A tour

Apart from the oh-so very obvious stuff in my mouth,thanks to my doc, these are the latest additions

1. Two rings
2. Two tubes
3. Silver colored balls
4. Modules
5. Wires
6. Brackets

This is not all. If you thought only additions were painful, what about my four teeth that were knocked off? It was so much painful when I had a last look at em.

Sunday morning

Sunday morning or a Monday morning really doesn’t make much difference in an MBA coz you wouldn’t even remember which day of the week you are floating on !! It’s like some one has to tap on my shoulder and say the most obvious ‘D-AH’ and then I grin back and say ‘Oh! I see’. Well, today has been different though, I knew it was a Sunday morning coz I don’t have classes scheduled for the entire day. It felt like ages that Sunday happened on my week. This Sunday was so special coz I got a chance to spend the day in some august company. The company that I love. The company which has no substitute. It was a nice Sunday morning date which I would never want to end and which I would never forget. The fresh smell of pages, the newness look on each of the books, thousands of them to make sure I don’t get bored even for a moment. There I was, lost in Landmark in the citi centre mall and how I loved that place and the company of books. I wanted to buy every second book on the rack. I earnestly wished for once I had a filthy rich boy friend or an emperor dad who could afford me all those books that I want. After it flashed to me that I had neither, I had to settle down with a meager 8 books and yet manage to spend 4k. What a lovely day !!

On the poly bag of landmark this is what I found

1. No matter how high or low it flies, an aeroplane’s shadow will be exactly the same size.
2. A cucumber is 96% water
3. Earth is the only planet not named after a god.
4. The average ratio of yellow kernels to white in a bag of popcorn is 9:1
5. The size of your foot is approximately the same size as your fore arm.
6. There are more insects in one square mile of rural land than there are humans on earth.
7. The word Sunday is not in the bible.
8. If you slowly pour a handful of salt into a totally full of glass of water it will not overflow. In fact, the water level will go down (someone explain me why please)
9. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
10. There’s cyanide in apple pips.

Do you know me?

I have recently taken up the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality test. For those of you who are still wondering, please google. This is what Myers and Briggs have to say about me...

ENFP (Extroversion, Intuition, Feeling and Perceiving)

At Their Best

For people with ENFP preferences, life is creative adventure full of exciting possibilities. ENFPs are keenly perceptive about people and insightful about the present and future. They experience a wide range of feelings and intense emotions. They need affirmation from others and readily give appreciation and support.

ENFPs are good at understanding how people and groups work and are persuasive and compelling in pursuing what is important to them. They are adaptable, blooming where they are planted. Their energy and enthusiasm encourage others to bloom as well.

Characteristics of ENFPs

ENFPs are innovators, initiating projects and directing great energy into getting them under way. Using Intuition primarily externally, they are simulated by new people, ideas, and experiences. They find meaning and significance readily and see connections that others don’t. They are likely to be

• Curious, Creative and imaginative
• Energetic, enthusiastic and spontaneous

ENFPs value harmony and goodwill. They like to please others and will adapt to others’ needs and wishes when possible. ENFPs primarily use Feeling internally, making decisions by applying personal values through identification and empathy with others. ENFPs are likely to be

• Warm, friendly and caring
• Cooperative and Supportive

ENFPs have exceptional insight into possibilities in others and the energy and motivation to help actualize them. They feel confident moving ahead based on their insights, and their enthusiasm tends to bring others along with them.

How Others May See Them

ENFps are usually lively, gregarious, and sociable, with a large circle of friends. They are interested in almost everything and bring a zest to life that draws others to them. At the same time, they value depth and authenticity in their close relationships and direct great energy to creating and supporting open and honest communication.

ENFPs hate routine, schedules, and structure and usually manage to avoid them. They are normally verbally fluent, even in extemporaneous situations; however, when their deepest values need expression, they may suddenly be awkward and express their judgments with uncharacteristic intensity. Others usually see ENFPs as

• Personable, perceptive, and persuasive
• Enthusiastic, spontaneous, and versatile
• Giving and seeking affirmation.

Potential Areas for Growth

Sometimes life circumstances have not supported ENFPs in the development and expression of Feeling and Intuitive preferences.
• If they have not developed their Feeling, they may go from enthusiasm to enthusiasm, never committing the energy necessary to actualize their insights, or they may make overly personal decisions.
• If they have not developed their Intuition, they may fail to take in enough information, lack trust in their own insights, be uncertain, and accept others perceptions too quickly.

If ENFPs do not find a place where they can use their gifts and be appreciated for their contribution, they usually feel frustrated and may

• Become scattered, have trouble focusing, be easily distracted
• Fail to follow through on decisions
• Become rebellious, excessively nonconforming
• Ignore deadlines and procedures

It is natural for ENFPs to give less attention to their non-preferred Sensing and Thinking parts. If they neglect these too much, however they

• Not take care of the details and routine required for implementing their inspirations
• Overextend themselves – have trouble saying no to interesting possibilities and people
• Fail to apply reason and logic to asses their inspirations and decisions

Under great stress, ENFPs may become overwhelmed by detail and lose their normal perspective and sense of options. Then they tend to focus on an unimportant or distorted detail, letting it become the central fact of their universe.

The MBA Jargons

I am in the process of compiling the most widely used MBA Jargons. I will come up with the list soon. However, for a taste, the toppers on the list are

1. Value-add
2. Competitive advantage.

I personally feel more than the two stated above, the most frequently used jargon here is the 4 letter F word - 'Fcuk'. A conversation between two MBA students goes like this
'Fcuk!! we have Fcuking classes back to back tomorro. There are 4 fcuking assignments to submit and 2 fcuking cases to study man.. and fcuk can u believe the fcuking classes start at 7 in the morning tomorro?'

I have asked one of my colleagues in astonishment if he really didn't feel a tinge of hesitation before using that word. And bang goes the reply 'Y should I? Afterall all of us have gotta do it at some point in our lives'.

We will miss you

Though am not an aficionado of cricket, I for sure admire Kumble.
Seldom are the moments when the game becomes larger than life. The pic below speaks of one such moment..





Kumble gets Lara with a broken jaw !!!

50 best innovations of 2008

TIME's picks for the top innovations of 2008 range from a genetic testing service to an invisibility cloak to an ingenious public bike system to the world's first moving skyscraper. See the list.

FAIL Camp

This link has just caught my attention - http://barcamp.org/failcamp

Isn't it just brilliant ?? Will post more on it after I attend it.

a Nightmare

Four spoilt brats, a lavish Italian dinner and a long drive. Just when everything was looking so nice and beautiful, you bang into a press car at 12 in the midnight. Two damaged cars, 4 helpless souls and one opponent who is charging you with every possible crime, stares given by every soul who passes by were enuff to kill all the fun we had till then.. An hour and a half of negotiations with an adamant person who adds in weird conditions is even worse..

Whateva, all 4 of us consentingly decided to bury the incident and all the fears along. But how would I bury it without my blog knowing it??

Marketing eh??

I have asked Sups to get me an umbrella from Bangalore(dunno y i wanted if from Bangalore). She calls me in the evening to check out if I still need one and thus goes the conversation

Sups : Hey Siri.. Do you still want me to buy that umbrella?? (lots of noises in the background)
Me : Hey sups.. I wouldn't need one coz the locals say that it wouldn't rain any more in chennai..
Sups : Alright then.
Me : what u upto?? Marketing?? errr... (Instead of saying shopping)
By the time I realised the folly, disaster already stuck..
What followed - hehehehes and hahahahas for a long time...

I think am really havin nightmares now..

It’s a Mad Mad world !!!

Yes it’s a mad world out here.. Starting 7 in night and ending 8 in the morning here’s what we need to do

1. Read one marketing case and prepare for the end term of marketing management which is at 8:00 AM in the morning.
2. Understand how markets with asymmetric information work (meaning read read and read) and make a presentation for tomorrow.
3. Read a strategy case on ‘Orthoteks USA’ and make a presentation for tomorrow.
4. Read TWO cases in optimization techniques and be ready to solve them on some dumb software.. huh.. how I hate this.
5. Submit an end term report on one global topic before 5:00 PM tomoro as a part of evaluation for ‘Business government and society’

With so much on my plate, I am at my all time best. Believe me I am so glad and elated !! Buwwwaaahh !!!!

Stop the Earth.. I wana get off !!!

Life has been moving at escape velocity for sometime now. I am still trying to figure out what I have learnt and what I have not. In the mad rush of assignments, mid terms, end terms, projects etc etc I don’t think I have learnt anything in the end.. While this saddens me to some extent, there is always a silver lining. I have started liking the subject ‘Strategy’ so much that I am reading too much of it now. I am least bothered about what assignments I need to submit. I catch up with some book on strategy and enjoy away to glory.. Probably this is the only subject I liked so far and the only one am njoying reading..

Amidst all this academic chaos, E1 section has launched its T-shirt and it was so much fun… Picture Speak now

Is this what they call it these days?

Most of our revelations, realizations and enlightenment happen at the chai tapri. Oflate there’s something that made me so glad and at the same time gave me a feeling which you would understand by the time you finish reading this blog…

Scene 1 - At the tapri

KD’s wife to KD : Chalo chalo, tumhe BGS ka assignment karna hei. Kal presentation hei…
Rest of us : Eh???


Scene 2 – Again at the tapri

DB's gal : I am not getting the name of the prof who says ‘…………………………’
Me : Who the hell is this? I don’t know any such professor..
KD’s wife : Why, isn’t that Prof Nagarani, HRM systems prof?
Me : May be (totally zapped)


Scene 3 – At the tapri

Gan : Hey, you need some info on Assessment centers, wait.. My gal is working in the the HR team. We can get some info from her.
(Before even I could take stock of things, he dials in the number, starts with a kuchi ku talk and hands me over the phone. I was preparing for giving her an intro, in the meanwhile)
Me : Hello
Gan’s gal : Hey Sirisha. The list of books that you have sent across to the class is so impressive. I need to get my hands on these books sometime. I ain’t getting enough time to read oflate, you see…

Is this what they call ‘Women Empowerment these days?’

Same old shit, Just another day

The last 2 days has been maddening.. For the lack of a good diction I am unable to use any other word for the state we are in. Or may be there's no such word so far in the English language to explain our state of helplessness.

A cursory glance : While I try to recollect, the last time I had a couple of hours of sleep at a stretch, I vividly remember all that we did or rather had to do in the last 24 hours. 3 Case studies in Marketing Management, One Marketing PPT, One OB exam, One Operations Management Exam, One OB Presentation, 2 HRM assignments, 6 hours of classes... What People gotta say - 'WTF'. We were all earnestly wishing a day had 48 hours instead of 24 hours. How we managed to do all of em in 24 hours is the best kept secret !!!

The OTHER side : Night outs @ Lake Veeranam are absolute fun with gyan sessions all around, people running helter skelter in a wild goose chase. The craving for small naps of 10 minutes is baffling. Wait for the dawn and catch the anna at Tapri and demand ur mug..err.. cup of chai, reading the 'Omnitel Pronto Italia' case at the tapri and while walking on the road when the sun is jus about to wake up.. Wow.. a scintillating feel it is.. A sudden peep into one year down the line when we would be missing all this craziness.. These are enuff boosters to continue our maddening endless journey.

Let me check my schedule and figure out when is the next possible slot for my sleep..

33.33% MBA - Still live and Kicking !!!

I feel like giving the expression of a newly crowned 'Miss Universe', thru which she tells the world that she didn't expect this rather she doesn't deserve it.. However, I refrain. I refrain coz we all sweated our blood and broke our bones to reach the 1/3rd MBA stage (C'mon xgerations are allowed on my blog).

Whoeva said 'Actions speak louder than words', would feel sorry coz I say 'Pictures speak louder than words'.. So, all the intelligent lot out there would hav guessed what my blog is gonna b about.. It's just a picture speak of the first 1/3rd MBA.. Watch on...

Hosted shows

 

United we stand

 

All the pappus who can dance

 

Travelled in disco lighted busses

 

Photo hei tho hum bhi haazir hei…

 

Sweet revenge on my B'day

 

@ SWIM '08

 

All Gals party - Theme : Haunted afterall, Y shud bouz hav all the fun?

 

Watched movies... n neva let anyone else in the theatre watch the movie..

 

Doing what we do best

 

Learnt some coercion and threatening techniques... (All part of MBA)

 

Roamed around.. jus like loafers...

 

And as they all say 'last but not the least' - Studied for a change...

 

THE 'Gang'

 

 

 

 

  Salsa at its best ;)

Disc, Dinner and a play

Last couple of days has been fun. They were damn screwing too. It’s like that ‘Ceteris Paribus’ clause. Life is damn screwing here but if u wish to, you could have fun.

Friday night it was Opium, the disc @ Accord International. I was skeptical bout going to a disc in Chennai, and on top of it a disc which has entry fee and cover charges. I entered and immediately banged my head as the DJ very proudly announced ‘This is DJ Arpit with you folks tonight and lets have fun on this ‘Desi night’. I saw the small ray of hope disappear in the darkness of the disc. We slowly settled for some initial round of drinks n hit the dance floor (coz we had no choice). By 2 in the night, we were all drop dead and couldn’t shake a leg anymore. From Bacardi to Tequila, name it n it was there. From those stares and glances for our stupid dances to the DJ liking our train dance on the floor it was craziness unlimited. We didn’t stop there.. we were at our creative best when we were dancing salsa, jive, the local tapangothun dance, train dance, folk dance, lion dance, tribe dance.. Boye!! we rocked !!!

Now the dinner – For the last 3 months in Chennai it has been sambar n rice during the day n even in my dreams. Last night it was dinner time, real dinner. Went to an O’some restaurant called ‘Spikeys’. The punch line of this place - ‘Never trust a skinny chef’. Their menu – American, Mexican, Italian, Chinese……. It would be an understatement if I say the food was excellent. And the place was so damn different. For the first time in Chennai I think I saw someone who cares for their customers, a place everyone would smile at you, a place with amazing marketing and branding strategies… Simply put – It’s Brilliant !! I have decided I will do a project on this restaurant. So, I get to go again, Hurray !!!

N Today it was a play – ‘The Electronic city’ by InDeACT, a German theatre group. The theme of the play is – ‘A look at humans coping when technology fails them’. It’s about Tom n Joy, Tom – a consultant who travels across the world and Joy works for an airport super market chain. Bitter true life facts I’d say it’s about. Somewhere down the line it gets too abstract and you would very inadvertently sit on the edge of your chair. The hard work the team put in was so evident in their play. Kudos to them. The theatre fest runs for another week with some more brilliant plays. Hope I would take out some time for some of em atleast…….. Ceteris Paribus again..

It's not you. It's me.

The free time I had towards the end of my second term explains all my movie / T.V. watching episodes. With enough justification of the subject of my latest blogs, I do not want to dilly-dally too much on it.

My recent watch was a series of the American serial ‘Coupling’. A much needed cheap slap stick comedy for our mundane lives here. The very first episode titled ‘Flushed’ was an eye opener. The scene was between a guy and his gal friend.

Guy : It’s over between us
Gal : You want us to split up?

Guy : Yes, it’s over. Look it’s not you. Ok? It’s me
Gal : Then why am I the one who’s getting dumped? You should be the one that gets dumped. (I loved this answer)

‘It’s not you. It’s me’ - From whatever experiences I have heard of so far, this is so TYPICAL of any break up. Or even worse, when people use this polished way of saying ‘SORRY’ to some one. This is heights of timidity. So many things in life are so much beyond logic and rationality and it makes absolute sense for them to remain so. And I never understand how someone tries to attach logic and reasoning to it. All I can say is ‘C’mon grow up. And face the facts’.

Other than the contemplating episode there is something that I am so excited about. I was never good at my grades all thru. And the trend continues in MBA even today. But for a change I got an A+ grade. The best part is I need not write my exam and yet I get the highest grade in ‘Managerial Accounting’. My dean has conferred this grad upon me and am sooooo glad about it that I might not end this blog here. Though I do not want to I am.. ending the blog..

When a pair of sneakers is all that you want

I was watching ‘Children of Heaven’. I do not intend to tell the story or write a critic coz I think it’s a must watch for one and all. But I need to blog about it anyways coz it put my thinking caps on..

The lead role of the movie who is an eight year old lad, with a bright twinkle in his eye, misplaces his lil sister’s shoes. As it happens to all of us, at that age, they were too scared to tell their parents about it. And then comes the silver lining on the dark cloud. Or you may call it icing on the cake, I wouldn’t really mind. The gleam in the eye of the lad grows brighter jus like a sparkle. An announcement on the notice board mentioning a running race catches his attention. What’s interesting is :

First Prize : Two weeks at a holiday camp and a set of sport suits.
Second Prize : Two weeks at a holiday camp and school supplies.
Third Prize : One week at a holiday camp and a pair of sneakers.

With a strong resolve to win THIRD prize, nothing more and nothing else, he enters the race. All for the want of a pair of sneakers. A long and tiring race and he keeps missing the focus in between but he suddenly remembers his sweet lil sister waiting for the sneakers. In the end we see him running toward the finish line and Bingo he hits it. The first line that he utters to his principal after the race : “Did I come in Third Sir?”. His principal explains that he has indeed stood first and there’s a glow on everyone’s face except the lad. He sobs uncontrollably for not getting the third prize and getting the first. Tears start rolling down his eyes. I would presume, you do not have a heart if you don’t cry when he tries to overcome insurmountable grief of winning the first prize and not the third.

After a few minutes, I gave a sheepish smile to myself for I cried too. Infact, may be not for that, I did cry jus like that cute lil fella wheneva I won the 1^st prize coz I badly wanted to bag the 3^rd. May be all of us do without realizing it. Ain’t it? Didn’t we want just a pair of sneakers and instead we got a ‘two week holiday at a camp’? And didn’t we feel so gloomy about it?

India – We are like this only

It was 7 in the evening. Hot pakodas n yummy tomatoe ketchup in our plates, eyes glued to the TV. This was worse than the India Pakistan cricket match. We were awaiting the ‘Ayes’ and ‘Nos’ of the trust vote. It was a nail biting moment and every second seemed like a virtual hour. Bang and the count was announced.

Ayes – 253 Nos – 232 Abstained from voting – 2

There was an awkward silence for a moment. UPA didn’t win the motion but was on a lead. There was some banging the table, hushy bushy walks across the parliament.

Suddenly it was a Eureka moment for Rajdeep Sardesai when he screams – ‘There’s something wrong with the numbers. The votes are not totaling to 541’. Some serious speculations follow. Was it the fault of the technology or the MPs didn’t know how to vote, meaning either they were color blind to identify Green / Red / Amber / Yellow or they didn’t know that they had to press a button. At this stage it gets more interesting.

Our man Rajdeep puts on air people from parliament n they start debating if it was a technology or a people issue. All the while the parliament was too busy to notice this felony. After a much awaited drama, the speaker calls for manual votes of the 54 missing votes. Amidst this confusion, the new 7 young MPs who were sworn in just the previous day should be rubbing their eyes and wondering ‘Are we in the Indian Parliament?’.

As expected, the drama was like a bollywood bubble gummy movie which takes its sweet own time to end. The MPs running haywire across the parliament, not letting the officers count the vote, the speaker imploring the MPs to sit down n let the officers work. Boye! this is ‘Indian Parliament’ for you. Lemme tell you wat Rajdeep was upto during this time. He put on air some political commentator who is a media man as well. This man makes blatant confessions like “The Market value of MPs has come down terribly from 34 crores to 3-4 crores. Mr. Singh has been successful in keeping these prices under control” and then comes our smart news reader who proudly announces – ‘India – we are like this only’. I was baffled and had no thoughts running in my mind whatsoeva.

After a few hours of drama, the speaker announces. “Ayes – 275 Nos – 256. Ayes Win. The meeting is adjourned. Vandemataram please”. He was so scared that he just says all this in 4-5 seconds and keeps the viewers guessing what he just said. I can understand how scared he was.

After the win, Rajdeep continues to brutally interview the party men who accuse rigged voting, technology issue etc etc.. Whateva finally ‘Singh is king’ and more importantly ‘India – We are like this only’

A lovely night

A nice shower after a tiring session of salsa and jive, bet me, is the best you can ask for. I have never enjoyed my showers so much in life, before coming to Chennai. The best part comes as I turn off the lights and lie back to slip into my dreamland - My room is unusually moon lit today; and I see the moon peeping through the window. I wouldn’t mind trading off my privacy now. The cool breezes are better than heaven. How I wish some one sings a lullaby for me now….Probably one of those sweet little nothings of life…

Adios for now coz am gonna become an Alice in the wonderland for sometime as my dream land beckons me… Tata..

Why should boys have all the fun ??

This was the mail I sent to Co2009, calling for an ‘All gals party’, not realizing the repercussions. The intention was to have a simple party with some music, food and drinks and more importantly only for gals. But something left me baffled. Almost all the guys in the class were so keen on a ‘gals party’ that within a couple of hours my inbox was flooded with mails from guys. Does that hint something? Can we get to some generalizations? I would leave it to your choice…

Do you love me or Do you hate me?

While I was a kid I used to accompany my grand mother almost everywhere she used to go. She was nothing less than a ‘Rock Star’; I mean it. On one such occasion I happened to go with her to some spiritual discourse, where there was a famous swamiji dressed in the typical saffron robes and a huge gathering of thousands of people. Being a kid, I was not very interested in the speech but had to accompany my grand ma as the ritual goes. This man has blabbered for sometime on everything under the sun and then narrated something which even today sits somewhere at the back of my head.

The swamiji that morning was on his way to some place and a devotee was taking him in his car. Suddenly someone out of the crowd comes up to his car and abuses him in a very strong tone. The swamiji mentioned that, all he did at that point in time was – ‘He ignored the man’ comfortably and went on with his journey. He admitted to have committed a blunder and he regrets for doing that.

He goes on to explain that the cruelest punishment you can confer on anyone is to ignore them. People wouldn’t mind you even hating them but they wouldn’t want you to ignore them. We, human beings cannot live with this feeling of being ignored and it’s the most miserable state ever. Years down the line, I have realized how true it is. Probably it’s even worse if you ignore someone who cares for you. We all probably have been doing this all thru sometimes unintentionally and some times knowingly…

All I’d want to say is, someday we might be on the other side too…

Who took Yajnavalkya’s cows?

A sense of relief today coz we kinda finished our mid terms, more importantly the paper on ‘Upanishads’, ‘Gita’ and ‘Vivekananda’. I can’t believe that it’s the end of all our nightmares. Most of us are in a state of elation and a feel as if we completed our MBA and it’s our graduation day. It is all maya.

What adds spice to the scenario is the one week holiday. There’s hustle and bustle around with people packing their bags and the college sounds nothing short of a railway station. There are people bidding for tickets, some booking online, some using all recos possible… ahem… I have never seen the college so much full of activity !

And for those of you who are wondering about the blog title, that’s the famous character in ‘Brhadaranyaka’ Upanishad. It all starts with his cows. And that was the first class of our term and the toughest Upanishad, the lengthiest one too. So whenevea someone gets frustrated with the subject we ask that question coz that’s the begin of the entire drama. But today this blog signifies the end .. the end of all the pain and nightmares…. Ufff.. a sigh of relief !!!!!

How to carry on the family name

Something caught my attention on the boring Pink paper today. Below is one of 'The early winners at Cannes Lions 2008'. Happy reading !!

How to carry on the family name

1. Insert a drug called Laminaria into the vagina of a 21-week pregnant woman. This helps dilate the cervix by absorbing all the water from the uterus. After about twelve hours, Laminaria starts acting on the outer uterine lining and breaks the water. The cervix expands to its fullest.
2. Shove a pair of forceps into the birth canal. At this point the foetus is partially developed and has hands and legs that are capable of kicking. Grab it by the legs and pull it into the birth canal.
3. Extreme care must be taken to keep the head of foetus, inside the womb as it is critical to keep it alive.
4. Insert a pair of scissors into the foetus’s skull. Rotate it in both directions and make the wound wide enough for the next pair of instruments to enter. (At this point it can’t feel a thing; the only part of the foetus that is still alive is the heartbeat.) Keep swabs of gauzy handy to soak up the spilt blood and foetal tissue.
5. Next, insert a large suction catheter, which looks like a small vacuum cleaner, into the skull and suck the brains out. In the absence of a suction catheter, a normal empty syringe will do.
6. A spoon shaped spatula should be used to scrape out the collapsed skull. It should also be used to clean the womb and remove all traces of the dead female foetus.
7. After three months, try again for a boy.

In India every year 1.1 million unborn baby girls die before they are born. To stop female foeticide contact,……

So Much to Blog and So much time on hand

I am out of my hibernation at last. Too much of time on hand is the primary reason for not blogging of late. There is so much to blog but so little energy.

First things first. A gang of 50 of us decided to live our weekend to the fullest and the result was a trip to Pondichery. I kinda remembered my school picnics for once. Why not? I could hear all songs from country and pop to devotional songs. Courtesy : My classmates on the bus. Neva heard of such original signing in my life. Crazy episodes on the beach till 2 in the night and being shirked away by the police are worth a mention. For the first time I saw my folks going senti. Yes, they did. At 1 in the night on the Rocky beach, we lie down with water splashing on our face, and then come the songs ‘ye dil bekarar kitna, ye hum nahi jaante’, ‘ehsaan tera hoga’, ‘dil tere bin kahi lagta nahi’….. What else should I deem them to be if not senti ??

Our lectures and guest lectures being constant, life seemed normal when out of the blue came our prof. Vaidy. With an exorbitant intro of him we got started on our Operations Management classes. His unique filmi style of teaching caught all of us in wonders. He made all of us close to cry on the last day by saying we would miss all these days. Senti No:2 again.

Today was the last day of our corporate finance lectures by another great professor. These classes are beyond any words. Probably just our sleep sagas could explain better. The class was in extreme jubilation today while seeing him off. Don’t know why. Seriously, I don’t know. He had this out of box thinking and as a result of it everyday we get to hear some motivational quotes and a story or two to inspire us. BUT today, the feeling was somehow different. There was no lampooning around when he played for us the song ‘chodo kal ki baatein… Hum Hindustani !!’ Am sure all of us were in the spirit of it in the heart of our hearts. Senti No:3 (I know it’s an overdose, yet can’t help it)

How can I forget to mention the Vedanta classes we are attending? You need to believe that we ought to read ‘Upanishads’, ‘Gita’ and Vedanta. This is a core subject meaning no free riders. There’s an end term exam of this paper on Monday. Towards the end of this subject it is certainly an understatement if I say we are at the verge of insanity. Outside the classroom, inevitably everyone lands up using the terms ‘Atman’, ‘Brahman’, ‘Mind, Body and soul’, ‘Prana’, ‘OM’ …. Every conversation has to land up with a Vedanta tag to it, be it at the chai stall or at the resource centre. God Save us !!

For a change I started giving up in life. I dono if this is an indication of becoming wise and shunning the kiddish attitude or may be it’s a polished way of being complacent. For the first time I was using these phrases – ‘a few things are just beyond my span’ ‘If it were meant to be, it would be’, ‘you really can’t force some things in life’… Well, all I can say is ‘It is so much unlike of me’.

And above all the strange feel that something is missing in my life, not jus missing but direly missing and I have no clue as to what it is. Did you experience this before? If so, leave a note. May be you will help me figure out…….

Chillaxing

End of term I and it has been really chilled out for the last couple of days. Life has been on a different scale for the last month and a half – Mid term to end term, assignment to submission, Pre-read to deadlines…. Well, all the while when time was a crunching factor, I could manage my day better and would take time out for my blog come what may. And now, there’s lots of time but….

For the last 3 days it has been a totally different world. For the first time in our MBA we had the luxury of an afternoon nap. N sleep means a lot here. And yes, 10 DS is O’some on Thursday night coz its karaoke night. Imagine a gang of close to 40 folks singing in the most murderous tones possible. We tired to be at our creative best. We do not believe in Plagiarism. We were so good at it that we were denied a second round of signing, All in all it was loads and loads and loads of fun !!!

Came across this brilliant piece of Swami Vivekananda and no wonder the world was swayed away by him and I am no exception…

Work through freedom! Work through Love! The word ‘love’ is very difficult to understand; love never comes until there is freedom. There is no true love possible in the slave. Every act of love brings happiness; there is no act of love which doesn’t bring peace and blessedness as its reaction. True love can never react so as to cause pain either to the lover or to the beloved. With love there is no painful reaction: love only brings a reaction of bliss; if it does not, it is not love; it is mistaking something else for love.

Wherever there is attachment, you must know that it is all physical, attraction between sets of particles of matter; something that attracts two bodies nearer and nearer all the time, and if they cannot get near enough, produces pain; but where there is real love, it does not rest on physical attachment at all. Such lovers may be a thousand miles away from one another, but their love will be all the same; it does not die, and will never produce and painful reaction.

If you can invariably take the position of a giver, in which everything given by you is a free offering to the world, without any thought of return……

End of term 1 – 12.5% MBAs and Celebrating !!

It was a scene worth watching in the cafeteria today. Why not? It was end of term I and more importantly the examinations – Uffff….. The marathon assignments in between our exams didn’t let us sleep for more than 2-3 hours a day for the last 2 weeks. It was a sigh of relief when the clock stuck 4 today. The campus just sounded like a primary school after the final exams. Some people left on a 5 day long vacation, a few for a Pondicherry trip, Some of em going back home, some lucky ones have their spouse coming in to visit them. Oh my God! - That is all I can say. May be they all have to be reminded that the madness has just begun and we are yet to jump into the fire!!

We have an illusionary holiday tomorrow. With a guest lecture on schedule, a couple of assignments, submission of project report, documentation of one subject etc due for the day after, what else would you call it. Half the crowd has left for a movie, half of the remaining are out pubbing, another half of the remaining are out on adventurous freak outs, and the remaining if any decided to cool their heels at home. Needless to say that I am one of them or may be the only one. My to do list of 40+ certainly demanded my ‘undivided attention’, another favorite phrase of mine.

With a strong resolve of not to study for the day and tomorrow, come what may, I have decided that my blog needs its feed. While I lay my hands on Paulo Coelho’s, ‘Brida’, and my messy is room craving to be in place and my heart’s aching for some beer and sleep, I’d sign off only to come back with a bang.

You win some, You lose some !!!

The title says it all. Doesn’t it? I was watching a movie way back, the climax of which was strongly embedded in my heart. The kid, who plays the lead role, picks up his journal and writes: ‘Winning is not always a Victory and Loosing in not always a Defeat’. How true. It’s all in your attitude. How many times have you lost out and yet had a sense of pride? And aren’t there instances when you win but you are not exactly in a state of ecstasy? The win is in the fight itself; the stronger the fight, greater the fun And also in knowing that you have to lose sometimes to win !!!

No one would want to lose or get a ‘NO’ as a response. And when it happens it best suits to be optimistic, rub your collar and say “Well, it wasn’t in my hands” and get on to your mark for the next challenge ahead. Over years I have realized that I have two choices in life. First – To keep looking back and crib over all that I have lost, Second – To move on in life clinging onto those small opportunities that I see ahead. The choice is a quite obvious one.

And that is exactly why I say – ‘You win some and You lose some’

Those were the best days of my life

It was my ‘Happy Birthday’ yesterday. Well, this is exactly how I used to refer to my birthdays when I was a kid, hell bent on making it a happy one. When I was a kid, I awaited my birthdays in great excitement. Those small birthday parties with all kids around, my news dress to flaunt, that tempting cake and snacks and more of all I being the limelight of the evening, was so much fun. As days passed by and I supposedly started growing up the syndrome took a

‘U’ turn. I grew up enough to understand that there’s one year that went by and I am growing old by a year. When birthday parties burnt my pocket money and I never got the dress I wanted, it was no more fun. Life changes, and very soon !!

Though it’s an open secret that ‘Time flies by’, I can’t believe that more than two and a half decades passed by after that pic on the moped with my mom. Those were really the best days – Stopping every visitor at our door for a packet of Cadburys Gems, tumbling down from the stairs of our bedroom to reach kitchen, my favorite play with tomatoes, waiting for my dad to come home for that ride on the moped, my hide and seek games with my mom beneath the cot, running towards the rail track behind the school when I hear the engine whistling and have the staff running behind me, threatening my dad for chocolates by sitting on the roads and crying aloud (beating my legs and hands too), my mommy’s spanks for being the naughtiest kid ever, playing on those sand heaps with those street urchins…..

I guess this phase happens to all of us. When we were too young to go to school, we cry and break the hell loose to go to school, and then when it’s time for you to go to school you wouldn’t want to; when in school we badly want to surpass it and get to college and when in college you would do anything to start working and earn money; Once tangled in the corporate conundrum you want to go back to your college days !!!!

Too many birthday blues for the day.. But it wasn’t just that. My birthday special included an assignment on Harvard Business Review of ‘India on the Move’ till wee hours, classes with a gap of just a couple of hours and an exam scheduled the next day.How can I forget to mention the greasiest cake that went splash on my face at 00:00 hours in the college. I guess it’s an indicator of how much we would stick to each other for the coming one year and for a lifetime ahead…….

The Madness begins

At the end of a tiring day full of lectures, pre-reads and assignments this is what the class had to say. Some felt they needed Rehab too. With downpour of marketing jargons and a macro economics class on Monetary and Fiscal policies what else can one say? Then comes the usual – Assignments, submissions at wee hours and pre-reads. This has become our respiratory system at Great Lakes. You might not wanna know what’s in store for the coming week, but I would anyways mention that – Loads of Pre-reads, Harvard Reviews, Macro economics End term exam, Marketing Project submission, Marketing End term exam, Fin Accounting End term Exam, Stats exam, Psychology exam, an assignment in Chinese, Another Macro assignment, Mad search for research guide and in between Place comm. Meets and tasks………I felt like running away from all these, probably into some woods and live in peace !!!

Foot in the mouth incident for the day

After being rejected by loads of guides for my empirical research, I decided I will be nice and paly with one of the Asst Profs so that she would help me with a guide. As I entered the room, I observed she was carrying and she also mentioned that the baby was due in 2 months. In an effort of rapport building my usual questions followed – ‘Where do you hail from? What’s your background? What made you choose Research area? And then comes the bang bang question – ‘Oh! Are you married?’

Some one please kill me !!!!

Age is an Attitude

It was a much needed coffee break after a very long lecture. All of us set out for a chai and thus goes the discussion between me and my class mate, who is a year younger than I. If you are wondering the relevance of age, you need to be more patient and read on..

My Friend : Oh my God ! We might be late (may be by 15 seconds) – continuous panicky
Me : Chill lady, the professor is not so strict and he wouldn’t mind it.

My Friend : Nahi yaar, we need to rush back. We will be late and people will stare at us. Lets go. Lets go. Lets go.
Me : Grow up yaar. Its ok. Chill

My Friend : Yaar you don’t take tension and you are pretty relaxed coz you are elder !!!

Now this line of hers, for a second, made me feel like I am her mom. Indeed it turned my thinking process on. Has age got anything to do with one’s attitude? Now what’s the correlation, if any and how does it influence??

When I rushed back into the lecture, there was our most energetic and jubilant professor I have ever seen in my life and all my peers would agree to it. He is our professor for statistics, Prof P.K.Vishwanathan famously called PKV. The radiance he emits in the class, the exuberance he exhibits, the energy levels he has, the love for the subject – I bet no one can beat him. He does some salsa, jive and cha cha cha in every class he teaches. He gets so engrossed that he has this 1000 Watt glow when he successfully explains some intricate concept. All the 165 of us are JEALOUS of this great man, his attitude and flamboyance. Here comes the news – He is just around 65 years old.

A while ago, when I attended a training session, there was a mix of age groups. There were people ranging from 25 year to 70 year old. The trainer to split the audience, asked – ‘How many of you here are youth’ and the first hand that shot up was from a 70 year old man. His justification – ‘Age is in your head. Would anyone want to contest that I am not youth?’ Needless to say, the only expression we had was – ‘Wow’.

Now, I am not someone who explains the most obvious facts. I give my readers freedom of interpretation and to draw the point I wanna drive home. I believe you are smart enough, if you have read so far.

A bit here and a bit there

Marketing Management classes: Goddess of sleep takes us over in the classes and we humbly give up. I bet there is not even a single fella who didn’t sleep for atleast 5 minutes in these sessions. The best part comes when all of us are so damn fresh and full of pep after just after the class. Someone tell me the secret. As for me, I have been successfully sleeping in the visible proximity of our professor who smartly ignores it and goes on with his class.

The Best part comes today as we had no sessions all day long and our first and only session is of Marketing at 4:45 in the evening. With a strong resolve to defeat the Goddess, we step in with all armors and shields. At 4:46, I see people collapsing and hitting the desk in front.

Idea of the day comes when the prof. mentions that there are tools to allocate costs to products and same with revenues but there isn’t any to allocate profits. And if some one came up with it, that’s invention. For this, one of the students out of deep sleep says – ‘Oh! It’s so simple. It should be reverse of cost tool’. Did you say a ‘Wow’ now? You betta do.

At coffee break – The hot topic – ‘Techniques to evade sleep in marketing classes.’

1. Some one tries to take notes but still doesn’t work coz after sometime he lands up with drawing lines. After conscious efforts his eyes are open but he looses the power of distinction (coz of sleep) and thus writes even ‘Any questions?’ ‘Now let’s do this task’. Someone help him please!!!
2. Someone does close to ‘Kathakali’ changing postures. And still doesn’t help.
3. Some try to ask sleep questions. The Prof answers the same one just before a second and he gives a quizzical expression. Now someone help the Prof please.

Ab thoda senti: I was watching my sister’s wedding video and pics and I couldn’t believe that it was the same sweet lil sis who used to trouble my mom playing in the froth and never let her wash clothes. Very inadvertently, without the help of a time machine, I go back in time and a tear rolls down…

Musical night @ Veerannam: Mind boggling singing performances, head banging on Altaf Raja songs, Dances on Govinda and Illa Arun songs at 2:00 AM midnight. Oh! We would do anything to keep our sleep at bay.

Great Lakes Jargons:

SP: Special Chai on the street corner chai stall. We wouldn’t have survived without it so far.
CoCo: Course Co-ordinator
CoCi: Feminine gender of CoCo
ER: Empricial Research
LS: Lake Superior
LV: Lake Veerannam
LM: Lake Manassarovar (All these are our classrooms. Now you know why it is Great Lakes)

Flash Flash: There’s a Chennai bloggers’ meet on 8^th June at 16:00 hours, where all bloggers down south are meeting up. Looking forward to it.

Its 4:00 in the morning and how I wish the Goddess of sleep takes over me now and not in my marketing classes.

Arrogant bunch of little rascals

When’s the best time you’v ever had on a weekend? Let me take a guess. Probably during that night disc or on that date with that beautiful gal or is it on those booze parties with friends or may be during re-unions or on those wild goose chase long drives and gupshups with friends……. But for me @ Chennai the last couple of weekends have been, what should I call them? – No words would gauge even a miniscule of it.

When the ‘Champions’ (that’s the Co 2009 @ Great Lakes) set on their new journey @ Great Lakes, little did we realize what was in store for us. All other mild shocks and startles being constant, we experienced a slight tremor when one of our dear professors announced that all the groups need to work on a project ‘Karma Yoga’, to serve the under privileged and the needy. It got even better when we came to know that we had to do a mandatory number of hours per week service and we would get our credits based on it and no wonder what followed was cribs, moans, sobs, bawls, wails, weeps and everything you can imagine of.

And then…….

A month and a half down the line – there’s one group who passionately works with some NGOs for abolishing child labor, another who is working on anti tobacco and smoking concept, some helping rehabilitate the fire victims in the college vicinity, there’s another group who travels all 4 hours one way to just see those broad smiles of the physically challenged kids, a team who would reflect what the world looks like out there to all those blind kids, one bunch which would cater to the slums (in the actual sense) and help them learn living skills, a gang who tries to motivate all those drop outs and people who gave up hope in life… This list is just a never ending one and I mean it. It’s not just the list that should touch you but the amount of effort and conviction each of them puts in.

While my team puts in their relentless efforts to teach those school drop outs some much needed Hindi and English, I love watching the rest of those tiny weeny creatures playing away to glory on the sands of the tsunami hit area, their cute smiles, their long wait for those chocolates, their sweet greetings of good evenings and hellos in that incomprehensible English. A bag of chocolates vanish in just a nanosecond and they would come and wish you ‘Happy Birthday’ and they wouldn’t heed to you when you say it isn’t your birthday. Arrogant bunch of little rascals eh?? How I wish I could have brought them all back home and snatch my share of those reasonless smiles while playing away to glory with them. I can’t wait to get back to them…

Now we don’t care if we get those Credits or not. Each of us is thoroughly engrossed in a new world, carried away by its winds and breathing anew in life. We for sure will take some time to come back into this world.

And yeah it’s breezy and windy in Chennai. Probably a herald of a tycoon of assignments and group tasks, a hurricane of deadlines and submissions, tornado of pre-class reads, whirlwind of committee meets and tasks and a typhoon of lectures.

Let me survive these storms and those adorable sweety pie creatures while you wait for my next post…..

Hope Hope and Hope

With two of my mid term exams gone for a toss, Greek and Latin classes of statistics, intimidating Macro economic classes wherein I don’t get scores coz I bunk them, flooding terminology in Psychology in which I can’t remember even one definition, Nightmares in accountancy classes, Yet unable to figure out what should I base my Empirical research on while my peers are already 10 steps ahead of me….. What else can I think of other than ‘HOPE’.Edit post

Personally, this has been my most favorite word in the English language. Not only is it my factor of existence but also my survival system. This concept is so much submerged in me that sometimes it scares me. I can’t refrain from quoting my favourite lines from ‘Shawshank Redemption’ - “Hope is a good thing. May be the best of all. And no good thing ever dies.” So next time, you face a set back, all you need to do is jus ‘Dream On’ for Hope is not a bad thing at all….

The other stuff:

It is a worth mention of the nightmares we are going through in the financial accounting class.

In the accounting class

Student 1 : Can we debit a credit? (Boy! Neva thought on these lines)

Student 2 : If there is a company ‘A’, which has taken over company ‘B’ and there is a company ‘C’ to whom company B owes sums, and there is a company ‘D’ which is a creditor. Now how would company ‘A’ account for the transactions if company ‘B’ goes bankrupt?? Googly !! This one I know is straight from sleep.

Student 3 : Why do companies follow a credit system?

Student 4 : How do companies track how much dividend is paid? (I loved the answer from our professor – ‘U gotta employ someone to do that’ – in a quite obvious kinda tone) - This one was awarded the question of the year by the Co2009.

Statistics mid term exam – an open book (an open laptop too) test – just one problem to solve – close to one hour duration – I would demean it by calling just a disaster. The term Co 2009 coined is ‘165 X 1 Disaster’ (165 students to one ‘Bond’ kinda professor). The reactions after the exam – ‘What? Is that a question?’, ‘Dude, I don’t even know what that means’. ‘Grrr.. someone tell me what is this all about’, ‘Boo Hoo Hoo, there goes my GPA’, ‘Goodbye MBA’ and so on

Landmarks

The first instance of a student kicked out of the class for the Co 2009.
First set of fines for chatting on mail and cross talking in the class levied by Honor Code committee

More laterz...

8.33% MBA

It’s a month I embarked on a new journey in my life, A long cherished dream of mine. What else can make one happy than ‘following your heart’.

Even at the cost of sounding clichéd, I shall mention ‘Time just flew by’ and am sure the rest of 11 months are just a blink away !!!

The one month was action packed. At this point I get to wonder what’s in store for the rest of my time here. I am sure there wudn’t be any surprises. Let me take a guess – It’s gonna be - loads of lectures, loads n loads of assignments and deadlines, dozing in the classrooms, night outs at ‘Lake Veeranamm’, Pranks on peers and we will not save the profs either, Partying high, booze parties, Birthday bumps, improving our theatre skills (by imitating our profs), Attack on the resource centre and databases, Clubs and Committees, Study tours, B-School competitions, Mid terms, End terms, Case studies, the o’some and the ‘not-the-so-o’some’ profs, some sweet friends on to our list….

Truly Action packed !!!

Its raining !!!

Imagine a setting like that of ‘Lagan’. A drought-stricken village, rain god frowning on its villagers, no rains for the crops to prosper, all villagers can do is look heavenwards.

And then Lightening strikes… Yes it indeed is raining in Chennai for the last two days ! Isn’t that like news? Where r all those new channels? I guess this piece is better than ‘Kareena wants to act with Shahid again’, ‘Deepika finds new boy friend’ ‘Kitten rescued from a well’ etc…

If you are thinking it’s just the downpour from the heaven, no it isn’t. It’s raining assignments, group tasks, classes, assessments, class quizzes, mid-terms et all.

A pat on the back

My day started with a small feeling of discomfort and needless to say that it carried forward to all my classes. There was this strange feeling that something was not alright but I dono what it is. Half day thru, after some heavy doses of classes, a nice lunch and some serious learning of Chinese for the assessment test that’s awaiting us, there was a bunch of folks who came to me with some questions in accounting. Well, I love the subject and I love teaching. So, there was I at, my best and folks around me listening attentively. At this point one of our Profs walks in and watches this and asks me a couple of (not-so-obvious) questions on accounting. N you should have guessed that I gave the answers, rather vomited them. He immediately said something like “I like it. You show a keen interest and passion. I observe that in my classes too…..” (Disclaimer : not the exact words)

Do I need to mention, how this small gesture turned my 'Not-so-good-day' into 'What-an-awesome-day'. If you are thinking that was kiddish, then stop being a loser in life. This is what I exactly want to convey. How many times in life did we ever relish a compliment in its true sense? Did you ever sit back and think of all those good things people have told you? N who wouldn’t like compliments any ways? I would call em ‘Blessings in disguise’. As am writing this, am fondly tapping back all those sweet little praises showered on me. So, y don’t you too sit back just for a moment and go back to the memory lane and dig out those sweet lil praises shot at you?

It wouldn’t harm you anyways !!!

Well, the story doesn’t end here. As I always say my favorite side is the ‘Other side’. If when you are reading this, you are thinking of how to make someone’s day by giving a compliment, bingo you are the ONE ! If all it takes to make someone’s day is a few nice words, then there shouldn’t be any stopping.

It wouldn’t harm you anyways !!

Missing my weekends on weekends

Weekends before joining MBA

1. Party till the cows come home.
2. Crazy freak outs till early hours – Go to those night shows – enter those addas illegally (thru their kitchen) where you get food at midnight – then go for some ice creams at Ohries at 3 in the morning – Oh! How I miss all those.
3. Get togethers @ Friend’s rooms and discuss anything and everything under the sun and suddenly feel the halo around us.
4. Cook a multi course dinner and pat my own back (coz its edible people – now appreciate that)
5. Drink away to glory at home ALL ALONE in absolute PEACE.
6. Watch back to back movies, say 4-5…
7. Compensate all those sleepless week days by sleeping away to glory – Like you don’t care even if someone knocks your door – let em…
8. Play Cricket with the galli kids and get a feel of euphoria like winning some world cup likes.
9. Go Carting, then pubbing and then those long drives with some romantic hindi numbers on – ooo la la !!!
10. Chat away to glory with all those friends till its time for the sun to wake up and then hit the breakfast buffets, eat away to glory and then go home and hit the sac !!

This list would go on and on……………………………..

Weekends after joining MBA

1. Analyse the inflation trends in Indian economy and explain whether its globally driven or locally driven (what on earth does this mean now !!)
2. Realise at 11:00 PM in the night that I ought to have dinner, and to my utter dismay the adda is closed…
3. Practice ‘Chinese’ (of all languages on earth) with the aid of some CD for a test on Monday. Dono how close would I get to it.
4. Attend those Jargonish classes and act as if you understood it all and you are gonna be the next strategist.
5. Make plans - of who is doing which part of the assignment (not of which pub, who all for the party, what time kinds)
6. Pre reads of 100s of pages
7. Assignments, Submissions, Group tasks, Deadlines, Tests, Term exams, penalities..
8. Dreaming of 1 just 1 day off at the end of the term….

This list too would go on and on....

Need I say more?
And NO, I am NOT cribbing.

What they teach you in MBA

Supervisor focused impression management

1. Do personal favors for your supervisor (for example, getting him or her a cup of coffee or coke , etc)
2. Offer to do something for your supervisor which you were not required to do; that is, you did it as a personal favor for him or her.
3. Compliment your immediate supervisor on his or her dress or appearance.
4. Praise your immediate supervisor on his or her accomplishments. (What if he doesn’t have any? genuine doubt…)
5. Take an interest in your supervisor’s personal life (No dirty thoughts)

Ahem Ahem, no wonder B-schools make successful managers !!! Anybody out there to refute this? Come on, grow up.

Overhead transmission of Macro Economic analysis

Mr. Rocky (Prof. Rakesh singh ko pyar se janta aise bolte hei yaar.. dil pe nai leneka) has aptly justified being a professor of a B-school.

His winning formula – Scare everyone to glory

His piece of advice – Bullshit, but with CONFIDENCE.

And then give them some weird assignment on Gross domestic product trend analysis and tracing inflexion point (I still don’t know what it means) and blah blah blah. – Submission deadline 00:00 hrs in the midnight (Lol)

His Project work for us – ‘How would Economic Times look in 2020’? (Beat that).While 99.99% of us do not how it looks like now, God save us and God save HIM !!

Amidst all this there’s a bunch of seniors who take the pain of coming in the wee hours and give us a presentation on how the Place Com works. And then comes the best part – an interview (grueling one) for the same. A set of 10 essays and then an interview to do some voluntary work. Jeezus !!!

And then the Karma Yoga project – Help some community in need – Comes with a mandatory tag of 3-4 hours - more about this laterz .

And if you thought this was all, I am glad that you are grossly mistaken. It teaches you how to -

have a shower in 2 minutes, eat your dinner in 3 minutes, manage 7-8 things at once and yet not to mess em up (actually u dare not), Manage your time – your quick foody bites while traveling, complete your dressing while running to the college (Clarification : dressing like folding up the sleeves of your shirt, wear your shoes completely etc), most importantly a ‘ I DON’T CARE’ attitude, otherwise, what would you tell all those insane NON MBA crowd staring at us..

And do I have to say that – ‘Its hell lota fun’ !!!

12 Angry Men

My day started with a ‘BANG’, much against my expectations, for it was supposed to start with a psychology lecture. Yes it did start with the lecture, but something left me awestruck and in deep contemplation. The professor was generous enough to let people continue their last night’s sleep and thus says ‘Lights off’ and woo there was a movie clip. What else can you ask for at those wee hours in the morning? But hang-on. If you thought I dozed off too, Henry Fonda didn’t let me.

Yes, we watched ‘12 Angry Men’, an American drama film, about a jury member who tries to persuade the other 11 members to acquit the suspect on trial on the basis of reasonable doubt. The objective of this video was to learn our ‘Psychology concepts’ and yes we did discuss ‘social influence’, ‘Conformity’, ‘Compliance’, ‘Obedience’, ‘Normative Behaviour’, ‘individuation’, ‘ingratiation’, ‘foot-in-the-door’, ‘Door-in-the-face’, ‘That’s-not-all’, ‘Rational Persuasion’, ‘Coalition Building’ etc..

While this is one side of the story, what left me enthralled is Henry Fonda; rather his conviction. While the techniques were irrelevant to me, his fervor still reverberates in my thoughts. How many of us would stand up so strong on our beliefs and thoughts? When is it last that we fought hard for what we thought was right in spite of all odds against us? Wouldn’t we yield to the majority’s opinion and just lose our self? Well well, confessions first, at least I wouldn’t have. A decade ago this would have been probable for me but not anymore. Reasons – the so obvious ones. For once, I wanted to go to my professor and pass across a big smile (coz I always glower in his class) and mention a ‘Note of Thanks’.

And now on the lighter note to end the blog and my day, I and my roomies are making ‘Business plans’ for ‘dabba business’ (Read Carriage Meal). Not just one but one with plans of Globalization, Affordability Vs PP (For all those of you wondering, its - Purchasing Power – Please do read a little of Economics), Innovation etc etc..

Adios for now and Ciao soon….