To All my Non-ISB friends complaining about my absence in the blog world,
Firstly sorry for the disappearing act for the whole of last month. There are simply too many things happening around. At ISB, the pace of activities never ceases disappoints you. So while the usual assignments, quizzes and exams are on (Oh! Do they even count on the schedule now ?!) we’ve had some very notable sessions. In a span of ten days we have had Air Deccan’s Captain Gopinath and Ex-Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu coming down to campus and address the students. On the other hand we had some very impressive presentations by recruit biggies like Mckinsey, Google and Microsoft. While Mck has been coming to campus quite frequently to interact with the batch, MS – marketing division came down to talk about roles in online sales and marketing and some amazing presentation on the launch of X-box.
Looking forward to some cool sessions lined up including a talk by filmmaker Kalpana Lazmi organized by the Arts and Creativity Club and Convergence organized by CITNE.
CITNE is the Centre of IT and Networked Economy at ISB. This year’s theme for panel discussion is Convergence of ICT industries. Very enthusiastic about the event since it will have some big players from the Telecom field including Qualcomm and TRAI.
And so while we celebrated the termination of the term three torture, we realized that we’ve been bombarded with a whole set of activities to keep us on our feet all the time. – Paev project which is a B-plan execution, short assignment working with an NGO, inter - section cricket matches, rangoli contest, paper writing contest at IIMB – well half the campus was busy with this one believe me : ) and yes the trauma of going through Term 3 grades!
By the time we get ourselves together amidst the plethora of activities, we realize that it’s already midterm - Term 4, yup I have an exam tomorrow!! Have to also complete my bidding for electives for term 5. Term 5 is when the elective courses begin, so you take your pick and bid. More on all the happenings soon, for now I think I should catch some sleep.
Just got a mail from ASA – Term 4 Midterm Exam seating arrangement posted on intranet : ( - Sleeping plan cancelled.
Things I find uncool in a speaker sessions:-
Walking out halfway during the session& that too in groups or in a file one behind the other. Gets very insulting for the speaker.
Even worse, sitting back uninterested and continously whispering and talking.
Ad naeseum Q n A way beyond the allocated session time; that forces many to actually walk out :)
It’s that time of the term again.
First week T3, action replay of first week of T1 classes.
Donno where do people get the confidence to go on ad nauseam in the classes which have a high percentage for CP. And when I say confidence I mean the conviction to go on talking without adding any value to the class.
I agree that a lot depends on the professor facilitating class participation. This is clearly instantiated by the fact that T2 had good CP happening owing to some amazing professors. These Profs precisely knew
When to throw open questions to the class?
How to contain responses which called for high air time
How to cross question to limit arbit CP and also to facilitate more thinking on students’ part
And more importantly, they had the control and gave direction to the discussions happening in the class.
But not all Profs are able to do it as efficiently. Does it not then fall upon the students to ensure that the class discussion is fruitful? Or do we start behaving like school going kids and succumb to pressures of “The CP”.
The CP, which counts for 5-20 % of different courses, The CP, which brings out how different people behave, The CP, which shows what soft skills you carry, The CP which shows how you pick up signals the world around you is giving you, The CP, which shows you different sides of your own friends which you might not see otherwise J
I understand that the pressure to perform is very high, and I also realize that
If it’s not you then someone else will capitalize on The CP opportunity. But in this race why do we forget that by throwing random points in the class no one is actually being benefited. Why do we have difficulty following the Profs instructions and basic discipline of a class?
I know that it’s just the beginning of the term and after the 4 day vacation people are rejuvenated and high on energy. Truly hope that this CP mania cools down soon.
Don’t want to end up being more and more cynical about the whole thing or rather succumb to the same after seeing my own T2 CP score: P
Whichever way it is, I honestly do not want to vent out my frustration against such paltry matters in any further posts …
However I also strongly advocate that CP MUST be a part of grading. Besides the fact that students sometimes do have excellent ideas/experiences/information to be shared,
I believe The CP also makes up for the absence of any psychology/ human behavior class in the MBA course.
After all how else would you practically get to study human responses and behavior in a classroom environment!!
What a week it has been !!
Flew to Bombay twice in 4 days
Wrote 4 exams between the 2 flying visits
Participated in B school case competition @ SPJain – lost in the finals L
Met one of my darling pals :D from engineering college, currently @ SP
Pleasantly bumped into couple of colleagues from TCS Nortel – again @ SP
Encountered compounded levels of shocks to see the differences in SP and ISB
Worked on 2 major assignments
Ate, Slept, Ate, Slept, Slept, Slept, Ate, Slept ….after the exams
Shopped all day and hardly bought anything for myself !!!!!!!!!! ( yeah even I am surprised)
Will be meeting my best friend from college tomorrow J
Now just need a good book and a masala entertainer to call it a week.
P.S – Socha na tha is just the song playing in the background ;)
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 :)
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 !
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 .....
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
Its day 2 and we’ve had 2 parties already
After the time consuming registrations, queing up at various counters, approval of loans, verification of certies, formatting the laptop, submission of forms, opening bank account …a long day finally came to an end….nd yes it was time to party !!
Even before a welcome party was organized by the alums, our sooooooooooper enthu batch decided to get together at an SV…nd thus began the party saga for ISB CO2008
What followed the next day was an even bigger and better party thrown by the alums.
The party was arranged at the step garden at SV1 …gud music and drinks kept the crowd upbeat and the climate jst cud not get better with the thundering, lightening and slight drizzle ….the party continued till wee hours of morning….
With this we learnt our lesson 1 : This campus doesn’t sleep …. nd so wouldn’t we for the next one year :)
P.S: The 2 posts were scribbled in the first days of ISB when I did not have net access ..
I was asked of my First impressions of the place …nd I didn’t know where to start
I was absolutely delighted when I first visited the campus….lush green in the piercing heat of the Hyderabad summer
The place looked quite Pseud….the amazing campus, the student villages, Recreation centre, exec housing, the awesome and oh so inviting atrium (Tats a huge courtyard …bigger than what u can imagine !!! ) with the cool breeze blowing…the campus simply won me over beyond what I had heard/read about the place.
Looking forward to a new experience ……
Tomorrow is my last day at work and boy I am still submitting code, running checklist and debugging problems. Seeing all this, my cube mate Niti reveals her sheer surprise at this...saying 'Why am I doing all this in my last week? I shud be relaxing and enjoying ..'
Relaxed I am ...very much ...but sum how I dunno from where hav i got this sudden urge to get back to work, to check code submissions, to share tips to use tools and debug stuff...Even I am amazed…I wasn’t like this ;) usually at wrk :)
It’s a weird feeling actually…..its like I’ve been studying for the last 2.5 years and now it’s the end of term….and I am vomiting out all that I learnt….cauz after the exam all that I mugged wont be of any use….tats how proprietary stuff is....like the
Every day when I pass the Gandhinagar to Hiranandani stretch along IIT-B....I curse. I simply curse, the traffic which only seems to increase every day, the authorities for the mismanagement and lack of planning, illegal shops that keep expanding their footprint, the Mood-I crowd that adds to congestion and all the junta who decides to take out their vehicle during peak hours. At times I have taken 40 minutes to cover a stretch that should ordinarily take only 5 minutes.
However today, I decided to go in the afternoon shift. On a warm winter afternoon as I passed that stretch, in the midst of moderate traffic, what caught my attention was the huge IIT campus.
Nestled in the lap of Powai hills and flanked by the scenic lake this campus is the cradle of the Indian brain...a place where the best brains in
On this winter afternoon the sun rays were being filtered through the trees, as I looked nonchalantly at the campus..... The sight was usual, pink buildings, the main gate ...the security guards, the SBI branch , and then the breathtaking view of the lake, the strikingly chic looking hostel courtesy Hafeez Contracter and the Renaissance in the back drop
Amidst all this what did strike me was the news that hit headlines last month. Yet again, another IITian ended his life. Reason stated: Stress. Low GPA. Inability to get a campus job.
This aint sumthing new, we have grown up reading such pieces of news. Such incidents happen, hit the headlines and fade away from peoples memory.
What I cannot apprehend is the mindset of such students. What happens? How can they feel so low that they decide to take such drastic steps? What is it that is lacking? Why are such brainy brains unable to rationalize the situation to identify their strengths and see the light at the end of the tunnel however dark things might seem? How do they succumb to pressures such as GPA or job? Are we manufacturing graduates who can analyze Quantum mechanics and its fundas but not the jeene ka funda?
I am sure nobody needs to tell them that even if they are the worst performers on campus, they are still better than the average students outside. If a mediocre guy from an arbit collg can make it big in the world, what stops a JEE stud from giving his best shot and come out strong?? Are the pressures on campus so strong...I fail to understand.
OR is it the other way round??? They know that they r the best...and with the best ...but still they don’t find any motivation to move ahead in life...don’t find any heroes whom they can look up to, don’t know why they are distressed.
And they realize that if this is how the best is then they don’t really want to see anymore? I am not really sure if this is the case....but just a remotely possible explanation that I am trying to use to justify to myself what these guys might be thinking.
Perhaps I don’t have a solid insight into what really happens on campus and mab my friends can help me understand better….Ending this post on an inconclusive note .....
6:03 pm. Borivalli station. I m waiting for my 6:07 churchgate fast, whiling away time by looking at the ocean of people around me. Peak hour, working day. The adjoining platform is crowded with people waiting for the train to Virar. Every time I am here, I thank my stars that I am traveling against the rush and don’t have to be a part of the madness called Virar fast.
So while I am still waiting for my train .....the loud speaker announces the arrival of the large hearted Virar Giant. I call it the Giant for its energy, aggressiveness and enormity. Though it’s the same train that calmly clambers its way back to Churchgate, it looks boisterous and roaring when heading to Virar. And large hearted because when it arrives it is Oh so crowded! ...with an equally sizable junta waiting to get in....But it takes them in all.
I see a young lady carrying a small baby and a big bag get into the ladies compartment....she can barely manage to stand and is half hanging, a usual sight for Mumbai train travelers. The compartment is so crowded that some girls who had been waiting for the train decided to let go of it....And then a see a small street kid trying to get into that ladies compartment...or here should I be saying platform kid...for it was evident that he was one of those hundreds of underprivileged children who find shelter under the roof of these railway stations and practically grow up here. Nevertheless, he is taking this train to ...God knows where. He caught my attention because he was getting into an already overcrowded ladies compartment ...
But then that’s normal as you do find small kids tagging along all the time....Such kids usually sweep the compartment floor to earn some money, or use their marketing skills to sell safety pins; sing songs that bring us some customized and classified entertainment and earns them some pennies; or sometimes they just wail and cry to earn our sympathy and supplicate.
By then the loudspeaker speaks again, announcing the arrival of Churchgate fast...and I comfortably board the train. However by now there is a lot of chaos on the adjacent platform...the Virar Giant has left but the lady with the baby is standing at the platform, the platform boy is there as well. Apparently the boy has tried to pick pocket the lady’s purse....as alleged by the lady’s husband who was trying to get into the adjacent compartment. The boy has been caught red handed with his loot still intact. He is being beaten and abused. He is pleading not guilty and asking for mercy. "WHy did you open her bag?" is the man’s question. The boy has no answer. He cannot help but cry and plead. They call for the railway police....as my train pulls away from the station.
I wonder about the fate of such children and feel sorry thinking about what would be in store for this boy now....To divert my mind I decide to listen to some music and open my bag in search of my mp3 player. And boy what do I (not) find in there..... My missing wallet.
Back in INdia after a year...its the same old story...I struggle to find time to put down my thoughts. The long office hours and the gruelling 4 to 4.5 hrs of travelling every day leaves no time or energy to post nything. Again, enumerous thoughts strike but do not make their way to the post. Surprisingly, the thought rate is very high when I am travelling...does the object's speed count ;-) Guess its just that we observe more, daily activities that we sometimes find amusing, acts that trigger thoughts and scenes that catch our attention.
So people don't be surprised if the next post talks about a sabzi vendor who sits across the street, or a sardar wearing a pink shirt, the forever dug Mumbai roads, a cute couple I meet on my way, or even why the BEST buses are painted red :p .... well the last one does sound interesting...nywayz I m clueless.
Not bad seems like sum fun-time ahead. Personally I feel that the coming 2-2.5 months will be interesting as I will be seeing certain things in a different light....y ? Ummmm ...how about thoda intezaar :-)
Its 10:45 pm and I am still sitting in office. No, I dont have any deadline to meet and I dont have any code delivery planned for the week. I am not slogging and its not a crucial time of my project. My project is not in the red zone. Rather I am just through with one code delivery and have a relatively spaced out schedule.
And No, I don't work for a Call centre :-) and there is no night shift on my schedule. Its a normal day that began when I left home at 8:15 in the morning.
Welcome to the life of an Indian software professional !
Nocturnal, thats one word which describes the professionals in my league.
A world where the day warms up by 7p.m and meetings start at 8 :-) , a world where you check in at home a.k.a boarding/lodging post midnight and check out every morning. Where you know by heart, the last bus and train timings and the cell number that is always prsent in your dialled list is that of your company's bus driver. "Boss, bus rukana, I am coming".
When u get to office early to talk to ur team mates in Tokyo ..and stay back late to catch up on a teleconference wid your client in US. When in the non canteen hours, maggi and a cuppa coffee rulez and the machine tat u use the most besides ur wrkstation is the vending machine.Where work related ailements include bad wrist, ligament pain...thanks to the all day long mousing musings :-)
When you chat more than you talk, when you havent seen ur team mates who are offshore(or onsite), when you return to ur base branch but find all new faces in ur team, when you can only link voices with names but no faces, when you identify the font style of a persons mail but not his/her handwriting, when you review documents and give comments to convert a statement to active(or passive) voice....
If u've been relating to the symptoms above....u r a true s/w professional ...way to go !!!
err or to say time to take a break!
“RoN Woodward was on the 75th floor of the WTC’s south block when the hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 was rammed into it between the 77th and the 85th floors at 9:03 a.m on September 11th, 2001. Being below the actual impact site Woodward survived but didn’t know he had only 56 minutes before the structure collapsed. Taking no chances, he started clambering desperately down stairs to get out. Falling, floundering and lurching over people and debris in the darkness he finally made it to the lowest floors with only minutes to spare when he passed a fireman on his way up the same stairs. Their eyes met for a moment.
The fireman almost certainly died while Woodward managed to scramble away to safety. Years later he spoke on a television programme with candor and humility.
“He knew where he was going, and he didn’t miss a step. I knew where I was going and I was tripping.”
That’s the difference. At that time neither person would have imagined that the enormity of the collision would compromise the integrity of the entire tower.
Both men also had their jobs cut out for them; one had to save himself, the other had to save others. The survivor only did what comes instinctively to all of us, whereas the fireman was merely performing his duty. But that does not explain why Woodward’s eyes brimmed over with tears when he made this statement on TV.
Should Woodward have stayed back and tried to help other people? Not being trained to do so could have meant that he might have only gotten in the way of rescue operations. In any case the whole exercise would have been futile since the collapsing tower would have killed him in a short while and no one would have ever known. Just like no one would have ever known about the fireman if Woodward did not run into him.
But this much is definite: Woodward would not have wept.”
After a long time I return to the blog world with the above excerpt which is picked from Mukul Sharma’s Cosmic Uplink. It finds its way in my blog because I want this to remain with me forever.
It is so true that any calamity brings man closer to reality. It not only silences the incorrect belief which shouts that man is supreme by reinstating that we are all puppets in the hands of destiny, but it also brings a man closer to another.
I am not denying the fact that what Woodward did is what most of us would have done, but I wonder what Woodward would do if he ever finds himself in a similar situation. Perhaps not as big and drastic as the WTC disaster but a position where he has to make a choice between his safety and his inner voice. Will he take the escape route again to come out and ponder whether others made it, or will he dive in to help others and live forever?
