Technology Savvy

I never pride myself on being technology savvy...in fact my girlfriend considers me to be retarded in use of latest gadgetry and technology. I am in IT and i keep abreast with the latest technological innovations but am not geeky and dont go out to get and use those items as they get released to the masses.

However this weekend was different. I was returning from my friends place in Bay area in a bus and i did something which made me technologically proud. I was able to use the free wifi internet which was available in the bus free of cost, use my latest iPod Touch to connect to Orkut, expand the screen with the touch of my finger and type out a scrap to someone to pick me up from the bus stop with the screen touchpad (This was important since i did not have the mobile phone with me and i needed to connect with this friend of mine or i would be stranded at the bus stop).
I know many of you will scoff at this and say so what? what is the BIG deal...i know i know..but i feel good about it and also about the fact how technology is so deep rooted in our day to day lives in US. Having stayed year for almost 4 years now, i am definitely going to miss some of these subtle aspects back in India. But then its ok, new place, new challenge and scope for new experiences...Thats what is called excitement!!!!

Recipe for Success and Recognition

It has been a very eventful week so far. I spent the weekend with my college friend enjoying the royal treatment he serves me every time i visit his place. We spend hours on end chatting on any and every topic under the sun...Back home in Monterey, Monday syndrome usually strikes me once i wake up on Monday morning. But this week something was different. I woke up and checked my mails and I saw the unbelievable news. ISB - which i am going to join in 2 months time has been ranked 20th in the latest Financial Times rankings for global B Schools.

I have never been a great fan of business school rankings and I chose ISB purely because i believed in its quality - students,faculty and the brand reputation in the Industry. But i guess this ranking beats everything. Even a non-believer like me understands the magnitude of this achievement. Just to put it in context, the B school rankings have always been the stamping ground for US B schools and a few elite ones of Western Europe.No B School from India has managed to be in Top 100 of the rankings though i believe that IIMA should definitely have found a place in them just by virtue of the quality of students and unbelievable brand value in India and abroad. True it does not have international diversity, true it does not have professors from US visiting them but the quality of education it has been imparting definitely deserves recognition. But this post is not about IIM it is about ISB, the school that dared to dream and achieve it.

I quick look at the history of ISB, its board members, its roots in industry (both US and India) is enough to understand the rich contacts that it brings on board. ISB has been setup with an improbable aim of being one of the best B schools in the world and in India. This was not an utopian dream but had a lot of rationality as well. In other words the founders had dared to dream and at the same time been active in getting the pieces in place to achieve it. When President Bush came on an official visit to India, he found time to fly down to Hyderabad to visit ISB. I guess that speaks volumes about the contacts the institution has.

So what happens when an aspiring institution (students, faculty and support staff) works tirelessly to materialize a dream to excel and is backed by established global contacts - the result is out there for everyone to see. The whole world has perhaps seen many such examples but this is unique in more ways than one - The school is in India and the founding members are not westerners but powerful and influential Indians. Finally we have made a hole in the elite class of B schools where the snobbish Harvards and Whartons London Business schools reside. This ranking should act as a shot in the arm for ISB and fuel the aspirations even further. As the dean said, this is the start of a positive feedback loop of more visibility,international recognition, more funds, more recruiters, better faculty, better students which would lead to better visibility. Hope i can contribute to the dream in one way or the other. For now I am just happy - ALL BEST THINGS IN THE WORLD DOESNT NECESSARILY HAVE TO BE OUTSIDE INDIA

Nostalgia - Or lack of it

Its been 15 days since i have come back to USA after having gone back to India from the same place after three and a half years. Monterey is such a lovely place and each day of my stay here I have been fascinated by the natural beauty, the peaceful atmosphere and wonderful weather. However things this time around is quite different. I dont know what it is but something seems different now. Maybe this is due to the fact that mentally i have already dissasociated from the place. I know I am going to B school and relocating to Hyderabad for a year and I know that I have to leave this place maybe forever.

I am not all nostalgic. At times I really feel all sad about having to leave the place but that is really infrequent. Honestly I am amazed at how less bad I feel about having to leave Monterey. My stay in Monterey has been one of the best years after leaving college. I have so many fond memories, memories that will last a lifetime. I have matured in so many ways during my stay here and made lasting friendship with many. Monterey is also the place where I learnt that I could love a girl and how nice it feels to be in a relationship. So is it not strange that I dont feel as bad as I should?

The answer lies in me. I think I have an adventurous instint. People who know me probably would frown and say Debottam and Adventurous? Well I have never been the guy who escaped school to go to movies, or who bunked tution to see his girlfriend or for that matter propose to the girl I had a crush on in my adolescence. I have taken the well established route of School to Computer Science Engineering to a stable decent paying job. But I could feel that something in me which never let me be content with whatever I was or whatever I was doing. During my stay in US I have visited almost 70 percent of the national parks, enjoyed each and every moment of exploring this vast country and have travelled to new places at the slightest of excuses from meeting a friend, to enrolling in a training to attending a conference. I have driven out alone for hours on stretch and felt myself alone in the middle of nowhere.

The same has been the case with my career as well. I have been lucky to have changed roles for the better every year or so in my career. Yet there was that thing that used to poke and prod to come out of the comfort zone and try to do something different - something that i always wanted to do...I must admit that the special person I mentioned above also played her part to support this feeling and the end result? GMAT and MBA Application.

The day I got in ISB was one of the happiest in my life. I was at home, near the people I love and nothing could be more perfect that that. But this day also marked a new beginning. It showed me a new unexplored way which was inviting me to travel on it.A path that would possibly pull me away from the people whom I love the most in this world but that adventurous self in me became happy. My mind deep down is now already bracing itself for the thrilling ride to the unknown future. Today I can say with confidence that I really dont know where I see my life after five years. Where I would be staying or where I would be working or what actually I would end up working on. Call me foolish, call me crazy but I feel the fact that I dont know makes me happy. It makes me wake up each day with anticipation of nice things, of new things and not to the monotony of repetition. I could have taken the more conventional way to a happy life - working and getting settled in Kolkata near my family and friends or shifting jobs to settle somewhere in the comfort of developed nations (read US,EU or AUS) but I feel that my happiness lies in the journey to the unknown. I am sure that this journey will take me to all these places and I also know that this journey will be fulfilling. So as the time has slowly come to bid farewell to Monterey, I feel free....free fallinggggg