Dec 29, 2008

Slumdog Millionaire

Watch this movie. For three reasons:
1. If you ever liked watching good movies. And by good I mean good as in good quality.
2. If you want to see a brilliantly executed screenplay.
3. If you want to see one gem of a performance - Dev Patel as Jamal Malik.

My Rating - 5/5

ps: Unarguably the best movie of the season for me.

Fault Finding Time

So finally we have got the results of the first year at wimwi.
First year result? Is the first year over?
Thank God, it's not yet over. There are so many things to do before I become a tuchcha. So less time left. Gosh...
So what I received from Acads office today is a consolidated mark sheet of some of the innumerable exams that we have been giving since the day we landed in wimwi campus. Its contents I can not share. Not due to any placement process related rule, but out of personal choice. :)

So why is it the fault finding time? No idea. Still for sometime all of us are going to crib about everything possible under the sun. 9 subjects a slot schedule to scary evaluation methods. :)

It's 6/7 for 4th slot. Just one more paper to go before I head for home.
God... I can smell maa ke haatho ka bana khana :D

Dec 25, 2008

Merry Xmas

It is that part of the year that I used to spend with my family. Sarthak and Shachi's birthday celebrations marked Xmas celebration for me and my family. This year, they are celebrating it today and I am preparing for my end-term exams. :(

Merry Xmas...

Dec 24, 2008

Strategy

Strategy is not about opening doors.
It's all about closing door before they are automatically shut.

ps: Saral Da rocks.

Dec 22, 2008

haha huhu hihi

So we had a MANAC quiz.
that did not have any numbers
except question number
and marks allocated.

Strange it is.
Still
Ye hai IIMA meri jaan...
:)


ps: The exam prep is taking its toll on me. :D

Dec 21, 2008

the winds are changing

This slot has been a relaxing one so far. No WAC reports to worry about, no PS assignements either. OM hasn't been in that severity too.
This slot is more about the business concepts.

But now the winds are changing. Exams are approaching. And with the kind of subjects we had, the worst fear is that we don't have an idea about the exam pattern. Kuch bhi aa sakta hai.
So pappu beta.. Lag jaa .. Mug le...
:)

Dec 19, 2008

tapori day, back-to-scool day and others

Gujarat University students want to celebrate Rose Day, Tapori Day, Chocolate Day, Mix & Match Day, Tie and Saree Day, Traditional Day, Balloon Day and what not.

Mr. VC dreams of replacing these events with National Leader Character Day, Anti Terrorist Day, Blood Donation Day, Thalassaemia Day, World Peace Day, World Environment Day and Nirmal Gujarat Day. He says, “The aim of this circular is to ensure students engage themselves in activities which will inculcate the spirit of patriotism and unity in them.”

Nice thoughts indeed Mr. VC.

But, tere is a big uproar amongst the students. They term the order passed by VC as dictatorial and have come forward under the banner of NSUI. NSUI - the students group supported by youth congress. See something fishy?
Ok, not so apparent. Still I am a little apprehensive about NSUI angle.

Leaving NSUI crap aside, I feel this issue makes me think and write about certain experiences from my college life. After 4 years in an engineering college and now almost 6 months in IIMA, I feel students in any college need opportunities for extracuricular events specially echnical and cultural fests. They serve in many ways:
1. Showcase their talent,
2. Learn organzing and team skills,
3. Interaction with outside world specially corporates
4. Networking.
It's one nice way to channelize raw talent and energies. The flip side is that, a limit has to be defined. I come from a college, where we had 11 technical fests a year (one for each department). You can imagine the quality and impact of such events in such a case. Here in IIMA, we receive atleast 3-4 mails daily about events happening in management colleges around the country. This basically speaks about the craze for such events. Somewhere, I feel, they become a me-too phenomena. If we can control the temptation of copying others and feeling of a false competition, we can do good justice for the very purpose of existence of such events.

Coming back to case of various 'days' that are celebrated in colleges. Even though these events are widespread, I find them funny. Too immaturish for a college level junta. May be Mr. VC's suggestion is too idealistic, still we can do much better than a 'tappori day'.

I remember working for Rotaract Club of RVCE while I was in college. Some of the most satisfying moments of my life - organizing blood donation camp, eye checkup camps and interacting with clubs from other institutions. These we did, while we were in college. Prayas in IIMA is another such effort.

Leaving social service work aside, we can always count on literary and arts activities. In Bangalore, I was amazed to see the interest of college going crowd in Theatre and Arts. There are theatre clubs, music bands and other such groups and activities that keep students together. They are a way to break-away from the monotony of studies. They are a way to live.

Why can this not be replicated in Gujarat University? I am sure we have enough enthu junta here, and if we don't, its the right time to invest in such activities.

Mr. VC, you have done the right thing. Just that apply some more sense and you can be the leader that colleges here need. Please don't budge to the pressure from NSUI or any such gang.

ps: My personal views.

Dec 18, 2008

Legal Aspects of Ethics

1982 / D. S. Nakara And Others Vs Union Of India

Coram: Baharul Islam, D A Desai, O Chinnappa Reddy, V D Tulzapurkar, Y V Chandrachud (CJI)

With a slight variation to suit the context Woolessey's prayer : "Had I served my God as reverently as I did my King I would not have fallen on these days of Penury" is chanted by petitioner in this group of petitions in the Shelian tune : "I fall on the thorns of life I bleed." Old age, ebbing mental and physical prowess, atrophy of both muscle and brain powers permeating these petitions, the petitioners in the fall of life yearn for equality of treatment which is being meted out to those who are soon going to join and swell their own ranks.
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41. The last submission, the absence of precedent need not deter us for a moment. Every new norm of socio-economic justice, every new measure of social justice commenced for the first time at some point in history. If at that time it is rejected as being without a precedent, the law as an instrument of social engineering would have long since been dead and no tears would have long since been dead and no tears would have been shed. To be programmatic is not to be unconstitutional. In its onward march law as an institution ushers in socio-economic justice. In fact, social security in old age commended itself in earlier state as a moral concept but in course to time it acquired legal connotation. The rules of natural justice owed their origin to ethical and moral code. Is there any doubt that they have become the integral and inseparable parts of rule of law of which any civilized society is proud ? Socio-economic justice stems from the concept of socials morality coupled with abhorrence for economic exploitation . And the advancing society converts in course of time moral or ethical code into enforceable legal formulations. Overemphasis on precedent furnishes as insurmountable road block to the onward march towards promised millennium. An overdose of precedents is the bane of our system which is slowly getting stagnant, stratified and atrophied. Therefore, absence of a precedent on this point need not deter us at all. We are all the more happy for the chance of scribing on a clean state.

ps: Read this peice as part of ethics course.

Dec 17, 2008

randomization

It's been a week since I blogged. That's a long break. A not-so-welcome break.

This 4th slot has been a big respite from the usual routine in IIMA. Ask anyone here and you will hear that it does not seem like any of the earlier ones. It's not any 'learning curve' effect, let me assure you. Just that post summer placements and confluence, things has slowed down a bit. With lots of soft-skill courses in this slot, it has been a good change from the hardcore fin and accounts subject. Courses like LS (leadership Skills) and SBC (Spoken Business Communication) added to the fun. It's been a peaceful time so far. Now, when exams are just a week away, the winds are changing. One more exam and then we head to home. The first official break after we landed in this campus. I am looking forward to it.

Last few weeks I have spent a lot of time learning some more new tricks in photoshop. It is addictive. Yesterday when I got up, I had an idea and I just could not wait till post-class to put it into a poster. I woke up and headed straight to my laptop, opened photoshop and made the poster. It has come out well. My day was made. :D

I have uploaded some of the designs on Myntera, let us see how others like the design. You can browse the designs here.

It's time for some more timepass before I start with the preparations for classes tomorrow.

Adios..

Dec 10, 2008

Martyr

What image comes to your mind when you think about Mumbai attack?

I see just two images - a burning hotel Taj, and Kasab carrying his gun on CST platform. More often than not, it is the later one that I see. I will blame this purely to the media. Electornic and print media has shown that one photo (and some more of his photos) that you just cannot forget him.

I call it making a martyr out of someone. We would have easily forgotten him, if not because of the excessive attention he got on media. Itna airtime to ek bhi shahid jawaan ko nahi mila. That's the irony.

Whatever he did, he did it for his cause [if one wants to call it that way]. He did not die, don't know if he will be executed. But he has become a martyr nonetheless. 'They' will show videos of him fighting the Indian forces single-handedly in their training camps in future. If not his act, media attention he has got, that has made him a martyr for jehad.

ps: No photo attached.

Dec 9, 2008

debut performance

Oh my lord.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity.
It was a dream come true.
I am really thankful to you and to the SBC course that I got chance to act in a small play. :)

Dec 6, 2008

Satvit Food Festival at IIMA

If you call yourself food-freak, this is the place to be.
6th to 8th Dec in IIMA new campus.

I was there today and trust me it is one of the best food festival I have ever been.
Highly Recommended.

Find link to invite here.

Dec 5, 2008

850 steps

As I approached to complete the second round, I could feel the heat. For last two days I was getting 'tired' in two rounds and was stopping my daily dose of exercise. Today also It was the same feeling. But was I really tired, I thought let me check. And I kept running. I crossed the starting point, moved forward and completed the third round without any pain. So it was a mental block. I am on the field after such a long time; I need every minute that I can spend there.

It feels nice.
I did 3 rounds of run and 4 rounds of walking. Looking forward to improve it with each day.

ps: Took CPI test and got a feedback on that. Will update more about it at the right time.

Dec 4, 2008

Scene from Class

There are just two kinds of people in this world -first who are fool, and second who are grateful fools ie who know they are fools.
- IIMA professor in a class in Operations Management

Law book says, "a company's name should not be misguiding regarding what it is meant to be doing." So what the hell is APPLE doing in computer business?
- IIMA professor in a class in Legal Aspects of Business



This is what you do to keep yourself awake in a class after a long dark night working on an OM case that you got as an assignment at 11pm in the night.