4 5 6...

No 4, 5, 6...
It's all the same. Still waiting for some good news.
Macro Eco is sleep inducing. :D
Manac is showing its true colours. Actual cost, absorved overhard, budgeted volume, actual effeciency... It's all confusing. :(

ps: Exams from tomorrow.

dead lines

23:59:59
This tag is attached to every task that I am doing these days. :)
It's there, everywhere.

erase, write, erase again

It's a fast track out here. You keep racing against everything, including yourself. There are some inherent breaks, you stop, take a breath or two and get going again. And the most interesting part of it is that many a times all these activities are totally unrelated to each other.

Till day before yesterday I was writing SOPs and Cover letters, last night I was making arrangements for a market research fair, today morning I was working in the fair, and now I am thinking what to do. Fair is over, new forms are lined up for coming days, classes are slotted and I am standing here thinking.
Now I will have to erase this fair thing from my mind, and take up something new. Let me take a breath for now.

i want to become a "fighter plane pilot"

"What do you want to become when you grow up?" ask this question to any 5 year old kid and you will get an instant answer. Doctor, Pilot, Miss India, Engineer, Actor ... what not...
Ask the same question to grown up people, you have put them in a fix. If you happen to be in a well known institute of management in western India, the answer would be something like this -
I want to become an IBanker. So what Lehman is no more. I have many other option.
Two minutes later...
I want to become a Consultant. I love working with CEOs you know.
Two minutes later...
I am made for marketing. I am a brands guy. HUL here I come.
Two minutes later...
I want to get into a high-paying job. Show me the money...
I am sure by now you must have lost your patience. :)

This is bitter truth. It is the same everywhere. We have grown up to become more confused. I wish they had given me my pilot licence when I was 5. Itna tension nahi hota life me.

ps: Got my second rejection letter today. Another IBank. WTF do they think they are. :)
Thanks Neha for the insightful and fun filled chat that prompted me to write this post.

from the class room

"Sir I have realized Operations Management is quite complicated," said the student.
"Oh yea that I know. What is the name of your professor who teaches you OM."
- in one of the OM classes.

Is it fear of tears or tears of fear?
- in LAB classes while discussing current affairs.

I am giving you an idea. An idea can change your life.
- Professor in ProbStats class

taarikh pe taarikh, taarikh pe taarikh...
- It has to be the LAB class.

This is the easiest quiz that I have set in last 10-15 years. I am expecting that the average this time will be 2-3 (out of 10).
- OM quiz feedback.

Tell me the faculty is a fool. Tell me that I do not add any value. Challenge me.
- The day we lost the battle in OM class. :(

The job of the faculty is not to solve doubts but to create confusion.
- Cannot recall if it was OM class or MAC.

ps: Context for first one - The name of the professor is SARAL :)

last post on 12th Oct

I logged in my blogger account and saw this message against this blog.
"last post on 12th Oct"
GoD!!! So it finally happened. I have been away for almost a week. "So what is the big deal," you might ask.
It is a big deal. Indeed it is as big one as the fact that I have not gone on my morning jog for last 6 days.
Bad bad bad!!!
I can surely say that jogging one is real bad, trust me on that. Yesterday in the changing room of a clothing store, I felt like killing myself for this. :D

I sit back and try to recall what kept me busy these last few days. Ans here is what I could recall:
1. Wrote cover letter to Company1 describing "why I want to become an IBanker and why they are the best place for me to start my career."
2. Submitted my resume to Company2, Company3 .... Company14 [If you thought IIMA me job aasani se mil jaate hai, you might want to rethink]
3. Attended presentation by 3 IBanks, 3 Marketing firms, 3 consulting firms and 1 startup. Ate pizza or burger at the end of each presentation. Collected unlimited brochures, 3 pens and 1 writing pad.
4. Wrote cover letter to Company5 describing "why I want to become a consultant and why they are the best place for me to start my career."
5. Gave psychometric test for a Bank's recruitment process. Was rejected. :D
6. Wrote 1000 character (including spaces) essay stating why I want to become a marketing guy.
7. Wrote my short term and long term goals.
8. Rewrote them.
9. Wrote them one more time.
10. Recalled incidents from my life where I faced some moral dilemma. Wrote them in 950 charcter (including spaces).
11. Recalled incidents from my life where I had to face opposition and how I overcome them. Again 950 character to write them. Spaces included.
12. Rewrote answer to questions in 10&11 in 500 characters (including spaces).
13. Wrote about three values that drive my actions and thoughts. 1000 characters.
14. Filled some of the most user-unfriendly online forms.
15. Kept checking my dbab (an internal IM tool in IIMA) for more updates. Daily we get around 200 messages so missing it for even an hour can create a mess in your inbox.

And yes, I attended some classes too, prepared for some of them, left others for luck and coldcalled some corporates to search for some sponsor for an event on the campus.

In short, life has been nice. I am loving it. :)

Scene: Classroom

11:55 hours. It's the last class for the day.
Professor enters the class wearing his usual smile. I am sure he has cooked up a new joke on the way to the class. It's going to be a rocking class.
He is carrying a news paper and the case-material.
News paper???
What is he up to? Forget it, must be running late today so forgot to drop it off in his office.
He goes to the the console PC in the class and starts keying in something. God!! phir se Indlaw.com :( :(
And there is a tune...
"mauja hi mauja... teri mauja hi mujha..."
playing in some distance.

God! Who the hell forgot to put his mobile on silent. And why the hell has he/she such a sad ringtone?
There is no movement in the class. All students are surprised about the sound.

"mauja hi mauja... teri mauja hi mujha..." volume increases.
And then there is a smile on Prof's face.
No prize for guessing. It was youtube.com today. Prof's was preparing for the class it seems. :)

Music fades... Class continues.

2 minutes to the end of class -
Prof finally takes up the news paper. And turn to page 8. There is a joke about ibanks. He read it aloud. We all laugh. Professor exists.

ps:
1. This is a real life incidence. We are learning Legal Aspects of Business in this class.
2. In next class the prof showed us old interesting advertising from cigarette companies from US.

G3 gets a new logo...

Got this idea in FinMarket class today [actually this is the only productive work I did it in that class today. I slept in the rest of the class]

This is a dedication to Group 3 of Section A of PGP 2008-2010 at IIMA.

Group Members: [from right to left]
Chang aka Varun Gupta
Chaatu Singh aka Abhinav Singhal
Parcel aka Rahul S.K.
Boondiii aka Pritesh Jain
Saafi aka Prosenjit Das

OMed

New week starts with an OM class in this slot. Prof. Saral Mukherjee, teaches it with utmost dedication. His passion for the subject and his teaching is inspiring, to say the least. OM is one of the core subject, so a lot of stress has been given to this course. It follows case based teaching. As usual (at IIMA) the cases are the chosen from the best in their class. They are tough to say the least. It takes 3-4 hours of group preparation and still we do not get result/solution. I dread entering any OM class. The fear of getting cold-called by the professors is something I can not describe in words. It's not embarrassment or fear of losing CP marks, but the plain fear of disappointing someone so passionate about something. I don't blame him for anything. He is just superb.
Still, end of every class I thank god for keeping me safe and secure. :)


ps: We have been shown one youtube video and one Charlie Chaplin movie as a learning tool in this course.

in front of me...

This is what I am seeing these days. :)

why MBA?

What does an MBA course teach you?

Bhushit told me once - "An MBA does not help you in making right decision, that you will have to do on your own. The MBA will help you make the decision the right way."
I don't have any reason to not to agree with him.

3 months here in IIMA, I have learnt one more thing about MBA. It helps you to learn how to ask intelligent questions. The information is all out there. Internet search is the best thing that could have happened to mankind. This widespread information availability makes it a level playing field for everyone. To rise above the rest, you need to find this information fast and utilize it in the best possible way. This is where an MBA might be useful.

I hope I learn this art too. :)

free pizza, garba and some sleep

If you ask me what is the most important thing in life, my answer would surely be SLEEP. I have been deprived of sleep here.
8:45:00 AM class, followed by quizzes (that are difficult to pass), pre-readings, company presentations and then OM or Marketing case. No wonder, it's well beyond midnight, or should I say it is almost dawn.

Buzz on the campus is that this is 'high time' we fasten up our seat belts. Summers will arrive shortly and we need to prepare ourselves for them. REMs by tuchchas, presentation by companies and a little bit of studies on your own - all these squeezed in your already jam-packed schedule. God!!! Only cherry on the cake is the free pizza that you get end of every ppt [gosh! some companies did not even do that. :(] I am hoping this novelty feeling remain for some more time. :)

Garba time is here. And imagine, taking some time out of the above mentioned time-table. Difficult naa? Now add an invitation to this condition - to enjoy garba in NID campus in an event specially conducted for IIMA, NID and NIFT students. Do I need to say anything? :)
So we went there, to the so called mecca of design and class. Amazing place and even more amazing experience. Dance and masti for over 3 hours. More than that it was the feeling of doing something that we wanted to do. Free will - we can call it.
Feeling refreshed.

And here I am signing off for the day. Ek company ppt and marketing case is waiting for me. :)

ps: Before you write any comment saying "daily pizza is not good for health," let me make an announcement. I am trying my best to go jogging every day. :)