Ramblings of an Insomniac

Weekend at Ganges!

2006-02-21T21:20:00.000+05:30

The end of mid terms also endowed us with a break of 2 days. After a round of quickfire planning, we zeroed in on using our serendipity for visiting Dehradun, Rishikesh and Mussourie

Rishikesh

We got down the train at Haridwar and started for Rishikesh, our first destination. With Ganges in a full flow, I was enchanted by the natural beauty of Rishikesh. It was like a movie setting..the river flowing deep and quick amidst the tall hills. Nature enthusiasts that we were, we decided to do River Rafting on Ganges. Having never done anything close to river rafting before, all of us were very excited to get going in the river. But a first step into Ganga sent chills down our spine, literally! The water was extremely cold.

We got on to our raft (made of rubber), and started rowing our way to glory. It being a very hilly terrain, the river took many twists and turns through our journey (of arnd 10 KM). The best parts of rafting were at places where the river became very fiery and quick. It was exactly as we had expected..our raft jumped and heaved over the water which was moving very rapidly. A small loss of balance wud directly throw us into the river! Finally, after a very eventful journey, we ended up below the Ram Jhula, the bridge built at some distance to the very famous Lakshman Jhula. Both the bridges are supported only at the ends, built over the river.

After visiting the 13 storeyed temple in Rishikesh, we left for Dehradun for the night.

Mussourie

Situated at around 32 KMs from the city of Dehradun (capital of Uttaranchal), Mussourie lies a good 6000 ft above sea level. It is also one of the oldes hill stations in India. It is completely commercialised and also has a variety of hill schools like the Woodstock school, International school, etc. Whereas the former charges 3Lakhs pa for students, the latter houses children from foreign countries (of foreign embassies, etc).

Kempty falls is a natural water fall where the water originates from inside a mountain. Fresh water beckoned us and we obliged by getting down into the small pool of water at the foot of the falls. And guess what! We were completely numbed by the coldness of the water. The water was so cold that for the first five minutes after we entered the water, we thought we lost our hands and legs for good! Having cold water fall over one's head from over 100 feet is a memorable experience :-D. Later, we went to the Laal Tibba (highest point of Mussourie), from where we could see the Himalayas in all their glory. We could see the snow capped tops of the greater Himalayas, which were nearly 200 KMs away. Apparently, on the other side of these mountains was China! It was an awesome view to see the majestic Himalayas from so near. It definitely inspired me to visit Kashmir and Shimla. Will definitely visit them before I get out of IIML..

Dehradun

Unlike my perceptions of Dehradun as a hill station, it is actually a full blown city with almost all the modern amenities. The city is very similar to Pune in terms of being located just below a hill station. The city also houses the very famous Doon School, where children of politicians and Film stars study.

Sahastradhara is another water falls located 18KMs from Dehradun. We met a different kind of place there...a Cave! This is a naturally formed cave formed due to water droplets originating from inside the mountain. We had a great time trekking into the slippery cave and getting wet from the continuous downpour of water.

A memorable experience akin to the one I had a couple of years back at Ooty. I would love to visit another hill station, especially in the Himalayas..

From History to Mythology..

2006-02-06T13:51:00.000+05:30

First, the history:
Watched Rang De Basanti on the 2nd day of the release. A very well picturised, well edited movie with a good storyline and music definitely make RDB worth watching atleast once. And yeah! Soha and Su were hot! Though I donot intend to give away the story nor want to delve into reviewing the movie, my 2 cents contribution to prospective RDB watchers:
1. Watch RDB unless you really hate history related (in particular Independence related) movies
2. Watch RDB if u want to see less of Aamir-worshipping and more of the actual movie ;-)

Now, to mythology:
Read a few parva of the greatest Hindu epic of all-The Mahabharata.
Unlike when I was a kid when I didnot question what was happening on the screen (courtesy, Mahabharat..the serial), this time around I read it with a critical view. I must say, I found Mahabharata more interesting than most books I've read till now. Coming to think of it, I found that Arjuna-the hero of the epic actually had serious competition. There are many characters who possessed qualities and skill equal to, if not greater than Arjuna. For example-Ekalavya, Karna, Abhimanyu are some warriors who, by the twist of fate (or should I say, were made to) lose their lives.
They say there is no emotion in this world which has not been dealt with in Mahabharata, and I don't mind supporting this view.

Back to the present:
Had my birth-day last sunday. I celebrated my birthday twice, once to welcome it and once to bid farewell (ya, and got bumped big time both the times-once by my hostel mates and once by my classmates :-D)
Got my mid term exams in a few days. My 2nd term results proved to be a bit better than my 1st term. Final placements are starting in another month, so the whole campus is gearing up for them (we, the first years, handle the whole of our senior batch's placement).

The Bomb Hoax

2006-01-15T21:39:00.000+05:30

Now that I have ensconced myself for enduring this biting cold weather, it is time I update what is happening (actually, happened) in my life for the past one month

Term 2-The Culmination
After a very busy pre-mids in term 2, our post-mids was surprisingly, and refreshingly much less hectic. Of course, I started to get a taste of what it is to be a freezer ;-). Holidays beckoned me with wide arms after our end terms concluded, and I was more than happy to embrace them.

Though it was a short break, the break was very rejuvenating for me. I went back to Hyderabad. After one and a half years, I met many of my IIT friends, both from other cities as well as those doing their MS away in the US. We welcomed the new year with pool, bowling and a party.

During our return trip to Lucknow, I had a hault for a few hours in Bhopal. I decided to do justice to the time by visiting a few places in Bhopal. I must say Bhopal immediately caught my good spirits. A neat city with a great potential of becoming a metro was my ending impression about it.

The Bomb Hoax
Now, for the real drama.
I boarded Pushpak from Bhopal to Lucknow. In our compartment, we found an unclaimed bag lying in the throughway. Though initially no one cared about it, someone pointed out that the bag was lying there unclaimed for more than an hour, and that it was also very heavy.

A commotion started in the compartment, and the TCE was called to check out the matter. Some dare devil sleuths including yours truly decided to open the bag and check out the contents. There were mixed suggestions about the adventure. Nevertheless, the TCE finally conceded to our request and allowed us to open the bag.

The Bag
We lifted the bag, took it to the end of the compartment, and started rummaging its contents. We had a shock of our life when we found that below all the garments in the bag, there was a circuit made of intricate wire connections and had some sort of bag below it. Every one immediately ran away from the bag.

Though, deeper analysis of the circuit revealed that it was the property of an electrician. It was a pre-connected circuit which was probably meant to be used for some machine.
We finally concluded our adventure deciding that the bag was owned by an electrician, who was perhaps stuck up some where else and could not collect his bag.

Back in 'ell
And guess how IIML welcomed me? With a temperature of 3-4 degrees in the morning, where I was just coming back from a place where the temperature was close to 20 degrees.
A hellish experience ensued the previous night, after our hoax incident, leaving me craving for warmth at the end of our train journey.

All this apart, I made a fresh beginning to the new term-both physically and mentally. The seniors' saying-"The worst part in IIML is over, in the form of Term 2" made me particulary relaxed.

Movie Reviews with a difference

2005-12-01T16:19:00.000+05:30

After my mid terms got over, I decided to relieve myself by watching a few movies. It occurred to me, why not watch some science videos for a change. It was then that I watched a string of science videos. Here are some of them:

Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time
Hong Kong Airport
Pyramids-The Giza
Super Massive Blackhole

Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time: This is a documentary made on Stephen Hawking's very popular book by the same name. A picture is worth a thousand words? Watch this movie and you'll understand. The movie takes the viewer through the life of SH along with the discoveries made by him.
Ever Wondered: what Event Horizon is? (boundary of a black hole. Once you cross this, there is no escape)
What singularity is? (point where space and time cease to exist, which is the centre of a blackhole)
what happens if a person is sucked into a blackhole? (ever heard of fast forward of time?)
is the univ actually expanding? and will it contract again? (meaning will we rise from the grave and go back to the womb?)
For any astronomy enthusiast, these questions are bound to raise the curiosity levels

Hong Kong Airport: Can we blast mountains, create land, build the tallest two-railed bridge in the world, build underwater roadways, overhead highways over extremely busy roads, double deckered bridges, all for the sake of an airport? The Hong Kong guys thought they could.....and they did! And that too in a record time of 8 years where it was deemed impossible to do it in not less than 12 years.
This is a video that is bound to make the viewers drop jaws. The Hong Kong International Airport was built as a substitute for the crowded and infinitesimally small Hong Kong Airport already existing inside the city. As HK is an already overloaded city, it was decided that two small islands just outside the coast of HK will be levelled, joined and converted into airport land. It was also decided that the project will be completed before the 100 years treaty of UK with China expires, after which China will take over HK (back in 1998). Hence the work was begun for the airport in 1991 and was finished within 8 years

Pyramids-The Giza: This video takes the viewer through the building of Giza, the largest Pyramid in the world. The protagonist of the story is one of the masons, who devoted his life for the structure. Khufu, the king at that time decided that a structure has to built that will remain as the biggest structure ever built, hence embarked on this gargantuan task. After an integrated effort of close to 40,000 labourers, the structure is built, which consists of three chambers.
Unfortunately, the shine and glamour of the structure (because of its limestone covering) has been eroded through its lifetime. Apparently in its hey days, the structure looked as if it had a golden coating, especially when viewed during daytimes.

Super Massive Blackhole: Can you guess how the galaxies were created? Because of the super massive black holes (SMBHs). This video tells us that all the galaxies in this universe have their centres as super massive black holes. Ironically, the galaxies are created because of these black holes. Seems that once upon a time, there was only dust and gas (in astronomy parlance) whirling around blackholes. Slowly, the gas starts to revolve so fast around the black holes (in the process being sucked up) that it pushes the outer layers away. This results in the outer layers moving away from the control of these black holes, which in the due course of billions of years, form the galaxy.
So at the centre of all galaxies lie the dormant SMBHs, which given a chance, will eat away the whole galaxy. The next logical question will be: Will these SMBHs become active again? Accd to researchers, in a few billion years, the Andromeda galaxy is going to collide with our milky way and will result in utter chaos reawakening not one, but two SMBHs (remember, Andromeda also has a SMBH!).

Manjunathan.....a Satyendra Dubey of IIML

2005-11-24T00:00:00.000+05:30

B S Manjunathan, an alumnus of IIM Lucknow, was brutally murdered in a petrol bunk in UP. He was working for IOC and was on his duty at the time of his murder. The petrol bunk he was in was closed previously on the grounds of adulteration of petrol, as was declared by Manjunathan. On getting tip offs that it was re-opened, he reached the place to investigate the matter, only to get murdered.
This case similar to the murder of Satyendra Dubey , an IIT Kanpur alumnus, in Bihar. Manjunathan was murdered because he was doing his duty as per the IOC rules, while Dubey was killed because he was a whistle-blower in the Golden Quadrilateral project. Both of them stood up for their values and integrity.

What can anyone do about this?

The role of the media: For one, the media can do a lot about it. Media is so powerful that it can bring down governments or make a pauper into a page 3 celebrity. It should bring into its focus incidents like this and make the world know about it. The more the number of people who know about it, the more the possibility of someone doing something about it.

The role of the government: What can the government do if it itself is involved in it? Surprising? Bunk licenses are given by the government. Hence it is no wonder that this is a case where the bunk license was obtained with the concerned government official having a good share of his bribe. It now becomes mandatory for this person to stay quiet (if not support) the bunk's cause.
An increased transparency in government dealings with private dealers would be one step towards eradication of corruption.

The role of ourselves: So what can we, as helpless, powerless or voiceless we are, do? It is actually the reverse. We, as enterprising young bright minds of the country can do anything. Instead of satisfying ourselves with cushy corporate portfolios, we should lend a hand towards eradication of corruption, hence help in the progress of the country. Think in this direction and the path will automatically open up. There will be numerous instances in one's life where we actually add up to the corruption (if not at the receiving end, at the giving end). I am not asking for another "Indian", but only not to encourage corruption.

I feel we should always try to uphold our values, whatever the situation may be. If we have to sacrifice something in the process, we should be ready to do that. As a car cannot run far on adulterated petrol, so cannot a country develop on corrupt people.

My Summer Internship @ Ernst & Young

2005-11-08T09:08:00.000+05:30

I got placed in Ernst & Young for my summer internship due next year. My project will be in the TAS division of the company. I may get placed in one of Hyd/Bang/Chennai, though other options are not out of consideration.

It was a field day for all of us on Sunday. The placement processes were in full swing with companies having their own criteria and methods of selection. Some people got surprise shortlists, and some others who were expecting shortlists did not get them. Companies make sure they recruit students matching the profile they are looking for.

I need to mention specially about our seniors (second years). Hats off to them. They are the people who are running the whole show, managing all the processes without any hiccups. From liasioning with the company professionals to handling food and other necessities, it was a co-ordinated and integrated effort from the part of the seniors.

The placements this year have broken all previous records that were made at IIML. This could be attributed to two reasons:
1. An excellent overall job market scene in the country
2. A very good batch profile for the first years
A lot of companies have come to the campus for the first time this year, thus making it even more better for us.

It was a day of mixed feelings on Monday when the Slot One results were declared officially. Only a small portion of the batch got placed in this slot(which is the trend across all IIMs). Slot One saw a majority in financial companies, a lot of marketing companies being lined up for the remaining slots. It is only a matter of a few days before which everyone gets placed. In the end, everyone emerges as a winner.

Diwali@IIML

2005-11-01T23:42:00.000+05:30

A make shift temple amidst the hostels. Can you see goddess Lakshmi in the picture ;-).

Diwali fireworks lighting up the campus...and lightening up our hearts :-D

Creativity at its helm:
Our hostel's effort for the IIML Rangoli competition.

Our hostels: fully decorated with lighting

Snapshot of a day in IIML

2005-10-13T19:41:00.000+05:30

It's 8.10AM and the alarm is shouting at the top of its voice. I get up
grudgingly, cursing the acads section that scheduled classes from
8.30AM. After finishing my daily chores, I quickly dress myself up
with whatever I can get my hands on. I check my watch. It's already
8.25AM. I make some quick calculations and find that I can still make
it to the class through the mess and start off to the mess. I have
half-a-minute breakfast, dumping whatever I can into my mouth,
fill a glass of tea and start off towards my classroom.

Three hours of teaching with a surprise quiz in one of the courses
marks the end of the day in the classroom. A good heavy lunch
followed by a quick nap and I am as fresh as a flower. I now have
look at the day ahead of me. I have to catch up in a few courses,
got to prepare for a case in one of the courses the next day, got
to do some pre class preparation in another, got to attend two
group meetings scheduled for later in the night, got to work on a
competition whose deadline is fast approaching, have to attend a
talk later in the evening, got to go to the gym, have a birthday
party to attend in the night, have to update my blog, etc. I have
to prioritize my work and also know that I have to account for
wastages of time in numerous other circumstances, which generally run into a few hours.

After finishing the work I had originally planned for the day,
I retire to my room. It being a relatively normal day, I am
happy to get back to my bed by 2AM.

Although I originally planned to write about my learnings, the snapshot above perhaps says better about them. Some of my major learnings, as I can think off the cuff, are - to prioritize work, raise the bar in terms of amount of work done in a day, reduce my non productive time (still have to work on it), improving my group skills, working smart, fast and productively.

Back to school

2005-10-03T19:45:00.000+05:30

I am back to school after a week long break. Two weeks without a post - ask the term end exams and the home coming break.

I should say I have utilised my hols pretty well. I caught up on my friends from IITM and YASU, had loads of sleep, some great food (Ya, home food is great!), lots of movies, etc. So now I am thoroughly refreshed, re-energised, re-vitalised, etc to start the new term afresh. I had to do a lot of shopping too..for the summers as well as the winter - both of which are round the corner. I bought a blazer (for summers) and thermals (for winter) for the first time in my life!

I was planning to write on my learnings from Term I. The next post may prolly be the one.

Day One
Once again, after the routine of collecting no dues and payment of fees finished, all the first years were given a bag full of books, marking the end of the registration process. Some people actually carried their travel bags for the same :). After that, we had a Pre Placement Talk for the summers by Goldman Sachs. They talked about their Bangalore division, which incidentally is GIR (Global Investment Research) which is different from IBD (Investment Banking Division). The talk went on well. To get into GS, you need to be good in finance, have to work hard and for long hours and should have enthu to learn a lot.

That is pretty much my day one for Term 2. This term definitely looks packed already with lots of summer prep, competitions and important courses.

A week to remember

2005-09-18T12:13:00.000+05:30

Is it possible for anyone to work for 16 hrs a day (or more?) with bare minimum sleep continuously for a week? Ask me.

It was just yesterday that someone was talking about Saurav Ganguly making a century after a run draught of two years. I was thinking..What the hell? Was there a cricket match going on? Where am I? In Antarctica? This is me. A person who almost never missed a cricket match for almost two years.

I have made a tacit deal with the paperwallah to pay him 50 bucks every month whether or not he drops in the paper. What difference did it make? I wasn't even touching the paper anyway nowadays.

A sudden and over whelming revelation has just occured to me a few days back. When I shared this with some of my friends, to my surprise and even their's, they agreed with me. We currently found ourselves woefully short of preparation for the end terms. This was after mugging almost every day (OK. Not in the amounts I just described, but still..mugging is mugging). Initially I thought this was because of my own talent of mugging without returns. But so many facing the same situation made me rethink.

I've started liking normal working days these days. Coz on sundays I find no free time! This system tests our limits. The limits to endure extreme amounts of mental strains. I envy myself when I think about those days back home when I had so much more time.

On a parting note, I might have sounded a bit melodramatic. If you think I sounded too unbelievable, then I was not melodramatic!

Some facts about MBA life

2005-09-14T02:16:00.000+05:30

Here are some facts about the life of an MBA student, and interesting too, if you may say..

1. Regardless of the toughness of any question paper, there will be many who are going to get a full score. Easy papers means more pressure to do well

2. Regardless of what your background / intelligence / effort is, if you don't put in your best in the answer paper, be sure to get stamped down. Retention abilities may help you at times

3. Professors give you work irrespective of the amount of any other work you are doing. If you are into extra currics, prepare to kiss your free time goodbye

4. Sleep becomes an extremely valuable resource. If only it could be bought. On the positive side, you will start seeing sunrises

5. Work done by a group moves at the pace of its slowest worker. You will have to lead a group if required

6. You will be forced to prioritize your work. Judgemental skills come to the fore. Needless to say, less the time wasted in any work, more the time gained for other activities.

7. There will be situations which appear totally unsurmountable. Yet, you will be able to manage them

8. You cannot avoid pressure. Actually, you will start enjoying it

9. Last but not the least, the fairer sex is always a scarce resource

These are some things I thought of off the cuff.

Pressure vs Stress

2005-09-11T21:29:00.000+05:30

Are they the same? According to a definition in Physics, they may be.

I thought they were the same too until I recently found out they weren't. Pressure is given, whereas stress is taken. What?

Yes. Pressure is due to external factors. But stress is due to internal factors. Some one once said, Coal under pressure becomes a diamond. So pressure can be used to convert an outer form but not an inner form. Stress, on the other hand, is inherent.

Why am I babbling so much about pressure without any reason? Well, to prate is my forte :). When coupled with 7 quizzes, 4 presentations, 4 assignments and 7 extra classes due in a single week, I earned the right to babble alright. With 6 end terms on 4 days next week, should I say more about pressure? Luckily, I am not feeling stressed out yet.

Just for Fun..

2005-09-01T14:57:00.000+05:30

Presented is an occupying resemblence betwixt the path an MBA educatee commutes an ostensibly non-convoluted arrangement of colloquy to the especial that is fathomable particularly to homo sapiens having profound dexterity over english semantics.

Meaning: Given below is a comparison between the way an MBA student converts a visibly simple sentence to that which is understandable only to humans having a good command over english.

MBA STUDENT VS NORMAL PERSON

MBA STUDENT: All articles that coruscate with
resplendence are not truly auriferous.

NORMAL PERSON: All that glitters is not gold.

MBA STUDENT: Sorting on the part of
mendicants must be interdicted.

NORMAL PERSON: Beggars are not choosers

MBA STUDENT: Male cadavers are incapable of
rendering any testimony.

NORMAL PERSON: Dead men tell no tales

MBA STUDENT: Neophyte's serendipity.

NORMAL PERSON: Beginner's luck

MBA STUDENT: A revolving lithic conglomerate
accumulates no congeries of small, green, biophytic plant.

NORMAL PERSON: a rolling stone gathers no
moss

MBA STUDENT: Members of an avian species of
identical plumage tend to congregate.

NORMAL PERSON: birds of the same feather
flock together

MBA STUDENT: Pulchritude possesses solely
cutaneous profundity.

NORMAL PERSON: beauty is only skin deep

MBA STUDENT: Freedom from incrustations of
grime is contiguous to rectitude.

NORMAL PERSON: cleanliness is godliness

MBA STUDENT: It is fruitless to become
lachrymose of precipitately departed lactile fluid.

NORMAL PERSON: there's no use crying over
spilt milk

MBA STUDENT: It is fruitless to attempt to
indoctrinate a superannuated canine with innovative maneuvers.

NORMAL PERSON: u can't try to teach an old
dog new tricks

MBA STUDENT: Surveillance should precede
saltation.

NORMAL PERSON: look before you leap

MBA STUDENT: Scintillate, scintillate,
asteroid minim.

NORMAL PERSON: twinkle, twinkle, little star

MBA STUDENT: The person presenting the
ultimate cachinnation possesses thereby the optimal cachinnation.

NORMAL PERSON: he who laughs last, laughs the
best

MBA STUDENT: Exclusive dedication to
necessitous chores without interludes of hedonistic diversion renders John
hebetudinous fellow.

NORMAL PERSON: all work and no play make
jack a dull boy

MBA STUDENT: Individuals who make their
abodes in vitreous edifices would be advised to refrain from catapulting
petrious projectiles.

NORMAL PERSON: People who live in glass
houses should not throw stones.

MBA STUDENT: Where there are visible vapors
having their provenance
in ignited carbonaceous materials, there is conflagration.

NORMAL PERSON: where there's smoke, there's
fire

Lucknowites..here I come!

2005-08-28T22:10:00.000+05:30

It was a field day for us today. As a part of our Economics group project, which incidentally is an Analysis of the soft drink industry, we went to "WAVE", the most happenening place in Lucknow. This was to get responses for our questionnaire. After watching a movie and having a pizza, we got down to business.

Our questionnaire involved getting responses from different segments of the population, based on its demography, like income and gender. We prepared the questionnaire keeping in view the different aspects of our Economics course. Obviously, IIML campus is grossly insufficient for our survey in terms of the above parameters. Hence we landed up in the only multiplex in Lucknow, the "WAVE".

One thing I have to admit is, Lucknow does have some very decent crowds (read as girls :D). Anyway, we targeted the fairer sex more, for obvious reasons. No, you pervert! IIML has a pathetic crowd in terms of number of girls. To get an unbiased estimate of the fairer sex's choices, we had to target more girls than boys :D.

Doing this survey helped us in more ways than one.

It helped us ease ourselves into talking to total strangers and asking them for favours. There is a general perception about filling questionnaires that it is extremely painful and is a total time waste. Our convincing abilities came to the fore. We had to convince our respondents that what we were doing was totally non commercial. Of course, saying that we were from IIML did help a lot :).

Some were not even ready to read the questionnaire. This taught us take rebuffs and refusals as a part of the game.

At the end of the day, we sort of developed a knack to identify potential respondents. This is very helpful, especially if we were to conduct a market research for a new product. BTW, our's was not a market research. It was just a small survey.

Finally, last but not the least, we found out the perspectives of general population. Campus life sure locks you out of the world. Though we put in a lot of effort in preparing the questionnaire, we found out today that some of the questions could have been better framed. Afterall, it is not always possible to think from the point of view from the customer (respondents in this case). But we were very close.

For those of you who want to know the movie we went to, it was IQBAL. A good movie, on the whole. Or you can say, a typical Nagesh Kukunoor movie (of the Hyderabad Blues fame). It is an inspirational movie of how a physically disabled person can, with the help of his talent and hard work, get selected in the Indian Cricket Team. OK, don't get put off by this cliched theme. I found the movie to be decent.

Candid Revelations

2005-08-24T02:47:00.000+05:30

Everyday, I seem to learn new things not only as a part of the curriculum, but also as a part of my own meandering experiences.

I have been constantly bombarded with work after coming here. Though initially it proved a bit difficult to cope up with all the stuff, I am slowly getting a hold of the situation. In fact, I can say that coming from a background such as IITM Electrical has really helped me a lot. The courses I study here seem much more simpler. Well, you can argue that it could be because of a change in my perspective. I donot deny that.

In retrospection, I feel I somehow never concenterated much on academics during my sojourn in IITM. In IIML, I have made a conditioned effort not to repeat the mistake again. This could probably be the reason why I find the courses here much more simpler. The competition has not diluted though! What am I saying-This is a premier institute and of course the best brains in the country land up here.

There have been days here when I really felt I did something. These are the days which I can claim to have utilised most effectively, when I felt I completed all the tasks I had planned to finish on that day. I am constantly directing myself to increase my productivity every day of my stay here and hence increase the count of days I described above. Sadly, I end up doing a part of the work I assigned for myself, most of the times.

Sometimes I wonder-Am I being a little harsh on myself by imposing unachieveable targets upon myself? Well, the answer is yes and no. I am a bit idealistic, and a perfectionist. I try to force myself to try and achieve the maximum possible with the best of the quality. This could the reason why I either fail to achieve my targets, or I criticise myself - for not being perfect in my work.

I have been making a conscious effort to improve myself in lots of aspects. I know I am good in some aspects and bad in some. I am in the process of converting the bads into goods, and goods into excellents. I know this is a bit abstract, but I cannot help but remain subjective here.

Somehow I feel I got a much needed break from studying after my engineering last year. I can clearly see myself to have grown from a childish mentality to a more matured one during the year. This could be due to a variety of reasons-not necessarily related to my work experience per se. Working from home helped me concenterate more on myself. Specifically, getting selected in CAT 2004 for the GD PIs really helped me a lot. I was forced to look into myself, my aspirations, my strengths and my weaknesses, which, under any other circumstance I would not have even thought of. I could make out a vague picture of what I wanted to become in life-though I have to confess I am still not sure of what I am really made for!

This could be because I constantly keep re-discovering myself. Some of my friends disagree with this when I say this to them. They say we are what we are. That we cannot improve ourselves. They donot agree that there could be a possibility that they could have done something which they have never even thought of.

I have an example that substantiates what I have said. I always thought I could never climb up the artificial wall (for trekking) present in IMAX, Hyderabad. I thought it was too difficult, or my hands could not support my body weight, and what not. But presto! There I was, on the top. I had reached a point which I thought I never could have reached. I discovered that I could reach the top, afterall.

I always felt and even now I feel MBA without work ex is not much useful. I have seen some of my friends in IIML, who are freshers. These guys have some misguided conceptions about corporate life, how people deal with each other in organisations, etc. Though I donot claim that I have been there and seen it all, I find myself in a much better position compared to these guys. I can easily relate to what happens in an organisation. And as one year is too less a time to acquire permanent notions about corporate culture, it is easy for me to learn new concepts. I find myself with a clean slate-but with a difference. I can understand what goes onto the slate!

There is a lot more to write about myself. But lack of time is something which haunts everyone in this world-as it is haunting me now :). So be it.

Indian Telecom Industry

2005-08-21T21:39:00.000+05:30

We had a keynote speech by the Chairman of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India: Regulator of the Telecom Industry), Mr Pradip Baijal. The speech was very informative. He talked about the Indian Telecom Industry scenario before the inception of TRAI (ie, 1998). Before liberalisation of the Telecom Industry, the tele-density (similar to population density) was an appalling 1.92 persons per hundred before 1998! After the liberalisation of the Telecom Industry, the tele-density grew at a very healthy pace and is currently about 30%. This clearly shows how important competition is in any Network Industry (like Telecom, Power, etc). Monopolistic markets are never good for both the suppliers and the consumers.

He talked about the role of the TRAI in the present Telecom scenario. It is surprising that the government which set up TRAI lobbies for BSNL (which, of course, if a 100% government undertaking) and ends up in long debates with its own brain child, the TRAI. BSNL has lost its lead to Bharati (Airtel).

In particular, he emphasised the importance of a healthy subscriber base for any Network Industry. Reliance, which faced huge losses (to the tune of 1600 crores) because of its Monsoon Hungama offer, actually gained because of the loss! It was because though it lost so much money, it gained a solid subscriber base of arnd 7 million within 4 months. This was an unprecedented growth for any operator in the scenario back then in 2001.

He then went on to describe the various strategies being adopted by the players in the market, and the need to regulate them. In this context, he talked about the Reliance's 40 paise conflict. Reliance was legally correct but it breached the code of fair play in the market. Where the other players' minimum charge was Rs 3/min, Reliance offered calls@40 paise/min. Reliance was said to follow predatory pricing. Interestingly, Baijal was not at all against this strategy. Predatory pricing was something which was adopted by the largest market player. Reliance was not one of those.

He then emphasised the need for the operators to tap the vast potential of the Rural markets. Interestingly again, the percentage of middle and high income groups in India are evenly spread in the urban and rural markets! The fact that hardly 5% of the rural market is tapped by the telecom operators, against the 40% urban market is an astoundingly low figure. Thus the above two facts show that rural markets are a gold mine for early entrees.

Yet another interesting fact came out of the presentation. The number of mobile subscribers (51.73 million) has recently surpassed the number of Land line subscribers in India (51.24 million). This is indeed an achievement for India considering the time it took to achieve this feat (roughly 8 years).

Manager vs Entrepreneur

2005-08-17T16:48:00.000+05:30

Guess what! Ambanis climb over Bijmohan Lal Munjal (Hero Honda) to claim the top slots for the highest grossers in corporate India. After separating from RIL, Anil drew his remuneration from his parent company which, being equal to the remuneration of Mukesh, totalled to 21.9 crores p.a. Munjal is in the third place with 13.4 crores.
On the other hand, Vivek Paul (Wipro's ex-vice chairman) leads the way for Professional Managers with a total remuneration of 7.53 crores p.a.

This shows the profitability of becoming an entrepreneur than a manager. Entrepreneur are obviously managers at the core. But what differentiates them from others is their risk taking ability and their vision. All b-schools focus on the part where we should make an optimal choice in a given situation, which calls for the path of minimum risk. But what they cannot impart is the knowledge of how to look into the future, how to take risks, how to search for potential markets for new profitable ventures. These and more are precisely the qualities what an entrepreneur wants.

It is said - for becoming a good manager, you should be born with the talent. I disagree. You can always become a good manager by learning or unlearning the qualities required for a manager. Instead, I would rather rephrase the adage as - for becoming a good entrepreneur, you should be born with the talent.

Here is a good site for people interested in Economics: www.rgemonitor.com
And it is free till October!

Half term over, or half term left?

2005-08-14T15:20:00.000+05:30

Our mid terms ended on Fri and I have been totally chilling off after that. I watched close to 6 movies in the last 2 days (on a comp and otherwise). There is a multiplex in Lucknow called "Wave" which is a pretty cool place with McD, PizzaHut and others. I had a pizza yday and a movie in a theatre after a gap of almost 2 months! Back home, there were no 10 days without a pizza or a movie :D.

The sudden chill out factor is majorly because of 3 consecutive hols in IIML (never happens, it seems). I had an option of going to Naintal or some other hill station. But I reserved the visit to later (second year?) and confined myself to the municipal limits of Lucknow instead.

Indian cricket team never fails to surprise me. It manages to reach the finals without Sachin, Laxman and Sourav (?), only to squander away an opportunity for the taking. Across the globe, England deserves a win, not for its sake, but to run down the winning streak of Austrlia. More than 3 years have passed with Australia on the top of the table. Are the other country teams really so damn untalented as to succumb to Aussie's dominance almost everytime?

Google's new google earth (earth.google.com) is really worth exploring. Apparently, it gives a bird's eye view (literally!) of any place in this world. Google is becoming a sort of monopoly in many new markets (well, it is the first of its kind to create insanely new products).There is a talk that Google value's creativity so much that it has a suggestion box kind of thing in which it encourages the employees to put in whatever vague but creative ideas they get. Google Earth is apparently one such brain child.

Terrorists world wide are on a rampage. London blasts and now assassination of Sri Lanka's foreign minister (actually the latter was because of a militant group in SL..what's the difference anyway?). Hopefully Aug 15 will be spared.

Sweden legalises looking up ladies' skirts! It has once again consolidated its position as the most sexually liberal nation in the world. Earlier, Sweden had legalised gay adoption, inter alia. Check out this link for further info: http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/features/politics/61694

I'm planning to be more frequent to the gym and also improve my Pool playing abilities this term. Hopefully I'll be able to do both.

Management Accounting

2005-08-07T04:01:00.000+05:30

I've just finished mugging Manac for the day. Boy o boy...this is one heck of a course with infinitely many concepts and details. Accouting Standards form the basis of Accounting. These Accounting Standards which have been framed by the ICAI. Every company in India should follow these standards without exception. Every other country has similar standards. Journals, Ledgers, Trial Balances, Profit and Loss accounts, Retained Earnings, Balance Sheets form the different steps in creating the financial statements of the company. Of course, these concepts form a major part of the financial statements but not their complete description.

You must be wondering I have devoted a whole post to Manac. It is because b-school freshers across all b-schools througout the world treat this course as one of the toughest in the first term. Also, it is the first course in Finance. Apart from these, it requires a lot of number crunching, a favourite pastime for engineers and finance enthusiasts. And finally, I have a Manac mid term exam next week-one of the reasons why I am awake till now!

2005-08-04T02:38:00.000+05:30

In this post I will ramble a bit about the recent happenings in the real world :D

The recent flooding of Mumbai brings us back to the same old issue that haunts most of the Indian cities - drainage problem. Hyderabad and Chennai have also been victims to these floodings in the recent times. The basic problem in Hyderabad is that it being an inland city, has no problem for sewage outlet (and Hussain Sagar is NOT an option!). Chennai being a rain starved city, has stopped any progress towards maintaining the system, let alone improve it. I guess the problem in Mumbai was a bit more than just a sewage problem. The amount of rain it received in a single day (93cms!) is unbelievable. It is just like a mini tsunami striking a city but only with more time to assess the situation. Insurance companies will have a tough time in the days to come. Already, the insurance claims have become the highest ever claimed in the past few years. Mumbai itself has starting losing sheen vis-a-vis a perception that it is an investor friendly and infrastructure strong city.

Sensex is going bonkers in the recent few weeks with the latest news being it has crossed 7800 mark today. I still remember the Black Monday when it did a bungee jump to below 6000. The positive run is, as usual, because of the ever increasing FIIs and also coz of a good overall global economy.

The market for software guys seems to be pretty good. A lot of people I know have changed their jobs for better. The average salaries for freshers from good colleges has definitely increased. The run for money has left many a company staggered by the fallout rate. Big companies are leveraging to capitalise on the upward job trend by their fame and power while smaller companies are in a situation where they have to shell out more money to hire a professional with the same competency level as a person in the position a couple of years ago.

A small note about my current status. The last one week has seen some staggering amounts of work being thrust upon us and has left us craving for sleep. A quiz and a presentation on the same day has but not become uncommon. Iam currently feeling a bit unhappy about myself as I am not able to keep pace with my targets. "Too much to do in too little time" is not an alien proverb anymore.

Sleepless in Lucknow (not Seattle)

2005-07-30T16:07:00.000+05:30

We are a week away from the mid terms, and it shows! Days are rolling by with the speed that can give a concorde a run for its money. OK, I am overdoing this a bit.

I began the term with the intention of being up to date with what is being taught in the class, and read beforehand what was going to be taught in the next class. I was successful in doing that for the first two weeks. Slowly, my pre-class preparation came to the back seat and I became content with post-class preparation. Presently even post-class prep is looking difficult with all the quizzes, presentations and assignments. No wonder my blogging frequency has taken a hit. Yet, I will try my best to update the blog whenever I find time.

I, along with few other Hydies, booked our train tickets to Hyderabad for the post end term break. Lucknow is not a big junction. The South bound trains are few here. This makes it mandatory for us to book tickets much in advance lest we don't get them.

Here is something interesting:
www.vark-learn.com
This site finds out which type of learning is preferred by you. Accd to this site, learning preferences are divided into 4 types:
1 aural - learnd by hearing
2 visual - learn by seeing
3 kinesthetic - learn by doing
4 muti-modal - learn by a mix of any/all of the three above

Incidentally, I have a multi-modal learning preference

Potter mania!

2005-07-23T19:47:00.000+05:30

The week gone by was a busy week for me with committee stuff, assignments, quizzes, and... HARRY POTTER! Let me first confess than I am a die hard Harry Potter fan. And yup, inspite of the busy schedule which I am supposedly in, I made time to read the latest release of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half Blood prince. This is the punultimate book of the series and expectedly, the atmosphere in the book is thoroughly worked up. Suspense is at it's peak and it's no wonder people have already started looking forward for the last book in the series. Rowling sure knows how to enchant readers-children or adults.

Coming back to acads, LAM (Legal Aspects of Management) is currently going right over my head with a plethora of Acts, sections and articles throughly messing up any cognition I gain about Laws. I've got to read harder if I see myself in any position with a decent grade. MANAC first quiz went pretty well. Yet, the second quiz seems ominous and gloomy. QAM and COMM quizzes went well too. Economics quiz is round the corner.

Apparently (accd to seniors), this year has a lot of IITians and engineers in our batch compared to that last few years, thus raising our batch profile and also raising the institutes expectations from our batch. Also, last year was a bad time to be as a fresher in IIML as many people are being made to repeat the first year (the number was much less till before last year). Campus talk says it happened due to some unavoidable problems last year, and is a one time occurence. In any case, the latter has visibly scared many first years, who prefer digging themselves inside books to wasting time in non-academic activities (Iam not one of those though :D). Suitably enough, this batch is pretty much "acads oriented".

It seems like just yesterday that I have reached L, but we are already nearing the half way mark of the term. People have already started making plans for going back at the end of the term.

Committee hullabaloo

2005-07-16T20:00:00.000+05:30

Yesterday we had committee presentations. I never knew there were so many committees on campus (arnd 25)! Every event that happens in IIML is completely student co-ordinated, and the fact that there are so many committees vouches for that. The most important committee is the Placement Committee (what else?!), which co-ordinates the final placements as well as the summer placements.
Other committees includes the Special Interest Groups like Marketing Committee, Strategy Committee, etc. The rest arrange talks by corporate personalities, maintain media relations, organise fests,organise social service campaigns, etc.
I applied for a few committees expecting to learn something from them.
I believe one should join the committee he/she is interested in, where he can learn something valuable for himself, whatever it may be. Adding bullet points to the CV should not be the driving force behind joining a committee (Inidentally, this was the point emphasized by all the committes).

India Inc rises among Fortune 500

2005-07-13T17:31:00.000+05:30

The Fortune 500 list '04 is out and India fares marginally better than last year. The four PSU oil majors from India (IO, BP, HP, ONGC) figured among the top 500, with RIL Petrochemicals joining the elite league second time in a row. Wall Mart, BP(UK) and ExxonMobil (US) occupied the first three ranks. IO topped the list from India capturing the 170 rank among the 500. India still lags behind China which occupies 15 ranks in the list.

Oil (including petroleum) has always been a prized asset in India, and the recent increase in the prices has had it's effect in increasing the revenues of the oil companies. No wonder ONGC also joined the league this time. But compared to Wall Mart's revenues ($288bn), IOC ($0.5bn) has a very long way to go. One thing we can observe is that all the companies from India that have featured in the list are petrochem majors only, unlike the diverse list of companies that feature from US and other countries.

Feel free to correct the figures in case you know better :).

So it begins.....

2005-07-12T17:36:00.000+05:30

The grill begins. And Iam 2 quizzes old in IIML! We had both the quizzes in this week itself. After a calm first week, this was something everyone was expecting to happen. Comm quiz was general whereas Manac quiz was time constrained, with 5 questions to be answered in 8 minutes! Both of them went OK for me. The reason our Manac prof gave for such a time crunched quiz was that even in the real world, we are not given much time to think and are supposed to make decisions on our heels.

Profs:

Our BIO prof, Debasis Bhattacharya, is one of the best profs in this term. His teaching methodology is very good. He combines oral lectures with presentations, questionaires and movies. Also, he seems to have contacts with many hi profile people in the corporate world today, like JRD Tata, Mukesh Ambani, KMBirla, etc. Last week end, he organised a talk by the MD of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), Mr Sanak Misra. Mr Misra was instrumental in turning a loss making organisation (losses were to the tune of 1036 crores for RSP in 2001-2002) into a profit making one (profit of 146 crores during 2004-2005). He talked to us about how he had transformed the workers, the organisation, and the city of Rourkela in general by a string of developmental programmes. Other steel plants under SAIL are apparently planning to follow the programmes developed in RSP.

Our Comm prof is very experienced, and her classes are very informative (though some may categorise them as too general). She teaches the basics of communcation with specific reference to the skills a manager should have, like presentation skills, writing skills, etc. Everyday, she makes a few people give a small presentation in front of the whole class (just as practise sessions). The feedback she gives is spontaneous, and constructive.

All the other profs are OK or good, though not great.

The Learning Book

2005-07-09T23:11:00.000+05:30

Behaviour In Organisation (BIO) has an interesting project lined up for us. Five of us, as a group are supposed to write a "Learning Book" which captures all the main aspects of Organisational Behaviour. The theme of the book is to be decided by us. Based on this theme we are to build up a story-with an upper limit for the number of words- having as many number of characters as we want. The idea is to understand the various aspects of BIO and use our creative and group skills to chalk out a coherent and interesting story, with contributions from all the group members. Looks like an interesting project to me :).

Acads: Do or Die!!!

2005-07-07T19:39:00.000+05:30

Well, not literally :). No one is gonna kill you if don't concenterate on acads, but neverthless u will have to face the consequences.

Acads are the life and breath of IIML. The institute believes they are to be given the first preference, only then should extra curricular activities take place. The system is also pretty tough and rigid, with very high importance given to attendance (min 80%). Class participation, Assignments, Quizzes, Presentations, MidSem, EndSem are just some of the parameters on which we are evaluated. The insti is actually against committees as it believes they hinder academic performace! Not many agree to that but again, that depends on each individual.

7/10 is apparently a good CGPA, and 8 will take you into the top 5. Grades are given from A+ to D, and F is a fail grade. Most of the profs are OK in terms of grading. You perform, you get.
Though the insti says the CG will not be revealed to the companies that come for placements, you never know when the system is changed. Better not to take risks.
There is a minimum performance level to be maintained, failing which you will be made to repeat the year again.

Though we have ample opportunities to improve ourself in lotsa aspects, it again boils down to effectively and judiciously using the time for different purposes.

In the middle of.....everywhere?

2005-07-07T17:56:00.000+05:30

I always wondered why people said sleep is a luxury in b-schools. Slowly, Iam getting a hang of the reason.
It all started with the Induction program. On the two days we had the prog, every one was forced to sleep after 2AM. Next morning we had to be there again by 9AM.
Next day, it was the insti party. Lotsa booze, grub and dance, but again no sleep :D (The party went on till 3AM in the morning).
Then we had the Hostel Party with an interaction session between juniors and seniors. All the freshers had a dress code and were made to sit in a line in front of all the seniors of the hostel. Then each of the fresher was individually called and interacted with. It was great fun for all of us, and the seniors. In the end, all the seniors introduced themselves and put us "gyaan" on everything in IIML.
Then we had another party from the Gult Assoc in IIML, again an interaction session. This too was fun, and reminded me of the "Gult Oneness" we had among all of us gults in IITM. But this time, I dont intend to be a part of the Gult fraternity alone, as I've had enough in IITM.
Today, there are again a couple of parties, one as a treat and another as a B-Day celebration in our hostel.

Acads: This week was spared by all the profs as they satisfied themselves with giving intros in various subjects and deciding on groups and final projects. There are quizzes lined up already for the next week starting a quiz and presentation on monday. This is what we know of, excluding the surprise quizzes.
A huge program awaiting to eat up most of our time next week is the Committee presentations stuff. Lots of committees are present on campus, the most significant of em all being Placement Committee, Index(tech fest in mgmt), Manfest (mgmt fest), Industry Interaction Committee, Synapses(IT committee). It's fun to be a part of the committees, but requires a lot of time management on our side.

First day at school !

2005-07-04T18:52:00.000+05:30

My mom used to tell me about my first day at school (Nursery, as some would call it). Apparently I was quite intimidated by the likes of the huge premises of our school. And exptectedly, I cried a lot before I was finally left alone inside the class. I perhaps had a feeling of insecurity, apprehension and fear.
In IIML, everything has changed, the most significant of which is my perspective towards the new school. I am eager to learn new things, appreciate the change, and am happy to meet new people. In a nutshell, I like the new environment.

The classes started with all of us sitting in our allocated places. I have been allocated one of the better places, which is a couple of rows behind the first row, but right in front of the blackboard. We are also given name cards which we are supposed to fix in front of our seats, for easy identification by the professors.
The professors require and encourage a lot of participation from the students, a significant leap from my IIT days. The manner of evaluation is also quite different here, with a lot of emphasis given to assignments and projects. We actually got a couple of projects on our tables already. Manner of teaching is also quite different, with case studies, lectures, ppts, videos, etc forming a part of many a prof's teaching mechanisms.
Our BIO class had an interesting way of deciding groups. All the students were made to form groups based on the proximity of their Date of Births. This called for some amount of organised leadership skills on our part. We finally formed groups on a chaotic note with lot of people trying to become leaders.
The profs require very strict adherence to rules and regulations, with punctuality, honesty and sincerity mandatory from our side. I found the profs to be very good communicators. It remains to be seen if they will be able to catch hold of our attention till the end of this term.

I am a part of the IIML Community !

2005-07-01T15:08:00.000+05:30

Yesterday was a very hectic day with the Induction module starting from 8:45 AM and continuing till 2:00AM today! The process consisted of formal welcome addresses from most of the Chairmans of various institute committes like the PGP committee, Acads committee, etc. As a unique feature of this Induction module (never happened till now) we also had talks from the alumi of IIML. Their talks and presentations focussed on their experiences at IIML and also more importantly their experiences AFTER IIML. The presenters included alumnus working in various sectors of the market, namely Marketing, Consultancy, Systems, Finance, etc working in companies like JPMorganStanley, JWT, PwC, etc.

They disbursed extremely valuable info about:
1. The academic inclination of IIML, and it's implications
2. Their life@IIML
3. The career paths taken by various ex-IIMLites, and discussed about the star performers in various fields till now. These included extremely successful people who created trailblazing career paths, most of whom are currently CEOs, Managing Directors and people in senior positions of various MNCs.
4. The focus an MBA grad should have on acads and extra currics, the balance one should maintain between them.
5. The various specialisations available, their current market potential, the roles offered for these specs, what type of companies actually come to all the IIMs, etc.
6. (The part I liked the most) They completely de-emphasized the significance of placements ! They took very specific examples and explained how one should choose companies not based on the "charm", but companies that offer roles well suited to us. In this context, they also explained how students are sacrificing their personal interests to obtain jobs in the Consultancies and Investment banks, without looking at the work done in such jobs.
An interesting piece of info is that around 30-40% of the people leave their campus jobs in the first six months (even in McKinsey, JPMS, etc )! Surprising yet true. This mainly happens because people take jobs just looking at the salary they offer, and not because they like the work there (very much true).

The presentations were terrific, atleast for me, as they cleared a lot of misconceptions I had about IIML and MBA per se. There is a second part of the Induction module today. Check out the next post for more details.

Get, Set , Go....

2005-06-29T18:53:00.000+05:30

From tomorrow till the end of the week, we are going to have an induction module which will later be followed by Registration. Classes are scheduled from Monday. The schedule for the pre-midsem is out and we are going to lay our hands on six courses in this period.

One good thing is that the classes start from 9 (8:30 on some days) everyday, and there are atmost 3 courses everyday. Compared to the 8-4:30 schedule in IITM, this is a pretty relaxed schedule. Our batch has been divided into five sections on a random basis. Each section has a different schedule everyday. Though on the face of it, the schedule looks innocuous, this term is touted to be the toughest term of all, mainly because of the work load it offers. All said, IITians sure have a wee bit of advantage here having experienced similar situations during their IIT sojourn.

Be a Lucknowi when in Lucknow !

2005-06-28T15:30:00.000+05:30

Intending to effectively utilise the free time I have been endowed with :-D, I decided to check out the city of Nawabs, Lucknow. And the epithet is quite apt, considering the fact that the old Nawabi style oozes out of everything, let it be the architecture, the dialect, or the dressing style.

A little bit more about the dialect. The colloquial Hindi in Lucknow is quite pure (unlike the Urdu mixed Hindi we speak down in the South). Also, the people here seem to be very courteous and helpful (Well, the local dialect has a lot of "aaps" and "hums", perhaps biasing my view here :-D). In fact, we (esp those from the south) really have to watch the verbatim we use, lest the locals find it a bit rude!

Lucknow is pretty famous for it's "Chikan" embroidered kurtas, salwars, sarees, etc. Tempted to buy a pair for myself, I visited one of the places famous for Chikan wear, in Lucknow. But to my amazement, there were so many shops with such a multifarious array of dresses (and costs ;-) ) that I was left completely flabbergasted for lack of knowledge about these things. I'd better take some experienced company with me, else I'll be robbed in broad daylight.

There are loads of tombs and Nawabi structures dispersed in Lucknow, but the one that caught my attention was the "Bara ImamBara", which houses the "Bhool Bhulayya", or the Labyrinth (a maze of passages). It is know to have 1024 passages with 489 identical doors. At any junction that one comes to in the Labyrinth, one is faced with 3 passages, only one of which is the correct way. Others either lead to dead ends, or to small windows that open up a good 70 ft above the ground in a mahal. A bit tricky, but enjoyable if one understands the structural mathematics (keeping the count of the steps is the best way).

The people here (esp women) dress quite adorably in the Chikan wear, thus thrusting an elegant and beautiful view towards the passers-by (like me!). Or in other words, the women here are quite beautifully dressed.

A small note on the transport facilities (if you can call them that ;-) ). From the time I left the campus to the time I returned, I boarded:
A Van, A Bus, A Sumo, An Auto, A Rickshaw, and....A Tanga (horse-pulled cart)! Quite a rare experience for a metropolitan-citizen like me (Rickshaws and Tangas are extinct in Hyderabad). Having our own vehicle is very supportive in IIM Lucknow, though Iam not sure if I'll need it in the first term.

My first day in IIML

2005-06-26T17:17:00.000+05:30

After 32 excruciating hours of train journey (not to mention the initial packing hassles), I finally landed up in Lucknow. To my great discomfort, the weather here was not pleasant at all (it actually reminded me of the Chennai weather!). After haggling a bit with the coolies and autowallahs (didnot have the enthu to haggle more :-D), I hired an auto, dumped all my stuff in it and set out for IIM Lucknow.

Located on the out skirts of the city, IIML is a calm place, well connected by roads and away from the cacophony of the city. After reaching the campus, I completed all the formalities of room allotment and was handed the keys of my room. Ah! Finally I reached my destination.

Here is a glimpse of the infrastructural facilities in IIML, straight from the horse's mouth

Hostels
All hostels are single seater accomodations with 24 hour internet connectivity, computer tables, cots, mattresses, almirah, study table, chair and an air cooler (have to pay for it though :-D). Compared to the IITM rooms, these rooms are way bigger and better. The best part of it is that all the hostels have well maintained water coolers, and bogs with 24 hour water supply, washing machines, not more than 5-6 rooms away from any room in the hostel. A CR, TT Tables, general purpose computers (for printing and other stuff), gyms, etc are other facilities available.

Mess
Unlike in IITM, there is a common mess where all the students in the campus come to dine. The timings are also much more relaxed, vis-a-vis IITM messes. Apart from the mess, there is a Nescafe store and a canteen running 24 hrs a day, where we can get grub varying from paranthas to maggi noodles. A general grocery shop, a mini super market, and phone booths are also present at a stone's throw distance from the hostels.

A/Cs(!)
Well the only places in the student zone of the campus where there is no A/C are the hostel rooms (not unexpected eh ;-) ). Any other place in the campus (barring the mess of course) has A/C. Class rooms, library, CC, shops are a few examples.

Guest Houses
Similar the IITM guest house, there are two guest houses in IIML, both of which have ONLY A/C rooms (what did I say above!). The facilties provided in these rooms is similar those provided in well furnished 3 star hotels (mark my words). Be it food, laundry, room service , cleanliness, etc.

Other Facilities
The institute is well connected to the city by means of buses and vans which run every 45 minutes. So not much of a problem for the wanderlust. And obviously, IIML is knowledgeable enough to allow powered vehicles inside the campus (my IITM mates will understand why Iam saying this).
There are insti parties every fortnight (should I say the fortnight comes almost every weekend :-D ) where people drown themselves in grub and booze, apart from dance and other stuff. In fact, there was one party yesterday night. I couldnot attend it though, coz there were other priorities for me (read as sleep).

Hmm as I said before, that's just a glimpse of IIML. Stay tuned for the main story that begins later this week, after the registration process begins. I, for one, am among those early birds who landed in IIML.

A Busy week for me

2005-06-21T23:17:00.000+05:30

In view of my departure to Lucknow later this week (24th to be precise), I've been a bit busy these days. All that after a week of total chill off with parties. The main work these days is stuff related to presenting the relevant documents at IIML. Though it initially surprised me that IIML should ask for Typhoid Immunization Certificate, later I found that lots of institutes ask for these certificates. IIMA actually asked for Immunization Certificates for a couple of Hepatitis variants! Apart from this, Iam supposed to take attested copies of a plethora of my certificates and other details for registration.

One other thing that kept me busy was shopping! How I wish I had time for being busy this way ;-). From dresses to door mats, I have been on a shopping spree which has left me catching a glimpse of most of the major shopping malls in the city.

Yet another thing that has kept me busy, this time in my house, has been the book "Snapshots from Hell" by Peter Robinson. This is a book on the life of the author during his two year stint in Stanford Business School. A good read for the idle mind....or otherwise :-P

Busy as I may be, I still have lots of pending stuff that I need to take care of lest I should be metaphorically hand cuffed in Lucknow.

It's Party Time!

2005-06-17T20:29:00.000+05:30

Literally! Starting from the day I had left YASU, it has been a blizzard of treats for me. There has been not a single evening on which I had stayed home (except when I wasn't in Hyd). I should say I have become well versed with the restaurant names and their rates, atleast in areas close to my house. The moment I loosened my purse strings for the treats, close to 10K has vanished into thin air.

I feel terrible if I start thinking about the days ahead. For starters, not only will I not have treats of this number in IIML, but also the money vanishing from my purse is money vanishing from my IIML usage fund. I guess if I continue this surge for some more days, not only will my purse not start listening to me, but also my stomach ;-). All the good times Iam experiencing keep reminding me that all this could be the "Lull before a Storm". You can interpret this stmt as you wish :-P

My trip to Ganugapur

2005-06-14T17:11:00.000+05:30

Let me start by describing Ganugapur. It is a piligrim town famous as one of the five "Dattatreya Swamy" temples in India. It is located at a distance of 40KM from Gulbarga, a town in North Eastern part of Karnataka. The town is located on the banks of the "Amaraja" river. The temple is constructed for Swami Narasimha Saraswathi, one of the incarnations of Dattatreya Swami. Other incarnations include Shiridi Sai Baba, etc. For the uninitiated, Dattatreya Swami is an incarnation of "Hari Hara Brahma"s, or Lord Siva, Vishnu and Brahma combined into one. This is evident if one looks at the picture of Dattatreya Swami, where the Swami has three faces instead of one.

We started our journey from Hyderabad, booking a Tata Sumo for the purpose. The Sumo covered the distance of 250 odd KMs in arnd 6 hrs (thanks to a horrible patch of road where the speed was curtailed to a max of 40 kmph). The return journey was equally timed.

The Temple:
The core of the temple is an old construction. The actual face of the deity is not visible openly as is the case in most of the south indian temples, but can be seen only through a hole like cavity inside one of the walls. The temple is famous for the "paadukalu" or the slippers claimed to be used by Narasimha Saraswathi Swami himself. It is said that the Swami had liberated a demon inside a tree that is seen just outside the temple, thus saving the town from a lot of hard ships. The vox populi says those who touch the tree can get rid of the "demonic" qualities inside them.
There is also a "Sangamam" near the temple, the place where the two rivers, Amaraja and Bheema meet. Both the rivers are very shallow and provide a good place for performing rituals without being afraid of drowing or getting carried away by the water!
There are many more places inside the town itself that carry unique significance by themselves, like the "Ash Hill", the "Rudra Teertha", etc.

I feel this is a great place to spend a weekend, even for those who are not religiously inclined.

PS: I modified the blog to set right some incorrect notions about the temple and other places inside the town.

Adieu to YASU

2005-06-10T12:35:00.000+05:30

Date: June 7
Time: 5:30 PM
Venue: YASU Technologies, Hyd
Amidst many YASUites, my team leader comes forth to say something about me, my contributions to YASU and the loss YASU is going to face by losing me. He then leaves the lime light to me.
I start giving my farewell speech. My tryst with YASU Technologies, the first job of my life, the place where I had stepped into the Big, Bad and Ugly world for the first time was going to come to an end. Not that I am feeling senti about it, because change is the part of life. And I am leaving YASU for something higher.

A quick update

2005-06-06T00:10:00.000+05:30

Lots of things happened in the last few days.

Firstly, I read a very good article on the topic-"The Maya of B-School Salary". The topic was discussed by a learnt XLRI faculty, in response to a mail sent to him from one of XLRI aspirants. He talks about how MBA aspirants have started judging instis based on avg salaries, how these salaries are "bloated" (this is a wrong word actually :D ) not by b-schools but by companies themselves. You can find more details of his discussion here:
http://alternativeperspective.blogspot.com/ with the post titled "The Maya of B-School Salary"

On saturday, I visited the Indian School of Business, Hyd for participating in a corporate quiz. Though Im not a quiz enthusiast per se, I attended it for fun. My team mate was better than me in quizzing (he was a finalist in one of the IITM quizzes it seems! well for the uninitiated, that IS something great, if you know the standard of the IITM quizzes). Most of the answers we managed were his brain children. In the end we just missed getting selected into the finals by 2 questions :(.
ISB sure is a very well developed b-school in terms of infrastructure. There are actually many a point in favor or ISB which can thrust a good challenge to all the IIMs.
1. infrastructure is very good
2. profs come from reputed international b-schools
3. located in hyderabad, which is a hub for a lot of industries.
obviously there are some points against it.
1. what is learnt in a two year course is way more than what is learnt in a year course (not academically but extra curricularly).
2. fees is a barrier to many aspirants.
3. students generally take GMAT for applying to foreign universities, hence would prefer not to stay back in india. IIMs are definitely a good option for those who think otherwise.

These are purely my personal opinions. I could be grossly incorrect considering my limited knowledge about ISB.

On Sunday, I visited RUNWAY9 in hyderabad along with a dozen of my other colleagues. I had a great time there. We reached RUNWAY9 at arnd 4PM. After that, we went on to play Pool, then did some shooting, archery, and some Go Carting. Well the best part for me was the "artificial trekking", where there are a lot of foot holds using which you need to reach the top, which is a good 60ft above the ground. It was the best part for me because I reached the Top! Go Carting was another fun event where I ended up setting the best lap time among all our group members. So that's it for now. Feeling sleepy....

Importance of work experience for an MBA student

2005-06-01T22:46:00.000+05:30

This afternoon, we had our product manager's presentation about the current state of affairs of the product. Needless to say, first half of the ppt was a perfect soporific for all. I had to strain my ears to listen to what he was saying, the only consolation being all that he was saying was being projected on a screen. The ppt covered various aspects of our product (which is a java based Business Rules Engine) like the current team composition, team hierarchy, extent of fulfilment of the past goals, future goals, product features comparison with the market leader, potential competitors, plan of action for the next 6 months, etc etc.

In the latter half of the presentation, our CEO took over and started explaining about stuff like the financial aspects of our product, market strategies adopted, some jargon like Business Process Management, so on. The best part was when he suddenly asked me about some thing related to the licensing structure of our product. With due disregard to my answer ;) (which was not so off the track anyway :D), this served as a wake up call to me, literally :D. Then on, I actively participated in the discussion and was actually enjoying the discussion about our product's market. Clearly, a CEO (MBA or non-MBA) needs to have a very good grasp about his product's market, financial aspects, should be able to assess the future developments correctly, should be equipped to do a real time analysis of the product's lifecycle.

No wonder they say work experience is very helpful during an MBA course. It helps one to identify with the scenarios being discussed and helps to understand the underpinned concepts thorougly.

A brief intro

2005-05-31T05:10:00.000+05:30

After trying my hands at various blog sites, I finally settled for blogspot.com. Well, the reason is simple. It is the exact same reason I would tell you if I chose any other blog site over this (which is read as NO SPECIFIC REASON!). OK OK, enough of this crap, here goes my intro.

Iam a passout from IIT Madras (www.iitm.ac.in), B Tech in Elec Engg. Right Now, Im packing my bags for IIM Lucknow(www.iiml.ac.in). Iam anticipating two years of learning, hard ships, enjoyment and freaking out in IIML. Hopefully I will be able to experience all of them and learn something valuable for the rest of my life.

Aha! Did I forget to mention that Iam working in YASU Technologies(www.yasutechnologies.com), and that Iam counting my days here. Just a week to go before I become a free bird again (only to be caged again in IIML :D). I did have a good time in YASU. Working from home (immediately after toiling for 4 hard years in a place like IITM elec engg dept) is a luxury in it's own way. Just a month to go before I bid adieu to my home sweet home (at least for the next two years surely).