Bangalore Update - 1

It has been such a long time since I have been online....Lot happened. Came to a new city, joined work after a break of more than a year, started looking for a place to stay and so on and so forth. But the good thing is that the first week has been pretty exciting so far. Met a number of extremely intelligent guys in my program from the best B schools of the country, enjoyed the company accomodation, watched Manchester United get ripped apart by Barcelona and most importantly got a place to stay. Good start it seems. Although much of this was due to providence, I guess I was due for some good luck for a long time.

The place is pretty nice, both my apartment as well as the city in general. Coming from the torrid heat of Kolkata probably added to its charm. Anyways more on the city and the new life later. I am yet to get my laptop and hence would be pretty infrequent on the net. For the first time in more than 1.5 years I am beginning to get what I call Sunday evening syndrome. The symptoms being depression, restlessness, longing and just plain disappointment that the weekend is over. So with tomorrow begins another week of struggle and survival.

New Trendz

These days one trip out of home and you can get to see the broad spectrum of life in India and also catch a glimpse of the so called affluent shining India society at large. I mean the beggars still roam the streets, shanties are abound next to sky scrapers and people still sleep on pavements. But that has not changed. I have seen all of that as I grew up. Some things really do not change. But what has changed drastically is the outlook of the burgeoning middleclass. Some examples?

Dress - One visit to the shopping malls and you have everything from girls wearing revealing tank tops, short skirts, tight slacks, low cut jeans and guys sporting ponytails, earrings and colored streaked hair. Man I feel so back dated and out of place...I can see the generation gap widening :(

Food - More and more people have switched to having sausages and sandwiches for breakfast instead of luchis or bread toast. Lunches typically are at work and dinners are mostly eating outs. Eating fruits are no longer fashionable and so instead of having mango people drink Tropicana Mango and instead of peeling and having leechies, people are having Tropicana Leechie Twirl. Fish is getting morphed with people having fillets instead of pieces. Everyone hate biting the corn and instead microwave the Act II popcorn. Even typical restaurants are out of vogue and in is the Pizza Huts and KFC.

Habits - Increasingly people have become bold. Public displays of affection are common and couple no longer have to resort to unlit street corners and shady parks. OH before I forget the trend I HAVE to mention. People moving around in crowded buses, trains, clinging to autos but with the earplugs on listening to music. This craze of listening to music while negotiating the mad traffic, crossing roads, getting tossed on a bus really amazes me. I just get anxious about the safety hazard it brings along. Well that is young India!!

There is more but my mom is waiting for me to take a shower so that we all can have lunch. Anyways, one small disclaimer before I end. I merely described the changes that I have observed and this is not a criticism against the practices. The debate about decency, safety, practicality, progressiveness is best left for another day and another post.

Hypocrisy = Complexity

I do not like hypocrisy...I never liked it. I mean call a spade a spade...why hide it? Yet people take resort to this time and again. Only it results in complications, heartburn, disappointments and frustration.

The other day I had been to Mumbai and happened to listen to one of my childhood friend's story. He was on the verge of getting married when his fiancee and her parents decided that she could not move out of Kolkata and relocate to Mumbai since it would mean that she would have to give up her job. My friend had been dating this girl for 7 years and although she had urged him to move to Kol had never ruled out the fact that she would relocate. My friend tried. But the opportunity he got in Mumbai was much better and hence he took it up and relocated to Mumbai from Hyderabad. Little did he know that this would come back to haunt him. So in front of both parents, the girl's dad says that the marriage needs to be put on hold till both of them decide on the location issue.

When you knew everything over the last few years what were they thinking? And if it was something they knew all along why did they not have the courage to just call it off earlier when his family and relatives were not involved. Some would say, why does the girl need to sacrifice and relocate? I agree... Why should she? But then there were other alternatives. She could have made it clear that there is no point going forward unless the location thing is sorted out. Or better she could have moved to Mumbai and tried to get something for herself. The problem is that people want everything to come on a platter. It is a daunting proposition to jump into uncertainties and then figure out the best way. No one wants to get their hands dirty. Anyways that is entirely a personal prerogative and if place is indeed more important that the person why try to project otherwise? It is much better for everyone if this piece of truth is spelt out.

Anyways people say life is complicated. However time and again I want to disagree. It is as complex as we make it to be. And hypocrisy really adds to this complexity.

Heartbreak

He had the ball on his feet and with the goalkeeper beaten, a sure goal was in the offing. Yet he failed to do it and the costly mistake came back to haunt his team as Barcelona equalized in the second minute of extra time and went on to the Champions League final on 27th May. For those of you who saw the match know I am talking of Didier Drogba. A character who I always thought of as a maverick genius but I was wrong. His behaviour with the referee proved that he is an actor and a person devoid of integrity of character. He played to the camera to atone for his earlier mistakes on the pitch.

The Barcelona Chelsea match was one of the best champions league matches I have watched in a long time. I have immense respect for Guus Hiddink as a coach and I have no doubts that Chelsea approached the game with the perfect strategy. They infact went ahead to a wonder strike from Essien but Drogba failed to kill the match and wasted two glorious opportunities. I like Barca, I really do and one must admire their unrelenting energy and inventive football. But it is just that I felt that tactically Chelsea had done enough to mow down Barca. Anyways thanks to Iniesta (one of the best midfielders rite now) Barca find themselves having a shot at Manchester United in Rome.

Football has it all. It is just a reflection of real life. Probably that is the reason why it is so popular worldwide. So for Chelsea its a case of so near yet so far and the story of missed chances and what ifs...[sigh] [sigh]. The picture of a young supporter crying his lungs out clinging to his dad said it all. Heartbreak... :)

Mumbai Diary

Mumbai trip had been fantastic. Met my ISB buddies and more importantly met some childhood and school friends after ages (read 10 years). Visiting mumbai on a long weekend also meant that I did not face any of the horror traffics that Mumbai is infamous for. I wanted to visit this place for long and it feels nice to be here. Went out to gateway of India, saw the Taj Mahal hotel (even more famous after 26/11 terror attack) and chatted away to glory for close to 5 hours on marine drive. Saw the sun set on the Arabian sea and had a wonderful dinner at Jazz by the bay.

I also ventured out on the Mumbai local train to visit my schoolfriend in Vashi. It was a real fun get together and resulted in 2 of my friends deciding to skip work yesterday and just enjoy at home. Everything was ust perfect until 10:40 PM last night.

I saw it happening as if in slow motion. The car came speeding from the left and we were on a collision course with it. The driver of our auto braked and turned right to avoid a direct impact and the centrifugal force was too much for it. It toppled scratched on the road and came to a stop. I was the first to come out of it and people came rushing in. Luckily neither my friend nor myself seemed to be critically injured. First we thought of going to the hospital but then decided to go home and then assess the damage. So here I am with pain in my left shoulder, a bump on my forehead and a cut in my left leg. I hope it is not too bad given that I can move my hand and there is not much swelling. But the pain indicates, I might have injured a muscle or two. Maybe I will go vist the doctor tomorrow morning after landing in kolkata just as a precaution. Anyways the only silver lining to the whole thing is that things could have been worse.

Well what can I say...bad things happen. Destiny I guess....Anyways I have some pics from the trip which I will post once I get home. Ciao

Doing Nothing

When I close my eyes, I can literally relive the hectic pace at ISB...the cacophony, the friends, the deadlines, the exams, the club activities - everything just whizzes past like one super fast train. And then I open my eyes and the reality strikes. I really dont have anything to do the whole day apart from enjoying the delicacies that mom is dishing out and the unbearable 40+ degree heat that mother nature dishing out. I talk to my friends and the same withdrawal symptoms are evident to all. It is just but natural I guess.

The O week at ISB was a lot of fun. But the last day was really sad and painful. I mean that was the time it really really struck me that the campus will not be ours anymore. A new bunch of guys will take it over and make it a year of their life. Anyways I tried to drink my way out of the senti mood and things just got worse on 18th night. I cried in public and I don't even remember the countless guys who tried to console me that night. Bottomline I had a blast the entire year and made some of the best frinds ever and I miss them all [sigh sigh sigh]. It feels nice to read your own posts to relive your own experiences. I felt that life has come a full circle when I read my own post " Orientation week ends at ISB" of last year.

I met some really interesting(and beautiful) people at ISB from the current batch. People unsure about what to expect from ISB, people confused about career options, people just plain simply overawed at life in general at ISB. My only advice to them was to just enjoy life and make some friends for life and everything else would fall into place. I am sure everyone of you will do just fine. And if any of you need any gyaan just reach out to me and I would be happy to help.

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.....