Hypothesized

A lot has been happening in the last week or so. The week just flew by. First we started failing to keep up pace with things being taught in class. So what started as pre-reads before each class gave way to post-reads and then to no reads. Not that we were just taking it easy but each of us is still trying to figure out a way to deal with all the different things on our plate.

We have spent more than 200 man hours hours in 4 days trying to decide on a strategy to sell Gillette blades in Indonesia (maybe more than those guys actually took), worked through a slew of profit maximization problems in economics where in the end we were "marginalized" and moved through the maze of hypothesis testing in stats. And this is just the beginning. With mid-terms staring at our face next weekend, more assignments lined up, the list just keeps growing.

But amidst all this stress there were some lighter moments. Dressing up in class "govinda style", getting auto-dunked to vent our frustration and watching a crap movie called Tashan. Ahh TASHAN....I thought of writing in detail about the movie but I guess you should read the blog MB has written about it(http://mitas-musings.blogspot.com).

All in all eventful week with lots of new funda being thrown at us. Understood a few, ducked under a few and watched many of them fly by without bothering my intellect. So taking a cue from Prof BS, I want to say " Based on my experience so far, I am 95% confident that the batch as a whole is loving this experience" ...I know it is a poor joke but cud not help writing it after being frustrated by Stats the whole week. For those of you who did not understand a word dont bother.
Before ending following are some pictures which gives a sneak peek into the life at the ISB......

Lost in Participation

I feel like standing on a busy platform with frenetic activity all around me. I feel I am lost. As far as I can remember I was on a special journey. Suddenly I see her...She is my only ray of hope..my saviour...She is on the opposite platform looking the other way. I try to shout, but the sound dissolves in the din around me. Frantically I wave to get her attention but to no avail.Slowly everything fades in front of my eyes and all that remains is her memory. Memory that I cherish and that I cling to and that I hope will help me find her again.

Who is she? Well for you all she is Class Participation...and for YOU I dont need to say.

Value Addition

Value addition can come in various forms. The last few days has been enlightening for me in terms of the accounting fundas I learnt. For someone whose only tryst with debit and credit had been the mini statements one receives from the bank ATMs, it was a literacy drive in Accounting.

The other value addition came from an unexpected source. In an attempt to prepare a survey questionaire for one of the club initiatives, I came to know of a wonderful tool called zoho (http://creator.zoho.com). It lets you create simple forms by intuitively dragging and dropping various controls on a form. The best part of the whole exercise is that one does not need to be a technical expert to be able to do it. Having worked in IT services for nearly six years, I was really surprised rather awestruck at the ease of use and the flexibility it offers. I would strongly recommend it to anyone interested in creating small data entry type applications for various uses. Once designed, the form link can be sent to intended recipients to fill up the data. The data gets saved on the zoho server and can be retrieved in Excel format for output if required.Thanks for SM for his help in this initiative.

So with that I look forward to Term 1 for more value additions. After all, that is what the MBA would be worth.

Ignorance is Bliss

There are two sets of people on campus right now.People who are panicked and scared out of their brains and others who are relaxing like they have paid 18 odd lakhs to have a break from work and chill out. Needless to say that I fall in the second category and the reason for that is not my superior emotional quotient but the fact that I have only taken Accounting preterms. Stats and Quants preterms I must say have assumed killer status and have psyched engineers and CAs alike. And with all this going on I have all the time in the world to have an afternoon nap, watch Champions league, IPL and also revise a few concepts of Maths and Stats. I just hope that all this hoopla will settle as Term 1 takes over and that my ignorance will not come back to haunt me in the core terms.For now I really am enjoying the bliss.

Taste(Test) of Leadership

It has been a long grinding day for me.For the first time in three days had to attend a class for 2 hours and I can assure you that it was not easy. I think it will need a bit more practice before I perfect the art of attending classes and then having the energy of doing pre-reads for next class and completing the assignments. From the look of it First term already seems daunting.

Interestingly today I got a taste of what it takes to lead a bunch of wannabe MBAs.A few interesting takeaways from today's experience.

1) A PPT helps in getting your point across to the audience.

2) Moderating a discussion is extremely challenging and it becomes all the more difficult when the audience has divergent views. The moderator needs to impose some rules to bring order and take the discussion forward.

3) Taking up an initiative is often a thankless experience and so one should be mentally strong enough to handle it.

4) Given a chance most people do not know when to stop.

5) Everyone wants to know what they will get from an initiative but no one really talks about how they can contribute to the cause.

Anyways, I will keep all of these points in mind and do better in these aspects next time around. However I really feel good about what I did because otherwise I would never have had the opportunity to evaluate my presenting skills or ability to lead/present in front of a demanding audience. So far so good...Hope such learning opportunities continue to keep coming during the next 1 year.

On a lighter note just came back from another room where a bunch of us were watching the Champions League semifinal between Man U and Barca. I just remember the engineering college days when we used to gang up in the hostel common room and watch these matches till the wee hours.Anyways my stamina isnt doing too poor rite? After such a day, I still managed to pull myself to write a blog at nearly 3 in the morning.

O Week Ends

It feels so strange today...All of a sudden after 7 days of intense action consisting of registration, games,section cheering, gyaan sessions,team building in the blazing sun, movies and loads of parties, today the calendar is empty.The class of 08, I must say has done an incredibly good job of planning our orientation.Today as they have left, it is time for us as a batch to take up the baton passed and uphold the legacy of ISB. So much has hapenned in the past one week that I think its time to just sit back and see the things that do stand out.

1) Screwing up our voices doing Section Cheering "Sec C Sec C"(intended sexy) which I must say is the best section chant of all the sections.

2)Meeting the same person thrice in a party and doing the same round of introduction only to forget the name totally next morning. Its been the biggest challenge to keep track of the names of my batchmates with more than 430 odd people.

3)Winning the intersection football and cricket competetions hands down and the funny part is that I almost lost my nose in the process getting hit by a stray shot in a football game while watching from the sidelines. Talk about passive contribution!!!! But the good part of it was the free publicity that it brought with a lot of people asking me if I was doing OK for the next 2 days. Another funny thing about the incident was that while I was still in shock after getting hit, UN clicked my photo which I am sure will make great viewing later.

4) Talent night yet again made me all depressed. Dont get me wrong I enjoyed it but I really felt so depressed for being talent deprived. I wished I had known that learning guitar or knowing how to dance/sing can have so many benefits. Just kidding...But seriously some of the performances were amazing specially carnatic vocals and guitar and the fusion composition.

5)I have to make a confession here....I couldnt help looking at a girl from our batch who looks similar to my girlfriend. I felt so odd the one or twice we had eye contact.Anyways no offence..I was just missing my girlfriend..:)

6)Met a lot of "reeeeally reeeeally" nice and smart people with diverse profiles and coming from across the globe. It seems that choosing ISB was a wise decision.

7) And last but not the least, the case study intro session gave me a glimpse of what to expect in class over the next 4 terms. A lot of good insightful ideas and questions spiced up by real good Arbit CP( ISB term for class participation for the heck of it with repeating same ideas in different sentence structure, elementary obvious questions and really irritating points) We decided that we will cough in class to signal the person that we all feel he/she is dishing up Arbit CP and if the person fails to get the hint he/she needs to be dunked in the swimming pool after class. I think we already have an Arbit CP champion in the making.

8)Ohh and I totally forgot to mention the grand Apollo hospital prank played on us by the Class of 08 which had the entire batch stumped. I hate SK for making me do situps for a minute to check my heartbeat increase rate after active exercise. But its soo funny to think back and wonder how the entire batch failed to rationalize that there is no AIDS vaccine available and no such thing as a universal snake bite vaccine. Talk about 400+ of the brightest minds of the country. It shows that people do lose their sense of reasoning when its clouded by other things.

Anyways am off to have our first study group meet over coffee at CCD.See u soon.

The start of a new Chapter

Its been crazy four days now at ISB.I can say it already feels like ages that I have been here and to be honest I have already lost track of time and dates and the day of week.The O-week has been fun so far and apart from an energy sapping treasure hunt game in the sultry heat of hyderabad,things have been really enjoyable. I had always known that the peer group at ISB would be amazing and it really is. Over the last few days had a few amazing conversations regarding the possible remedy of traffic problem in Hyderabad to the stock markets in Nepal and how Indians are making money there to possible ideal garbage disposal mechanisms at ISB.

Some of the highlights and key experiences so far

My physical stamina needs significant improvement.I intend to start playing TT from tomorrow(spent 3 hours scouring the city to get a TT bat and finally!!!!)

I guess the cafeteria is CMM 5 certified. Otherwise I dont know how they manage to prepare such a diverse range of food which tastes equally poor to me each day.Well for a break, I had Tandoori chicken today out at the city. It really feels great after tasting chicken after ages.

Nothing is "free" at ISB. I guess those of you here will understand what I mean and for the rest wait till you get here.

My mind feels numb. I miss being with the people I love. Sometimes my mind wanders off to this fact amidst all the noise and the frantic activity around me.

The ISB campus is really beautiful. I intend to go on an early morning walks and take lots of pictures, some of which I have promised to share at this space.

So that is that and now its pretty late. My body has been crying for rest for ages but I guess I need to read the first case at ISB for tomorrows class at 9.
Ciao

Catchup...

Its been a long time since my last post. To be honest inspite of going through a very hectic time, I wanted to blog regularly but my slow Tata Indicom internet connection did not allow me to. All I have been doing is check mails when I connected to internet.Anyways today that I have managed to find some time on the internet, let me pen down some of the things that happenned in the last one month or so.

Job: Spending days at work has become such a pain these days. The workaholic that I have been for the last 5 years or so, I never imagined that I would be spending days on end at work doing absolutely nothing. I wish that the notice period was just 1 month which would have enabled me to spend the days at home instead of labouring through doing nothing at work.Compounding the misery is the fact that most of the sites that helps one pass time is blocked at work too.Anyways the good part is that my resignation process is almost done and I am all set for the release on 8th.

ISB Meets: I must have attended atleast a dozen ISB meets at Kolkata after coming back in February. They have always been fun with discussions ranging from frustration at work,to career shift prospects and debates over job situation post ISB and the prospective salaries and other interesting topics which I think would not be appropriate to post in a public forum.And all this mostly at CCD either at Millenium city or City Centre. Now we have decided to meet for dinner this weekend which would be a welcome break from drinking endless cups of cappucino or cafe frappe.But I must say that I am already liking the bunch with whom I would be spending the next 1 year of my life and I cant wait for it to start.

Family: Staying with parents after a long time and man isnt it rewarding. Getting all the favourite foods cooked by mom is absolutely the best treat I can possibly have. Its a privilege..really.Apart from that I have been able to catch up with my old passion of watching football(now I can call it that and not soccer) on TV. So lot of late night staying up.

Personal Life: Personal life has been a little turbulent these days because staying apart from the person you love is very difficult.... all the more when you have lots of time for yourself which you wish you could have put to better use. Anyways thats life. :)

Back in India: Adjusting to life back in India has not been as challenging as I expected. A lot of it has to do with the anticipation of joining ISB. A friend was asking me the other day how I was finding life back in Kolkata.That got me thinking....I think I miss quite a few things...Going out on long drives in my car has to be the most important thing I miss.Having a cup of coffee at Starbucks while watching the sunset at Monterey Bay has to be another.I also miss the cool weather the year round and not having to sweat a bit...I miss having the occasional steak and beer. Ohh well there is moreee....

ISB: ISB has done an excellent thing. It has decided not to release the highest salary figures of CO 2008 to the media. This is an excellent step to thwart the unrealistic expectations of future MBA students and the society in general. Kudos to ISB which has again proven that its audience is the world and not just the indian MBA market. But the placement figures have been quite good and all the more the types of roles, sectors and career shifts.Hope the global economic slowdown does not impact us next year.

Resolution: I intend to be a regular blogger all during my stay at ISB. I hope this will be good reading for any of you that might be interested in life at ISB...I have been a regular visitor of the blogs of CO2008 and I guess my blog might be read by CO2010 as well.

Next week: I travel to Hyderabad next week and on 12th its supposed to start.So hopefully my next post will be from Hyderabad and ISB.By the way I will also try to post some pictures of the campus which I heard is comparable to some of the best universities of the world.I think it will go a long way to help people come out of their stoic, old fasioned picture of Hyderabad that they have on their minds - of old mosques, of Charminar, and of narrow crowded streets.

To Leave or Not to Leave

A couple of days back I filed my official resignation. Initially I had decided to take a Leave without pay for studies but then I had to change my decision for some other reasons. Whatever it is I was quite comfortable with the idea of resignation till the time I actually sat down to pen it down.

I must admit that writing the resignation letter was a lot more difficult than what I had imagined.In my state I should not have second thoughts about it and I dont, but resignation was not easy. A million pictures panned through my head. The days in undergrad college when I was worried about campus recruitment, the day I got my first job,the day I left my first job to join my current job. But then I have resigned before..so why is it different this time? Well for a few reasons which I think I should list out

1) I am incurring a significant financial burden for my MBA studies.[50000 USD(cost of MBA) + 20000 USD(my Indian salary)]

2) I have been working for the last 5.5 years and a positive cash flow has become a norm. It is difficult to imagine myself without a income source.

3) The US economy has already slipped into recession and although the decoupling theory is doing the rounds, it is impossible to predict the industry state in early 2009 when we are scheduled to have our campus recruitments.

4) Although I am not extremely worried about landing up a job post MBA, the uncertainty is landing up with a job I really want or the one which is right for me.

People who love me always tell me not to worry about all these but I could not help it. There is no doubt that I am am happy about my decision to study and that probably better opportunities await me post MBA. But these last few days has proved yet again that I am still vulnerable to change. I am coping with it but it would be dishonest not to admit that this has not affected me in any way. Sometimes I feel that not many people understand what I am going through at this moment. Hope someone reading it will :)

Back in Kolkata

It has been quite a few days since my last post on this blog...Actually I was taking the time to settle into my new life in Kolkata.This is the first time I am staying with my parents while I am working and its really nice after having stayed apart for about 9 years.

A lot has changed in Kolkata and I am sure that the same applies across the other major cities of India as well. Shopping malls and highrises are being built all over the city and the landscape is changing at a rate unimaginable even five years back. Last week I went to my hometown Durgapur which is around 170 km from Kolkata and was again pleasantly surprised to see the change. Shopping malls, Spencer's retail outlet and more importantly the crowd thronging these places. I was having a bit of hard time relating to the same places where we used to spend time with friends munching away on peanuts or samosas.Anyways things change and havent we changed too from those times? We have.

On my way back I took the new Volvo bus service from Durgapur to Kolkata and it was a very nice experience too. Having spent close to four years in the States, I have driven to all possible types of places and driving was one of the things I felt I would miss the most on moving to India. But the new highways in India (part of the famed Golden Quadrilateral) is really world class. Agreed that the traffic on it is still not conversant with the rules of highway driving, yet the quality of the roads is commendable.

Infrastructure remains the focus area of the government right now since it is the primary vehicle of growth. I strongly believe that it is not just the money that the government spends but what it achieves which should be the indicator of successful infrastructure development policy of the government. These days most of the infra projects are being executed in a PPP basis and this is a good step.This helps offload the complexities of successful execution on the Private player which leads to better completion rates and timelines. The budget for the next fiscal is due at the end of the month and I think we will witness even more government spending on Infrastructure.

Let the changes keep rolling in for the better!!!!

Professional or Personal

It was a very emotional day for me at work yesterday. After slogging like anything for the last three and a half years, we had a party to celebrate the grand success of our project. A huge group of around 50 gathered to look back at the journey which was filled with innumerable challenges and had more than a fair share of difficulties and low times. But by the end of it one thing clearly emerged...we had been professional in discharging our work but we had been emotioanlly tied to the project and to one another and had crossed into the realms of personal.

We all know how cliched the word "Professional" is in a workplace. But yesterday i realized that no matter how much professionalism is important, personal touch is worth its weight in gold. Its the personal touch which keeps people from going beyond the call of duty to take up other's responsibility, to help each other in times of need and at times overlook the odd mistake understanding the circumstances they were committed. As we talked in length over drinks and then lunch, i was amazed at how much those small personal incidents are etched in everyone's minds.

The client program director delivered a very impromptu and very emotional thanking speech where she went through and thanked everyone present and singled out a few for exemplary contribution. I was singled out for having guided the client team through uncertain times and helping them through a very difficult integration initiative and for developing a innovative cost saving tool for them. Her voice broke when she said that we would all miss you....

In the evening, the client director for business and customer management came by to meet me on her way out to Canada. I have been working very closely with her for the entire duration of my stay here and we share an excellent working relationship which i would hate to call "Professional". We hugged and she cried like a child....i was so overwhelmed that i would not control my tears either. I told her that the world is a small place and we would definitely get to meet someday. People talk about fancy terms like networking and how important it is to know as many people as possible in B school. I think if you can establish that personal touch with atleast a few people i would say that its worth more that gold.

Its ironic that as we strive to be better professionally, we need to be better personally. Its that part of us that probably is very difficult to be taught or changed. Its a gift for those whom it comes naturally. I just hope that i come out of my next one year at school with a few of these wonderful personal bonds.

Dollar Dreamzzzz

The following is not written by me - but i thought i would post it in my blog as i found it so very apt.....


There are two ways to look at a foreign salary -- the Catholic and the Protestant.
The first is characterised by a missionary zeal to convert using the rupees-multiplied-by-43.8-times formula ingrained in every self-respecting Indian head.
Which is how $110,000 achieves the headline-grabbing status of 'Rs 50 lakh!'
But, protests the economist, how far does that Rs 50 lakh go in a foreign land?
What you have to look at, then, is Purchasing Power Parity. The theory of purchasing power parity says that, in the long run, exchange rates should move towards rates that would equalise the prices of an identical basket of goods and services in any two countries.
Duh. Despite having acquired, at some point in life, a BA in Economics, I have no idea what that means.

Purely in layman's terms, how much bang for the buck? Well, says the World Bank, $150,000 fetches you a Rs 50-lakh lifestyle if you reside in India.
In the US, the same $150,000 is actually equivalent to earning Rs 18.7 lakh.
The Economist's famous 'Big Mac index' makes it easy to understand. A hamburger costs $2.90 in the US, but $1.10 in India. Take that, you dollar-earning desi!

Of course, the real picture is far more complex. Despite what the Big Mac index might indicate, an 'upwardly mobile' lifestyle in India is more expensive.
If your family decides to have Kellogg's cornflakes for breakfast everyday in India, it will work out to about 4 boxes or Rs 500 a month.
An American family, on the other hand, would spend about $20 a month for the same breakfast.
Given that a reasonably well-to-do Indian family earns Rs 50,000 a month, it spends 1% on its cornflakes! Whereas the reasonably well-to-do American family earning $5,000 a month spends only 0.4% from the mahine ka budget. That's way, way cheaper.
So despite being a supposedly 'poor' economy, we have higher relative prices -- dollar prices -- for many commonly consumed goods. Food and petrol, in particular.
Although, conversely, we can afford bais and drivers, dry cleaning and nice haircuts. There is always a trade-off!

How much dosh you have stashed away in the bank depends on how you choose to live.
If you are earning a dollar/ pound salary and your objective is to 'save', you live an Indian lifestyle in a foreign land.
This means eating mostly at home/ shopping at Kmart/ Wal-mart; thinking 10 times before making an impulse buy (out pops the conversion calculator: 'I can get this cheaper in India. Forget it!')
This is an attitude typical of the just-set-foot-on-foreign-shore worker, especially on an H1-B visa. And there's nothing wrong with it. Four-five dudes share a cramped apartment, live frugally and save a pretty packet by the time they head back home.
And even though they may have lived in what the Chicago or London native might consider as Mira Road and eaten at the US equivalent of Udipi joints, the experience of living in the First World is reward enough the first-timer. Clean air, wide roads, 'systems' that seem to work.
But, should s/he decide to stay on longer, the immigrant will be tempted to buy in to the host country's way of life. You shop to 'feel good' about yourself and, eventually, being the thriftiest shopper in town loses its charm.
So one fine day you decide to buy the Polo shirt costing $100, even if your mom thinks you are crazy because you could buy five shirts for the same money back home. Earlier, you moved, geographically. Now, you have arrived, mentally.
That dollar salary will never feel quite as weighty again.

On the other hand, living in India -- even for the guy with the Rs 18 lakh salary -- has its own hidden cost.
Money provides some insulation -- but the stress of working in First World conditions but living in Third World ones is inevitable. You can fiddle with a Blackberry [suit] in the backseat of an A/C chauffeur driven car.
But you are in Saki Naka, stuck in a trademark traffic jam, with a beggar tap-tapping furiously at your window.
The airport -- which sees more of you early in the morning than your spouse does -- seriously sucks. As does the fact that a substantial portion of the taxes the government earns from you end up as employment guarantee scheme for politicians.
Par kya karen, yeh hai India. So we 'adjust', grin and bear it.
At least we now have multiplexes and megamalls to hang out at, no?

Of course, living abroad may result in a postcard perfect 'Big Picture'. But life is made up of a million little things. And, at that level, regrets remain.
A friend who has spent most of his post-IIT life in the US -- a good 12 to 15 years -- noted on a recent visit that he really enjoyed visiting Chinese restaurants in India. "Because you can taste the food," he said wryly. "Everything there is so bland... so American."
Another friend says she misses the sights and smells of the sabzi markets in India. "The veggies there are so fresh, it feels like abhi zameen se nikle hain." American tomatoes, she insists, are huge and red, but absolutely insipid.
On a more serious note, there's the issue of parents. Growing old and lonely, often not in the best of health. Move here, you insist. But they resist.
The world is a 'global village' where India is just a mouse click away.
You buy the folks a computer with a broadband connection.
And life goes on.

Is where you live about geography, or a state of mind?
Well-known journalist Thomas Friedman has just authored a new book on globalisation titled, The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century.
In an article in the The New York Times Sunday Magazine, he writes, 'Only 30 years ago, if you had a choice of being born a B student in Boston or a genius in Bangalore or Beijing, you probably would have chosen Boston, because a genius in Beijing or Bangalore could not really take advantage of his or her talent.'
Now, he argues, anyone with smarts, access to Google and a cheap wireless laptop can join the innovation fray. 'When the world is flat, you can innovate without having to emigrate.'
With all due respect to Friedman -- a brilliant writer with a mostly credible theory -- emigration will continue.
Despite anecdotal evidence exchanged at cocktail parties about young people who would rather stay back in India than go abroad, the fact remains that every Indian who enrols at Penn State or Sheffield University is a potential immigrant.
The Japanese or Koreans are not.
The odd Westerner will make India his/ her home, often citing the warmth received from the Indian people.
The majority of middle class Indians, given a chance, will make the West their home, despite the cold reception.
Suketu Mehta, in his scintillating book, Maximum City, analyses the situation as only an Indian can.
'Every summer, waves of Indians living overseas come back or send back little pictures: of their son in front of the new 52-inch TV; their daughter sitting on the hood of the new mini van; the wife in the open-plan kitchen... the whole family laughing together in the small backyard pool, their 'bungalow' in the background.'
These pictures plant little time bombs in the minds of siblings left behind, he writes. 'They hold the pictures and look around their two-room flat in Mahim and, suddenly, the new sofa and 2-in-1 Akai stereo look cheap and shabby in comparison.'
Hope floats
In the 1980s and 1990s, the IITs were associated with 'brain drain'.
Now, reports of dollar salaries of IIM graduates hit the headlines. But the real story lies elsewhere.
These handful of graduates studying in near world class institutions will be in demand whether in India or abroad. There will be some initial heartburn -- bhala usko mujhse better paying job kaise mila -- but in the medium to long term, things usually even out.
And staying on in India -- where your company values you enough to put down a Rs 50-lakh deposit for a house in Napean Sea Road -- is a very smart option.

The real appeal of 'foreign' lies for those who graduate from the second and third rung institutes. Job mil jayega but not one with fast enough growth or large enough goodies.
Going abroad, for them, is the only means of achieving quick and easy economic salvation.
So, at great personal risk, they beg, borrow and pay their way into not-so-well known universities. And then fight for a job to recover the several lakhs 'invested'.
By and large, the strategy seems to work.

And dollar dreams will continue to pound in India's head.

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

Obituary

"Johnathan Trager, prominent television producer for ESPN, died last night from complications of losing his soul mate and his fiancee. He was 35 years old. Soft-spoken and obsessive, Trager never looked the part of a hopeless romantic. But, in the final days of his life, he revealed an unknown side of his psyche. This hidden quasi-Jungian persona surfaced during the Agatha Christie-like pursuit of his long reputed soul mate, a woman whom he only spent a few precious hours with. Sadly, the protracted search ended late Saturday night in complete and utter failure. Yet even in certain defeat, the courageous Trager secretly clung to the belief that life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences. Uh-uh. But rather, its a tapestry of events that culminate in an exquisite, sublime plan. Asked about the loss of his dear friend, Dean Kansky, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and executive editor of the New York Times, described Johnathan as a changed man in the last days of his life. "Things were clearer for him," Kansky noted. Ultimately Johnathan concluded that if we are to live life in harmony with the universe, we must all possess a powerful faith in what the ancients used to call "fatum", what we currently refer to as destiny"

This is from the movie Serendipity and is one of my favourite quotes....i feel someone needs to write me an obituary too

A part of me died last night....

Everything doesnt have an answer

Rajdeep was a lonely man now.Ever since he signed the form signalling the end of his relationship as husband with Barnali he changed.His life changed, his approach toward life changed and he didnt know if it would be the same again. But he knew one thing he would never ever again share his heart with a girl.

This was something he had to bear twice in life - once when he had to part ways with his chilhood sweetheart Ritu and now with his wife. But somehow deep down it was not the divorce or the fact that he was now all alone that haunted him. He seriously started doubting himself doubting if it was he who was at fault for not having been able to sustain both the relationships.

Although his marriage with Barnali for 3 years was not turbulent it lacked something.It was spontaneity.Rajdeep tried hard to keep the relationship going and it was going smooth too but then it wasnt what he wanted.It was nowhere like the life he had imagined before marriage. Barnali was a sweet girl and also tried and played her part to please Rajdeep but it never pleased Rajdeep deep down. He never felt the same attraction towards her as Ritu.Or to be frank it was Ritu whom Rajdeep always searched in her. Her actions, her likes dislikes, her traits her way of just looking at him her everything was etched in his heart for ever. He never came to terms with the fact that there really cannot be another Ritu.

Ritu and Rajdeep grew up together.They went to the same school and had been the best of friends. They used to spend most of the time together on holidays, during vacations and even in school. Although most of the guys and girls in high school suspected that they were in an affair it was never discussed between the two. They shared a special relationship which even they were probably afraid to give a name.But it did come up a week before Rajdeep was leave for hostel to take up college. And it was obvious - both of them loved each other.They decided to be together for the rest of their lives.Rajdeep was the happiest man that day. It still remains his happiest day of his life.

The first year at college was pretty depressing for Rajdeep.Staying away from home,ragging and the pressure of doing well all took their toll. But staying away from ritu hurt him the most. He would spend hours on the phone talking to her telling her what happenned in college - how he was ragged or how he forgot his sessional work or how he was blown over by a "hot" girl from Delhi.It was just for talking to Ritu he had bought a mobile - much to the disapproval of his parents.
But the next year Ritu had to join college and so she did. Although Rajdeep was happy that she had joined a good college he didn't like it totally.This would mean less contact and it was something Rajdeep didn't want to compromise on. But then he consoled to himself - their love was much too strong to overcome these physical barriers.How wrong he had been.

Six months later he called up Ritu quite concerned. He had been trying to reach her for a month but couldn't. He only had her hostel number which was very difficult to get. But his persistence and tenacity got him through - but Ritu wasn't there. Some times she was not in her room, sometimes gone out with her friends or sometimes was in the canteen doing her assignments. He always left messages for her to call him back but the call never came. He thought that all the irresponsible girls might not have passed on his message to her. But that day he was lucky.He not only got the line through but got Ritu in hostel too.

Her voice ...ahhh he had been longing to hear it for soooo long.But then what she said sent his whole world into a frenzy. "I dont want you to keep in touch with me.I know it diffiult and so it is for both of us but i dont think our realtionship has a future. Nyways i have met someone whom i like very much and i urge you to find someone too.... "The rest of the words he heard but he cant recollect them till today. He was soo shocked and dazed that he could not even ask one thing "WHY?" It took him another year to come out of the mental coma that he went into after that day.But he knew one thing from that one year. People say that time heals everything - but he could never forget Ritu.

The flight landed at Minneapolis-StPauls international shortly before sunset. Rajdeep had carefully chosen to be away from his home place. He kept travelling places never settling at one place. Well the nature of his consulting job helped him in this regard too. He checked his watch - he wanted a to get to the hotel fast and then take a shower and have a good night's sleep before the conference he had to attend the next day.He paced himself to reach the cab teminal and just as he boarded the walkway he saw someone that really shook him up. Wasnt it Ritu??

She was on the same walkway about 50 metres ahead of him. Although she looked a bit different with a new haircut but he was sure it was her. She was looking at the tarmac through the transparent fibre walls oblivious of the two eyes which were watching her dazed. All the memories all the moments they spent together flashed through Rajdeep's eyes in an instant. All of those emotions suddenly resurfaced from deep down in his heart. It was as if his whole life had been replayed just in front of him. By this time he was following her to terminal 3 instead of the way out to get the taxi. He felt the overwhelming emotion to ask her just - "Why?" and "R u happy??" A guy rushed out from his seat in terminal 3 and hugged Ritu - Rajdeep stopped dead in his persuit. He had probably got the answer to the second question but he understood he would never know the answer to the first.

Just another evening

I had been to a nice beach the other day.People here say that the Asilomar sunset is one of the best things of the Monterey bay area.Well i must say unlike other such instances where i find its more the hype than the fact,this case was different.Its really a lovely place - all you people who will say whats there in a beach...they are all the same...i wont argue.I found it nice and that is what counts i guess.

The beach itself isnt something so striking to fall in love with.But i think it was just the time of the day the ambience that got me.Its a crescent rugged stretch of about half a mile with the hills of Carmel rising behind it.The white sand and the rocky terrain all added to the whole picture with the sun gently resting on the horizon as if trying to get a quick sleep before going into hiding.We were lucky - there was very little cloud cover and no fog which is pretty common here at this time of the year.We walked for about half an hour the entire stretch trying to get soaked into the wonderful surrounding.

There were not very many people in the beach and that was good.Most of the famous beaches are so crowded with people that you dont realize whether you have come to enjoy nature or spend some time in a shopping mall.The few people who were there were mostly taking the evening walk with their family.Some others were having a playful time with their dogs.I watched a baby boy trying to get away from his father at every opportune moment and trying to chase their dog to catch a ball....and the father running after both.These things really appeal to me.The very personal intimate moments when people really have a nice time oblivious of all their pain and troubles of the mundane life. Then there were people just sitting idly on the white sands talking and enjoying the sun going down.Its a real romantic place - a place where you can spend an idle couple of hours enjoying the surroundings along with the person you love.Add to that something to eat and drink and its a recipe of a perfect evening.

We were now on our way back from one end of the beach.The sun slowly slid under the cover of some low lying clouds near the horizon.It didnt make a perfect sunset but it sure was nice. The nice golden glow which you can look into and enjoy.The sky looked just like a pallete some kid had sprayed the color on.We walked our way back slowly to the car.A kid and his dad was just jogging on the trail.The kid was running ahead of his dad...panting and waiting for his dad to catch up.Then when they got near the car the dad got hold of him and swung him in the air before embracing him in a playful manner.I said to myself - This is one of the instances of perfect happiness in one's life that we so unsuccessfully strive to achieve through materialistic ways.

Asilomar-Just another Beach

I had been to a nice beach the other day.People here say that the Asilomar sunset is one of the best things of the Monterey bay area.Well i must say unlike other such instances where i find its more the hype than the fact,this case was different.Its really a lovely place - all you people who will say whats there in a beach...they are all the same...i wont argue.I found it nice and that is what counts i guess. The beach itself isnt something so striking to fall in love with.But i think it was just the time of the day the ambience that got me.Its a crescent rugged stretch of about half a mile with the hills of Carmel rising behind it.The white sand and the rocky terrain all added to the whole picture with the sun gently resting on the horizon as if trying to get a quick sleep before going into hiding.We were lucky - there was very little cloud cover and no fog which is pretty common here at this time of the year.We walked for about half an hour the entire stretch trying to get soaked into the wonderful surrounding. There were not very many people in the beach and that was good.Most of the famous beaches are so crowded with people that you dont realize whether you have come to enjoy nature or spend some time in a shopping mall.The few people who were there were mostly taking the evening walk with their family.Some others were having a playful time with their dogs.I watched a baby boy trying to get away from his father at every opportune moment and trying to chase their dog to catch a ball....and the father running after both.These things really appeal to me.The very personal intimate moments when people really have a nice time oblivious of all their pain and troubles of the mundane life. Then there were people just sitting idly on the white sands talking and enjoying the sun going down.Its a real romantic place - a place where you can spend an idle couple of hours enjoying the surroundings along with the person you love.Add to that something to eat and drink and its a recipe of a perfect evening. We were now on our way back from one end of the beach.The sun slowly slid under the cover of some low lying clouds near the horizon.It sure didnt make a perfect sunset but it sure was nice. The nice golden glow which you can look into and enjoy.The sky looked just like a pallete some kid had sprayed the color on.We walked our way back slowly to the car.A kid and his dad was just jogging on the trail.The kid was running ahead of his dad...panting and waiting for his dad to catch up.Then when they got near the car the dad got hold of him and swung him in the air before embracing him in a playful manner.I said to myself - This is one of the instances of perfect happiness in one's life that we try to achieve through materialistic ways.

Being in Love

Its something on which a million poems,songs,stories,films and what not have been created. ever since i started to realize what being in love means i have also been hearing about the wonderful feeling and how one can only feel it and cant explain it.

Well to be honest i feel that this is true.If you have never been in love you cannot really understand what it is like.Now many of you will argue about what i meant by this - again some will question the statement of "being in love".So let me make myself very clear to start with.
By being in love i mean when you trully love someone and this is not just some form of attraction physical or otherwise.I cant explain further but i guess you will get what i meant to say.

Its just a beautiful feeling...you feel like life has a entire different meaning when you think of both of you together.You crave to be near each other always...You always seem to find endless things to talk about. A few days back my room mate was asking me about what people talk about with their person of love each day...dont they get tired nd bored of talking?
Its a very natural thought for someone who hasnt experienced this in their life.I too once had this question this inquisitiveness....but i can assure you its a whole new world out there and you realize that only when it happens to you.

There is another aspect i want to talk about being in love.A lot of people have told me that people get more liberal more open minded when they are in love. This is true but there is another element too in this which many people dont state or are afraid to disclose -its jealousy and reciprocity. People in love often tend to expect certain things from their partners and often undergo serious mental discomfort when they dont get something from their partners which they had expected. It might be nobody's fault just a natural thing that their partners have done but to them it's something that was wrong just because it failed to match their expectation.Human mind is sooo complex however simple we might think it is. People also get jealous because they crave for all the attention from their partners...ha ha it seems the child in us comes out.Well i know of a few unfortunate incidents which strained relationships because either of the partners failed to understand this feeling of their partners.

Its tough isnt it?But then again whats love if you cannot understand your partner.
Nyways enough of my crazy blabbing...But however it is the end point is that everyone should atleast experience this feeling once in their life.Its a whole new hidden chapter of the book of life.