Saturday, January 10, 2009

The importance of being earnest...

Staged in one of the best theaters in the country, was one of the most famous plays of Oscar Wilde, "The Importance of being Earnest". Set in the late Victorian era in England, the play is filled will silly humour and the pretentious outlook of the people of London. The play has a couple of fictitious characters, used more as a mechanism to escape out of your town to meet your girl friend. It is a satire, as most of them are, on the Victorian era and the whims and fancies and hypocrisy of the people back then.

The artist group performing, Evam, is one of the best in the country with its home in Chennai. The performance I think was not upto the mark yesterday, with lots of dialogues fumbled and props misplaced. But overall, it was a delightful play and a continuation of the fun spree that I have been having this week.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Networking...

One of my firsts is this.. A blog post in a train.. Upgraded from sleeper to AC 3 tier was a surprise for someone who didn’t have his ticket confirmed. And these kids next to me are so amazed at what I am doing with the laptop. Innocent lads…
So here we go.. Term 2 at the dungeon was one of the most demanding yet most rewarding term. The highlights of the term go something like these. First came the results of term 1. I secured 3.77/4.00, and stood third in the institute. For my summer interns, I got recruited by Morgan Stanley, Hong Kong. Way to go baby.. But there was something in this term which was missing last term. To start with the negatives, I was careless (to be read as carefree), lazy, and most of all a sleepy head. But that’s where the negatives end.

So positives.. People associate MBA with “networking”. I had some experience of what it means and how people develop. The best comment I thought I received was from Vibhu saying, “Strangely, Pico is very good at maintaining PR.” That took my feet off the ground to be honest. I deliberated over it for quite a while. I knew there were people who would agree with what Vibhu said. But I sure know a couple who would strongly disagree with him. And that’s where my dilemma started. I knew that personally I am a very good listener, a quality emphasized by me and as I got to know by everyone as one of the most important. But when it comes to speaking, barely will anyone know me. Even the closest pals do not know what is going through my mind. May be I am that kind.

As I was thinking about it, it struck my mind that there is something I was doing wrong. A good communication, though requires a good listener, cannot be a one way traffic. When someone feels the confidence to confide in you, he also expects you to say something back. And that’s where I was going wrong again and again. I always wait for someone to come and speak. Seldom happens that I approach someone. Moreover, time is an issue people at IIMB often battle with.

So, after Vibhu told me that, I started my way to actually develop PR. I speak to people wherever I find them; have a little informal conversation, which may be helpful to both. And boy it felt good. I knew a lot more people, it developed perspective and I was more comfortable and happy with my position and presence at IIMB. I was never a superstar anywhere, but to have my own identity, rather for anyone to have his own unique identity, is very important. The number of seniors and colleagues, I know are at least two fold to what was last term.

But then, everything has its costs. Interacting with people here meant I had a lot less time to interact with people whom I have known for years, and even lesser time for academics, which is so valuable at a place like IIMB. At this juncture, I realize that the topic for one of my presentations was to remove grades from the IIMB system. Now, that was tough. But yeah, to round off networking, it was a good term for doing that. I did that.

Last topic for this post is the placements at IITM. The markets out there are very bad. It is so scary that people doubt why they had put so much effort go get into such a prestigious institute. But, seldom do people realize that it is the best chance to take a risk out of campus. They have an opportunity to go back to college for post graduation and any risk will not have a negative NPV. I am glad that Purvi and Kshitij are placed for the time being. I so wanted to be in Chennai, but sometimes, what you want need not happen. I got the diary for the next year. I hope to revert back to writing next year, an art which I seemed to have lost here. It just takes a gesture to remind me of that. And now the art shall be honed for the good. Well a diverse post I must say. A rant more than anything else. But enough to start off a week at home and the base for many more posts around new year. .

Now since I am late posting this.. Wish you a happy new year. Have a great year ahead everyone...

-Ankit