The Race...

The other day, when I found that I was not eligible for a particular B-Plan competition as I have grown too old.. it suddenly struck to me that somebody somewhere had turned the time machine on fast forward. I am 30!

I tried to console myself by pretending that at least I must be wiser than those at the other side of 30. So I thought to myself. What is the wisest thing that I have ever heard in my whole life..? Like any self respecting MBA, i tried to confuse myself with a framework - just to feel intelligent.

Here is the most intelligent question that I have ever heard in my life. What makes us great?

As the hunter turned into a farmer, the farmer into a worker and more recently a knowledge worker.. the context is changing. What makes us great today? The answer is probably one of those uncommonly common sense.

It is a never ending race amongst all equals.. constantly trying to be the unequals amongst equals. And not one race. But four races in parallel. And the winner takes it all. Loser gets peanuts. And one has to win all the four races.

The race to be Fit. You gotta be fitter than the rest. Trust me. The best are trying to outperform the rest, simply by working harder and harder. So with every passing year, it is taking longer and longer hours of hard work, day after day to end up in the top. Physical fitness is taken for granted. But I think it is the most basic. And think twice if you think you are fit. When I say fit, I mean really fit. Working non-stop with as little as 4 hours sleep. not for days but for months. I think 98% of folks flunk this race one.

The race to be Nice. And if you happen to pass that test. There is another one. You gotta be Nice. You gotta be the type who knows every damn thing about everybody. Who can make a crying child laugh. Whom everybody turn to when they are in trouble. Out of the 2% who pass the fitness test, another 98% flunk this one.

The race to be Smart Uh. Oh. You gotta be smart as well. Crunch numbers.. Memorize a thousand frameworks.. Solve every damn case. the 100 CAT percentile IIT types... Again 2% success rate.. Most pretend themselves into the comforting belief that IQ is actually inborn...you cant practise yourself into being smart. And they flunk the test even before trying :-)

Phew.. Tired? There is one more race my friend.. The race to be Driven You have to passionate about something. Whether it is about getting mankind rid of poverty or about playing the guitar or being the best athelete. You must be the person who goes beyond logic when it comes to this passion of yours. Everything else is secondary to you. This is what you live for.

And then you can call yourself great. It took me three decades to figure out that I want to join the race. I guess it will take me another three to ace them.. Or maybe never..

Winner or Loser... we dont get to choose which side we end up in life. But the one thing that we get to decide is whether to race or not.

Happy Racing.
C

Supermen are so unlucky.

Have you ever imagined... what it would mean to be born perfect.. A SuperMan. It would be boring. Wouldn't it? If you were born with everything. A great singer, with an IQ of ten Einstiens and great looks.. complete with razor sharp social skills.

Don't think so? Think again. As Mr SuperMan your life would have been a drudgery of successes.. Success after success. From start to end. Everything you touch would turn to gold. Imagine going through that all your life. So drab.. Like being fed dessert over and over again and again.

It is not human to succeed all the time. We need the bitter taste of failure. to keep the fire in the belly burning. We need to feel like a loser from time to time.. It makes it easier to choose to spend that extra hour for inching one step closer to the goal.. much easier..

My dream is to constantly stretch my goals... till I fail to achieve them. That's when I dont have to fake the glint in the eye.. That my adrenalin shot.

I pray to God, that every now and then, I face failure. Like a slap in the face.. That is the only way that i will continue on the journey. And not stop.

Till the last breath.

cheers,
C

September Floods @ ISB

All Hyderabadis would remember September 2000, the month in which there were floods in Hyderabad. Till that time people forgot that the Musi is a river and that a natural disaster called floods can happen in Hyderabad. Floods in Hyderabad was heard only in the story of the Qutub Shah and her lover Bhagmathi. I experienced those floods first hand.

Similarly none of 430 odd students might have believed that there can be a flood of events at ISB. ISB is a place where everything is planned well in advance. Except the club activities everything else including placement week, graduation day is planned even before the batch joins.

The warm for the flood started in August itself but no one really realized that it will morph into the current situation. Yesterday I was interacting with our ELP client and he was asking about our routine and I couldn't come up with a quick answer. Reason for this is that there is routine at ISB. Everyday schedules change, new intiatives are taken, your club wants your contribution, assignments need your time but in between you have to squeeze for your personal interests too. So there is no routine. Only one thing is mandatory and that is attending the classes. Except that everything else depends on what time you can get up and how quickly you can finish your assignments. If you get up early you can go to the dining hall and have some nice breakfast otherwise you have to adjust with a toast or some noodles.

If I look at my last three days calendar, it was completely cluttered with all sorts of activities but despite all the important activities I have decided to do what I really want to do. For the first time after coming to ISB I think I have spent in a client interaction type of scenario trying to gather inputs for the project. We have spent exactly six hours - 3 hours off campus and three hours on campus, in a focused way without bothering what was happening outside.

Let me list down all the events in my calendar to give you an idea about what all is happening (we are still in the week) at ISB in this week but believe me this constitutes only 60% as I might have rejected some of the invitations:

1. Preplacement talk by an international bank equities group
2. Workshop on Investment Banking conducted by the CEO of a I Banking firm
3. Panel Discussion on Indian Retail
4. Search Marketing - Talk by a Google Sr. Manager
5. Panel Discussion on Indian Services sector, rural financing, and offshoring
6. Workshop on RFID (part of Global Supply Chain Summit)
7. Panel Discussion on Logistics
8. Discussions with Head of Private Equity Advisory firm
9. Mckinsey Structured Problem Solving Workshop
10.Session on personal interviews conducted by Alums

This is why I say,"Every second you spend at ISB is much more valuable than each rupee you spend at ISB" - value for money or value for time, something like that. Cheerio

Ye hai meri kahani…khamosh zindagani... :(

[Part 1]

“How is life buddy? You must be chilling out with the hot babes there at ISB. Kitni patai? I wish I were at your place. You are so lucky, itni jaldi MBA bhi ho jaegi teri. Give me some tips about the application,” scribbled one of my friends in my orkut scrapbook. I was wondering how beautiful ISB appears to the outside world. I was one amongst these friends of mine 8 months ago jealous of people who were already at ISB. My pre-ISB life flashed in front of my eyes for the next 5 minutes making me nostalgic. There were several ‘Unanswered’ questions knocking at the door of my mind for at least an hour now. Was I better without an MBA? I started comparing the value of happiness in my life before landing up at ISB to the expected value of happiness in my life post ISB. Am I really gaining anything here or am I here just to add another brand name to my resume? It was 0300 hours and I was sitting in my room staring blankly at the case (case-study) I was to prepare for class the next day. The case was 40 pages long and I was through with just 3 pages. I had a class next day at 0800 hours. “I am sick of it yaar. Ever since I have joined ISB, I have not had a good night sleep. People think I am having a blast with the babes here but little do they realize, meri he blast ho rahi hai. I had thought I would make girlfriendS here and enjoy the last few years ‘of my life’ (read as ‘of my life before marriage’). I had dreamt of reading out my girlfriendS’ future from their palms. Saare sapne toot gaye L . Instead of making girlfriends, I am making reports and instead of reading their future out of their palms, I am reading endless number of cases.”

Totally frustrated, I looked into the sky out of the window and asked God, “Despite being in a ‘Swarg’ full of fairies, why can’t I enjoy life here with them? What wrong did I do in life?” I got no answer. Perhaps, God has better questions to answer or he too has got into a B-School like ISB and has the same ‘Unanswered’ questions…

[Make sure you read Part 2 of this blog later this week :)]

As July ends..

Shots @ F Bar for the ISB party

As July ends , term 3 is well on its way to becoming another very tough term. The assignments have not stopped, and with club activities and all the finalization of electives and ELPs and PAEVs , life is just one word as of now...and not a very profound word to be blogging about !


Just finished with around 6 hours of classes and reading a 50 page case on enterpreneurship , its close to 1.00 am in the night and I still have things on my head which have been long pending. I think the only bright point of the day was India coming to the brink of its 5th test victory in history over England in England !


The weekend was great with lots happening. It started off with the party at F Bar , and then there we had our leadership session . Rajeshwar Upadhyaya , the instructor for our LDP , is just too good and every word he says in class is bliss. I will blog about some of the things he mentions in class , but I dunno how much will it be for public consumption.


Then there was another party this Saturday at the mirror pool of SV 3. The theme was " Pirates " and with the limited stuff I had to wear , I ended up looking like anything but a pirate !


Sunday was the Aikya launch. Basically , 90 very ( and when I say very I mean very very....very ) elite families of Hyderabad come and adapt one study group each. This family will remain our guardian for the rest of the time that we spend in ISB. Our family turned out to be owners of diversified businesses ranging from Real Estate to Welding products. I asked my aikya parent


" So Sir, what's your latest project"


" Oh, I and a partner of mine bought about 77 acres of land recently, so we are planning to build a mall"





I guess rich people just build malls when they are bored...mere mortals like me quit everything they have, take a loan of 15 Lacs and come and do the toughest course in the world !

A Day in My Life

0530 hrs: My new Red Merc is cruising beautifully along the Spanish coastline....!! Sylvia, my Spanish secretary…is smiling…saying something…cant hear her properly…someone honks…honks again…
0630 hrs: No.. its not a honk its my alarm bell.. Grrr.. I immediately shut it down.. the Spanish islands reappear… although intermittently.. like a flickering TV..
0700 hrs: Bell rings louder now....I wake up again.. look at the time and go back hoping the islands will come..shucks…no more Spain coming…Background sound.. “Papa… Utho papa Utho...Chai tayyar hai.....”
0715 hrs: Wife gives last call for making it to 0815 class…!! Good God.. cant a man sleep for a few hours peacefully…!!!
0725 hrs: Sleep walk… to living room… say hello to wify and kiddo..!! Sip tea… check out news..
0735 hrs: Have had a 10 minute boxing fight with my two and half year old who is busy watching CN....! Of course he does not like my intruding his very important ‘Pockeymon’ show and changing channels to news ones..
0810 hrs: Ready for the day…Corp Finance Class at 0815.. dash across the campus for making it in time.. “these watches are all going wrong.. only my watch is correct and there is still 37 seconds left..!!!”
0814 hrs: Excited and all ready for a new class.. Prof looks eager to take the class.. smiling…. more smiling… am thinking …“why is he smiling.. is there a surprise coming up.. am I adequately prepared.. ?” TA as usual is at his politest best.. deciding whether to distribute the slides or not…. junta is turning in bleary red eyed…. with coffee and water in hand.. “Shucks…why cant we have afternoon classes…huh..!!!!!”
0845 hrs: Class is touching crescendo.. and my attention level is starting to bank on the leeward side of the normal distribution curve now.. going down fast….have caught a few other people dozing off too.. Prof is still at his enthusiastic best.. orchestrating the case discussion like an artist..
0910 hrs: Finally.. the much awaited coffee break..!! While the learned few decide to pounce on a visibly exhausted prof for a ‘insightful’ chat just to ‘show off’ their tremendous international consulting experience… and ask ridiculously absurd questions… the lesser mortals like me… gather outside in the balcony.. cursing the world…!!
1015 hrs: Class is over.. am in some kind of a mental trance.. still in my seat.. wondering… what exactly did he teach and who in the world is going to help me understand all of that… someone shakes me.. “Cmon Man. Time to go to the next session..!”
1045 hrs: One more quick coffee down, plus financial times, economic times skimmed through in LRC…run for next class.. “Operations Management”.. “God..!! when will I ever learn which side is AC2..??”
1115 hrs: Am day dreaming about my venture… amidst class discussions..!! Done a few ‘seemingly important’ Class Protocols (CP’s)..so am now relaxing… very satisfied with myself and my class participation.. !!! Something wrong with my ears… cant hear properly what he is saying…!!
1245 hrs: Done with lectures for the day.. deciding whether sleep is better or shall I start pre reads for tomorrow or shall I continue research on my business plan..?? Decide to research.. so googling away to glory….
1345 hrs: Met with a few friends at the atrium.. discussed the deeper meaning of life.. about our existence @ ISB .. why CP is good and why it is not good..!! PaEV / ELP… the new Prof and his teaching style.. blah blah blah..!! Had my fill of small talk for the day.. so headed back for SV..a happy man!!
1600 hrs: Lunch done.... made ‘boats’ and ‘planes’ with paper and scissors with my son.. he is super-excited.. running all over the house with his new plane that Daddy dear has made…!! Its raining outside..!! Still deciding on whether I should start with pre reads…!! Naahhh.. there’s so much time left…before tomorrow’s sessions..!!!! Decide to have chai pani with biwi bachhe in the balcony..!!
1700 hrs: Finally hit the books..!! Gotcha finish something before the 7 pm speaker series club session.
1900 hrs: Guest Speaker session in AC4 LT: Talk on “Mergers and Acquisitions – The Indian Perspective” by a US visiting Professor. Went on till 2030 hrs..!! Realized my utter lack of in-depth knowledge on the subject.. mental notes to read up more on this…!!
2200 hrs: Somehow finished reading 2 articles.., 2 chapters.., spammed the batch…, made case notes.. highlighted each paragraph of the book yellow… and now its time for dinner..
2245 hrs: Dinner done.. caught up with wife on day’s events.. and was adequately ‘informed’ on how little I am a help with chores in the home.. Time for some friendly gapshap.. so hop over to neighbours place.. to discuss gyan… and plan out the movie that we are shooting on campus for which auditions are underway..!
2400 hrs: Went through the script of the movie.. its coming out great!! But.. oh God!! Already Midnite..!!! 2 assignments yet to be done..!!! Where is my study group..??? Why haven’t they called yet?? Frantic phone calls.. helter skelter…pandemonium..
0245 hrs: Somehow completed the assignment….thinking now… ‘if only I could have devoted lil more time…the assignment would have been so gr8!!!”
0300 hrs: Orkutted.. Gmailed…Yahood…Xtra Googlied… and finally crashed..!! (ohh forgot.. alarm set up for early morn… tomorrow 30 mins extra of sleep as class starts at 0845 J ..) Bye bye isb world welcome virtual world…so.. eh… which island in Spain where you talking about?? What..$12m..?? Make it 8 and u have a deal.. ok……………….?

Simple Problem - Simpler solution.

Many of us, in ISB, want to have a cup of coffee in the midst of a class break. Many a times, however, we are unable to have the coffee for the want of a five rupee coin.

We, in our class one day, were discussing possible ways of addressing the problem and the guys came up with several ‘innovative’ solutions. One of the guys suggested starting a new business venture in the ‘Supply Chain Management’ of five rupee coins, and another suggested a corporate alliance with the ‘D’ company to ‘clean-up’ the Coffee Vending machines of all their ‘belongings.’ The best and the most innovative solution, however, was quite obviously the one that I suggested ;-) and the one that finally got implemented. This solution is that of a simple ‘Coin-Box.’

The ‘Coin-Box’ solution has now been under implementation, in our class, for the past three weeks. The solution is, as the name itself suggests, a simple box filled with around fifty to hundred coins of five rupees each. The box is kept in the class daily and the students are free to draw any number of coins out of the box after putting an equivalent amount of money back into the box. The beauty of the solution is that there is no one who monitors the process or guards the box.

The 'Coin- Box' lying just like that - with no one guarding it.

How long then can the ‘Coin-Box’ continue without suffering losses or without being ‘looted’ if there is no one to watch the ‘cash-flow’ in and out of the box? Well, as pointed out earlier, the ‘Coin-Box’ has successfully been under implementation for the past three weeks (we actually have Rs. 25 extra in the box at the end of three weeks!) and I don’t see any reason for this to change. The ‘Coin-Box’ will continue to serve the students of our section (and possibly others) as long as they continue to serve the box by living up to the trust and confidence posed in them. And the chances, if any, of someone betraying the trust of the whole group look really slim to me.

Therefore, the ‘Coin-Box’ shall continue to quench the thirst of 5 (Ru)P’s in the class break to facilitate the students’ understanding of the other (4)P’s and (3)C’s in the class.

There is also, perhaps, much greater significance of this solution/experiment than the mere provisioning of five rupee coins for the purchase of coffee. There is, in my view, a very important lesson that can be drawn from the success of this experiment - that sometimes, less reliance on an elaborate set of rules and regulations that betray a sense of mistrust in the members of the group and more reliance on the general ‘goodness’ and honesty of the members can be a better of way of running a system effectively.

If the previous sentence didn’t make much sense, dismiss it as some mumbo-jumbo and continue to have your coffee. Any time you find yourself constrained for five rupee coins - just find the LT where the class of our section is held. And to answer which is our section, the class of which you have to look for, you just have to answer another simple question – “Which is the section that really rocks?” Answer this question and thou shall have thine answer.

P.S. Please do not take the ‘section’ comments seriously. They were added just to add a dash of humor. Happy Coffeeing!

The 'Coin-Box' in action

Term 1@ISB

Statutory Warning to all future ISB aspirants:

You shall enter the ISB Danger zone at your own risk. Management will take no responsibility for loss of sanity due to sleep deprivation. You will be the official prey of predators, mostly imported from other continents, otherwise known as Professors, who will try to roast you both inside and outside the classroom. The inmates of this zone are prone to bouts of mass hysteria, especially around birthdays, resulting in involuntary dunking into the pool.

All future applicants to ISB are adviced to check out this great piece of work by Dr Dhawal Jhamb. Dont say later that we did not warn you!



cheers,
C,
On behalf of ISB - Class of 2008

Heroes amongst us.

This post is a salute to those who strive to become great. (e.g. A great lady from Section B, who ran an NGO in Hyderabad or my NetImpact club president who made his career helping people see, again). And a wakeup call for others. (like me)

In our own limited ways, we all strive for greatness. Whether by becoming the Sports Club president..Or by giving the most insightful CPs in class.. Or by being the most active party bopper in campus...

Underlying all types of personalities is a desire for being the best. Being different. Being somebody, who others almost feel jealous of.

Everybody starts from the same page. Over the course of a "lifetime", the spirit craving for this greatness grows old and feeble. For some, this ageing process of the spirit is faster.. Their spirit dies even when they are young..in body.. Others grow old in body.. But somehow never cease to amaze others by their spirit.

Lesser mortals like us, recognize the former types as "mediocre"s. The ones who are just like any other Tom, Dick or Harry. It turns out that these mediocre types are actually the happiest. They give up on themselves. Concede defeat. And cease to strive for that one something that will make them different from the one billion souls sharing the planet. Their lives revolve around the petty issues in life. They quarrel, love, lust, envy, become slaves to selfish pleasures.. But they remain happy. Till the time the Grim Reaper arrives. Then they realize that their time was actually a limited resource. And they delivered such a low ROI. By the way, I havent come across any mediocre type in ISB so far.. (not sure about myself though). But then, when I use people like Narayan Murty, Vikram Akula as reference points, then I have second thoughts..

Think again. What makes you great. Is there something in you that will outlive you? Trust me, nobody remembers the investment banker who left a million dollars in his bank account to his third wife.. How miserable can that be. Is'nt it?

Does that mean, everybody should turn to nonprofits and become monks? Does not make sense, Right.. But I think (under heavy influence of readings of Stephen Covey), that everyone should imagine the one achievement that he wants to be remembered by.. when he is gone.. Surely there must be something that he desires to do. That makes him not like every other Tom, Dick and Harry. Chances are high, that most people will identify something that is noble. Very few will like to be remembered for their material exploits (like the promotions, academics, financial success etc).

Once there is a goal, it all becomes simple. Without a goal, everything is pointless. So before you drown in the constant excesses of fast corporate life, take a few moments. Figure out what the hell you want, in the longer run.

I would hate to end up as the mediocre guy next door. Wouldn't you?

cheers,
C

Life under normal curve

Before coming to ISB I always wondered what is the difference between the ordinary colleges and the premier B-schools. I tried to justify by considering aspects like Infrastructure, courses taught, Alumni network, Professors and few other aspects. But after about 2 months I have realized what's the key differentiator.

And it is "The Competitiveness." Once you realize this you will lead life only under the normal curve, not a normal life. Every aspect you are challenged and there is struggle to move to the right side of the curve not to the right side of life. Sometimes moving to the right doesn't necessarily mean right side.

Finally it started raining in Hyderabad but I really didn't enjoy the first as I had been doing every year. Every year I used to wait for monsoon so that the heat goes down and the water woes come down and I used to watch news specifically note the levels in the reservoirs. This year I didn't have time for anything of that sort. But I'm looking forward to the small pond at ISB getting filled up.

But academic pressure has taken over everything else for now. On one side we have all the professional club elections going on and on the other hand Term 2 is moving ahead at a brisk pace. The weekend has just begun for our section but so the pressure to finish the assignments.

I have started liking life below normal curve and it appears to be best simulation for me.

If you decide you don’t have to get A’s....

“If you decide you don’t have to get A’s, you can learn an enormous amount in college”. Though I wouldn’t want to be inspired by this quote (From the book “My life as a Quant” by Emanuel derman and attributed to the legendary physicist I.I.Rabbi), I cannot but help wish that this was the philosophy followed by all the students in all the premier institutes of our country.

When I came to ISB, I had the notion of not wanting to repeat what we did in our undergraduate course at REC, which was to learn by rot and not understand the underlying principles. We have been, as a generation, lucky to have a booming economy waiting for us engineers to pass out of the college and embrace us in the folds of the IT and ITES sectors. But for these sectors, students passing out of the college without a firm understanding of their respective trades would have found it difficult to get a job.
In ISB, with all the world class professors, it would have been ideal for the students to try to understand the finer aspects of a subject and its application in the real world, rather than to cram for exams at the end of the short term.

Let me clarify. To a great extent, this does happen out here, the learning aspect does figure in the priorities of each and every student at ISB and the institute provides a conducive enviroment for the same, with all the world class faculties, state of the art facilities and an amazing library. The only thing that derails a student from the pursuit of knowledge is the over relevance of grades.
Yes, grades do matter and I don’t deny it.
But if grades matter with respect to how it is going to help a student perform in the campus recruitment process, then the reason for securing the grades deviates from the ideal reason for which it should have been done.I can sense that there are a lot of students in the batch who want to learn the subject rather than cram for the exams, but towards the end of the term, the pressure is so high that you tend to somehow master how to do the numericals rather than to understand why you are doing what you are doing.
Trust me. I did the same for the term 1 eco paper.
Yes, this will help in scoring good marks, but I cannot help feeling that somehow I lost the essence of what the numericals were testing me on, even though I managed to get the answer correct.

The above observations might look weird or abstract to a lot of people, so let me change track and recommend the book by Emanuel Derman for everyone who is intellectually oriented and also to those who are aspiring to work in an investment bank! :) I came across this book when it was recommended by one of my senior colleague when I was working with GS technology. The author of the above mentioed book is famous for the Black-Derman-Troy interest rate model in quantitative finance which he co-developed when he was at GS. In the book, he narrates his experiences as a physicist and then his stint at GS heading the quantitative strategy group.
Happy reading, if you get your hands on the book!!

State of Shock!

No wonder, there has'nt been any post on this blog since a while. What do you expect? 90% of the ISB population came here believing in their guts, that they are gonna end up in the top 10% of the batch, a.k.a in the Dean's list.

Term 1 Exams are over. Scores are out. Unfortunately, maths does not have any emotion. As a lot of folks figured out, only 10% can come in the top 10%. So what about the remaining 80% "junta"? As I said, they are in a state of shock.

I think I would be a "representative sample" (Thanks to Prof Stine, I know exactly what I mean by that) of this 80% crowd. So you will get the drift if you check out my story.

The day I joined ISB, I carried a lot of baggage. This baggage I had earned from my past life. Some of it by sheer good luck, a few I had actually slogged to achieve. More often than not, I had found myself amongst the more lucky ones. Then I realized, that hey, I am not lucky. I am actually a great performer. I am able to achieve my goals, where many do not..Thanks to many successes, I was tempered to believe that results are always within reach. I just have to stretch enough. In short, like the rest of the 420 individuals who joined ISB, I thought I am SuperMan.

Now, the writing is on the wall (or blackboard, you could say:-)) The truth is, I may be SuperMan. But there are 419 more of them. And you know maths does not have emotions. So you end up with 380 Supermen, who cant be supermen, as they used to be, because they are some 40 Super Supermen.

It is not something easy to digest. It is not pleasant to find out a new weakness in yourself, every damn day. Thats true. Every damn thing that you did well, there are a dozen others who do it even better. Things about yourself that you never knew, now stare glaringly at your face. But come to think of it, am I not better off now? I am.

So that is why many of us are probably in a state of shock. Some of us will come out of it instantly. And accept it. Some will accept it and fight it. I hope I end up in the latter group.

Anyways, the moral of the story is that ISB is very competitive. As an alumnus has said, ISB will give you the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows.

So folks, if you are reading this from outside ISB, thinking about whether to join next year or not, trust me. You can only gain from ISB. Forget about the salary gains. I am taking about something more profound. To be honest, you have to actually live through it to understand it.

And by the way, I have requested many foks from my batch to write on this blog. So you should see more interesting stuff. If you are an ISB applicant and would like us to write about any specific thing, please leave a comment. We will try and share our views on that.

cheers,
C

XAMS XAMS

As the sun sets on the hills beyond ISB..
As the birds fly back to their nests..
As the peacocks come out from their hiding..
As the office wallah decides to call it a day..
As the Ibanker looks at his watch – “5 hours more..”
As the city traffic swells to go back home,

(credit to: photography club)

The lights at the LRC switch itself ON
And so do the lights on the snaking paths around it..
I am looking outside from my window
Thinking..thinking…

Oh GOD!! What is it telling me? What is it telling me that I don’t know?
Somewhere deep within the pits of my mind, I hear a sound..
A faint one initially but then increasing in intensity…
Yes you guessed it right..
It is the sound of the small tick of the watch..
Silently ticking away to glory..
Laughing Laughing Laughing away..

Just look at them.. look at the bunch of ISbians..
Struggling against all odds to learn what others do in a lifetime
They try to do in less than three weeks..
And yet they think they can solve 8 of the allens in 2 hours flat..
They think they can tick the right ones on waterman’s gate..
That some divine grace will guide them through the finns of mark..
And AHhhh they think Piyush will give an easy one…NO WAY!!!

The watch knows…
The watch knows that soon it will all be over!!!!!
And life will be back to the three D’s
Daru, Daru and Daru…

The watch tells me another thing…what you may ask..
That the watch no longer shows time…
It shows time left… and that is 39 hours left….
What the *(!*@##!@*# am I doing writing this….
Have I gone mad….. ?
Man these admission wallahs enjoy diversity….
If only they could hear the shrieks and pains.. when exams come calling..

Man.. you still reading this??
You must be out of your minds!! GO BACK TO STUDIES>………………………..

Dunk n Sleep

I penned down this dunking anthem @ my blog..here is a shot at it going by a suggestion to post it on the C blog. Hope you njoi reading it..


Cold summer evening brimmed with wet earth,
Swell the spirits to enthuse a sense of mirth.
Talking and laughing the crowd pulls along
Chanting for the fellow a happy birthday song.

Sleepy in the classes , Merry in the crowd…
Beating the rain I called names aloud
The inquisitive and carefree,the dull and the bubbly….
All in one walked down the alley.

The waters are set awaiting a tide,
Sway the fellow ,throw him
Then run back and hide.
All attempts go in vain the hunters pull you down
They swing and shoot you,Like an air borne clown.

Swollen spirits sing the jingle,
Once in the day its time to mingle
Talking and laughing the crowd pulls back
Encore is incumbent, another day and jack.

Long live the tradition...

To Be or Not To Be

Without a trace, the group of 420+ odd strangers has dissapeared. Not a single trace. Gone is the confusion; the unfamiliarity.

In it's place are two new camps. One is called "Grades matter" camp. The other, you must have guessed is the "Grades Do Not Matter" camp.

Both camps enjoy some die-hard believers. While most of the batch kind of oscillate between these two beliefs.. The defection to the "Grades do not matter" camp more or less correlates with the exceptionally tempting parties arranged towards the weekends! The alcohol, the muzeek; hard to resist. This is not news to me. This happens every year at ISB. An alumnus had described this as the "ISB Disequilibrium"!

Why does this happen? Does this happen at other place too? Which camp is right? Well. Like all big questions, this has no easy answer. Clearly, there is no one right way to treat your MBA. Some interesting opinions from both the camps:-

Grades Do Not Matter Campers:-

1. Only TOP 5 Companies look for grades. Rest look at your past experience. So why bother?
2. One needs to de-stress after a tiring week. So I need to chill.
3. One of the most important takeaways from an MBA is the network. You cannot build a network, by limiting yourself to your studies.

Grades Matter Campers:-

1. I have not spent 15 lacs and come here to party. Here time is the major constraint.
2. I will focus on studies for now. Then later on, after core terms, I will focus on networking.
3. I am not good at all that. So I will avoid all that leadership stuff. Only grades matter.

Personally, I think that none of the above beliefs are accurate. Balance is key, but it is easier said than done. More often than not, balance comes with the risk of mediocrity. "Jack of all trades, master of none". So what is the right way?

Complete focus or Balanced Mediocrity or Complete Chill. Or is it possible to have it all?

Pour your opinions, if you have any.

cheers,
C

Affects of ISB on Normal life.

I went to a restaurant called ‘Basil’ the other day and was about to leave after a happy meal when the feedback form of the restaurant, lying unfilled on my table, screamed for my attention. There was a certain strange quality to this scream. I could not believe my ears when I heard our Statistics Professor Bob Stine screaming out from the feedback form! I’m not kidding guys, I’m serious!

Bob was shouting that this unfilled form would go as a ‘no-response’ in the statistical estimations of the level of customer satisfaction at the hotel. He asked me how, after all that he had taught us, could I make life more difficult for a statistician. Bob had drilled deep into us, in his classes, the adverse effect that ‘no-response(s)’ could have on such statistical estimations. And for the love of Bob and for his subject – Statistics – I could not help but sit back again and fill up the form.

My family who were waiting at the gate while I filled the form really wondered what had come of me. When they asked me I said, “Nothing, I just met my Professor of stats from ISB - Bob Stine!” They found nothing normal in my reply but then they have hardly found anything normal in me ever since I took this ‘abnormal’ decision (for a person with his own business) of joining ISB.

The Next President

There has been severe speculation from several quarters in the last few weeks about who the next President will be. Each party has been trying to huddle with its allies to come to a consensus candidate. It is becoming obvious after the UP elections that the road to Rashtrapathi Bhavan will have to go via Lucknow. There are arrangements being worked out by allies of ruling party to send alternate ministerial hopefuls list if one of the ruling party Ministers is offered the top job.

In addition to the parties, the media has been playing with people opinions conducting all sorts of surveys and opinion polls on this. CNN-IBN has been conducting an SMS poll with 8 potential candidates which include the current President as well. Even Amitabh Bachchan is a potential candidate and as of yesterday he had a 2% support !!

Anyways, the crux of this blog post is to question if corporate leaders make good presidents? One of the names that has been speculated very heavily is N.R.Narayana Murthy. Murthy, who needs no introduction has been building his self-brand consciously for years alongside Infosys. Today, he is like the Gandhi of IT in a sense - a seedha-sadha guy, ambitious, focused, transparent in operations, from a middle class background, living a simple life even after becoming one of the richest person in the nation, humble and party-neutral (though he has been a socialist in his early days). His image has been so well perfected that it is not a wonder he gets so much support from the upper middle class sections of the society. The NR Narayana Murthy brand carries a heavy value in Indian polity these days and a Governor or a President post is the next logical step for for him.

ET ran an article on May 21 about potential corporate leaders who are Prez hopefuls - list included Tata, Premji, KV Kamath, Sunil Mittal in addition Murthy.

The fact is - Yes. These people have been great leaders - ambitious, go-getters. winners, handle complexities everyday, great relationship builders etc., But is this what it takes to the President of this largest democracy ? Or are they overqualified for the job, which makes them too risky to occupy the Rashtrapathi Bhavan ?

thoughts???...

Friday Bomb Blast in Hyderabad - Amusing Incidents and Disturbing Aspects.

“Maa#$**#$@ band kar dukaan!”("Shut the shop, you ------ ------") shouted a young fellow of around 18 years while he hurled a stone missile at a shop in Banjara Hills in Hyderabad yesterday. Then he giggled away to glory saying “Kaisa phaada nai, dukaan waale ki,”(“See, how I scared the S--- out of the shop owner”) in his group of around 8-10 guys with age ranging from as young as 15 to a maximum of around 25-27.

While this incident to an extent was amusing what didn’t amuse me one bit was the reaction of the police. They just stood by, as is now expected of them, and just warned this group of ‘hooligans’ against having too much ‘fun.’(“Masti karo par zyaada nakko.”)

To top it all this policemen passed on a message (on his wireless radio) to the control room that a group of people were going around the area ‘requesting’ shop owners to down their shutters!!

Wow! What a definition of request the police seem to have. Wonder what their reaction would be if we were to ‘request’ the police in a similar way – by first abusing them and then by hurling stones at them.

Stray incidents such as the one above, of which I just happened to be a witness, aside there are a few other aspects about the blast in Hyderabad yesterday that bother me.

1) There are reports that the police went around the city on Thursday warning some of the petrol bunk owners against selling petrol in cans or bottles to anyone over the next two days. Never before was such an instruction / warning specifically given to the petrol bunk owners. Why then was it given this time and why again only for two days – Thursday & Friday? Did the Police have any prior inkling or info?

2) No stones can be found lying around on the roads or on the footpaths around the mecca masjid area. (I frequent the area often as many of my relatives have their shops and establishments around the mosque.) How then did the miscreants find sacks full of stones to hurl at the police and at the shops around mosque?

3) Previous such incidents of stone throwing were found to have been preceeded by a massive stock-piling of stones in the area. Many a times school children were found carrying stones in their school bags. No action was taken then and I am sure that no action, whatsoever, will be taken now.

4) CCTV cameras and metal detectors were later installed as a precautionary measure around that mosque but they were removed just recently.

5) Frisking and searching, a routine security check carried out at the mosque, of all visitors / devotees was not carried out only on this Friday – the day of the blast.

6) The most bothersome piece of information, however, has been a news article in the Times of India today. It draws the readers’ attention towards an organisation called Tablighi Jamaat which is holding one of its big congregations today on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The previous congregations have been held in Nanded and Malegaon. And guess what had happened in both these places prior to the congregations - A BOMB BLAST IN A MOSQUE !

P.S. The views expressed above are all personal and have nothing to do with ISB as a school / institution / organisation. I understand that this a collaborative blog of a business school, however, I hope that we have to liberty to once in a while sneak in posts like the one above on issues of general concern and importance.

Mid Term - Take 1

If only life was as simple,
As a hypothesis that you could test using a sample..

Every dude/dudette who ends up with an ace major...
will think, I hope I am not just a TYPE 1 error!

Lesser souls, like you and me, who waste time on posts like these..
Will wonder why the hell did they read "Who moved my cheese"...

Life was going on just fine..
Till the jump from the frying pan into the fire..
From sexy curves to supply curves..
From vital statistics to business statitics..

Dont worry. In the long run...
We will all be dead!

Segmentation..!

One more day to go for the first reality check for our batch. The mid-terms.
This will be the first excercise through which the ISB market is going to be segmented. Segmented in terms of grades - the A's, A-negs etc....
Segmented in terms of lists - the dean's listers(Potential), the outliers and the "within 2 SE" guys!
I wonder what sort of segmentation this is...my guess would be behavorial!
Anyways, here is wishing all of you the very best for the first mid term exams.

we have completed ONE month @ ISB

When I saw this mail from a friend here, I was like, "One month down, already?" Time just seems to grow wings here.. With assignments, lectures, quizzes, and the upcoming mid-terms, everything just moves in a flash.
Its great to be back in college again. Its fun to have friends all around, to study together(oh yeah!!!). We do have our differences, but the sheer diversity and viewpoints that people bring to the table, is amazing.
The weekends are more tough, with assignments due..people studying all around you. Books short in the library, because everyone wants to get hold of the popular Statistics volumes...And you can hear sighs of complains all around. Why did I have to leave my cosy job and come here? How much more can I really study? What exactly am I doing here? And so on and so forth...And yet we are all happy we made the decision. And though hard pressed for time, we all want to indulge in everything this campus has to offer. With cribs about the so soon mid terms rising high, I can still find people signing up for salsa lessons. The recreation centre still sees inhabitation. People do find the time to do what they must!!!
The one month has been immensely rewarding, as I am sure the next 11 months will be too. And as I sigh over one less day in the remaining 11 months, its time to sign off, to ensure I extract the most of my time here :)

Realities of Public Life in India.

Today(11th May, 2007) on NDTV at around 9:30 AM.

Barkha Dutt to Abhishek Singhvi: Yesterday there were rumors that the Congress could offer Mayawati a ‘deal’ on the Taj Corridor Case if Mayawati were to involve Congress in the process of Government formation and if she were to lend support to the Congress’ candidate for the post of the President of India. What is your take on this?

How do you think Abhishek Singhvi (Spokesperson of the Congress and one of the top most lawyers of India) responded to these ‘allegations’ of his party trying to meddle with the CBI in a high profile corruption case?

You would naturally expect Mr. Singhvi to be indignant and deny that any such ‘deal’ was on the cards, right? Sample what Mr. Singhvi had to say on the issue:

Abhishek Singhvi: Well, yesterday was Thursday (when there was speculation that BSP would need Congress support for govt. formation in UP and hence would be willing to share power with Congress) and today is Friday. Today she doesn’t need our support. So, there is no question of any deals!

More ironical than the statement itself is the fact that the panel on this show found nothing wrong whatsoever with the statement made, accepted the statement as a matter of fact and moved on to discuss other ‘important’ issues like which party could now be the potential ally of the BSP and which portfolios would the ally ‘bargain’ for. (The interview/discussion was held before it was clear the BSP would get a majority in the UP Assembly on its own.)

What a statement on the realities of Public Life in India!

Now in which country other than India can you expect a politician to get away by making a statement like that (indicating that his party, the party currently in power, was willing to ‘silence the Central Investigating Agency’ in a criminal case against the Chief Minister designate of a state, in return for a favour)? And in which country other than India can you expect the press and public not raise so much as a murmur to such statements?

Lagta hai – “Sau mein se Sau Beimaan, Phir bhi Mera Bharat Mahaan!!” – Hey Bhagwaan!

It's party time

Two weeks of Term one were like a whirlwind. The week seems to be shorter than the weekend. Each section in itself is a different world in itself and each section has decided to party today in the evening extending into the night not bothering what other sections are doing.

It looks more settled now after all the arbit threads on Orkut I could now related more to my batch mates. I have started feeling to be a part of the Co2008.

As admits we had been meeting others but that was more of celebrating the success of getting admission. Now we have started working together and we have started seeing the different dimensions and complexities of the batch. Its really surprising to see the diversity even on the to-do-things and my interests and my goals lists.

Apart from partying, we have many more exciting things like dunking, sleeping in the class, arbit CP - such as, spider's web or cat has nine lives, case assignments, club meetings, amazing maths forwards, sorry spams, lost wallets and purses, found umbrellas, sim cards and text books, honor(horror) code, study group team building, salsa classes, debit notes to deal with, new club proposals, ISB radio jockeying, unintended recipients of confidential mails, balckboard, turnitin, trinethra inconvenience store, once-in-a-while mails from Alums, barber in the campus, indirect message from party victims, innumerable mailing list mails, expired sunscreen lotions, meal plans, girls night out, and many many more and once in a while sessions to catch up.In the midst of all this you have to sleep and have food too.

But for today all the spammers are excused, blackboard is forgotten, assignments are given rest and everything will wait as we have been waiting for tonight - Music, Dance and Party. Thank God it's a Thursday, let's start playing the music.

Of mice and men

“Don’t Panic!” - The Subject said it all. The Guide didn’t use those 2 words for nothing.

Two weeks down, and the pressure of time running past is hitting everyone. And the feeling best described by these words from a smart young lady “I am not average!”

Well fact is that none of us are – because you cannot be average unless you really believe you are – and if you really didn’t think you were good enough – you wouldn’t be here!

I would like to believe that each person in the Class of 2008 has been outstanding in whatever they’ve done so far in life - and will continue to excel wherever they go from here. In the intervening period let’s just focus on learning what we don’t know regardless of whether the “grades” match up.

And when times get tough, think of the three words Mother Mary said in the Quartet’s song….. “Let it Be….”

Hyderabad Heat!

It appears that the summer heat in Hyderabad is getting to people. Or maybe it is something that always happens at the start of Term 1. People (including myself) have started behaving strangely. Without much ado, I will list down a few interesting ones (Source:- Orkut comminity of ISB Class of 2008) :-

1. Proffessor Mark Finn (looking at the Student 1 with the Macbook): Do you have Apple dealerships around?
Student 2(looking to score some brownies): yeah, we do get them in the convenience stores downstairs!!! [A typical case of arbit CP. the concept is same. incidentally he realized his folly after 10 long mins]

2. During one the breaks during class, Person X had to answer the call of nature.. X rushed and was happilly minding his business when he suddenly realized that the loo was a bit unfamiliar. He had inadvertently gone into the "Ladies" loo! A similar version was reported of a female venturing into the "Male" section!

3. Student A: "Have you registered for the Quants pre term?"
Student B: "No I've registered for the other two"
Student A: "Which ones?"
(There are only 3 pre term courses)

4. I got "cold called" by Prof Finn just 5 minutes before class was to end. I had somehow switched off mentally at that stage. So much so, that my mind just went blank. I could not even comprehend what the question was.. ( it was a simple one, btw)..Quite embaressing. Thankfully, a good soul came to my rescue and attempted the answer...

I could go on and on. :-)

But given the exodus of pre-read assignments, the tension of having to come up with good CP in class and the absolutely stupendous quality of the proffessors, it is only natural to see the fazed look on people's faces.

The professors come from places like Kellogg and Wharton. I am not exaggerating. Trust me, in the two hours in their classes, your mind will feel dizzy. The way they manouvere the class through profound concepts, the speed and beauty with which they resolve student's queries, the pace - I have never been through such an experience in my life. And I have studied in a very good Engineering college; it is not that I come from a village.. These proffessors have written books, decades ago, that are used by people around the world..

For every 2 hours of class, you need at least 6 hours to do the pre-reads. Make no mistake. ISB is not for the faint hearted. The pace is demanding. Intense..

No wonder, the sleep deprivation and the funny little incidents from now and then..

cheers,
C

ISB Orientation week...

Hey guys, This is the first time I am writing a blog entry from inside ISB itself. Words cannot describe how excited I am at the moment.. I have this whole long story as to what has been happening in the last few weeks that I've been here at Hyderabad....

But since pictures speak a thousand words by themselves, I'd just like to choose 10 pics that describe best the last few weeks!! Hopefully they convey the message successfully... =D.

As you can see it was a beautiful view flying on a sunny 2nd of April from Malaysia to India.

Of course nothing I did had prepared me for the 'meet'. The Dhabbha Meet of Hyderabad ISB-ians. This was a place filled with such handsome and interesting chaps it put the view out of the plane earlier to shame.

Of course, we cannot miss the spouses and the beautiful children that had already started bonding; bringing cheer into our lives. It came to a point where people seemed to think one of the single gals in the team was in fact, the mother of one child.

Things can get pretty confusing when you are having fun with a full stomach in the middle of summer at Hyderabad. But, this meet was sorta the point at which I got formally adopted by the Hyderabadi chapter of ISB! =) Thanks for making me feel so welcome guys!!

Lol!~ Finally, i got here on the 14th of April. Above is my room prior to unpacking time. Trust me. It looks a hell lot worse now.

And then, I met the rest of them. People that I had met on Orkut. People that I have never met anywhere online. People that were totally different from their pictures, so much that I walked past them a few times looking for THEM!!

In the true tradition of being leaders anywhere in the world. Class of 2008 took the lead on a fellow student's birthday and creamed her face with cake on the first night of Orientations at a party on the lawns.

Our thanks to the beautiful, young lady who tried her best to keep the fact that it was her birthday secret, but failed.

The following 2 days were great fun. We had a treasure hunt and team building activities. Those team building activities were really interesting and unfortunately, in one of the slightly tougher games, I got a bad muscle spasm. It was due to lack of proper amount of water in my system. Mr. Khairoz was the one who helped me. (I am very grateful to you and all the other concerned people in the group man. That's why I am mentioning this even though there aren't any photos of the specific incident.)

ISB, Hyderabad, 18th April (Wednesday) - We witnessed two great events. One was the "fantabulous" come back that the Section D Frisbee team did against Section F. Eventually, it was a loss but the way each and every one of them put in a 200% effort to give Section F a run for their money was awe-inspiring in the second half.

And after dinner, Section D won the Tug-o-War competition. (Personal note: I am happy that I contributed my part there.) It was tough against all the teams. Interestingly, the muscle spasm that I had during the team building which hadn't gone away and had been troubling me the whole day, got 100% cured after I totally exerted myself during the Tug-o-War in the evening. Talk about irony!

Finally, there was the talent nite! Results were to be announced as to which team won. Due to me suffering a natural lack in talent which could only be cured by lotsa practice, I decided to not pursue the acting or dancing side of things.

Instead, I cheered at the top of my lungs for Section D complete with the props that PG and a few dedicated others had bought and prepared. I loved the exploding confetti part!!

And the, winner of the Orientation week was? Section...F! But we got Second place!!! by beating Group A with only 20 points. All that cheering was worth it, Man!!

Well one thing is for sure. I am feeling very welcome here at the moment. Very enthusiastic about classes that are about to start next week.

May our dedication, hardwork and focus reward us by being the best batch that ever graduated from ISB!!

Peace Guys!

Fidelity

Now that we have brought up the topic of infidelity, and I hope everyone read the complete article, for obvious reasons, maybe its also time to talk about the fidelity that we are expected to maintain in sections and study groups.

ISB has divided us into sections, sections you have to live with for all the 4 core terms, whether you like it or not. And it seems the competitive spirit that this division had generated during the orientation week, where all team/individual activities had section points, is being carried forward for the days to come. We have section workshops, to section parties, to study group meetings. People apprehensive of working in teams they did not even know a week back, are going out of their way to gel, to form that indefinable bond, which will last for life, or hopefully, at the very least, for the 4 core terms. The section chants reign supreme even now, as much a part of our vocabulary and everyday life, as “Hail Hitler” must have been in its own time.

Diversity, is the hallmark of the division, and we see groups with people from as varied backgrounds as architecture, media, hospitality, CA, engineering, entrepreneurial ventures, mining, shipping, and the list goes on. And to cater to every different interest, we have professional and social clubs. There is a mad rush to organize meetings, meet like minded people, and make all the varied opinions flow in some semblance. An uphill task with 400+ leaders, but lets see how good a job we all do on this one.

Back to studies now, as I debate where my loyalties should lie, to my old mates, the study group, the section…or to the dinner table…….

Infidelity at the dinner table

The phrase on my mind today is "Infidelity at the dinner table". And before your crooked mind conjures up an even more crooked plot about a decent bloke like me getting into trouble of the wrong kind, just think. Do I look like that kind of guy? Ok Ok I may look like one. but let me assure you. I love my wife 1000%.

I am actually quoting an alumnus, who mentioned in one of the speeches about the concept of infidelity, at the dinner table. It basically means, dont stick to any one group while having your food in the canteen. Instead, try having every meal with a new face. Chances are that the new face would be from a professional background you never knew about.

In the past one week, I have had the luxury of having lunches/dinners with people of such diverse backgrounds; that I could easily make a Yellow pages with their details.. I mean it.. There is this guy for whom rocket science is actually not rocket science. Before coming to ISB he actually made rockets at ISRO. Then there is the good lad who hails from HAL. The lad used to make helicopters. People planning to create their own venture, People who used to move containers from port to ships, people who used to move ships..lawyers, I could bloody go on and on. Another favourite is a doctor turned trainer.

The point is, that if you stick to one group, you probably will miss out on making a lot more friends.

After the orientation week, now we are having the pre-term classes. It is an interesting thing to be in. The class participation (CP as we call it) especially is the interesting bit. CP exists in a continuum of its own. At it's lowest extremes, you have the "moron" style CP. Completely non-common-sensical class participation. And at the other extreme you have the "insightful" CP. Every now and then, you also have the common-sensical CP. The ISB term for it is "arbit CP".

Strangely enough, the moron style CP actually comes from people looking for depth in their knowledge base. By asking seemingly stupid questions, they actually help build depth in the classroom discussion. Because, it is only the "moron" style CP that challenges the fundamentals. And in the process, we start thinking deeper into the subject. The insightful CP is a rare commodity. But it does surface from time to time..

But arbit CP; when people say something knowing the answer and knowing that everybody else knows the answer, that is a perfect waste of airtime. I hope, common sense prevails. And people dont forget that common sense is common after all.

And by the way, please dont feel shy to give comments against posts in this blog. Any bullshit would qualify as a comment. I cannot imagine any reason why you should not do so. Can you?

If you do post comments, then I promise an extravaganza of snaps from our talent nite.. Trust me. You want to see those snaps :-)

C

Great Start at a Great Place

The orientation has been a mad mad rush. Loads of information and loads of activities, both mental and physical, to cope with. We still have two days to go.

Before coming to ISB I was in training and used to conduct lot of team building programs. As a facilitator the role is totally different and after a long time I got the opportunity to experience everything as a participant. The experience is excellent. The task of getting all the 425+ students to know each other is not that simple. But I think it has been very well organized and kudos to the batch of 2007 for volunteering and organizing everything. I can confidently say that I can now recall at least 100 faces and their names without mistake.

The effort spent on orientation is very very useful and I'm sure it would benefit all of us as we go into the academic grill.

Overall it has been a very encouraging experience and yes, it met all my realistic expectations.

The Perfect Storm

The meteorological department at Hyderabad has bungled again. How could they not see it coming? After all, it was one of the biggest storms of the decade.

What the heck am I rambling about? Well, Gachibowli, Hyderabad witnessed a storm front on Saturday the 14th April 2007. 420+ charged men and women stormed the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad starting from the wee hours of the morning. Each of them a hurricane in his/her own right! Yeah Yeah, I know. Meteorology is for storms in the sky. But this one was no different. Trust me. I survived the Super Cyclone in Orissa in 1999. This was a storm all right. The Orientation Week for the Class of 2008, a perfect Storm! Like any other self respecting wannabe consultant, I will explain myself in three (the magic number) bullet points.

A perfect storm has an "eye". This part is very calm. Like a perfect morning. Just like the 420 odd faces, each with an omnipresent smile. For some strange reason, the smile just does not go. Every face greeted with a "Hi", followed by some utterly and completely useless small talk! The perfect image of bliss. And Calm. So much peace. Nirvana. Smelling like a million dollar worth of perfumes. Neat perfectly ironed smart casuals. Like I said, the eye of the storm.

But if you look closely enough, you will see that the faces do betray the turbulence going on behind; the turbulence of a million thoughts. Of prejudices. Of self doubt. Panic. Will I bloody make it? After all, the guy on my right is from IIT. The chick on my left is a beauty queen. Somebody in the row behind has 3 bloody patents from Sun Microsystems! Not to mention the guy who served in Kargil. HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO COMPETE? THEY WILL EAT ME FOR BREAKFAST! Each of the 420 faces betray the storm going on in their minds. Now you understand why people have to yak bullshit all the time. Just to smother the feeling of panic. You see, you just cannot be left alone.

Interestingly, as the storm progressed through the week, through the team building exercises, the club presentations, the informal gyan sessions till the middle of the night, the booze parties, the sports, the pranks, the treasure hunt; it sculpted a landscape of its own. It created groups that did not exist before. Or maybe it was the hormones that did it :-) Of course there was some collateral damage. A huge sleep debt!

The storm started with 420 strangers. They are still strangers all right. Don’t know how, but after “Orientation week” they will be my 420 strangers! Somehow they belong to me now; just like I belong to them. The storm has left behind a family.

Chandan
Your friendly neighbourhood reporter. And by the way, I like being crazy. So please dont send me to the Psychiatrist!

Kay Sera Sera

One more day to go before the roller coaster that everyone has promised us starts off. I guess everyone's feeling this strange cocktail of nervous excitement causing palpitations in their gastric regions. Friends, families, near and dear ones must also have their share of worries.

So today I am doing what I usually do at times like this, close my eyes and say to myself-

Whatever will be, will be...

To all my to be batchmates - May the force be with you !

Cya tomorrow and lets have one heck of a year!

Much awaited beach bash..

For all those who couldn't be there...

A few snaps...





To see all Visit...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7518865@N03/sets/72157600040673699/detail/

A Flight to Adventure...

21 and a half hours to go....

I'll be stepping on a flight. Connecting at Madras and ultimately arriving at Hyderabad. I gotta say. I have a lot of unfinished business here in Malaysia. Sigh. Too many people to meet. Too many words left unsaid.

I am not who i was in 1999 when i left the country for the first time. I have grown since then. I have realised the sorrows around me and the hardships around me. Yet, I've also seen the love that surrounds my life protecting me, nurturing me; and i am excited to take this step in my life now.

I want that love to reach all others around me. I want to be able to GIVE. These were resolutions that I did not have the first time. The first time it was all for ME. =) I left a boy; and i returned a man.

This time it is for everybody that i partake in this Great Adventure. I leave a man, to return a LEADER.

Ode to bloggers from CO 2007..

THANK YOU !!

Those two words are an attempt at expressing gratitude to all who have taken time from their immensely hectic life the past year to share.. It has been through you all that we've begun to experience life at ISB much before setting foot there..

Whether it's applications, interviews, day - to - day living, placements or partys.. there's always been posts about it.. posts that we as admits have spent several hours reading...

I know there are many out there.. the future members of the classes to come who, I am sure, will greatly miss the posts... So it is in this tradition that we "the class of 2008" open-up our blogs.. a window to ISB 2007-2008... Hoping that we will be able to do what all of you have done so well in the last year...

So here's a toast.. To all of you..

Do look into our blogs, we'll keep you updated with all the happenings...

Some borrowed gyan..

The other day, i was with some friends, all MBAs except me.. I had a hard time catching up with them.. They were so full of fundas and theories about practically everything under the sun.. And there i was hapilly listening to their BSchool stories.. Dreaming on..

One interesting piece of advice that i got was:- Give a lot of GYAN. So my friend says, Chandan, there are four types of people; the smart ones, who always keep giving gyan to others. Not my type.. I thought. So i asked what is the second type.. He says the dumb type.. Ok. So i must me the third type then. I asked again what is the third type. He says the lazy type. He quickly added, that the ISB selection process elminates the dumb or the lazy types..so i must be the fourth type.. the crazy type.

He reasoned that only the crazy spend 97% of their money on 3% of their life.. you see, i will be 31 when i graduate. so one year is 3% of 31. and i would have spent 97% of my money for tution in 3% of my life duration. So i must be crazy.

I did not want to agree with him..so i did something very intelligent. I called my mom. I explained that i need some gyan so that i can show off to my friends. and you have to help me.
So she asked me.. Why are you goin to ISB? I said i have three reasons.1. a good friend circle, 2. knowledge and 3. some sense of achievement.

So the first gyan was about friendship:- "Between today and graduation day, you will have to go through hell. you can't make it on your own. So dont forget, when you need it, ask for help. Dont let pride, or inhibition come in the way. It is the exchange of favours, a small economy in itself, that builds bonding. But you have to make the first step. Trust me. There is always someone who is smarter than you. If you are stuck, just ASK FOR HELP! And slowly and slowly, you will have the friend circle on which you can depend on throughout your life."

The second gyan was about knowledge:- "The biggest impediment to learning is EGO. Dont let your ego stop you from learning from a younger guy. So my mother said, Chandan, in any argument, just shut up and listen first. You might be wrong. Never assume that you are right, just because you come with some experience, or have been successfull in your past."

The third gyan, was about accomplishment:- "The grades that you earn in this one year will stay with you for life. So stretch to your peak. And then stretch some more. This is one fine oppurtunity to redefine your standards of excellence. Dont blow it. Work hard."

So with this borrowed gyan, I WISH YOU AN ASTOUNDING YEAR AHEAD. Welcome to the Class of 2008.

Chandan Panda
Type:- Crazy
Class:- ISB 2008

Strange palms....

Hmnn... I wonder if anyone realises how I am feeling at the moment?

I guess I am feeling just like how another 400+ Great Individuals out there are feeling. Yet, I feel there is a spring to my step. A bounce when I crash on the bed....(err, bad example), a croak to my voice that comes from knowing that soon I am not gonna be in this country anymore.

I am gonna take a flight from Gate 13 and a half, and then have horseless carriages take me to Hog-....(err.. ISB?) where I would be spending the rest of my year cramming up on studies. There would be points when I am told how to cast magic effectively(marketing), how to keep track of what i cast(finances), how to make others cast spells for me(human resources), how to be a good spellcaster(ethics), how to cast faster and spend no energy to lift the damn sword out of the rock when Arthur isn't around.

I know currently I just feel tempted to use the One Ring. I know at many points in the coming year I would feel the temptation of using it. Knowing full well it is wrong to do so and that it would corrupt not only myself but also everyone around me into using their own One Rings. It lets us become invisible and draw away from the world around us. We say it is to gather our thoughts and keep our sanity, but who are we kidding? In loneliness shall madness creep ever faster to claim its prize; the mind.

If only I could find my Fellowship that supports and nurtures me and encourages me to cast away my One Ring. My mind shall be whole. It happened once when I was not looking during my undergraduate years. One blink and there was my Fellowship standing by me. =) No matter Muggles or Ents, everyone was in it to make the other shine his / her best!!~

Let it happen once again!~
-from the disjointed memoirs of Frodo Potter-

Hyderabad meet pics

It's me, Pooorvee and Krishna Chaitanya

Karthik, Yeswanth, Prashanth(hope I'm not wrong), Prashanth's wife (name ??)
Preethi, Ratnakar and Priyanka
Meghna, Anand, Charanya, Karuna, Sravanthi and Jagan

Ashish Naredi, Madhu, Rudraksh, Saraswati, Namrata, Poorvee, Nidhi Reddy and Sumiti Tayal