Connecting with the world.

Faster internet speeds have brought information around the world to your laptop screens just few clicks away and mobile phones are almost being viewed as commodities in todays age of globalisation and rising telecom power in India.  But listening to the daily happenings by getting glued to television has its own charm.

I remember my vacations when all I did was lie tirelessly on my sofa with remote in my hand and switch channels speedily not to miss single action happening on tv. I used to fill up water bottles and pile up chip packets near my sofa so that I dont have to lift my body weight and drift it along till the kitchen. Offcourse I was too old to attend to nature calls wherever I wanted and hence some energy got used up in squabbling  towards the bathroom. All the entertainment that I missed during the prime time due to numerous K,L,M soaps that my family was fond of had to be recovered during the day. Not to forget all the useless reality shows that I had got hooked on to.

Just a year and half back one of roomie got hooked on to the uselss fights on Big Boss. So much was the addiction that after some days even I used to be curious on whos gonna fight next with whom and whats the next bitching and gossip topic on the set. Not to forget the numerous series of Indian Idols and nach baliyes which I never missed out. Once in a while, out of sheer pressure of appearing for mba entrances, I used to stop by one of the news channels. 

That year later I moved to Mexico. I had no tv in my studio apartment but I was allowed to get glimpses in my owners house who lived next door. It was very frustrating to sit in front of the tv with remote control in someone else's hand. Not to forget the additional annoyance out of watching espanols blabber out indecipherable words and soaps that had the most obscene scenes that I had ever seen. This eventually led to greater disinterest in getting glued and I conviniently shifted to bollywood movies. After I came to chennai, life was something more than just being hectic. We were bombarded with assignments and tests one after the other, and if that was not enough we had guest lectures and more assignements that were in line. All in all, we had a television at home lying without a cable connection. Not to forget the tv and media room provided in college which lied unattended.

But today yet again the day has come where all I did was lie on the cot in the drawing room and switch channels sipping orange juice. So all three of us decided that enough was enough and we needed to have our share of entertainment. Basically we have mastered the art of delivering the best with minimal efforts. Ya we took our time to find ways to fight this evil education system that denies sleep to poor souls but finally have deciphered it. Okay, so I have degraded from the super comfortable sofa to a dhaba-type cot, but the passion of watching tv tirelessly remains the same. Yet again its time to connect to all those fake emotions on tv shows!!

Dream come true

Today was one of those days that I had longed since my childhood. Supper packed schedule and loads of assignments take care that I dont over sleep and even if i do manage to sneak peak into my dream world, I wake by the horrifying placement dreams that I see.

So as always, with loads of other subjects to study, we had to cope up with this micro economics. All the demand supply curves had begun to converge on the equilibrium points. In the end, all the micro economics to me was the art of free hand drawings and systematic way of intersecting the lines to form a beautiful wire mesh. So today morning I woke up with a start at 4 am after sleeping for complete 3 hours....and began flipping pages. How I wished that i could sleep longer, how i wished the professor would have forgotten to set the paper, how i wished that the printer would have got jammed while printing, how i wished the supervisors wouldnt turn up. (Basically I wished for everything other than the fact that I should have studied earlier). 

I did try to understand different graphs of how a monopolistic market would work and how a perfectly competetive market differs from the former one. After long hard struggle, I somehow figured out the difference (at 4 am all i could see was randomly drawn lines with random names assigned to them). In the end the book said that in reality, a monopolistic or perfectly competetive market does not really exist...grrrr...my temper shot faster than the chandrayaan...then why the hell do they teach such things that do no exist..isnt mba supposed to be "practical" teaching.

Neways..let me not digress from the main point. Somehow i got up from the zombie state and got ready for the exam. No sooner did I pick up my bag than I got a message saying that exam in postponed by an hour. Yipppeeeee...i jumped with joy. I ran with full enthusiasm towards the college. I went there only to find smoke everywhere. There was a short circuit in the college and the power was off. Soon it was declared that the exam was postponed to evening. Not a avery good news though but that meant that I could go and sleep for another hour before the lectures. Then came the news that the exam is postoned till next monday. We all jumped with joy. There were mixed reactions in the crowd. We got "uh-i know-all-and-might-as-well-finish-the-exam" looks from the sincere and intelligent lot and "good-now-i-can-go-n-sleep" from dumb people like me. But who cares, I happy walked back home, ate a good breakfast and went off to sleep.

I had longed many times since childhood that the exam got rescheduled. Today finally that dream has come true. Before sleeping I promised myself that I wud utilise this time doing a deep analysis on the subject. However everyone aorund me knows what the scene next Sunday is going to be :)

 

Mass murder

What is a open book test - Its exam when the professor knows that the paper is going to be so tough that the students will not be able to solve anything and he allows books and papers to be carried so that students AT LEAST SIT through the whole exam duration frantically searching for answers in the book.

"It is a open book test. Carry all the material available on earth. All the best" the professor smirked as he walkd out on the last day of the lecture. Past few days had been extremely discouraging. Day after day as new optimiastion techniques were churned out in the class, law of diminishing marginal utility had worked yet again and  increasing cost savings techniquies developed had only resulted into diminishing awareness of the subject.

All charged up to fight this evil, 162 of us gathered at this D-day that is hence forth going to be the Martyr day in the history of Great Lakes. Dozens of paper sheets and books were gathered and piled up in the class. Few people were almost out of their seat trying to fit the books that would save their grace. As the clock ticked 9, my heart skipped a beat, hands trembled and sweat gathered. There was tension in the air. There was a total hush-hush and we could hear the AC growl. It was almost as if the benches and the blackboard were laughing at us. Just then out of nowhere a leader rose and said "Dont worry guys, we shall overcome!!" Such were the encouraging words and with loud clapping we set on to fight.

The enemy attacked us psychologically. The first line read "Any material can be read and used". As i read this I could imagine the enemy smiling victoriously. But I was determined to fight. Questions after questions I read, but yet not a sign of victory. All that i could do is to flip pages after pages in search of some strategy to conquer. Seconds, minutes and hour passed by. All I had done was copied the question as it is (this is old engg days strategy- experience counts you see), done one step out of nowhere and halted the solution. 

Finally, as the two hours almost ended, I cracked one of the problem. I had fought long for this moment. My death was certain, but I had given a good fight. At the end, we all lost to this cruel, unconsiderate enemy but we all had fought courageously against a evil.

In the end, when all die, relative grading saves everyones grace ! :-)

From Dusk to dawn

This is not an original post...

Been too busy (read: too lazy) to write one...But post below pretty much summarizes why I havent added a post in past few days.

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. God knows why exams are scheduled so early 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 tommorrow 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 !!! :(

 

Zero IQ talks..

We all paraded to an place in the heart of chennai to eat rajasthani food. It is amazing to see how we all crave for food that even remotely tastes like home food. So after a clash with auto rickshaw, a plesant train journey and a ride in a crowded share auto, we finally reached our destination. After a yumee rajasthani food which we all smacked up in few minutes, one of my friends Ms S suddenly exclaims out of nowhere.. "You know wht, my grandfather was working for the King of Rajasthan". Then Mr R, trying to show off his so called great GK, says "You know, hmm, that king had 120 wives". By then Ms S was in a mood to show off her ancestral power and without wasting any time adds "The king has a huge palace with more than 100 rooms".

There..this was enought to trigger a very interactive and informative conversation. So Mr H exclaims, "So what does a big palace with more than 100 rooms have to do with 120 wives. Or is there a connection.? He probably had as many wives as many as bedrooms in the palace". Mr V innocent (read : dumbest) of the lot asks, "Is it really so? But what if he has a crush on one more woman. Then where will she stay?" Everyone is rolling with laughter by now. Mr A starts applying management principles. He says "The fixed cost of maintaining the palace is the same. So as per the costing principle, more the number of wives, fixed cost per wives will reduce and cost per product..errr...cost per wife will reduce drastically".

"Ok", Mr H says, "I was actually planning to buy a 3 bhk in Pune. Now I know how I could utilise this house better. Maximising profits and minimising cost. So Ms S, when you marry make sure your husband buys only a 1 bhk house, else umm..". Ms S, showcasing women power replies almost immediately, "Yeah so good for me, I will keep 2 husbands...haha".

Everyone was dumb struck by this analysis.

As if this was not enuf, Ms S screams again "I wonder how the king must be keeping track of which wife to meet each day (read: night). Again Mr R "See here we have to be little more analytical.. I come from operations background and this is extremely simple supply chain problem. "The wife must be hanging a oil lamp in front of her room. This way, the King can take a look at the palace corridors from a distance and know where to head to". Quite a thoughtless solution everyone agreed.

All of us were rolling with laughter and the overeaten food was beginning to digest. So sometimes such zero IQ talks are good for health :)

The GmaTTer

Past few weeks or rather months, I have assumed the role of a MBA counselor. I take great pride in motivating people to do pursue an MBA or rather take up higher studies in general. Talking about myself, I took up MBA rather thoughtlessly because that i believed that was the only career path available to me at that point. Answers to questions like why MBA, short term and long term goals were crafted very meticulously without even meaning a word of it. But 3 months later, I have realized the power of an MBA. It can transform you as a person. And I feel that is the reason why people should go through the MBA experience.

So, after numerous unsuccessful attempts to get through a b-school through CAT, SNAP, NMAT, IIFT, CET, and dozen such other such exams, GMAT was the last ray of hope for me. So almost year back on 14th August, 2007 I decided to test my luck for one last time. Murphy may have well written his law so long ago but its application could not have been better than it was at my GMAT test.

As the law states it, I chose to take a test date only to find a empty slot in the week of my code delivery. To make it worse, I had a big mouth to go and inform my PM that I was going to take a leave in that week. No sooner did I apply my leave, I got a ping sound on my communicator and I knew I was in for a big trouble. I could have easily got a "jaundice" or a "viral fever". Everyone at Infosys knows how the jaundice suddenly crops up during November and heals magically after the CAT. But I thought that I was not the one who would do this and 2 months was a notice enough for any manager to plan the schedule. But to my dismay, it was all in vain. After hearing a straight 'NO' from her, all I could do was to prepare myself to face the music after my leave.

But little did I realise this was just the beginning of a huge war. Planning has been my strongest asset. I take keen interest in planning my day, my work, my leave, my studies..and I chalk out plans that only few great planners can....the problem arises only at its execution. So as always I was armed with a fabulous plan to crack the GMAT. But i wonder why do I always forget our own Murphy. I was packed with work so much that 24 hours a day seemed to less. Leave had thus become inevitable.

A day before my leave, one of my team mates had some "medical problem" and alas....i knew..now it was the end. I was requested..warned..threathened...that u better watch out ur leave plan. But I was left with no way out and i absconded for the preparation.

I couldnt sleep a day before the GMAT....there was too much at stake I felt. After managing to get a bare minimum sleep, I reached the GMAT centre. Checked my passport, wallet and pens. all set...The door opened and names were called out one after the other. The security was enormous as if we were about to witness a nuclear tests inside. Everyone went in one by one except me. Yeah u guessed t right..my name wasnt there on the register of test takers...!!


How can this be possible..I thought. When I enquired the guard about my name, he searched up and down back and forth, but it wasnt there at all. He looked up at me and asked, "What was your date of exam ?". My heart skipped a beat, I mean, what kind of question was that. It is well knows of how miserable I am in remembering birthdays but cmon, I cant be wrong in my GMAT date. I was now unsure myself but gathered enough courage to raise my voice and say "It is today at 9.00 am. Go check properly". He looked at me rather disgustingly and said "Show me your payment receipt". Oops...I had not taken a printout of that..but so what..it was never required. Cursing myself for being so lazy, I again said sternly "It was not required !! They have only told us to bring passport. Go check properly".

By now, I had irritated him to the limit. He told me to move away from the door and slammed to door on my face. I stood outside trembling thinking what to do next. I iterated over and over again, yeah it was 14th off course. It can’t be wrong!! There was silence around the floor. I could here every water drop that fell on the roof outside. Distantly there was a car reversing. I started sweating. Remembered all possible Gods and Godesses. Every second that passed seemed like eternity. Thought of all possible excuses that I could tell people for nt giving GMAT….I mean I couldn’t go and tell that I forgot my date…

Finally the door opened and there he emerged as a saviour of all times. He said, “Well, actually we missed your name, you may go in”. My temper almost rose like a rocket, but there were more things to be accomplished. Picked up my bag and walked victoriously inside….

When things go wrong..

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit-Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Inspiration flows when you read this. But trust me this blog has absolutely no intentions of motivating anyone. Just that past 24 hours I have frantically spent trying to get things in place.

To start off, we studied through the night for our exams. This is required to compensate the sleep that one has had when things were being taught in the class. But even if a cost benefit analysis is done comparing benefits of one sleepless night before exams at the cost of total attentiveness in the class, one night out wins hands on. So after two lectures, one guest lecture and a test, I came home terribly tired almost about to crash. The plan was to take a power nap and get back to preparing presentations to be given on Saturday.

My roommate ( lets call her RM1) was already at home and when I reached home didnt open the door. Assuming that she wouldnt have heard it while snoring away to glory, I rang the bell a dozen times without breaks only to realise that the bell wasnt working. I resorted to banging the door voilently beacuse of which I got suspicious looks from the otherwise not-so-bothered neighbours. I assume my commotion woke her up and only when I walked in, I realised that there was darkness everywhere. I frantically searched for Hindustan Times cause they claim that they can spread light. I stumbled over twice and seeing my desparate search RM1 finally decided to ask me what I was upto. Hearing my enlighting solution she exclaimed with an extremely disgusted look that we had not paid the electricity bill for past 2 months and I even heard her murmur with extreme annoyance "the only way Hindustan Times would provide light is by burning it".

Feeling embarrased I tried my best to divert the topic and thinked about all ways to get back the electricity but all in vain. The other roommate RM2 was enjoying a nice coffee at Besant Nagar beach and she almost flew out of her chair with this news. I tried to sleep in that hot humid weather with no fans but the moment I closed my eyes, the only thing that I could imagine was a creepy lizard walking over my bed. That day I slept over at my friends place on floor within confined space, no mattress and felt like I had become homeless. An MBA can make you do all things that you would have never thought of..!!!

By next day, the house was nothing short of an oven. The fridge was leaking and the milk was smelling. Just then we were about to get into cleaning act, the house owner called us for not paying the rent. Oh god..we were into another mess. I immediately pictured a big tall giant like figure with a whip in his hand walk down our house throwing our stuff out of the balcony. I was pleading him to give us a day and just then he was about to whip me RM1 screamed..."We forgot..we forgot..we better pay".

She rushed to get her share of rent. When she didnt return even after 15 whole minutes i tiptoed into her room thinking she would be probably sobbing over these incidents. And lo..there i got news no 3..she had misplaced her fat wallet ( fat due to hundreds of useless receipts in it)..'Oh no..not now'.. We decided to sit down and call up all people who were there with us yest night while doing presentations. I jumped into action, and dialled Mr. V. But neither me nor she could call anyone...because we had also not paid the phone bill. Now this was the limit. I just could handle it any more.

I decided to tackle it one at a time. My friend Mr A helped me pay the electricity bill. Then I sat down and paid my phone bill. Called up people for her wallet. Thankfully, we traced her wallet and her big fat wallet was saved. But by that time her credit card was blocked. So paid her phone bill by her credit card. Things seemed to working out for us now....

We were so tired that a good dinner was a must. So Mr N, RM1 and myself zeroed in on a restaurant and took a bus that stopped 2 kms ahead of that stop. We obviously had no energy to walk back so we took a bus again which again refused to stop near the hotel. Now at this point,more than getting annoyed by the series of events I had started finding it quite amusing. Even more funnier was that me and RM1 hopped out when the bus slowed down but Mr N couldnt. So he again had to come back..thankfully he decided to walk. We both by then had broken into a laughter riot. So after all this drama, we finally reached our destination and as expected there was absolutely nothing left to eat. Almost expressionless, we walked out, took a rickshaw and went straight to the hotel that we had initially rejected. So we spent almost twice the money reaching the place where we could have reached directly by a rickshaw.

We had almost reached to an acceptance level that anything and everything we do would go wrong. Just then things started getting better. We had a superb dinner, RM2 messaged that the power was back. Came home happily as the power was back. What a relief it was to sleep on my own bed. Hopefully such events will occur rarely in coming future...