A Strange Journey

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

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

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



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

Monte Carlo

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

Sicilian hothead(4)

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

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

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



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

Salad in Fashion

Anger at using firearms(3)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Clean GI becomes divine(7)

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

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

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

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

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

Famous actor's voyage(6)

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

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

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

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

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

New development in the centre

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

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

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

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

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

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

Outside could be boring

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

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

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

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

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

Next to the runway

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

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

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

Spending time at home

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

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

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

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

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

Wind-up

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

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

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

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

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

A new beginning

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

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

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

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

The loan scare

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

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

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



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

Life in the real world

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

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

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

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

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

The Yearbook

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

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

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

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

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

The MBA is over

As of yesterday, I finished my last class at the ISB. I never realized that it was my last class at the ISB. The Prof was summarizing leadership lessons and then it was 12.20pm. He said Thank You and it was all over. I wasn't too sentimental about this place right from the beginning. To be frank, this place has not made me feel that way. I miss everything about Pilani though (where I did my under-grad). That place was a different ecosystem. And maybe it was because of the 4 yrs I spent. This place was more like a short stay compared to that. But, when the class got over, I did feel a bit different. It struck me that I was never going to enter that lecture theater again. The lecture theaters have been our life for the last 50 odd weeks and suddenly we have to say goodbye and yes, it does feel a bit strange.

Now when I look back, I do realize that even this short stay has impacted our lives with a magnitude that is quite significant. Under grad was more fun and bonding. The MBA is rather a self realization. Don't ask me what I have realized. Its a million dollar question and I can never give a definite answer to that.

Sometimes it truly feels that school is such a nice place to be in. You don't have to worry about earning your bread or supporting others. You can stay in serviced apartments and attend classes (atleast here). Parties and festivals, sports activities are always there to keep you engaged, other than the academic grind. When you get out of this place, reality hits you. Its a totally different world outside and its got more challenges, might be interesting to face but I am not sure how much. The MBA was a simulated environment and all that it affected was your grades and in this place, it never mattered about what grades you got as long as you managed to keep your neck above the water level. Further on, its your life. Although the last one year hasn't changed much about me, I can sincerely say that the next few years are going to... I don't know... maybe burn my brain? I need to keep a tab on that.

But, this has been by far, the best roller coaster ride I have had. The people I have seen here and interacted with - every one is unique and fun to be with. We did the drama on Tuesday. It was about our life at the ISB and we made a mock on some professors, people in the administration and some students. For every act, the audience was so happy and cheerful. The hall was packed. Students could identify with what happened in the last one year and no one took a literal offense (now thats a big lie - we did manage to get a few people upset. in fact, some of them came to us and almost made a fight, but thats life). all we did was to honor some people for their contributions.

I think I have totally lost track of what I started to write about. Anyway, I won't say that I will miss this place. Anyone who stays in just one place for a prolonged period of time would start liking that place. It was the same for me in London. I just didn't want to get out of that city. Same is the case here. Suddenly I remembered these lines by Lord Tennyson - "For men may come and men may go, But I go on for ever". Me and my life is the brook here. We need to get going - explore a whole new world, every now and then and keep the journey adventurous. Now that definitely calls for the post to end.

Its almost time

Yes, its almost time to get the **** out of this place. This is the last week of academics on campus. In fact, classes for most courses have ended and we just have a few end term exams to get over. I have one more assignment due on Thursday evening. I haven't even started on it, rather haven't thought about writing anything.

Too many things to handle in the last few days. Suddenly I got pulled into the drama club activity. The drama will happen today at the auditorium. Its extremely hilarious. I am just waiting to get the soft copy and put it on You Tube. Then there is the yearbook for which a bunch of us have been running around for the last few weeks. We had to get 416 profiles, testimonials and stuff like that. We were working like mad dogs collecting photos, emails and a lot of other creative stuff. Getting the first few students to write testimonials was quite easy. And they there were some laggards. They have this feeling that they are god's gift. I was talking to one such moron the other day. He was acting so silly and I had a mind to give him a tight slap. One thing I ask - "You volunteered on your own to write a testimonial for someone and then now you say that you don't have time". These are the same people who talk about taking a stride into the corporate world with a lot of responsibility and leadership traits. They are just going to shit bricks. Anyway, my rants will just go on.

Frisbee on campus has picked up momentum like never. There are more people on the ground than anyone can ever imagine. Its full house. Now that work has started on the basketball court - the wooden floors will be up before the first exam for the next batch, no more indoor games. That calls for more people on the field.

People have started packing off books and clothing. Exit forms are out. All the departments have brought out their survey questionnaires. And its mandatory to fill some of them, otherwise you won't get the graduation certificate. I have done my bit of surveys for the IT, Library, Career Services and PGP Office.

Photography club arranged for a free trip to the Golconda Fort last weekend. It was an amazing trip. My unfinished trip had finished. The last time we went to Golconda was with Section C. We started pretty late and then before we could leave campus, the bus did not have enough fuel. The driver got some fuel to get the bus to the fuel station and then by the time we reached the fort, it was drizzling and the fort had closed for the evening. This time we were there very early and we also had a professional photographer giving us tips.



A view from the TOP.



After the Light and Sound Show.

The best TA award

This funny event happened a few days back. It was for the Leadership course. So, we have final assignment due. It was a group project. We were given the topic - Practical Leadership, Getting Things Done. There was this unbearable task of writing 3000 words on god knows what. awesome gas i would say.

anyway, the funny part was about the teaching assistant for the course. the deadline for submission was given as Wednesday night 12pm. by then we had to submit a soft copy of the report to the TA's email id and the profs email id. after that we had to drop a hard copy of the report in a box somewhere in the academic center. we had too many assignments this week and we were pressed for time. and no one had the intention to work for any project.

someone suggested to me that they should not have a term 8 in the course. thats the level of interest in the people here. people come to class without reading a page from the course pack. then the professor gives them 15 minutes of class time to read and then continues the discussion. imagine the situation. it was just the opposite less than a month back. there used to be atleast 10 hands in the air to answer questions and now, every student has his face looking only at his laptop and nowhere else. when the prof asks a question, they don't even bother to look at him and acknowledge. this is applicable to the deans listers too. whatever.

so the TA for leadership lessons sends out an email when we asked for a deadline extension. Email says -

"Note that the deadline extension is for hard copy not for soft copy. This extension is made for your convenience. You need to mail the soft copy by tonight."

How intelligent. This was perhaps the most innovative solution that someone has given ever. My friend called the TA and explained the situation personally about the deadline extension and the TA goes again - "we have already given you an extension. you just have to submit the soft copy by 12pm. hard copy can be given later". And my friend was like - "does that make any difference?"

Apart from these silly things, there isn't anything important thats happening campus. The PGP Forum would happen today. That's going to be something like a mini war field between the students and the management. I am hoping to get some fun content from there. The Frisbee field has had good action in the last few days.

And one thing I hate to talk about but still have to is cricket. I don't know what the team is doing out there, rather I am not bothered, but we have this blue billion campaign that I hate, detest, whatever. We have so many important things to think about than wasting time on this. The Pepsi ad is just irritating. and then another rumor that about the Pope dying in 1981 and India winning 2 yrs later. then pope dying in 2005 and India winning this year. for Christ's sake, it was the same pope in 1981 and 2005. in 1981, he just got shot at. he never died. i don't know where from people make up such stupid reasons. its so baseless.

Some things never change

I was in the Strategic Partnerships class today. We were discussing the airline alliances case, specifically about Star Alliance - dunno if you have heard of this. I hadn't. I just new BA's One-world alliance. This was new to me. Anyway, thats not the point here.

Some things I realized after the class discussions in Term 8. Maturity levels are still the same. I mean - they were quite low to start with and have pretty much stayed there. One thing that didn't interest me is that we were actually discussing case facts. Whats the point in talking about something that someone has already written. Anyway, that was the structure of the lecture, so we cant debate that. But then lets turn around and look at the so-called MBAs who are going to graduate out of this place in a little more than 2 weeks. They still talk like politicians. They just know that they have to say something - in all probability, whatever they say will be totally unconnected what the Prof is asking. But still, they would make their point. Its felt like sitting in a Summer session of the Indian Parliament. So, the Prof asked one student about his reaction to someone's comment. Clearly this person did not have an answer. I could see that stupid look on his face. But then he had raised his hands and the Prof asked him. And this was his only opportunity to get those 2 marks for class participation. He promptly replied - "Actually, I have a different view" and I was like - "Yeah, you will".

I had this idea in my mind that somehow things will turn around, the placement season would set things right for a lot of people, it would change their attitude. I thought they would get wiser by the day. Its been a total let down. Even though the MBA has taught so many jargons; marketing & financial models, it has still left a big hole in the personal skills space.

The buzz on campus is about graduation passes. People have generously invited their uncles, aunties and everyone beginning from their three year old cousin to attend the graduation. And now they have started spamming the batch asking for someone to donate extra passes to them. Well, we spamming doesn't really work well with MBAs. So what do we need? Yes, an EXCEL Sheet. A new excel sheet has been created in the shared drive for this purpose. After all, what are MBAs for. They can make good presentations, write some numbers in an excel sheet that no one can understand and comment about anything and everything in this world. I am sure that Bill Gates must be a strong supporter of B-Schools for having propagated the use of Microsoft Tools. And I am happy that he has kept most of them on the consumer side and not a part of his business.