ISB - Washington, DC Meet

Hello All -

Finally some of us in the US did get together !!!

Watching classmates from Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi have frequent get-togethers and partying etc., made the envious admit@US also try and do the same;). While plans were underway from almost early Jan, nothing really materialized successfully. Every time when a meet was planned the weather Gods frowned upon us and played spoilsport. There was either heavy rain or snow or both. So the planned get-togthers of New York/New Jersey and later at Philadelphia/Wilmington were canceled. A Washington, DC meet was planned once R2 results were out, but that fizzled out as usual, thanks to a horrible snow.

But we did not give up and finally 4 of us from the DC area met at Bethesda, Maryland yesterday March 7, 2007. Our friendly weather Gods did shower snow again - but we stuck to our plans this time. Dining at the Delhi Durbar, we had so much to talk from our edu/work backgrounds to ticketing/shipping to India to pre-term tests!

L -> R: Siva, Anurag, Gaurav, Shrishti (Gaurav's wife) and Himanshu.

Inspite of the bitter cold travel and the parking ticket souvenir (that I was awarded with), we all felt excited to meet at least once before we met formally again as classmates at ISB..

Dont know why, but just felt like sharing one of my essays (part of IIMA PGPX application). Hope you guys like it.

Describe the single event that has significantly influenced your life.

One fine Sunday, way back in 2004, I had taken my mother to a "satsang" organized by the most popular spiritual guru in India. My mother is a devout believer. I, however tend to be skeptical of such god men. It was a huge crowd in Ram Lila ground in Delhi, easily tens of thousands of people. I was happy to see my Mother happy. I tried to endure it through the day, playing games on my mobile to pass time.

Towards the end, I grew more amazed by the rapt attention that the guru enjoyed from the masses. Strangely enough, the huge crowd was seated very patiently and was actually listening to every word. One would expect more chaos. I had to give the guru some credit.
Finally the "satsang" ended. By then my mother was so emotionally charged that she was almost bursting into tears every now and then. It was eerie. It is difficult to explain that feeling. When almost everybody around you is so emotionally moved yet you don't feel anything. On their way out, a few people fell over each other. Suddenly a huge section of the crowd started to panic. For a moment, I was terrified. Images of stampedes flashed by. A lot of noise, many people toppled over each other, I most certainly felt that I was going to die.

Then something happened. The guru took the microphone, laughed out loud and then started singing something. Instantly the almost stampede situation turned into a peaceful procession. Slowly everyone moved in queues, singing along and through the exit. In some strange chemical way, the way these things happen, I had a realization that is slowly but surely transforming me as a person. How could one simple old man literally transform an impeding stampede, into a peaceful procession, almost instantly? Over the days that followed, I became increasingly aware that the limits of human potential are far stretched than what I had originally thought.

Things that I had been conditioned to perceive as being difficult, started looking worth another try. When the fundamental paradigms through which you see everything change, the impact is profound. I quit smoking. I changed to a more disciplined lifestyle. Each small success encouraged me more. I got a 95 percentile in CAT, 98 percentile in GMAT. I put together a personal project "Staircase". One of its deliverables is to find myself an ulterior purpose in life. I realized there is not much point in living a life that makes no meaningful impact. If it turns out that the maximum impact that I can make is leave behind nothing more than a fat bank balance, so be it! But maybe, I could be the next Narayan Murthy. How would I know unless I try hard enough?

My wife finds it difficult to see the connection between this incident and my realization. I tell her that it does not matter. Sometimes, it makes sense not to try to make sense of everything.

Change in looks

Hi All,

I have changed the template, as few of us from Hyderabad felt the earlier was not so eye friendly. Let me know if this looks fine.

I have saved the earlier template, so that we can revert back the changes if necessary. Please leave your comments.

Hyderabad second meet

Now we are getting into a habit of meeting regularly. Though we missed some of the last time attendees, we had few fresh batchmates joining us. We had about 5 hours of unlimited discussions and fun.

Mr. Krishna from the current batch dropped in on a request fom Anita and we kind of grilled him about the placements :)

We all are looking forward for the D-day, April 14th to meet all others from different places.

Sravanthi, the unofficial meet co-ordinator, has clicked some pics and I am sure she will be posting them shortly.

Delhi ISBians meet up..at CP

The Bangalore Times

Event: Techies from Bangalore gather
Location: Cassa Picola, 5th Block, Koramangala
Date: February 18 (Sunday), 2007
Time: 2:00 pm - 4:00 PM
Number of people: 15
What they discussed: You all know what people discuss at these meets.
Photographs: Look below please...

(From left to right) Surbhit, Puneet, Sudhanshu, Manik (Nitin's wife), ..., Nidhi, Nitin

(From left to right) Nidhi, Nitin, Ruchira, Deba, Karthik, Vishnu, Vivek, Pradyot, Ravi

"Living" Life at ISB

Guyz n Gals...

This goes for all n sundry, I seem to b d only living :)) Fauji here...(by birth)...haven't even seen college life yaar!! [Pity me!!!] ....joined rt after 12th. I was running around, or maybe firing guns or what not at the NDA for those 3years when you people were havin' those good ol' days tht u cherish...I guess even IITians got a time-out right??

Imagine our plight,we were like locked up in a huge castle (like a deserted Island), 30kms away from Pune city... Oblivious to what's happenin in d country(leave d world), no T.V.,no cell, no Newspaper(even tht was a final term privillege)... just a swarm of "zero-cut" boys all over...(Not even one good-looking damsel, except for 1-2 odd instructors!!)

Of course, v had d privillege of being d "most" sought after guyz on whichever Sunday v got to go out on "Liberty" to Pune City...Still those 6 workin days (and nights) in d week used to drain out all d energy...most of d times jaded so much so, tht d bus conductor used to wake us up(after the one hour nap from NDA to Pune city)-"Get up n get down cadets"...Turning your head to look at d greenry on the streets of d city was actually "An effort" per se...Eh!!

The previous post actually got me thinking...enough of fightin wid d terrorists n blowing up bunkers, time to "Live Life d civil way!!"
Newayz, believe me, in addition to d studies n stuff...I plan to work on making up for those lost moments...

Need your cooperation @everybody.....


Rajat

Disclaimer: The above post was "Off the record", not to be quoted in any court of law :))

Ten Things I Learnt Living in a Hostel

Most members of the CO 2008 must have lived in a hostel at some point of time in their life. Here's what I remember from my days at BITS, Pilani

1. There is nothing in the world that can’t be shared (ok, not underwear!)
2. A clean room means an untidy cupboard.
3. Three meals a day implies: Sandwich for brunch, Sutta & Chai for evening snacks, and Maggi/Bread Omelette for dinner. (For the indulgent, I guess there will be Biryani at ISB)
4. A movie before a test is the perfect preparation.
5. Assignments aren’t copied – they are products of collective thinking.
6. No alarm clock is better than a ‘caring’ wingie (wingmate/neighbour/guy-next-door).
7. Nightouts (All night-no sleep) are for ‘recreational’ activities.
8. All attempts at nightouts for studying/completing assignments are doomed failures.
9. Whisky tastes better in disposable Pepsi Glasses.
10. Half a cigarette is better than none (so think before you stub out that last one in the pack!).
    

There’s my bit of remembrance. I guess life at ISB will be quite different from what we had at Pilani, but I hope all you guys are looking forward to reliving the ‘campus’ experience. So please add to the list through your comments and lets look forward to a great year!

I am India

The first time I saw this film it stirred something inside of me.. And it does more each time I see it..

For all those who haven't seen it yet or would love to see it again...

Here is India... The fastest growing democracy in the world..

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5446091014702365336&q=i+am+india&pr=goog-sl

Conceived and produced by Bharatbala Productions for India Brand Equity Foundation.

Hyderabad Nawadzadas and Nawabzadis meet

Find below the pics of Hyderabad Nawadzadas and Nawabzadis . We all met yesterday, 11th Feb, at Cafe coffee day, Begumpet. More about what happened in the next post.

Arjun, Arun, Saujanya, Sumithi, Sumithi's friend and Sravanthi

Jagan, Kiran, Gajanan, Ratnakar and Karthik

Chendil, Avi, Anand, Charanya (Anand's wife) and Gaurav

Nidhi, Gowri, Sirisha, Ashish and Jagan

Cheers

Mumbai Milan - II

Sorry for coming a little late on this one since lately and in an uncanny way, after resignation work has surprisingly doubledp. Anyway, this is Prakriti reporting for the Mumbai people who got together for cutting chai ki pyali last Sunday.

Moment: 1800 hours by the Indian railway time..

Setting: Mocha, by the dusk ,by the Juhu beach…and I don’t call it the best Mocha for no reason. It has got the talent to enthuse feelings of camaraderie into people who gather in its precincts for chai-coffee & sheesha.

So much for the setup. I will not make it more dramatic. We were eight people who turned up. The chitter chatter started and before we realized, the conversation had reached a full fledged chum talk. People who showed up were Kaustubh – our organizer, Abhinay- the only one to reach by the Japanese standard time, Yours truly- delighted to meet everyone, Aanchal- most chilled out and had the privilege of being in the first meet as well, Manisha – splendor with brains, Sriram – the finance whiz with an amazing sense of humor, Jayathi- the space wont be enough to write about her,basically as diverse as one could get,Sneha- my lovely IT comarade .So a great gang.

Got down to discussing personal to work related to general stuff. To put it as Kaustubh mentions in his write up about the meet on the forum thread the consesus is that:



“1. ISB meets dont have to revolve around placements , faculty and laptop configs. Infact they shouldnt.
2. All of us should really make the best outta this year ahead of us . I can vouch for the fact that the hostel life is awesome and gives you a hangover for life .
3. The profiles of the entire batch will be as diverse as one can imagine ; between the 8 of us we had IT profs , Bankers, Ppl from the financial sectors , ex models and doctors...not to mention Oil and Gas Engineers.
4. Lets all meet up on a more regular basis . “


-Kaustubh : Mon Feb 5, 2007, 14:21


I left the meet with a feeling of elation knowing that the next one year, its gonna be great with all these fantastic people.

Eight Pyalis of chai : 260/- and 2 hours;
Knowing the guys : Priceless.

Shall keep reporting.

P.S: the thoughts presented above purely belong to the innovative brains of yours truly and may or may not be representative of the entire set of people present on the occasion. This is jst a disclaimer can also be ignore because in her heart your truly knows that they all enjoyed it just as much.

An interesting reflection: Slow Down Culture

Somebody forwarded this e-mail to me today. I just thought of putting it here for discussion.

An interesting reflection: Slow Down Culture

It's been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes 2 years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It's a rule.

Globalize processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to posses a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.

Said in another words:
1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo, a state in Brazil.
2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
3. Stockholm, has 500,000 people.
4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nokia are some of its renowned companies. Volvo supplies the NASA.

The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work). The first day, I didn't say anything, either the second or third. One morning I asked, "Do you have a fixed parking space? I've noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot." To which he replied, "Since we're here early we'll have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will be late and need a place closer to the door. Don't you think? Imagine my face.

Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe name Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.

Basically, the movement questions the sense of "hurry" and "craziness" generated by globalization, fueled by the desire of "having in quantity" (life status) versus "having with quality", "life quality" or the "quality of being". French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity been driven up by 20%. This slow attitude has brought forth the US's attention, pupils of the fast and the "do it now!".

This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having a lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means reestablishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the "now", present and concrete, versus the "global", undefined and anonymous. It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living.

It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do. It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit.

In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there's a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, "I can't, my boyfriend will be here any minute now". To which Al responds, "A life is lived in an instant". Then they dance to a tango.

Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".

Congratulations for reading till the end of this message. There are many who will have stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in this globalized world.

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. "

Steve Jobs, Apple

Math, anyone ..

Do you folks think we can compete with Ma & Pa Kettle at least after our ISB PGP ? ;)

Layout

Hey guys...was experimenting with the layout. The BG takes a few secs to load, but i guess it looks OK. What do u guys think? Comment your suggestions...

An Ancient Riddle...

The lone wanderer creeped stealthily in the catacombs. Alert. He took great pains to step on cobblestones with the thickest layers of dust. Everything about this man was sharp edged from the broadsword on his back, to the look in his eyes that glowed blue. A look that betrayed an ancient intelligence, incongruent with his youthful form.

"This ancient labyrinth is empty. Nothing is alive here anymore. The SunMen wiped themselves out aeons ago...."

These were among the last thoughts of some of the still rotting corpses at his feet. He knew. Having been so close to Death himself numerous times, he could sense their last thoughts. The horrific realisation.

He made his way to the central chamber. By no means where he wanted to go. The Point of Origins. Yet, he needed to deal with this Threat first. The central chamber with its ambient lighting and tall, wide pillars all around could provide him with the cover he needed to fight IT. Reaching, he realised how big the Central Chamber actually was. You could have placed a small city in it. It could have hosted a large army. It still did. He was finally at the site of Arthur's Folly.

The entire human army was dead. Curiously, their heads were all stones. Some had been smashed as the bodies fell. In some, you could still see the petrified visage as the bones had turned to dust over the last 500 years.

The wanderer turned to glimpse slightly to his left. He half noticed a crowned stone. Turning back to the middle of the Central Chamber suddenly, IT was already in front of him. No warning. No movement. No magical residue. IT asked straight into his mind....

"How far has come thee, wanderer? Perhaps a certain treasure is what you need? Perhaps my friendship you have come to seek? Any is possible, for an Answer. An Answer that I seek. One that was asked of me and I did not answer wrongly.
None of your forefathers could Answer me as you can see. I hope the Aeons have given your race the wisdom to Answer me..."

The wanderer couldn't think of an escape. He knew now there was only one way. Answering. Yet, something seemed strange with this whole situation. Something in the words uttered by the SunMen's Final Creation. Yet it had already started reciting the Riddle.

"Each of my sons have twice as many sisters as they have brothers. Yet, each of my daughters have as many brothers as they have sisters. Tell me now, o' wise wanderer. How many sons and daughters do I have?"

The wanderer's mind raced at the possibilities. The contempt in ITS tone was unmistakable. ITS glowing red eyes made him focus totally on the riddle at hand. He could not think of anything else outside the riddle. He looked for tricks. He looked for loops in the riddle. In the end, he realised. He just had to Answer it. With a smile, he realised there is only ONE right answer. Finally, he could breathe...

"You can ask me ONE question. After you have Answered me. "

Again, straight into his mind. The wanderer realised things are getting better after all. He could almost catch a sense gloating from IT, quickly hidden..

Delhi Devils strike again - Caught Redhanded! Exclusive report by your friendly neighbourhood reporter.

Reliable sources indicate a top secret meeting between members of an super-elite community, who call themselves the "ISB Class of 2008", yesterday at an unidentified location, somewhere in the capital city.

Quite understandably, speculation is rife about the agenda for the meet. Conspiracy theories abound. Could it be the start of a new enterprise? Perhaps something unexpected is around the corner. Maybe a new chapter is going to be written in the Indian corporate world. Or maybe something at a Global scale.

An emergency response team has been assembled by the authorities to investigate the matter. After all, it is not everyday that the Delhi Devils are seen at one place. Something definitely is in the air. Similar sightings have been reported in far off places like Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai. Even cities outside India have not been ruled out.

So, better WATCH OUT for the ISB CLASS OF 2008! You never know when, where they will strike again!

The most important emotion of a human being

In one of my b-school interviews, the interviewer asked me: "What do you think is the most important emotion of a human being?"

I answered, "Crying."

"Why?" The obvious reply came. It seemed to me that the answer sounded interesting to him.

I justified:

"A person cries when he is at the peak of his emotions.

When we are extremely happy, we cry. Because we cry, the joyous moment becomes more ecstatic and memorable.

When we are terribly sad, we cry. Because we cry, we get our hidden emotions out and gain a lot of self-motivation to overcome our sadness. Crying cleanses our hearts. Crying cleanses our minds.

To conclude, when we cry, we come close to the real person inside us. We understand our true self. Therefore, I think crying is the most important emotion of a person."

He questioned again, “Why not laughter?”

I answered, “Laughter captures only one end of the spectrum, i.e., only our happy mood. It does not capture the other end of the spectrum.”

He seemed impressed. As the answer was a very spontaneous one, as opposed to many typically prepared answers that I give in interviews, the answer has been stuck in my mind.

Guys, I put the same question to all of you. What do you think is the most important emotion of a human being and why?

Caption Contest - The best caption will win a perfect cup of coffee from me.You may post your caption ideas as comments. Lets see what you have got!

Individual threads

Threads...
Escaping from their tapestries
Retaining colours and tones
Of their own...

Threads....
Forging new paths
Speeding to embrace destinies
Full of victories...

Threads...
Weaving a new tapestry
A beautiful history
For the Class of 2008!


Well my dear future mates, may the threads of our fates be intertwined in such a beautiful way that none of us would ever be the same again even after away long from the Tapestry we create at ISB. =)

-Mathan-

Hi All, R1 admits from Hyderabad welcome you all

Hi All,

It's a very good initiative to have a common blog. At Hyderabad, some of us, R1 applicants, got together, created a separate yahoo group to discuss some common issues and then regularly met to interact and support each other. All of this happened because the interviews scheduled at the last for Hyderabad and our anxiety levels were shooting up the roof. Some of the applicants got rejects, some got wait listed and some got an admit :). But nevertheless we made good friends. Below is a picture taken after the interviews were over but before the results were announced:

You can see (left to right) Prabhakar Reddy, Sudip, Arun, Kiran (that's me), and Venkat

From our group - Me, Arun, Sravanthi, Pujari, and Lakshmikant got admits. Venakt is still waiting for the final result.

Feel free to pose any Q's regarding Hyderabad and by the way we are planning to visit ISB sometime next weekend or the one after that. Do let us know if you want to know anything specific.

See you all. Cheers :). The last post - a poem by Chandan, is fantastic, it definitely reflects my thought process. Well done Chandan.

I am ISB - Class of 2008.

I am, not afraid to be different, to stray away from the crowd.
I am, not afraid to sacrifice, to make my own path.
I am, not afraid to dare, to take control of my life.
I am, not afraid to live my dream, whatever the cost.
I am, not afraid to be honest, even when it hurts.
I am, not afraid to stretch, even after others give up.

I am, afraid of mediocrity.
I am, afraid of a life without impact, without meaning.
I am, afraid of the chase for money.
I am, afraid of failure, coz too much is at stake.
I am, afraid of getting lost, of losing the fire within.

I am, doing something new, again.

I am, starting off a brand new day.

I am, the "ISB - Class of 2008"

I am, potential, more than one can possibly imagine.

The first of millions to come...

Everyone.. Here it is.. The first picture of members of CO 2008... Over the year there will be hundreds more on this blog..

Let me introduce all in the picture..

From Right foreground: Karthik, Manish, Jayanth.

From Right foreground: Vijay,Me(Prernna), Arun and Pinaki...

Together..

Team, crew, set, group, bunch, gang, organization, sect, troupe, party, association, union, confederation, network, partnership, squad........

And the list can go on and on and on. Call it whatever you want, but it is beyond any doubt that teamwork does move mountains. And when the team comprises of highly charged, energetic youth, the power doesn't end in moving mountains - such a team can transform the nations.



Welcome all of us.. the ISB Class of 2008. For being able to bond together as a team; for being energetic to join hands in several activities even before the "class of 2008" is formally established.

Coming together is a beginning
Keeping together is progress
Working together is Success
(Henry Ford)

Ciao,
Siva

Yaara da tashan!!!

hi evry1, here i m the most inexperienced guy doin de honors !!!
so congratulations 2 u all 4 makin it here...
lookin 4wd 2 hving a gr8 time nd gettin 2 know u
c ya dere