Slumdog Millionaire

A few days back I watched the most talked about film in recent times Slumdog Millionaire. It is an awesome film, not only because of the fantastic cinematic technicalities and Rahman's sweeping tunes but due to its inherent simplicity. Inspite of being made by a foreigner, it is totally an Indian movie which tells the rags to riches story against a backdrop of struggles in Indian slums, love lost regained etc. Hundreds of films have been made in Bollywood on this theme but Slumdog simply stands out due to its masterpiece execution and innovative storytelling.

Some of my friends were however more cynical. They felt that the movie really maligned India since it only projected the dark underbelly of Mumbai and not the shining part of it. Not everything is bad in Mumbai they reason. My only answer to them is to look out of their train windows when they travel to work. You can literally see both sides of the railway tracks filled with these slums and the scene of answering nature's call in the most unhygenic conditions is extremely common.

I think its time we stopped living in denial. Agreed that India has made rapid strides in the last decade but to think that all its problems are gone is height of foolishness. In fact most of India still are starving from clean drinking water and sanitation facilitites. So much so for India shining.

The problem with Indian middle class (I am taking some liberty here to paint everyone with the same brush) is that they want to live in the small cocoon they have built. They can afford a car,  have a nice dinner as a plush restaurant, go dancing to a nightclub and come home and sleep with the AC on. They want to believe that life has improved for everyone. 

One of the best things in the movie is the way how the Indian energy has been portrayed. Indian people are fascinating in the sense that every day they wake up and muster the enthusiasm to work hard to make their lives a tiny tiny bit better. It is this constant push towards betterment that drives them on. And the director has done a fantastic job to capture it. I just happened to come back from a meeting with a Dutch delegation from Amsterdam and they wanted to interact with the students at ISB. During the interaction, one of them asked an ISB International student from Spain as to what has been his best learning experience at ISB. He said competitiveness and ability to strain yourself and test your limits. He said openly that Europeans in general have become more laid back and it is high time to sit up and take notice at the changing world order. It is important more so today to make yourself saleable and more lucrative for the global labour market. Point right on I felt and the delegation seemed to agree too.

Slumdog Millionaire in spirit is a movie about all Indians. Their aspirations, their struggle, their persistence and the never-say-die attitude. "Jai Ho"......

Here is to wishing Rahman a best of luck for the Oscars for the two songs below

O Saya (Slumdog Millionaire)

Jai Ho (Slumdog Millionaire)

Dreams

Today I had a dream...It felt so real that I woke up sweating...Yet I know that it could not have been the reality... I do not know how to explain but sometimes minds play such tricks with us.

Anyways the reality is I am sitting in front of my computer staring at an assignment and a presentation I need to give in class. The reality is that we are having the FT15 celebrations lunch and party today on campus. The reality is that I am missing out on 10 marriage invites of family friends and relatives because I am stuck here in Hyderabad. The reality is I am feeling hungry but I dont want to make breakfast for myself. :(

The reality is My dream is to fly........so high

FT 15 [ Hats off to MR]

Its official now...We were waiting with anticipation, fearing how the school would do in the Financial Times UK ranking of global B Schools. Last year's rise to 20th was a mammoth achievement in itself and we all basked in its glory for a while. Jury was out on whether we would be able to maintain our position in Top 20 this year. And lo and behold we are 15th this year.

Although not a firm believer of the different rankings, I think they give an indication of where the school stands and how the world views it to an extent. It also helps build the brand considering a school as young as ours.I think the ISB management specially former dean MR Rao deserves a real pat on the back for helping establish the school in the global arena. In spite of the flak he has received for the unfortunate Satyam fiasco, I think this news will make him feel real proud. The alums should also be applauded since their success 3 years out of the school plays a key part in the success in these rankings.

These days it is a tough ask graduating from a B school due to the uncertain economic circumstances. But if ISB continues with the current trend, it will achieve a lot in the year's to come. Here is to ISB. "WE ROCK".

Real good news coming through on the Republic Day. Jai Hind!!!

For the curious, please click on the image below to see the details of the ranking.

Happiness comes from sharing

Good news at last!!!!! Got the job I wanted....so I am happy :)

Bad News...suffering from what I call withdrawal symptoms...When you have worked through the year so hard..now all of a sudden you fill the motivation of doing assignments, attending classes all goneeee...

I went through hell for the last one month and at last there is some ray of hope.Some hope that only bad things do not happen to me. Anyways lot has been said on this topic already. I also realized that to be really happy you need to share the happiness with someone. My parents are happy at last. They went through most of the emotions that I went through as well. They were concerned whether their only son would come out of the state he was in.

I admire my dad...He lost everything in life when he was in his teens..Settling in a new country with nothing..no money...was one of the scariest stories I have heard. But he fought his life out of it and ensured that he gave me good education and all the things he could not get in life when he was growing up. I guess when you go through things you see life in a different perspective than people who have had a more comfortable one. I can still picture his face with tears in his eyes as he stood on the Hollywood walk of fame last year. He said he got more from life than he ever imagined.

I inherited the fighter in me from my dad and I am proud of that. It has helped me survive odds and come out of it clean. And I hope I can always be the down to earth fun loving guy who likes to look at the world simplistically without bias of money or status. Someone who never forgets his roots and the realities of life....who can love and be happy. Anyways after all this senti talk...let me stop...You all take care and wish me luck with rest of ISB.

SEVEN

Suddenly today I remembered about a movie I saw a long time ago - SEVEN. It was a nice movie, a crime thriller...Anyways thats not the point. The point why I remember it now is that out of the seven cardinal sins mentioned in Christianity
1. Lust
2. Gluttony
3. Greed
4. Sloth
5. Wrath
6. Envy
7. Pride

Greed is what is coming back to haunt us again and again. People keep talking about the developed world, problems of emerging economies and bla bla...One underlying trait that cuts a swath across geographies, cultures, age, sex and religion is GREED. Be it the sub prime crisis or the latest Satyam (the name sounds so ironic now) fiasco. And its not just one person who is responsible. Its the collective greed of millions of individuals.

So as a whole the world suffers on and some poor people will be victims...collateral damage..but thats life...it moves on....

Ahh...well we desperately need a saviour - how I wish for an incarnation of ALMIGHTY(who I hope would not be lured by the attraction of options, futures, derivatives etc) to descend on earth and fix up the mess!!!!!

Once in a lifetime.....

Are we lucky? or Just the people in the wrong time in the wrong place? Well two schools of thought. One set of people believe that the current financial meltdown is a once a lifetime thing never seen since the last depression in the 1930s. That means we are witnessing something really historic and epochal. So we are lucky.....

Or are we? Maybe 20 years down the line, I can fondly look back at time and say yaah...I have seen the historic event unfold in front of my eyes. Lots of learnings, lots of new changes, transformation of businesses etc etc...But right now. Life is a bundle of uncertainty. With less than 3 months left for graduation and the contagion hitting India, the ROI on the ISB MBA looks more and more risky....The morning newspaper makes me depressed each day but today is another "historic" day. Today is the day when the Indian "Enron" story is being scripted. After allegations of corporate governance failure, Satyam chief admits to a 1230 crore rupees fraud of bungled accounting and inflated cash balances. The details are yet to be public but from the looks of it this is going to send shock waves across the Indian industry...All the fundas learnt in class - accounting, frauds, corporate governance, buyout, mergers, acquisitions are just playing out in real in front of our eyes. Again, is that we are lucky to be witnessing it and learning from it?

Well only time will tell....For now just want to leave with a quote from one of our strategy professors "Tough times don't last but tough people do"

Food for thought

The last of the three days of the Term break. Tomorrow morning we start the penultimate term at ISB. Three months and we are done. But its still a long way to go. Need to get a job to feed myself post ISB and the batch needs to be placed well as a whole so that we can enjoy Term 8 to the fullest. However nothing in the present circumstances of economic gloom and doom seems to cheer us up.

I originally had exotic plans for the term break and the first few days of Term 7 but they all came out a cropper. It feels so weird....I don't know.

Last night went out to the old part of Hyderabad with my roomie since his brother and his fiancee have come to visit him in ISB. Charminar looks really nice at night, in fact much better than I had imagined. We went to Lad Bazaar famous for their gaudy churis and fancy pearls. Then walked back to Shadab and had some of the best biriyani ,Sami mutton and Pakistani chicken ever. Although the icecream at Famous Icecream parlour was a let down, nevertheless it settled the curiosity associated with the place since we all had heard such a lot about it. Hyderabad is really one of the best places to satisfy your appetite. So here I am, trying to eat my way to happiness in these times of uncertainty.

2008 - The Year that was....

2008 probably has been the most happening year for me ever in life. I know it sounds hackneyed but its true...a real roller coaster...So here is looking back at the year gone by for me

1st Jan 08 - It was not a great start to the year for personal reasons... Things happened and lots of "rona dhona" and lots of emotions. But in spite of everything, it probably will be a day I will never forget in my entire life.

5th Jan 08 - I had to fly back to the US to take care of the assignment so that I could make a smooth exit of the project and then the company.

25th Jan 08 - Went on a 4 day road trip of Death Valley National Park. Enjoyed to the fullest but felt a bit sad as I would miss these trips after moving back to India. The drive into the Park, negotiating the great Panamint Ranges at 1 AM at night through a deserted road and then stopping in the moon light with the Panamint Valley bathed in moonlight in front was an ethereal experience.

6th February 08- The last day at work in US. It was really emotional since the place (Monterey) and the people had become a part of me. Lots of memories...I did not know how to react when my client director break into tears while saying Goodbye... :(

8th April 08- Last day at TCS. I did noty realize but on my home it struck me finally. I was out of work for the first time in 5.5 years.

12th April 08- Join ISB and life never was the same anymore.

18th June 08- Got elected as President of Business Technology club at ISB and life at ISB changed again. But it was something I really wanted to do and have enjoyed it.

6th October 08- Flew back home and spent the first pujo at home since 2003. It was really nice and met a lot of school friends at our favourite hangout in Durgapur.

25th November 08- A sense of Deja Vu...Spent most of the day interviewing 3 rounds with Google. Brought back memories of 2002 when I went through the whole day interviewing with TCS. The results unfortunately did not keep up with the similarity.

26th November 08- Shocked like the entire country with the dastardly Mumbai attacks. Watched events unfold on TV I could not believe I was watching. A close friend escaped unhurt from the incident by Grace of God.

19th December 08- Everything went for a toss...A case of so near yet so far...It was so close to my personal life getting settled. Yet as fate would have it, things went south. The incident has left a scar and shook my belief on people.

31st December 08- Remember last year....Every moment of that day in 2007... Wish I could play back 2008 again. I just want to make things right. Well not to be...

So here is hoping that 2009 brings more peace, prosperity and more importantly Happiness in all our lives...Cheers everyone!!!!

Ghajini - "Victory" in Tamil

It has been a crazy crazy last 2 days. One mistake of taking a hardcore subject of CCMA and I am paying the price through a take home test. Just for example, I slogged for 14 hours at a trot to complete only half of the examination. Anyways the second half remains and I need to finish it somehow by tomorrow evening.

You might be asking why the hell do you need sweat it out in the lovely extended break between Christmas and New Year. Well the reason is at ISB there is no such thing as break. With exams on Sunday and Wednesday (31st) and a submission due on 4th January, ISB has ensured that we are pretty much tied up in our quads. Nothing has fundamentally changed since the earlier terms. If you happen to take the wrong electives (read the ones with higher volume of coursework) then it is as hectic if not more than core terms.

And so it goes. Christmas has never been so dull. The only high point being forced to watch a Hindi movie Ghajini. The new movie featuring Amir is all set to be the biggest hit of 2008. So how is the movie? Its a very "Tamil" flick, if you know what I mean. The movie, a remake of a 2005 Tamil hit by the same name, is loosely inspired by Chritopher Nolan's directed movie "Memento". However thankfully this movie is just inspired and is totally Indian and much less complicated than its Hollywood version. Amir is good as usual and so is the villain. Asin, the lead actress in the movie is really pretty and did justice to her part in the movie. The movie weaves the nice, soothing romantic love story in the middle of the violent gory revenge action theme. The nice gestures of selflessness in love in the movie are very touching. One has to stop and think whether such selfless and pure love is now restricted to the silver screen and gets polluted once it sets foot in this big bad world. The cinematography is fantastic and so is the editing. Although the movie has several logical flaws, it keeps you at the edge of you seat for the entire 3+ hours. So all in all money worth.

So here is me signing off with a couple of nice songs from Ghajini...AR Rahman is GOD....Listen On

Song 1.Guzarish..
Song 2.Kaise Mujhe..

Escalation of Commitment

It is true that once someone does an MBA their language alters dramatically. Many of the things that he/she knew or assumed common sense now have new terminology and most of the times, these terminologies are even more daunting. But no matter how much this causes irritation and annoyance to people not accustomed to this lingo, it is really fun to use them appropriately.

Of the zillions of such terms, one which comes to mind is "Escalation of Commitment" or "Sunk Cost Fallacy". I guess by now you have no clue of what they mean. This means the phenomenon where people justify increased investment in a decision, based on the cumulative prior investment, despite new evidence suggesting that the decision was probably wrong. So what essentially happens, people repeatedly get evidence that something is terribly wrong but keep on believing that things will somehow work out and needs some more patience or some further effort. They fail to realize that no matter what is done its a lost cause and so better to just quit.

This phenomena can be seen in business, government, project management and gambling. It can also render itself in our day to day life where we are so attached to a decision emotionally that you think that more effort and time will make things better. And it takes something drastic to realize all of this and understand that you yourself fell into the sunk cost fallacy and never realized. All I can tell you is that it is not easy psychologically to recover from it and even if you do a part of you still tries to think what you could have done differently to make the effort a success...You wish you could go back in time and fix it up....Our minds!!!

Thresholds of Motivation

Someone asked me a few days back. What has been your single most important takeaway from ISB? Cliched as it may sound, but nevertheless a very important question. I replied that it had to be the Organizational Behaviour subjects - Management of Organizations and Managing Teams and the experience of running the Business Technology Club. I think that these two are related. Organizational Behaviour (OB) is one of the most neglected subjects at a B school. Wannabe Consultants find it non-analytical, finance people find it too vague and the general management enthusiasts think that they have managed enough teams to learn more about it. In this process, a lot of students miss out on these subjects (dealing with the softer side of management - people). Having worked for almost 6 years, the one thing I have realized is that as a manager, your functional skills are implied. What really sets you apart from a not-so-good manager is your people skills, your ability to empathize, ability to motivate, ability to be calm under duress and ability to modify company policies for the betterment of you staff.

I was listening to Mr. OP Bhatt, CMD of SBI who was speaking at the CLIC conference here at ISB and his topic of talk was the organizational transformation of SBI in the last 1.5 years in his charge. I listened in amazement at the way he went about rejuvinating the organization - a public sector behemoth. Many of the things we learnt in OB in class were put to use and with spectacular results. Just as an example, he talked about how he motivated peons at the SBI branches to take up additional responsibility and thus improve the productivity and response time at the bank. He had them trained to operate the basics of the computer and printer and how to update the pass books of the bank customers. With this, their additional role was to update the passbooks of the customers, thus taking the load away from the teller. This was a phenomenal success. The peons got so motivated that they were not only proficient, they asked for more responsibility. And the amazing part of this was that the labour unions did not even ask for a pay hike. This is a classic example of intrinsic motivation as we study in OB. The peons whose only work was to transfer files from desk to desk at times and just sit in some obscure corner smoking a bidi was all of a suddena very important person in the bank. Customers queued up to him and requested him to update their passbook. This gave him recognition, pride and a sense of belongingness.

OK so why have I started on this seemingly boring intellectual post early on a sleepy cold November morning? Well the thing is I have been reading Managing Teams for my exams this week and these thoughts kept going round in my head. Anyways as for the campus update, a lot is going on. Placement fever has set in and some international companies have started coming in. We have our Term 5 exams this week. Another tem just whizzed past. 3 more to go...Wish me luck with everything

Wish You all Happy Durga Pujo!!!!!

Half down Half to go...

Term 4 was one of the most crazy rides here at ISB. It came and went by and I am still coming to terms with it with a slight fever and runny nose. After the carnage called Term 3 we thought Term 4 would be better. Better it was, but not quite in the way we imagined. Well let me remember and share with you the historic Term 4.

1) Term 4 was the only term in ISB which is 5 weeks long instead of the regular 6 weeks to accommodate a longer term break for project work (ELP). So what that means is that the craziness of a regular term was fitted into a week less of time.

2) Term 4 also meant renewed interest in extra curricular activities. Club organized sessions, speaker talks, challenges, competitions, B plans and the like made out of class extremely hectic.

3)Term 4 meant a good achievement for my club with the first Product Management workshop by Google organized at the ISB participated by about 310 students.

4) Term 4 meant a crazy subject called Government Society and Business where our section achieved a historic feat of giving themselves their own grade. To read more about this 3.3 moment as we called it refer to Prashant's blog at

5) Term 4 also saw a lot of action (for lack of a better word) at Wall Street. Aspiring i-Bankers watched in horror as the industry became history. The future managers of the corporate world watched the birth of the US Navaratnas(the name I coined for state controlled AIG).

6) Term 4 saw Mamata putting a gun on Ratan Tata's head driving him out from Singur and thus pushing Bengal to stone age.

7) Term 4 had 3 birthdays of my close friends at ISB and I got flung into the pool with them thrice in 5 days.

8) Term 4 meant a lot of expensive phone calls to exotic european cities like Paris, London, Zurich, Venice, Berlin, Rome and I dont know where else...

9) Term 4 meant not partying after end terms and lying in bed with flu.

10) Term 4 meant finally getting to go stay at home with parents during Durga Pujo

With this I am halfway there...50% MBA

A few snaps from Viren's bday party and the 3.3 party

Trip to Blore

Another of the mega breaks from blogging. The only thing I have to say is that Term 3 is over. Most of us did not realize what hit us specially in the last 2 weeks of the term. Well it did end as all good things do and then it left a huge void in my life. A void exacerbated by the fact that all three of my quad mates decided to take a break from campus. The next three days were one of the longest and loneliest that I have spent at ISB. And I can tell you that if I did not have loads of work of my club, it would have been really bad. However the one good decision I took was to make plans to visit my friends in Bangalore over the weekend. It was something to look forward to and and it did not disappoint a bit.

Two significant revelations from the trip. This was the first time I was traveling through the new Hyderabad and Bangalore airports and both of them are pleasant departures from the railway station like boring and stoic look and feel of the other existing airports of India. The second significant thing of the trip was the fact that I did not have to negotiate the infamous Bangalore traffic on either of the days I stayed there. I must mention my friend AM and his wife MM for the impeccable hospitality and warm reception extended to me during my visit. I know that its natural considering that he is one of my best friends but in these days when things change so fast and old relationships give way newer models, we found that we had not deviated away much from our college days. We could still laugh at small insignificant things, share the odd joke and discuss practical issues. MM is a nice girl and I had some of the most amazing home cooked food I have had in two months. Who otherwise takes the hassle to make me luchi at 12 in the night after we all reached their place from the Bangalore airport. Ohhh I forgot to mention, my friend got a brand new Honda City and it is his first love at the moment. His wife probably sees the same attention being given to the car now that used to be her before.

Anyways met up with a lot of other friends from from college. Had loads of adda (Bengali of pure idle gossip) on the Saturday and watched the horribly crappy Singh is King at night.The next day, we had lunch at BBQ Nation and I visited my school friends place. I met another couple of friends all of whom I was meeting after 8-9 years. We discussed school, childhood crushes and adolescent pranks. It was the first time after joining ISB that I laughed so much. Anyways all in all a memorable trip. Unfortunately no pictures since I forgot to take my camera. MM took a couple but I have not got them yet. Ohh yaa the best highlight of the trip was the fact that on both my flights the adjacent seat was vacant in spite of the flight being reasonably full. Talk about being lucky :D

From now on I have been chosen to blog on the ISB official blog which would be launched within a month. Watch this space for more updates on that.

08.08.08

Sorry guys...I haven't kept up with the pace here over the last couple of weeks. ok ok you know what is coming...another load of the same excuses - too hectic, classes, assignments, blah blah blah....well they are correct you know..only you all at ISB know...when you are expected to be proficient in corporate finance, operations, cost accounting and entrepreneurship within a span of 5 weeks...things are not that rosy.

Anyways now onto some interesting news on the other things at ISB. Last week I attended a session on Leadership by Mr. Shiv kumar who is the VP of sales at Nokia India. It was one of the interesting and thought-provoking talks I have heard in a while. He shared with us ten interesting thought relevant for a leader.

1. Complexity vs Changes
2. Present vs Future
3. Boss vs Friend
4. Job vs Family
5. Do vs Think
6. Detail vs Big Picture
7. Responsibility vs Accountability
8. Popularity vs Respect
9. Good News vs Bad News
10.Self doubt vs Optimism

He shared with us interesting anecdotes regarding each of the thoughts and we also got to hear from him the insider account of his handling of the Nokia battery crisis which happened a couple of years back. One of the best definitions of a leader I remember from the session is that " A Leader is a dealer in hope".

We have Mr.NarayanMurthy(of Infosys fame) coming to campus for a session with us tomorrow morning. I am sure it will be another interesting and insightful talk. So all in all a lot happening on campus. At times you just stop and think for a second....its just mind boggling.

The hyderabad weather is extremely pleasant now and it gets harder by the day to pull myself out of bed in the morning. The good part is that I have classes in the afternoon which means no missed classes. I have a new project on my plate now. It is the experiental learning program at ISB where the students take up a consulting project with a company for about 4 months. I got a project of my choice which is related to formulating the marketing and growth strategy of a new Web 2.0 product. Hope it is going to be an interesting experience.

Anyways time to sign off. Having slept for 7 hours over the last 2 days, I think I deserve a bit more tonight. Ohh I happened to watch the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics...I think all I can say is Wow..Hats off to China.

A Day in Term 3

7:30 AM: I get out of bed after having snoozed the alarm for the last 30 minutes. My eyes are all red as I slept at 3:30 AM in the morning after completing an assignment.

11:45 AM: Somehow manage to read through 80 pages of case and 30 pages of articles before submitting another online assignment for a different subject.

12:00 PM: Rush to meet ISB official to finalize the plan for a high profile speaker(President and COO of Computer Associates Inc) visit in the evening.

1:00 PM: Walk back home after co-ordinating the activities for the evening.

2:15 - 6:45 PM: Classes and Classes.

6:45 PM: Rush to Deans office to receive the guest speaker and show him around the academic centre

7:00 - 8:00 PM: Introduce speaker and listen to the captivating talk on successful technological mergers.

8:00 - 9:00 PM: Check mails and reply to the important ones.

9:00 - 9:45 PM: Attend a meeting with other professional club presidents

9:45 - 10:00 PM : Somehow gulp down my dinner

10:00 - 11:00 PM : Team meeting for status updates of my club

11:00 - 12:30 PM: Discuss and narrow down list of prospective ELP projects to apply

2:30 AM: Doze off to sleep with the casebook still open while reading another case for the next day's assignment due at 10:00 AM next day.

There is pressure and then there is Term 3. Its an uphill battle and will prove to be a test of my time management skills with all the added responsibility. Lets see. Wish me luck.

Here is a picture from the Computer Associates session that evening

Nagarjunasagar Dam Visit

The end of Term 2 break proved to be much smaller than we thought originally. Most of the 5 day break had to be sacrificed to complete the Compstrat assignment. However yesterday we finally broke free from our shackles and escaped the prison of ISB - destination Nagarjunasagar Dam which is around 200 km from Hyderabad.

The gang that got together for the trip was very nice and with the exception of about three or four of us everyone else was with family and kids. The bus ride of about 4 hours was great fun with chit chats, light humour and pranks. It was a long time since I had an opportunity to watch India up close. I feel that if you have to experience true India you need to travel by road. Although a lot has changed, yet the farther we got from Hyderabad, the large houses and supermarkets gave way to smaller houses to thatched ones. And there were roadside dhabas and nondescript teastalls doing brisk business. We stopped at one of them for breakfast. To my amazement, even the foreigners in our group did not need second invite for the hot puris and some yucky daal. And the best part of it they are all alive and kicking today, a day after this. Talk of health consciousness.

Anyways we reached Nagarjunasagar around 11 AM and the dam was pretty nice. Although the gates were closed, we could imagine the imposing scene when the gates might be open and million cusecs of water gushing down the slope of the dam wall into the riverbed below. An hours boatride took us to an island in the middle of the huge reservoir upstream called Nagarjuna Konda. There is a nice museum where the local archaeological artifacts dating from paleothilic age to buddhist times were on display. We also had lunch in a local restaurant and after a long time had some nice fish fry.

Ettipotala falls was not as pretty as it might look after the rainy season. Yet the vista point, the adjoining park and the cafeteria provided a nice place to hangout. After ages, I rode the swing and the see-saw and felt like kids. I wish I could go back to that age - an age where there were no worries apart from homework after class.

Amidst all this fun and frolic, I felt strange...well somewhat empty. How I wished that the person I love so much was with me. Ahh wishes....Anyways after a nice evening coffe, we headed back for campus, feeling wonderfully refreshed but a bit down as the enjoyable day had come to a close. I stared out of the window of the bus and see the scenery rushing past and I felt that it is the same with me.

Just for the memory, following are a few of the pictures from the trip.

The path to Nirvana

Will we ever fully understand ourselves? I guess not. There are times we feel that we know what we are doing. We feel we are doing everything for a purpose. We feel happy, content and lucky. But I wish that life was that simple. Just when things seem too easy, predictable and obvious something changes and all your ideas, beliefs and the obvious are no more and you look like a fool for having been so naive.

Life these days forces me to make a choice in even the most mundane of things. Should I have breakfast at Goel( the cafeteria here at ISB), have it at home or skip it altogether. Should I spend the extra hour on one subject for a lost cause or spend it on something else where there maybe better return on marks. Should I attend a party or catch up on some precious sleep. Choices choices and more choices. I sometimes so wish that these choices were not there. Our lives would have been so much simple. Anyways even before I came here I had to make difficult choices. Should I change jobs and settle down in the US, should I quit my job or take a leave of absence, should I study at ISB or go for Cambridge...the list is endless. And I made each of those choices, worked through them one at a time...fought with my fears and apprehensions but I believed I made the right choices. Well the only problem with the definition of "right" is that it makes us happy. So when the scenario changes, happiness moves further away and then all those decisions do not seem so right anymore.

Now when this happens what do you do? You feel disoriented, frustrated and helpless...and just wish someone would help you...You stretch your hand out in the hope someone will hold you and guide you out. But it is India where nothing can ever be right and just like the Hindi movies there is no help when you need it. The police always arrives late.

So I resolve to keep fighting. I resolve to wade the shit and come out on the cleaner side where the lawns are picture green, the water is crystal blue and the air is pure and fragrant. Hope that would after all make me Happy. Would it? The personal battle wages and end is not in sight....adios

Zipping through Term 2

It is a story of so near yet so far. Germany came closer to the crown. They came third in the 2006 world cup. In the 2008 euro they came second. But while I felt heartbreak to lose to Italy, I did not have the same feeling to watch them lose to Spain in the final of Euro. Spain played beautiful football throughout the tournament and in the final and totally deserved a title to put their under-achiever ghost to rest. Anyways a fitting finale to a wonderful tournament.

The term is breezing past. I really cannot express how busy days are. So much is hapenning on campus. The clubs have finally got their core teams in place. I had to sit for four hours at a stretch to take interviews of my interested batchmates.And to tell you the truth, I also realized how hard it is to make decisions. I mean ISB is full of superstars and everyone is capable. So to select someone over the other is a challenge in itself. Anyways I finally have my club team in place. And in the very first day, the team performed phenomenally to pull of a perfect session involving some very senior Google officials on campus. I also got to meet a lot of our alums in Google and chatted up about their new lives post ISB and they tried to relive their days in Term 2 through us.

The club activities mean that I end up emailing the whole day. Even now, I have been planning to go to bed for the last 30 minutes and have been replying to mails and getting items checked from my to-do list. My personal life is also taking a hit with my super busy schedule. I wish I had some more time for the people I love. I know they understand but sometimes that is not enough. Anyways thats life at ISB.. My life zipping ahead at galactic speed. Now off to the precious few hours of sleep.

Deutschland besiegt Portugal

Whenever Germany yet again prove the doubters wrong on the biggest stage, an aphorism usually attributed to Gary Lineker is dragged up: "Football is a simple game – 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win."