It’s so odd that the New Year's Eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no change in the way the air blows and the birds fly, no change in the way we work and we learn; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.

If only we knew how to convert all days and all nights into New Year’s Eve, wherein even when we party, we do it with the enthusiasm large enough to drive any task to completion. Wherein even if we sleep we do it with the comfort and excitement of the next day. Wherein even if we are alone, there is hope for better days. And wherein even if we pinch ourselves in disbelief, we pray for that happiness to remain.

Here is wishing you a 2006 filled with New Years Eve...each and every day. May all your wishes and plans, work out just the way you wanted them to be. And may the 365 days of 2006 make you realize what an amazing thing life is.

(Inspired)

~a

am in love....

99 days left for graduation. I was just discussing with G…as to how life will be after ISB. She is mighty kicked at the prospects of leaving this place in the next 3 months…! :)

As for me…its still an undecided thought. At times I feel very attached to the place…the people…even my room. And it feels sad to think of the day when my room shall be empty…with my bags all packed up…waiting for the new occupant. And then there are times when the future excites me to no end. I want to see what life will be like…after ISB. I want to start working…and contributing…! I want to travel…and click…do so much…

And I know…very soon I shall be blogging with just a day to go. And I don’t quite know the feelings that shall be within me…

Anyways…

So…I am in love. And this time its for real. Last night I spent 4 hours with ‘her’…and the feeling is something I cant express. I love every part of her…every sound of her. I can feel her…though cant touch her…! I am seriously in love…

The new song by strings… “Yeh hai meri kahaani”…from the movie Zinda.

Breathtaking delivery…awesome composition…powerful lyrics…wonderful rendition by strings. I am so totally in love…! The song hasn’t stopped playing on my computer since yest…repeatedly…

…Yeh hai meri kahaani
Tanhai ki zubaani
Har zakhm khil raha hai
Kuch mujhse keh raha hai…

…chubte kaante yaadon ke
Daman se…chuntaa hoon
Girti deewaron ke
Aanchanl mein
Zinda hoon…

In awe…!


Term 6 ended…and it was an awesome term…in terms of the course contents and the profs. I just have 1 exam…and 2 take-homes…which should not take more than 2 days to get done with. So am targeting the next 2 days for that…following which I have to wind up my ELP…and then prepare for the exam as well. Next week shall be placement prep at full bloom…!

And oh btw…I got my 1st new year DJ assignment…! I shall be ushering in the New Year at ISB with my music…on the 31st party…! And yes…thanks for your concern…I have purchased a head gear…I shall be wearing enough clothes to protect myself from mini bombs…and as the final precautionary measure I shall carry a AK-47 for my protection…!

Sorry guys…no other choice…! :)

~a

past...and the present...

Have been pensive all day long. I think I know why…however at times I don’t think that’s the real reason. Lately a lot of stuff has been happening to keep me questioning…about reasons…effects…impact…the learnings…life!

Finance tells you…decisions can be safely taken based on NPV calculations. You have the right discount factor…and the future values…and you bring everything down to the present. This gives you the present value. If more than the current cost…you go ahead with the project.

And then you question… is the past really the past…? Does it truly have no role to play? I know of sunk cost…but how sunk is sunk…? When at each and every step your past is what brought you to your present…then how can the present and the uncertain future be so powerful to let people decide on what to do. Would you have been here if a different path had been taken…? If a different history had been scripted…? The answer is obvious…

Yet…the present always wins. And rightly so…because at some level you are always hiding the past. And your present is what people see…and judge you on…and that present…with each passing day…becomes the ‘new’ past…stronger than the original past…!

And in the end…its so amazing. Different people have seen you differently…because they were part of a different present…and thus a different past…! The same individual is not the same…anymore…!

Amazing…! And so beautiful…

~a

life...and death...

I thought life after Poseidon would be slightly easier than what it was. Not so much…! Have been flooded with assignments and what have yous, ever since. Its either placement preparation…or some case…or the agony of what’s going to happen in the future…to sheer lack of sleep (for stats knowledge…till about Tuesday my sleep count was 14 hours in the past 120 hours!!)

However…even with its share of fire fighting…poseidon was a sheer pleasure to handle. I am not quite sure whether I would want to go through the path again…it’s a tricky call. At some level you find yourself asking “at what cost”…and the very next minute you feel like abusing yourself for asking the question.

My learnings from Poseidon:

1. Never work with a tee shirt company whose name starts with an ‘e’…and ends with an ‘a’ (and has the alphabets t, a, n, t, r, a in between).
2. If you really have to work with them…definitely avoid a lady whose name starts with an ‘a’…ends with an ‘a’…(and has 4 other alphabets in between)
3. If you really have to work with her as well…DEFINITELY DON’T HAVE K in your team…otherwise he will surely blow her up…!

4. Never call a music competition…a music competition. Call it a rock show…if that’s what it is…or a soft music competition…if that’s what it is…
5. Even if you call it a music competition…check the profile of bands coming in. They might just not gel together…
6. Even if everyone turns up…please for god sake get a better sound system. You never know what happens ‘after death’…!

7. Ultimately…any fest…or for that matter any event…is not so much about what you ‘serve’ but how you serve it. Students from all b-schools left with such a wonderful feeling…I guess we managed to make them feel special.

The event pinnacled with the greek theme party. We had thrown it open to the ICFAI students as well…and much to our embarrassment they outnumbered us all through. However, the party was awesome…and A yet again did a remarkable job. I didn’t enjoy myself as much as I thought I would…maybe the physical tiredness settled in. And then something happened that shouldn’t have…which upset me…!

Overall…AWESOME EXPERIENCE…as K would put it…I have technically completed my MBA. Have learnt so so much from Poseidon…its intimidating to think back…and recognize the amount of effort and time everyone put in. hats off guys…!


Evidently…my academic front has slackened a bit. So had a lot of catching up to do…which took a lot of energy. Assignments were not forgiving…and the next 2 nights after Poseidon were spent awake….!

It was only yesterday…after so so long…that I spent some relaxing time. This weekend shall be busy though…have classes on Saturday as well…

Which brings me to the topic I wanted to write about. Anurag Gupta (our risk management prof) faced a tragedy last Saturday. His ma expired…from a cardiac arrest. Naturally his Monday class was cancelled. However, he turned up for the Wednesday class. And in a state that cant be explained in words.

He started off telling us about the tragedy…and how it was totally unexpected. And then he said something that shoke me… “till about Saturday I didn’t know how it felt to loose your mother. And even though I knew of people who had…I could never feel what they felt. But today I do…and its not easy to come to terms with it. so if you can…in any which way…please pray for me…”

I was in tears. On one hand I was feeling disgusted with myself to actually expect him to teach us. Here I was acting as a spineless capitalist…trying to maximize my returns over my investment…and here was this guy who had lost his mother for god sake…and was attempting to teach. Was attempting to speak. He was holding his tears…I could see it…I could feel it…and it was the most horrible feeling ever…

I can’t possibly start to imagine what all he might be going through. It takes a lot of courage to do what he is doing. I personally can’t imagine life without ma. I shudder at the thought that one day I will realize that I will never get to see her. For me…I wish to lose my senses before it happens…so that I can escape the pain of going through it all.

And here he is…back on his duty…3 days after the tragedy. Trying to act normal…trying to put up a brave front…!

I am sorry Prof Gupta for making you go through this. And in awe of your courage…! Thank you…


~a

PS:
1. life and death…! R became an aunt yesterday. Her sister-in-law delivered a baby boy…!
2. sorry for turning the blog into an emotional spill…!

over....

Poseidon finally over…

And I have so much to share…but not the luxury of time…!

Sometime very very soon…

~a

PS: and oh btw…if you really want to know the true me…search for the comment right after ‘educatedunemployed’ in this post (really very funny…not to mention insightful)

poseidon...

Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Assignments Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Assignments Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Assignments Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Assignments Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Assignments Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon


Life…!

~a

ISB...

Phew…!

Imagine this…

The advertising agency of Barista comes down to ISB because ISB has hired the same. They land here on Dec 9, 2005…in the evening.

Towards night…around 10pm…they are working real hard on the assignment. The brief is to make a kick-ass ad…like never before. And suddenly… “wtf…what’s this deafening noise…? Sounds like music…but what the hell is with the decibels man…!!!???”

They step out only to see that SV1 is hosting an Arabian Nights party for the alums, as part of Solstice. “Fine…its 10pm…this would probably run till like 2am or so. The deliverable is day after…! We can think about it tomorrow morning.”

The party ends at 6.30am…!!!!

Next day…same schedule. 10pm…high decibel…can’t work…deadline tomorrow…2am…party still on… “what’s up with these people…I mean…2 parties in a row…do they a concept of hangover here…?”…6am…almost coming to an end…7am…silence…!

10am…deliverable time…and the ad guys actually have an ad…!

ISB
Academics are what we indulge in…
…between parties…!

1. I haven’t danced this much in my life…trust me…I am weighing a kg lesser…!


2. No one has drunk this much in ISB before…trust me…everyone is a kg heavier…!


3. No one has danced this much ever before…trust me…everyone thinks they are a kg lighter…!

Had such a rollicking time…its not even funny. It was one of those moments when I didn’t think of acads…or Poseidon…or placements…or any such shit. Just talked to alums…and had a blast. Total blast…

Looking forward to Poseidon…!

~a

finally...!

Finally…!

Life since last Thursday...(and my last entry) has been quite amazing. Its moving at the speed of light…things are still pretty much dark at times…and there is so much of stuff happening around that even excel sheets are not working as part of an organizing strategy…!

Had gone to TAPMI for the Young Business Leader competition. Now at 25…I wont call myself exactly old…! But then once you go to other b-schools…you realize you are of the prof’s age…(well…even we have someone like that for our private equity course this term…will talk about him later)…and people kind of get intimidated that I come from a school with average 5 years of experience.

But then…its only time before they realize that this individual is not quite what you believed him to be. For one…he randomly smiles at every other person on the street…is painfully cordial…and doesn’t quite bring much to the table…!

I can surely say that the amount I learnt those 3 days at TAPMI…was much much more than I could have possible given back…no matter what my past credentials might indicate…!

The 3 days were rigorous. It surely wasn’t anything I expected, when I left. We slept for all together say 5 hours…and we were working…and I mean…seriously working…throughout this period. There were team games, individual games…games that simulated the right side…and the left side.

1. ad making


2. debate


3. negotiation


4. trading simulation


5. business plan presentation


6. obituary making


7. designing of a business game


8. interviews with the director


9. quiz


10. trekking


11. psychometric tests

we went through this all…! Made awesome friends…very very smart people…all of them true business leaders…or almost on their way.

In the end the IIM-B guy won. And he truly deserved it. Extremely smart chap…very confident…awesome inter personal skills. I gave him a special invite to Poseidon…lets hope he makes it.


Doesn’t it happen to everyone? When you come back from a vacation…you feel dreadful. Cause life…and not a very comfortable one, that is…is waiting for you. Hands on the waist…giving you that “you thought you could escape me” look…

That’s what happened. Monday was a strong reality check. Assignments, missed classed…Poseidon overload (though I have to admit that G did a breathtaking job of handling my responsibility while I was away)…and what not…

Have managed to get back to rhythm…


Solstice is happening this weekend. That’s out alumni reunion. Last night was the party…and as always A did an outstanding job of it. I see a lot of dedication in that guy…and his hecticness (similar to P’s) is somehow very catchy. He is a kid though…and its very easy for him to get swayed by his own ideas. Nevertheless…he is surely going to kick some mighty ass in the future…! I would love to work with him one day…

Anyways…so…alumni…! Quite a few of them have turned up. 176 in all. The campus is lively…and its fun to see so many people all around. This makes me look forward to Poseidon…(with the added selfish motive to get over with it asap…!!)


Term 6…! Awesome in terms of the profs…and the courses are rocking too…

Financial Engineering.
People took this with scared looks. I mean…history tells that 3 out of 4 suicides in the past 30 years have been financial engineers…! Last year’s stats told us that the work load would drive one to insanity…or…insanity…whichever comes earlier…!
Krishna (the prof) changed it all. He is god…no let me repeat that…HE IS GOD…! Absolutely outstanding…so awesome that I think I get a small orgasm every class (dude…whats up with your orgasms man…!!!). He makes the entire subject sail through as smoothly as we could never imagined. A total pleasure to be in his class.

Private Equity
Vinay (the prof) was the lyricist for Alanis’ ‘Hand in my pocket’…if you know what I mean. I had heard a lot about him from A, since he was A’s senior at IIT-M. he was an RJ for the Chennai FM…a state level cricket player…some governor’s medal recipient…and was technically the last person in the batch who could have become a prof. He is an assnt prof at Wharton…! And a smart one that is. Girls are falling over him…and he does (admittedly) have a personality that solicits the same. Oh…btw…he is a good prof too…! :)

Risk Management
Anurag is one smart guy. The course is very interesting and he makes it even more so…no exams…only 6 assignments comprising 1/6th of the grade each. Straightforward course…some bit of numbers…lot of thinking…! good stuff…

Managing in a global environment
Kevin reminds me of this typical lansing guy I would met at MSU. US village guy…very different from the usual American guy picture. He is a fun guy…and the course suits him a lot. He speaks very openly about the US…the rights and the wrongs. And engages the class in some very interesting discussions. Rather nice course…even though it falls in the ‘faff’ category…!


Life’s good…! extremely engaging…but very good…!

~a

HIC - cup

Term 6 has started…as expected. Its 3am and I have got done with my 1st assignment. The instructions on the assignment were:

1. do not spend more than 1.45 hours on this assignment


2. it should be 3-4 pages long

my side of the story was something like this…

1. I started working on it at 5pm…took a dinner break in between…for 30 mins


2. my 3rd page had just one statement… “and thus I recommend the Japanese inventory financing option”…which when translated means that after god damn 10 hours on this I figured how to write 2 pages…!

Anyways…

Have got all the 4 subjects that I wanted. 3 fin and 1 faf. All courses and the profs seem to be pretty good…atleast from their 1st class. Looking forward to a hectic and meaningful term…


Poseidon is my current crush right now…(ahem…! U know who…!)…and is taking quite a bit of my time. And its awesome fun. Managing so many events…people…their expectations…and how to get our expectations registered onto them. Its all an amazing ride.

Lots of troubles as well…but then dealing with them is the real challenge. You know its funny how people have a parochial view of everything. They think about their event…their club and their direction…while there is a complete set of people who have to look at the bigger picture. And dealing with all this is a tremendously learning experience.


Something really strange is happening to me today. it started at 11am…and hasn’t stopped till now. Bloody hiccups. And trust me…I have tried everything under the sun to stop it…

• started with drinking water (thanks to me)


• stopped my breath (thanks to me)


• lied to people (thanks RB)


• drank 8 sips of water without breathing…one at a time (thanks KS)


• closed my ears and nostrils with my 2 hands…pretty much how bully dinosaur would look when trying to scare baby dinosaurs (thanks GC…it did work…for 15 minutes)


• drank sugar and water mixture (thanks AP)


• and this is the best…asked people if they were born ulta (head first…!) and then touched their toe to my body…(and NO…IT DIDN’T WORK…thanks AG anyways…)


• slept down tired…really tired…this is worse than watching a ramsey brothers movie with all the jerks and all…!

Anyways…good nic…!

~a

isb without work...

At the risk of being stoned to death…I don’t think that there should be holidays less than 3 days at ISB. I mean…its all great when we get some 4-5 days…atleast people can go home and do something worthwhile.

But a 3 day holiday sucks…it sucks bigtime. I slept at 5am this morning…after finishing work on an assignment…got up at 9…and no…not for work. But for the guilt that how can a god damn ISBian sleep beyond 9am…! I mean…wtf…what has this year led me to…!!???

And then…I slide down on the chair…rest my feet on my table…put on some Yanni…and close my eyes. And after some 12 microseconds I feel I am wasting my time and I should be doing something worthwhile…such as designing the next big derivative structure for Goldman Sachs…!

I hate this ‘biological’ clock I have got myself into…

Anyways…the exams went by good…options and futures was a really nicely set exam. Then in the night went for dinner…had an awesome time. It is K’s and A’s birthday today…so had a mass dunking session last night. Was great fun…! :)

As a side thought…you know whats the worst part about being a blogger and a writer…? Ok…firstly…when I call myself a writer…the definition does not go much beyond… ‘an individual who knows the English alphabets and can form coherent sentences (mostly) out of them…’. And I am such a guy. I have always found myself more comfortable expressing myself in word than in speech.

But then this is a public forum…and so much is happening in my life which cannot be shared. And that’s the dilemma. Do I write a separate note to myself…jst cause I have to write down what I am feeling…! Or do I keep this blog as the ‘be-it-all’…!

I will stick with the former.

Life gets hectic from Monday…have to get a lot of things done before that…

~a

accounting...and me...

The exams went well.

Financial Reporting was as straight forward as the prof had said it would be. But then…you see…accounting and me…we are like bother and sister…of different parents…! So…I am supposed to love it…because I am for god sake a fin major…but then I cant get myself to do so.

I mean how….how tough can it be to simply make a registry in excel…this is the money that went out…and this is what came in. and I am sure it started off being that simple. But then…the accountants had to do something…to avoid being taken over by martians…! And thus came accrual accounting…and accrued accounting…and accruable accruging accounting…! What the……

So anyways…it went fine. I had to mess up a bit of it…and gladly I did…!

Fixed Income today was good. This subject makes sense…so I guess it works for me…


Apart from that…nothing much. Have a nice 3 day weekend lined up…going out tomorrow night for a dinner…then working on some papers on Friday and Saturday…have an ELP presentation this Sunday.

Looking forward…to something except acads…!

Will see u soon…

~a

worth the hype

Exams for the 5th term starting tomorrow…

As I look back at these 6 odd months…I seriously question the intelligence of my ex-employees to have hired me. I mean…I was nothing back then…I knew shit…and I was no better as well. Today when I look at myself…I see myself not only talking intelligently…but also acting so…! I know so much…I have learnt so much…and retained so much…

B-school…somewhere down the line…is worth the hype…

~a

PS: oh…u know what…isb…somewhere down the line…is worth the ‘hype’…as well…

the practical prank...and me...

At times studying is fun…

I spend the entire evening…(if 4am can be called evening…!) working on the ADCF take home test. It was such an awesome experience. The test was individual...and i was scared if i would be able to pull it off. but then i did manage quite well...i guess. its like...you reach a place wherein you think you are right...and then you start thinking. from then on its just a matter of reaffirming…or strongly going against that…!

It worked well for me.

Another interesting thing that happened last evening was my ‘boy-gang’ playing a prank on me. well…technically…the prank was played through me…on other people.

I had gone to the 4th floor of the library to fetch my laptop cable. I come back after some 5 odd minutes…and that very instant I knew that these guys were upto something. I mean…their face said it all. I tried and tried to get it out of them…but to no avail…

And I then I get a mail…and holy sweet mother of jesus…these bastardos had actually sent mails from my account…to random people…

Hi,

I was sitting and thinking about the last six months…. And I have realised that I have become close to u…..more than I have been with any1 else in my life… i hope u understand my problems and compulsions. All I can say is if I did not have commitments in my life…things would have been different between us.

Keep this to yourself.

Love
~ a

And oh my god…some people fell for it. it was nasty…and (I admit) hilarious. Naturally some people were smart enough to realize that it couldn’t have possibly been me…!

To top it all…they didn’t tell me to who all they had sent the mail. And the smart MBAs that they are…they had deleted the mail from both the ‘sent mail’ folder and the deleted items folder…! So from then on…it was more of a wait…for 2 types of mails…

• “yah right…we believe you…”


• “wtf…r u serious…? I love u too…!!” (

But it was great fun. A ‘nice’ intervention…to the routine schedule…

Looking forward to the exams…have been studying all day…and the company is great…so a lot of work is getting done…

All the best everyone for the exams…rock ‘em…!

~a

shattered...is a small word...

Didn’t make it to Masterplan

Life sucks so bad…so so bad…!

~a

Congratulations to the ISB team that made it. Really happy for them. Wish them all the best…go rock the world guys…!

blogging...and statistics...

Statistics is always fascinating…and for various reasons:

1. It is meaningful and factual. It is not like S’s statement in the Management of Organizations exam… “I am 100% sure that this is probably what it is…or atleast close to it…almost…with a definite probability…”

2. It holy shit is the best way to make the opposite person stand up and salute you. Before I came to ISB…statistics was just a subject…people identify me with it now…! Escapes me why…!

3. It is a very smart person’s way of saying… “u know what…I know nothing about you…or your company…and I don’t care as well…but…I can run something called a regression…and amaze u…and tell you that you will be a billion dollar company if the economy grows at 45%...and per capita GDP becomes a million…”…and you WILL believe me…cause I used stats…!

Anyways…so the point is…I was browsing through my blog stats…last evening…at 3.30 in the morning…and I just started playing with numbers…and realized something that I haven’t…ever…

The psychology of blogging…!

Fact 1:
The average daily hit on my blog is close to 62. Most of them spend 0:00 minutes on the blog (and I am serious…!!!) and some of them even 27 minutes…(I am sure they must be numb by the end of it)

Fact 2:
The highest hits I have seen in a single day was last Tuesday…153…! The lowest has been 37…many a times…

Fact 3:
The referrals tell me that most readers come from within ISB itself…and again most of them directed through the gods of blogging B, R and V.

And now the interesting fact (refer to the pic)

Whenever the blog receives more than 75 hits, it is because of a couple of reasons (and 3 for those keeping track!)
I wrote a new entry
Something substantial happened in my life…
Something substantial happened at ISB

Which brings me to the following questions…

1. If on an average I get 62 hits…then how does this number suddenly jump on a new entry? I mean…if person X comes to the blog and realizes that there is a new entry…he simply reads it and goes back. He doesn’t go shouting naked…”eureka eureka”…nor does he send a spam titled “hot wild girls” with www.alienwan.blogspot.com as the content…! So how does the news transmit…?

2. If something happens in my life…which ISB people know about…I get increased hits. What brings them to the blog…? Do they want to know why it happened…or maybe even what happened…? How come suddenly…so many people think that my blog is worth spending time on…(its really not…but then we will stick to one problem at a time…!)

3. Why is it that my hits increase very close to the exams? Why is it that I get maximum hits on the 1st day of the term…?


Interesting questions…I thought about them…but sadly the statistics involved me more…

I guess this is somewhere close to customer understanding or something like that…anyways…am still looking for answers…


~a

orgasms...and their cause...(and there is no way you are not going to read this now...!)

My life is currently spelt…

P – O – S – E – I – D – O – N

And am sure that K, G, A have the same spelling…!

Its crazy…and I admit…a lot of fun. Organizing fests is something I always used to look out for during my college days. I used to sulk over the fact that only the 3rd years get to organize it and act all pricey and powerful…and us juniors are only for the photocopying, calling shady sponsors and basically ass wiping…!

But then…the work is a lot…and at times I don’t envy K for being the MCC VP. It’s shit load of work…and he is doing a great job. Am not sure if I was capable of the same.

G is just like……”warikooooooooooo…what to doooooooooo……”…disappears for 3 days…reemerges…writes some mails…and then her dark circles begin to scare me…before I ask her to go off to sleep. Holy shit…she goes to E and S’s place…to god damn watch ‘desperate housewives’…!


Classes are going on good…options and futures rocks…I really like it…! Fixed income is at times taxing…financial analysis is cool…and advances corp fin is cool too. Am planning to take 3 fin courses next term…and one faf course. Will be in E’s section…so that will be rocking…would be awesome working with her…infact I am curiously waiting to work with her…


This Saturday was the 1st party of the term. Was held at SV1. and it was totally rocking…and the fact that I was there till 3am…explains much of it. I mean…3am…for a party…I wont probably stay beyond that time for even my marriage party…! S had come down to stay with G for the weekend…and all of us had gone out for dinner to Angeethi. Yet again…rocking food…super rock solid meethi lassi…!!


Waiting for the Masterplan results, to be announced tomorrow. Mannn…I cant tell you how badly we want to be there…it’s like a never before feeling. The plan has consumed all of us…we cant help but think about it…talk about it…and what not.

This reminds me…the boys had a gathering at my place this Friday. Had a rocking time…ordered pizza for dinner…watched SNATCH…and laughed our hearts out discussing people on campus…! Mind you…no bitching…!

Life is so desperately looking for happiness right now…that meethi lassis and masterplan dreams are giving me orgasms…!

Funny…!

~a

...

48 hours…

3 assignments…

All finance…

8 hours of sleep…

Listening to ‘aashiq banaya aapne’ right now…

Saw the 2005 Playboy calendar on dude’s comp…breathtaking photography…

Prayed that I get through DB…

Imagined myself at DB…

Got the ‘management of organizations’ score…screwed up big time…

Prayed that we get through masterplan

Thought about stuff I shouldn’t have been thinking...


Awake for the last 27 straight hours…


B-school!


~a


PS: www.isb.edu/poseidon (easily the best B-school fest website ever)...awesome job A...!

Breathtaking week

Yet another week into life…! And the same regret…repeating itself…
Sorry for not writing in that often…really apologize…!

The last week was a killer…and I had one of the most awesome time of my life. We (A, P, P and I) were working on our masterplan business plan. And man…was it amazing…or WAS IT AMAZING…? All of us will be extremely disappointed not to be through the next round…but then we do realize that the competition is awesomely tough…

P was the CEO of the company…formulating the strategies…and marketing plan…down to the district level.

P was the CIO…structuring the resources into an optimal plan…and working on the allocating of HR, IT and Financials across all spectrum.

A rocked as the CFO…he made probably the most comprehensive financials ever created…so much so that only 1 number fed into the excel sheet would generate the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement for 10 years…! And trust me…these are not those loose statements…they are as detailed as probably an Infosys.

I, as the COO…(ahem ahem…cough cough…aaaaaaahhhhhhh…chokeeeeee…aaaaaahhhhhh…. dead…!), was basically working with the numbers (except financials). So there was the marketing numbers, and general operational supervision! :)

All in all…it was humbling…it was learning at its best (I know 19089892 times more about microfin than I ever did…!)...it was team work at its best. Truly awesome…

Have submitted the plan…waiting for the next stage results scheduled for the 15th. Will keep you posted…

Apart from that…today we had DB come down for this batch’s first placement. Yet another awesome experience. There were the financials gods of the world…who handle some Euro 5 billion amoungst the 8 of them…and yet so humble…so awe-inspiring…! My interviews went well…let’s see what happens.


Am a very satisfied person today…! thanks god…

~a

And and and…happy birthday to banno. May she get everything she ever wished for…and much more…

Diwali every day

If life is dark and shady…and the path ahead is not clear
If the direction you choose is governed by the fear of fear

If the grades are brining you down, when you want to rise
And the god damn marketing courses have come across as a big surprise…

Bask in the Tuesday holiday…don’t fear…don’t loose hope…don’t pray…
Let there be Diwali every day…


To everyone seeking light…
Wishing you a very very Happy Diwali and best wishes for the time to come. God Bless!

i want it that way...

Some good news after a long time. We have made it to the top 24 teams (all over the world!!!) in the IIM-A business plan competition. By November 5th, the main B-plan needs to be submitted follwing which the top 6 teams shall be invited to ahmedabad to present their case. Of these 6, the top 3 will then get a week long visit to Mumbai, wherein they shall be meeting with top industrial houses etc etc (basically get a feel of Mumbai from a business point of view) and then spend a day with Mukesh Ambani discussing the plan, after which he shall name the top team.

Sounds pretty exciting…? It’s the same for us too…!

However, to be true to myself…my role in this shortlist is probably running into negative. I didn’t work at all from delhi…and whatever was presented was primarily the work of the remaining trio. I do hope I am able to contribute at a much higher level from now on…saala free rider…!

Thankfully life after Sunday has chilled down a bit. The fixed income class is turning out to be super amazing…really awesome prof and the manner he deals with the subject is quite impressive. Makes us wonder why the hell we even took the options/futures class. That is one hell of a ‘bullet train with missing magnets’ class…if you know what I mean…!

What else…? Oh yah…this Sunday when I was at my ‘stressed out best’…I realized why I was so. Because I hadn’t listened to god damn music for generations…! I remember when the US used to take a toll on me…I used to simply switch off the lights and listen to cheap ass britney spears and backstreet boys (and occasionally yanni and pearl jam..!). I don’t know how it works…but it just does…

I mean for god sake…hear this out…

“you are…my fire…my one…desireeee…believe when I say…I want it that way…”

Who is his right frame of mind would get mentally counseled by such stuff…! I mean who…!! But it works for me…maybe I am ashamed of it…but it works…and I don’t care beyond that…! its funny…!

Anyone seen the new hutch chota recharge ads…I love them…that guy is too cool…!

Anyways…I shall get back to my music and life…see you soon…

~a

life is finance like...!!!

Life has been moving at 100mph lately…and its not even funny at times. With 4 fin courses…the world seems to be one hell of a ride…assignments enough to create 4 PhD reports…and classes enough to put Einstein to sleep…!

And to think that this might be my bread and butter for the next 30 years…woopsieee…!!!!

Saturday was an easy day though…we had a talk by Sanjay Bhattacharya (acclaimed painter) and Shekher kapur (yes…the film maker!). Both of them outstanding personalities in their own right. However I shall have to admit that Sanjay swept me off my feet…with his art…his humility and most of all his straightforwardness towards life.

When asked time and again as to what is his inspiration…he got irritated and went, “arre…kuch nahi hai yaar yeh inspiration vinspiration…!!!”…! to us it might be a flippant remark…for him it might be his truth…who knows.

Shekher kapur was stoned…! I mean literally…! He started with describing his place in the matrix of the universe and went on to explain…or confuse, whichever way…as to how we are mere mediums for decision in this universe to be executed. So when I say that I choose not to drink…is it really a decision that I am making…or is it that the decision has already been made and I am merely re-emphasizing…! And if this reminds you of the matrix trilogy…join the wagon…!

Then we had dandiya night on Saturday. It was awesome fun. Everyone was looking stunning in their traditional outfits. Needless to say the girls too. E was rocking in a saree…or maybe since it was the first time I had really seen her in the outfit. I clicked to my heart’s content…yet…the conversations were funny…

“dude…how many have you clicked…”
“ummm…close to 50 or so…”
“what…50…? I am on my 200th or so…! Dude…what’s up…????”
“dude…I am on a film camera…it will god damn cost me 500 bucks to see my results…!! Now u know what’s up…!!” – that was me…! :)

The organization was pretty amazing…and even though the singers reminded me of Bappi Lahiri singing…”yaaaaaaaddddddd aa raha hai…tera pyaar……”…overall the experience was terrific. Professional quality

Sunday was not expected at all. Here is what happened…

8.00am: got up…daily brushing…shitting…emails…etc…
9.00am: breakfast meeting
10.00am: start with fixed income assignment
11.00am: fixed income assignment
12.00: fixed income assignment
1.00pm: fixed income assignment
2.00pm: fixed income assignment
2.30pm: lunch break
2.45pm: fixed income assignment
..
..
7.30pm: corp fin assignment
..
..
9.30pm: corp fin assignment
9.45pm: dinner
10.00pm: corp fin assignment
..
..

And just so you know…no…I wasn’t paid to do all this…! It was the longest…most tiring…and the most challenging day of my ISB stay here…phew…

The week started ok…classes going on…ELP going good…loads of work regarding Poseidon and Placom…and thankfully I am doing juts good…(though A, K and G will disagree…but what the heck…!)

Life’s good…life’s finance like…! (I have no idea what this means)

:)

~a

Term 5...and life...

I hate myself for being this irregular blogger…trying to convince my own self that its because of lack of time. While all these years I have harping on the fact that time is always a matter of decision. If you want…you shall always have time…

I am guessing people wont be interested in the above gibberish. So I shall move on…

The past 15 odd days have been awesome. And intimidating lately. The break was supercool. Delhi, as always, was a pleasure to live through. Went for movies, dinners, dandiya and a road trip as well (which was planned 15 mins before we stepped into the car…!). amazing fun…coupled with the usual feeling of ‘damn…I don’t want to go back…!’

Coming back has been quite an experience as well. I have taken up all 4 Fin courses and believe me…the feeling is at times of ‘so…who do you think you are…superman…!”. So much so that to display the same I was wearing a superman tee day before…much to people’s amusement…!

But then…the courses are pretty good.

Advanced Corp Fin is something that I didn’t want to miss taking. However, the professor’s reputation precedes him. the 1st class was some kind of a trailer of what is to follow…however I have a feeling that it wont be as bad as it has been projected.

Fixed Income was good…and easy in the 1st class…though it could be simply because of the fact that most of it was a repetition from last term’s course. The prof reminds me of Rob Stein (Term 1)…and seems to be pretty cool. Is a prof at the Institute of Management at Tel Aviv…!

Financial Reporting and Analysis is something I am dreading…given my experience with accounting. I don’t know why…the balance sheet hasn’t really registered inside…and same with the income statement. Maybe I am trying hard enough…

Options and Futures by the Dean. The course was never meant to be ‘oh u know what…this is an option…which sells for Rs 10. So if you buy one…how much do you have to pay…?’ course. It will surely be one hell of an analytics driven course…and I guess the 1st class psyched people out. Lets see how it uncovers as time goes along.


Loads of things to look forward to this weekend. We have a talk by Shekher Kapur and Mohammad Khan (Ad Guru) Saturday afternoon followed by Dandiya Night organized by the Spouses Association. Our group also has the ELP client meeting this Friday. We have come up with some really fundoo recommendations…however they are quite drastic in nature. So lets hope the reception is good.

Apart from that…placements have started to take a serious turn. Preparing the CV…working on this and that…and what not…and with Deustche Bank coming for recruitment…(yes…I am planning to apply)…it makes the entire deal all the more rigorous.


I just realized…this is the most serious entry ever…! Damn I have killed myself…! (

~a

of exams...and their effects...

6 months have passed by…and time presents itself as “oh my god…6 months…it was just yesterday” and also as the occasional… “I feel my mom left me here as soon as I was born…!”

And the culmination of the core courses was the exams.

Management of Organizations

Question 1: People like you if you like them…! True/false (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Question 2: Analyze the situation through the 4 lenses

Me: “what lenses are these…? Damn…!”
Me: “ok…cool…chill…I shall wait till my neighbour starts writing. I shall gather the 4 lenses from him and then plug in my thoughts…!”
15 fifteen later…
Me: “why the hell isn’t he writing…he seems to be done with everything else…”
5 more minutes…
Me: “DUDE…HE IS WAITING FOR ME TO WRITE THE SAME ANSWER…DUHHHHHHH…!”


Strategic Analysis of Information Technology

Tick whichever is applicable:

Question 1:
India will benefit from Outsourcing IT only if it develops:

1. Price arbitrage


2. Quality arbitrage


3. Efficiency


4. Effectiveness


5. Option a, b, c


6. Options b, c


7. Options c, a


8. Options a, b, c from the previous question


9. Options b, c, from question 23


10. Options a, b, c incase you didn’t read option e


11. None of the above

Question 2:
Remember the day we had that IT seminar? Yah yah…the last day of the class. Ok…right at the time when you decided to take a power nap…ummmm…it was 4:37 pm…I guess 47 seconds down…some dude by the name of Narsimha rao made a statement. What was the last word of the statement…?

1. Thanks


2. Bye


3. You


4. Infosys

Investment Analysis

Question 1:
Bacho…yeh hai humhaari daaton ki banaawat. Now calculate the present value of your teeth upto the 32nd decimal point…and then find out why you should go long on a call option for the same. If you don’t have any clue of the above, then leave the room…cause the next 9 questions are of similar nature…!


Government, Society and Business

Question 1:
Population of India is

1. 1.01 billion


2. 1.011 billion


3. 1.012 billion


4. 1.013 billion

Question 2:
Human Development is all about:

1. Quality of life


2. Security of life


3. ACs in your rooms


4. 24 hours café at SV1


5. HDI


6. PQI


7. CGI


8. PMS


9. HIV


10. AIDS


11. BCG


12. ATK

PS: there is one and only one correct answer

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

It was surely a great ride these 2 days. Studied like a dog and realized that it just wasn’t your day…! But then…its over…and that’s good. Am looking forward to the coming week…relaxing at home…chilling out with R…and just having a great lazy time…!

Have loads of word to do as well. Innovation challenge, ELP and then resume building etc…! So won’t be entirely vain all this while…

For the 1st day today…I am spending a day just by myself…with nothing to do. And it’s such an awesome feeling. However, the course packs for the next term tell me that I shouldn’t get used to such days…!

Chalo…dekh lenge term 5 ko bhi…!

Will be off for a week…have a great time everyone…!

~a

fascinating...!

this is one of the best pictures i have ever come across. i could give away my left arm if i get to click this....its absolutely breathtaking...(and surely not as easy to click as it seems...)

enjoy...

~a

SAIT and faff...!

Course: Strategic Implementation of Information Technology
Presentation: Introduction – Session 1
Slide: 53

“Firms create competitive advantage by assembling, integrating and deploying tangible and intangible resources to create organizational capabilities and competencies”

What is it…buzzword competition…? And then they expect us to give ‘insightful’ comments…!

What the…?

~a

So much to learn...

The last few days have been busy with a lot of things…and marked with a lot of learning.

U, S and I got shortlisted for the research paper that we were working for. We had to go down to Mumbai for the competition, which was being held at the Taj lands End. Awesome hotel with the most breathtaking view of Mumbai. The event was wonderfully organized as well…and we had one of India’s top brains presenting their content. We did manage to do good for ourselves in the end…and it was a pretty amazing experience.

Wonderfully, had a chance to meet R as well. she too had come down for a business conference and was flying down to Delhi Friday evening. So hung out at the airport itself…was heaven meeting her after so long.

Met A as well…and had a beautiful time. Dressed in business suit…doing the rounds of the Ghatkopar café coffee day…she went… “The girls of ghatkopar wont let me live now…!!!”

In Mumbai…E kept me abreast with the music competition that was being held back at ISB between the sections. G won’t the best vocals…which was awesome news. Sadly section C didn’t win the best team award…and given that I had attended the practice the last night…it did come as a surprise to me.

Anyhow…came back to Hyd Saturday afternoon…and had a chance to see the video of the competition. It was…humbling…! All the performers were brilliant. I didn’t know that R was such an awesome mridang player. His performance left me with tears…I mean literally. Here is this dude…one of the ‘purest’ guys on campus…and it took one fine evening to discover that he holds so much within him. God has given him the most spectacular medium of expressing himself…and I am just lucky to have been a witness. Hats off dude…

G was brilliant too…evidently so, since she managed the top award. Her rendition of ‘My Immortal’ did complete justice to the song…and to my likeliness for the same. However, the surprise of the night was E. She was gorgeous on stage…I didn’t even have the slightest inkling that she was that close to being a singer. I guess her eccentricity shades a lot of things that she is capable of…keep it up lady…!

Today…we had the last of our section days. I cant even begin to express the beauty of my time with section C. have got so much of love from them…so much of respect…more than I ever deserved. And I have got to learn so much from them too. Each one of whom I interacted with…left me with a respect for them. Everyone is such an achiever in their own right…I just feel oh so lucky to be part of this group. And I shall surely miss the comfort of their company.

There is so much to learn in this world…I wonder if I have even started…!

I am gonna miss a lot of my 6 months…

life...at ISB...

Life at ISB took a different turn for a lot of people today. We just completed with our bidding system for the electives. With 4000 points in everyone’s kitty…to be distributed over the 4 terms…people displayed fabulous levels of game theory concepts. Here are a few of them:

• If you bid at 800 for a course and it clears at 400, you get 400 back. Hence, some dudes came up with the grand idea that if they bid 1000 a piece for 4 subjects, they will surely get all of them. And then will get points redeemed based on the clearing price. What they fail to understand is that everyone is thinking the same way…!

• No no…is their argument. Even if everyone thinks the same way…everyone gets screwed. Right?...wrong…! with 200 people expressing an interest in marketing and only 120 landing with a course of their choice (at the high bids) there will be 80 odd people who shall have the points to play the same game in the next term. And then the original set will get screwed…!

Anyways…after a day of horrible rumor management, collusions of the highest order…and ‘underpromisin – overdelivering’…the results came out this evening. Some disappointments…a sense of relief primarily.



The term is coming to an end…and so are the core courses. From now on begins a revision path…building on the concepts of these 6 months. With an all FIN portfolio…I shall be against the top brains of the batch. And its not going to be easy. Lets see how it goes…

Life…at ISB…has a lot to learn from…!

~a

my world...your eyes...

after much deliberation i decided to showcase one of the best works that has come out from the camera.

needless to say the photographer's talent in this case is negligible. its the subject that makes the entire art come out prettier than it ever was. she is R... and this is my world...your eyes...

~a

fun weekend...rocking week...

Phew…! Long weekend…great time…loads of word got done…and loads got added…!

Friday was the midterm of Management of Organizations. I regret not having taken my calculator along with me…the numericals were mindblowing. We had to calculate NPVs of decisions…how the option value of mistakes change from profile to profile and how exactly does the Carnegie model help the financials of company. And if that wasn’t enough, there were some 15 questions to be answered in 75 minutes…

Yah right…!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday went totally in Druid Duels II. The marketing club debate. There were 2 topics…India as a brand and what it represents, who are its customers, competitors etc…and what makes Ekta Kapoor and her serials tick? M and I thought about it a lot…researched the net…read text and text…and then finally chose the topic that we feel represents the true essence of every India…something that’s close to everyone’s heart and is currently the most raving topic of discussion. Ekta Kapoor and her serials…!!!!!

Not to mention that 9 out of the 13 teams that made it to the finals also though that ekta Kapoor was worth spending 4 hours of their lives.

We stood 2nd…! Lucky day…M was really impressive…

Saturday night was rocking though. So I sit down at 12 midnight to watch a movie…but before that I put my clothes for a wash. The movies ends at 2.30 and I go to pick up the clothes…anticipating the sweet Tide smell to fill my living room. What I find to my horror is that the machine wasn’t working…it hadn’t bloody moved an inch since I had left it there 2.5 hrs back…! And then the front door of the machine wont open. It just wont. I started calculating the loss…for god sake the jeans itself is worth some 25 bucks…(after depreciation…!)

And so I call the maintenance guys…they come after 20 odd minutes…force open the door…I sigh in relief…then put the clothes in another machine…and then wait for another 1.5 hrs before that damn machine churns out fresh clothes.

I sleep at 5.30 after a battle well fought…!

Got up at 11.40am…yes…that’s exactly 20 mins before the time people call afternoon…!

Met with some people..sat down to study…met with some more…study…dinner…chatting…movie…sleep…Monday morning…!

And this afternoon we get the awesome news. The research paper that U, S and I were working on has got through the top 3 ranks…and we are to attend the inauguration of the Brand India Summit on September 30th in Mumbai for the awards…! Wasssaapppp….!!! :)

I am really happy…these guys worked their bum off for this…and I am just glad that my incidental presence fetched me the shared recognition…

And best of all…R has a conference in Mumbai till the Friday…SO I AM GONNA MEET HER…how cool is that…!

Rocking week…looking ahead…

~a

Meetings...meetings...

I haven’t had so many meeting in my entire career (spanning an illustrious 2 years…!!) as I have in the past one week. Its like Brownian motion dude…from one point to another…with no interior sense of direction. Crazy…!

But fun…!

Working some bit on Poseidon. It is going on good…though the progress is slightly a cause of concern. However I am sure that given the competent team handling it…things will be on track pretty much soon.

Then, I am conducting a quiz tomorrow…the teasers for which have been running for the past 4 days. I managed to get some good responses from people regarding the same…just hope that the turnout is complementary.

And last of all…the classes…phewwwww…it is crazy…! The MO gentleman is in my ‘point of view’ one of ‘that kind of part’ professors whose sole purpose is to make an interesting subject die a natural death… ‘therefore’ eliminating all ‘point of views’ in that ‘kind of part’…! And if you didn’t make any sense of what was that…JOIN IN…!!!

The IA prof is still on his bullet train with hindi subtitles…! And as the course deepens in mystery, its not hard to see why the ride ahead will not be smooth…

Mudit bid us adieu…and it was a class very well taught. Genuinely. He is a fun guy…and nowhere did it come across that we were his first MBA batch. Pretty impressive.

Banker saab…(IT) is one hell of a proponent of the outsourcing model. Well…he has done that effectively for his course. And the worst part is that people get points for absolutely random CP. Eat this…

Student X: “mobile industry has a lock-in, since I cant use a T-mobile phone for a sprint connection. It is locked…”
CP points awarded…and that’s fine
Student Y: “thts not true…the cellphones can be unlocked nowadays”
CP points awarded…!
Student Z: “there is a place in delhi where I can get the phone unlocked”
CP points awarded…what the…???

But then…the great CP is not hidden as well…and I am just glad about that…!

There are a lot of attractive competitions that are coming up…looking forward to participate in them…some awesome exposure…and not to mention shit-loads of moolah…!

Should be a fun weekend…

Bain turned pain

So…a senior partner from Bain Singapore and a Manager at Bain India (BCC, Delhi) had come over to explore the possibility of recruiting from ISB this year. I believe we are up against IIM C, which makes the ‘battle’ tougher and challenging. And I guess at some level even if we loose, it will be a well-accepted ‘defeat’.

However…this isn’t what was best about the visit. The 2 gentlemen sat through our classes and apparently both the profs and the students did a remarkable job. So Section A and B…thanks a lot dudes…! In the evening they wanted to have a small gathering of 30 off people…whom they could address and then interact with. Now…the statistics is easy…349 students…30 to select. We could have had elections…but there wasn’t time…we could have selected 30 based on the way they dress but then the idea was squashed. So ultimately the class reps were requested to send in the names of 8 odd people…whom they felt could do a good job of impressing the Bain guys.

Needless to say…Bain turned into a pain…with students criticizing the methodology used…etc etc…! Personally…it is hard to judge whether they are right in acting so. However, I do know that the 30 chosen are in no way better than anyone else on campus. And definitely nowhere near indicating that they will ultimately see through Bain in the placements. So if you look at it…30 had to be chosen…and 30 is a slightly smaller number than 349…so people would have been left out…one way or the other. It is unfortunate that people had to be left out…and I am sure it was not an easy choice for whosoever making it.

Anyways…

Life has been hectic like anything this week…assignments flooding us left right and center…with a few new ones coming in from the top as well. Have been fighting the same with diligence so far…hopefully will be able to sustain the same.

Got the corporate finance end term…did horribly bad…can’t believe myself…! So here is the deal…marketing bad…finance bad…IT will be bad…what the hell do I major in…? I wish they had home science…(G…heheheh!)

Loads to look out for this weekend. Section C has its last party together…! Am hosting a quiz this Saturday…then assignments as usual…onam celebrations…so pretty packed…and should be exciting…!

Life’s good…

~a

at this precise moment...

there are things that i hate about myself (and not surprisingly...such moments generally happen every 86,400th second...and last for 86,400 seconds...!)

• there are 3 mails in my inbox to which i havent replied to...and i was supposed to do so 3 days back
• there is still chapter 8 of Investments that i havent read...when i was supposed to...6 hours back
• there are still clothes lying in my room (with enough bacteria to make the clothes walk...!) waiting to be washed
• there is still the GSB article to be read for tomorrow
• there is still the retro party night that i didnt mention so far in my blog...and whose pics i havent posted
• i still feel the need to blog and not attend to the above

but then...life is all about 24hrs...right...and i guess i am managing well.

the last 3 days have been hectic...non-academically. friday nigth started with the competitive strategy paper viewing (an exam that i gave in my past life when i used to work as a goldsmith in birmingham!). did bad when i look around...but then cant help it.

then the retro night party took place...which rocked like nobody's business. A - thanks dude for the wonderful organization. you deserve all the accolades coming your way...i know how much you put into each event that you organize. keep it up.

the party had people looking at their craziest best (and some people acting at their craziest best...for information sake...we have a 'tina turner' on campus...!). V rocked...and M was looking truly retro. even N was good...and so were so many others.

saturday started early morning with a case competition. it was on the channel V and MTV rivalry in india...and designing strategies for both. went well...we expected the 1st position...got the 3rd one...and missed the 4th by one point...! so much so for over confidence...

today was good fun...attended an outstanding talk by Mr. T. N. Seshan...one hell of a gentleman. truly brilliant...in thought and in action. then studied for a bit...had an interesting conversation with G...went to the Bullfight (inter section debate - conducted amazing well by S and S) and now back to studies.

its technically the time when i should switch off and say bye bye...so...you are free to wander off to another webpae..cause what follows is most probably not of any concern to you...

S: always know who you are...and always respect for that. do not let anyone take away the pride that you should feel in being you...

E: no matter who you are...where you are...what you do...there will always be people who will like you. and you should derive your strength from them...and remember...you look really pretty when you smile..! :)

R: i just love you...the way i have loved no one else.......ever....!

~a