Statistics Of Life !!

You never know when and where you will life teach you the its lessons in the most subtle ways. One of the lessons I learnt in the initial days was in basic Stats class @ ISB was - Consistency is not Always a virtue !! How true. Though weve been trained to be consistent and always strive for the best it might not be required all the time and more importantly not possible all the time. Though the stats lesson talked about variance and deviation, it has had implications in the way I see things in life. And so the basics dawned on me again ....Relax when you can and stretch when required. Common sense isnt it ?



Term 1 and came Watermans classes..... one of the best profs. SO while he was teaching multiple regression which I think cudnt have been taught any better, he said .... Never ignore an outlier, otherwise you will never learn beyond what you already know. Such a powerful statement.
To learn new things in life we have to be able to look beyond what seems acceptable.
But do we do that?? Most of the time we excuse ourselves by saying "there are always a few exceptions" The actual wisdom though, lies not in ignoring or accounting for an exception all the time, but indeed in being able to rationalize whether the exception needs our attention or not.



Another one on the same lines... Courtesy Prof Ziv Katalan. ..Class 1 Decision Models and Optimization, Monte Carlo Simulation.
He says -
We know that we dont know, but we ignore the ignorance !!!!
Can it get better than this :)
And we learn to Acknowledge Uncertainity :)

Untitled

Why do you miss people... when do you miss them ... do you cherish them more than those whom you dont miss....Or do you just miss them cause they are not there with you.
Why is it that you dont value what you have?
Why do you want to have what you cannot?
Why do you miss them even when they are consciously not there with you ... when you know they dont want to be or when you know they cant be.

Why does one glance remind you of someone? a song, a movie, a patented dialogue, a smile, a wink, a laugh or even a gesture. How badly can you miss someone... And what do you do when you miss someone...

All the highs and lows that you went through together, all the obstacles that you crossed together, standing by each other in difficult times, reaching out with a helping hand ....
And then you take them for granted...expectations creep in and u get busy ...Busy , busy ...busy gauging how well they meet your expectations. You lay down rules, what you want to do ,,, what you dont want, what the other one should do ...what they shouldnt ...ignoring what they actually are doing for you.
And finally when you clear your mind of all these calculations, rating, gauging, questioning, the goods and the bads ... and you turn around..
they are no more there with you ... And they never come back .....
Void ...
M I talking about my breakup here ....Hell ..No !

Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness, has never danced in rain

I loved the rain as a child. I loved the sound that went pitter patter . My earliest memories of rainy season are of when I was about 4 and used to rhyme ..."Rain rain Go away " . Wonder if I then knew what I was reciting.

Imagine the feeling of going to school on a rainy day only to realise that its been declared holiday.Its almost like waking up early and realizing that you have so much more time to sleep.

I vividly remember my first gardening lessons... trying to plant a mango tree, digging the soil, and planting the seed. But I clearly remember the rains that were pouring then. Yes ! the hope that the rains would magically transform the mango seed into a big blooming tree.

Getting drenched in the rain, feeling the rain on the face ..... the rejuvinating aroma of the wet earth, the hiss of the air and the deapth of the dark skies....the genesis of new life, purging away the worries...Giving way to a new world - Pure, sharp, sparkling and ebulliant.
And so when it rained the day I landed in Hyderabad...it was such a treat. Another celebration happened after the midterms...it poured and it poured like crazy...ISB campus was transformed into a resort....
Missing Anushakti days,the campus,the rainy seaon, the long walk with friends, getting each other drenched, the BARC project, the serenity of the hillside, the stormy sea, the mighty winds, the Bombay monsoon, the Marine drive, the bhutta-wala, the cutting chai....
Needless to say ...the song playin right now ... Sawan barse tarse dil .....

2 Week Snapshot

Its been 2.5 weeks since out core term began..... has been a fun ride so far. If I were to jot down the highlights of the core terms....

( Oh ! BTW .... we started ISB with 1 week of Preterms which are optional courses ...u take those if u feel the need ...Now we are into core terms which are the common subjects for everybody ....and eventually we will branch out with our electives)

Ya so here it is :-

Discovery of Pre reads - Even before we had our first class.... we had stuff to read :( Yeah ..... about 100 pages per subject... I mean I have never got myself to read a 100 pages after a class and here we r to do that before!! .....talk of 1 yr MBA ... or err number crunching ;)

Day 1 session 1; Monday Marketing, mundane CP - Practically saw what arbit CP is :D ...CP is class participation and we have 20% grade coming from our CP ... so ppl go crazy ... I mean I had no clue what junta could come up with ...to sore scores in CP. And so arbit CP is when people just start talking things for the airtime of it ...with no content .... (20% is no less an incentive). SO while the class was busy defining market-'ting' or consumer needs/wants and demands ( cold drink, pepsi/coke, diet pepsi ...... Huh ! wasnt thath wat someone said !! Whatever !!)...we actually had a TA grading the class on their CP or the arbitness of it ...and me ...well I had a great time just observing people ...
Twas so interesting !! u actually had 3 categories of people ...one who had actually done their prereads - Kotler ( read marketing Bible) and were vomitting the whole thing out, the other who had no clue what was supposed to be covered in the pre- reads and were already asking doubts about how marketing is defined !! ( well ya :D) and then a 3rd category ....who just sat there ...like me .. the 'watever category'.
And no prizes for guessing ...the watever category had mainly Engineers and CAs ..... yeah !!!! for once Engineers and CA ... enjoy the mutual empathy.
BTW second marketing class I realized that I had to open my mouth.... but I swore on no arbit CP ( DO u actually believe me !!?? ) Week 1: CP Score 5 (above average …not bad)

Perfect Profs ( err …cudnt find a better adjective with P …but u hafta believe …the most AMAzing profs they are ) – Now we know why ISB is ISB …one reason …simply splendid professors ! Its an absolute privilege to attend their lectures. Particularly liked Stats class by Bob Stine …He is so witty … u cannot afford to miss a word of what he says …One of the most articulate profs Ive ever seen…and speaks with utmost clarity. Eco and Fin have been great too. M sure I can dedicate individual posts to each one of them.

Magic Mantra ; MR = MC
My tryst with Eco…. The magic mantra that everyone on campus has been chanting! (Cant possibly do justice to this in one post)

Poolside Parties – 2 weeks into the term and the party impetus did not slow down …parties without fail…Tango –Thursday’s…Oh ya didn’t mention …we have 4 day class week..so the party begins on Thursday night itself. Interestingly the weekend is otherwise spent with all the quizzes/assignments – individual/group…and yeah not to mention the pre reads ( for those who are still keeping up the pace)

Dunking Doses – 70 people in a section ….. But somehow Sec B doesn’t seam to be a good sample of the population …cause Section B isn’t really matching 1 bday every 5 days (for 70 ppl) ……. We’ve been Dunking much more often than that…. With 3 bdays in a week …and 2 back to back (that’s like a very bad sample) ( OK don beat me up now.. …hav been tryin to catch up some stats for Mid terms ;) )
2 things about Sec B dunking – More than half of the class is dunked no matter whose bday it is (people actually voluntarily jump into the pool)
- Amit gets dunked ….which Amit …well lets leave that for later …( we have 3 in our class)

Mid term mania - LRC rocks !! ( Library, well it does rock for most people here). 2 days to go before the mid term exam for Stats and Eco …….. people have been sitting up late in the LRC ( open till 2 am) … and yeah m here posting a blog !! …. First people thought m very studious kinds ,,,, nd within 2 weeks people came up to me and said ‘ wish we could b as chilled out as u about the midterms ‘ !)
Ive never seen how LRC looks post midnight ( but Hey ! u wanna talk about how atrium is :D )
While all those who have had a long day with Stats and Eco …. Herez a link I completely njoyed ( courtesy Nishti – my sweet old friend)
http://makkadman.com/

Njoiiiiiiiii