Jul 30, 2009

Johny Johny Indianized

Kalu Kalu...
Key Bapu???

Jardo Khayo?
Ney Bapu...

Jhuth bolyo?
Ney Bapu...

Moo kholyo...
akthu... hahaha...

ps: Heard a long time back in one of the classes here. :D

Jul 28, 2009

Anthrax Threat

Today morning I received an envelop on my door. It contained a warning message from SAO* regarding Anthrax threat on campus. Apparently I was not the only one. The entire campus was stormed by these threats.


So A+ was a hoax!!! And Anthrax is the reality. Section A is going strong. Specially in creating buzz. There have been criticism specially from the tuchcha batch that it is RCP of bichoo plan from last year. Well, as long as it creates buzz, who cares. Sometimes tried and tested formulae are the best solution.

Jul 25, 2009

Rise of A+

A+ is envy of every student here. The ultimate truth, it is the sign of the best of the best. Absolut gave way to A+ today. From the 98% purity to the purest. They stormed the mess at 8:20pm. First to storm the mess with their tempo shouts of "TNite ka kaun hai boss... Apos Apos," they have started the war. Others are still to follow.

The campus buzz says Sec A is filled with muggus. I hope they keep thinking this. We will show them who we really are!




ps: TNite reporter Boondiii will bring you the latest and hottest stories from WIMWI campus. Keep looking at this space.

That rainy evening

Don't go by the title of the page. You are not going to get any scoop on my love life here. The title was just a ploy to get you read this entry. I intend to demystify the world famous tool called 'case' that is used in case-study method of learning. This method has been successfully used by various prestigious institutes (WIMWI included).

What is a case?

Case is a (supposedly) real business situation that the organization in concern went through in their past
.


Cases are written by case-writers. In reality, these case-writer must have raked mullah giving gyan to the organization to resolve the issues (that will be defined by the case-writer himself). The business sense of these consultants does not let them stop there. They go on to write 'cases', get them published from a reputed college (like WIMWI) and then earn royalty money from the coming generations of future managers.

90% of these 'cases' are set up in a rainy evening. A case narration almost always start with the protagonist looking outside his window on with raindrops dancing on the window pans. These rains are not meant to be enjoyed as apparent from conduct of the protagonist and the case-. After talking in brief about tensions in his life (we are talking about professional issues ofcourse; personal issues are almost never written about unless the case-writer is employed by Tehlaka.com), the protagonist takes the case-writer through a flashback. They talk about history, society, economics, business, biology and what not. For sack of completion, you can include the list of all the subjects that you went through in your high-school and beyond.

If they feel that some third party (e.g. reader of the case) might not have gone through same system of schooling, the case-writer uses a novel method called Exhibits. Most of the readers might think that these exhibits are basically irrelevant bunch of facts and figures. However, the reality is that the exhibits are output of the conversations between case-writer and protagonist when the discussions went off-track (due to effect of alcohol or otherwise).

A typical case consists of around 10-15 page of narration and 8-10 exhibits. There is no relation between the numbers of page and gravity of situation under discussion. You might wonder may be the case-writer takes commission from paper manufacturers too (after all thousands of copies of such cases are printed/xeroxed worldwide).

These cases are sold at a price of around 5-10$ per copy. Reputed institutes like WIMWI purchase a copy for each of its student (there is rumor that rising costs of these cases had a huge contribution in the recent hike of fee from this institute). Alas their is no provision of personalization and customization even after paying such a hefty price. If you stay in Ahmedabad, you might find them in raddi-ke-bhav from the raddiwala outside the WIMWI campus. You just need to ask him for CaseMate on the subject of your interest.

With this, I conclude this article. I hope it was an insightful reading for you. Do comment if you liked this entry. I plan to write next about 'case-study' method itself. Your valuable comments will encourage me to refrain myself from using cheap tactics of attracting readers.

Indulgence

Indulgence of sleeping 9 hours in night...
With deadlines staring in your face.
Trying to make you feel guilty.

Indulgence of dreaming in the class...
With professors taking all the pain.
Trying to make you a responsible manager.

Indulgence of eating aloo-cheese paratha...
With your favorite trousers crying their heart out
Trying their best to fit your expanding waist.

Indulgence of calling your loved ones every day...
With alarmingly rising mobile bills.
Trying their best to save you from bankruptcy.

Indulgence of sleeping two hours before the evening class...
With the case for class still to be read.
Trying your luck every time against cold-calls.

Indulgence of doing things that you like...
Or do not like but still doing them just for the heck of it.

It's this indulgence that I have been lost in last couple of days. It feels nice to be like this sometime. Life is not about being serious every day.

Jul 24, 2009

50 things by Ben Jones

"50 Things"

Dear Class of 2010,

This will be my last entry written specifically for you; beginning with the launch of our new site in early September, I'll begin focusing on the future class of 2011. I hope that you guys won't be strangers; stay in touch either in person (come visit us!) or online (please drop by the blogs from time to time and say hi).

As you begin your college experience, and I prepare for my 10-year college reunion, I thought I'd leave you with the things that, in retrospect, I think are important as you navigate the next four years. I hope that some of them are helpful.

Here goes...

  1. Your friends will change a lot over the next four years. Let them.
  2. Call someone you love back home a few times a week, even if just for a few minutes.
  3. In college more than ever before, songs will attach themselves to memories. Every month or two, make a mix cd, mp3 folder, whatever - just make sure you keep copies of these songs. Ten years out, they'll be as effective as a journal in taking you back to your favorite moments.
  4. Take naps in the middle of the afternoon with reckless abandon.
  5. Adjust your schedule around when you are most productive and creative. If you're nocturnal and do your best work late at night, embrace that. It may be the only time in your life when you can.
  6. If you write your best papers the night before they are due, don't let people tell you that you "should be more organized" or that you "should plan better." Different things work for different people. Personally, I worked best under pressure - so I always procrastinated... and always kicked ass (which annoyed my friends to no end). ;-) Use the freedom that comes with not having grades first semester to experiment and see what works best for you.
  7. At least a few times in your college career, do something fun and irresponsible when you should be studying. The night before my freshman year psych final, my roommate somehow scored front row seats to the Indigo Girls at a venue 2 hours away. I didn't do so well on the final, but I haven't thought about psych since 1993. I've thought about the experience of going to that show (with the guy who is now my son's godfather) at least once a month ever since.
  8. Become friends with your favorite professors. Recognize that they can learn from you too - in fact, that's part of the reason they chose to be professors.
  9. Carve out an hour every single day to be alone. (Sleeping doesn't count.)
  10. Go on dates. Don't feel like every date has to turn into a relationship.
  11. Don't date someone your roommate has been in a relationship with.
  12. When your friends' parents visit, include them. You'll get free food, etc., and you'll help them to feel like they're cool, hangin' with the hip college kids.
  13. In the first month of college, send a hand-written letter to someone who made college possible for you and describe your adventures thus far. It will mean a lot to him/her now, and it will mean a lot to you in ten years when he/she shows it to you.
  14. Embrace the differences between you and your classmates. Always be asking yourself, "what can I learn from this person?" More of your education will come from this than from any classroom.
  15. All-nighters are entirely overrated.
  16. For those of you who have come to college in a long-distance relationship with someone from high school: despite what many will tell you, it can work. The key is to not let your relationship interfere with your college experience. If you don't want to date anyone else, that's totally fine! What's not fine, however, is missing out on a lot of defining experiences because you're on the phone with your boyfriend/girlfriend for three hours every day.
  17. Working things out between friends is best done in person, not over email. (IM does not count as "in person.") Often someone's facial expressions will tell you more than his/her words.
  18. Take risks.
  19. Don't be afraid of (or excited by) the co-ed bathrooms. The thrill is over in about 2 seconds.
  20. Wednesday is the middle of the week; therefore on wednesday night the week is more than half over. You should celebrate accordingly. (It makes thursday and friday a lot more fun.)
  21. Welcome failure into your lives. It's how we grow. What matters is not that you failed, but that you recovered.
  22. Take some classes that have nothing to do with your major(s), purely for the fun of it.
  23. It's important to think about the future, but it's more important to be present in the now. You won't get the most out of college if you think of it as a stepping stone.
  24. When you're living on a college campus with 400 things going on every second of every day, watching TV is pretty much a waste of your time and a waste of your parents' money. If you're going to watch, watch with friends so at least you can call it a "valuable social experience."
  25. Don't be afraid to fall in love. When it happens, don't take it for granted. Celebrate it, but don't let it define your college experience.
  26. Much of the time you once had for pleasure reading is going to disappear. Keep a list of the books you would have read had you had the time, so that you can start reading them when you graduate.
  27. Things that seem like the end of the world really do become funny with a little time and distance. Knowing this, forget the embarassment and skip to the good part.
  28. Every once in awhile, there will come an especially powerful moment when you can actually feel that an experience has changed who you are. Embrace these, even if they are painful.
  29. No matter what your political or religious beliefs, be open-minded. You're going to be challenged over the next four years in ways you can't imagine, across all fronts. You can't learn if you're closed off.
  30. If you need to get a job, find something that you actually enjoy. Just because it's work doesn't mean it has to suck.
  31. Don't always lead. It's good to follow sometimes.
  32. Take a lot of pictures. One of my major regrets in life is that I didn't take more pictures in college. My excuse was the cost of film and processing. Digital cameras are cheap and you have plenty of hard drive space, so you have no excuse.
  33. Your health and safety are more important than anything.
  34. Ask for help. Often.
  35. Half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at any given moment. Way more than half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at some point in the next four years. Get used to it.
  36. In ten years very few of you will look as good as you do right now, so secretly revel in how hot you are before it's too late.
  37. In the long run, where you go to college doesn't matter as much as what you do with the opportunities you're given there. The MIT name on your resume won't mean much if that's the only thing on your resume. As a student here, you will have access to a variety of unique opportunities that no one else will ever have - don't waste them.
  38. On the flip side, don't try to do everything. Balance = well-being.
  39. Make perspective a priority. If you're too close to something to have good perspective, rely on your friends to help you.
  40. Eat badly sometimes. It's the last time in your life when you can do this without feeling guilty about it.
  41. Make a complete ass of yourself at least once, preferably more. It builds character.
  42. Wash your sheets more than once a year. Trust me on this one.
  43. If you are in a relationship and none of your friends want to hang out with you and your significant other, pay attention. They usually know better than you do.
  44. Don't be afraid of the weird pizza topping combinations that your new friend from across the country loves. Some of the truly awful ones actually taste pretty good. Expand your horizons.
  45. Explore the campus thoroughly. Don't get caught.
  46. Life is too short to stick with a course of study that you're no longer excited about. Switch, even if it complicates things.
  47. Tattoos are permanent. Be very certain.
  48. Don't make fun of prefrosh. That was you like 2 hours ago.
  49. Enjoy every second of the next four years. It is impossible to describe how quickly they pass.
  50. This is the only time in your lives when your only real responsibility is to learn. Try to remember how lucky you are every day.

Be yourself. Create. Inspire, and be inspired. Grow. Laugh. Learn. Love.

Welcome to some of the best years of your lives.

-B

Jul 22, 2009

CR1 - CR2

CR1 - 08:45-10:00 - BGL
CR2 - 10:20-11:35 - SBM
CR1 - 11:55-13:10 - EPMTC
CR2 - 14:30-15:45 - SM2
CR1 - 16:05-17:20 - SEISC
CR2 - 17:35-20:30 - SRM
CR1 - 21:30-22:45 - EPMTC

That's what I have done in last two days. Damn!!!

Jul 20, 2009

O2M2 (Out Of My Mind)

Today I had
2 report,
2 cases,
3 presentations,
7 classes
and it's not yet over.
Tomorrow it will be 4 cases, 1 presentation and 8 classes. :(

Jul 19, 2009

Behind the Camera

I have got more than 20,000 photos on my system. Unfortunately not even 10% of them will have me. Being behind the camera has its own disadvantages. You see the world, but the world does not get to see your face. There is a solution - self-portraits. But I cannot indulge myself into it as I feel they are gross self-obsession. Last few months, I seem to have got lucky in getting photographed. I have never got so much screen presence as I got in the engagement ceremony. I don’t complaint. It was one of the most important days in my life. And I deserve all what I got that day.

And then I got lucky again. This time, thanks to a friend of mine. Doc (Gibbup Doc, as we affectionately call him) took this photo of mine at the sunset point in Mount Abu. It was a cloudy evening and rains were just minutes away. Lights were just perfect as the sun was playing hide and seek behind the dark clouds. Doc zoomed the camera on my face, not copying the other shots that I had taken by then. I did not know what he was upto. But I sat still. The result is beautiful. It is one of the best photos that I have featured in.


I titled this photo “I saw a dream...

Thanks a lot Doc.

Jul 18, 2009

6:30 am

I have just got up. It's very pleasant weather today morning. It's drizzling here in Ahmedabad. For someone who has got up this early on a Saturday (that too in 2nd year of his MBA course), it feels like being in heaven.

I can hear an alarm screeching at some distance. Somebody, surely, has forgotten to switch off his 'lifesaver' before going on a well deserved break. Others must be fast asleep to be bothered by this sound; I can bet on this. We get used to our own alarm clock and did not even feel existence of those of others. This is what first year of MBA do to you.

I have just one more month left before I leave this campus for a 3 month break. The schedule looks the toughest of what anyone could possibly have. There are days with 9 classes back to back from morning 8:45am to evening 10:45pm [think of it, in 1st year we usually had just 3 classes in day and our classes got over by 1:10pm]. It's going to be an experience in itself. I cannot even say that I am looking forward to it.

I have created some new albums on my picasaweb account. You can find it here. Idea is to get more structured in the way I have posted my work. There are some underlying themes in those photos and I will try to do some more shoots on same themes. Hopefully, one day I will have a nice portfolio.

Jul 17, 2009

Statistics

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
Mark Twain

“Statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.”
Aaron Levenstein

"We'll call you when you're six years old
And drag you to the factory
To train your brain for eighteen years
With promise of security
But then you're free

You're free to speak your mind my friend
As long as you agree with me
Don't criticize the father land
Or those who shape your destiny
'Cause if you do
You'll lose your job your mind and all the friends you knew
We'll send out all our boys in blue
They'll find a way to silence you

But there's nothing you and I can do
You and I are only two
What's right and wrong is hard to say
Forget about it for today
We'll stick our heads into the sand
Just pretend that all is grand
Then hope that everything turns out ok."

- THE OSTRICH From the 1968 release "Steppenwolf"

ps: Some of the things we heard in introduction class in the course "Media & Society: The Economics, Politics, Ethics and Technologies of Mass Communications"
ps2: For those who were wondering where had I been, please check out the link http://picasaweb.google.co.in/8priteshj/MountAbu
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/8priteshj/Flora

Jul 12, 2009

Lost

I have lost last one year of my life. It's the phase of my life that started after I entered these temples made of red bricks. Unarguably the most important year of my life. It's not that I have lost it completely. I have lived each and every moment of it to the fullest and the memories are as fresh as it happened just yesterday. There is still hope that I will be able to collect a lot of it back with the help of people here (and of course the lifesaver DC++). Still I know that I have lost something important. Something that is very dear to me. And I can not forgive myself for it.

Jul 6, 2009

Crib n Crap

1. Yesterday I had the shock of my life when I stood on the weighing machine. I really need to do something sometime soon. And this soon is as soon as I finish this post.

2. My system has 40 GB of free space now. God!!! It was so difficult to reach this stage starting from just 1GB free memory left in the system.

3. I am sleeping 7-8 hours a day these days. I just don't know what is triggering this sleeping attack. There were days when I dozed off at 10pm and got up at 8am. I am really thankful to God that I am in second year of my MBA.

4. I have got around 50 movies with IMDB 7+ rating in my hard drive. All carrying a RECO from none other than Heda. I don't know when will I watch them.

5. French movie festival is on in NID campus. I have not been able to go there so far though. :(

Jul 4, 2009

Pure Music

Lucky Ali is back. In my playlists that is. :)

So will be Bryan Adams in a day or two. Heaven and I am waiting hold the same significance in my life as Nahi rakhta dil mein and O sanam. Difference is in the point in time. College vs high school. Both part of my development years.
There are some nice memories associated with these songs.

Anoop and me started listening to Lucky Ali at almost the same time. 12th class - the time of IIT, Roorkee, BITS, MP-PET, KCET and what not. Whenever we got tired we listened to Lucky Ali. We shared lyrics and enjoyed them word by word. I think for the first time I started thinking about things beyond as they appeared. My formative years had started.

Many of you would be amazed to know that I heard Summer of 69 for the first time after reaching my engineering college. In hostel, everyone knew the lyrics by heart and here I was listening to the song for the first time. It took me quite some time to understand the song and its spirit. Still, Bryan Adams had not replaced Lucky Ali. Sometime in 3rd year I heard Heaven and I'm Waiting. And they caught my attention. I heard them again and again. I don't know why. Bryan Adams still did not become my favorite. I liked some of his songs though. In fact, many of them. I guess it was language that kept me from becoming his fan. My mind and heart thought in Hindi I guess. And thus the distance.

Post engineering, I resorted my mind and heart's dilemma by starting to listen to Fusion and Zen music. Enigma, Enya, Oliver Shanti and others. Instrumentals. Pure Music. I don't feel any distance now. Music is universal for me now.

Jul 3, 2009

Anonymous

Did you ever wonder seeing those ads inside local trains in Mumbai (or for that matter any other city).

Here is a take on the same by Suketu Mehta in his book Maximum City.
"The ads on the Bombay locals are the same as the ads in the New York subway, dealing with indescribably private subjects: haemorrhoids, impotence, foot odour. In this safely anonymous mass, these ads can be perused; there is comfort in knowing that these afflictions of the body are universal, shared by the flesh pressing all around. They too need these pills and potions, this minor surgery."
I am in love with this book. I recommend Shantaram and Maximum city for anyone who wants to know Mumbai.

Jul 2, 2009

MFM revisited

It just rained today. Only for some moments though. Even before I could go out of my dorm and get drenched, it was over. Somebody put it rightly on her status message "it's not FAIR!!"

Thursday and Friday are holiday for me. This is called luck. I get holiday when I really don't need them. Worst part is that most of my friends have classes, so I just can not go out of campus too. Since last night, I have made so many plans. But somehow akele jaane ka enthu hi nahi aata...

Off late I head a complaint about this blog. It is not updated as regularly as it used to. And that it is no more interesting. I know I can not deny any of these complaints. Somehow the hangover is not yet over and that's the main reason I am so irregular at this space.

We the tuchchas at IIMA eagerly wait for our junior (or fachchas/fachchis as we call them with love) to come to campus. Even before you try to somehow relate this eagerness to the news about 62 girls being offered admission in IIMA this year, let me clarify that this is the IIMA culture. We wait the whole of first year to shout Muggo Fuccho Muggo (MFM). There are readymade pre-recorded solutions in .mp3 and .wav format if you get tired of shouting. The spirit of MFM will rise tomorrow or whenver the first surprise quiz is announced for them. :D

Retailing and Branding courses are becoming interesting day by day. Two months at internship has brought significant change in my approach to the cases and I really enjoy it to spend more and more time on cases. Needless to say, 2nd year is not as chilled as it appears to be or as we had hoped it to be. First half of week does not give me any time to even breathe while in second half time nikalna mushkil ho jaata hai... This is result of choice that I made. And I should not complaint about it now. :D

Search for an appartment in Paris is still on. From the photos that are shown on the website, we are hoping to end up being in a castle in mid of Paris. Atleast this is what we want to believe. Sapne dekhne me koi manahi thode hi hai...

Just to share the news [and of course for the show-off value of it], yours truely is a proud user of a NOKIA E63 enterprise solution. It's nice and cool and I am loving it. I love my moto-razr too, so please dont request me to donate the old phone or something like that...

ps: "Mall is one place that gives you privacy in public" - Prof P.K.Sinha