Saturday, August 30, 2008

The Maximizer

60 days, 17 exams, 6 courses, 5 assignments... This is what it took me to get the max score and deliberate about the losses. As it goes, the pleasure attained from obtaining a good is much much lesser than the pain felt by losing it. And this has been my story at IIMB so far.. 9/10, 14/15, 19/20, 80/88.. Scores by no means a mean achievement.. But scores that left me wondering.. If only I had done that... And today, for that, the lady luck was on my side.. i took a decision.. and it paid off.. It was the first exam I maxed.. and hope for many more to come.. :)

Hail Stats..

Good night and Good luck..

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

The Ovarian lottery

Its been long since I visited this place.. And I see a dull picture with the same stagnant old posts. Yeah, IIMB keeps me busy as it will do for the next 25 days, this might well be the last post before the term ends. So, let me start with some good things. My mid terms went reasonably well, and I am happy with the consistency in my performance. The latter half of the term is more challenging, and I am gearing up to it, this being the bbye to all the whims and fancies and distractions for the next 3 weeks. Thats the resolution I have taken.. :)

Well, today we had a talk by Manish Sabharwal, the founder of Teamlease, a human resource supplier in the country. He was one of those charismatic speakers, who knew how to keep the audience intereted in the lecture, with some whacky quotes and some sensible correlation. Not to mention that I felt there were traits of Dhirubhai Ambani in him, a very ambitious man, he had simple logic to his business, make profits, have fun and develop the country. And indeed no one can argue against this line of thought. But what one could argue is the means by which he has started. May be wrong, but regulations cannot be broken. Like Dhirubhai Ambani, who worked through the system to rise up to become one of the most powerful men in the country, this man started a business against a regulation hoping that it will change. Well, he might argue that there is nothing wrong with it, imagine what will happen if everyone started doing the same. The regulations will lose their meaning. But him being successful, is one thing that I took a lot of insipiration from. One quote from him, "Development with inequality of income is absoultely fine, as long as the poverty is on te decline and we are moving towards equality of opportunities." Not all blessed with the winning ticket in the Ovarian lottery, and for those who are not, we need to given them a chance. Let me stop at that.

The last two days have been horrible in terms of academics, and the nauseating feeling I got up with today. But things will change; they have to change if any meaning has to come out of this effort to reach the place, where I so earnestly want to be. The distance is just killing now. As it goes, "I will do what I can do, without worrying about the results."

Signing off from here..
Good night and Good luck..

Friday, August 22, 2008

The curse prevails..

Back in the humid and sultry weather in the southern most metropolitan of India, I managed to get wet every single time it rained. Well, not because I went out saying I wanna get wet. But partly because it decided to rain whenever I was out, without an umbrella , raincoat or any such thing and when I had no other option. And this curse did not leave my back till the placements. I distinctly remember getting wet on the day I got placed. But whenever I have got wet, something good has happened to me.. So no issues..

Hmmm.. Here at bangalore, things dont seem to have changed much. It pretty much rains whenever I am out and especially on a bike. or walking on the roads. I agree that it rains everyday here. But it doesnt rain when all the plans are being made. Once out, and out of control, does the sky open the ovi to let the rain pour. The same thing happened yesterday. But now I am thinking, what good is going to occur.. :)

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Quote Unquote

Priya says, "All girls come with their boy friends.. And these guys roaming alone come shopping for girl friends.." :D

And miles to go before I sleep..

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep;
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep;"

This for me are the four most beautiful lines that describe the human life in the present world. But I take it with a pinch of salt. Back in IITM, where I first heard these lines, I took these lines as trivial as each individual has some responsibilities to live upto.. But as I move on, I realise that the deep and dark woods signifies the more promises we make as we move on. So, this game of moving on and fulfilling the promises never ends. To give you an example, I thought doing well in my undergrad was a promise I had to keep when I first heard this quote. But now, I need to repeat it for my grad and later on in my job.. And to the family.. The count can just be unlimited. The humans are stuck in this cob web where, the more you get, the more you need to get.. The more you deliver, the more you are expected to deliver.. After all it takes just two meals a day and a close circle to be happy. We will find that the people in the lower strata of the community quite adhere to this. But as we move up the strata, we become more greedy, me expect more, we sleep less and we are less happy. Its not what I am saying. You can have a look around you. Personally, I dont remember when was the last time I slept without knowing when I had to get up. That for me is slavery, where you are a puppet in the hands of the materialistic world. Guys, there is life more than money.. the promises you need to keep are those you made to yourself and no one else..

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Why MBA?

The CAT 2008 forms are out and the fight to get into the most prestigious of Indian Institutes (famously known as the IIMs) is gaining pace. Most of my friends are searching for reasons why to write it. They want to know how will MBA help them achieve what they want to achieve when they don't know for sure what they want.. Well, one month into the system, I am still not sure why I opted for MBA but can tell what it is and what should one look for in an MBA.

Three months back, I found myself getting offers from various IIMs (except the most illustrious and horrifying A) and a job offer from TVS Capital Fund. I was stuck in a dilemma not knowing which would give my career a better kick. But one month into it, I am starting to believe that the decision I took was the right one. There are several reasons for it. Firstly and most importantly, its an opportunity one might or might not get again. You must be very strong on your hunches to ignore an offer from IIMB. Secondly, it completes off my formal education and the thoughts of going back into academia after joining a job no longer exist. Third, is that I have come to know that little I knew what PE was and what I would be doing there. Leave that alone, I didnt know how an organisation worked. One can argue that I could have learnt all that there. Yes indeed, but when you have to do an MBA in any case why not do it and then understand. I completely acknowledge the fact that people with job experience appreciate a couple of courses better. But the number stays put to a couple. In other courses its all a level playing field. Fourth, a place like MBA gives u a platform to explore what you want to do and what you enjoy. Its not about getting the highest package after the placements, its more about finding what you can do and what you cannot.

The other thing I have noticed is that people often perceive this place as a production house of entrepreneurs. Although, this is one of the important aspects of management education, it is not the only one. IIMB goes a long way in producing world class managers, not necessarily entrepreneurs. It gives the very basics on which any industry is based and then builds upon it to specialize you in the field of interest. It provides everyone with a sense of direction as to what one wants to do.

So, if you are undecided on what you want from your life or any such questions like that lingering in your mind, I would suggest you seriously think about management education. If you think you know what you want to try and give it a shot, go ahead... But in any 50 - 50 situation its education that always wins.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Its me in ten points

Ten things I want to do before I die:
  1. Become rich. Very rich.
  2. Own a Harley Davidson
  3. Feature on the cover of WEEK
  4. Visit New Zealand
  5. Adjudicate a Miss World competition
  6. Learn how to dance (Salsa)
  7. Be able to speak about World history continuously for five minutes
  8. Read a book cover to cover (without missing a word)
  9. To perform in a live concert (I know thats a impossible wish)
  10. To marry the most beautiful lady I know.
P.S. This is a random order and does not indicate any priority

My Life Saviour

Hail SuSu!! My only accomplice in all deeds and crime out here in this hackneyed and bulls****** culture that people have built up. As one of my status messages read the other day, "People hide their incompetence by derogating the competent." Its a very true statement when it comes to this so called elite group of students. As one of my seniors Manaw told me out here, "Every one other than you is a @&%#*!@" and now I totally appreciate that peice of advise. Yeah so coming back to SuSu..

You just need to read this http://glisteningdreams.blogspot.com/2008/08/fun-after-marathon.html ..

thanks for covering my back Big Bro...

P.S. Do not inerpret anything from the third pic out their. Its just a part of the nuances of photography...

Thursday, August 7, 2008

From the oil wells in China

"i think in a couple of generations my offspring might evolve into dolphins," says Mr. Rajiv Murali, ex-Sponsorship core, Saarang.

Now that i have quoted one of them. I cant miss out the other core.
Mr. Vijay H.M. says, "Extra dots for Extra pleasure".. Ahh Vijay.. how many dots da??

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

B-School.. Really??

http://www.pagalguy.com/index.php?categoryid=56&p2_articleid=1298

Now you know why IIMB rocks...

Home away from home...

:) :) :)

All the smiles are not because i am happy. Its all relief after three days of marathon of mugging and long nights and pressure and loads and loads of coffee, here I am, smiling. And yeah.. 75 % in accounting... not bad Mr. Ankit. Enough of self-lauding, this place has given me no respite as yet. No sleep, no fart sessions (though voluntary non-participation), people Rging each other, hiding their incapabilities my mocking the good. This place is full of pretensions. Pretensions that I dont feel are needed. Someone, screwing up his/her acads because its a cool thing to do?? Or is it just a way to hide your failure that I am not interested in it and don't give time to it.

I remember my brother Akhil when he got his tenth results. he was ecstatic; not because he scored some out of the world numbers, but because the difference between the both of us was a mere 8 percent. So much for me puting fight to outscore him by just 8. Hehe, the marginal utility fundaes at work. Low score for low input vs not so high score for high input. I shall agree that this made a lot of sense for him to say that because any rational man would do that.

But then, there is this law of diminishing marginal returns. The returns for the marginal input is much lower than what it would have been if there was no input at all.. Yes, all this fight for those 8 per cent now makes perfect sense. After all, its the 1 mark that distinguishes you from the rest. Its the one millisecond that determines the winner in a sprint. Its the one day in life that brings about happiness.

Yeah.. the one day that brings about happiness.. but there are days when you are anxious. Of the uncertainties of the future. There are no bases for calulating probabilities for it is an unknown territory. there is no conditional probablity that I can apply as there is none prior to it. All that I have learnt in a month here is just a tiny proportion of what the life offers. Hail my dear friend. have a nice stay at home away from home.