I, Me, Myself and ISB!!

Life after ISB, updates

2007-06-17T15:21:00.000+05:30

Once a blogger, always a blogger they say. (dont ask me "they" who!). I ve been asked by many ppl to continue to post. Also, some of my fellow bloggers are still posting. So heres one to get started.

Anyways, couple of things just cos i cant resist posting this---

The ISB alum community is stronger and geographically more wide spread that i thought. A bunch of alums got together in Zurich in the first week of June. To our surprise, Dean was visiting Switzerland and joined us. It was great to catch up about ISB life, although it left me feeling really nostalgic.

Class of 2008 seems to be getting into the grade race. Also, from the posts i got the feeling that some of the guys are carrying a heavy baggage of their past lives and past achievements and cant stop talking about it. Although, its nice to be able your past life to the stuff you learn at ISB, i think one benefits more if you start with a clean slate. Forget about whatever you did. Get used to being a student again. Its hard, but thats the way to optimise learning.

Also , avoid getting too much into the grade race. It might benefit some, but if you draw a normal curve, the population of ppl benefiting from exceptional grades, while there was nothing else on their profile is just the tapering portion of the tail in the one tailed test! (<5%)

So enjoy life and cherish each moment out there. And never mind alums who write unwanted blogposts.

Cheers

Closure

2007-03-31T10:27:00.000+05:30

ISB has finally ended. We do have another 1 week which is known as” disorientation week”, but not much activity is expected. There will be some parties with the same booze and same music and is nothing really exciting as we have been overdoing it in the past month or so.

And now since my life at ISB has almost come to an end, it is about time to say goodbye to all the readers of this blog. Though I don’t know many, still I would like to say thanks for increasing my hit count. When I started out, I never thought I would reach 90 posts (BTW this is the 90th). Constant encouragement from readers both inside and outside of ISB has helped me put in 90 posts of random ramblings. Some 2008 batch guys have commented saying that this blog has helped them knowing the ISB life better. If that is even partially true, I am happy as the blog has served its purpose.

In future, I plan to start a photo-blog just like Manu’s. People have told me that the place I am going to be in is very picturesque so I plan to get a good camera and develop some photography skills. I am not sure if I will ever succeed, but if I do, I would post the link here and hope I get some traffic from this site.

If for some strange reason, anyone wants to get in touch with me, pls use my mail id in Orkut or fish out the details from the alumni website.

Good-bye, Auf Wiedersehen, Sayonara, Alvida, Ma'as salaama

Best

Last class

2007-03-29T12:50:00.000+05:30

I will be attending my last class at ISB today. It seems like just yesterday we when we came to this place—a fascinating train journey from Mumbai. We already had loads of fun on our way. Then there was that journey through the terms: Core and electives, pain at times and mostly fun, those wild parties, those boozing sessions, those numerous night outs for assignments with no sense of day or night, the placement fever, the placement week and the post placement blast which still continues. The year has gone by at the speed of light.

A couple of days ago, a bunch of students got together and staged a skit portraying all the events and characters that stand for class of 2007. No one was spared and it was hilarious. One particular recruiter and some alum(s) associated with that recruiter were literally butchered. I was surprised to see how much can you screw up on your and your firm’s reputation by just subtle actions when nothing is really wrong with either. Just a lesson as to what one should (or rather should not) do as an alum. However, all was in good fun spirit and I hope it means nothing. I am sure a video would be available soon on You tube so “curious types” can figure out what I am talking about.

Graduation ceremony starts at 10.30ish on April 7th. Everyone has got two passes (plus a spouse pass, where applicable). But most people want everyone they know on planet earth to see them in graduation gown! Since extra passes are limited there is going to be a huge scene when they put them up for sale this evening.

Some of us are planning to take a vacation trip, the last one with ISB friends as ISB students for most of next week, since all coursework and exams would end by Saturday. ISB has come to agreement with Microsoft that they would let the WiN XP and MS office remain on our laptops. So there will be no reformatting of the machines. Only some un-installation of educational software. We get software worth Rs.18000 for free!

Section A got together for the last Section dunking yesterday. Here is probably our last pic in Section T shirts

(The Sec A gang in Sec Tees.(not everyone though!) The B'day girl Mansi can be seen with a cake all over her face and nicely dipped in the pool!)

Looking forward to graduation.

Buildup to Graduation

2007-03-24T12:33:00.000+05:30

Now since India is out of the World Cup, we would be all the more jobless in next couple of weeks. The date of graduation has been fixed as April 7th. Next week is last week of classes and the week after that is "disorientation". All assignments, course work, exams etc are due by end of next week. Exit formalities would need to be completed.

Yesterday we had the last PGP open forum. Most of the discussions were focused on the placement process and how to get things better next time. No system is perfect and there is always room for improvement. Also, the system doesn’t work equally well for all individuals. I feel as a batch as long as we have conveyed common concerns and they are taken care of , things should be fine. It is also important for the next batch to be aware of issues and work from the beginning with the authorities to set them right. Therefore it is important to pay rapt attention to all the gyan sessions during the orientation week and interact closely with the alumni.

It was mentioned by someone in the session that this year was perhaps the best year of our lives in terms of education and life. I echo that sentiment. ISB has been a wonderful experience over all. The amount of learning that happened, exposure to world class faculty, amazing peer group and a wonderful set of friends—the whole experience is overwhelming in retrospect.

The year book asked for the biggest takeaway from ISB. Beyond doubt, it’s the social network. Many potential business leaders of tomorrow are known to me. I am very confident that these contacts would certainly help me in one way or the other in future. Time will tell—

Two weeks is all that remains. Two weeks hence, we’ll not belong to this place any more. We’ll be history. Two weeks hence this place would await a new set of individuals who would come in with new set of hopes, aspirations and dreams, two weeks hence we’ ll be MBAs. Two weeks hence, we’ll be alumni. Last two weeks-------

Dos and Don’ts

2007-03-15T11:21:00.000+05:30

Dos and Don’ts

Few do's and don'ts at ISB:

Dos
1) Make a sincere effort to network. Now “networking” is a very fancy word, but if you ask me it just means knowing people. To quantify, make sure you know atleast 300 out of 400 ppl in the batch well enough to write them a mail in future asking for any kind of help—and they should be able to reach you as well. My greatest takeaway from Bschool is the network. People are going to different companies, different countries and you shall know a person every where—isnt that amazing? Also, spare no effort to reach out to alumni. It’s a small but growing community.
2) Focus on learning. Many of us will get lost in the mad rush to complete assignments, group work or prepare for a never ending barrage of exams. It is important to keep the bigger picture in mind. Learn the concepts—core subjects should become a part of your basic thinking where as the electives you take should help you build upon these.
3) If you are an entrepreneur or plan to start something on your own soon after ISB, come prepared with some kind of plan. You will receive excellent support at ISB and this can be used as a good ground to reach out to VCs, get funding and bounce your idea across to experts.
4) Try and use the LRC to the maximum. There are some amazing books and material in there. Although it is easier said that done in view of the coursework, I would still recommend spending time in LRC out of the course work.
5) Choose your reps very carefully. The Graduate student board would represent you in every aspect of life here at ISB. Moreover, the GSB office bearers in key positions and professional club presidents get a lot of personal mileage as holding these positions is viewed as a leadership trait. Ensure that whoever you are electing deserves it and would do the job well enough so as to not disappoint you.
6) ISB has excellent recreational facilities. Make sure you use the rec center to the maximum.

Don’ts

1) Don’t fight for every mark or class participation point. At certain times during our year here, it got really ugly. Blame it on the batch or the general impression passed on to us that grades make or break your career post ISB. This year there is more than enough evidence that grades don’t matter that much. In any case, I believe that a grade based on 6 weeks of classes and two exams says very little about your abilities. So don’t bother too much and concentrate on learning.
2) Don’t get influenced by hypes and hooplas. There are careers out of consulting and I banking that value an MBA.( I have nothing against either consulting or I banking). Some people tend to believe that just because they cannot get into consulting or I banking, they are doomed. This is not the case. Come prepared with a strong backup if you are gunning for these.
3) It is ok to be “not focused”. A lot of people would tend to disagree but my belief is that too much focus is a recipe for disaster. One can approach first four terms with open mind and decide at the end of it what you want to specialize in. Similarly one should rank the jobs he/she wants in the order or priority and prepare accordingly. However, it is important to know intuitively what is most important to you—Money/role/company/location or a combination of these.
4) Make love not war! Never pick up a fight or bad mouth any of your batch mates. As I mentioned upfront, this is your most important asset out of Bschool so take care of all your batchmates.

A lot of people have been asking on yahoo group as to what they should do in the buildup to ISB. Here are my suggestions in the order of preference

Eat, sleep, drink, make merry, meet friends, and spend time with spouse /significant other

Keep working as long as you can. Idle mind is devil’s workshop.

Read books you have wanted to read since long but could not

Make trips to places you have wanted to visit

Revise concepts in Statistics, accounting etc

Cheers.

Life at ISB : A snapshot

2007-03-05T20:26:00.000+05:30

I was expecting to post a few holi pix but unfortunately, the people who have clicked pictures (read my pictures) have not uploaded them as yet and I don’t want to waste valuable google/ blogger space featuring random people. Nevertheless, holi was celebrated with great pomp and show at ISB. Madness prevailed (and so did bhang) and everyone had a really good time.

So coming back to the main point—I would divide ISB life into five parts—Term 1, Terms 2, 3 and 4, Term 5 and 6, Term 7, and Term 8 (well you may say that there are just 8 terms so you might as well have 8 parts but simplicity my friends is not the forte of an MBA since we exist to make and keep thing complex—hence 5 parts )

This post would provide a snap shot on which we will build upon later (notice the “WE” like WE the people of India ----)

Part 1: Term 1

Acads: Everyone and his/her cousin at ISB is out there to triumph the world in term 1. When you step in, you would believe,( I mean really believe and its true for 90% of the junta) that you would be in top 10 or atleast in the dean’s list (This would be your worst case scenario). You would do assignments and study like there is no tomorrow.

Life: You would make a lot of friends (sometimes girlfriends and boyfriends), discuss stuff, receive and give gyan, think and boast that you were the best in your company, give shitloads of gyan if you have been a consultant or I banker with lesser mortals gazing at you waiting for pearls of wisdom. In a nut shell you will get settled and before you know, it will be over

Part 2: Terms 2,3,4

Acads: Atleast 417 and a half ppl out of 418 would agree that the best word to describe this period is “Rape” (apologies for the lingo but I can’t think of a better word). The workload will be killing and no Professor would spare you of it. This period would become particular stressful for those who are seriously considering Consulting as they would really need to work on their grades. Other average/ below average types like me would be trying to avoid that frightening B neg or C to salvage some pride. Tons of MBA fundas would be fed into you and by the end of it you would feel as if you are very close to nirvana.

Life: A mixed bag. In our batch it was more of a getaway from assignments and work. Some people would continue to work hard, some would work on networking, some others would give up and some would curse the day they decided to do an MBA and that too a one year version. Friendships and bonds would strengthen, section bonding will increase, groups will become comfy with each other and life would seem more or less settled.

Part 3 Term 5 and 6

Acads: Would take a lil bit of backseat though not fully. Some subjects you would do would be really awesome and hence may be for the first time you would study for learning and not just grades. Grades would certainly stop making a difference as you would know they are not going to be out before placements. Advanced subjects would require a lot of mugging and understanding from technical interview standpoint.

Life: Placement pressure would start building. You would seriously start worrying about where you are going to land up. If you will get that coveted shortlist etc etc. In our batch there were very few parties during this time. Comfy of core group would have gone and you would juggle to keep up with million groups and a billion schedule clashes. If you were not a nocturnal creature already you would surely become one now for completing the coursework

Part 4 Term 7

Acads: Take a complete backseat. Only thing you study is whatever is relevant for interviews. Courses would exist just by the way. Most people would take just bare minimum courses and work like crazy towards placements.

Life: wont exist.

Others: Most intl companies would have final rounds in Term 7. Consulting shortlists would be out. Campus would go crazy. Many surprises would come up. As the placement week approaches it will get really tense. Placement week would be one crazy period. However, it would end well and one fine day you will find that all your near and dear ones are placed. A huge sigh of relief---now its party time

Part 5: Term 8

Acads: Yeh kya hota hai?

Life: Well what can I say---- it has just started and I don’t want it to end—

Some more insights soon.

Best Dayz

2007-03-03T12:34:00.000+05:30

These are truly the best days at ISB. There is nothing more to do than laze around the whole day, talk about random stuff that doesn’t even make sense, get out of campus as often as possible (mostly courtesy—Herbie) and basically be a burden on the planet earth!

When else in life would you get up at 11.30, go to gym at 12, have lunch at 2 and laze around in atrium till 5, play squash at 6, go out at 8, come back at 12 and booze around with random ppl till 3 –all this on a weekday!! Damn cool isn’t it! Well ,after slogging like donkeys for last 11 months and in my case the fact that I have only a 20 day break after ISB before I start off my job again, everything seems justifiable. And yes, btw classes also happen. Some of us still attend cos we want to graduate. Assignments are of such inferior quality that if our employers happen to see them they will withdraw the offers----

I cannot help thinking about the same time last year, when we were so called new admits. With lot of anxiety as well as anticipation and basking in the glory of having made it to ISB (was a miracle in my case) we came to this place in April. I am sure, the class of 2008 (which I hear is full of kick assiest ppl) will be having the same expectations and aspirations.

Now since I am not going to be here for orientation week (unfortunate—but I cant screw up my tiny 20 day break), and like any ISB student/ alum I have this irresistible urge to give “gyan” I will be posting whatever I feel the next batch should know for next couple of weeks. However, don’t expect everything here or in the orientation week. There has to be an element of surprise.

Watch out for next couple of posts---

Lessons from placements

2007-02-26T11:32:00.000+05:30

Now that the placement week is over, I thought it’ll a good idea to jot down a few learning points from the process. These might be useful for the next batch as well----
a) This year ISBians have proved that career shifts are possible. We were told about two aspects of a shift—Functional and location. There is a third one—Markets. If the market is hot and they need ppl and u r smart and know ur stuff any shift is possible.
b) Be ready for surprises---both pleasant and unpleasant
c) Grades are not at all correlated with where one lands up. Except in case of a few consulting shortlists (mind you only shortlists and not conversions!!) grades have not mattered at all. Your personality, communication skills, fit with the employer, prior work ex, and leadership skills matter a lot. Therefore the aim should be to enhance learning—work more on subjects you really want to learn—and not fight with the TAs for each CP point!
d) Ppl you think would get placed on day zero may not get placed till day 10 and vice versa. (Not everyone though!)
e) Most of the employers look for fit. If you come across as someone who cant work with teams, has an attitude problems and thinks that you are god’s gift to humanity just because you were lucky enuf to do whatever you did in your pre ISB life or at ISB, GOD BLESS YOU. As a manager, it extremely important to be able to work with other ppl—after all if you cant work with them how are you going to lead them!!
f) There will be administrative issues. Its just because of the way this system is designed. Improvements are happening each year but be prepared to face these—
g) Unbelievable S&%t will happen. Best policy is to concentrate on your own agenda and not to worry about who is getting what!
h) Term 8 will be bad no matter what subjects you take. Post placements, it is almost impossible to even sit and read—forget about absorbing. Bad bad bad---
i) The site hit count for random ISB blogs (like this one) would almost treble during placement time, even with very few posts. This shows how important placements are for an Indian B-School--

More learnings as I get along with life in Term 8---

Yay!!

2007-02-20T11:15:00.000+05:30

Yday was good. All the near and dear ones are placed or atleast have an offer they are more than happy with. So celebrations will start soon. But not before each and every soul on campus is placed----Volunteering for a couple of days now and then a mini break in Mumbai---

For records--
---Consultant dint let us down for the name we gave him in term 1. Cracked BCG!!
---Corp Fin queen got BP-DCT supposedly the hottest IT job on campus--posting in London
---Serious got Citibank---awesome stuff--someone looking at marketing and ops ending up at Citibank--unbelievable
---Herbie gets to stay at home in Pune---With loads of intl travel and a job he wanted and is good at
---Oil and Gas king will grace the GRID practice at PwC.
---Sumit is finally an I-banker--I think thats what he is born to do

Offers are raining. Many ppl got two offers and had to go out of placements. Ppl are really going places--from US to Europe and Australia and many in the batch choosing to stick to India inspite of an international offer in the bag.

I am very sure we are going to break all records. In terms of offers, career shifts, salary u name it and we'll have the record. Cant say much more on this unless official word is out

And today is just day 4! that's just midway into the placements. Some ppl are still looking and i strongly believe that the best is yet to come----Hundreds of companies still to come
Wishing everyone gets placed ASAP.

More updates later---

Its placement time!

2007-02-16T13:04:00.000+05:30

Perhaps my longest leave of absence from blogging. Blame it on placements. With so much happening it is really hard to write anything although there is so much to write.

The placement circus has begun. Today is day zero and all the consulting biggies are already here.

Will get back with all updates once its over.

Fingers crossed till then.

EEEE-OOOOooh AAAiiiiiiiiiiii

2007-02-04T12:27:00.000+05:30

Thats the kind of pain one would feel when u have to write EOI's over and over for different companies---I wish i could actually submit something like this

"

To: Mr.XYZ,
Managing partner (or whatever),
Faff ur way to glory(FUWG) Consultants

Hey Dude,

Watz up? And what is this deal with EOI and all ?

Arre man u ve visited this campus like a zillion times and couldn’t u see the number of ppl attending each session? r u guys blind or something? U know this campus is full of crazy wannabe consultants and yet u want us to write an EOI? I mean puleez—People would attend your sessions amidst exams, I would say even if one of their parents is dying they would rather attend your session than attend their parent! Isnt that enuf expression of interest? And u are still asking us to write an EOI ---unfair dude

Anyways, now that u want me to write one and explain why I am interested in FUWG, I would start by saying that u guys are real kool dudes. I mean u made the whole campus realise that if we don’t get into consulting, we would be selling vada pavs at Church gate! That’s quite an achievement to make some 400 so called smart asses believe that consulting is the beginning and end of their lives—I am sure u guys use the same tactics to convince clients as well and mint money in the process. All I want is a tiny lil share in that treasure and that can legally happen only if I am allowed to carry ur company’s freakin card.

Yeah yeah I know what u r thinking now! U r thinking y this guy and y not someone else---Listen dude—I am known as the king of faff in this batch---I mean I can sell ur own car to you and then make you gift it back to me---and Coming to quant skills---I can count upto 1000 and can narrate tables upto 10 impromptu---I mean come on—u do these tables in like class 1---and I still remember them—such is my memory---
Another thing is that if I take up any other job they ll make me work hard at real issues. Wont get to travel as much—u see these days with all these airlines around there are so many airhostesses to check out---I mean I am born with a mission & unless I work with u guys how am I going to accomplish that---- u know what I mean? (BTW I am assuming that u fly us Kingfisher or Jet and not Indian for obvious reasons---Intl any full service carrier would do—preferably emirates)

Ok dude so much about me---If u are still not convinced that I am the right candidate, the loss is urs. I guarantee that u will regret it in more than one way—

Take care and c ya on day 0 (I don’t know who the hell invented that “day 0” thing but I am sure it must ve been a consultant---)

Chao

"

Disclaimer
This is just venting of general frustration and not directed against any particular profession (including consulting :) ). If you are a reader of this blog (some random person) just enjoy it (if u can). If you are a c/o 2008 admit, dont worry--things aint too bad. You would feel like writing this next year. If you are a recruiter @ ISB--I am not who you think i am---If u happen to meet this guy called Venkat(the owner of this blog) offer him the highest possible salary and best possible job. He is one smart dude.

Some more—

2007-01-30T22:08:00.000+05:30

Some more (in-fact many more) PPTs happened since the last post. There are some companies which look rather small and niche, but have some amazing roles to offer. Some others surprise everyone by the compensation they have to offer. (on both sides :) )

It is interesting to see how different people apply to different companies based on different criteria. For some, location is important. For some it is the role and for others the compensation. Then there are many who have no focus. They just apply to whatever job they feel like. Peer pressure is also playing its part. The entire consulting crowd already has shortlists from the biggies. Some others who applied for international roles have also managed to get shortlists in their bag. People who are applying to domestic “non-consulting” companies are yet to get their shortlists and are feeling deprived. It is only a matter of time before they get their shortlists in place. However, to see your friend/ quaddie with 4 shortlists and you with none has certain psychological implications and sometimes it shows. Come placement week, this is going to be more of a norm than an exception.

I have come to realize that it is as important for a candidate to understand his/ her fit with the company as is the other way around. There are certain PPTs where you know from the first minute into the PPT that this is not the place for you! Then there are others where you never thought you would want to apply, but the PPT and interaction with people make you change your mind. With wide choice available to both the parties in this game, this issue becomes very important while making a decision.

There are only about two weeks left for placements to start. There is a lot to be done and also the international placement process to be taken care of. Mad times ahead.

Companies

2007-01-24T23:17:00.000+05:30

Some companies which have already had their PPTs (only indicative)

Tishman Speyer, Satyam, ICICI sec, Essar, CISCO, Ambit, Tesco, Infosys, Pfizer, E&Y, HLL, Microsoft, PWC, DSP ML, IBM, Genpact, Citibank, Cognizant, ebay, ZS associates, Tata motors, Kotak group, Hewitt, TCS, Wipro, Coca Cola, Accenture, Stern & Stewart---

Some companies which have their PPTs scheduled in next two weeks

Morgan Stanley, Honeywell, Fair Isaac, Sun group, Amazon, ITC, Diamond, TVS, Hutch, Godrej, Virtusa, IDFC, Jindal steel----

Placement fever is really catching up. Not all companies do a PPT. There are many domestic and international companies which are not doing a PPT but have put up a job posting. As day zero approaches, many more postings are expected to flow in.

On the personal front: Got a surprise shortlist!

Placement updates, PPTs et al

2007-01-19T11:28:00.000+05:30

As the placement season is reaching its peak, there are lots of interesting developments happening. There are at-least 3-4 PPTs happening everyday. Each company’s representatives are trying their best to convince us that if we don’t apply/ intend to work with them, we will be loosing out on a big opportunity and our lives will be complete waste! Some PPTs are really good while some are so bad that they make you wonder as to why you decided to waste 1 precious hour of your life attending the PPT!! It’s a good reminder of the importance of presentation skills we learnt in the LDP sessions---I can see how easy it is to put the audience to sleep (or even piss them off in come cases) if you are a BAD presenter--

Some shortlists for interviews are out. McDonald and co (name changed to preserve confidentiality--not to be confused with the fast food chain ---i cant think of a different proxy name as of now ), which is considered to be the most prestigious recruiter in the world of consulting, and who was traditionally known to only shortlist ppl with exceptional grades has given a shock to everyone through their shortlist. The shortlist consists of many ppl with exceptional profiles but not so good CGPAs. Infact, only half of the dean’s listers find their names in the list. This is in sharp contrast to the other consulting biggie which has about 85% dean’s listers. I felt bad for dean’s listers who did not get shortlisted for McDonalds as they have been working like mad from term one onwards to get good grades just for this shortlist--- This is not fair ( but so is life ;) )

The good news this year seems to be the fact that many more companies are on campus compared to last year. Given the assumption that all of them would recruit, there are chances of a substantial increase in number of offers this year. Goes well with the fact that we are a bigger batch as well. Some international I-banks who were not visiting till last year have also decided to show up and this is a big boost for finance aspirants. Further, some new consulting firms are also likely to show up.

The saga of SPAM

2007-01-15T19:19:00.000+05:30

It is really amazing to see the creativity of ISBians when it comes to spamming. We can find at-least a billion reasons to spam everyone under the sun. The latest spam subject is PPT swaps.

It so happens that the placement committee has come up with this rule where in six core study groups, one from each core section are assigned one PPT each so that there is equitable distribution of people across PPTs. Now howz that a problem? Its like this---X is interested in finance but she has been assigned an IT company, Y who is a born IT geek has been assigned an I bank---So if X & Y can swap their PPTs both get to attend whatever they want to !! Makes sense in efficient market situation, but the problem is how does X find Y?? Answer is simple—X spams students 07 ---bombards everyone’s mailboxes & there is a 100% chance that Y is one of the 415 odd students on campus—and then they find each other and live happily thereafter----

But wait—the story doesn’t end here---now since X has got her perfect match, she has to send another spam saying thanks to everyone and to share the good news that she found her match! So the result is yet another spam----and now everyone else is also out on a mission to find their respective matches and that only means spam spam spam and more spam---

Some other commonly used spam subjects at ISB are:

-Lost Umbrella Black in color and round in shape (How insightful!!) If found please contact 99XXXXXXX

-Lost course pack in AC X , if found pls pls let me know!!! (As if you are going to actually read it!)

-Barber on campus !

-Lost wallet/watch/ mobile last nite at SV X in a party---If found please contact---
( Main peeke tunn tha--- kisi ne chura liya)

-Please let me know the submission deadline for XX assignment !! ( Was sleeping in class and never access blackboard)

And more---

All in all ISB is a heaven for habitual spammers. Tons to spam about!

PS: Fellow spam victims, pls feel free to add in more topics if i am missing out on something

The flagship event of Real estate club

2007-01-14T13:14:00.000+05:30

The Real estate club is the youngest club at ISB. It was formed by us, the class of 2007. Working with very small alumni base, no background work done and very few people actively taking part in the club activities, I feel we did very well to conduct our flagship event. The details of the event can be found by clicking here.

The Real estate club at ISB is perhaps the only one of its kind in India. I don’t think any other B-School in India has a club dedicated to the Real estate sector. We have covered a lot of ground during the year and it was really hard due to lack of any precedents for the club. There are still only a few alums who are working in this sector. It was important for us to project the image of ISB as a student body with strong interest and experience in the sector to be able to tap on the opportunities in the sector in coming years.

The event was attended by almost the entire who’s who of the sector and various topics of research interest were discussed. Lack of land regulations, lack of good quality primary data for financial modeling and valuation, outdated regulations and the sector still being largely unorganized were a few of the issues brought out. The discussions gave some good pointers for the possible areas of research at the Real estate research lab at ISB.

All in all the success of this event was in some sense very satisfying for us, the founder members of this club, as running this club has been like running a startup business. I hope that in the coming years this startup will really scale up and the next batches would show the same level of enthu to take this club forward.

beeeeeceeeeegeeeee

2007-01-11T15:56:00.000+05:30

The first so called hotshot consulting shortlist came out yesterday. With this, the domestic placement season has officially begun. The shortlist is no surprise at all. Most of the dean’s listers find their names in the list. Some other candidates who are not toppers, but have diverse and very interesting profiles have also been shortlisted. The firm is taking the shortlisted ppl out on dinner tomorrow where they will make a pre placement pitch (As if they need to !!).

The other consulting biggie is expected to announce its shortlist next week. Empirical evidence suggests that it would be more or less a photocopy of this list except a few names here and there.

Meanwhile a lot of companies are pouring in for PPTs. There are so many PPTs and job postings happening that it is becoming difficult to keep track. Some of the roles on offer are also very interesting. Term 7 is expected to be fully devoted to placement activities. Going by the number of companies coming to campus for PPTsand the number of companies registered for placements so far, the situation looks good.

The excitement is building up.

BTW, the name of the firm is confidential and therefore I have not mentioned it ;)

Negotiation Analysis

2007-01-09T11:01:00.000+05:30

Negotiation Analysis taught by Prof. Dishan Kamdar is yet another hot course at ISB. The course is structured around learning effective negotiation skills which are of paramount importance for a manager.

There could be two possible ways for a Prof to structure such a course. First way is to put a lot of faff, psychology and all that (negotiation is all about understanding psychology) pages and pages of pre and post reads, complicated HBS cases which only 10% of the class understands and bore to death the students who are already reaching a burnout by term 7. The other way is how Professor Dishan is doing it. We have one negotiation exercise every class, our own behavior is not that difficult to observe for us! And then he simply reinforces the theory associated with the exercise with minimal usage of jargons. So most of our time is spent on actually negotiating rather that reading and listening about negotiation!

Yet another awesome course.

Start of Term 7: Placement fever and random anxieties

2007-01-06T10:09:00.000+05:30

Term 7 starts on Monday. Many people have no term break this time since their exams end only today and the new term starts on Monday!! Nowhere in the world would you find a term starting the next working day after an exam and nowhere in the world would you find an exam happening on Jan 1st!!! (Yes, we had an exam on Jan 1st!) But then nowhere in the world would you find an ISB!

The barrage of exams and classes is just a consequence of the 1 year format. If you need to complete the coursework of two years in one, this is bound to happen. Yesterday one exchange student asked me how much of this can you guys retain. Well, people have different opinions but I surely retain a few things I like and then how much more do you retain in a two year MBA? 5 years down the line, its your experience, pre and post MBA that is all you have---You might only vaguely remember the porter’s model or the M&M theory, especially if you work in an unrelated field! But the ISB social network and the school stays on your resume forever!!

Coming back to exams, most subjects in term 7 don’t have an in class exam. With an all time low interest in acads, the highlight of this term is going to be placement preps. January is full of recruiter PPTs. We have about three PPTs lined up every day in January. Many recruiters have been coming to ISB over a past few years and some others are new names.

It is also interesting to see that as placement time comes closer, people are slowly bordering insanity. Part of it is driven by peer pressure, part of it by unrealistic expectation and most of it by pessimism. People are generally worried about what others are doing, who is getting what shortlist and all that, even if they themselves are doing pretty ok! How can my quaddie/ group mate do better? That’s the key question that seems to be bothering everyone! But I guess all this is a part of the fun package. As placements come closer, a lot of such stories would be heard. Some are pure fun and some not so much---

Its fun time as usual---

Section A: Memories revisited

2007-01-01T15:09:00.000+05:30

Sanket and Kil Kil productions have come up with this amazing video caputring all the fun moments of Section A, class of 2007. Absolutely fantastic piece of work

Kamma: The God of M&A theory

2007-01-01T13:16:00.000+05:30

I usually don’t write much about ISB Profs as in my opinion writing about one is probably unfair to the other, since most of them are absolutely world class. However, Prof Kamma certainly needs a mention in my blog before term 6 gets over officially.

He taught us the course on Corporate Control, Mergers and Acquisitions (CCMA in short). This was the hottest course in the electives by far and I had to spend about 1000 of my 4000 points available for 16 subjects only on this one class. But hell, it was totally worth it.

His case analyses were absolutely amazing and there were many “Aha” moments in each class. Also, the material he has distributed is really fantastic. Anyone even remotely interested in mergers and acquisitions either from a Finance perspective or from a strategy perspective, must take this course. Rarely, do you get such a fantastic teacher—

Loved this class.

Then and Now

2006-12-31T18:24:00.000+05:30

Its interesting to see how human behavior changes with time and circumstances. Ok now that doesn’t mean I am going to write some gyan on behavioral psychology. Just trying to compare exam time in Term 1 and Term 6.

Then:Oh my god exams in a week.

Now:Is the exam today or tomorrow?

Then: I have read the material only once for before class pre-reads. I am going to get screwed in exams

Now: Do we have a coursepack for this subject ? I have'nt collected mine!

Then:I have four exams in two days. I am screwed

Now: I have two exams next week. I remain screwed

Then: O God , an A, at-least in this subject

Now: Please god please please please please just one more B !

And the list goes on---

So basically the exams week is really chilled in the electives. Most of the subjects in electives are advanced applications of the core term subjects and have take home projects, which makes more sense over an exam as its closer to a real life simulation. Another reason most people have stopped caring about exams is that these grades aren’t coming out before placements for sure! Yet another reason is that people have just gotten used to it.

I still recall our first midterm, Microeconomics. People studied like crazy—I mean really like crazy as if there is no tomorrow!

Over time grades et al have stabilized and people know where they are going to end up. For me, I never thought I will be so chilled before exams.

However certain things never change. So my uncontrollable urge to write blog posts just before exams refuses to go away.

Happy New year to all.

And Wish us best of luck for the upcoming placement season.
I cant be more shameless than this par acche placement ke liye sab kuch karna padta hai

Brett Lee and Asha

2006-12-29T11:07:00.000+05:30

Came across this song by Asha Bhosle and none other than Brett Lee "the aussie pace ace"---Very interesting to see Lee singing in Hindi--

Nice song

Solstice

2006-12-25T12:34:00.000+05:30

Solstice, the annual alumni fest of ISB happened over the weekend. Many alums ranging from the batch of 2002 to the recently graduated class of 2006 were on campus.

One great thing about ISB is that even though we have a tiny alumni base compared to other leading B-schools in India and abroad, the efforts the alumni put in to help the current batch and network with each other is absolutely phenomenal. Another way to look at it is that since we are small in number compared to others, we need to know each other very well in order to be effective!!

Whichever way you look at it, it was great “networking” with so many alums especially those who are working in companies one is targeting. This gave many students a chance to know intricate details about their target companies and careers. Many students were behind the alums to get their resumes reviewed—and many went overboard ---however it all comes as a part of the package.

Next year the alumni base would grow by 40% as our batch, the largest by far would add to the numbers. If we can keep up the same levels of commitment towards ISB, I am sure the incoming batches are going to find it extremely useful.

Placement pressures have really started to show effect on ppl. Consulting has been the flavor of the season by far with many new firms, who have never visited ISB in past coming to recruit this year. The two Indian biggies have already posted their jobs and wannabees are preparing in full swing. Some other souls (like me) are praying hard (2-3 hrs everyday) cos that seems like the only chance to get a shortlist.

All said and done, fun times are ahead.

Merry Xmas to all.

Welcome : Class of 2008

2006-12-16T01:36:00.000+05:30

Round 1 results for admission into class of 2008 were declared today. My yahoo group mail box is flooded with emails from ppl congratulating each other. I remenber for us, the class of 2007 it was 7th Jan. After a lot of wait the results were declared and it was a great feeling to be a part of this great institution called ISB.

Here are a few pointers i would like to include for the forthcoming batch :(based on my experience so far)

1) ISB is a great place. No doubt. However, this not the ultimate achievement you would have in life. Its just the begining and i can assure you its really a perfect place to start off--So party as much as you like, but also tighten your belts for this joyride.

2) ISB doesnt make the students. It is us the students (and alums) who make this place what it is. So keep that in mind and now you are the torch bearers of this school.

3) You are going to be competing with the best of the best of the best breed here (yes one best is extra deliberately). Prepare youself for a year of hard toil and some adversity. Life is not a bed of roses anywhere

4) Have realistic expectations especially in terms of placements out of the school. If you think just because you are an ISBian anyone will pay you whatever crores you have in mind, think again before joining. You will get what you are worth. Plus you are competing against the best guys in the business. So be honest with yourself and think logically. Having said that placements have never been an issue at ISB. (Infact it has become the best attraction :) )

5) The school's infrastructure ,academics and faculty will far exceed your expectations. Be rest assured about that. You are going to have a never before experience on this front and consider yourself lucky for that.

6) Dont worry about petty issues like shifting to a new place, living, campus facilities, schools for kids etc. There are absolutely no issues on these counts and everything will be very smooth.

7) Feel free to get in touch with alumni you know or current students, for any post admission questions that may be bothering you. Make sure you have you doubts clarified

8) Get ready to roll.

Good luck to R2 applicants

MFI@ISB

2006-11-30T11:08:00.000+05:30

[MFI= Micro Finance Institutions (NO!!) It means My First Interview-----]
=====================================================
Over the last month or so I was jealous of all I -banking types and IT types interviewing for various International jobs and giving us lesser mortals that “ I have a shortlist” look in their crisp business suits. So I decided that I must do something to get that damn suit of mine out.

So it was a pharma major—a nice company—found the role to kind of interesting and presumed that money would be decent. And bang u go I had my first shortlist.

The day of Interview me happy posing the “I have a shortlist” look. Attended the Capital Markets Conference the whole day since the interview was at 6 (what do I need to prepare! I kind of know my stuff attitude). Came back at 4 and read up a bit of this and that. Had practiced for a PI with my group so was feeling fairly comfortable.

Started dressing up. But----------What is that? The bloody zip of my business suit trouser got stuck ---damn---Drycleaner—that bastard---why I dint chk this before? What should I do? Quaddies—they all have business suits—no but misfit in size—oh my god –panic panic—Should I chk with Consultant---no size too big ---oh my god—lemme try with this itself try try try ---------Ha atlast it worked –Yippieeeeee—I am atleast going for that first interview.

Reached the Spot. Exce housing first floor. Chatted with a couple of candidates. Bored them to death with unwarranted gyan and gossip.

Interview---The HR lady told me that two fin guys were supposed to come—Only one is here cos the other one missed her flight. So that’s y I am interviewing. I know nothing bout Finance. (Yippiee—No technical questions)---

Started with tell me about yourself types—then went on to totally different tangent. We discussed San-Francisco roads, Alcatraz, New York, Middle east whether She would need to cover up her face in Dubai—I said no only in Saudi—In Dubai u can wear whatever you like---Diabetes, Indian Vs Swiss food habits, What I liked most about middle east ( I said roads—I could drive as fast as I want to ) What speed did you touch? (180 types) No police –I said no there are cameras but u should know how to trick them---She was impressed with the technology and said we don’t have it in Switzerland! I said oil money can buy anything!!

She asked for Tea and I said yes---again useless crap like Why MBA, Why ISB, Why This company? Why Pharma? Rattled out practiced answers with tons of gyan----
Interview over

Takeaways :
Was it even an interview? What was I doing there? Laughing my guts out with an old lady------ What was I thinking? I don’t know. If I have all interviews like this am I ever going to crack a job?

One hell of an interview ---( if you think it was one !!)

The Focus Shifts----

2006-11-27T14:09:00.000+05:30

As term 6 starts today, I would say it marks a beginning of an entirely new phase in our lives at ISB. Radical or exaggerated as it may sound, but the focus from this term is going to be mainly on placements( if not entirely). I can see the various highs and lows people would go through this phase as the international placement process going on right now is really like a trailer of the movie to be released in Feb.

The first couple of weeks in Term 6 are full of activity. There is the Capital Markets Conference on 29th followed by the ILS this weekend and Global Logistics summit over the next week.

I can see a direct negative correlation between the thickness of the course material and the seriousness with which students would read the material in Term 6. Most of the course packets weigh equal to the heaviest weight at the gym. Probably ISB wants to ensure that its graduates are healthy and fit apart from excelling academically.

However, the courses in term 6 (at-least the ones I have taken) look extremely interesting. I am particularly looking forward to CCMA and INPE courses, which would involve discussions on some really exciting M&A ,buyout and PE cases in the class.

Activities of most clubs would be at peak this term and would culminate as the term ends. The capital markets conference and Mckinsey visit on Dec 1 for an advanced case interview workshop can be termed as the "perfect begining".

term 6 is going to be the most hectic----(would confirm this by the end of the term)

What’s Hot, What’s not?

2006-11-17T14:44:00.000+05:30

Now since exams are here, no matter how much I try to study I can always think of things I should complete before I start studying. So I thought why not make my list of what is currently hot on campus these days and what is not. Here’s my take: (not in any particular order)

What’s Hot ?

1) Consulting: Everyone wants consulting. So consulting is the obvious buzz word. Consulting rocks at ISB. So do all the wanna be Consultants.(atleast they think so) The McKs and BCGs and ATKs of the world. Hot hot favorite among all kind of junta. Likely to continue on the hot list till the shortlists are out -----
2) CCMA: Chronic crimes, Murders and Accusations ---noooooooo it is Corporate Control, Mergers and Acquisitions. Thanks to the superb ratings of the Prof. and good course content, this course being offered in Term 6 is really hot.
3) B-school competitions: Everyone is participating in them. So to get resume bullets, some for fun and some because its really kewl to do so. Everyday some competition or the other keeps coming up. ISBians have actually done very well in some
4) International Placements: This is quite hot these days. Many companies including some top notch I-banks and some great companies are a part of this. Needless to say most people are applying to most of these jobs.
5) Admissions: Admissions for the successors to the kingdom of ISB. Evaluations, interviews and everything. Hot hot—(atleast for those in the taskforce)

What’s not ?

1) Gyan: A general term for any kind of crap which one person talks and (usually) the other does not understand. [“Gyan” means knowledge in hindi but it can mean several things at ISB. Like stop giving ”gyan” I am tired of it or we have an alumni “gyan” session---depends on context] These days ppl are really tired of gyan.
2) Parties: Well sadly on the not so hot list. Nothing very interesting is happening on this front. Social life council needs a wakeup call.
3) I-Banking: Was on the hot list till last week or so. After DB and GS interviews has cooled down a bit. Very likely to get back on the hot list soon.
4) Pre-read: This has continued to be on the not hot list since term 2 or so. Not likely to recover now!!! (Pre-read means reading prior to the class and going prepared for discussions)
5) Blogging: Pointed out by consultant yday. Sadly, I had to agree. Bloggers have suddenly gone dead. Except a few here and there, not many posts—Wake up ppl.

Oops another thing really hot is exams starting on Monday. I better study else I am sure to burn my fingers-----

Hilarious

2006-11-12T15:00:00.000+05:30

Not that i am big movie critic of Hindi movies, but somehow i find "chocolate type" stuff extremely hilarious. Was just chatting with some ppl over lunch and came to know that there is a movie called "Vivah" (meaning wedding in hindi) just released and has been directed by Sooraj Barjatya who is the king of wedding type chocolaty hindi movies.

Decided to check out the reviews---The following link on rediff just murders the movie and is one of the most hilarious reviews i have read in sometime.

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2006/nov/10vivah.htm

Now my next mission is to find a person on campus who has seen this movie!! (I always like meeting insane ppl)

Cant stop laughing----

Exam Types

2006-11-07T00:08:00.000+05:30

This post serves dual purpose. One is to say something interesting about ISB for the prospective candidates some of whom are victims of this blog. Second is to pay tribute to ourselves for having taken 136765645389 exams over a period of about last 6 odd months and another 3758669709 exams we would take during the remaining period.

1) The common exam: In ISB lingo this is called “Closed book/ closed notes/ no cheat sheet allowed exam”. This is a common exam. Terminology becomes clear as we go along.
2) Open book/ Open notes: Bring along any book/notes. Usually such papers are so damn difficult that no one has a clue about what is going on. So books and notes lie in one corner and booth hands are usually busy in pulling out the hair and trying to make sense of the questions
3) Closed book/ Closed notes-Cheat Sheet allowed: Cheat sheet is a sheet which helps you cheat. Usually, a two sided sheet of A4 size is allowed. Normal font size on the sheet is some 3.5 to 4. People try to print the entire book onto this sheet. Mostly its useless, but could be useful if you make it intelligently. So pre-exam most time is spent on making the cheat sheet and not studying.
4) Open any non living source: This is the latest avatar. Not only books and notes, you may bring your laptop and use internet also. Needless to say, the Prof will make sure you waste time in googling and will set and impossible paper.
5) Take home exam: Another horror. People would think take home should be easy. But the question in contention would be so vague and difficult to figure out that even if you take it anywhere you like, its still going to be a tough nut to crack!
6) Midterms and End terms: An optimist would say that two exams in a course give you time to recover if you screw up one. I would say nah---they just give the Prof two opportunities to laugh at you instead of one. Anyways, turning it into a boon or bane is mostly in our own hands.

So much for exams. One thing is clear that whatever be the exam type, some people would always get good marks while others would continue to pride their average scores. Nevertheless, the whole exam giving experience along with tons of presentations, assignments, cases, classes and blah and blah would make you so immune to working for unreasonable number of hours that if you get a couple of hours extra during a weekend you would check your calendar a million times just to make sure you are not missing out on a deadline.

Good stuff !!

Lessons

2006-10-31T00:09:00.000+05:30

1) Never eat stuff from café after attending a bartending workshop. (or something similarly alcoholic)
2) Electral powder solution is the yuckiest tasting liquid on planet earth. Yuck ------------
3) Cosmopolitan (the drink) and Caiprirojka are on my can do list now-- and I liked the Cosmo better. Herbie suggests not to make it public.
4) Medicines will never be available easily when you need them. Have good friends to rely upon to get them.
5) Everything has its own merits. At times, ppl would fight not to let you do the group assignment. And they would do a fabulous job. Thanks guys
6) Companies will come to campus. In certain cases, you would never figure out why a particular profile would need an MBA when you did the exact same work a few years ago without one. Yet, many ppl will apply and you may also apply since many ppl are applying.
7) There will always be more than one answer (sometimes contradictory) by current students to the questions raised by candidates in the yahoo group. I don’t know why.
8) Macquarie bank would show you the video of last year’s recruits from India and one guy would say “ I am doing things which I could never imagine doing in India”. Wannabes would immediately start making list of things which they have never done in India. (Trust me this is sticky!!)
9) You will always get sick only when the workload is highest, 1 trillion good intl companies are visiting and a zillion other things are happening on campus. Take everything in stride.
10) I truly HATE electral solution.

Diwali Dhamaka : The ISB way

2006-10-20T11:42:00.000+05:30

Diwali for me at ISB is all about inferring how the festival of lights and crackers compares with life on campus.
So going back to classes after a so called10 day break is something like the 14 year exile of Lord Rama which culminates into Diwali. But did he have fun during the exile? Well a little bit but there was a fair bit of work to be done as well with--- you know a lot of things to take care of----

The bidding game was like one big war fought in Lanka. Some casualities but it seemed very simple in the end –something like Ramanand Sagar’s version. You bid high I will also bid high and both will get screwed up much like the arrows meeting each other in the open sky---a classic work of pathetic animation. Something like--In the end we know what will happen but we sure have to make a big deal out of it.

And then the return to Ayodhya happens. Everyone thinks that life will be goodie goodie now. Term 5 Elective no tension—I chose to be the king with my own subjects--- But wait----there were problems. You listen to ppl—and don’t use your head-- that’s bound to happen. So whats the comparative of dhamaka? Classes before Diwali---classes after Diwali---assignments in truckloads immediately after---Placement pressure building up----gyan sessions---resume sessions---insane hours---Interview prep ha –welcome to the new life Mr.Ram. And then he realized that Assignment and classes are passé ---there are more important things to concentrate on now.

Oh yaa and since Diwali is also a festival of lights and not only noise—there is plenty of it at ISB. I can see that the companies have already started PPTs—seems like enuf hope of some serious light in everybody’s life and then a grade for a subject in which surprisingly and for a change I did well. Good stuff.

And in the end again much like Ramanand Sagar’s version you screw it up all by writing a blogpost which probably no one can understand and get curses for causing public torture.

Wishing everyone a Very Happy Diwali. Enjoy all the Dhamaka and may the lights guide you.

PS: My knowledge of the Ramayana is limited to the Ramanand Sagar’s version I watched on the TV, between commercials, as a kid. Therefore, any inconsistency with the real version may please be ignored. There are no blasphemous intentions here.

Term break---

2006-10-11T23:38:00.000+05:30

That’s what is going on. Started on Saturday after the exams and the postponement drama. Whole campus was behaving like circus and spam mails were coming at the speed of light. And then the exam got cancelled ultimately only to happen again on 18th.

I decided to stay on campus again for a few reasons. What I am telling ppl is that I love this place so much that I don’t want to get out of here. The real reasons are partly inertia, lack of planning and mainly ELP/ PAEV related stuff. So heres what I have accomplished till now.

1) Yes we did work on ELP and PAEV. As usual-- not as much as I would have liked to but still we did a bit of work.
2) Went out every day some time more than once all thanks to Herbie and his car which is usually over packed and still like shameless buggers we keep ushering in more and more ppl. Some times I feel really bad ( not for Herbie but for the car )
3) Worked some more on ELP and PAEV
4) Had all junk food possible from wherever in Hyderabad --eating from various places.
5) Admissions related work—(Hush hush cant say more on this)
6) Celebrated Mr Serious’ bday. Another outing and good food—
7) Worked again on ELP and PAEV.
8) Slept really late daily. I mean really late not the usual ISB standard. Some days due to work. Some other days for certain other reasons.
9) Played with consultant, the longest game of Snooker ever in the history of the game. Boy this has to go into the guinness book. Both of us were so pathetic that it took –mmm (I ll keep the no of hours we took a secret-- for obvious reasons)

Some ppl are back after wherever they wanted to go and some are still going. With term 5 starting on Monday, most junta is expected to be back by Saturday/ Sunday.

I would have loved to go away for a couple of days—but this is not bad either. Still have to decide on the fourth subject I have to take. Thinking ---

No Option, No Future!

2006-10-03T10:13:00.000+05:30

The bidding euphoria is on a full swing at ISB and people are really using all the management fundas like game theory, influencing, extensive number based analysis etc to calculate how much they should bid for each subject .It works out to a BIG number no matter what method you use. So an eccentric soul like me is faced with questions

Them: How much are u bidding for Fixed Income?

Me: Not taking

Them: I thought u ar a CA. Y are u not majoring in Fin?

Me: I am but no Fixed income

Them: Options and Futures?

Me: Not taking that either

Them: r u nuts? Which I- bank will recruit u if u havn’t done Options, Futures and Fixed Income

Me: not really interested in I banking

Them: Then? Consulting??????

Me: May be.There is other stuff also

Them: What other stuff? U got grades?

Me: @#$%&%$#

Them: Dude u are making a mistake

Me: really!

Them: NO I banking means no future for Fin major. U got to apply to Goldman and Deutsche

Me : uhhh

Them: Take Options and Futures. Bid 1500 points

Me: [Wondering]

Is there an option or a future apart from “Options and Futures” and will I be able to earn a fixed income without the “ Fixed Income” course? I don’t know. But I don’t see how the situation would change even if I take these courses. As far as first round of bidding goes I am not taking these no matter what "they" say

Last day of Sec A. Term exams in 2 days. Lots to do.

Section A memories------------------

2006-09-28T10:36:00.000+05:30

They say a picture is worth a 1000 words. As section A is coming to an end precisely 5 days from now, i thought of posting some of my favorite Sec A pictures to start of this series.

Here we go:

We Rock

in section colours

and other colours--

also in "Indian" colours

We are the leaders of tomorrow

in the pool

and out of it

The best in class we are

Even though we have an insane CR --------

Section A Rocks ---really !

Last two weeks

2006-09-25T11:02:00.000+05:30

Just came back after writing the Investment analysis mid term exam. Most problems were similar to those we tackled in assignments and hence we are going to have another paper where every 0.5 mark will make a difference.

Last two weeks with Section A. I am bound to get senti and i have decided to dedicate the next few posts to Section A, the best section in class of 2007 :) Lets see what all i can put. Suggestions invited.

Our CR, Mr. Herbie has planned a section farewell today at a plush city hangout. Good job Herbie--Hope it will be a good evening.

ATK and cross cultural perspectives

2006-09-23T10:49:00.000+05:30

Yesterday it was the turn of A.T.Kearney. After McKinsey and BCG have given us tons of gyan about Consulting as a career, it was ATK’s turn to talk about cross cultural perspectives. Interestingly, a similar topic was also discussed in the MGTO class yesterday.

This event brought back the memories of my good old days. I have been fortunate enough to have worked in 3 regions of the world and so I could really appreciate what they were talking about. I remember my first rendezvous with diverse cultures during my early days in Oman. I had gone to attend a seminar on IAS 39 hosted by E&Y and we had this round dinner table type of setting(whatever it is called!). On my table there were 2 Indians, a couple of Arabs, one Englishman and American and a Japanese guy. It was kind of interesting for me to interact with so many different nationalities all at the same time.

Over the course of my tenure in Dubai, Muscat and Chicago I could recall many instances of interacting with many people of different nationalities, where I could develop a cross cultural understanding and a sense of respect for cultures other than my own, which is perhaps hard to envisage if one has worked only in India.

I am not sure how this helps an individual professionally (on an IQ side), but personally on an EQ level I did learn a few things.

Overall the ATK session was quite interesting as all the people spoke very freely without creating any hype about the firm but at the same time saying whatever they wanted to say. Ankur from class of 2006 is conducting a session on consulting resumes today. Another example of how ISB alums take time out from their precious weekends to help the current students.

TiE ISB

2006-09-22T09:00:00.000+05:30

The TiE ISB connect is going on these days at ISB. It’s a special event which gives an opportunity to budding entrepreneurs to come share their ideas. They also have access to VC and other investors at the conferences. Many people are making the “elevator pitch” of their ideas to seek funding.

Apart from this there are discussion seminars going on for different tracks viz. IT and ITES, Internet technology, Infrastructure and Real estate, Bio and pharma, new media and entertainment etc. These sessions provide a good industry perspective to all those looking to start or have already started a venture in any of these areas with some of very eminent industry leaders sharing their views. Details can be found at : http://www.isb.edu/TiE-ISB_Connect_2006/Jumpstart.html

Frisbee and Munnabhai

2006-09-16T18:33:00.000+05:30

Went to watch "Lage Raho Munna Bhai" yesterday. It was a Section A outing and we went by a hired bus. Awesome fun. Our Carnatic musician Man-Jerry pitched in with some nice hindi tunes on public demand. I decided to pitch in too to cause some public torture. Now my choice of song is being used to tease me, but nonetheless, it was great fun.

The movie was kind of good. Arshad Warsi rocks in the movie. I couldnt stop laughing throughout the movie.

There was yet another shot in the arm for Section A. We defeated Sec E in the frisbee tourney. Since we were the defending champions, and we won yet again we are going to graduate as frisbee champs of class of 2007. Though i was not playing i went to cheer. After all the shouting yesterday in the bus and today, my throat is begging me to stop the torture.

There are multiple tasks on hand and its becoming hard to concentrate on one thing for long. So now the challenge is to do things well and do them fast and right at the same time --Huh--Plus the mind keeps wandering in different unwarrented directions and just when i dont want to think about certain things, they keep bothering me--or my friends keep reminding me--hah these friends

Here are the rulers of frisbee sport at ISB ( cheering squad and supporters included) Well done folks

They came, They saw, They conquered

2006-09-13T13:56:00.000+05:30

The McKinsey session was hosted a few days back by the consulting club. I must say I was really impressed with the McKinsey people. Contrary to my expectations, they were open, friendly and extremely down to earth. When they spoke we heard—absolutely amazing people. By the end of the session it was everyone’s dream company already. It is amazing to see, how a good orator can leave lasting impact on the audience.

All said and done, they added a lot of fire to the consulting hoopla at ISB. What I liked best about the session was that they were very open about sharing even the minutest detail of the recruitment process. And so everything was very clear. Hope it gives some sense to people about applying to McKinsey or otherwise .

Another impressive session was with the CAS. The workshop on resume writing was a very good one and gave valuable insights about how others view your resume. It is an early start for us and I am sure this will help us in preparing that perfect resume’.

Term 4 is tougher than I thought. The biggest problem is that there is absolutely no time and a ton of stuff to do. With PAEV and ELP deadlines staring at my face, I am as clueless as ever. But as they say at ISB "gimme a deadline and I ll meet it" . Banking on my newly accquired ability to meet any kind of deadline!

Macquarie bank wants students to do a project on REITs. This is topic very close to heart. But most probably I will not apply due to lack of time. God why do we have only 24 hours in a day--? Don’t know but that’s how it is.

The Tale of the Reptile

2006-09-04T23:55:00.000+05:30

ISB has a rich fauna. You can spot all kinds of animals on campus. Examples include peacocks, snakes of varied variety, mongoose, squirrel and ISBians.

However, at times you tend to spot animals so exotic (apart from ISBians) that there is fear. Fear of the unknown that leads to chaos. Mostly chaos at ISB is expressed through a long chain of mails which are bombarded into your mailbox even if you care a shit about lizards and snakes or any such animals ( they call it spam but i dont agree. Spam can be counted. These mail chains contain more mails than the number of stars in the sky!)

So coming back to the point, some exotic looking lizard family reptile ( donno the exact name ) was spotted in SV 1. Heavens fell down. Chaos. Absolute Chaos. That meant mail chains. Atleast a trillion of them. ( i cant count more than trillion so i ll stop at that). So here are some pearls of wisdom hand picked from these chains. As exotic as the lizard itself--------

" Note its talons, size around 3 ft, it ran with jet speed climbed 3ft wall in a second, it was so fast that had it hit someone, one would have been hurt like anything"---( 3 ft in a second. He had a stopwatch and he was checking the time)

" It was dangerous…. Previously a cobra and now a dangerous reptile, isn’t it time to take a prompt action? Student body I suggest you come forward to get these shrubs cleared"
( Students, lets have a labor day bunk classes and lets clean the shrubs)

" And first things first, the security guard in the SV’s must have strong lathis. Last time a big snake came, their grand plans to kill it were using thin alumunium rods of the mops with which they wipe the floor. Today a guard was running with a 1 feet long rod. I wonder what he would have done to a 3 feet reptile with it." ( Yes sir, a 3 ft thing cant be killed with a 1 ft rod. Mathematically, the length of the rod has to be greater than or equal to the length of the reptile supposed to be killed with it)

"I saw these creatures twice around the rocks in SV1 Am phi theatre (just across the main road). I think they live some where between those rocks" ( How profound! If you could please give us the exact block, quad and room we can go get them)

"Till such time that we get a handle on this, XXX will be posting a trained gunman at SV1,late afternoon onwards." ( Wow a gunman for a lizard--Now thats the sign of prospering India!)

"Why kill?? The reptile is probably as scared as us.
Guess a good option would be to find out about reptile repellants and have them sprayed around the SVs." ( Hmm an animal rights activist was all we needed)

Here is a picture of this latest hero at ISB

And life continues. The reptile has managed to elude the guards till now. But the mail-chain continues---

50 up

2006-09-04T23:47:00.000+05:30

Had to write this short note to mark my 50th post. Its special because i see it as a major milestone of sorts. I am not sure if i ll reach 100.

Personally, i feel i have made a decent effort at posting my experiences at ISB with some useful and mostly useless but memorable stuff.

Thanks to all the readers and--- pls from here till 100 (or wherever i reach) i need more hits :) Keep visiting--

Hiking Spree

2006-09-02T18:54:00.000+05:30

Four out of five days of the term break after term 3 are over. First 3 days were spent roaming around Hyderabad. Did nothing special--no historic sight seeing or anything constructive or useful of that kind--just plain TP. Courtsey Herbie. I think if i calculate the cab fare payable had we not travelled by Herbie's car and taken a cab instead, it would work out to a very big number ( may be more than the tuition ) but then thats what friends are for ( to take advantage ; wink wink)

Today i decided to do something different. Some enthu junta from section A decided to go hiking. Not to some god forsaken place 200 kms away but inside our own campus. I can bet that we explored areas where not many ppl had been to ever. Even all those reptiles roaming around the campus could not deter us. Pure fun. Posting some pix here

Thats the stone quarry right behind ISB

Term 4 starts on monday. With the ELPs and PAEVs of the world, its not going to be very smooth. But kind of used to it now. Work pressure doesnt scare me anymore. Just that its ending too fast--3 up already-- just 5 more ( Just!!!!!)
Lots of work-- lots of fun

The ISB Ganpati

2006-08-27T13:51:00.000+05:30

Even amidst the Term 3 exam fever, ISBians were not far behind in celebrating Ganpati. The pooja in SV1 was performed by Abhijit Vaidya, a student!

For interested devotees, this particular Ganpati is located in SV 1 K block.

Ganpati bappa moriya

Aftermath of the Massacre

2006-08-25T11:10:00.000+05:30

Last week was kind of bad for most people. Some one million grades were released one after another and I don’t even remember what came out when. All I know is that they all came and will stay on!

What intrigues me is that there is absolute lack of standardization among Profs when it comes to grading. Certain Profs are lenient with the higher grades while some are lenient with lower bands. Then there are some who are far from lenient with either band. The effect of this is that if one screws up even a little bit in the subject with strict grading, you get a lower than expected grade. On the other hand, someone screwing up big time in a subject with lenient grading will still manage to get an average grading. I feel that this is somewhat unfair and has become a game of chance.

There is a certain set of unfortunate students who always end up on the wrong side. After looking at last week’s grades I felt that this calls for some kind of standardization among subjects.

Another factor mentioned in a lot of previous year’s blogs was the CP. Frankly till now I believed that CP marks are no big deal. But now I can see that most of the CPs are being marked arbitrarily. Many people talk utter rubbish in class just to score CP points. These are graded by TAs who I guess score on the basis of the number of times a person opens his/ her mouth even if they talk about Karan Joha’r latest movies or some other crap like that. This is forming a major chunk of the grade in many subjects including upto 40% in one of the term 3 subjects. I wonder what would happen on this count.

All said and done, this place refuses to stop springing surprises! This is the down part of the rollercoaster ride for many. I am waiting for the up part when I would see some sky.

BCG and Naukri

2006-08-18T17:04:00.000+05:30

Attended a couple of very interesting sessions yesterday. First one was by Sanjeev Bhikchandani the CEO of Naukri .com. Yet another superb speaker i had the good fortune of listening to at ISB. The series was a a part of the PAEV course i have registered for. He was very authentic. No jargons thrown--simple story telling including all the errors he made.

All these entrepreneurs i hear at ISB are so inspiring that sometimes i feel i should just not sit for placements and become an entrepreneur! For sure i have this desire somewhere deep inside to be an entrepreneur but for some reason or the other, its been strangled and not allowed to come out. A couple of weeks earlier, Mansih Sabbhawal of teamlease had evoked similar thoughts. I am yet not sure if its the desire in me or the sheer inspiration provided by these speakers that prompt me to go the entrepreneurial way!-- For starters i have decided to do the PAEV course as a practice to incubating a business idea. However i strongly feel that i wont consider myself to have had a successful career, if i cant do something of my own! Dont know where it will lead to but yeah the first step is the desire and its very much there.

Second event was a consulting gyan session by BCG. Three ISB alums and two Principals from BCG had flown down just for the session. The firm culture looks extremely informal and work you choose to do depends on your individual interests. However it was more or less clear that they would look majorly into grades for shortlists and i know that i have little hope here.

I feel consulting is an ideal career for a bschool grad since its the only place you would apply your bschool learnings to the fullest. Its the same like working for a CA firm in traditional practice after CA. Thats where you apply what you ve learnt. Consulting is far more glamorous though.
So coming back to BCG, there were a whole bunch of people ( read Consulting wanna bees) hanging around even after the session was over. Like I have said Consulting as a career is highly overrated at ISB and so every Tom Dick and Harry wants to get into it. Hence firms like BCG visiting the campus would always get overwhelming response. BCG also did a good job of the session and people were satisfied overall.

Term end exams approach next week. Three terms would be over. This MBA at ISB is getting over at a pace much faster than i thought. Assignments, exams, meetings, unlimited work etc have stopped bothering me. I feel i can do any amount of work in a given day. Only thing is--exam results dont come out as well as i want to. Not that i score badly--others score better--- However now that has also stopped bothering me. Reflecting back i ve learnt a lot in last 4 months and looking forward to learning a lot more in the remaining program.

And some where deep inside-Dont want this to end--

PS: My ELP team consisting of Consultant, Herbie, Mr Serious, Madam and me have managed to get a hot project. 8 teams applied, 4 were short listed and two selected. Feeling good about it. Hope we do a good job.

From the Horse’s mouth

2006-08-13T16:27:00.000+05:30

They say that there is no better way than to hear it from the horse’s mouth. Vijay Mulbagal from class of 2006 was here to dissipate some first hand “gyan” about Diamond, the strategy firm he works for and his experiences so far.

The interaction was more of a reality check and he addressed a lot of critical issues of importance to consulting wanna bees. I really liked the way he put across a couple of thoughts—important ones being that not everyone is cut out for consulting and there is a huge world outside consulting.

I personally feel that Management Consulting as a career is highly overrated at ISB. This is partly because of the phenomenal number of “Consulting types” produced by the previous batches and partly because of the outstanding work done by the current and previous year's Consulting Club.

Vijay did a good job of explaining the hardships related to consulting and the frequent travel associated with the job. It reminded of just about the same time last year when I was in the US handling a couple of assignments and shuttling between Chicago and San Francisco umpteen number of times---looks glamorous but its really really tough.

He also went over the pros and cons associated with working for a small firm. This was again something I could relate to well. Although, the unstructured informal atmosphere used to bug me a bit in my previous job, I found a lot of comfort and flexibility in working for a smaller firm. I don’t think you can get that in the McKinsey’s of the world—but you make a trade off between this and the glamour that comes with working for a top shot---

Vijay also mentioned that grades and only grades are not very important. It’s the overall package that matters---

The one very good thing about ISB is that all the alums are extremely helpful and co-operative. They take time out of personal visits to be with us and go out of their way to help us. I hope we can continue to do the same when we are alums—This is the one of the important ways alums can add value to the ISB experience.

This Club and that one—

2006-08-06T23:04:00.000+05:30

In term 3 a lot of clubbing activities are going on at ISB. Read the dialogue below to get a feel.

An alien from Mars is visiting ISB over the weekend and there is this volunteer ISBian whoz showing him around.

After an extensive walk they are chilling out at the atrium when ISBian starts frantically looking at his watch and feeling uncomfortable. Alien realizes this.

A: What’s the matter? U have some work?

I: I have a club meeting.

A: Club wow that sounds fun.

I: No this is a professional club. Its Consulting club not some junkie club

A: A club for consulting—wow

I: Yeah it’s a big thing at ISB

A: kool. What all Clubs do you have?

I: We have Finance, Real estate, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Energy and Operations, Health care, General management and many others. You can form a club for any professional area as long as you have 20 ppl interested.

A: That’s some new definition of clubs. Do you only have these boring clubs what about fun clubs?

I: We do have a lot of fun clubs as well. Music, arts and creativity, Quiz, Sports etc

A: wow ISB looks like some good clubbing place

A: So what do these professional clubs do?

I: They focus on their area of concentration. They take care of industry and alumni interaction, organize speaker series, conduct workshops and work on building relationships with Industry.

A: Oh so do they get you jobs in your area of interest?

I: No one can get you a job unless you deserve it. But being a part of a club does help build up some knowledge in your area of interest.

A: hmmm. So how many clubs are you a part of?

I: he he well I am part of some 16 clubs

A: oh that many???

I: well honestly I don’t attend most club events. Its just that I became a member. Ideally you should choose one or two of your choice

A: If I come to ISB I would make a club of all clubs---All the people who are not part of any club will join my club.

I: Well you wont find many members –

A: anyways you carry on for your club meet.

I leaves and the dialogue ends.

“Clubs clubs everywhere
Lot of knowledge they have to share
One club here and one club there
Some work hard and some don’t care
With my calendar full of club fare
I don’t know to go where?”

Ok now all must ve realized my poetry sucks---- but nevertheless----

Till next time

SIMC 2006

2006-08-04T15:41:00.000+05:30

A summit on global manufacturing cmpetitiveness is going on at the ISB these days. Its being co-hosted by center Global Logistics and manufacturing strategies at ISB , Deloitte Research, The Global Business Institute of the Stern School of Business at New York University, the National Science Foundation, and the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University.

More details can be found at http://www.isb.edu/simc2006/htmls/index.html

Statistics

2006-07-31T18:58:00.000+05:30

in term 3-no---- this is very interesting statistic--by one of my groupmates ---CP statistic in Enterprenuership class. I know this is not my creation but sometime you come across such interesting stuff that its just so much fun even to quote
So here you go

"Monday morning – nice, cloudy and cold - Awesome weather to pull ur sheets over ur face, bang the alarm shut and sleep away to glory. But alas, in the wee hours of the morning, 8.15 to be precise, Section A at a distant business school was tyrannously subjected to attend a class called Entrepreneurship…Only the people of section A can tell u wat an agony it is…with great effort 60 odd geeks (of course who else would attend classes at such odd hours?) sleep walk to class. But that’s not all, some of them sleep talk too….

A brave geek who was too sleepy today, realized that there was no way she could lie down on the floor, stretch her legs and enjoy a wonderful morning with a good load of doze (no typo..it is doze and not booze), she had forgotten entertainment materials like magazines or laptops (remember she was sleep walking) she had no other option but to listen in class. But our geek was not the one to give up easily and so she devised a way to entertain herself….

Curious??? Read on….

Here are some statistics from the 1 hour of research she did between 9.10 am and 10.10am.
.
There were 41 CPs within this time
Average time taken for a CP is 35 seconds

Here are some awards:

Maximum no. of CPs by one single person was 4 – after some close ties this one goes to Yash

Longest CP of the day ( 95 secs) – No u guessed it wrong ….goes to Akshit

Maximum average time for CP (50 secs) – this time u guessed it right ..the most CP notorious Nitin

Stretching CP time – 2s pause between each word – this special award was created after seeing the ingenuity of this technique used by none other than Shivaji

The weird CP opening statement : this has been a life time achievement award for special statements like “this might not be relevant question” (he actually proclaims he is doing arbit CP), “sorry for digressing here”, “this is a philosophical question”…so ladies and gentlemen join me in congratulating , Aditya.C

Some of the CP kings and queens maintained dormancy today probably due to still-not-woken-up effect….I am sorry this contest happened to be unannounced. Better luck next time…
This was just a fun exercise in arbitly judging arbit CP – dint mean to hurt anyone. Extremely sorry if I did.
Have fun people,"

WOW that was an awesome job

PS: The link takes care of the Honour code

Hello Term 3

2006-07-24T20:11:00.000+05:30

Before we could blink (okay blink a few times) term 2 ended. It was truly mind boggling with intense workload, those endless hours on markstrat number crunching, that compstrat assignment, that DMOP massacre—sigh--- only (not so) sweet memories remain— would come back and haunt us as and when grades are out but by and large everyone is kind a gotten used to the grind and it really doesn’t matter anymore.

So as soon as Term 2 ended I had a nice lil getaway to Mumbai—and after a lot of food and a lot of rain I am back for Term 3.

Term 3 prima facie looks interesting—Management accounting and Corporate Finance at-least I know a little bit about those subjects. So there is a kind of hope---I would know as the term goes by. The other two subjects: Entrepreneurship and Operations look interesting as well.

Lots of activity expected on campus in term 3. Our class timings have changed as usual. Some people like it some don’t—this 8:15 class. Like today we had a case of a student getting straight out of bed and into the class---This is in classic contrast with last term when we had all late afternoon to evening class. Now we have all morning classes so the body clock of many souls has gone for a toss—

There is an interactive event on consulting careers being hosted by the consulting club this Saturday. More updates will be on the consulting blog.

Interesting stuff on the way------

PS: While I was away in Mumbai, I found that many ISPs have blocked out the blogs. ISB Blogs can still be accessed thru http://.pkblogs.com/ [blog name]. Please spread the word in the larger interest of the blogger community.

Exams on---

2006-07-17T20:17:00.000+05:30

Term 2 exams are on and i get this ultimate kick by blogging during the exams. Anyways after today's DMOP paper, i dont think studying or not really matters.
Heres what Muzzamil from our batch has to say

I think i am going to create a record of sorts by getting the lowest possible score-- living on the quote by the DMO prof himself " DMO exam will not be the end of the world"! Looking fwd to the term break--two more to go------

More after exams

Tagged

2006-07-11T06:58:00.000+05:30

Got tagged by Nikhil. Heres how it came to me Ankur Warikoo---> Arun Dhar------> Kapil-----> Nihkil------->me

So here u go
I am thinking - Why am i writing this blog? Playing this tagging game when the whole world is studying for exams

I said – Well let me do it in any case!

I want – a vacation

I wish – I could fly an airplane

I miss – her (my salary).

I hear – the golmaal song in my head. Golmaal hai bhai sab golmaal

I wonder – about life in general

I regret – a couple of things--

I am - a capitalist

I sing – Hosh waalon ko khabar kya( u have to hear me sing this one)

I dance – not really--just move with the crowd

I am not – very expressive

I write – random crap all the time

I hate - chauvinism

I confuse – between all the Russian tennis players( the ladies ofcourse and except Sharapova)

I should – shut up now

I tag--Manu, Shivangi

Random updates & admissions

2006-07-05T20:33:00.000+05:30

Now sometimes there is so much to write and some time there is not much. Actually, sometimes I feel like writing and sometimes I dont. Sometimes I get good grades so I am in a good mood and sometimes its otherwise ( well good grades has not happened so far but I guess if it ever happens I ll be in good mood)------so as a result sometimes my blog is filled with posts and sometimes there is a gap.

However ISB keeps moving at the speed of light. The dabbawalas came. A lot of media publicity happened. Then came the editors. They spoke about youth involvement in politics and its effect on economic growth. Lot of enlightenment. Thought provoking.

And then AIKYA happened. Our group got a foster family. A nice lady came and chatted with us making us feel at home in Hyderabad. She also invited us to her house over term break.

Oh yes and then mid term exams happened before that. And then there was our rise and fall in markstrat and his fall and rise. We had not expected it. I am sure he dint either. But he is happy. Writing in his blog and all. Good job dude.

Admissions for class of 2008 are open. She has written about it in detail so I don’t want to go over it again. For all those who are not aware: theres a yahoo group for isb pgp aspirants. Please join it as it was very helpful to me when I was preparing my application. Also please don’t hesitate to get in touch with admissions at admissionsresponse@isb.edu for any queries. They reply promptly and will put you in touch with current students instantly.

ATB to aspirants

Till next writing mood

I am India

2006-06-29T07:28:00.000+05:30

This is an amazing video called I am India produced by Bharatbala production. Beautifully captures the impact of rise in TFP, labor productivity and marginal productivity of capital to project the Indian growth--Am i reading too much Eco? May be--have an exam tomorrow

Worth taking a look

In the Markstrat world

2006-06-23T16:54:00.000+05:30

The following is a sample conversation that goes on between most people on campus these days

Student 1: Hey watz up?
Student 2: Nothing yaar our company is not doing well at all. Competitors have started a price war and we have no money to respond.
Student 1: Why don’t you cut your prices too?
Student 2: We spent millions in developing the product. Now if we drop prices how do we recover that money?

Student 3 joins in. Looks as if someone has just beaten her up

Student 1: Hey looks like you are gonna cry! Wats the matter?
Student3: We produced 13 million units instead of 130000. We forgot that units entered in the software are in KUs . Now we have inventory till eternity and all our budget is getting spent in holding costs. We are dead

Student 1 and 2 : lol

Student 4 joins in. Another glum looking face.

Student 1: What happened to you?

Student 4: We spent $ 5 million to develop a product. It was ready last period but we forgot to modify the technology! Now our competitor is coming up with a better technology. We are finished!

And the conversation goes on. Everyone has totally gone crazy with markstrat. (For those who don’t know, markstrat is a marketing simulation game being played here with all of us divided into various teams and industries. It’s a part of the course work and grades would be assigned based on performance. Its an awesome way to apply all marketing concepts learnt in class and see how your decisions would have effected your company in the real world.)

Some buzz words on campus these days: Marketing mix, Competitive strategy, Sustainable competitive advantage, Sonites, Vodites, long term strategy, price war, Monte carlo simulation, Semantic scales, Perception maps, Brand awareness, Sales force allocation, advertising mix--------Commanding heights :)

Arabian Impressions

2006-06-20T09:20:00.000+05:30

Some arab businessmen from Dubai ( thanks to my connections in the middle-east) recently visited the ISB. They were visibly impressed with the infrastructure and the amazing talents and capabilities of the student body.
One of the business tycoons has asked me to put his picture on the blog. He just wants to be famous in India. So to judge his fame levels ( aka brand awareness in markstrat lingo) he wants people to identify him. In case you get it right you can claim a prize of 1 million Emirati dirhams!! ( thats about Rs 1.2 crores at current exchange rates but its peanuts for this guy)

Take a shot. best of luck

Commanding Heights

2006-06-16T23:15:00.000+05:30

Commanding heights is a video series being shown to us as a part of the Global Economics coursework by Prof Krishna Kumar. Today there was a special 2 hr screening.

It is a video series that talks about emergence of global economic thoughts like the Keynesian vs Classical, early macroeconomic developments, emerging needs of reforms in the mid to late 20th century and the way forward in the global economy.

A very interesting watch. Click here to view it online

When Arjun got dunked

2006-06-12T08:15:00.000+05:30

There could have been no better start to Term 2 than accomplishing the impossible task of dunking Arjun. (Those who know Arjun would know why!) arre I just meant he is so clever that he escapes every time.

Arjun has always wanted to feature on my blog and get dunked. Both wishes granted my friend.

Term 2 begins today. Copious number of pages to be pre-read. I have already lost track-------But I guess after having faced the initial tremors in Term 1 we are pretty much prepared for the earth quake.

Last 3 days: 3 trips out of the campus, 1 boring movie, lots and lots of squash, one hell of a cricket tournament, Chinese food, football matches on wide screen, a couple of movies from LRC, futile attempts to pre read.

Next six weeks: Competitive strategy, DMO, Economics, Markstrat, GSB elections part 2, infinite number of assignments, impossible number of pages to be pre-read, a few parties, a few dunkings and a lot of exams!

Has any one heard about work life balance out here? Oh yaa its about WORK and life

Term 1 over---A salute to wizards

2006-06-07T08:17:00.000+05:30

I had taken a mini break from blogging to give due respect to the end term exams which got over yesterday (not that it made any difference but nevertheless---). Term 1 is officially over and as someone said we are 1/8th MBAs already!

A lot of blogs have talked about professors and now its my turn say a few words. I would list my favorite Profs of Term 1 in that order

1) Prof Bob Stine and Prof Waterman from Wharton, who taught us the Statistics course were the best teachers I have ever seen in my short life! Although my grades may not reflect the same but they made me fall in love with the subject. I have studied basic Statistics before but never had such amazing concept clarity and the managerial view of the subjects. Absolute gods those two--
2) Prof Jagmohan Raju, also from Wharton is totally impressive as well. His stint with us is still not over and he comes back to teach Marketing 2 in Term 2. His style of case analysis makes us wonder why we cant ever think like that. There is so much depth in his analysis and the way he teaches the subject is just awesome. An then there is cold calling! Your picture appears on the screen and you are supposed to answer the questions! Pure fun!!( as long as you are not cold called)
Apart from these, we had many Profs who were very good in their own right. A big thanks to all of them.
Term 2 starts in a weeks time. The course pack looks absolutely scary. After the pain of exams it’s the pre-reads we have to deal with—
A lot of people have gone back home for the term break. So were missing home so much as if they ve been away for years. I think the grueling schedule here adds fuel to the fire. I am staying back enjoying the serene beauty of the campus. I can’t seem to have enough of it—

Talk on Real Estate Sector

2006-05-30T19:57:00.000+05:30

Just came back after attending a talk on importance of the Real estate sector in investment portfolios, delivered by Dr Stephen Roulac.

He has an amazing profile and its one of the leading experts in the field of Real estate. He spoke about real estate sector in general, its evolution and its importance in emerging market economies.

One of the interesting takeaways from the talk was that Mr Roulac was extremely bullish about growth of Real estate sector in India and predicted growth in the range of about 260% in the coming decade! He also made interesting comparisons between the projected growth rates in the sector amongst the emerging markets and emphasized on importance of superior infrastructure for achieving sustained growth in the sector.

Over all - an extremely interesting session

Closure—Term 1

2006-05-29T20:05:00.000+05:30

Its really hard to believe that we are very close to completing our first term at ISB. This week is the last week of classes, and then two days of exams and bang --Term 1 is over.

Already i have witnessed many friendships, romantic ties, gangs, clubs, groups, focus groups, out of focus groups and what not! Considering that this has just been the beginning of the most wonderful year of our lives makes me feel really excited about the time to come.

Many people are planning to go home for the term break and are already making plans about how to spend their time. The first term has been very difficult period for many since a lot of us came into the classroom mode after a long time. By now almost everyone is more or less used to the workload of assignments, classes and exams. This is one of the reasons people are so tired of the term and are desperately looking forward to the break------------

Attaching a beautiful night-shot of the acad center. This is by far the best in my collection. Don’t remember who has clicked this snap but of course, the picture was not taken by me as I am no good with the camera or rather the camera is no good with me----pls pardon copyright violation if any--

Exams are the top priority for next 7 days---

Dunked for Arbit----

2006-05-26T06:59:00.000+05:30

Sec A have pioneered a new tradition. Dunking people who allegedly indulge in Arbit CP! Till now reasons for dunking were limited to B'days. But i thought it was more a function of the economics midterm results which were declared on the same day---Frustrations had to come out-------
So it was N's turn the other day. Check out these pics-----Heres the "accused"N walking down to the meeting place. He was told its someone's Bday!!!!! Phas gaya panchi jaal mein
Dunked!!!!!!!!!!

Sec A people are ruthless when it comes to punishing the people indulging in Arbit. Although i must say that N was very sporting and played along the joke very well--------Kudos-thats the ISB spirit

For those who dont know:

CP stands for Class participation which carries marks. A person allegedly indulging in Arbit CP means he/she does the CP but talks something that is not relevant to the topic in contention thereby wasting class time----------

Thanks to Manu and Mama for the pics

Will I be able to----

2006-05-24T10:06:00.000+05:30

Blog regularly? Is one of the many will I be able to ? questions I am asking myself these days (others being trivial issues like will I be able to pass this term, this course et al). Blogging is fun but its a serious challenge amidst the impossible schedules that ISB imposes upon you.

An example of schedule at ISB over next three week period and beyond looks like this:
Week Three weekend: Friday Exams. Second phase of the term starts, new professors—so a lot of pre reads for Saturday and Sunday
Week Four: Full of classes, an impossible number of assignments and icing on the cake we have classes on weekend too.
Week Five: High pressure. Exams early next week. Assignments. We actually need to study for the exams now
Week Six: Exams on first two days. If you are thinking that rest of the week would be free-------keep dreaming. Some of us have Leadership Dev program. Come next week Term two begins!!!!

The year looks like a 24 x 7 production line where we have no control over the conveyer and it just keeps moving ( here conveyer being time) and we work 3 shifts!!. So now I know what a one year MBA is all about.

But the biggest positive aspect of being in a school like ISB is that there is absolutely no compromise on the course coverage and the quality of learning expected from the students. So if one takes a long term view of things, its of immense benefit to all.

Coming to campus life-loads of stuff happening. Mostly political, but since I am a political animal—I kind of like it. Was a lil disappointed to see a poor turnout at Soapbox presentations for very important posts. I guess workload got better of many people. Expecting better turnout for today’s session------

Meanwhile my battle with grades and assignments continues---------

Regarding the question i asked upfront----i am trying my best to continue

The First shock

2006-05-20T16:52:00.000+05:30

Its been quite a while I have performed pathetically in an exam.(that’s cos its been quite a while I ve taken an exam -----) But good old days came back with nostalgia yesterday when we had our midterm exams. The first subject went ok ( atleast I would like to believe this till the grades are out) but the second one was quite a disaster. For me I would say it was just a taste of “ good” things to come. For more details a visit to Mama’s blog would be required.

What was interesting was the reaction of people. Some were shattered, some disappointed and some plain happy cos everyone else has also screwed up. Talking of exams, I have realized after these ones that exams are here to stay for the next 11 months of my life at ISB. Every 15 days there ll be an exam and between two exam numerous assignments and between assignments numerous quizzes and classes---- So that’s life's way of telling us "You asked for it now you have it! " But nevertheless I guess that’s what MBA life is all about.

Next week @ ISB is going to be a political jamboree. With the Directors’ elections on the cards and a lot of people contesting for a lot of posts, it would be an interesting event from a spectator’s stand point.

Meanwhile we have an intersection football tourney which starts in exactly about half an hour. This should be another interesting event to watch out for.

With several assignments and pre reads to complete and Saturday almost gone, I am overwhelmed to say the least. Already thinking about the next exams 15 days down the line------but does that help? So people pls let me know your views if you like—Is it of any use studying for an exam at ISB like the usual type of exam? What else should be done?--------------?

New President

2006-05-18T17:09:00.000+05:30

I had to write this blog entry now, as all my propaganda for democracy has come to its first conclusion. We have a new President for our Graduate Student Board.

I feel it’s quite a bad time to have announced the results especially for the new man at helm in view of the exams tomorrow. Nevertheless I feel we have a good president now and it should help us in the year going forward. Time will tell the story of his success.

Many more tests of democracy to follow in the coming weeks but before that its my first exam tomorrow –so I should better be studying than writing a blog.

More after I win my battles against Stats and Economics tomorrow. (Or may be they ll get better of me!!)

For Democracy

2006-05-15T22:27:00.000+05:30

Just came back from the soapbox for the GSB Presidential elections. All the candidates made their respective “Elevator Pitches” as they call it. I was a little disillusioned by the way things shaped up. I would like to believe that given the forthcoming Midterm exams there was a certain lack of enthu among the student body.

I believe that a democratic process, in order to be successful has to be participative. Participation again comes from two levels: Contestants and voters. A lack of participation from either side or even one side does not help the cause. In this scenario the elected body cannot be said to be the true representation of the population and so it defeats its own purpose of existence.

It is understandable that exams are pressure but is it not our responsibility to make sure that our school progresses through the year in good stead ? Those who are indifferent to the political process have no right to crib later.

I believe that it’s the collective responsibility of all concerned to participate and make the democratic process a success. If we fail to do that, we are loosing out big time.

Yaa I know this is getting a little more opinionative than usual, but then the very purpose of a blog is expression of opinions. Isnt it?

My two cents to all: Cast your vote. It wont effect your A grade ( if you are getting one otherwise ). May the best man (as there are no women in contest----) win.

Elections and Mid term

2006-05-13T01:32:00.000+05:30

After amma has lost ground in Tamilnadu and change of governments takes place in a few other Indian states, its election time at ISB too. The elections for the President GSB have been announced recently and as everything else in ISB its very fast track. Just two days for nominations, one day for soap box and boom we are ready to vote. All the netas (read Presidential candidates) have suddenly become active and are actively or passively seeking votes. Manu wrote in his blog that the President of the GSB is the face of the school and has to be some one we can look upto. Well, I cannot agree more. Today I was discussing with some fellows about the qualities we should look for in the GSB president. I have come up with the following list:

1) Clarity of thought and clear agenda for the year
2) Easily approachable
3) Impartial attitude
4) Unquestionable integrity
5) Ability to manage the team of directors. This is important as unlike in case of a formal organization, the Prez wont exersice any real authority to get the work done.
6) Presentable and a good communicator

Basically some one we can trust with 95% confidence interval. (Yeah that’s the Stats effect). I am not sure who all are contesting and what will be their agendas but it would be out soon.

Another hot event is approaching. It’s the mid term exams. While some people are eagerly waiting for the exam to be able crack them and get their precious grades, some others are a bit scared. From my side I have broken the record of staying past midnite as I am up and running writing this post at 1.30 am. But I guess, this is rather going to be a norm than exception in the days to follow. LRC is full of people pouring over all kinds of stuff and the first exam is showing its true effect.

This is just going to get more intense in the next week. I am hoping for a combination of relaxation and effective work over the remaining two days of the weekend. Next week is going to be full of action with GSB elections and Mid term preps going on in full swing side by side. I would be watching closely---

Two points!

2006-05-10T23:41:00.000+05:30

I hate putting it on my blog , but its official. We lost two points on the economics assignment. 36 out of 38 rounded off to two decimal places is 94.74%. Not bad huh. That’s what a normal person would say. But at an intensely competitive place like ISB this is what I heard:

1) Hey average score on the assignment is 37.65—That means you guys are below average!! May be all of you are below average students( Can u believe it)
2) Forget about Mckinsey. Start looking for other jobs.( as if all of us were getting into Mckinsey)
3) Would you guys manage to pass?
4) How would you recover? (from what)
5) Hey you guys are not that bad. I heard someone got 35 as well ( Oh really, that makes me so happy)
And so many other comments---

Well of course all these comments were made on a lighter note, but the larger part of the problem has got me thinking. ISB is an intensely competitive place with best of the best people. Some of the people are just brilliant in everything they are upto. That perhaps puts all the more pressure on people not to loose two marks. Many of us are finding the sudden changes in life like sitting in classes, struggling with assignments, endless group meetings (read debates) and studying for extended hours a bit too much. On the top of it midterm exams are round the corner. But as they say, some exam or the other is always round the corner at ISB!!

So what do we do? Well do something, anything or everything to scrape thru. I think its important to keep a work life balance @ ISB.I have found that indulging in sports and an occasional gossip does help. Blog writing helps too. ( I am not too sure if reading this would help!!)

Life shall go on. After the Eco assignment, after the mid term and after Term 1 (actually it would go on even after that, but that’s as far as I can think of right now!!)—So I better prepare for the next assignment now. Oh boy does this cycle ever end at this place?? Hmm--- Apr 7 2007 ??—far away

The first pictures

2006-05-08T16:51:00.000+05:30

Right after the first assignment, its was time for the CAS photo shoot. I must say that people's appearence does change with attire------Here are some snaps of the future business leaders of India( if you think thats too much well what can i say !)

Back row(L to R) me, Vibhor, Aditya, Rahul, front: (Lto R) Urvija and Sowmya( theWundergal). Thats group A1 for you

Thats Group A1 with Akshit( the future of Mckinsey) in the middle.

Those are some of the very handsome men @ ISB

We got baked in the Sun with our business suits on for these pix. But overall it was good fun.

Pleasures of the First assignment

2006-05-05T21:30:00.000+05:30

These days we are doing our first submission assignment at ISB. Its an Economics assignment. The Prof makes it sound very simple. But Junta is finding it to be a bit tricky. All said and done mostly everyone would eventually do it with or without the cooperative council’s (read the guys who know it all) help. What is interesting to note is, that how different people react to the situation. Here are some examples:

The Know it alls: These are found in plenty at ISB. They don’t bother about the assignment as they know that they know it. They just talk to everyone in their group, finish off the stuff and chillax.

The Confused Tribe: They know that they know, but they cant have enough of it. They solve the questions, resolve them and then consult the “Know it alls” to make sure they are right. Still they are not convinced that they are right. So they keep struggling.

The I wont tell anyones: These people are always under camouflage. They pretend as if they are struggling, but actually they are not. Some of these people get sadistic pleasures out of discussing and confusing others( especially the confused tribes)

The I don’t cares: For this tribe, assignment et al is no big deal. Hopefully they would complete it by the submission dates, but they would like to party hard over the weekends.

And finally the bamboozleds. That’s my tribe. They have no clue what is going on. They sit to study for an assignment and all they end up doing is writing some silly blog. These people need a lot of luck and prayers

Ha—lots to do. First week itself has been a good lesson at ISB. Aage aage dekhiye hota hai kya

Rendezvous with Term 1

2006-05-02T19:38:00.000+05:30

So I have attended one class each of all the four subjects. The Profs are fantastic to say the least. Never ever before in my life have I sat thru the academic lectures without looking at my watch. The amazing quality of faculty ISB offers, is one of the most important characteristic that distinguishes it from other schools across the nation. Nothing against faculty at other schools, but the faculty at ISB are all perhaps the best available worldwide. So in a way, it seems full paisa wasool if I am allowed to say that.

I have the following first impressions about the courses:

Accounting: God bless the guy who has introduced this course. Absolute elementary stuff for us, but my dear engineer friends will surely have a good time ( wink wink).

Marketing: Taught by two of the best Profs worldwide. Never thought that it has so much math and BEP analysis. I thought it was full of faff but the first class has proved me wrong. Plus given, the quality of Profs, the course promises to be an interesting proposition.

Statistics: Banking upon C to teach me stuff on Friday. The Prof is very humorous and an absolute master of the subject. Looking forward to “learning” statistics for the first time in life . This subject is going to receive maximum attention from my side as I feel I have inadequate knowledge of the same

Economics: Absolute charm. And I could understand everything taught in the first class. Prof is so kool. Hoping I can come upto the mark and understand concepts.

Its still early days for us at ISB and donno how things will shape up. As of now I feel I can scrape thru. Life, dunkings, Gyan session, club sessions et al continue as usual.

Life is pretty kool

Life on track- Dunkings, Perpective building and Arbit CP

2006-04-29T17:15:00.000+05:30

Life in ISB seems to be getting on track as we approach Term 1 starting Monday. People are slowly settling down in their so called homes and getting ready for the grind awaiting them, come Monday.
Meanwhile the Preterm courses have equipped us with basic skill sets required to pursue our PG program ( supposedly). This is true not only for the classroom studies but also for the skill sets needed to survive @ ISB in general. I would discuss these in brief:

1) Dunkings: Dunking is the order of life @ ISB. You do something you get dunked, you don’t do anything you get dunked, you speak you get dunked, you keep quiet you get dunked. Basically you are under a dunking threat all the time. (For those who don’t know about dunking, it’s the term used for throwing a person in the pool at our Rec center). So if its you bday you get dunked compulsorily. Yesterday it was D’s turn. With her 3-4 others also got dunked. This also happens all the time. Dunkings are organized by respective sections for the bday boy or girl. Yesterday some of us sec A ppl were clicking pictures at the dunking session. Suddenly Sec F ppl ( the bday girl was from sec F) said oh Sec A ppl are here lets dunk them. We managed to escape. It proved that we have managed to learn the art of surviving dunkings. Absolutely vital @ ISB.

2) Perspective building: Our Alums told us to build perspectives on important issues. Take an example of a group. X is chatting with Y about most useless stuff on earth. A and B are discussing couples on campus. E and his study group are discussing Sarovar food. C and D are smoking in the atrium and P and Q are playing computer games. A normal person outside the campus would say they are gossiping. At ISB we call it perspective building. Another extremely vital skill to survive. We build perspectives and keep building on them.

3) Arbit CP: Thanks to the gyan sessions and blogs of the alums everyone is familiar with Arbit CP. But our batch is really great. Even before the term has started, people have started practicing Arbit CP. Theres no end to questions. Whatever session is organized, people have to ask all kinds of questions Here are some examples.( some of them are gathered during perpective building sessions and some others are first hand experiences)
================
A: So whats the answer to the Fedex case( can u believe this??????)

B: 43

C: no how come. My answer is 10

B: no its 43
(The Fedex case is a marketing CASE STUDY not a math problem
=================
Accounts Prof: So if we pay by cash, the cash account reduces

Student: What if we pay by Cheque?
==================
Statistics Prof: Suppose if a person tosses a coin, theres an equal probability of either Heads or Tails turning up.

Student: What is the probability that the person would actually toss the coin?
===================

So I guess we all have acquired ample of these skills now. I have started playing squash & swimming regularly and sticking to routine. Have already made some good friends and a lot of acquaintances. Fedex case will rule till Monday. Term 1 is here. No more taking it easy. Its all going to be graded. Let the music begin--------------

Preterm and Gyan et al

2006-04-26T10:26:00.000+05:30

Why on earth did I opt for these preterm courses? They make me study things which are not even graded. That’s how I was feeling on the first day of classes. Most of our Pre-term courses are very basic and are designed to develop concepts and basic understanding of the subject. But the lectures are going at rapid speed given the short duration of the course and I am far from doing things the way they should be done. There are a few smart ones who havnt opted for any of the preterms and are studying for the core terms. O god y cant I think straight like these people. Study what matters get your grades and voila—

So here I am trying to solve some quant problems which I did loooooooooooooooong time ago( seems like it was some previous life form that one or may be I am really old) and have forgotten everything. And all I end up doing is writing this blog. Come term one only some divine powers can save me if don’t mind my ways.

Coming to Gyan we are having an overdose of it. There are people who have had experience in hotshot areas ( read consulting and Ibanking) who organize sessions and speak endlessly to lesser mortals who gaze at them in wonder! ( well consulting wasn’t bad as I was one of the organizers—wink wink), but I believe we are over doing it and doing it ahead of time. Just turn to any corner of the campus and you will find people giving or receiving gyan. All this is making me feel sick and laugh at the same time. For now I have decided not to attend any more gyan sessions and study the course materials for a change. Consulting or no consulting, I bank or no I bank I have to Graduate. Hence its important to do the basic stuff correctly—

Getting late for the class; will go straight into the class to avoid any arbit gyan session

About People and Perceptions

2006-04-23T20:37:00.000+05:30

I have wanted to post this on the blog for last two days but was just deliberating if I should. However, I am doing it anyways as this is one of the most hilarious incidents I have come across here.

Its about perceptions the human mind tends to have about people we havn’t even met. ISB is a conglomerate of people with diverse ethnic backgrounds. Certain names tend to inspire a smile or even a laugh when we come across them. Suddenly, it’s the tendency of people to come up with a mental picture of the person. For instance a person with a name like Gabbar Singh is supposed to have big moustache and a heavy voice and so on.

So here we are. There is this guy , A who has an interesting name and theres this guy B who wants to meet the other guy just for his name ( cos he has a certain mental picture of the person and he wants to ensure that its correct). So our guy B goes to the dining hall and given the mental picture of a frail and pale looking creature, he asks this guy in the queue if he is A.

Can you guess who it was? The economics professor. Now B is going crazy about the whole episode and given the fact that some alumni told him that the Prof is very good in remembering faces, B thinks hes going to loose grades in the subject.

So there comes our first MBA lesson: “Never have preset perceptions”

Ha ha I am getting better with gyan.

PS: This post would ve been better with real names but I cant write them for obvious reasons. Those who know the reference to context would enjoy it better

Talent Galore

2006-04-22T09:09:00.000+05:30

We had a talent nite yesterday. I was flabbergasted to see the talent in our batch. Not only were the performances spirited, they were also of highest quality. The whole thing looked like a rock show concert. There were many skits, spoofs and dances that added a unique flavor to the event.

Our Dean seems to be a very simple and down to earth person. He just walked into the talent night event and sat besides one of the students. One should have seen the reaction of the student when he saw the Dean himself sitting right next to him. I was watching closely and it was great fun.

Our section A did put up a couple of very spirited performances but was not fortunate enough to win. Nevertheless, I am very proud to be a part of this section and I honestly believe that we are the best section. (Even though they dunked me).

Talking of sections, some alums were of the opinion that we should not stretch the section wars too much. We all are ISBians first and then Sec A,B,C---simple things but people keep forgetting.

All gyan sessions will end today. Come Monday, Its going to be studies and classes. I am yet to open the books. Plan to do it sometime soon. A lot of club activity has started unofficially. Finance and Consulting clubs are going to be active next year as there are a lot of enthu ppl around. Other clubs like EVC, Manufacturing etc also have started some meetings. Signs of a great year ahead.

First week gone—50 more left. I already feel this place has been my home forever----

Will quote the slogan we were chanting last night “ ISB Rocks”----------

Got Started

2006-04-20T11:13:00.000+05:30

So finally on campus---

ISB has so much on offer. I am confused and scared. Kya karoon kya nahin karoon. But it seems that everyone is posed with the same question when they come to ISB.

We are have a lot of gyan sessions as a part of orientation. So much gyan-- my head seems like a computer with a full 100 GB disk cos it takes a lot of time to start and even after starting theres no space left to store anything. I guess i will have to go in for extenal media for the courses(read groupmates)

We have been divided into study groups. Mine is sec A Group A1. Comments on group: ROCKS

My Quad: Bunch of silent(but nice) guys: ROCKS as well--

We were taken to a bunch of govt schools by the Net Impact club to interact with kids and do a profiling of the needy kids. Absolutely amazing experience.

Some of my observations so far:
1) Earlier for first 2 days people used to move in groups based on geography. Like i was hanging out with mumbai Junta. But now suddenly Section and group have assumed importance. Me has barely spoken to Mumbai friends not in Sec A for last 2 days

2) Each section is supposed to have a slogan and a chant. People are using all their creativity to come up wth all kinds of whacky stuff

3) We have intersection competitions going on. Section A MUST win.

4) 90% of the batch is eyeing consulting jobs. Me wondering if so many get into consulting there will be no one left to provide consultancy to( is this making any sense?)

5) Services at housekeeping are excellent. I guess it will be difficult for us once we are out cos all bad habits will be developed--Thanks to the services on offer

6) Things are going to be different once the course work starts. A lot more pressure to stay in the room/LRC and put in some work. These days the challenge has been to stay in the room with so much happening. I have spent not more than 5 hrs a day in my room :( (ofcourse all on sleeping zzzzz)

7) Blogging regularly looks like a challenge--

8) Lot of parties--one has to pick and choose

9) They should ve provided us with more than 1 section T shirt

A Lot to write--more would follow

Choti si aasha( Humble aspirations)

2006-04-13T09:50:00.000+05:30

Remember the song from the movie Roja--
So heres the mandatory do to, things to look fwd to kind of stuff. Basically an honest personal goal statement for myself before I begin this wonderful journey towards the ISB MBA:

1) Pass all the subjects atleast with B grade and try to get some A’s in the process( inspired from the thought that “dreams cost nothing”)
2) Try to know as many ppl as I can from the batch. My worst nightmare is that if five years down the line I meet another ISB grad and we are like : “oh which batch”
me : 2007 n u?
The person: me too? How come I don’t know you?
This situation is sad
3) Enhance my tennis skills at-least by one level.(Yaa I know this is in direct contradiction with point 1 but I am going to take some course on conflict resolution as well—so chill)
4) Be active in atleast two professional clubs
5) Learn from all the amazing ppl in the batch about their experiences, industries etc.( In the process jhadofy some gyaan about mine as well)
6) To make many good friends for life
7) Learn time management and prioritization( I think I lack in these areas)
8) Learn to say NO effectively ( I seriously lack this ability)
9) Leverage my background in finance to learn ( really learn) all the fascinating fin subjects that ISB has to offer
And last but not the least
10) Loose weight ( This has no direct correlation with the other goals but its always an integral part of all my do to lists—one goal that has never been achieved—may be @ ISB)

Ok so that’s all I would reveal—have many more dark secret desires but would keep them to myself---ppl would know when the time comes—
Just two days left—me ready to run----------
Looking fwd to a fun year---C u all @ ISB in about 48 hrs

Sawal Ek Crore kaa

2006-04-10T09:38:00.000+05:30

The playwright in me wants to say something here. So here you go

Characters:

The ISBian(TI) : A regular guy, who by plain good fortune has got into The Indian School of Business-lead character of the story
Daddy: ISBian’s father
Mummy: ISBian’s Mother
Mystery Gal(MG): ISBian’s friend who he feels should be his girlfriend ( anyways whats a play or a movie without a cute female --)
Friend 1, Friend 2: ISBian’s friends
Adosi, Padosi(AP): ISBian's nosy neighbors
Prospective Father in law(PF): The guy who wants The ISBian to marry his daughter(Of course the ISBian is least interested)
Unwarranted Stakeholders(US): People who think they are very important in the ISBian’s life but he thinks otherwise. Includes all kinds of unwanted relatives, people posing to be friends when they actually are not and all other junta whom the ISBian tries to avoid everytime he comes across them

Scene 1:

April 6th 20XX
A Red letter day in the history of Indian Bschool placements. Some mystery person from the previous batch has got an offer of Rs 1 crore (ofcourse it USD salary converted at maximum possible exchange rate). Mummy and Daddy are listening to the news. TI is chilling out doing nothing.

Daddy: Wow. The media is going ga ga over ISB placements. Some’s got one crore

TI: Yeah. Its not as pretty as it sounds

Mummy: Why you want to criticize everything? People are actually doing well these days. And look at you? Cant believe ISB took you!

TI: Yeah. Placements look good. But one crore is a cooked up figure. Plus the person getting it must be an amazing profile and loads of work ex

Daddy: Try to get One crore for yourself next year

TI: ( thinking) kya sapne hain huh

Phone rings

Friend 1: Hi TI
TI : Hi

Friend 1: Abe tu to crorepati ho gaya

TI: Kyon bhai

Friend 1: Arre news mein dekh. ISB walon to ek crore salary mil raha hai

TI: arre yaar first its not ek crore—its in dollars and then the profile of the person would be---

Friend 1: Arre chup yaar. Tub hi banega crorepati next year. Party de de jaldi se

TI: par yarr----

Friend 1: Ok sham ko party. Bye

TI: arre

1 min silence and phone rings again. This time it’s the English speaking MBA grad friend 2

Friend 2: Hi Dude

TI: Hey man wats up?

Friend 2: Man u are gonna be rich

TI: oh you too. Dint expect this from a US educated guy

Friend 2: What do you mean? One crore is big money even in the US

TI: but you know its actually not the only thing and then not everyone-----

Friend 2: Oh shutup. We deserve a party. You will sponsor booze. C ya at 8 tonite

TI: arre

Friend 2: Bye

TI is totally confused. Why is everyone so hyper about Ek crore? And why the hell should I throw a party for it?

Phone rings

TI; Hello
It’s the Mystery gal

MG: Hey crorepati

TI: (thinking) I want to be your pati not crorepati huh

MG: What placements—You must be really happy

TI: Well placements are good. But I have much more to do before I even think about it.

MG: oh o be happy. You would be the next crorepati

TI: well theoretically yes. Practically nooooooo way

MG: arre y not?

TI: You see theres a lot that needs to be done---

MG: arre don’t be ultra modest. You would be the next crorepati. I know that

TI: but---

MG: ok crorepati. Don’t forget friends once you are rich

TI; donno what to say

MG: take care of ur money

TI: bye

TI is almost nuts. The TV channels are going overboard with ISB placements and every channel TI flips is singing the one crore song. TI puts off the TV and decides to go for a walk.
Scene 2
Park
US1: oh hi

TI: hello uncle

US1: I heard about ISB placements. Congrats

TI: I havnt got placed yet!

US1: oh you would. And you would get one crore. Then don’t forget this uncle

TI: (thinking) oh I have to know you first to be able to forget you
Similar pattern follows with atleast 5 more U.Ses coming to TI and talking about one crore. TI is totally mad and decides to go back home

Scene 3:
Home
2-3 APs are sitting. Their eyes light up on the sight of TI.

AP1: oh here comes the future corepati

TI: (smiles subtly)

AP2: so what are you going to do with one crore

TI: just smiling.(thinking) I would buy the houses of you guys and throw you out of society just to have some peace

AP1: bade aadmi ho gaye ab to

TI: ok uncle I got to go. Retires to his room

Silence for 5 mins. Phone rings. It’s the deadly PF. Daddy picks up the phone

PF: arre Sir congrats. You son is going to an institution where ppl are getting crores

Daddy: thanks

Conversation goes on for 5 mins

Daddy: TI, PF wants you to atleast meet his daughter.

TI: not interested

Daddy: hes such a nice guy. Was so happy with one crore news

TI: (cant bear it anymore and shouts): I dint get one crore. Everyone doesn’t ok. And its not One crore and not everyone is so brilliant and blah and blah and blah

Scence 4:

TI is alone in the room. Lot of questions in mind

1) Why am I going to ISB? Just to get One crore?
2) What is the underlying purpose of an educational institution ? To impart education or to churn out crorepatis?
3) How am I going to live in this banal society if I don’t get one crore salary? What if I don’t get a job at all?
4) Why is everyone concentrating only on the end? No one talks about the means to achieve the end!
5) Why is the Indian media so irresponsible? Dissemination of information and flaring up to project an unwarranted picture has become a trademark of media. High time we do something about it
6) Why is just the placement report so important? Why cant the media talk about other things such as the quality of education, diversity, unique curriculum and a holistic experience which institutes like the ISB provide---Is being crorepati or not, the only parameter to judge a success of a person??? Atleast TI doesn’t agree

Thoughts?

Curtains

Disclaimer
All characters in this play are fictitious. If they have a striking resemblance to any person living, dead or almost dead under the weight of being a future crorepati, its purely coincidental.

Countdown has begun-----

2006-04-04T08:21:00.000+05:30

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2----------There I am @ ISB!!!!! (just)10 days left—lots to do. Next year same time I would also be writing senti blogs as the class of 2006. But before that lottttttttttttttttttttttts to learn and lots to do. Can really feel the heat and excitement now

Met fellow admits from Mumbai—Jolly good experience. Very happy that I would spend next one year with awesome guys like these and many many more.

Cant wait for April 15.

Bye Bye Dubai

2006-03-22T19:53:00.000+05:30

Ok at last after a plethora of hiccups and hitches at work, i am finally ready to say goodbye. As usual since hum bahut nostalgic ho jaata hoon ---about places i ve lived in feeling a little sad to leave. (actually feeling this for just 5-10 mins everyday)---

Plan of action upto Apr 15 well--there are two schools of thought. First says study and brush up concepts which are long forgotten---moron you are going to spend 16 lakhs towards this--u better be prepared!

The second school of thought says you have one big year of hard work. Take a chillpill and relax. Hum bahut confused hoon.
Work life balance lana padega life mein(basically the work component)--------That would be a good pre-preterm thing.
Ram(class of 2006) has started posting some kool pictures of ISB life. Inspired by that i am also putting up a photo feature of Dubai. Blogging also needs practice---- so this is towards that

A futuristic View of Burj Dubai Its supposed to be the tallest in the world. Rite now only the foundation is ready

The Old town

The old Souk(Market)

The Dubai creek--a witness a many Bollywood shoots

The Dubai skyline--looks amazing at night

And finally the burj al arab------a true landmark of Dubai. One of the world's finest hotels

Ok Maa' salam Dubai( Good bye in Arabic). Next post from swadesh and amchi Mumbai. Looking fwd to the meet on Sunday

The Last trip

2006-03-13T12:10:00.000+05:30

It was one of those magnificent trips as I realized that I may not make such trips anymore at least for sometime to come. This weekend I made a trip to Oman. I am very nostalgic about the place as I have spent about 30 months there.

For the first time visitor its difficult to believe that Oman is a part of the middle-east which is characterized by deserts. Oman is beautiful. Wide roads, a lot of greenery (natural and created) and rich cultural heritage are characteristics of Oman. Geographically it is located about 450 Kms east of Dubai. It is an excellent tourist destination in my opinion. More about Oman can be found on http://www.destinationoman.com/

Talking of the Middle East, it’s an absolute paradise for the driving buff. Excellent roads (better that the US, oh yea I ve seen both and can say this with authority), dirt cheap petrol and affordable car prices make driving very pleasurable and attractive. I calculated yesterday that I ve driven about 300000 kms on the highways(thanks to numerous trips between Dubai and Muscat) in Three years and most is it was pleasure driving!!!!!

One more week and I ll be out of this place. No regrets as better things are in store. Only memories shall remain--------(and a lot of themJ)

Main Kaun Hoon?

2006-03-02T21:42:00.000+05:30

ISB has developed a new microsite for use by all new admits. We are required to fill up certain information online. One of the fields in the accommodation request section says "Mother Tongue". The title of this post propped up into my mind immediately on looking at this field.

For some its an easy question. For me very tough , being a third generation of a south Indian family who migrated to north a century ago-------being one who can speak better Hindi than Tamil------and being one who has north Indian accent and a name like Krishnamooti Venkat Raman, I face huge identity crisis when posed with questions like this Since the beginning I ve been blessed with remarks like oh u look more like Punjabi: I would say theory of adaptation , oh your Hindi is so flawless no one would believe that u are a madrasi: he he I am the inspiration behind the santoor ad( Twacha se meri umar kaa pata hi nahi chalta )

But this is making me think about the unnecessary importance that is given to origin, mother tongue, caste, creed and what not in this country. Its never enough to say I am an Indian----from where, what language u speak, whos your father whose your father's father etc are very important. I have not been able to comprehend the reason ! Possibly this is one of the reasons we lack a feeling of oneness at times-----But then i guess all this diversity is what is great about India as well---

Now my next worry is what if I am booked in with a bunch of Tamil speaking guys at ISB------Well parents will be more than happy if I can learn some solid Tamil But who cares-----m just too happy celebrating ISB. Identity crisis will take its own course. For the time being i have decided to put "Tamil" as my mother tongue even though i am the worst Tamil speaker on planet earth :)

An Alien from Mars!

2006-02-22T10:22:00.000+05:30

Thats how i feel in office these days. With the tag of " resigned" all over me i am usually being treated like an alien who knows nothing about the world. New things are happening but i am not involved as i have resigned. Peers are eyeing my cubicle to store their extra binders. Some others always keep asking about all my pending work just to make sure they wont have to do it once i am gone!! Juniors are giving strange looks and ask fewer and fewer questions. All in all a Star has become a bekaar.;( So the ordeal will continue for another two weeks. Meanwhile i am trying to bask in the glory of being an ISB admit to help myself feel better.

Moral of the story " After you resign try to leave as soon as possible"

PS: 1) Its raining jobs at ISB. Everyone seems to be loaded with offers. Some are satisfied others not so much--

2) VM is said to have received the highest INR offer so far. His blogs are getting better from a new admit's stand point. He has adviced all admits to spend time preparing and brushing up concepts and i could'nt agree more.

Wishing all the best to all for placements

Irony of Life!!

2006-02-16T11:39:00.000+05:30

Came across this poem written by a Black guy---

When I born, I Black,
When I grow up, I Black,
When I go in Sun, I Black,
When I scared, I Black,
When I sick, I Black,
And when I die, I still black.......

And you White fella,
When you born, you Pink,
When you grow up, you White,
When you go in Sun, you Red,
When you cold, you Blue,
When you scared, you Yellow,
When you sick, you Green,
And when you die, you Gray.................

And you calling me Colored ???????????

What an irony!! Life is full of them

2007: World Cup and Graduation

2006-02-09T17:32:00.000+05:30

Just happened to come across the schedule for 2007 cricket world cup.
http://in.rediff.com/cricket/wc07schedule.htm

The time line of March-April 07 matches well with graduation of our class of 2007. Well -- long long time for that and much more to be accomplished before that but it seems that the mind tends to be fixed on the good things and ignores the difficult part--kind of Human phycology stuff--

Any ways if all goes well we will be able to watch the matches in peace. donno how far Indian team would help the cause though:) hoping for the best( for myself and the Indian team)

An Awesome book

2006-02-05T17:28:00.000+05:30

Over the weekend, I finished reading the book titled “The End of Poverty” by Jeffrey Sachs. This book is a treat for Welfare economics buffs. It examines in detail, the reasons why in the past two centuries some countries have grown exponentially while other are stuck in the poverty trap. It also describes the challenges before modern economies to end extreme poverty by 2015. Jeffrey Sachs has described his experiences of working with complex economic situations like Bolivian Hyperinflation, Russian revamp, Return of Poland etc in a lucid and easy to understand manner. My favorite chapters: India and China. Per Dr Sachs Indian growth model appears to be more robust as compared to China, as in the Indian economy growth is being fostered by internal consumption, compared to a cheap export oriented growth registered by China. A must read and truly an academic treat.

Ski Dubai

2006-02-01T11:46:00.000+05:30

Dubai is a wonderful place. Devoid of any natural beauty, the place has develpoed against all odds. There is always something new and interesting coming up. Here are a few images of the latest sensation in town called Ski Dubai. Built inside the Mall of Emirates(MOE), Ski Dubai is a Skier's paradise(It reminds me of the bad Michigan winter i am coming fresh from) Who would believe that this is at a place where outside temperatures are in the vicinity of 45 Degrees celcius most part of the year!!!!!!!!! Now coming to the most interesting thing about these pictures. They were sent to me by a client in the US asking me that is this Dubai?? I heard its hot out there!! Wow thats something.

I have always been proud to be a part of this place. Keep it up Dubai

Ski Dubai 1

Ski Dubai 2

Mall of Emirates

Waitlisted Souls!!

2006-01-31T13:31:00.000+05:30

My heart really goes on to all those waitlisted souls counting days in anticipation to know their fate. In fact, getting waitlisted was the biggest fear I had when the dreaded ISB result was awaited. If you are rejected, you crib but learn to live with it and move ahead in life. But getting waitlisted is worse as you always have that feeling that you will be thru-------

I just want to wish all the waitlisted guys all the very best. For those who get in it will be an ecstatic feeling. For those who may not be able to make it I am sure destiny has bigger things in store for you and this wait was just one of tests life has put you on!!

Mean while I have just come up with some activities the waitlists can do to make the waiting period interesting:

1) Read useless blogs like this one-------
2) Daydream about ISB ( I do that even after an admit)
3) Call ISB everyday to check on their chances
4) Bet with two different people. Bet that you are getting in with one person and not getting in with another. Come what may, u will certainly win one bet!
5) Wonder in anticipation( most of you guys must be doing this already)
6) Just forget about ISB and keep doing what you are doing. When it comes, it would be a pleasant surprise.
7) Write curse comments for this posting!

On a serious note, being in touch with adcom is one of the suggested activities. So my dear friends wish you all the best and I would hope to see most of you at ISB in April-----

ISB: Dreams, aspirations and deadlocks!

2006-01-31T11:00:00.000+05:30

I ve just created this blog to be able to continue the great tradition of blogging by our illustrious alums (well not yet they are still students @ISB) and inform the world( read "the unfortunate readers" of this blog) about the activities @ ISB class of 2007.The blogging benchmark created by likes of Ram(my fav. Blog), Ramki and many others is hard to match. This is just going to be an effort to come near it.Before we start our innings at ISB I would use this blog to summarize all the issues( and non issues) being discussed in the Yahoo forum.

Happy Reading------

Welcome to the class of 2007