fort, it was drizzling and the fort had closed for the evening. This time we were there very early and we also had a professional photographer giving us tips.
A view from the TOP.
After the Light and Sound Show.
Friday, March 23, 2007
The best TA award
This funny event happened a few days back. It was for the Leadership course. So, we have final assignment due. It was a group project. We were given the topic - Practical Leadership, Getting Things Done. There was this unbearable task of writing 3000 words on god knows what. awesome gas i would say.
anyway, the funny part was about the teaching assistant for the course. the deadline for submission was given as Wednesday night 12pm. by then we had to submit a soft copy of the report to the TA's email id and the profs email id. after that we had to drop a hard copy of the report in a box somewhere in the academic center. we had too many assignments this week and we were pressed for time. and no one had the intention to work for any project.
someone suggested to me that they should not have a term 8 in the course. thats the level of interest in the people here. people come to class without reading a page from the course pack. then the professor gives them 15 minutes of class time to read and then continues the discussion. imagine the situation. it was just the opposite less than a month back. there used to be atleast 10 hands in the air to answer questions and now, every student has his face looking only at his laptop and nowhere else. when the prof asks a question, they don't even bother to look at him and acknowledge. this is applicable to the deans listers too. whatever.
so the TA for leadership lessons sends out an email when we asked for a deadline extension. Email says -
"Note that the deadline extension is for hard copy not for soft copy. This extension is made for your convenience. You need to mail the soft copy by tonight."
How intelligent. This was perhaps the most innovative solution that someone has given ever. My friend called the TA and explained the situation personally about the deadline extension and the TA goes again - "we have already given you an extension. you just have to submit the soft copy by 12pm. hard copy can be given later". And my friend was like - "does that make any difference?"
Apart from these silly things, there isn't anything important thats happening campus. The PGP Forum would happen today. That's going to be something like a mini war field between the students and the management. I am hoping to get some fun content from there. The Frisbee field has had good action in the last few days.
And one thing I hate to talk about but still have to is cricket. I don't know what the team is doing out there, rather I am not bothered, but we have this blue billion campaign that I hate, detest, whatever. We have so many important things to think about than wasting time on this. The Pepsi ad is just irritating. and then another rumor that about the Pope dying in 1981 and India winning 2 yrs later. then pope dying in 2005 and India winning this year. for Christ's sake, it was the same pope in 1981 and 2005. in 1981, he just got shot at. he never died. i don't know where from people make up such stupid reasons. its so baseless.
anyway, the funny part was about the teaching assistant for the course. the deadline for submission was given as Wednesday night 12pm. by then we had to submit a soft copy of the report to the TA's email id and the profs email id. after that we had to drop a hard copy of the report in a box somewhere in the academic center. we had too many assignments this week and we were pressed for time. and no one had the intention to work for any project.
someone suggested to me that they should not have a term 8 in the course. thats the level of interest in the people here. people come to class without reading a page from the course pack. then the professor gives them 15 minutes of class time to read and then continues the discussion. imagine the situation. it was just the opposite less than a month back. there used to be atleast 10 hands in the air to answer questions and now, every student has his face looking only at his laptop and nowhere else. when the prof asks a question, they don't even bother to look at him and acknowledge. this is applicable to the deans listers too. whatever.
so the TA for leadership lessons sends out an email when we asked for a deadline extension. Email says -
"Note that the deadline extension is for hard copy not for soft copy. This extension is made for your convenience. You need to mail the soft copy by tonight."
How intelligent. This was perhaps the most innovative solution that someone has given ever. My friend called the TA and explained the situation personally about the deadline extension and the TA goes again - "we have already given you an extension. you just have to submit the soft copy by 12pm. hard copy can be given later". And my friend was like - "does that make any difference?"
Apart from these silly things, there isn't anything important thats happening campus. The PGP Forum would happen today. That's going to be something like a mini war field between the students and the management. I am hoping to get some fun content from there. The Frisbee field has had good action in the last few days.
And one thing I hate to talk about but still have to is cricket. I don't know what the team is doing out there, rather I am not bothered, but we have this blue billion campaign that I hate, detest, whatever. We have so many important things to think about than wasting time on this. The Pepsi ad is just irritating. and then another rumor that about the Pope dying in 1981 and India winning 2 yrs later. then pope dying in 2005 and India winning this year. for Christ's sake, it was the same pope in 1981 and 2005. in 1981, he just got shot at. he never died. i don't know where from people make up such stupid reasons. its so baseless.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Some things never change
I was in the Strategic Partnerships class today. We were discussing the airline alliances case, specifically about Star Alliance - dunno if you have heard of this. I hadn't. I just new BA's One-world alliance. This was new to me. Anyway, thats not the point here.
Some things I realized after the class discussions in Term 8. Maturity levels are still the same. I mean - they were quite low to start with and have pretty much stayed there. One thing that didn't interest me is that we were actually discussing case facts. Whats the point in talking about something that someone has already written. Anyway, that was the structure of the lecture, so we cant debate that. But then lets turn around and look at the so-called MBAs who are going to graduate out of this place in a little more than 2 weeks. They still talk like politicians. They just know that they have to say something - in all probability, whatever they say will be totally unconnected what the Prof is asking. But still, they would make their point. Its felt like sitting in a Summer session of the Indian Parliament. So, the Prof asked one student about his reaction to someone's comment. Clearly this person did not have an answer. I could see that stupid look on his face. But then he had raised his hands and the Prof asked him. And this was his only opportunity to get those 2 marks for class participation. He promptly replied - "Actually, I have a different view" and I was like - "Yeah, you will".
I had this idea in my mind that somehow things will turn around, the placement season would set things right for a lot of people, it would change their attitude. I thought they would get wiser by the day. Its been a total let down. Even though the MBA has taught so many jargons; marketing & financial models, it has still left a big hole in the personal skills space.
The buzz on campus is about graduation passes. People have generously invited their uncles, aunties and everyone beginning from their three year old cousin to attend the graduation. And now they have started spamming the batch asking for someone to donate extra passes to them. Well, we spamming doesn't really work well with MBAs. So what do we need? Yes, an EXCEL Sheet. A new excel sheet has been created in the shared drive for this purpose. After all, what are MBAs for. They can make good presentations, write some numbers in an excel sheet that no one can understand and comment about anything and everything in this world. I am sure that Bill Gates must be a strong supporter of B-Schools for having propagated the use of Microsoft Tools. And I am happy that he has kept most of them on the consumer side and not a part of his business.
Some things I realized after the class discussions in Term 8. Maturity levels are still the same. I mean - they were quite low to start with and have pretty much stayed there. One thing that didn't interest me is that we were actually discussing case facts. Whats the point in talking about something that someone has already written. Anyway, that was the structure of the lecture, so we cant debate that. But then lets turn around and look at the so-called MBAs who are going to graduate out of this place in a little more than 2 weeks. They still talk like politicians. They just know that they have to say something - in all probability, whatever they say will be totally unconnected what the Prof is asking. But still, they would make their point. Its felt like sitting in a Summer session of the Indian Parliament. So, the Prof asked one student about his reaction to someone's comment. Clearly this person did not have an answer. I could see that stupid look on his face. But then he had raised his hands and the Prof asked him. And this was his only opportunity to get those 2 marks for class participation. He promptly replied - "Actually, I have a different view" and I was like - "Yeah, you will".
I had this idea in my mind that somehow things will turn around, the placement season would set things right for a lot of people, it would change their attitude. I thought they would get wiser by the day. Its been a total let down. Even though the MBA has taught so many jargons; marketing & financial models, it has still left a big hole in the personal skills space.
The buzz on campus is about graduation passes. People have generously invited their uncles, aunties and everyone beginning from their three year old cousin to attend the graduation. And now they have started spamming the batch asking for someone to donate extra passes to them. Well, we spamming doesn't really work well with MBAs. So what do we need? Yes, an EXCEL Sheet. A new excel sheet has been created in the shared drive for this purpose. After all, what are MBAs for. They can make good presentations, write some numbers in an excel sheet that no one can understand and comment about anything and everything in this world. I am sure that Bill Gates must be a strong supporter of B-Schools for having propagated the use of Microsoft Tools. And I am happy that he has kept most of them on the consumer side and not a part of his business.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Leadership Lessons from 22000 feet
It was time to know what the ultimate essence of leadership was. And considering the kind of jobs we were going to get into in the next few months, it was important that we heard it from someone who had been there and done that because we'd probably never do such things in this lifetime.
It was time to meet Capt. Raghu Ram who was working with Mahindra. He was in the army for 11 years and he was on campus to talk to us about "leadership lessons from siachen". A thought provoking speech for one hour. At the end of it, I felt that I was fortunate to do what I was doing. Nothing could get better.
So, what do soldiers give their lives for? Answers from the student body said - will, love for country, awards, fighting spirit, sense of duty etc. But we were all wrong. The only reason was the superior officer. Soldiers never want to be there and do that. They are there only because someone has inspired them to be there. Thats the dedication a leader brings at that level.
Most of us didn't even know where Siachen exactly was. After looking at some of the pictures that he had shown us, I was horrified. A place where you can't return until you have completed the allotted duration of stay, which could range from 3 months to a year. The glacier is famous for more than 50% not returning back home. The temperatures are close to -35 degrees Celsius and your bofy metabolism drops to 20%. There is a good chance of loss of life. Avalanches are very common. You eat very less and answer the nature's call once in 2 days. Sometimes people have to wear warm clothing that just weighs 17 kilos. But you have to live and bear it. Sometimes even letters from home with unhappy messages are not given. Letters following that unhappy letter never get through too. All letters are screened so that people don't lose their spirit and concentration.
At the glacier its all about guarding your post and keeping it. It the Pakistani military captures a post, then the next time Indians have to get it. There is enough exchange of ammunition everyday. But thats the life there.
If you remember the movie Vertical Limit, where in the climax, the guy cuts off the rope to save the woman from falling into the crevasse. I cant imagine such things. But all this is bound to happen in Siachen and that incredible amount of leadership is required to make such decisions. It is a matter of life and death. But as a captain, you are responsible for the lives of your team. So, you also decide whether they are going to be with you or not. There have been situations when a comrade has been dead and you have to keep the dead-body till the next copter arrives to pick it up and that might be even 3 months. Its total trauma and everyday is a nightmare.
Imagine being there and making such decisions. Imagine a team of yours is not responding to you at night and you need to make a call whether you have to send another team to search. In fact, the lost team would just be less than 100 mtrs from your camp, but you still cant locate them due to harsh weather conditions. The enemy is watching you always. They can open fire anytime. Even your team cannot distinguish anyone at night. So, there is sufficient probability of your team killing you too.
Towards the end, I could never imagine myself making such decisions in my life. I can't do it at all. Being responsible for a person's life is not a joke. The cries of the family members after that message reaches them. Its you who's got to tell them too. At every point, you need that extra courage and balance of mind to do that. And they say - Trauma Transforms.
It was time to meet Capt. Raghu Ram who was working with Mahindra. He was in the army for 11 years and he was on campus to talk to us about "leadership lessons from siachen". A thought provoking speech for one hour. At the end of it, I felt that I was fortunate to do what I was doing. Nothing could get better.
So, what do soldiers give their lives for? Answers from the student body said - will, love for country, awards, fighting spirit, sense of duty etc. But we were all wrong. The only reason was the superior officer. Soldiers never want to be there and do that. They are there only because someone has inspired them to be there. Thats the dedication a leader brings at that level.
Most of us didn't even know where Siachen exactly was. After looking at some of the pictures that he had shown us, I was horrified. A place where you can't return until you have completed the allotted duration of stay, which could range from 3 months to a year. The glacier is famous for more than 50% not returning back home. The temperatures are close to -35 degrees Celsius and your bofy metabolism drops to 20%. There is a good chance of loss of life. Avalanches are very common. You eat very less and answer the nature's call once in 2 days. Sometimes people have to wear warm clothing that just weighs 17 kilos. But you have to live and bear it. Sometimes even letters from home with unhappy messages are not given. Letters following that unhappy letter never get through too. All letters are screened so that people don't lose their spirit and concentration.
At the glacier its all about guarding your post and keeping it. It the Pakistani military captures a post, then the next time Indians have to get it. There is enough exchange of ammunition everyday. But thats the life there.
If you remember the movie Vertical Limit, where in the climax, the guy cuts off the rope to save the woman from falling into the crevasse. I cant imagine such things. But all this is bound to happen in Siachen and that incredible amount of leadership is required to make such decisions. It is a matter of life and death. But as a captain, you are responsible for the lives of your team. So, you also decide whether they are going to be with you or not. There have been situations when a comrade has been dead and you have to keep the dead-body till the next copter arrives to pick it up and that might be even 3 months. Its total trauma and everyday is a nightmare.
Imagine being there and making such decisions. Imagine a team of yours is not responding to you at night and you need to make a call whether you have to send another team to search. In fact, the lost team would just be less than 100 mtrs from your camp, but you still cant locate them due to harsh weather conditions. The enemy is watching you always. They can open fire anytime. Even your team cannot distinguish anyone at night. So, there is sufficient probability of your team killing you too.
Towards the end, I could never imagine myself making such decisions in my life. I can't do it at all. Being responsible for a person's life is not a joke. The cries of the family members after that message reaches them. Its you who's got to tell them too. At every point, you need that extra courage and balance of mind to do that. And they say - Trauma Transforms.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Reflections from Term 4
We are working on the yearbook. I definitely need to write more on that. Reserve that for the next post as Term 4 is very important considering the fact that the next batch will be here in a month. Term 4 was the one that most of us wanted to be scrapped out of the ISB MBA program and perhaps convert it into a one month internship. This would have helped in getting more finance jobs on campus. The ELP wasn't doing any good at all. And moreover, Term 4 was adding zero value to the MBA.
Government Society and Business - taught by Mudit Kapoor and Shivakumar(one of the few profs in ISB who has a wikipedia page dedicated to him). Anyway, Shiva is one great person who is part of the National Advisory Council and works closely with the Prime Minister and people like Sonia Gandhi. So the insights he brought during the second half of the course were pretty good. He touched upon the realities quite well and gave us the clean picture. Not like the cliched bottom of the pyramid crap. He talked about harsh realities, the way forward for the country and its poor people. The first half of the course was total gas. We talked about taliban, china and just wasted time.
Investment Analysis - the last finance course you are forced to take up. Taken by Tom Nohel. It was his first time on campus and he really didn't know what to do. He was teaching us the same stuff that we had done in corporate finance for almost 5 classes. Then he shifted gears and talked about something that I don't even remember vaguely. That was my interest in the class. I was also sitting in the last row this term. So my enthu to listen to the prof was zero and all of us in the last row had our laptops open. We didn't bother.
Management of Organizations - totally intoxicated with management gas. Taken by Mary Watson, all we did during this course was filling out survey questionnaires for the professor. And this happened in every class. Mega time pass. The only thing I remember about this course is an article about "Selection Bias". The second half was taken by our Negotiation Prof Dishan Kamdar. He was quite good and lenient too. The exam was horrible. All theory and total nonsense.
Strategic Analysis of IT - The only IT course in the core terms handled by Rajiv Banker and Sandra Slaughter. This course was also a bit on the waste course category. We could have still managed without doing this course. Almost half the batch is from the IT industry and all this course talks about is outsourcing, off shoring, in sourcing and multi sourcing. So, for a non IT guy, this course is a nightmare because he'll find that the IT guys have their hands up all the time to talk in class. The in-class quiz is good fun. It accounts for 40% of the grade I guess. This course also had an end-term quiz, but then in our batch, we had to go through the major fiasco of getting the exam postponed and things like that. It was fun.
Government Society and Business - taught by Mudit Kapoor and Shivakumar(one of the few profs in ISB who has a wikipedia page dedicated to him). Anyway, Shiva is one great person who is part of the National Advisory Council and works closely with the Prime Minister and people like Sonia Gandhi. So the insights he brought during the second half of the course were pretty good. He touched upon the realities quite well and gave us the clean picture. Not like the cliched bottom of the pyramid crap. He talked about harsh realities, the way forward for the country and its poor people. The first half of the course was total gas. We talked about taliban, china and just wasted time.
Investment Analysis - the last finance course you are forced to take up. Taken by Tom Nohel. It was his first time on campus and he really didn't know what to do. He was teaching us the same stuff that we had done in corporate finance for almost 5 classes. Then he shifted gears and talked about something that I don't even remember vaguely. That was my interest in the class. I was also sitting in the last row this term. So my enthu to listen to the prof was zero and all of us in the last row had our laptops open. We didn't bother.
Management of Organizations - totally intoxicated with management gas. Taken by Mary Watson, all we did during this course was filling out survey questionnaires for the professor. And this happened in every class. Mega time pass. The only thing I remember about this course is an article about "Selection Bias". The second half was taken by our Negotiation Prof Dishan Kamdar. He was quite good and lenient too. The exam was horrible. All theory and total nonsense.
Strategic Analysis of IT - The only IT course in the core terms handled by Rajiv Banker and Sandra Slaughter. This course was also a bit on the waste course category. We could have still managed without doing this course. Almost half the batch is from the IT industry and all this course talks about is outsourcing, off shoring, in sourcing and multi sourcing. So, for a non IT guy, this course is a nightmare because he'll find that the IT guys have their hands up all the time to talk in class. The in-class quiz is good fun. It accounts for 40% of the grade I guess. This course also had an end-term quiz, but then in our batch, we had to go through the major fiasco of getting the exam postponed and things like that. It was fun.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Global Social Venture Competition
The GSVC Asia Semi Final has started in ISB today. We had the elevator pitch and it was awesome to see 16 teams on the stage. Our team is there as well. I am thrilled that we are part of a global competition. Our team is one of the 16 and we have 5 ISB teams in total. I hope ISB wins the semis.
For the people from the next batch who read my blog, I am going to be in campus for the orientation. I have been nominated - Can I say that? You get invited to be here to meet the next batch. Its a privilege rather. Whatever.
I remember the last new product development class and the Prof by mistake asked the students to relate their work experience to the case study in hand. I guess she would have definitely realized that she had made the worst mistake in her 5 classes at the ISB. The students never stopped. They went on and on and on about their experiences in the IT firms they have worked with. I mean its all the same. Its the same alcohol in different bottles. And you know the MBA students at the ISB - given a chance to talk and also the fact that there are points for class participation, they will talk till their last breath. And there will always be one extraordinary creature who will add on to what one guy has said, because he doesn't have anything to say from his own mind. Rather he is too dumb to talk something sensible.
We had Leadership lessons from World Literature too. Our group did an awesome presentation on Shakuntala and Dushanta - the Kalidasa version. Well, I made use of my leadership development program to the best. Walked into the leadership space, took control of the audience, made the right gestures and pauses. Pretty impressive I must say. Oh Narayan, would you please stop this nonsense. But yeah, it would have helped if I had done some more preparation. And yes, speaking to a big crowd is a piece of cake - ain't it?
Strategic Partnerships is another course that is leading me into a totally different plane about strategy and decisions. The course content is phenomenal. Its a must for all, no matter what major you are doing. The kind of insights that you get from this course makes you think like a CEO. Well, thats too much gas for a day eh.
So thats the status about my courses this term on campus. When its weekend, people just take off for a nice vacation to anywhere nearby. Official countdowns have begun, people have started writing that as their status message on GTalk and Yahoo. Some people are just getting wasted every day.
And last Tuesday was my worst day on campus. I had 4 classes the next day and 5 assignments to submit on the same day. And then about a 100 pages to read too. I was totally stretched for time. I am the only guy on campus who had this misfortune, that too in Term 8. Ciao.
For the people from the next batch who read my blog, I am going to be in campus for the orientation. I have been nominated - Can I say that? You get invited to be here to meet the next batch. Its a privilege rather. Whatever.
I remember the last new product development class and the Prof by mistake asked the students to relate their work experience to the case study in hand. I guess she would have definitely realized that she had made the worst mistake in her 5 classes at the ISB. The students never stopped. They went on and on and on about their experiences in the IT firms they have worked with. I mean its all the same. Its the same alcohol in different bottles. And you know the MBA students at the ISB - given a chance to talk and also the fact that there are points for class participation, they will talk till their last breath. And there will always be one extraordinary creature who will add on to what one guy has said, because he doesn't have anything to say from his own mind. Rather he is too dumb to talk something sensible.
We had Leadership lessons from World Literature too. Our group did an awesome presentation on Shakuntala and Dushanta - the Kalidasa version. Well, I made use of my leadership development program to the best. Walked into the leadership space, took control of the audience, made the right gestures and pauses. Pretty impressive I must say. Oh Narayan, would you please stop this nonsense. But yeah, it would have helped if I had done some more preparation. And yes, speaking to a big crowd is a piece of cake - ain't it?
Strategic Partnerships is another course that is leading me into a totally different plane about strategy and decisions. The course content is phenomenal. Its a must for all, no matter what major you are doing. The kind of insights that you get from this course makes you think like a CEO. Well, thats too much gas for a day eh.
So thats the status about my courses this term on campus. When its weekend, people just take off for a nice vacation to anywhere nearby. Official countdowns have begun, people have started writing that as their status message on GTalk and Yahoo. Some people are just getting wasted every day.
And last Tuesday was my worst day on campus. I had 4 classes the next day and 5 assignments to submit on the same day. And then about a 100 pages to read too. I was totally stretched for time. I am the only guy on campus who had this misfortune, that too in Term 8. Ciao.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Happy Women's Day
To all the women I have met at the Indian School of Business,
(please switch on the speakers)
Send this eCard !
All the very best for a great future.
Cheers
Narayan
(please switch on the speakers)
Send this eCard !
All the very best for a great future.
Cheers
Narayan
Monday, March 05, 2007
Reflections from Term 3
The weekend was very tiring. I think this would happen in every ISB student's life. He or she would have the best Holi party ever, only on campus. It was awesome. Six glasses of Bhang and in about four hours I was floating. It was an amazing feeling. I just loved the whole day. A riot of colors followed since 9.30am in the morning. Towards the end people started tearing the t-shirts of the men. You can see my Flickr Tab for some photos that I have borrowed from Doc.
By Term 3, you are almost done with your studies. I mean, the people who wanted to catch the best of the grades would have done that by now and from now on, for them, its just keep sailing the right way and stay on the good side of the tide. For the others, this term is to catch up for all that was left behind in the last two terms.
Corporate Finance - taught by Bhagwan Chowdhry for three sections. The rest have another prof. One Prof, who will let you know clearly as to what he would expect from you in the exam and what you need to study. Although I wasn't too keen about knowing stuff in finance, his classes were interesting. I vaguely remember Black Scholes, Modigliani Miller, WACC and CAPM. He always drew parallels to his family and the students in general, so you wouldn't really fall asleep. His exams were purely multiple choice. Make sure that you read, I'd rather say mug up, all the sample question papers and the answers. You will get around 30% questions from that stuff. Also read some extra stuff available from the textbook's webpage. That might be useful too.
Managerial Accounting - Two accounting disasters in one term. Thats something you can avoid this term. Its definitely a pain if you had assignments to submit for both. The other sections had assignments every day for Corp Fin. Thank god, we had none. But we had some horrible case studies where we had to crunch numbers. My group mates were my saviors for accounting assignments. Prof Sri Sridharan was the ManAcc prof for us. Before him, Prof. Khalid Nainar took the first 5 classes and introduced us to the course. Once Sridharan was in-charge, the assignments started pouring in. This was the term where we had something like three or four assignments due the next day, all due at the same time. I remember the night-out I put for a silly case in ManAcc. It was called Kota Fibres and I still don't have a clue of what that case was all about. Sridharan is a very nice person to talk to. You must try and catch him during breakfast and engage him for a nice conversation. If you are a CA, then be prepared for some questions about Indian Accounting. That's a forewarning.
Entrepreneurship - taught by S Venkataraman and Rama Velamuri. Awesome course. They say that entrepreneurship cannot be taught in a classroom. Yes, that is definitely true. But this course exposes you to some of the best entrepreneurs, rather entr-based case studies in different industries such that you get a very deep understanding of the whole idea of entrepreneurship. Lots to read and we had 40% class participation. A very well organized class, handled extremely well by both professors. Prof. Venkat, being a BITSian, gave us some of his insights about the field and his BITS days. Imagine learning from a person who wrote the initial business plan for the Wipro Information Technology. This Darden Prof had done work in WIPRO that was worth 7 yrs in less than 2.5 years. If you prepare well for this class, then you will rock.
Operations Management - taught by Prof Sridhar Seshadri and Prof Sudhakar Deshkmukh. Prof Seshadri is perhaps the best prof i have listened to for operations related stuff. He is amazing. The insights he brings into the OPS case studies are awesome. He deals with a few simple case studies but the way he handles the case is just enough to throw your thought process off-guard. It helps to prepare yourself for his class. You can get a few CP marks because not too many people would study to make a CP in OPS. Prof Deshmukh, the Danny Devito of the ISB, is a great man. His book is the recommended reading for the course. His concepts on supply chain management will totally bombard you. He'd always play this music on his laptop when you go for a break. When the music ends, he will start the class, no matter what. Each Prof has his own way to handle his students.
By Term 3, you are almost done with your studies. I mean, the people who wanted to catch the best of the grades would have done that by now and from now on, for them, its just keep sailing the right way and stay on the good side of the tide. For the others, this term is to catch up for all that was left behind in the last two terms.
Corporate Finance - taught by Bhagwan Chowdhry for three sections. The rest have another prof. One Prof, who will let you know clearly as to what he would expect from you in the exam and what you need to study. Although I wasn't too keen about knowing stuff in finance, his classes were interesting. I vaguely remember Black Scholes, Modigliani Miller, WACC and CAPM. He always drew parallels to his family and the students in general, so you wouldn't really fall asleep. His exams were purely multiple choice. Make sure that you read, I'd rather say mug up, all the sample question papers and the answers. You will get around 30% questions from that stuff. Also read some extra stuff available from the textbook's webpage. That might be useful too.
Managerial Accounting - Two accounting disasters in one term. Thats something you can avoid this term. Its definitely a pain if you had assignments to submit for both. The other sections had assignments every day for Corp Fin. Thank god, we had none. But we had some horrible case studies where we had to crunch numbers. My group mates were my saviors for accounting assignments. Prof Sri Sridharan was the ManAcc prof for us. Before him, Prof. Khalid Nainar took the first 5 classes and introduced us to the course. Once Sridharan was in-charge, the assignments started pouring in. This was the term where we had something like three or four assignments due the next day, all due at the same time. I remember the night-out I put for a silly case in ManAcc. It was called Kota Fibres and I still don't have a clue of what that case was all about. Sridharan is a very nice person to talk to. You must try and catch him during breakfast and engage him for a nice conversation. If you are a CA, then be prepared for some questions about Indian Accounting. That's a forewarning.
Entrepreneurship - taught by S Venkataraman and Rama Velamuri. Awesome course. They say that entrepreneurship cannot be taught in a classroom. Yes, that is definitely true. But this course exposes you to some of the best entrepreneurs, rather entr-based case studies in different industries such that you get a very deep understanding of the whole idea of entrepreneurship. Lots to read and we had 40% class participation. A very well organized class, handled extremely well by both professors. Prof. Venkat, being a BITSian, gave us some of his insights about the field and his BITS days. Imagine learning from a person who wrote the initial business plan for the Wipro Information Technology. This Darden Prof had done work in WIPRO that was worth 7 yrs in less than 2.5 years. If you prepare well for this class, then you will rock.
Operations Management - taught by Prof Sridhar Seshadri and Prof Sudhakar Deshkmukh. Prof Seshadri is perhaps the best prof i have listened to for operations related stuff. He is amazing. The insights he brings into the OPS case studies are awesome. He deals with a few simple case studies but the way he handles the case is just enough to throw your thought process off-guard. It helps to prepare yourself for his class. You can get a few CP marks because not too many people would study to make a CP in OPS. Prof Deshmukh, the Danny Devito of the ISB, is a great man. His book is the recommended reading for the course. His concepts on supply chain management will totally bombard you. He'd always play this music on his laptop when you go for a break. When the music ends, he will start the class, no matter what. Each Prof has his own way to handle his students.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Reflections from Term 2
So, after two lazy days in which I didn't do anything relevant to coursework, I finished yet another day of 4 classes in Term 8. The first party of term 8 was started by section D. The next party will be during the weekend - that's for HOLI.
People literally aren't bothered about attending classes. They come late to class, never do reading. And some never attend. The MBA life has taken a totally different turn. Its a new world that I am seeing. The strangest of the people are in the recreation center these days. Those who I haven't even seen walking on the side of the center lawns are in the gym for almost an hour!!! Nowadays people spend more time at the REC Center. They swim, then play Frisbee, then workout, play tennis, finally finish with yoga and then reach the dining hall. This is a complete new phenomenon. I have never seen such a thing before. The swimming pool looks like a pond with a new ecosystem.
Competitive Strategy - One course in Term 2 where most of the cases actually gave me the MBA flavor. New frameworks were taught - especially the Porter's Five Forces for industry analysis. Nandini Lahiri took the first half of the class. The second half was handled in the most skillful way by Harbir Singh. Watch out for Prof. Harbir guys. You just can't mess with him. Do your readings properly atleast before his class. If you put up your hand and try to just live by saying something, then you are in for a big joyride. You'll definitely regret that.
Global Economics - The course where you learn about macroeconomic policies, trade between countries, some strange laws formulated by great economists who lived in the industrial era. Prof. Krishnakumar taught the first half of the course where he introduced us to the Asian Financial Crisis, Keynesian models, Commanding Heights (you'll definitely love this movie). Then Ravi Bansal would talk about monetary policy, exchange rates, interest rates, savings, and inflation. Interesting stuff. It keeps you thinking about what the FED and the FM does. Also helps you understand why the RBI changes the rates and its effects.
Optimisation - handled by Sandeep Juneja and Milind Sohoni. Lots of work on Excel modeling problems and making interpretations out of graphs. If you don't listen to what's being told in class, then you can be happy that you'll get a B-Neg. Nothing below that. The Profs are quite reasonable.
Marketing Decision Making - handled by Pradeep Bhardwaj and Jag Raju. Bhardwaj is quite good although you will not spend a lot of time listening to him in class, which I think you should try and avoid. The concepts he talks about in class are quite useful for the exams. Most of the time during Bhardwaj's sessions will be spent making MarkStrat decisions with your group. So, you'll be asked to compete with 4 other groups in an industry, launch products, track expenditures on production, sales and distribution - everything that's part of the whole chain of deciding to make the product and launching the same in the market. Its fun if you get it right and then work out the best way to make more money. Once you start crashing in the revenue graph, then there is no chance of getting back, unless you realize that pretty early on and change your strategy. Don't ask me the best strategy to win. And don't ask anyone else. Its no fun and you'll NEVER LEARN by asking your alums for the right answer. Raju will come during the second half and he'll screw around with your happiness. This course was so bad for so many people on campus. I lost my interest in marketing after his 5 lectures. Anyway, thats about me. There were so many people who loved his class. They can talk for days about him. I'd rather spend less than a minute.
TIPS FOR THE NEXT BATCH
* The Radio Station has been taken. So, maybe you guys can start a TV station. The Radio station has got publicity like its the first radio station in the country. Maybe you guys can do something!
* This year we had 50 participants for the Hyderabad 10K. So, one of you can start a new RUNNING CLUB and have a president and few vice presidents and some directors.
* We had a new Arts and Creativity Club. So, next thing can be a Drama Club, Dance Club.
* Make you sure you know to send out colorful emails to catch the attention of Professors and the Management. Keep thanking them once in a while so that they remember you. It doesn't matter what you did. The publicity you make is the most important criteria.
* There is a lot of value add if you can make movies using flash and windows movie maker. You can keep showing it around and get credits.
* Since the Radio Station is here, we can have a Radio Club too. It can create room for some presidents, directors etc.
I am sure a lot of you can get extremely creative and form more clubs and do more work. But yes, the more you do such kind of things, you can run for all the awards and attention on campus. It doesn't matter whether your club does any work. You can just claim that you did something of great impact and nobody will have time to verify all that.
People literally aren't bothered about attending classes. They come late to class, never do reading. And some never attend. The MBA life has taken a totally different turn. Its a new world that I am seeing. The strangest of the people are in the recreation center these days. Those who I haven't even seen walking on the side of the center lawns are in the gym for almost an hour!!! Nowadays people spend more time at the REC Center. They swim, then play Frisbee, then workout, play tennis, finally finish with yoga and then reach the dining hall. This is a complete new phenomenon. I have never seen such a thing before. The swimming pool looks like a pond with a new ecosystem.
Competitive Strategy - One course in Term 2 where most of the cases actually gave me the MBA flavor. New frameworks were taught - especially the Porter's Five Forces for industry analysis. Nandini Lahiri took the first half of the class. The second half was handled in the most skillful way by Harbir Singh. Watch out for Prof. Harbir guys. You just can't mess with him. Do your readings properly atleast before his class. If you put up your hand and try to just live by saying something, then you are in for a big joyride. You'll definitely regret that.
Global Economics - The course where you learn about macroeconomic policies, trade between countries, some strange laws formulated by great economists who lived in the industrial era. Prof. Krishnakumar taught the first half of the course where he introduced us to the Asian Financial Crisis, Keynesian models, Commanding Heights (you'll definitely love this movie). Then Ravi Bansal would talk about monetary policy, exchange rates, interest rates, savings, and inflation. Interesting stuff. It keeps you thinking about what the FED and the FM does. Also helps you understand why the RBI changes the rates and its effects.
Optimisation - handled by Sandeep Juneja and Milind Sohoni. Lots of work on Excel modeling problems and making interpretations out of graphs. If you don't listen to what's being told in class, then you can be happy that you'll get a B-Neg. Nothing below that. The Profs are quite reasonable.
Marketing Decision Making - handled by Pradeep Bhardwaj and Jag Raju. Bhardwaj is quite good although you will not spend a lot of time listening to him in class, which I think you should try and avoid. The concepts he talks about in class are quite useful for the exams. Most of the time during Bhardwaj's sessions will be spent making MarkStrat decisions with your group. So, you'll be asked to compete with 4 other groups in an industry, launch products, track expenditures on production, sales and distribution - everything that's part of the whole chain of deciding to make the product and launching the same in the market. Its fun if you get it right and then work out the best way to make more money. Once you start crashing in the revenue graph, then there is no chance of getting back, unless you realize that pretty early on and change your strategy. Don't ask me the best strategy to win. And don't ask anyone else. Its no fun and you'll NEVER LEARN by asking your alums for the right answer. Raju will come during the second half and he'll screw around with your happiness. This course was so bad for so many people on campus. I lost my interest in marketing after his 5 lectures. Anyway, thats about me. There were so many people who loved his class. They can talk for days about him. I'd rather spend less than a minute.
TIPS FOR THE NEXT BATCH
* The Radio Station has been taken. So, maybe you guys can start a TV station. The Radio station has got publicity like its the first radio station in the country. Maybe you guys can do something!
* This year we had 50 participants for the Hyderabad 10K. So, one of you can start a new RUNNING CLUB and have a president and few vice presidents and some directors.
* We had a new Arts and Creativity Club. So, next thing can be a Drama Club, Dance Club.
* Make you sure you know to send out colorful emails to catch the attention of Professors and the Management. Keep thanking them once in a while so that they remember you. It doesn't matter what you did. The publicity you make is the most important criteria.
* There is a lot of value add if you can make movies using flash and windows movie maker. You can keep showing it around and get credits.
* Since the Radio Station is here, we can have a Radio Club too. It can create room for some presidents, directors etc.
I am sure a lot of you can get extremely creative and form more clubs and do more work. But yes, the more you do such kind of things, you can run for all the awards and attention on campus. It doesn't matter whether your club does any work. You can just claim that you did something of great impact and nobody will have time to verify all that.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Reflections from Term 1
I am bored and I don't have any class for the next two days. My first attempt at attending 4 classes in a row was quite successful. I slept for about 10 minutes during the last class. Couldn't resist that. I suddenly realized that I hadn't written much about the professors and the courses I had done. Given the fact that I would definitely forget all of this when I walk out of this place, I might as well write something. And yeah, this would definitely help the class of 2008 in some way.
Financial Accounting in Decision Making - Mark Finn was our professor. If you are lucky, then you'll get him. Otherwise you will definitely regret doing this course with another professor. Section C was perhaps the most lucky section in the whole batch. In some course or the other, all other sections got one not-so-excellent prof, but we just got the best always. Finn would take you by surprise. You wouldn't realize that he is going so fast and very soon you'd be calculating deferred taxes, which even the CAs wouldn't have done in detail.
Managerial Economics or rather microeconomics taught by Amit Bubna and Rakesh Vohra. I wouldn't be surprised if you mistook Amit to be an MBA student. He'll just be like the guys you'll meet on campus. But yes, he'll expect you to understand a lot of stuff on your own. You'll realize some things after the mid-term and perhaps you'll start cursing and swearing. Rakesh was the best Term 1 Prof I would say. His lecture on game theory was amazing. He used same two OHP sheets for all the 5 classes. Again, his exam would drive you nuts. But then, economics is always like that. If anybody could understand it easily, then there wouldn't be any worry about competition and pricing.
Marketing Management or Marketing 101 as they popularly call it in the US was taught by Asim Ansari and Jagmohan Raju. I heard from a few people that Ansari wouldn't be here this term. Anyway, you wouldn't miss him much. He makes some good jokes on the students. And the first half of marketing isn't anything that you really wouldn't know. Raju is an excellent Prof. But he has high expectations from the students. He expects us to know KOTLER in and out. That's outrageous. Whenever he asks a question in class, he will put up a photo of a student and ask him/her to answer. And that's how you earn class participation. He will make you feel embarrassed about your decision to do an MBA. I frankly think that he should not be invited to teach the MBA students, but I don't think that ISB has an alternative. So, he'll be around to trouble you guys in Term 1 and 2. Unless you perform extremely well in marketing, you'll regret his presence for sure.
Statistical Methods for Decision Making taught by Bob Stine and Richard Waterman. Both profs are just amazing. They'll bring an extra dimension for statistics. Bob is is this highly energetic prof in class. He is extremely animated and his comments will keep you totally interested in the class. Waterman, with his awesome British accent would just throw some new stat tests into you. You probably wouldn't understand a word of it during the class. But you better read the stuff. Our exam was a multiple choice paper. So you either get it or you don't.
Happy reading and I'll be back with Term 2 in a day or two.
PS: Term 1 and 2 are the terms you have to study really really hard, especially at the ISB. So be prepared.
Financial Accounting in Decision Making - Mark Finn was our professor. If you are lucky, then you'll get him. Otherwise you will definitely regret doing this course with another professor. Section C was perhaps the most lucky section in the whole batch. In some course or the other, all other sections got one not-so-excellent prof, but we just got the best always. Finn would take you by surprise. You wouldn't realize that he is going so fast and very soon you'd be calculating deferred taxes, which even the CAs wouldn't have done in detail.
Managerial Economics or rather microeconomics taught by Amit Bubna and Rakesh Vohra. I wouldn't be surprised if you mistook Amit to be an MBA student. He'll just be like the guys you'll meet on campus. But yes, he'll expect you to understand a lot of stuff on your own. You'll realize some things after the mid-term and perhaps you'll start cursing and swearing. Rakesh was the best Term 1 Prof I would say. His lecture on game theory was amazing. He used same two OHP sheets for all the 5 classes. Again, his exam would drive you nuts. But then, economics is always like that. If anybody could understand it easily, then there wouldn't be any worry about competition and pricing.
Marketing Management or Marketing 101 as they popularly call it in the US was taught by Asim Ansari and Jagmohan Raju. I heard from a few people that Ansari wouldn't be here this term. Anyway, you wouldn't miss him much. He makes some good jokes on the students. And the first half of marketing isn't anything that you really wouldn't know. Raju is an excellent Prof. But he has high expectations from the students. He expects us to know KOTLER in and out. That's outrageous. Whenever he asks a question in class, he will put up a photo of a student and ask him/her to answer. And that's how you earn class participation. He will make you feel embarrassed about your decision to do an MBA. I frankly think that he should not be invited to teach the MBA students, but I don't think that ISB has an alternative. So, he'll be around to trouble you guys in Term 1 and 2. Unless you perform extremely well in marketing, you'll regret his presence for sure.
Statistical Methods for Decision Making taught by Bob Stine and Richard Waterman. Both profs are just amazing. They'll bring an extra dimension for statistics. Bob is is this highly energetic prof in class. He is extremely animated and his comments will keep you totally interested in the class. Waterman, with his awesome British accent would just throw some new stat tests into you. You probably wouldn't understand a word of it during the class. But you better read the stuff. Our exam was a multiple choice paper. So you either get it or you don't.
Happy reading and I'll be back with Term 2 in a day or two.
PS: Term 1 and 2 are the terms you have to study really really hard, especially at the ISB. So be prepared.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Term 8 starts tomorrow
I don't know in what state of mind I decided to take up 4 courses on a single day in Term 8. This term is supposedly the term where no student talks about classes, coursework and grades. They don't come to class. The whole batch makes sure that they use the "you can miss 2 classes per course" policy. And here I am, with 4 classes, 8 hours of class on Mondays and Wednesdays, but on the contrary, yippee hoo, no class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So my weekend starts on Wednesday evening. So, there is always a better side. I just have to keep waiting for Wednesday evening every week.
The last 5 days have been so tiring. I was at the Control Desk of the placement cell all day and helping out with the placement process. Mixed emotions were flowing through groups of people. Some of them were frustrated that the shortlists weren't justified. Some were unhappy about offers, well most of them were. Especially the kids from the IT Industry with 2-3 years of experience. They have this feeling that they are the nations next best managers. You must see the kind of expectations they have about their salaries. Its effin crazy and baseless. Finally they had to settle for something they weren't too happy about, but thats the reality. If they hadn't done that, they would be jobless.
All said and done, as of Friday, I think we had less than 2% of the batch that had not been placed. I haven't been to the placement office today. I am quite sure that the remaining would have got placed in the last two days. Its just amazing to see that 400+ students have been placed in the last 5 days. I truly appreciate the efforts of some of my friends in the current batch. They stayed around. They tracked all the people who were getting dinged and tried to push their resumes to other recruiters. This way, they ensured that everyone had one offer atleast.
Anecdotes to make you smile before I write something else. During one of the interviews, the recruiter gives the offer letter and asks the candidate to write a salary figure on her own. She writes 15 Lacs. Then he says - "Our minimum offer is 20 lacs and I hope you will write a figure above that". Same recruiter makes another offer of 20 to another person. The candidate is not sure whether to sign or not. Within few minutes the offer goes up to 25. The candidate is shocked. He leaves the room asking for a break. Comes back within 5 minutes and still says that he is undecided. Recruiter immediately says 30. Candidate is literally dumbstruck and runs out frantically.
A new BPO that is setting up operations in the north recruits for its whole team in ISB starting from the directors in the top management. One guy got the job for one of the director roles bang on day one. And on day 5, he declined the offer as he wasn't too sure whether he was making the right decision. The company's CEO calls up the placement director in ISB in the next hour and immediately asks whether he can get a replacement director as he cannot start the company without these guys. Howzaaat?
During the last two days of placements, there were more recruiters on campus than the number of students. We were literally spamming the whole batch asking students to participate in the placement process. People had just taken off to Goa and other places. Yesterday, we had 10 students who were interviewing with all the firms on campus. So the recruiters were actually waiting for students to come and meet them. I know its disheartening and not a good practice to do this, but what can we do. Maybe this is a cue for the next year students to think about.
How to keep the last day recruiters happy? This might be one of the challenges that you can try to address.
The last 5 days have been so tiring. I was at the Control Desk of the placement cell all day and helping out with the placement process. Mixed emotions were flowing through groups of people. Some of them were frustrated that the shortlists weren't justified. Some were unhappy about offers, well most of them were. Especially the kids from the IT Industry with 2-3 years of experience. They have this feeling that they are the nations next best managers. You must see the kind of expectations they have about their salaries. Its effin crazy and baseless. Finally they had to settle for something they weren't too happy about, but thats the reality. If they hadn't done that, they would be jobless.
All said and done, as of Friday, I think we had less than 2% of the batch that had not been placed. I haven't been to the placement office today. I am quite sure that the remaining would have got placed in the last two days. Its just amazing to see that 400+ students have been placed in the last 5 days. I truly appreciate the efforts of some of my friends in the current batch. They stayed around. They tracked all the people who were getting dinged and tried to push their resumes to other recruiters. This way, they ensured that everyone had one offer atleast.
Anecdotes to make you smile before I write something else. During one of the interviews, the recruiter gives the offer letter and asks the candidate to write a salary figure on her own. She writes 15 Lacs. Then he says - "Our minimum offer is 20 lacs and I hope you will write a figure above that". Same recruiter makes another offer of 20 to another person. The candidate is not sure whether to sign or not. Within few minutes the offer goes up to 25. The candidate is shocked. He leaves the room asking for a break. Comes back within 5 minutes and still says that he is undecided. Recruiter immediately says 30. Candidate is literally dumbstruck and runs out frantically.
A new BPO that is setting up operations in the north recruits for its whole team in ISB starting from the directors in the top management. One guy got the job for one of the director roles bang on day one. And on day 5, he declined the offer as he wasn't too sure whether he was making the right decision. The company's CEO calls up the placement director in ISB in the next hour and immediately asks whether he can get a replacement director as he cannot start the company without these guys. Howzaaat?
During the last two days of placements, there were more recruiters on campus than the number of students. We were literally spamming the whole batch asking students to participate in the placement process. People had just taken off to Goa and other places. Yesterday, we had 10 students who were interviewing with all the firms on campus. So the recruiters were actually waiting for students to come and meet them. I know its disheartening and not a good practice to do this, but what can we do. Maybe this is a cue for the next year students to think about.
How to keep the last day recruiters happy? This might be one of the challenges that you can try to address.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Those funny moments
FYI, All salary numbers quoted in the post below are in the Indian Metric System of Lacs Per Annum.
Today was quite an exciting day. For the first time I decided to sit in the Control Room and figure out what people were up to. For once, I also got to witness that under chaos, even B-School grads can be funny and sloppy managers. Anyway, thats one part of the story. Coming to some of the people who were still in the placement process. One incident, as heard from another trusted friend. The company offers 19 and the guy asks for 30. There was no scope for negotiation. The offer never happened. The guy is one of the best people in the batch. He lost out because he had insane expectations.
And there were few others who used their other offer to bargain and get more from another firm. This was total bad behavior as the companies themselves did not like students doing this. They clearly mentioned to the students that they were not here to match another firm but to match the skills to their organization. And these were all the fledgling MBAs with less than 3 years experience. All they had evaluated was what they could earn in the next month and nothing about their future in the organization. Their aim is to get as much as possible and then quit in the next 6 months for some more. I hope none of these mindless people join with me at work. I wouldn't want to listen to them at all.
Today being the fourth day of placements was a key determinant for a number of people who still did not have a single offer. Some of them got really offended by the way the single offer owners were acting. Frankly, you don't have two horns just because you graduated from the ISB. You still don't have the experience. And the companies here value your experience and decide to pay you. You can't expect a run of the mill IT company to double or triple your salary. If you wanted that, then you should have been smart enough to get one of those finance or consulting jobs.
And the other norm that is being followed on campus is calling up people and asking them to attend interviews. Off late, people have decided by themselves not to appear for the interviews for which they have been shortlisted. The reason might be because they have opted to be out of the placement process or they have one offer and want to pick the next one carefully. But they are not polite enough to get their asses to the venue to let the people know that they will not attend the interview. They expect the student coordinators to call them to find out his/her royal highness' preference. I was asked to call a few people today. After a few phone calls, one guy asks me on the phone - "what is the current salary that's being offered?". Full of frustration, I tell him a number that I remember from nowhere and then he says "Oh thats low. I cant come". Then I decided to stop calling any of them. If required, they'd come by their own. The jobs needn't wait for such people.
Actually, some people here are just so greedy and foolish. They don't know that they are not worth the money they are demanding from these firms. They also don't understand that they are jeopardizing a number of people who haven't had a single offer as yet. And they still do it. Till now, I was blaming the system for a number of reasons. But there are so many others (so called MBAs) who are also at fault. Only god can take their case.
Today was quite an exciting day. For the first time I decided to sit in the Control Room and figure out what people were up to. For once, I also got to witness that under chaos, even B-School grads can be funny and sloppy managers. Anyway, thats one part of the story. Coming to some of the people who were still in the placement process. One incident, as heard from another trusted friend. The company offers 19 and the guy asks for 30. There was no scope for negotiation. The offer never happened. The guy is one of the best people in the batch. He lost out because he had insane expectations.
And there were few others who used their other offer to bargain and get more from another firm. This was total bad behavior as the companies themselves did not like students doing this. They clearly mentioned to the students that they were not here to match another firm but to match the skills to their organization. And these were all the fledgling MBAs with less than 3 years experience. All they had evaluated was what they could earn in the next month and nothing about their future in the organization. Their aim is to get as much as possible and then quit in the next 6 months for some more. I hope none of these mindless people join with me at work. I wouldn't want to listen to them at all.
Today being the fourth day of placements was a key determinant for a number of people who still did not have a single offer. Some of them got really offended by the way the single offer owners were acting. Frankly, you don't have two horns just because you graduated from the ISB. You still don't have the experience. And the companies here value your experience and decide to pay you. You can't expect a run of the mill IT company to double or triple your salary. If you wanted that, then you should have been smart enough to get one of those finance or consulting jobs.
And the other norm that is being followed on campus is calling up people and asking them to attend interviews. Off late, people have decided by themselves not to appear for the interviews for which they have been shortlisted. The reason might be because they have opted to be out of the placement process or they have one offer and want to pick the next one carefully. But they are not polite enough to get their asses to the venue to let the people know that they will not attend the interview. They expect the student coordinators to call them to find out his/her royal highness' preference. I was asked to call a few people today. After a few phone calls, one guy asks me on the phone - "what is the current salary that's being offered?". Full of frustration, I tell him a number that I remember from nowhere and then he says "Oh thats low. I cant come". Then I decided to stop calling any of them. If required, they'd come by their own. The jobs needn't wait for such people.
Actually, some people here are just so greedy and foolish. They don't know that they are not worth the money they are demanding from these firms. They also don't understand that they are jeopardizing a number of people who haven't had a single offer as yet. And they still do it. Till now, I was blaming the system for a number of reasons. But there are so many others (so called MBAs) who are also at fault. Only god can take their case.
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