Insanity Personified

2009-01-15T18:24:00.000-08:00

ADIEU

Two things shook me in 2008, one was the unimaginable Chapter 11 filing by our firm and the other was the dastardly 26 /11 Mumbai shooting war.

I hope that we construct a ring of steel that will keep us aloof of such rampage in the future. In the days subsequent to the attack their was anger all around and even I had drafted a post, venting my anger at all, media in particular . However did not publish the post at that time, because felt that it added only snob value. Recently came across the Axis bank's website which mentions away through which you could contribute to the families of the slain security personnel. This isn't the one and only thing we ought to be doing, but is surely one which is of a positive outlook.

Coming to the Chapter 11 Filing of the firm, it was completely unexpected and took me off-guard from a career perspective. I was not sure whether to come to work , however my managers addressed our issues brilliantly. Till this point of time I was in a world of comfort zone, and my earlier plans for studying further were put on hold due to my sheer laziness. I regretted the decision of deferring my FRM exam. That all changed in one day and after some soul-searching I decided to give all the exams which tell then I had postponed starting with NCFM module Derivatives to the Financial papers in Actuaries. In the meanwhile our firm got bought by a big Japanese firm and all our jobs were saved. However the event posed a larger question on developing one's core competency and I knew that evetually it had to be in Risk. By sheer luck I recieved an interview call with a firm for their actuarial team & some of the questions asked were 1) How many ways can u provide to get the number of black telephones present in the city of Mumbai 2) Tell us the Micro and Macroeconomic impact of counterfiet currencies . Needless to say my interview was superb & I was offered a job in the actuarial team and have lapped up the offer graciously. However, with the joy comes the agony--- of leaving this firm, my colleagues, my managers ...........Indeed one ought to take tough decisions when it comes to career and it is high time that I pull my socks up.

To all my colleagues in the firm , may the very best occur for you guys and God bless all of you.

Before winding up the post, a few souls whom I am highly indebted, here are my personalized notes of farewell.

To Ajit: Without your support I could not have dream t of pursuing further studies.

To Suresh: I will always remember the support and faith extended to me .

To Shyam : I have always valued your advise noteworthy, may you achieve greater heights.

Hopefully, would start posting a bit more regularly .................till then...........ADIEU

2007-06-07T18:01:00.000-07:00

IIM L GD / PI experiences

For the uninitiated, had received a call from IIM-Lucknow for the WMP program conducted in Noida.

GD : The topic of discussion was " Whether governments should encourage the use of open source softwares ? "

We were 6 of us and 15 minutes gave each of us a lot of opportunity to express our views, though in between their was a slight confusion when a participant quoted " Google Earth " as a open source software. Now their is an essential difference between a open source code software, freeware and shareware. As far as the topic was concerned I adopted the middle path quoting pros and cons for both and was happy that had not committed any blunder.

After the GD we were asked to wait outside and were served with cold drinks :-)

Interview : 2 professors P1 and P2 who were also their for the GD .

Me : Knock, Knock.... May I come ?
P1 : Yes, yes .... Take your seat .
Me : Thank you.( Take seat and wish both of them )
P2 is least concerned to what I am saying ... He is browsing through some files ( Probably mine)
P2 : Can I have a look at your certificates and marksheets and eh your salary slips also ?
Me : Sure Sir... Hand it over them.... P1 gives a dirty look to me so as to say that you are so disorganised . ( Anyways by this time I feel a bit comfortable and the butterflies would have taken a break )
P2 : So tell me about yourself .
Me : Blah ... Blah ( had ratofied it )
P1 : So why do you want to join this programme ?
Me : Told him that after 12th itself I wanted to do an MBA ( big mistake ) .... hence took up BMS + 3-4 work ex
told about my future plans and how IIM L can help me in that also praised Lucknow a great deal.
P2 : Not convinced .... why BMS .... looks at my marks( they are horrible ) you have not done justice to the opportunities you have got in your BMS . Your marks are pretty low. You won't be able to take on the rigour here .why don't you give CAT and apply for the regular 2 year course ( as if they have a seat reserved for me ) , you can earn much more than what we do .
Me : Sir I understand that, however please understand that this is something I have been planning for a long time ... blah ... blah
P1 : no but why specifically this programme
Me : (abhey kya inko samjta nahin hain kya ) As I told earlier ....... blah blah
( Least expected that my interview would branch out to my acads ) Also added that" the marks mentioned do not justify the potential manager in me ." ( 2 nd big mistake )
P2: Brilliant answer .... ( me surprised ) ... so why do you want to do an MBA in that case.. you already have the capability to manage. gave me some examples. ( Shot myself i guess)
Me: No sir I want to acquire technical skills , blah blah ...
P1 : Let me tell you that many guys have flunked this programme, so be prepared to work hard (me :-) .. P2 doesn't like it ) in case you get selected :( .
P2 : Tell me something about the work you do.
Me : ( well prepared for this ) Gave him a very short answer. ( Expected the panel to quiz me on this ) No questions asked . ( Mistake and perhaps the biggest ... must have elaborated my job )
P2: What is this quizzing and philanthropy ?
Me: Explained .
P2 : That's all from us . You can take your certificates . All the best.
Me : Thank you .

Overall a very poor show. Would give myself not more than 3.5 / 10 and am pretty confident that I won't make it to the program. Anywhichways was a good experience and hope to handle my interviews better in future.

2006-09-11T01:16:00.000-07:00

Return of the beast ...

Had been to my alma matar last Sunday to compete ... errrr... egregiously participate in the 6th edition of the Armageddon Business Quiz. A lot and I really mean it a lot has changed since 2001.

As far as the quizzing part goes it makes me dumbfolded to see some mindboggling questions being answered. Researching the questions itself is extremely tiresome but answering those questions is simply amazing.....I wonder if their is a change in the type of questions which was less of corporate history and more of some brilliant trivia ( Danni.com, Charlene Drain - thanks research ) . Oh yes this was the first time I ever travelled in the college lift and it was good to see the room which was reserved for corporates having AC, cushion chairs , glass boards etc. This was also the first time that I tasted the Masala Pav from the nearby Quickchef reastaurant and boy was it damn good ! And Dhananjay unusally did not pull the legs of the participants or utter the words " Brilliant, absolutely brilliant answer" . Anywhichways we love to see you hosting and winning quizzes.

Hope to start posting a bit more now that I know that writing blogs make lot of money. Down with Celibacy, the beast has come back !

2006-07-22T21:23:00.001-07:00

The Bond Leaves for Wharton

Bond - I cannot find a better word for a ordinary BCom + MCom ( but eccentric or pagal ) guy making it to arguably the best B-School in the planet, Wharton School of Business. Incidentally he is also the owner of the popular MBA forum "Pagalguy.com" . The forum has helped scores of people get into leading B-Schools all over and all of them are indebted to him immensely. Though the forum started as a MBA centric forum it has beautifully branched its activities into many other areas such as community services.

His story is source of inspiration for thousands of wannabe MBA's . He is already making headlines by interviewing none other than the great Marketing Guru Dr. Philip Kotler . I am sure that in the coming years we will hear more of him and his company.

All the very best to him !

2006-07-12T20:27:00.000-07:00

" Mumbai Spirit, my foot !! "

The above words were uttered by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Mr. M.N. Singh in a talk show yesterday in a private TV channel in defence of his views that people in Mumbai have become insensitive to such atrocious incidents. So have Mumbaikars really become apathetic ?

My answer is a resounding yes .

I would say that if not " Insensitive " the Mumbaikars have " Resigned " their faith on the Government machinery . The response from Mumbaikars have shown us that despite the failure of the government machinery the common man on the street took the onus on himself
rescuing and helping scores of innocent people. But then their is another hidden picture perhaps which I realized when I talked to people. Some people were sensing an opportunity to invest in stocks as the News Channels all over were beaming the ominous reports of the blasts . Some were very casual in the approach saying that one day everyone one has to die and all that crap . Others said that they had no option but to carry on with their routine life as such incidents take place every now and then. I agree but then does the action of carrying on with regular life due to compulsions speak about the Mumbai Spirit.

For me the Mumbai spirit is about the Hotel owner opposite Churchgate station who served tea and snacks free of cost to to people, its about people who queued all along the roads offering water and snacks , tempo wallas offering transportation to people,blogs set up instantly offering to contact relatives, people queuing up outside hospitals the very next day to donate blood and of course people who were part of the initial rescue operation .But then if you let out your emotions you know such people exist in minority and the fact of the matter is that people ( including me ) have no choice but go back to work in the same old train hoping that they would never become a target . Hope that the city which we all love so dearly never ever faces such incidents in the future so as to question its spirit !!!!

2006-06-11T06:32:00.000-07:00

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2006-06-10T17:14:00.000-07:00

World Cup Reviews

The most awaited sporting event has really kicked off with 5 matches already being played as of now and boy already it has given the footballing pundits a kick in the arse. Here's my take on some of the matches played so far.

Germany ( Hosts ) VS Costa Rica.

Michael Ballack the talismanic midfielder was not playing for Germany and Lehmann was in charge of the post instead of Oliver Kahn. Within 17 minutes 3 goals were already being scored and Germany was ahead 2 -1 and this lasted for the rest of the first half. Normally you would expect a team like Germany to slow down the pace of the game in the 2nd half by playing defensively but instead they displayed their attacking prowess with retaining the classic 4-4-2 formation and in more than one occasion the Costa Rica custodian was brilliant to the task. In the second half Germany did little to slow down the pace and were rewarded in the 61st minute when ace striker Miroslav Klose scored his second for the match and it seemed as if they had done enough to seal the match. But within the next 15 mins Wanchope pulled one back when he smartly cut open the offside trap . Now the match was really gripping and had this match ended with a 3 -3 draw it was as good as a loss for the hosts. But then thanks to a classic long ranger shot by a German midfielder in the closing minutes of play the match ended with Germany scoring 4 goals. From a audience point of view it was thrilling to watch some attacking football but for Germans they need to fix their defense else them reaching to quarters would be unlikely.

England VS Paraguay.

One of my favorite strikers Roque Santacruz and arguably one of the best defenders Carlos Gamarra were up against tournament favorites England . I am sure that they had butterflies in their stomach or else what can one make of the 3 rd minute own goal conceded by the great Gamarra trying to defend a David Backham free kick. The thorn in the flesh this time was a lanky 6'7 striker Peter Crouch who caused ample problems with his height through out the match and it remains to be seen if Michael Owen is kept in the reserves for the upcoming matches with Rooney and Crouch taking on the attacking responsibilities. For most of the first half it was England who had the possession but then occasional brilliance from Paraguay striker Valdez gave a few scares to the English supporters. The first half ended with a 1 - 0 scoreline. Come second half and Beckham and co . were happy to defend unlike their German counterparts and slowed the pace of the game considerably. But then this is one tactic which threw them out of the last world cup when they tried to defend a 1-0 advantage against Brazil only to concede 2 goals. But thankfully for England they could hold on to their goal advantage and the match ended with a smile on Beckham's face. If Paraguay has to progress through to the knock out stages then they need to tighten their midfield and not allow opposing teams to have a go on their goal from 20 - 30 meters as was evident with the likes of Lampard having a go every now and then.

Trinidad & Tobbago VS Sweden

A country with a set of players assembled from a population of a mere 1 million takes on a team having stars such as Freddie Ljungberg and Henrik Larsson . Being the underdogs T&T knew very well that they had to defend ver well and The whole world had predicted that not less than half a dozen goals would be but put past through T&T. But surprise surprise the first half ended with honours being shared and frustration for the Swedes as they were denied by the good keeping of Hislop. The second half starts in a rather poor note as Avery John was sent off after a second yellow. So now it was T&T's 10 VS Sweden's 11. Sweden push hard but it was T&T who miss out to take the lead after hitting the cross bar. As time moved on Sweden pressed harder but were held to a 0-0 draw . Immediately after the draw I changed my television channel to see if Brain Lara ( also from T&T ) playing the test match was knowing what had just taken place and boy was Lara happy.

The match between Sweden and Paraguay in this group should be really cut throat (and unless T&T upset Paraguay or England ) and this match could well decide who moves ahead to the quarters.

In conclusion all I would say is that no team in the word cup fray is a weak link and it is very much possible that a few upsets takes place. A lot of teams are keen on playing more attacking football and it would be interesting to see if my favorite team Italy ( traditionally more defensive ) in action tomorrow having strikers of the quality of Totti, Del Piero, Vieri and Toni also adopt the attacking style. But I think they wont !!

2006-06-01T19:53:00.000-07:00

Football Fever.

So, the rain gods have arrived much earlier than what had been earlier predicted by our MET department ( no surprises there ) and as I go near the window grill to have a romantic peek at the first few rains I see a group of kids in a small vacant space playing Football. With Germany'06 less than 10 days away you need a shower to extinguish the football heat , don't you ?? Well it's true atleast for me .Seeing them I start juggling the football at my relatively new home only to be warned from dearest mom.

Back in my college days when we had the mercy of the rain gods me and my friends would bunk college to play soccer in the muddiest of conditions for no less than 3 hours and then go to a nearby tea stall to have a Tea and the Great Indian Burger ( err Vada Pav ) . My tryst with football started at a very tender age when I used to watch few local matches during my annual vacation trip to my hometown and then graduated in the 1990 world cup season when I saw the likes of Klinsman. Imagine my frustration 4 years back during the Grand Finale between Germany and Brazil when the electricity went off and I called up MSEB ( Maharashtra State Electricity Board ) to inform that a world cup match is going on only to get a reply " Yeh world cup to atha jatha rehta hai .". Would he have the guts to reply the same if it had been a cricket world cup match ?

Since the past 3 worldcups I have been supporting one and only one team to win the coveted trophy : ITALY . Hope they get out of their defensive clutches and make use the best of quality strikers like Vieri, Del Pierro, Toni and Inzaghi. Qualification even for the knock out stages would not be easy considering they have the likes of Czech Republic, USA and Congo in their group. But hope that the Azzuris have some luck on their side and the fever carries on till the grand finale.

2006-05-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

" Left Bengal "

With the Left comprehensively winning the Bengal assembly elections 7 times in a row the state may be renamed as Left Bengal .

2006-05-05T21:58:00.000-07:00

Ads in Gods Own Country

M.S. Dhoni is a big hit here and is seen endorsing Mysore sandalwood soap and so are Yana Gupta and Katrina Kaif seen extensively endorsing a range of Sarees :-). And yes Sania posing for Malabar Gold . She too in a Saree.

2006-04-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

MaverickED !

A small but a brilliant book Maverick - by Ricardo Semler has indirect answers to many of my questions which I have been trying to find out ever since I started with my "corporate" life. I have always wondered as to why big promises which are made by the top management never materialises at the ground level .

"Why is it that many of the managers take a young professional for granted and give a lot of gas ?" remarked my friend in one of our casual conversations .

" Why the heck do managers insist on MIS when the reality is that the data becomes redundant after a period of time ? " quoted another . "Its just that they care about figures" quipped another replying to the question.

Why are meetings conducted when one has to say something crap and not really when their is something to say ? why , why, why the f*** ? (In one of my previous organizations we were asked to wait every weekend for over 2 hours after general shift timings for a meeting, the contents of which would be excatly same as the past 10 meetings. )Its pretty simple.

The corporate big bosses in all probability care least about their employees and have a single minded goal of making profit ( most of them at the expense of employee satisfaction ) and then when a employee resigns they crib about attrition. My foot ! Alas, they also expect us to fill all those employee satisfaction surveys positively & attend the exit interview.

Forgot to mention that this is a book of a Brazilian Entrepreneur who adopted such employee friendly policies which made the employees feel very loyal to the company and one of the most sought after companies to work with in Brazil by the young grads. Believe me even Mckinsey will get a complex. In one of the examples the writer questions companies which claim to treat their employees as part of their family and then search the employees everyday while leaving in and out to ensure that nothing has been stolen. Is there any family in which one is subjected to such treatment?

My recommendation: A must read especially if you are thinking about entrepreneurship or are / have experienced similar questions as stated earlier.

Next on the shelf: - Saving Capitalism From The Capitalists.

Disclaimer: Please be kindly informed that the above post is in no way related to my experiences with my current employer .

2006-04-12T18:30:00.000-07:00

Vishu Nostalgic

Tomorrow is Vishu and just the thought that I would be coming from office at 5:00 AM and directly viewing the Vishu kani makes me sick. Add to that I would need to take a nap after viewing the kani. Scrap the ****ing night shifts. There was a time when I would be woken with my eyes closed and led to see the Vishu kani, the first thing to be seen that morning . After the sight I would be bestowed some token money by the elders as is the ritual. And then I would go to the nearby temple ( to pray :-) ) wearing a mundu and have a lengthy chit-chat for more than 3-4 hours with my friends and finally returning for the tasty meal back home only when the stomach rung the warning bell . I miss all the fun !

Poor me cant do much except vent my frustration by hitting the keyboards hard. Errrr forgot to wish you all a Happy Vishu !

2006-03-29T16:46:00.000-08:00

Pickpocketed

It was gonna be a fun saturday evening, an opportunity to regroup with old college buddies and crack a few PJ's , discuss about some new venture , play dumb charades and many such things. The time was fixed at 6:00 PM and as always people expected me to see atleast at 6:30 PM . But I had an immediate cousin visiting my house and I started a bit late.

Now the place where we all were gonna meet was about 40 minutes from my house which included around 20 minutes of rail journey through the ever crowded Mumbai local train. I was at the Thane Station wondering when my Train would arrive as there were no trains for the place I was heading to for the past 10 minutes and obviously the platform was crowded with many persons seeking to catch the train. I managed to sneak in front of other people so that I could be one of those first souls to get inside the compartment . Now I have this practice of just checking my wallet ( kept in the pants) before I catch a train and then just when I am inside the compartment. As the train arrived at the station lots of people alighted from the train and double the number of people boarded the train. As soon as I managed to step inside the compartment I just patted my pant pockets only to find my wallet missing. I though to myself that I must have not checked the pockets properly. In plain words I was hoping for a miracle. But alas it was not to be ! I had lost many a thing including my library card , railway pass and of course my debit card. Cash of course !

At that moment nothing struck my mind than blocking my all important debit card . So I immediately sms'ed a friend to provide me the customer service number of a reputed bank. In jet speed I had the number and I was trying to get through the IVRS to talk to the bank representative. Finally after 5 minutes I was connected to a representative who took more than 30 minutes to block the card because he was not able to verify my name ( One which can give Vangilapuram Venkata Sai Laxman a complex ) . I was trying to keep my cool but then WTF aren't the customer service reps trained to search using multiple options. Or are banks using the banking software developed by the East India Company ? I queried as to who would be responsible in case my debit was misused . The representative just kept on saying that he was helpless and gave me all that empathy crap. So finally reluctantly I had to call my folks at home to get the account number and get it blocked. Finally the issue was resolved . But the representative while closing the call also added that since I was a lucky ( any takers ?? ) and the chosen one I would be soon receiving a international debit card within 10 working days.

The evening carried on with me reliving my college days of borrowing money from my friends . In my 6 years of traveling the local trains never has been a instance of my wallet being pickpocketed and always believed that the probability of me being the target of such an act would be extremely remote . But all that has changed for me and traveling in trains is not the same anymore !

2006-03-23T16:48:00.000-08:00

Day One @ Wankhede

To begin with may I mention that I am not a greatest lover of the game called CRICKET. Like most other guys from Kerala I love my football and would occasionally go to watch the club matches in Mumbai mostly of Mahindra United .

But last Saturday I along with couple of my office colleagues and their friends ( 9 of us in all ) went to the Wankhede Stadium to witness the test match between Indian and England which India very handsomely lost . A day earlier the latest Team India shirts consisting of the Nike Logo were bought by some of us . This was my first time I was going to a stadium to witness a cricket match and according to my office colleagues the buzzword was that the coolest stand to be in was the now infamous North stand . To start off I and my friends reached the ticket counter at around 5:00 AM to ensure that tickets could be secured . To my surprise we were the first lot of guys who were their to buy the tickets . Soon by around 5:45 AM a sizeable amount of people had turned up. I was chatting with this guy who was all set to buy the tickets for the North stand and he remarked " I am born and brought up in the North stand " when I enquired on why the hell was he bent upon securing tickets only for the North Stand. At around 7:00 AM an MCA official came and directed us to the window from where we would get the tickets . I was proud and assured of getting a ticket now. However some of my other friends were keen on getting the 5 day pass . I was not that hell bent on coming for 5 days and said to myself that one day would more than satisfy my anxiety of witnessing a cricket match.

Police

Time passed on and at around comes a group of Police officials who began to slap people left, right and center. Still I was in the numero uno position. Suddenly the window was changed and I was thrown out of the race by the people behind me and the police for strangely kept mum during the whole commotion. Whoever was trying to get back to his original position was slapped and people were dragged by the hair. I was completely pissed off over the fact that after ruining my sleep and being the first person to arrive I was nowhere. Somehow a couple of my friends managed to secure an approximately 10th position in the queue. I made dare devil attempt to stand in the line and made the few steps forward . To my surprise the policeman did not resort to any slapping but asked me to move away. But I was determined to not take this very lightly and told him flatly that he had arrived there just now whereas I was the first guy standing in the queue. Thankfully some other guys in the queue also supported me and he let me in . Finally we got all the 9 tickets for the North Stand. We all proceeded to a nearby hotel to have some breakfast and then finally proceeded to the stadium. Well I had carried with me a "Brainpack " since I had a quiz to attend after the match got over. Nowhere was it written on the ticket that bags are not allowed inside the stadium. I was asked to open my bag in all the 4 checkpoints but the real action happened at entry point 3 when I was asked to leave my bag . I acknowledged to do that but demanded a token number so that bag would be in safe custody. But the police guy replied that they would give me once the match was over and no tokens could be given . Just then I saw a English fan being let inside with a bag without any checking. This again made me angry of the double standards adopted and I argued with the policeman over there for the next 2 minutes after which he reluctantly agreed to let me take the bag inside .

The Match.

Came to know that Dravid had won the TOSS and was expecting to see India and especially Sachin bat. However to everyone's surprise Dravid elected to field and I was disappointed by this decision. The Indian team led by Dravid entered the field and the opening spell was bowled by Pathan and Sreeshanth. But to my utter dismay in the first 45 minutes had fallen and the English openers were negotiating the pace attack very well. Soon Kumble and Munaf Patel stepped in. Munaf was bowling at a good speed enough to create confusion among the openers. Though he looked very impressive with his bowling he still could not find the first victim which was finally taken by Sreeshanth. And England were just a wicket down at lunch after Indian elected to bowl . I can write a lot more but then now that the test match itself is over I do not intend to describe it further except for the fact that the Lanky Munaf impressed me immensely and bowled a brilliant over which had three bouncers one after the another and one fiery yorker to end ; a perfect example to set up a wicket .

North Stand

The most vocal stand of all had most people comprising of students from nearby colleges and many of them could be heard saying " Mera proxy mara kya ? " on their cellphones. Mumbai loves Sachin and the crowd got mad everytime he fielded a ball . There was a time when people from the North Stand shouted " Sachin Sachin " so many times that he had to acknowledge it by raising his hand . What a moment that was ! . Then came the Bakra of the day " Yuvi " to field near our stand . The crowd started with a slogan " Kim Sharma ka Bhai kaun - Yuvraj Yuvraj " and I was more than happy to join lend my vocals which had already dried a great deal. Yuvraj also sportingly responded by sometimes smiling or at other times asking all of us to keep quiet. Then their were other chants like " East Stand - hai hai " since they were not co-operating with us in furthering the Mexican wave. All of a sudden poor fellow Dravid drops a catch and then the capacity full North Stand shouted in unison " We want Saurav " and I too shouted it with full throttle . Then there were some cheeky ones coming up like " Fat gayi toh England bola Hajmola Hajmola . " ( You ought to be there to enjoy the war cries ).

But it turned ugly when people started abusing English cricketers in a very unceremonious and derogatory fashion and I correctly kept myself outside of these ones. The abuses were very offensive to say the least and did not recede until we bagged the second wicket. Its true that we all want to have a bit of fun but having fun at the expense of presenting a abusive picture before a visiting team is something which these 17-20 year old youngesters should abdicate themselves from . The picture had turned much more ugly on the fourth and fifth day when we could clearly listen to all the abusive tones of the crowd in our TV sets. I still feel that the sight from the North stand is awesome and the crowd is pretty decent but if the people continue chanting in a similar fashion a day will come when we will be having a cop controlling every other row in a stand.

Post Match

Had been to a quiz hosted by Dhananjay @ JBIMS nearly 500 meters from the stadium and it was worth all the effort to say the least . Though I could manage to answer a very few questions but the research carried out was excellent . Little surprise then that the ace quizzer went on to win the Brand Equity Quiz Mumbai round couple of days later.

Well just coming back to the cricket I feel I was lucky to see all the 11 Indian players on the field after a pretty mundane decision by Dravid. I had a rocking experience and intend to see some more matches at the Wankhede stadium. And yes only from the North Stand ! No inane cries please :-)

2006-02-28T16:43:00.000-08:00

Continuing to Blah Blah Blah ....

As a child during the parents meeting a constant complain from the teachers used to be that I was very talkative. My parents used to always bring this matter up whenever I used to show them the Report card or the exam papers and I slowly escaped to the toilet for the next half an hour avoiding their rhetoric. I had many X's marked against my name by the class monitor on the blackboard for talking excessively and subsequently received lots of punishment from teachers. I still remember writing a sentence " I will not talk in class " 100 times due to a punishment imposed upon me by a teacher in class VIIth.

Years passed on with a feeling that being talkative meant something terribly wrong with a person until I entered the corporate world. When I started meeting people in higher positions I found that they have this tendency to speak for long without a break continuously and the simple reason for this is that most of them are extremely passionate about what they do. You ask a question they will go on and on like amaron batteries until you make some wired excuse of slipping through. Once I happened to ask a close ended question to which the top executive replied " Yes, it is possible. " I was happy to get the answer but then he continued to explain the rationale behind that in a very finicky way which lasted for about 20 minutes . My advise , don't be fooled by their geeky looks because when they open their mouth , you have no escape route and believe me you would not have the strength to reciprocate. Finally don't try to rebut them. Christ help you if you happen to fall in company of a MBA student ( particularly IIMs ) you can be rest assured of a one sided conversation with full of jargons. Once when I asked this person what was the reason that she used so much of jargons ( not that I don't understand :- ) while having a casual conversation pat came the reply that they are used to this and this was the routine. Very similar to this are Entrepreneurs who go on continuously and I just love to watch them talk . As I said earlier all this boils down to passion and you would be able to stretch your talk of 5 minutes to 25 minutes. As I look it most of the successful people ( I repeat most and not all ) generally do this .

Thankfully I have not changed a bit from my versatile childhood days except that nowadays I try to talk a lot of sense ( like my current post :-) which comes very naturally to me. So theres still hope for me to reach the top of the ladder or own a ladder ( I prefer this ) with my blah blah blah .....

2006-02-19T19:12:00.000-08:00

6th Pay Commission.

Money has been incorrectly considered as a motivating factor by many whereas in reality it is a demotivating factor atleast in the long run. For instance lets assume that you are being offered a 100 % increase on your current salary ( no one will give u that ) by a rival company. You leave your current company saying that a 100% increase is motivating enough to switch organizations. But when you join the organization you find that your peers in the same position or worse still your juniors earn much more than you . Now would you find the 100% increase from your earlier salary motivating enough to love the work you do? Though very subjective, most you will answer in negative . Did anyone say that money motivates ??

Let me tell you about one uncle, a close family friend who is an I.R.S. and has been serving for the GOI for the past 25 years. He has a daughter who has passed out from a coveted B school and has been working for just over 3 years. However their is a striking difference to the amount earned by the Father and daughter. The father barely manages to earn half the salary of his daughter. Had he been working in a private sector company he would have been atleast a Vice- President by now earning in lakhs which would be 3-7 times his present salary which would be very frustrating and demotivating . At a time when the economy is booming, the purchasing power has increased substantially the employees under the Government ( he may be a clerk or a Cabinet Secretary ) are not being paid a fair remuneration compared to their colleagues in the private sector. Their is absolutely no doubt in my mind that a pay hike for the employees in the government sector is warranted. But then the challenge for the government is to increase the salaries of employees to such a level so as to keep the scorching left happy but at the same time ensure that with the increase they themselves do not land in shambles.

It would be interesting what tricks does Mr. Palaniappan Chidambaram have with him for the upcoming budget in general, though from a pay commission perspective it may be inconse-quential.

2006-02-16T00:07:00.000-08:00

Indecent Proposal

What a wonderful Feb 14 , 2006 it was ! It had a lot of emotion which made me think for a change , humour which made made me ROTFLMAO . Na I am not remotely hinting at any gal in my life but instead referring to some wonderful posts made by fellow bloggers. Precisely referring to this, this and this.

After reading Surya's post I felt very nostalgic and the whole scene of my plus 12 college celebrations of Friendship's day back in 2000 came to my mind. At that time I was madly in love with a gal who with her gaze would make my heart melt ( Na she was not your typical hot chick ) . Ha bhai mein phir bi pighal jata tha :-) ! This was the gal who was with me in my college ( different division ) and with me in my tuition Classes . I was the shy kind of guy who did not have the guts to ask the gal for phone number , forget about asking the ultimate question . But then I was in good company of friends all of them who were big flirts in their own right and here I was just wondering on how to have a decent chat after knowing the gal for more than a year. My friends were doing everything possible from their side in ensuring that my path becomes easier.They befriended some of the close friends of this gal and also started teasing this gal by my name. They also eliminated some competition for me by adding a ' Mhatre ' surname . ( I however in a gentleman fashion told the competitors my real name . But by then they had already backed out ). However with all the help and free advises day -night I was still not really able to break the ice.

It was in this backdrop that our college decided to celebrate Friendship 's day . It was a situation tailor made for me . Though very reluctant initially I finally agreed and thought to myself that the d-day had arrived. My dear friends taught me all those rhetoric to get a affirmative answer and carefully planned my approach. They told me that I had to get as many as five different coloured ribbons white, yellow , blue , green and red tied on the gals hand one by one in the same order mentioned above. This they said signified graduating from peace to love , how intellectual ! Once this was done I could go ahead and ask the ultimate question . On the eve of the celebrations I was very confident and a bit anxious on the turn of events the next day.

The next day after a couple of lectures celebrations were on full swing. I had to go to my dream gal's classroom and tie all those bands. With me were my good old three - four friends who were standing by me for any support . I walk upto this gal and she gives me a hint of smile. Their were some others ahead of me and it was actually a complete chaos near her bench. My anxiousness was turning into fear slowly. Then came the grand moment. I shook hands with her , looked eye to eye ( yeah still remember it ) and was about to tie her the first white band when all of a sudden all the bands spilled out of pocket and were down on the floor. More was just to come ! While I was about to tie the first band the bands thread stuck to my wrist watch and there came a long white thread ! Man I was shaking at that time , all my plans had gone bust. While tying the next band may hand was literally shaking and everyone near to the bench could make out that. By this time the whole bunch were laughing and everyone knew what was happening . Somehow the gal held my shivering hand and ..............................................................

just wrote her name on my hand . Nothing else happened at that time. It was a complete rip off to say the least !

Subsequent meetings happened when I gathered a little more courage and at one such meeting left my cycle abandoned on the road. Retrospectively I can just laugh at my foolishness and now it is time for me to sip in some hot chocolate !

( PS. I have been watching a lot of Malyalam movies where their is not a happy ending and so it is in my case . )

2006-02-06T16:28:00.000-08:00

Mumbai Striked !

10 people who have nothing much to do in life decide to have an Hartal or a Strike and paralyse the local trains - life support system of the city.If they don't have much work I would rather make them work in my office. Duh ! Sometime back it were done by a bunch of morons in Dombivli station when the city had just recovered from the flood of July 26, 2005 ( I missed a marriage that time ) and then there was the recent strike by the AAI. Last Sunday there was a protest in Mumbra Station ( for god knows what ) and which disrupted the already minimal functioning rail network.

I approached the ticket counter to get an extension on my monthly pass for traveling to Chembur but to my amusement I was denied a ticket . When enquired about the reason I was just told that no trains are plying beyond Kurla. I thought every Sunday the fast tracks are closed but how come access to some station is barred. Then flashed a announcement in Hindi " Kuch Asmajik Tatvo dvara Mumbra Station pe dharna karne karan rail sevayae thap ho gayi hain. Humey aapko hone wali asuvidha ke liye khed hain ." ( I bow to the rail announcers who do a great job )

I looked towards heaven and wondered why me always and patricularly when I am very desperate to make it to the other end. In my undergraduation a very good thing I learnt is to make all the changes and alter the plans in the last minute and just complete adhere to the project deadlines ( JUST IN TIME ) . And so I did not waste much time thinking and hired a auto straight to Thane CheckNaka and then from their to Mulund. From Mulund I and my friend took a Bus to Chembur where we were supposed to go and believe it or not we reached the place on time and carried on our work neatly.

But not everyone would have hired a auto or a bus like me. Many would have stranded inside the train itself. Few others would have missed some weddings, family get togethers, and many other similar things. All this because some assholes who have no other work get together to stage a rail roko. I am not against strikes or protests but then they should be always conducted in a manner which does not affect your neighbor's life anywhichway other than creating awareness. Usage of innovative methods to pass the message must be used similar to a shoe manufacturing unit where the employees in protest just maufactured one pair of the shoe. The recent strike phenomenon reflects a similar pattern of my hometown Kerala wherein it is considered a wonder if there is no strike in a month. But the fugitives who stage these strikes in Kerala work silently in places foreign territories because of the fear of action being taken against them. It is high time that stricter laws in place and the Police department is given the free hand to take immediate action against offenders. Because at the end of the day it reflects a very bad impression on the city or country in general.

For Christ's sake we are living in a globalised and not a parochial world and we cannot let handful of people hold the whole or a section of city paralysed !

2006-01-23T16:02:00.000-08:00

PG Mumbai Meet !

What happens when 21 pagals sharing a common unique bond meet at a particular venue ? A big blast and traffic block of course :-) . (PG stands for Pagalguy.com the best MBA community online ) . Among the pagals someone who stood out was a guy who was in his first year MBA from Pune but managed 5 IIM calls despite hectic acads. Then there was another fellow who had 99.5 %ile with no calls and then we had some mere mortals like me. All the pagals came together at a hotel in downtown Mumbai past sunday where we had dinner and thereafter proceeded to Juhu beach for sharing some more quality time. More on the meet here . ( scroll down for pics )

2006-01-19T16:31:00.000-08:00

Why do IIMs want to go abroad ?

Lot of discussion and heated exchanges are going around on the issue of whether it is proper for the IIMs to go global and so thought of chipping my 4 annas. ( could not resist ! ) . However my comments are restricted as to understanding the rationale of IIMs to set up a centre abroad .You have the liberty to decide whether it is right or not .

Let us first look at the 6 IIMs and then try to look at out as to the reason why the IIMs are keen to go global. Out of the 6 IIMs A, B and C are the dream destination of many aspirants and over a period of time have strong recognition among companies and students in India. IIM-L no doubt is a hugely upcoming institution but to think of it as in the same league as IIM -A, B and C would be wrong . As far as IIM - I and K are concerned although they are a IIM brand still I have seen some people preferring the likes of XLRI and FMS over these IIMs. So what I am saying is that practically it would be feasible only for the top three to open up overseas centers. No disrespect to the rest three ( i would be more than happy to get here ) but they still need some time before they possess the debonair for setting afoot the bigger pie.

If you do a SWOT analysis for the IIMs you would quickly understand that there are a lot of threats and competition for the IIMs from within India from institutes like ISB , SPJAIN etc and then you have some of the cream which reckon that ivy league schools are any day better than IIMs . This stand is due to the lack of brand penetration of the IIMs in the Global market. It is very unfortunate that even after conducting one of the toughest tests in the planet and getting the best of students ,these reputed institutes don't figure among the Harvards and Whartons of the world. This is because the selection procedure in IIMs is more based on your CAT score ( read quant ability ) rather than focusing on the overall profile of the candidate which includes quality workex and leadership qualities. Their is a gradual change perhaps and that is the reason that IIM - A has come out with its one year PGPX course for people having around 7 years of workex.

Moving on if you review the current job market, a lot of foreign MNCs have set up their regional centers here in India and some of them offer a executive MBA from some eye candy Bschools in the US. The graduates who had formerly used the route of going to an IIM and then grabbing a job now have the ecstasy to go for a workex of about 2 - 3 years in a top MNC and thereafter apply to a top US B-School. Should I say that nowadays grads are becoming wiser !

Though it is next to impossible that IIMs won't get outstanding students but increasingly the number of the students opting for a US Bschools would be greater. This puts pressure on the IIMs to recast their existing strategy to be the best in the world .

In order to counter any scare of being the numero uno in the field of imparting MBA education atleast in India and likewise planning for the future growth I reckon some of the IIMs have decided it was better to go global . When the economy is booming and lot of US and European MNCs are setting up their centers in Asian region , it is the best time to showcase the research and consulting prowess for our prestigious institutions by moving into busy corporate places like Singapore or Dubai.

My wish is that we create many more versatile institutions such as the IIMs so that the demand for management education can be catered in our country but at the same time being in a fast moving global environment it might not be a bad idea to go abroad and set up facilities which promote learning from both the sides .

2006-01-11T18:36:00.001-08:00

Devils Advocate Rocks !

Thats the name of the show which is hosted by Karan Thapar and whose guest this week was none other than the media savvy Pak. President Gen. Pervez Musharaff. This is the same man who had taken the then Vajpayee government by surprise during the Agra summit when he addressed a section of the media in a " chai party " of which the Indian govt. was taken by surprise . He came across as a person who was very dynamic and charismatic leader . Years have passed through and I till very recently maintained that he still was an impeccable media savvy politician in my eyes.

But all that changed on hearing his inane remarks on the show cast on CNN IBN Live. It was more of a stress interview for the poor General as he had tough time countering the questions from Karan Thapar. The very first thing is that I hate to see all diplomatic efforts on full throttle once a year during the Indo-Pak series. If one needs to sincerely move any further in dialogues then the process must be continuous in nature. Coming back to the interview a couple of statements by the General made me bounce of the floor laughing ! One of them was something like this "The Pak army is a professional unit . It has fought 2 wars ( General ji forgot Kargil and also that Pak lost all the wars it fought ) . Its not like any Banana Republic " . Though not hilarious one another thing that he mentioned was that the Indian Army move out of 3 places Kupwara, Baramullah and Srinagar . ( General ji is trying to build a palace in mid air ) . During the whole interview he was countered by Karan Thapar that he will think 10 times before having an exclusive interview with any Indian Journalist. Bravo Karan !

But then the final statement summed up the whole interview. Mr Thapar said at the end of the interview "General Musharraf a pleasure speaking to you on Devils Advocate. " Mr Musharraf shot back saying that " Thank you . The name is very correct . " This was the only answer which impressed me of the General.

Mr. Thapar next lets take the case of Mr. Kiran More.

2006-01-10T19:17:00.000-08:00

A peek into History

It all started when one of my friends casually told me that this whole Aryan Invasion was a big sham. And I thought Aryans should be credited for the origin of the word Xenophobia. Duh ! On a more serious note I was taken aback, afterall this is what we have been all taught consistently in schools and the very little of history I remember. I was a bit amazed by hearing his statement and so thought to venture into history on my own. Fortunately landed my hand on Nobel laureate Prof. Amartya Sen's Argumentative Indian which opens a new dimension to the whole history of India . For instance in his book Prof. Sen mentioned that Buddhism was prevalent in India for nearly 1000 years ! Though very hard to digest this truth , I have been forced to believe that this might have been really possible.

Let us take the Indian mythology. There are 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu which includes the following Malsya , Kurma , Varaha , Narsimha, Vamana, Parshurama, Srirama, Balarama, Srikrishna and finally Kalki. Now there is a another version which claims that instead of Balarama it was Gautam Buddha who would be the incarnation of Lord Vishnu and to a great extent I believe it is true. As per the hindu mythology it is a well known fact that Laxmana who was Lord Rama's younger brother in Ramayana was in fact a incarnation of the Seshnag ( The Snake on which Lord Vishnu rests. ) . Now Seshnag reportedly requested Lord Vishnu that he be the elder brother in the next incarnation which was gracefully accepted by the lord. Hence the theory that even Balarama is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu may not be afterall true. But then are always different schools of thoughts which at times may be outlandish. All this leads one to believe that Gautam Buddha was indeed an incarnation of Lord Vishnu but then I am still confounded as to why Hindus don't regard Buddha as one of their deities . Well it may be little difficult for anyone to prove that Buddhism was a dominant in our country for 1000 years but certainly it did influence great kings like Ashoka and even today maintains a unique tang.

It seems the mythology debate runs through even our history for as recent as 200 years. While researching stuff on our history I found that our recent history seems to have been forged and has various different schools of thoughts. Due to this we may afterall never know the true heroes and the villains in particular who screwed our country and everyone will have a different school of thought, many of them brainwashed with the help of our corrupt historians, educational system and the media.

2006-01-04T16:32:00.000-08:00

Government intends to curb adulteration of fuels.

Finally it seems that the government seems to be taking some action after the unfortunate death of S. Manjunathan , the IOC officer. As per new reports the quality of fuels would also be checked by independent bodies. I am not sure how much of this would actually have an impact on the local goons who sell adulterated oil with healthy connection with the politicians. Anywhichways as of now for more on this please check this link.

2005-12-29T18:04:00.000-08:00

First Day at BMS

Having been busy with some interesting research (will update in the coming days ) for the past few days & coupled with the increased hours of load shedding in our area has ensured that I post to the bare minimum which will make Tanisha aka " Nikki " also proud . Now that my head is confused with fuzzy logic I thought what better time to share my mundane experience of the first day @ bms.

If I do remember correctly it was June 13, 2000 ( time has zipped past huh ! ) and we students as well as some parents were seated in a big classroom good enough for around 120 people. Its was supposedly a Ice-Breaking party so that we get introduced with our seniors and also about the course in general which was pretty new . In the whole classroom I was knowing 3 persons and out of them 2 were from my school itself. Enter a middle aged man with a not so welcome gesture and I learnt from an individual from the next bench that he was the course co-ordinator. Then there was this boy who was having very high fever , but despite that he managed to make a point by attending the first day which was and is still a mystery for me.

Now the session started with the co-ordinator welcoming us and all that usual crap and then our seniors were asked to introduce themselves first and then we were asked to introduce ourselves and also to explain the reason on why did we choose the particular course. I had no particular reason except for the fact that I had heard that after finishing the course one could get directly admitted to JBIMS which had incidentally facilitated the entrance exam for our course. However at that time I had very little courage to speak to a audience of more than 25 people. ( So conveniently forget the 100 plus people gathered that day. ) Thanks to this I did not utter much and just said that I heard that this course was pretty good compared to the traditional courses such as B.Com. Well before my introduction I rememeber very vividly that there was this guy who on his introductory speech told that a pink paper called the Economic Times was a essential read. Here was I who had never gone past the last 3 pages of the sports page of TOI and now I had this daunting task of reading a business paper " Daily ." I uttered to myself that perhaps I was a total mismatch for this course .

As the introductions got over the co-ordinator started to speak about some shit rules of the college and course and on hearing which I happened to laugh a bit on a couple of occasions . But unfortunately I had taken a bit too far for his liking and he soon caught me smiling to one of my school friends when he was busy reading out some serious rules. I was asked to stand up and asked from which college I had done my +12 . I replied " Model College ". He " Please do not bring that rowdy culture and now you may get out of my class. " Not knowing what to do I pleaded sorry frantically to no effect and was subsequently thrown out of the class .

Humans have this tendency to repeat history . So did it in my case where after about 15 mins another couple of guys were thrown out for talking and laughing ( yes I still can't believe it ) in the class . The co-ordinator came to us and told us that we could reconsider on joining the college and he would be happy to refund our whole 9000 bucks. Now this was serious stuff , but still one of the other 2 was still controlling his laughter which was evident to the co-ordinator. This made him more angry to say the least and I wanted to smack this guys head right on for ruining my chances. Imagine what reason could I have told my parents about my being thrown out from a reputed college and for a upcoming course . Soon the session ended and some seniors came out and comforted us ( more me ) and told that the co-ordinator had this insane habit of terrifying students initially and that he was a kind person . Again we approached him and he gave all of us a warning that such behaviour would not be tolerated to say the least.

What followed for the next 2 sems . was that I was overcautious and made a point to never to be in bad books . One year passed and our college had a new co-ordinator and from there on started my freedom ride .

2005-12-26T23:32:00.000-08:00

Indian of the year !

NDTV is running a SMS poll for deciding the " Indian of the Year . " The contenders include people from sports, politics, business , philanthropy . At a time when lakhs of votes are being cast on stupid shows for deciding a better singer , I think we can do much better by showcasing our votes to people like S. Manjunath - Truly an Indian Idol .

For more information please check this link.

2005-12-11T23:33:00.000-08:00

GOD is ONE .

Manushyan matangal shrishtichu
Matangal dyvangal shristichu

The above lines are from a hit malayalam song which tries to spread the message of brotherhood and unity among people of all caste, religions, race and nationality. The first line says that Man created Religions and the second follows saying that these Religions created Gods. How true !

Essentially all religions preach the same message however people interpret the message in different ways and assume that their religion is superior to others. I feel deeply annoyed when I hear some so called ' religious mentors ' praising about their own religion and showing as if their religion is the Unltimate means to reach god. Is it by a choice that one gets birth in a Hindu, Muslim or a Christian family ? No it is just by sheer chance . I come from a school of thought which believes in the presence of the omnipresent and omnipotent force governing the Universe who may be referred as Krishna, Allah, Christ , Buddha or anyone else. I just fail to understand the loathsome attitude of all people who think that their religion or god is superior to others.

2005-12-08T23:30:00.000-08:00

Hows yours ?

Me : How’s Yours ?

1st Colleague : Mine is long, juicy and pink.

Me : How’s Yours ?

2nd Colleague : Mine is dry.

Me : How’s yours ?

3rd Colleague : Mine is broad and juicy.

By now I am sure you might have had very wild imaginations which are similar to the ones which occurred to me.

Well not to blame you the above is a game wherein an incumbent (in the above me) asks the question (How’s …) and is given three clues by three different people and the incumbent has to guess the body part pre-decided by the others in 2 chances. Well as for me I was very straightforward and answered in a stentorian manner but later on was embarrassed to find that the final answer to my questions was actually “LIPS “. Can you believe that?

Hope that now you know which games & questions to avoid!

Hope you all have a good one too :-) !

2005-12-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

What's in a Credit Card ?

Some people have been always enamored of owning credit cards of Foreign Banks such as AMEX. Fortunately I have never felt the need of having one in my wallet and consequently never owned one. This feeling of non-ownership is result of the exorbitant and hidden charges (read interest rates) some of these credit cards have. It is not very strange to hear people cribbing about high charges. But what happened last week to one of my relatives was indeed shocking.

A sales executive from a MNC bank approached a month back and had offered a “FREE” card. Though firmly reluctant to gain that card the executive convinced finally to apply for the card and made fill all the application forms.

3 Weeks Later.

An envelope comes from the bank stating charges of around Rs.600. So I assumed that this was another story of some hidden charges or perhaps the charges were result of the usage of the card. Till now the story was no different from many others who have been aggrieved by many banks. I had a small chat with my relative and came to know that they had not even sent the Credit Card until now and much before that comes a statement claiming charges of Rs.600 under I repeat a “FREE” card.
Within the next couple of days the bank was informed about the whole situation which had occurred and in their response all one got to hear was an apology and yes waiver of the current charges. But still they reiterated the fact that it was a free card. So are they billing us for someone else’s account? No satisfactory replies. But just like before they stated that they were sorry for messing up the whole situation. Now that completely pissed off my relative and gave his piece of mind left, right and center.

2 days later a guy came to deliver the credit card and very smartly he was shown the door. This incident only reaffirmed my belief that owning a credit card may not be that good an idea though I definitely agree that it is more than useful at times. Also it is very much possible some of us may have some very positive experiences to share.

But as far as I am concerned I still say “Thanks. nahin chahiye“ whenever a sales executive comes to offer any credit card.

2005-11-27T04:42:00.000-08:00

Genious Profile !

Its been just 3 weeks since I have joined my new office down town and its more of a honey moon period right now. The work flow has not really started to come and as of now most of the time I end up having a good time in the pantry !

The other day I saw a middle aged man wearing a smart suit without a tie approaching a couple of us in the canteen. By the look of it we understood that he was some senior guy in the office. he had this unique spunk in him. He smiled to us and introduced himself as a Head of one of the departments. He said that he had this habit of meeting new joinees informally. So thus started a round of introduction in which he asked for our educational background and workex. Though he was not very pleased when I told him this was my 4th job in two years. Further he also asked about our goals and our job profile here. Heard all of us very patiently and gave some gyan on the various happenings in our organization. He told that he was the incharge of all the committees . While mentioning the committees he also told that their was a quiz committee. That was enough. I jumped on the table and told him that I was very much interested in joining the quiz committee. He was about to leave when my friend asked him how to reach where he was . He smiled back . But my friend , also a CAT aspirant who has this inane habit of asking people from which B school they had graduated from was not content with the smile. He inquired for the qualifications of the person . The answer followed.

He told that was a graduate of BITS Pilani and at the age of 23 he passed his IAS. I was full of respect for him immediately. The story had just started for all of us. He further told that us he was a COLLECTOR of a district in Kerala. He then added that he was part of the committee / group which established IIM - Khozikhode. My mind went back to last years CAT which I screwed up. Me and my colleagues were spell bound by now. PC Sarkar was more predictable. The man however had not replied to the original B school question. Then he said that he left IAS some time back and did his MBA from London School of Business. After his MBA he had worked as an analyst with some top European firm in UK for some years . By this time I had become a complete fan of him . We were just spell bound and mesmerised.

What else do you expect from a languid graduate whose dreams are unlimited ?

2005-11-23T03:13:00.000-08:00

If you are honest, then get ready to be Killed.

If you are still wondering , then you would be extremely sad & agitated to know the fate of one Indian Oil Corporation official Mr. Manju Nathan who was shot dead because he did his duty and opposed corruption in petrol pumps in U.P. All of 27 years this IIM Lucknow Jewel was killed reportedly for locking some petrol pumps since they were selling adulterated petrol.May his soul rest in peace.This is similar to the incident of Satyvendra Dubey , an IITian who lost his life when he stood against corrupt practices occurring in the National Highway project.

So now the government companies should not even think about stepping into the campuses of IITs and IIMs for recruitment. Mr Mani Shankar Aiyer has questions to answer. It is open secret that lot of frauds happen in the allocation of petrol pumps and also adulterating it. Even the Indian army was not spared if you may recollect.

The profit centric media is only concerned about Abu Salem, Sania Mirza's press conference and also the CAT exam for getting into IIMs. But when a person from the same IIMs was shot not a single news channel deemed it fit to cover. It was only on reading Gaurav's blog did I come to know about this terrible incident. Only today for the first time did I see a report on NDTV. Our media only shows what sells. They are least concerned about the welfare of society. We need to condemn this incident in the strongest manner possible and pass this information to as many people as possible.

WE JUST CANNOT LET HONEST PEOPLE PERISH.

2005-11-07T22:11:00.000-08:00

Sreesanth - Kerala's new poster boy ?

Apart from the news of Kerala making it to the Q-Finals of the 60th Santosh trophy Finals , the one making the real headlines is that of a young cricketer, Sreesanth who has made it to the Indian Team. This is the first time that Cricket has overshadowed Football in the coastal state. That also at a time when the Santosh Trophy tournament is being held in Kerala itself . Mallus everywhere are very proud that someone from their state has made it to the big league. But if memory is correct we also had people like Abey Kuruvilla representing the Cricket national team. They say that when two Mallus come together you end up having three different views. However in this particular case everyone seems to be singing the same line . So what makes this young guy so special ?

Everyone was in high praise for this lad when he bowled decently in the first match of the Indo-Lanka series. That is fine. However in just about a single performance people have started to compare him with greats like Srinath ( one who established his authority after consistent performances over a period of 10 years and bowled excellently given the condition of pitches in India. ) . When a master like Ganguly has been shown the exit door inspite of being the best captain for India shows that the time has come perhaps when the "Cricketer Life Cycle " is shortened drastically. So what makes a ordinary malayali still talk about the Sreesanth ?

My view is that Kerala in the recent past has not been able to produce a cricket player who has the talent and energy to make it unfold on the big stage. They see Sreesanth as a player who is going to be part of the team for a permanent basis and serve India for a long time to come. If it does happen that way then I am sure that we may see more quality players coming from that part of the state. I hope people don't jump a little too much as it is early days yet for making any judgement.

As they say cricket is a funny game and anything is possible ! ( Believe me football is much funnier ). Here's wishing Sreesanth all the best for his future.

2005-10-30T20:55:00.000-08:00

For God, Al-Qaeda & Everyone.

In the midst of celebrations over the upcoming Diwali and Id festivals, terrorists have ripped Delhi through a series of blasts killing scores of innocent people. The reason as claimed by a terrorist organisation to various news agencies in Kashmir was due to the so called atrocities committed by the Indian Army. If killing a terrorist ( a person who carries 5 kgs of RDX and Chinese guns ) for the benefit of the security of the citizens of the country is a crime according to Pakistan sponsored ( read ISI ) Human Rights Groups stationed in Kashmir then I am more than willing to take part in that sacred ritual.

God, you know how deeply religious I am . There are some useless idiots fighting over your name. What the heck are you silent for ? How come you are not punishing those who disrupt international peace ? Oh my God ! God just answered that he had enough ! He is going to teach all these inhuman souls a lesson soon . I am waiting :-) !

Al-Qaeda one professional advise - the probability of you guys surviving from Russian Roulette is more than by that of the Armed Forces . ISI - Don't take advantage of our silence and patience. Human Right Groups behave good . You are being watched by the Big Daddy both in Indian and US.

Politicians my dearest don't use your brains to think. Leave it to the security experts. Give the army and the police full authority to shoot any person found suspicious. ( quite debatable ! ) Increase the number of personnel in para-military and police forces in major metros. ( Recruit more ) . Cut down on your own personal security. As for intelligence we are already excellent.

Let me wish a peaceful Diwali and Id to Everyone. Also praying that we have better times to come and I have better stuff to write about !

2005-10-26T02:06:00.000-07:00

Helping Hand

Its been 20 days since the massive earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck parts of Kashmir and Pakistan and still many parts on either side are yet to receive medicines and relief material. Even the armed forces stationed in parts of Kashmir are in a Catch 22 situation. On one hand they need to rebuild their own bunkers and tents and on the other they need to continuously ensure that the people of Kashmir are taken care of . Over the above they also need to watchout for movement of foreign elements who have made their presence felt more than once during the past few days. ( Where the heck have human rights activist disappeared ? )

As being responsible citizens of this country it is time to make generous contributions for the people in Kashmir. Remember that a one time contribution will be not be of much help unless it is a huge sum. In such himalayan tragedies we need to continuously support the cause whole heartedly. Some useful information for sending donations and relief material :-

1) PM's National Relief Fund

2) Pakistan President's Relief Fund Account

3) UNICEF

There are many other institutions who are collecting relief material and donations. You may also check with your company in case they are planning to do anything concrete. Also one word of caution. Please be also informed that some reports indicate that donations ( local ) have been collected under the pretext of the relief fund only to be found otherwise. Bottomline please check the identity of the person to whom the local donations are made .

BYE 4 NOW !

2005-10-24T22:57:00.000-07:00

Rationality in our Society.

Some days back a person called Punji Ram, an astrologer had made a prediction about his death on a certain day between 3-4 pm. This news was captured by some TV channels who are excellent in creating issues out of nothing. Nowadays to increase their viewership ratings many news channels are more than ready to compromise on research and content.

Coming back to the story the whole day TV channels mobbed his (Mr. Punji Ram) house and were anxiously waiting if his prediction were to come true. They also sought expert advises from other astrologers about the prediction and also some so called rationalists from our society. As the time of 4 PM finally elapsed Mr. Punji Ram was still healthy and alive. The TV channels for some strange reason blamed him for wasting their time and creating a huge drama. They also obviously pointed fingers at Astrology as a Science. Well I feel that there is a great need for eliminating a large amount of superstitions from our society, but discarding Astrology may not be right. Unfortunately proving Astrology as a perfect science is very difficult. I for one believe that Astrology is a science but also admit that there only a few astrologers around who can make accurate predictions. Predicting ones death is just impossible. It is people like Mr. Punji Ram whose irresponsible behavior makes the common man believe that astrology is just a means to cheat people and make quick money. I am not here to endorse Astrology as an subject nor am I helping BJP win elections in Bihar :-)

I remember very vividly that some 15 years back many so called rationalists used to condemn Yoga. They used to say that " Yeh breathing , haat-pav hilane se kuch nahin hota ." But once western people accepted that Yoga indeed creates a remarkable difference, we here in India also slowly moved to adopting this. Another classic example is that of Ayurveda. We do not research our own rich heritage and pass lose comments on the same very happily. But the same when adopted a famous celebrity or endorsed by western scholars it becomes a craze here.

Rationality definitely has its place in our society. But so does research and intelligence.

Don't you agree ?

2005-10-18T23:57:00.000-07:00

Does BPO experience count during MBA interviews ?

Well I have been working in the BPO industry for around 24 months now . I had been asked recently by a CAT aspirant on whether he should take up a job in the BPO industry since he was not sure of getting into IIMs this year which requires atleast 98.5 %ile in CAT. He wanted to work for a while and then try for IIMs again. My reply followed.

First of all, if one is able to get 90 - 95 %ile in CAT/ XAT you may still end up in good schools like TAPMI , XIME , NIRMA etc. However if one does not want to get into these schools and want to work in a BPO and write CAT next year to get into IIMs then it would not be a great decision . The fact remains that the BPO industry does not normally provide great job profiles which is essential when one tries to impress during those MBA interviews. During MBA interviews we need to compete with say a CA who has a workex of say 2 years in Andersen Consulting or an Engineer who has been a project lead in Infosys for past one year . At that time a guy with workex from Wipro Spectramind or IBM Daksh would not be preferred. However there have been few examples who have managed to get excellent cat%iles and gain entry into top BSchools. But then there are exceptions everywhere.

However not all the BPOs are the same. For example a company called Evalueserve does a lot of high end BPO work and it can be actually termed as a KPO. Similarly getting to work in the Equity Research or Derivatives team of companies like JP Morgan Chase , Eserve would add a substantial value to your profile. The basic funda is getting a good job profile that is a value addition to your existing sets of skills and also which can be used to climb the corporate ladder.

Look at the current trends and one gets the feeling that MBA is hyped. There are many options for a graduate to carve his or her career path. One of the options could be opting to pursue a part- time MBA from a reputed institute or gain entry into Banks as Probationary Officers through their banking examinations. At end of the day we all want to have that bitch called " SUCCESS ."

2005-10-16T05:40:00.000-07:00

Its time for kick off .

Believe it or not, we may witness the presence of the " HAND OF GOD "man Diego Maradona or the Italian Maestro Paolo Rossi sometime next month. ( it appeared in a a prominent that the matches are slated this weekend , however when I called Bombay Gymkhana they said the information was incorrect and that the matches would commence only in November ). Either of these gentlemen would be accompanying the AC Milan Under 19 team to play matches in Mumbai and Kolkata.

If you ever thought that this was due to the great efforts of AIFF ( All India Football federation ) then you are positively on the wrong side. To say the least they " SUCK ." I hate all these politicians who run sports bodies and then one day after the olympics we all ponder the over the question "One Billion People but still only a solitary medal ." Isn't the reason very apparent ? . I am sorry but I got a little carried away .For me Football has been much more than a passion. As for the conduct of the matches I must thank
the Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce.

I fail to understand why the matches are not conducted in Goa or for that matter Kerala where people love their fish, fenny and football. Kolkata is an automatic choice . But Mumbai where the seating capacity at the Cooperage stadium is hardly 1000. If you do not agree with me please pay a visit to the Cooperage Stadium whose non availability ( I thank god a zillion times for that ) led to Bombay Gymkhana becoming the choice for the venue in amchi mumbai. Anyways I am not complaining since, I need not go to Goa or for that matter Kerala to witness the magic.

ADIOS !

2005-10-12T21:20:00.000-07:00

Getting Started

So, finally I have decided to start my own blog. For a change my grey cells would be exercised.

You become quite a mechanical person after working at a call center for 18 months.

a couple of days back happened to watch a movie" main meri patni aur woh " featuring rajpal yadav and the bengal beauty rituparna sengupta. well let me tell you that i am not a great hindi film buff. just that i could hang out with some of my batchmates mademe watch the movie. Well the concept of the movie is trulygood but not new. This film is a remake of a malayalam classic " Vadaknoki Yanthram " ( if i remember correctly) by Tenga Shrinivasan. This picture was a massive hit in Malayalam.

However in Hindi its a disaster. You cannot blame the actors for the same. To a large extent its the scriptwriter. Sometimes I think that comedy in Hindi films

has died . anyways when was it alive ??