O week at ISB

Ok guys lot has happened since my last post.

• I was proud to graduate on 4th and have my parents be present for the awards and the graduation ceremony.
• I partied the whole night on 4th while parents could not sleep due to the loud party music (even though it happened far from my room)
• Went back home with my parents on 5th and spent some of the most lazy days of my life. Suffered withdrawal symptoms from no work, lack of pace, lack of excitement
• Back to ISB on 10th April and would stay on till 19th morning for the orientation of CO 2010
• The CO 2010 is another fantastic bunch of individuals and I was really impressed in my brief interaction with some of them at their energy and enthusiasm levels. I am sure they will take brand ISB to greater heights
• The campus however isnt the same anymore. The memories of the place come back...same places occupied by new faces and it feels so strange. Anyways I miss the last year and the amazing friends I had
• I am clueless as to what I would do at home till end of May when I start work...I think I will have to give my travel plans some serious thoughts

Anyways that is that. Once I am home and get my internet, maybe I will attempt to write some nice fancy post. Till then take care :)

Reliving Section C

We had the final section C get together and dinner party yesterday and as usual it was great fun. We have come a long way from a bunch of guys and gals who were grouped together by ISB last April to the most awesome section at ISB for the class of 2009. Well..some of you reading this will say well yaa right.... so as a true MBA I justify the claim to fame for Section C of CO 2009.

Sports Achievement: The coolest section around who excelled in team sports from Orientation to the final Tug of War. The team led by a stalwart like VR, Arjuna Award winner and ex-captain of the Indian Hockey team has pumped a dozen goals in football past all other sections during Orientation.

Academic Achievement: Led by KJ, SM, ND, PL and others Section C has the most number of people in the ISB merit list.

Co-Curricular Achievement: The elected presidents of the three largest and most popular clubs( Consulting Club, Finance Club and Business Technology Club) at ISB are from Section C - KV, UN and me.

And finally 3.3: This is the proudest achievement, something that will be talked in ISB for years to come. In one of the core term subjects, the professor had challenged that he would waive the need for the term exam for the section if the students can send him the bids of their individual grades in a sealed envelope and the aggregate grade of the entire section of 75 students comes to be 3.3 (recommended normal by ISB). The catch is that in such a situation, game theory suggests that each student has an incentive to give himself the highest grade A (4.0) since it is a sealed bid. However in an audacious effort Section C managed to hit the elusive 3.3 average due to the phenomenal theory defying behaviour of a large part of the class who gave themselves a lower grade than wheat they themselves might have got with an exam. We even had our batch topper at that time giving up a letter grade for the section cause. And the end result, we were the only section exempted from the exam and we all went out to Firefly to party that night when the rest of ISB was preparing for it. The achievement is bound to be referred to by the professor for years to come and we can fondly remember an instant when a bunch of super competitive individuals could keep their egos aside for the greater common good.

Finally before I end, here is a short video depicting people of Section C which was played at last night's party. Kudos to SN and team for organizing everything throughout the year.

 

NB: News just came in that we have won the BEST SECTION award at ISB for all round achievement. So my previous statement is vindicated. We are the best.

It is a strange feeling...

I wake up today morning and things are not the same anymore. No assignments to sweat about, no exams to worry about or classes to go to. Life as a student is no more. I don't know....Through the year how we have longed for this day but now that it has come it feels weird. The year has been one hell of a ride and maybe we all got used to the frenetic pace of things. So when I think of what I need to do today and find nothing, it feels so strange.

We start the disorientation week today and it will be parties and get together to relive the entire year. We graduate on the 4th and leave campus on the 5th. The journey that began one inspiring weekend in December 2006 preparing for the GMAT comes to an end in a week. I want to thank you all who have stood by me through everything over the last 2 years, through the GMAT prep, through the ups and downs of the application process and through the gruelling last year and made this study possible. I was/am really lucky to have had you around me when it mattered.

The realities of day to day awaits us outside campus. Again back to a new routine of work and home for 5-6 days a week and recuperate over the weekend. A new city, new people, new positives, new negatives and a whole new experience. Look forward to another life changing experience in the months to come. I do not know how I should feel - I am sad, cheerful, heart broken, excited, nostalgic, depressed and proud all at the same time....Take that for a mood!!!

Contrast

On popular demand, here goes a blog about some of our professors here in ISB in this term. Well first things first, let me clear a few things. I have my deep respect towards them and whatever I write below is an objective analysis and not meant to disregard their achievements and experience.

Prof 1 TN: One of the veterans in marketing management in Indian business education. He has taught even a couple of our friends fathers when they were in IIM. Aged about 75+ but with the energy and a sense of humour of a 25 year old, he really brings the Monday morning class to life. Now add to that the fact that after 10 classes none of us mere mortals could understand what the subject was all about and we have a perfect combination. The professor has an uncanny ability to come up with the most disjointed slideshow filled with acronyms only he can conjure up and an absolute lack of coherence between 2 consequtive slides. Now this becomes even more hilarious when he himself seems to be surprised as to what the slide means and says "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.................". The class has been so popular that we have had students come and attend the class even though they haven't taken this elective subject. A few of the classes attained spiritual level and students were elevated to the heights of self actualization in Maslow's hierarchy needs. Anyways the last say is that it is an ideal Term 8 course and a must for subsequent batches. 

Prof 2 SC: This person is a 30 something and his credentials go something like this. Bachelors from Wharton, Masters in Engg from Stanford and MBA from Harvard and now a professor at Wharton. Talk about resume...Though his name sounded very Bengali, it was not until yesterday that I discovered that he is indeed a bong. And I was excited to know that his parents hailed from Asansol and he had relatives in Asansol and Durgapur, the place I am from. However the only time he spent in those places was during his childhood when he used to come to India for vacations. Actually his parents were settled in Dusseldorf, Germany and he was born and brought up there before going to the US for higher education. But what is really phenomenal is the fluent Bengali he speaks and the passion that he exudes about India and Durgapur Asansol, places where he probably spent a very small portion of his life. In the brief 10 minutes we talked he even told me how he was eagerly waiting for the new airport to come up and how it could really work given the socio economic makeup of the region. Not all NRIs are disconnected with their roots and despise India, I thought. Anyways coming to his style of teaching. It is extremely modern with engaging discussions, references to cutting edge research by him and his colleagues and insightful takeaways from every class. The examples discussed are contemporary, the assignments thought provoking. The way how he tried to demystify the issue of post merger integration and proving that most of it is indeed science and not art as it is projected to be was just mind boggling.

Well that is contrast for you. Something that you only get at ISB. We are really privileged to have been taught by some of the best professors around. They leave an indelible mark on you and I guess these experiences are really priceless. There are surely some things money can buy.

Will these times come back again?

Now that we are 2 weeks from graduation, we are all in a nostalgic mood that the year is coming to an end. And not only do we try to relieve the year we enjoyed, we also try to enjoy and cherish every moment of our being together. Below are some snapshots of life here now.

Class: Three of the four subjects this term is phenomenally boring. So in class I engage in constructive activities like playing computer games, writing blogs as I am doing now or doing assignments of the other subjects.

Eating out: Almost each day we eat out for lunch or dinner. While some of these dinners/lunches are to celebrate some friend getting a job, some are just to explore some restaurant that has still eluded us. I can confidently claim that if there is a decent restaurant in Hyderabad where they serve non-vegetarian, I have been there eaten that.

Sleeping: Still happen to sleep more than 5 hours a day and don't get sleep before 3 AM at night. I think its become a part of us now. I don't know what I am going to do once I head back home or start working.

Movies/TV Shows/etc: You just need to send a mail to the batch asking for a movie, a computer game or any TV show like Friends or How I met your mother to Byomkesh Bakshi and Jaspal Bhatti's Flop Show. And viola comes a mail back with the link to the requested program/ movie/ game. So watch away to glory.

Games: Mails like "Counter Strike Anyone? Connect now at 172.24.20.123:2000" is extremely common and these LAN games continue in classes, over lunch and in the graveyard shift.

COBRA Cricket: This is the latest craze not in the whole campus but in my COBRA gang. An indoor form of game with crazy rules played inside our quad is played with such intensity that we look forward to it each day. And with an Arjuna award winner and Indian national hockey captain in our group, no one can deny that this cricket is international class.

To get a glimpse of the seriousness take a peek in the snap below which is a team photo before the start of a COBRA test.

Definately, Maybe

There are times in life when you really wish that everything that was happening around you was just a dream. And that you would wake up soon and find that reality is something really really different...Well right now I feel the same way too.  Maybe its the withdrawal symptoms from a crazy year at ISB. Withdrawal symptoms...So what would be the things that I wish for in life right now?

Wish 1: I want to go somewhere by myself. No friends, no relates, no family. I just want to spend some time alone, do the things I always wanted to...Options???

Stand in front of the Great Pyramids at Giza, spend the evening around the Eiffel tower, laze in the beach in Srilanka, watch a champions league match of Bayern at the Allianz Arena, Munich, climb the Sydney harbour bridge, watch the majestic Victoria Falls, ........the list is endless.

Feasibility: Well it all boils down to finances. Anyone of the options above would cost upward of Rs.50,000. I have the holiday of a month after school and all I need is some kind soul to sponsor me or at least subsidize me.  Lets see...

Wish 2: I wish to learn playing some musical instrument. I know I am not a genius but I really feel like a dodo when I see talented people around me.

Feasibility: This one should not be too hard. If I don't go travelling, hopefully I can start soon. Easiest of the three.

Wish 3: Classified

Feasibility: I honestly do not have an answer to this. I thought I had the answer till recently but now I am totally lost. I will leave this to destiny to find an answer.

I was rummaging through some old pics of the trip I made in US in 2004.  Lots of memories and lots of fun. I want those days back too...The pictures are fun too as you all can see me in a far slimmer avatar with the now (in)famous moustaches.

Lessons in Leadership from World Literature

Last weekend I happened to attend an extremely interesting 2 day workshop titled "Lessons in Leaderhip from World Literature".  It was really insightful as I was exposed to the history of world literature and how the world evolved over the last 20,000 years. Pretty cool huh? So here are a few takeaways from the session that stuck to me.

1) The world history can be divided into 3 waves - Agrarian wave( 20,000 years) followed by the Industrial wave (200 years) and then the Technological wave (60 years). But the catch is this transition is for the western developed economies. Hence although they have moved on to the technological wave, India as a nation is still in the agrarian wave (with 70% of our population involved in agriculture and living in rural areas).

2) We got an insight into the Indian world view and the Western World view and their differences. While Indian world view is still a reflection of the agrarian wave, the Western world view has evolved to encompass the technological wave. Hence following are the differences in our world views

Indian Wold View                                      Western World View

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fatalistic                                                   Initiative Orientation

Scarcity of reources                                Abundance of Resources

Collectivism to deal with scarcity         Individualism

Conflict Avoidance                                  Confrontative

Relationship Oriented                            Task Oriented

Indirect Communication                        Direct Communication

Hierarchical                                              Flat

Cyclical concept of time                          Linear time

Low Uncertainty Avoidance                  Medium Uncertainty Avoidance

Feminine (quality of life, relations)       Masculine ( success, dominance)

3) Understood the concept of Kama Bandhan - Lust, Greed and Rage and Rina Bandhan (last life balance sheet) and how they interplay to determine the composition of our present life.

                                      

4) Got a real fresh perspective into literary epics - Ramayana, Odyssey, Oedipus Rex, AbhigyanaShakuntalam, Julius Caesar, Francis Bacon essays and Don Quixote. We delved deeper into these epics and realized that the protagonists in these epics behaved totally as per their World view and all their actions can be explained rationally. 

The professor also drew excellent parallels of Western epics with Hindu Mythology and our ancient texts. I know its pretty hard to explain. I really have to write a long essay to describe everything.

It was not easy, to wake up early morning on Saturday and Sunday but it was worth every second. Some of the ideas were provocative and I really thought thats interesting. I have heard about Ramayan but this is the first time I am thinking in this fashion.

Ok sorry for writitng  pretty boring blog. I know I did not do justice to the concept and some of the things are really so abstract that it cannot be explained. The professor also gave us a reading list of 200 odd books to read before we die and I intend to start on that pretty soon.  Ohh and I promise to write a far more intersting blog next time. Ciao

Luck By Chance

It was just another evening - thought SB as he locked his door of his Hyderabad house to take his wife and kids for a Sunday evening outing. His wife had been pestering him for a long time for a decent movie and he had been putting it off for long. When SB was posted at a sub-division before this,  his wife and kids pretty much nothing to do apart from staying withing the confines of his bungalow. Security reasons prevented them from moving around after dark.  Things in Hyderabad are much better he reckoned. But one thing he never compromised on was security. He made it a point that his official driver had no prior clue of his travel plans and the whole driving directions were given by him as they moved.

The white ambassador rolled out with the red light on it with SB instructing the driver on the 30 minute drive to Prasadz - one of the leading multiplexes at Hyderabad. Once at Prasadz,they quickly went in to check up on the favourite movie but the show was full. Damn the Hyderabad theatres SB thought. Why cannot Hyderabad build a few more multiplexes? The next show was at 9:30 PM and it would be really late and the kids had school the next day. He looked at his wife and could literally feel the disappointment in her eyes. Let's atleast take the kids somewhere - she said. SB called his driver and in 10 minutes they were in front of the gates of Lumbini Park. There is a nice light and sound show from 7:00 PM. As they filed in through the gate, SB looked at his watch. 7:05 PM. The show had already started. Anyways he escorted his wife and kids to the open amphitheatre where the show happens. Most of the seats were taken. SB looked around. The only available seats were on a row fairly on the top tier.  What the heck...Slowly they made their way to the empty row. Four of them seated side by side from the aisle and two seats on the right of SB were empty. The man seating on the third seat from him seemed extremely engrossed in the show and did not even look at SB and his family as they settled in.

SB finally turned his attention to the show which he had seen a number of times before this. His family still loved coming to the park and it was really worth to see his kids enjoy. And then all of a sudden - bang - The whole world went dark for a second. It must have been 5 seconds. SB regained his senses and the first thing he looked around was to find his wife and family relatively unhurt. He just told his wife to run. She got hold of the kids and rushed down the stairs along with the streaming chaotic masses. At first SB thought, it was a murder attempt but as he looked to his right he realized what had happened. There was a huge explosion which had formed a crater and bodies of innocent visitors laid strewn all over. The bomb apparently had gone off 2 seats on the row SB was seated. He was not supposed to have survived and neither was his family. Later he learnt that since the blast was unidirectional, by providence, fate, destiny, it killed everyone on its path on the other side. He shuddered to think what could have been of the direction of blast was a little bit different.

SB has such unbelievable gripping incidents from his eventful life to tell us here at ISB. But listening to these really makes me wonder as to how foolishly we feel we are insulated from all that is happening in the world around us. When it does not affect anyone we know we feel safe and secure. But the truth is we are as vulnerable as ever. The world watched a dastardly act being committed against the SriLankan national cricket team. To peace and prosperity in the world we live in..... Amen

New Look

I was thinking for quite a few days to change the look and feel of my blog from the default ones that Blogger provides. It took some bit of experimenting with different templates and some bit of technical troubleshooting to get it to work with most of the original widgets. Hope you like the new look. Well at least I like it.

One small request. I know many of you do read my blog and I really am happy about it. It would be great if you could become a public "follower" of my blog by clicking the application on the right hand side(below the blog visits counter)  and entering your Google User ID and password. Just a request... (it should not take more than 2 minutes of your time).

Ok that is it for today. Before I let you all go...one small piece of secret...I am trying to change my look as well...Wait..I am not growing that moustache back ( That one picture has been famous enough here at ISB). Just trying to get into shape and trimming the one pack flabs. It is no easy task and so wish me luck.

The Complexity of Priorities

Sometimes it really amazes me to see where the priorities in life lie for people. I agree that this is a sensitive topic and each individual is entitled to have their own perspective but still....certain things are just weird.

I got extremely depressed to see a 11 year old marriage of one of my acquaintance broken due to misplaced priorities. The wife in this case refusing to come back from US to India after staying there for 10 years. And to this cause, she was willing to give up her husband (the guy she loved and dated for 5-6 years before being married 11 years back) and her lovely son of 7 years. So she is now sticking it out alone in foreign land while her husband and son (husband got the custody thankfully) made their way back here. The question that begs to be asked here is why and for what???

Anyways so much so for priorities in life being a happy life with the people you love. Not that I did not get a taste of this same story in my life at a much smaller scale. I was talking to some of my friends here and listening to this many of them could relate to a similar conflict in many of their relative's home. I wish and hope that sanity prevails for them and a small child does not have to bear the cost of selfishness of his/her parents.

Life is becoming more and more complex and priorities are ever changing and so are rights and wrongs. I just want to see that the priorities of people ultimately bring joy, happiness and peace in their lives.

And I am back.....

Namaskar, Hello....I am finally back on campus and back from the wilderness (staying without internet access for 10 days seems like living in wilderness these days).

So how was the vacation? It was pretty nice. Lots of good yummy food, a few extra kilos gained eating and sleeping most of the days and caught up with a few old friends and spent time with parents. Ohh also happened to watch a bengali movie after a long time - "Antaheen".

This Aparna Sen and Rahul Bose starrer did not disappoint. Some people may criticize its slow pace and lack of a "real storyline" but the film treads on the makeup of relationships in modern day urban middle class society. It also touches upon the sensitive aspects of a relationship developed purely online where the two protagonists know each other only through Yahoo Messenger. The complexities of modern day and the need to share your feelings, frustrations, likes, dislikes with someone you do not really know is becoming more a norm than an outlier. The cast delivers a very mature performance and although the film has a tragic ending, it is not the ending but the sensitive portrayal of feelings of different characters that lends the film its credibility.

Anyways Term 8 starts tomorrow and to be honest...I do not feel like studying. I dread having to go to class, do the assignments, mid terms, end terms...bla bla bla. All I want is to spend the last 6 weeks enjoying and chilling with my friends here. Already I know I will miss this place like crazy after April. But as they say..."All good things come to an end".

Term 7 comes to an end

Today Term 7 at ISB came to an end. It seems just a few days back I used to blog about Term 1 and Term 2 and the stress busting late night parties at ISB. Well now that Term 7 is over, the campus bears a far different look. On one hand the long arduous road to this point has taken its toll on people. In addition the current economic uncertainty has played a dampener as well. So no parties tonight.

We are having placements on an ongoing basis and till most of the batch is placed, we will try to avoid large scale celebrations. Reading my own blog posts feels so nice sometimes. I can almost relive my journey through ISB. Well Term 7 brings an end to the wonderful unity of our "COBRA" quad with one of my quad mates going to Duke for an exchange program. We went out for dinner last Saturday and arranged a wonderful farewell party for him with presents and lots and lots of booze. These are times when I feel so nostalgic. This one year in our lives is going to be so cherished for the coming years. The fun, pranks, heartbreak, joy, pain, games, parties, dunkings, clubs, and overall the phenomenal environment and infrastructure at ISB. We are all going to miss it like crazy once we head out on the 5th of April.

These days with the motivation for studies waning by the day, I am averaging 2-3 movies a day. Although this does not beat my wonderful record when in US, it is pretty impressive. In spite of exams today, I managed to watch Vantage Point and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button last night. The latter is a nice movie and the concept is pretty neat. After a significant period of time, I watched a good drama. Although my heart still goes out for Slumdog Millionaire for the upcoming Oscars.

I am heading out home tomorrow morning for a well earned break of 10 days. It is going to be nice staying away from laptop screens,emails, Orkut and Facebook profiles and blogging. I hope to be able to spend some time with parents who have been patient and supportive with everything that I have gone through over the last year or so. A friend of mine called me the other day and was shocked to see so much stuff on my blog. Well, most of it is plain simple ramblings and would amount to 0 bytes when compressed. But then who would come to read my blog for intellectual enlightenment.
See you all in 10 days and take care and Happy Valentines Day in advance to all you beautiful ladies who happen to read this post(at least no harm dreaming that many of them will do).

Kangaroos on the run....

It is so disturbing to see Australia slide from the invincible side in world cricket to a mediocre playing outfit within a span of a year. And this slide started from the beginning of 2008 when India braved the monkeygate scandal that the Aussies dished out to win the One day series in Australia - the first in 20 odd years. While that series was a definite watershed, it was not a reason for this downfall.

Two things happened simultaneously. Three legendary greats of Aussie cricket in recent years retired - Shane Warne, McGrath,Adam Gilchrist. Only when they were gone did the enormity of their contribution to the famed Aussie side came to bear. It was once said that Australia cricketing system is so strong that they can field two equally strong sides in International cricket. Rubbish..As it turns out, their cricketing pipeline is no better than any other country and they are suffering from the same transition phase that all previous great teams across the world have faced.

The second thing that happened was that India and South Africa really improved their level of cricket and enjoyed the kind of purple run that was always associated with the Aussies. Australia came to India and got thrashed in both Tests and One days and the confidence of the fledgling side went for a toss. Then South Africa steamrolled them in Tests and One days in Australia in an unbelievable fashion. I never in my life remember them being humiliated at home.

Well anyways, I hope the Aussies come to terms with the facts which are really staring at them. They are no longer the team to beat. They are an average side under transition and need to be patient to build the team for future. And this stage requires maturity, poise and not arrogance and denial. Just as an example, last week Michael Clarke said that defeat to the Kiwis in unthinkable. Well two matches down in the 5 match series, Australia look down the barrel 0-2 down and the Kiwis have the perfect opportunity to nail it home this Sunday in Sydney. Now Kiwis are no mighty force to reckon with and this series loss should at least bring back some sanity in the Aussie camp.

With the tough tour of South Africa coming up, Ricky Ponting and his men should reflect on the last 6 months and be open to learning a few things. Australia have been a dominant force in world cricket for the last 10 years and people the world over love to watch them play. I just hope that their impunity and arrogance does not prevent their ascent back to the place they lost.

Fulfillment

It is so strange that there are times you really have no clue where you are really heading. Its weird because we pride ourselves to be one of the most ambitious people around. Are we not supposed to know exactly where we want to be in life, how to go about it and how to tread the steps to achieve it? Here at a business school we are taught strategies for competitive advantage, risk mitigation and contingency planning. Yet there are situations when you forget all of them and get plain simple confused. Maybe it is because we do not want to think about such situations as business problems. Maybe these situations are really so complex that simple applications of frameworks and theoretical models fails. Or maybe these situations are what we call life.

Fulfillment is an elusive entity. It needs not only successful strategy, flawless execution but luck as well. It needs things to fall into place on which you have no control. It needs people around you to work in tandem to do the right things. It requires you to just have faith that others will not let you down. I think in life we tend to run after things which are actually fulfillments. However we forget what it takes and only concentrate on our part of the puzzle and not on the bigger picture. We take the externalities for granted and assume that everything will just fall into place. Unfortunately such things do not always happen and we get repeatedly bitten by the elusive nature of fulfillment.

So here I am contemplating on what more I could have done to reach the state of fulfillment. I did everything according to plan till this point. Totally focussed, I believe that I kept all my promises and did the right things. But the quest for fulfillment is still on.....

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"