COMPASSION UNLIMITED

Some of my classmates at ISB have been working really hard. No, not at studying, but at more important things in life. A group of them who stayed back during the term break,initiated a fund and clothing drive to help those misfortunate souls who lost so much in the calamity in Bihar.To know more about what's being done by the students of ISB, read Sumantra's Blog
I'm proud of them and proud of myself for knowing them.

If you would like to do your bit, do get in touch rajarshi_ray@pgp2009.isb.edu or Sumantra_dasgupta@pgp2009.isb.edu.

......

Reality Check. Downward Spiral.
Laundry List. Stunted Thinking.Set Apart.
Crack the box. Live Life. Moody Blues.
Hootie and the Blowfish.
Stop.Start.
Rewind. Backtrack.
Silent Scream. Cluttered Thoughts. Hold Tight.
Crippled Mind. Fear of _____ ?
Subtle Sarcasm. Define Inituition. Shattered Confidence.
Deep Denial. Intelligence Under-rated.
Unexploited Opportunities. Unmet Expectations.
Risk Neutrality. Knowledge Unlimited.
Sea of Faces. Integrity. Commitment.
Left Behind.
Thriving on Challenge. Shorted Time.
Cruel Humour. Distorted Morality. Perspective Change.
Unsatiated Needs. Bleak Outlook. Ripped Innards.
Bitter Beta. Matter Matters.
Suppressed Depression.
Peter Lynch. George Soros. Desired.
Futile Prayer. Intextricably Linked.
Raucous Laughter. Split Personality.
Destination ________?
Outside. Looking In.
Remember.Remember.

A LETTER OF PARTING

It has been a long time since I have written, and I don't intend on letting my creative juices flow now either since I have my Final exams of Term 2 right around the corner, but I couldn't help but post this wonderful mail which our Economics professor wrote to us right before he left back to the US.

Dear Students:

Thanks for your kindness during the last session (and indeed all the sessions)! It has been a pleasure interacting with you and it was your intellectual curiosity that added spark to the course.

I am sure I will read about you soon in the papers as great examples of people who harnessed the market for social good as much as for profits. Meanwhile, question everything. Defy conventional wisdom. Buck the trend. Read the less known novelist. Watch the movie without stars. Listen to the less famous person. What you encounter might enlighten you, entertain you, and even change your life!

Cheers,

XXX

THE WEEKS THAT WHIZZ BY....

In exactly a week’s time, I will be done with my final exams of Term 1. Time seems to be flying past me and waving goodbye while I'm still strolling at a sedate pace. It seems like just a wink back the term had just begun. How do I feel now that the term is coming to an end? Confused? Elated? Depressed? Resigned? Enthused?
To be frank, I feel a mix of all of them.

There is so much to learn out here. I am not strictly talking about the Academics. Though, the academic aspect of learning has been elating though rushed. We seem to be thrust on a roller coaster ride. Are we being tested to see if we still hang on at the end of the ride? Mid term exams 2.5 weeks after the start of the term and final exams another 2.5 weeks after the mid term exams. There have been a whole lot of assignments, quizzes and even more assignments to keep you on your toes while you hope to find time to breathe throughout. The marvel of it all is that I hear that Term 1 is the honeymoon period. The term when things actually move at a relaxed pace. If this is relaxed, I don’t want to really look ahead and gaze into how things are going to be once the other terms happen!! I think I’ve learned to enjoy the academic aspect of learning more post the mid terms. It has taken me time to adjust to it and I hate to admit that it has taken its toll on my mid term results :-(. I guess that though I knew that my peer group out here is brilliant, I never expected to be outrun as fast as I have been. It’s unnerving to find yourself average in Academics, after having topped your class throughout your college years.

Dump the academics. It’s probably one of the most overrated aspects of learning. Truly, think about it. Did your engineering (or any other degree) score really make a difference to how you performed at your work place? I doubt it. With an average work experience of 5 years, you would think that the students out here (baring those with consulting ambitions) would know to not place a lot of credence on their academic performance.
As Rhett Butler would have said, ‘Frankly my dear, I couldn’t give a damn’.

It is for this reason that I am now trying to explore how best can I enhance my learning in a 360 degree manner in the next 10 months. When I first came in, I thought 12 months was a looooong time. Now that nearly 2 months have whizzed by I realize that I was wrong. I need to capitalize on the 10 months that I still have remaining. The kind of facilities, peer group and opportunities that are available here are mind blowing!!

I remember Professor MV telling us on our first day of Financial Accounting, don’t hesitate to ask any question that comes to your mind or fear making a mistake. You’re paying through your nose to be here and learn. You have taken a year off just to learn. So make all the mistakes you want to, because while your mistakes don’t make a difference here, out in the real world as managers mistakes are costly, and you cannot afford to make them.

WHAT DID JUST HIT ME?

Little Miss Red Riding Hood
Was skipping in an enchanted wood,
Twirling a daisy in her hand
Humming a song in la-la land

The sun was dancing to her tune
Waltzing along was the moon
A fox was chasing its own tail
down little Red Riding Hood’s trail

Out of the blue, out of the down
Along came an engine screaming its horn
Knocked little Red Riding Hood down
Snorted, sneered and rode back to town

The mourning sun went to hide
The daisies drooped, the moon she cried,
‘Poor little Miss Red Riding Hood
Skipping alone in an enchanted wood’

‘But’, screeched the owl in a loud aside,
‘Why did she hop where engines ride?’

© Deepti Ravi

P.S. In case your wondering, that’s how I feel post my mid terms :-(

ONE DOWN, ELEVEN TO GO!!

It’s been exactly a month since I stepped my foot first into the campus. A month that has been a roller coaster ride of emotions. I feel a little funny to say this, but a part of me is glad that a month is over and that it’s another 11 months to go. It’s quite weird out here. A part of me loves everything about college while another part of me can’t wait for the experience to stop. Coward. Dr Jekyll and Ms Hyde.

The last two weeks of life out here has been killing. The studies part has especially been pure torture.So many pre reads and so many post reads to be done. It’s just not physically possible to them all. The first week I bent my back twice over trying to keep up and stay anchored to the shore. The second week? I quit.

In Economics we have been learning this zany concept,

MR = MC.

That’s like this crazy mantra that all of us out here chant like it’s a prayer!! Basically, what it does mean is that it doesn’t matter if you keep increasing your revenues. The name of the game is maximizing your profits. This happens when Marginal Revenue = Marginal Costs aka MR=MC. The reason I mention this is because I feel that studying at ISB feels like a real time application of this concept. MR refers to knowledge,enjoyment in learning and marks. MC is time that could be better spent. As long as the knowledge (marks as well) you gain is more than the time you loose that you could have better spent (in the Recreation centre, sleeping, reading a novel, attending some club meetings),' study'.

I need to however find the equation for TC ( Total Cost) and TR ( Total Revenue) of my life here so that I can differentiate ( I don’t just mean the calculus term) the two and try getting some structure in my life here. Otherwise, I don’t think I’m going to be as happy as I should or could be.

WHEN I SAY I'M BROKE , I'M BROKE

A little old lady answered a knock on the door one day, only to be confronted by a well-dressed young man carrying a vacuum cleaner.

'Good morning,' said the young man..

'If I could take a couple of minutes of your time, I would like to demonstrate the very latest in high-powered vacuum cleaners.' 'Go away!' said the old lady. 'I'm broke and haven't got any money!' and she proceeded to close the door.

Quick as a flash, the young man wedged his foot in the door and pushed it wide open.

'Don't be too hasty!' he said. 'Not until you have at least seen my demonstration.' And with that, he emptied a bucket of horse manure onto her hallway carpet. 'If this vacuum cleaner does not remove all traces of this horse manure from your carpet, Madam, I will personally eat the remainder.'

The old lady stepped back and said, 'Well let me get you a fork, 'cause they cut off my electricity this morning.'

P.S. Courtesy Vikram H who forwarded it to me and lightened my day!! :)

AN EXPANDING DICTIONARY

Since coming to ISB I have not just learned quite a few words but also learned to use them frequently.

Here is a list of some oft used words here.

LRC

Learning Resource Centre aka Library.

Hazaar/Hajaar

Ok, I HAVE always known that it means Thousand. But have I used the word as ' Hajaar Problems yaar!!!', naaaah..

CP

Class Participation.Out here our level of interaction in class is graded and is included as a component of our grade in any subject. :( *sigh* I dread this!!

Arbit-CP

Now..... take a guess?? Every one wants a good grade right?????????????????So start crapping....

Dunking

Through someone into the pool.The reason could be birthdays,friend of the birthday person, arbit cp, it's too hot, I just wanted to throw someone in.. why the hell are you standing near the pool??

Quad/Quaddie

Each of us have a room in a four bedroom apartment.Hence Quad.It clearly follows that Quaddie is the person you share the apartment with.

Rec

Recreation Centre. Damn.. I think it's the same everywhere!!

Really, Really!!

A phrase made popular by the Class of '09 courtesy Savio (He was the Media and Communications Club president). Savio is this guy with amazing communication and presentation skills.He also happens to really really use the phrase 'really really' really really frequently.

I think I might have forgotten some or might be still in the process of learning some... but here's a toast to learning new words !!!


Haaa!! Haa!!! Haaa!!Haaa!! Haa!!! Haaa!!Haaa!! Haa!!! Haaa!!Haaa!! Haa!!! Haaa!!

Gotcha!!

LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN....

It’s been exactly two weeks to the day since I set my first foot in ISB. And these two weeks have felt like a lifetime of living. Right from the first day the journey has been a roller coaster ride, and I think the coaster is going to stop for a break only on April 4^th 2009.

There are so many chaotic thoughts running through my head at the moment. I’ve met so many fascinating people, so many not so fascinating people, been bowled over by the sheer beauty of the campus and fallen in love with LRC.

The first week on campus was the orientation week. The alums Class of ’08 were fabulous. Kudos to them for having made us, Class of ’09, feel so at home within a week.

We’ve had a zillion gyaan sessions, parties, sports, informal meetings and so much more. The best of it all has to have been the treasure hunt. Hunting for clues all over the campus gave us a good understanding of it’s layout in a matter of few hours. A few hours of cursing the alums for making us sweat it out!!

I used to wonder sometimes during the orientation week if I was being overdosed, but in the hindsight I realized that they were setting the pattern for what is to follow. So much to do. So little time. The first week, I averaged 5-6 hours of sleep and stayed awake a couple of times till 4 in the morning!

The second week has been the pre term week. I took Business Statistics and Financial Accounting. I decided against taking Quant. Before I started my pre-term I was terrified of Accounting and thought Stat would be a cake walk. The roles have now been reversed. The Prof. who taught Accounting is a marvellous teacher. She makes me feel that I can truly be comfortable with balance sheets, ledgers, journals, cash flow statements, etc., I wish I could say the same of statistics. I am now terrified of it! The Prof. who is from IIM Bangalore has successfully made me feel like a loser at Stat!!The only thing that keeps me afloat is the knowledge that my CGPA will not be affected by my pre-terms.

I’m hoping that in 2009 I can with all confidence pass out of ISB assuring the Class of 2010 that the pre-terms just don’t matter.

Au Revoir!

THE WEEKS THAT WERE!!

When my brother's wedding was fixed for the 22nd and 23rd of March, I assumed that it would be probably 3 days (21st,22nd,23rd) of heavy work.I couldn't have been further from the truth. The pre-wedding work ran mildly starting from February and hit full throttle by 18th March. I guess things were even tougher because I was cramming in all the pending stuff for ISB - preparing my loan application, CAS declaration( I think a couple of companies I mentioned might not even exist!!), worrying over a laptop( which I still am doing !!), flunking my pre-term assessments, forcing people into completing my LDP assessment etc., etc.,
My two weeks that was
17th March - Final touch-ups to the loan application, taking a backup photocopy of it and couriering it across.
18th March - Samaradhanai - Pooja for the ancestors,flunking accounting.
19th March - Begging my tailor to give me my blouses and hunting for an outrageous piece of jewellery to wear at the reception ( I think I succeeded!! One of my friends said that I looked like a tribal ;-) ).
20th March - Parlour work!! It's amazing how much confidence a female derives after a parlour job.
21st March - Mehendi and prep for velayadal!! I think I'm glad it rained monstrously. Atleast 6 people dropped out from coming which reduced my bill by 1500 bucks.Being unemployed, I can't stop counting the pennies.
22nd March- Viratham,Nischayathartham and Reception.Need I say more? Tried to sleep at 11, but due to the heavy exertion of the day, was left with a racking cough that kept me awake till 1.
23rd March - Early morning muhurtam!!:-( Woke up at 3.15 and got ready. Kasi Yatra, Malai matzhinal, oonjal, muhurtam, grahapravesam...etc., and finally head back home at 4. Felt completely drained out.
24th March - Flunked the other two pre terms, completed my CAS, booked my train tickets to hyd, filled in my arrival information and then finally headed to Chidamabaram and saw the temple there. It blew me away. The Chidambaram temple is extremely old ( more than 10 centuries apparently) and an architectural marvel. I fell in love with it. Then headed to Vaideshwaran Kovil where we settled in our cottages and played ludo!! I love board games!!
25th March - Did 5 abhisekams at the temple, had lunch and head back to Chennai.
26th March - Kept jewels back in locker and then bro and sis in law left to Bangalore. I then dived head first into Dominoes. I needed a break from heavy south Indian food!! God.. I've added soooooooo much of weight thanks to the heavy food :-(
27th,28th March - Shopping with sis and spending lots of time with her and her in laws. Very nice,friendly and open people.
29th March- I'd missed my bed lots and lots !! So slept all afternoon and then evening watched Race with cousin and had dinner at Bellaciao. Was quite tired and didn't have the energy to drag myself to the ISB Meet. Now that I'm feeling fresh I wish I had attended it. It's quite useful meeting up with the other admits. It's good to know people prior to joining school and lots of useful information to be gleaned. I hope there is another meet before I need to join school. Anyway, I can call G or M and ask them what I missed.

There's so much of work I need to do prior to joining!! :-( I think 1 month was just not enough time!!

NO COUNTRY FOR YOUNG MEN EITHER!!

Last night I saw the highly acclaimed Oscar winning movie 'No country for old men'.
At the end of the movie I couldn't help but feel cheated.I expected more from an Academy 'Best Picture' winner.

'Departed' had me clenching my hands and sitting at the edge of my seat.'Crash' moved me enough to leave me crying and thinking about it for days after I had seen it.
'No country for old men' left me -'disappointed'. I'm not saying that it's a bad movie.It isn't. The Coen brothers have a nice Western Classic here. The landscape visuals were gorgeous.The guns,shooting and killing was -classy.The accents was titillating. The acting- I have no words for it. All of the actors in the movie were fantabulous.Javier Bardem- Why was it Best Supporting Actor? He was large enough to win the Best Actor!! The movie was extremely well paced.

But still.. beyond all its merits, I found it lacking. It found the movie a little too metallic.Much too flat.
I kept waiting for the movie to talk to me.To tell me something and make me think.I was left waiting long after the credits had started rolling.I used to think that 'Babel' was the most over-rated movie.

I've changed my mind.

CATAPULTING INTO ISB!!

It's hard to believe that it was just a week ago that I was sitting in front of my workstation, my eyes glued to the monitor, alternating between the outpouring of results on Pagalguy and the ISB website, hoping and praying that I would get an admit.

My fingers turned to icicles( a feat considering Chennai!), my heart pounded nineteen to the dozen and my hands clamped over my mouth to hold back the scream of ecstasy that bubbled from within me ( quite akin to Sushmita when she won the Miss Universe title ;-) ) when I saw the ISB website read ' Congratulations!'.

I think I would like to keep turning back time to the exact moment when I realized that I had been admitted!! The euphoria and the deliriousness that I felt that day, the 12th of February, definitely beats hands, feet and any other part of the anatomy down the highest of highs that a tequila shot or a vodka can offer :-)

DON'T GO FAR OFF............

Don't go far off, not even for a day, because --
because -- I don't know how to say it: a day is long
and I will be waiting for you, as in an empty station
when the trains are parked off somewhere else, asleep.

Don't leave me, even for an hour, because
then the little drops of anguish will all run together,
the smoke that roams looking for a home will drift
into me, choking my lost heart.

Oh, may your silhouette never dissolve on the beach;
may your eyelids never flutter into the empty distance.
Don't leave me for a second, my dearest,

because in that moment you'll have gone so far
I'll wander mazily over all the earth, asking,
Will you come back? Will you leave me here, dying?

--Pablo Neruda

P.S. I would love to say that I had written a poem as beautiful and evocative as this :((

ISN'T IT IRONIC?

By Alanis Morissette

An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
Isn't it ironic ... don't you think

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought ... it figures
Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids good-bye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought
'Well isn't this nice...'
And isn't it ironic ... don't you think

Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
When you think everything's okay and everything's going right
And life has a funny way of helping you out when
You think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up
In your face
It's a traffic jam when you're already late
It's a no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It's meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn't it ironic... don't you think
A little too ironic... and yeah I really do think...

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out
Helping you out ...

HAPPY NEW RESOLUTIONS YEAR !!!

Hmm.. There is something about the start of a New Year that makes most people around me want to make new resolutions that they struggle to keep for as long as a single day.Personally, neither am I impervious to the temptations of gnashing my teeth, resolving to keep my resolutions and then cheerfully tossing those self same resolutions to the wind.
The only difference being that this time I chose my resolutions before Jan 1st and made certain that I didn't try to fulfil them on the 1st. It's like the equivalent of the saying ' Married in haste, repent in leisure' ;-). This time I chose to not marry in haste!! So it's close to a week after the new year that I have decided to start trying to fulfil my resolutions. The following are the list of my resolutions,in accordance to priority.

• Loose weight !!! - This I have been trying to do for probably the last ten years :-( But 2007 was disastrous.. I successfully gained a lot less than I should have lost to be a size 6, as per american terminology :-( Poor me :-( I am truly hoping that 2008 will be a fruitful ( sheesh.. how ironical!! ) year for me.
• Do not fall asleep while trying to read Hindu's Open Page and do more than read the headlines each day !! Alright, I am 24, and yes, I should be blushing to confess that the Hindu's open page ( umm... should I say anything beyond the first 3 - 4 pages ) is excellent at putting me to sleep. :-( *sigh* I think I shall amend this resolution to not include weekends ( Come on, everyone needs a holiday,dammit !! :-D )
• Read the Economic Times / Business Standard !! - Dammit, I hope this will be more interesting than the Hindu. I kind of feel it might be. Hindu is truly a highly geriatric paper according to me!!
• Blog reasonably regularly !! Hmm, I couldn't get more irregular than 2007 could I ??? ;-) Just imagine, even if I were to blog just once a month, I would have over taken the number of times I posted the last year!! Yipppeeeee !!
• Stop blurting out the first thing that comes to my mind !! Hmm... no comments!!

I think my resolutions are going to absolutely exhaust me. And yeah, gues what?? I've decided to start another blog to write reviews on the movies I watch!! :-) :-) Considering the fact that I watch atleast 3 per week, wow!!!

P.S. Happy New Year to All !!! Hope this year does not suck !!! ;-)