Pavithra had never liked going to Kaikurissi. Her parents were from this place and although they had settled in Chennai, the invariable once-in-a-year vacation trip when the school closes down was the most excruciating time for her. She would, unlike other girls her age, wait for the vacation to get over so that she could escape from the orthodoxy of her parents village to the modernity of the Chennai city. She was never able to understand that this trip was one of the very few rejuvenating factors for her parents, to meet with their elders and recreate a sense of belonging to a big family, which they never get to do in their busy and rushed life in the metro. Her sister was just the opposite. She got to study her matriculation in the town nearest to kaikurissi and got to stay with their grandparents and would always want to go back to the village, whenever she visited Chennai. They were sisters separated by a couple of years, but their values had stark difference.
Years went past and now Pavithra was working in an MNC in the US and her parents were retired. The Kaikurissi trips had ceased when her father got retired and when Pavithra started earning. Each year in April, for Vishu, Pavithra’s mom would bring up the matter of a trip home, after gauging that Pavithra’s mood was at its best. Her father would not say anything; he would just wait in anticipation for a positive response from her side, with a melancholic gleam in his eye. She would dismiss the idea even before her mom could complete the sentence and would rudely get up and leave the table. This went on for 6 years, until a year, the trip had to be made and she didn’t have a choice.
She could not believe the childishness with which her parents went about preparing for the trip and kept telling them that they would return in 2 days, hearing which their enthusiasm would wane, but not for long.
And then the day came and they were in the flight and Pavithra prepared herself mentally to go back to the place she once used to hate.
The green fields before the house, through which they had to walk, the arched entrance to the house, the garden on both sides with the mango trees and the chrysanthemum flowers, the large pond in the backyard, the old motorcycle of her uncle, the sights rushed back memories which she had tried to stifle in her last 6 years.
Then it happened.
Her grandmother came out and called out to her dad and mom and they just stood there. With tears in their eyes, with happiness, unable to move. She saw the tear falling and she sensed that moment and felt it to be an eternity. Her sister coming out of the house and embracing dad and mom. It was as if they didn’t even recognize her presence. Then she realized how strong her hatred of the place had been and how the others had loved the place. She realized that home is not where you can revel in the modernities of life, but it is where your loved ones are. She realized that its not the material comforts, but the simplicities of life which makes a difference.
And on that day, Pavithra came home for ever.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
mallu and the mush
"You dont look like a mallu"
I really dont understand when people give me this line. I am often tempted to ask "So how do mallus look like?" and often end up asking this question to a lot of people too. But they immediately go on defensive and some of them think that I was offended by the statement.
It's not really that. Just how is a mallu supposed to look like?Are we supposed to sport a moustache and wear a "Lungi" and sport a gold chain and talk with an accent?
Now,just to clarify things, I am told about my non-mallu looks during the times when I have shaved off my mush. I never ceases to amaze me how removal of facial hair transforms me from having a hard-core mallu look to having a non-mallu look. This is probably the best example of stereotyping. That all mallu's should have a mush.
But then you cannot really blame them too. The typical image of a mallu, which is portrayed through the medium of movies shows all the popular actors in kerala sporting a thick moustache. I can confidently make the statement that no actor has succeeded in the malayalam movie industry by sporting a clean-shaven chocolate hero looks.
So probably it IS the mush! Rite?
This is probably the most cliched of my posts. Blame it on the pressures of assignments at ISB!
I really dont understand when people give me this line. I am often tempted to ask "So how do mallus look like?" and often end up asking this question to a lot of people too. But they immediately go on defensive and some of them think that I was offended by the statement.
It's not really that. Just how is a mallu supposed to look like?Are we supposed to sport a moustache and wear a "Lungi" and sport a gold chain and talk with an accent?
Now,just to clarify things, I am told about my non-mallu looks during the times when I have shaved off my mush. I never ceases to amaze me how removal of facial hair transforms me from having a hard-core mallu look to having a non-mallu look. This is probably the best example of stereotyping. That all mallu's should have a mush.
But then you cannot really blame them too. The typical image of a mallu, which is portrayed through the medium of movies shows all the popular actors in kerala sporting a thick moustache. I can confidently make the statement that no actor has succeeded in the malayalam movie industry by sporting a clean-shaven chocolate hero looks.
So probably it IS the mush! Rite?
This is probably the most cliched of my posts. Blame it on the pressures of assignments at ISB!
Monday, May 21, 2007
deal ya no deal!
I guess the fact that we are going to become a management grad (with or without good grades) has started to dawn on the class of 2008 at ISB. In situations of normal life, we have started to identify with the concepts that we are being taught in the first term.
Pre-MBA: If your housing colony had only one eat-out place and if the guy charged abnormally high rates and gave you insipid food, you would crib about how mean he is and how he is taking advantage of us.
Now, after the first term, we talk of this as monopolistic behavior.
Pre-MBA: You spot your fav pair of jeans in that color that you always wanted, but find out that the price is more than your “budget”, but still dish out the money and get it and feel satisfied.
Now we know that the company managed to get the entire consumer surplus out of us!
Pre-MBA: You see an ad where you get an ipod free with a high end digital camera and say “wow, that’s a nice deal”
Well guess what, now we think of it as bundling and how the company would NOT want us to buy the products separately.
So you see, we have started thinking in terms of the concepts that we learn here and what more can be an indicative factor of the point that we have left the baggage of our previous career behind and have started to cross over to being a management grad.
Yeah, it is still a long way off, but surely the journey has really taken off!!
Pre-MBA: If your housing colony had only one eat-out place and if the guy charged abnormally high rates and gave you insipid food, you would crib about how mean he is and how he is taking advantage of us.
Now, after the first term, we talk of this as monopolistic behavior.
Pre-MBA: You spot your fav pair of jeans in that color that you always wanted, but find out that the price is more than your “budget”, but still dish out the money and get it and feel satisfied.
Now we know that the company managed to get the entire consumer surplus out of us!
Pre-MBA: You see an ad where you get an ipod free with a high end digital camera and say “wow, that’s a nice deal”
Well guess what, now we think of it as bundling and how the company would NOT want us to buy the products separately.
So you see, we have started thinking in terms of the concepts that we learn here and what more can be an indicative factor of the point that we have left the baggage of our previous career behind and have started to cross over to being a management grad.
Yeah, it is still a long way off, but surely the journey has really taken off!!
Friday, May 18, 2007
REC to ISB
To compare an engineering college to a management institute is probably blasphemous, but that’s what I ended up doing on the day my first mid terms at ISB got over. Now that I have made it clear which management institute I am talking about, I might also put forth the engineering college I am talking about – REC Calicut. It has been 6 years since I graduated from this institution.
I am not insane to compare these institutions in terms of their infrastructure etc, but purely in terms of what I liked about each of them.
To see how they fare in their respective fields, you can go to the end of this post!
What I miss about REC
1) The MC – mini canteen for the uninitiated. This is the place which will be full at 2 am in the morning, with folks pouring in to buy “chotta pepsi”, “Chikki”,”Double attached”, “Kattan” (Black tea/coffee) and noodles. MC will be packed particularly during the exam season. Studying through the night, one of those hungry folks will come out and get everyone out of their rooms and then the group starts for MC.
I wish ISB had something like that.
2) Kattangal – this is another eating joint that was about 5 minutes walk from the men’s hostel. This place has a large number of small eating joints where the staple menu is a combination of noodles and one of the multi combination shakes. It started off with “Sharjah Shake” (a glorified name for banana milk shake) and apple shake. By the time we were in the final year, the shop keepers had become bolder and was trying out combinations like “Sharjah badam shake” and “Apple Date shake” !!! and these places used to be full at 12 0 clock in the night.
3) IF MC and Kattangal were the night time food joints, then mamachan and papachan were the noon time. A hearty meal of porotta and chicken at mamachans will fill your stomach and also not hurt your purse! If mamachan was the fav of non-veggies, then pappachan was for the veggies. This place was unique because they follow a “eat what we give” policy. So you go there, wash your hands and sit on the wooden bench. The guy will come and start serving the course of rice meal and the curries, what they have prepared for the day. They will also come for a second round and the meal ends with a sumptuous serving of pure home made curd. Mouth watering!
4) The Rajpath – this was the pathway leading to the main building of REC, with a separator in between, having those cute little pink and yellow flowers! I don’t know what was so special about Rajpath, but ask any CREC-ian and he will say that Rajpath was good!
5) The canteen and the fish biriyani! – need I say more?
6) The thanni parties in final year – these are not grand scale parties as they happen here at ISB and the booze does not flow! It rather trickles, more so because we had not started earning you see! The adventurous trips to Mukkam in the night to buy beer and then getting back to the room, lights off, metallica playing, gulping beer and getting ready to play Half-Life and NFS-111. that was final year and it was Awesome, with a capital A!!!
7) The scrabble sessions – man I used to love it! There was this time when we were mad about scrabbles and used to have these team names and would actually hunt around for the shortest word which had a “Z” in it. All the bitching about profs and exams used to happen around the scrabble board. Fights too!
8) The Jeep shows – this happens once in a while where a group of people rent a jeep and go for the night show in the city (REC too, like ISB is situated around 20 kms from the city, the only difference being that it was well connected). The jeep shows reach a peak during the placement seasons, as more and more people get placed, the trips will be made to “Calicut Taj” or “Malabar towers” for the treat.
It is really intriguing to compare the demographics of the student population in Both the places.
In REC, you had three categories of people – the guys who don’t study at all, the guys who study a little and enjoy a lot and the third group, who only study. The first group will be around 20 percent, the second 70 percent and the third, a measly 10 percent. Of course, all of these are relative!
In ISB, you again have three categories – the guys who study a lot and party a lot too, the guys who only study and the guys who study a little and party a lot. The first group constituting around 65 percent, the second group around 30 percent and the last with an abominable 5 percent.
So you see, things are almost the same only for the middle group. The other two groups are at the extreme.
But again, people don’t throw away lucrative jobs and precious time with their families and also pay an exhorbitant fee to come to ISB and Not study. And the course model at ISB does not render itself suitable for people who don’t want to study too. A class missed is an experice missed, because the professors are damn good. You have to listen to each and every word that comes out of the prof’s mouth. It really amazes me how I can sit through a lecture of 2 hours and not wander off into dreamland in between. I cant remember sitting with full attention for any of the lectures in REC, maybe except for the maths class which I used to enjoy.
And CP in REC is something I cant conjure in my wildest of dreams. Forget CP, I don’t even remember anyone asking doubts in any class. (CP, for those who are thinking what it is – class participation. This is a part of the grading for the marketing class in the first term and the students just LOVE the fact that this counts towards the grade!)
Although REC Calicut is one of the best engineering colleges in India, when I look back at the 4 years, I believe that the way of teaching over there was probably not the best. This is in no way an allusion to the kind of faculty there, but the fact that even an institute of such caliber could not keep the students from not learning by rote. I still remember me and my friends going through fluid mechanics and trying to remember the whole thing up till the exam, spit it out in the exam and then blissfully forget about it. The only interesting thing that I did, with a lot of analysis and study gone into it, was my seminar on chaos theory.
Again, this is not a generalization and there have been people who have actually worked on difficult topics like robotics and have gone to prestigious universities on the basis of that (this is not an REC for nothing!)
But the fact still remains that students are not incentivised to learn through application and not given the motivation to understand the topic, but to actually just cram for the exams. Maybe the age at which they come into an engineering college and the fact that being a residential college, this is the first taste of freedom for most of them, the current system is probably the best. Make them fear the grades and get them to study by hook or crook.
Maybe this is the way in which the IIT’s score over the REC’s. I need to ask an IIT-ian!!
REC Calicut ranked 14th best engineering college in India – Go here
I am not insane to compare these institutions in terms of their infrastructure etc, but purely in terms of what I liked about each of them.
To see how they fare in their respective fields, you can go to the end of this post!
What I miss about REC
1) The MC – mini canteen for the uninitiated. This is the place which will be full at 2 am in the morning, with folks pouring in to buy “chotta pepsi”, “Chikki”,”Double attached”, “Kattan” (Black tea/coffee) and noodles. MC will be packed particularly during the exam season. Studying through the night, one of those hungry folks will come out and get everyone out of their rooms and then the group starts for MC.
I wish ISB had something like that.
2) Kattangal – this is another eating joint that was about 5 minutes walk from the men’s hostel. This place has a large number of small eating joints where the staple menu is a combination of noodles and one of the multi combination shakes. It started off with “Sharjah Shake” (a glorified name for banana milk shake) and apple shake. By the time we were in the final year, the shop keepers had become bolder and was trying out combinations like “Sharjah badam shake” and “Apple Date shake” !!! and these places used to be full at 12 0 clock in the night.
3) IF MC and Kattangal were the night time food joints, then mamachan and papachan were the noon time. A hearty meal of porotta and chicken at mamachans will fill your stomach and also not hurt your purse! If mamachan was the fav of non-veggies, then pappachan was for the veggies. This place was unique because they follow a “eat what we give” policy. So you go there, wash your hands and sit on the wooden bench. The guy will come and start serving the course of rice meal and the curries, what they have prepared for the day. They will also come for a second round and the meal ends with a sumptuous serving of pure home made curd. Mouth watering!
4) The Rajpath – this was the pathway leading to the main building of REC, with a separator in between, having those cute little pink and yellow flowers! I don’t know what was so special about Rajpath, but ask any CREC-ian and he will say that Rajpath was good!
5) The canteen and the fish biriyani! – need I say more?
6) The thanni parties in final year – these are not grand scale parties as they happen here at ISB and the booze does not flow! It rather trickles, more so because we had not started earning you see! The adventurous trips to Mukkam in the night to buy beer and then getting back to the room, lights off, metallica playing, gulping beer and getting ready to play Half-Life and NFS-111. that was final year and it was Awesome, with a capital A!!!
7) The scrabble sessions – man I used to love it! There was this time when we were mad about scrabbles and used to have these team names and would actually hunt around for the shortest word which had a “Z” in it. All the bitching about profs and exams used to happen around the scrabble board. Fights too!
8) The Jeep shows – this happens once in a while where a group of people rent a jeep and go for the night show in the city (REC too, like ISB is situated around 20 kms from the city, the only difference being that it was well connected). The jeep shows reach a peak during the placement seasons, as more and more people get placed, the trips will be made to “Calicut Taj” or “Malabar towers” for the treat.
It is really intriguing to compare the demographics of the student population in Both the places.
In REC, you had three categories of people – the guys who don’t study at all, the guys who study a little and enjoy a lot and the third group, who only study. The first group will be around 20 percent, the second 70 percent and the third, a measly 10 percent. Of course, all of these are relative!
In ISB, you again have three categories – the guys who study a lot and party a lot too, the guys who only study and the guys who study a little and party a lot. The first group constituting around 65 percent, the second group around 30 percent and the last with an abominable 5 percent.
So you see, things are almost the same only for the middle group. The other two groups are at the extreme.
But again, people don’t throw away lucrative jobs and precious time with their families and also pay an exhorbitant fee to come to ISB and Not study. And the course model at ISB does not render itself suitable for people who don’t want to study too. A class missed is an experice missed, because the professors are damn good. You have to listen to each and every word that comes out of the prof’s mouth. It really amazes me how I can sit through a lecture of 2 hours and not wander off into dreamland in between. I cant remember sitting with full attention for any of the lectures in REC, maybe except for the maths class which I used to enjoy.
And CP in REC is something I cant conjure in my wildest of dreams. Forget CP, I don’t even remember anyone asking doubts in any class. (CP, for those who are thinking what it is – class participation. This is a part of the grading for the marketing class in the first term and the students just LOVE the fact that this counts towards the grade!)
Although REC Calicut is one of the best engineering colleges in India, when I look back at the 4 years, I believe that the way of teaching over there was probably not the best. This is in no way an allusion to the kind of faculty there, but the fact that even an institute of such caliber could not keep the students from not learning by rote. I still remember me and my friends going through fluid mechanics and trying to remember the whole thing up till the exam, spit it out in the exam and then blissfully forget about it. The only interesting thing that I did, with a lot of analysis and study gone into it, was my seminar on chaos theory.
Again, this is not a generalization and there have been people who have actually worked on difficult topics like robotics and have gone to prestigious universities on the basis of that (this is not an REC for nothing!)
But the fact still remains that students are not incentivised to learn through application and not given the motivation to understand the topic, but to actually just cram for the exams. Maybe the age at which they come into an engineering college and the fact that being a residential college, this is the first taste of freedom for most of them, the current system is probably the best. Make them fear the grades and get them to study by hook or crook.
Maybe this is the way in which the IIT’s score over the REC’s. I need to ask an IIT-ian!!
REC Calicut ranked 14th best engineering college in India – Go here
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Train Train..
I was trying to book tickets to go home during the term break and I felt bad about the fact that Cochin is 24 hours by train from Hyderabad and it makes absolutely no sense for me to take a train. Besides, the timings are also odd. If I need to take a train, I will need to bunk my accounting exam, a though which is utmost unsavory!
I have always like train journeys. They are always eventful in one way or another. You get to observe a plethora of personalities and get to really feel to be a part of the mass. A bus journey by comparison is mostly overnight and does not offer you any insights about peoples behaviors. A journey by flight is too short to elicit any special events and I do not think I want my flight to be eventful anyways! :)
One of my memorable train journeys have been from my hometown in Kerala to Delhi. This was about 10 years back and I can still remember my terror at night, at the sound of the train going over long bridges, making me feel that we were going to derail and crash any time. I still remember the red countryside when the train went through the Chambal forests. I still remember seeing the landscape change as and when we crossed states and my wonderment at how this can so starkly change within a few kilometers and by the virtue of being in a different state. I still remember not being able to contain my enthusiasm when the train pulled into the Delhi railway station.
Yet another series of journeys where the trips to/from my college REC. This often used to happen in groups and was very enjoyable, culminating in a visit to one of the shops in Calicut where we would gorge on shawarma!
The train journeys are really beautiful when it rains. It is an amazing feeling to look out of the window when the train is turning a curve and see the rain drops fly past and graze your face. To see the tail of the train, winding as though like a majestic snake.
The coffee and the vada/pazhampori bought in the train always taste the best when it rains outside.
Given a chance I will want to take a break from everything and travel a lot in train. I will….soon! :)
I have always like train journeys. They are always eventful in one way or another. You get to observe a plethora of personalities and get to really feel to be a part of the mass. A bus journey by comparison is mostly overnight and does not offer you any insights about peoples behaviors. A journey by flight is too short to elicit any special events and I do not think I want my flight to be eventful anyways! :)
One of my memorable train journeys have been from my hometown in Kerala to Delhi. This was about 10 years back and I can still remember my terror at night, at the sound of the train going over long bridges, making me feel that we were going to derail and crash any time. I still remember the red countryside when the train went through the Chambal forests. I still remember seeing the landscape change as and when we crossed states and my wonderment at how this can so starkly change within a few kilometers and by the virtue of being in a different state. I still remember not being able to contain my enthusiasm when the train pulled into the Delhi railway station.
Yet another series of journeys where the trips to/from my college REC. This often used to happen in groups and was very enjoyable, culminating in a visit to one of the shops in Calicut where we would gorge on shawarma!
The train journeys are really beautiful when it rains. It is an amazing feeling to look out of the window when the train is turning a curve and see the rain drops fly past and graze your face. To see the tail of the train, winding as though like a majestic snake.
The coffee and the vada/pazhampori bought in the train always taste the best when it rains outside.
Given a chance I will want to take a break from everything and travel a lot in train. I will….soon! :)
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Technology...Ohh!
Since this is the first month of being in ISB and since all the students in ISB have prior work ex, one of the typical questions that comes up in the first conversation with any stranger is, where you were working before coming to ISB. It’s amazing to see how bonds get created with this one piece of information.
Sample this.
A: Where were you working?
B: I was with XXX (for the sake of being politically correct!)
A: Oooh is it, I was also with XXX (You can almost imagine hearing a metallic sound in the background of the invisible friendship bond being created and sealed!)
B: Oooh is it, which client did you work for?
A: I worked for this beer manufacturing client on their SCM.
B: I worked for this underwear manufacturing client for their retail loan systems (Of course they wont say the word, they will say “Big retail house”!)
But my purpose is not to undermine the rich clientele of these software companies.
When somebody asks me this question, I say, I was working with “The Firm” (one of the best investment banks in the world)
Now there are three typical reactions to this answer.
1) The other person – “Technology?” with a frown on their face, as if saying “How could this guy have worked in the i-banking space?”
2) The other person – picture with an amazed and reverential expression, till I complete the sentence with “I used to work in their IMD technology division”. The moment I finish the sentence, the high opinion that they had formed about me would have come down more fast than the rate at which the quantity decreases with an increase in price in an elastic market (OK. I could not resist it, I was studying Economics ! :-) )
3) The other person – absolutely no clue and I have to explain to them that “The Firm” is one of the best investment banks in the world etc.. you get the drift right?
What I don’t understand is that, why working in the technology division of an IB makes you a less capable person as compared to an i-banker with the same firm. All I can say is that these people have no idea about what the technology folks in an i-bank do.
I do not want to rant and rave about the profile of a senior analyst in the tech department, but there are facts which should be understood.
Fact 1- It is as difficult to get into the tech division of an I-bank as to get into the business side.
Fact 2- The work you are doing is more techno-functional in nature than any other typical software company – tell me, if I am coding something which is related to how a reinvestment of a mutual fund should process, isn’t it far superior to say, converting oracle forms from one version to another? (Oh yes, been there, done that too)
If I am doing something related to how the original issue discount bonds amortization happens, isn’t is far superior to writing documentation for a loan originating system?
Fact 3- The professionalism and the culture in the technology division of an i-bank is as good as and comparable to their counterparts on the business side. Don’t believe it? Trust me, I have seen it.
Fact 4 -There are people in the technology divisions of an i-bank who actually write code for program trading and risk analytics – functionally rich things which you cant even imagine in a services company.
And more facts like these.
Just because you have worked in the technology side of an i-bank does not take away from you the fact that you were good enough to be recruited by them in the first place.
And getting in is not easy.
This post is not intended to be a self egoistic one, but just a reiteration of the fact that it does not matter which division you have worked, as long as you worked for The Firm (and no prices for guessing which “Firm” am I talking about)
Sample this.
A: Where were you working?
B: I was with XXX (for the sake of being politically correct!)
A: Oooh is it, I was also with XXX (You can almost imagine hearing a metallic sound in the background of the invisible friendship bond being created and sealed!)
B: Oooh is it, which client did you work for?
A: I worked for this beer manufacturing client on their SCM.
B: I worked for this underwear manufacturing client for their retail loan systems (Of course they wont say the word, they will say “Big retail house”!)
But my purpose is not to undermine the rich clientele of these software companies.
When somebody asks me this question, I say, I was working with “The Firm” (one of the best investment banks in the world)
Now there are three typical reactions to this answer.
1) The other person – “Technology?” with a frown on their face, as if saying “How could this guy have worked in the i-banking space?”
2) The other person – picture with an amazed and reverential expression, till I complete the sentence with “I used to work in their IMD technology division”. The moment I finish the sentence, the high opinion that they had formed about me would have come down more fast than the rate at which the quantity decreases with an increase in price in an elastic market (OK. I could not resist it, I was studying Economics ! :-) )
3) The other person – absolutely no clue and I have to explain to them that “The Firm” is one of the best investment banks in the world etc.. you get the drift right?
What I don’t understand is that, why working in the technology division of an IB makes you a less capable person as compared to an i-banker with the same firm. All I can say is that these people have no idea about what the technology folks in an i-bank do.
I do not want to rant and rave about the profile of a senior analyst in the tech department, but there are facts which should be understood.
Fact 1- It is as difficult to get into the tech division of an I-bank as to get into the business side.
Fact 2- The work you are doing is more techno-functional in nature than any other typical software company – tell me, if I am coding something which is related to how a reinvestment of a mutual fund should process, isn’t it far superior to say, converting oracle forms from one version to another? (Oh yes, been there, done that too)
If I am doing something related to how the original issue discount bonds amortization happens, isn’t is far superior to writing documentation for a loan originating system?
Fact 3- The professionalism and the culture in the technology division of an i-bank is as good as and comparable to their counterparts on the business side. Don’t believe it? Trust me, I have seen it.
Fact 4 -There are people in the technology divisions of an i-bank who actually write code for program trading and risk analytics – functionally rich things which you cant even imagine in a services company.
And more facts like these.
Just because you have worked in the technology side of an i-bank does not take away from you the fact that you were good enough to be recruited by them in the first place.
And getting in is not easy.
This post is not intended to be a self egoistic one, but just a reiteration of the fact that it does not matter which division you have worked, as long as you worked for The Firm (and no prices for guessing which “Firm” am I talking about)
Monday, May 14, 2007
A Month And Counting..
Today, Its been exactly one month I have been at ISB. One month and how fast it went by.
On second thoughts, it actually feels more than one month!
This place has a knack of making you feel that you have been here for an eternity, at the same time the frequent reality checks (which is a euphemism for assignments/exams (at least for me!)) makes you feel that the time is running by. The mid terms are barely 4 days away and the preparation levels can be at best, described as pathetic.
Everybody is relying on the fact that the scores are relative, but tell me, if everybody thinks it is relative, isn’t it non-relative?
I don’t have high hopes of getting into the deans list and I have not come across people who are fanatical about that..well with the exception of a couple of them.
Isn’t it ironic that
economics (a subject that I hated in school),
statistics (a subject that I hated in college),
accounting (a subject that’s totally new to me, an engineer) and
marketing (a subject that I am not suitable for) is going to make me a 12.5 % MBA?
Well, if I don’t flunk them, that is.
I should say that there are a lot of exceptional guys in the batch and that getting to know them is one thing that I should be thankful to ISB for. I know around 120 odd people in the batch and intend to increase that number by the end of the first term. Well, at least I should be good at networking, if not in the studies right?
On second thoughts, it actually feels more than one month!
This place has a knack of making you feel that you have been here for an eternity, at the same time the frequent reality checks (which is a euphemism for assignments/exams (at least for me!)) makes you feel that the time is running by. The mid terms are barely 4 days away and the preparation levels can be at best, described as pathetic.
Everybody is relying on the fact that the scores are relative, but tell me, if everybody thinks it is relative, isn’t it non-relative?
I don’t have high hopes of getting into the deans list and I have not come across people who are fanatical about that..well with the exception of a couple of them.
Isn’t it ironic that
economics (a subject that I hated in school),
statistics (a subject that I hated in college),
accounting (a subject that’s totally new to me, an engineer) and
marketing (a subject that I am not suitable for) is going to make me a 12.5 % MBA?
Well, if I don’t flunk them, that is.
I should say that there are a lot of exceptional guys in the batch and that getting to know them is one thing that I should be thankful to ISB for. I know around 120 odd people in the batch and intend to increase that number by the end of the first term. Well, at least I should be good at networking, if not in the studies right?
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Two Sides To It
There are people who are so friendly that you feel good.
There are people who are always willing to help – strangers, but ask for a favor and you get it presto.
There are people who extend the hand of friendship, even while you were contemplating it.
There are also people who don’t acknowledge your presence. They look through you and consider it beneath them to talk to the junta. Even if you had talked to them the previous day.
There are also people who don’t meet your eyes and say “Hello”. Their sense of superiority, which they have defined, does not allow them to do so.
There are people who have already formed the “mutual admiration and sycophancy” society. They are mostly beings of importance and don’t care for mere mortals.
There are people who are always willing to help – strangers, but ask for a favor and you get it presto.
There are people who extend the hand of friendship, even while you were contemplating it.
There are also people who don’t acknowledge your presence. They look through you and consider it beneath them to talk to the junta. Even if you had talked to them the previous day.
There are also people who don’t meet your eyes and say “Hello”. Their sense of superiority, which they have defined, does not allow them to do so.
There are people who have already formed the “mutual admiration and sycophancy” society. They are mostly beings of importance and don’t care for mere mortals.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
From the Biriyani City !
The heat. That’s the first thing that hits you when you come out of the comfort of your AC apartment in the campus. Not the imposing building, not the student village towers, not the lawns and gardens, not the occasional peacocks. But sweltering heat. That’s what you see and feel immediately. It scalds you and burns you and does not take pity on you and make you sweat! Being from gods own country, moi have been used to hot climate, but then god was good enough to give his subjects (!) the boon of humidity and make us sweat in the sun and relieve us from the agony of the sun god. But here, you walk under the scalding sun for an hour, you still don’t sweat. But you pant. But again, as they say, everything in this world is relative and my friends from the north western part of the country find this climate mild!! But, surprise, surprise, when they come to Kerala, they find the climate unbearable in the summer. Because they are not used to sweating you see!
My first impression of Hyderabad has been good. In fact I would even go to the extent of saying that I find it better than Bangalore in a lot of aspects. As one of my friends commented about the “new” Hyderabad – “the roads look like the F1 racing tracks, winding up and down and gives you a feeling of being inside the NFS game!” the rocky boulders spanning the sparse regions gives an impression of aridness which surprisingly does not displease the eye. The rickshaw drivers are courteous than their brethren in Bangalore and they are even interested in conversing with you. And the best thing being, they don’t believe in the vice of speeding dangerously down the highways, unlike, again, their Bangalore counterparts. In Bangalore, I would on an average, tell the driver to go slow, at least two times.
On my way from airport once, when I nudged the auto driver and asked him to go slow, he actually turned back and gave me a pitiful look and said “You just got down from a plane which was going n times faster than my auto !” (Well not exactly in those words, but close enough!).
I had half a mind to tell him that the traffic is not as bad up there as on a Bangalore road, but ended up telling him “Friend, you have not been involved in three accidents in your life, have you?”
My first impression of Hyderabad has been good. In fact I would even go to the extent of saying that I find it better than Bangalore in a lot of aspects. As one of my friends commented about the “new” Hyderabad – “the roads look like the F1 racing tracks, winding up and down and gives you a feeling of being inside the NFS game!” the rocky boulders spanning the sparse regions gives an impression of aridness which surprisingly does not displease the eye. The rickshaw drivers are courteous than their brethren in Bangalore and they are even interested in conversing with you. And the best thing being, they don’t believe in the vice of speeding dangerously down the highways, unlike, again, their Bangalore counterparts. In Bangalore, I would on an average, tell the driver to go slow, at least two times.
On my way from airport once, when I nudged the auto driver and asked him to go slow, he actually turned back and gave me a pitiful look and said “You just got down from a plane which was going n times faster than my auto !” (Well not exactly in those words, but close enough!).
I had half a mind to tell him that the traffic is not as bad up there as on a Bangalore road, but ended up telling him “Friend, you have not been involved in three accidents in your life, have you?”
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