Its 4.15 am now on the 24th of December 2008 at 12.15pm my last class for the Term 6 will end at ISB and with that I will be 75% MBA ;-). This term turned out to be the smoothest and most relaxed of all the terms so far. Mostly cos i had chosen subjects like that , there were no midterms and no end terms, only about 7-8 assignments in all and the subjects were not much demanding too.
There is some guilt that i spent all the free time i got sleeping and watching movies and dint do anything that would help my career progression or my grades but then who cares I had fun and slept 12hrs a day at ISB ;-)
My term vacation starts morrow at 3pm when i board the train to go home. Its a 14 day long vacation that ends Jan 8th 2009. Cant believe 2009 is here, always kept thinking its so far away hmmm... anyways Wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Honica and Wonderful New year folks have fun.
Cheers,
--Badri--
Got loads of work today but still wanted to do some service to the world by posting this. Ordered Tasco 30 telescope on rediff shopping a few days back for Rs.300(all inclusive) Was eagerly awaiting my tryst with the stars
Product review : - Cheap chinese remake was delivered, really doubt if its an original tasco, the telescope is for kids from 8-12 years age. Totally not worth it for Adults.
Distributor Review : - Bhumi collections the guys from whom i ordered the telescope are crooks, they charged me Rs.40 extra for a surprise gift (apparently free surprise gift, but then the product was available for Rs.40 lesser without the gift) that turned out to be a dumb towel a few millimetres long. Again some chinese junk. What more the original box had some gift - the box reads telescope and glow in the night stickers. I dint get the sticker. Bhumi collection are crooks.
Rediff Shopping review: I am convinced now that rediff shopping is loaded with people taking junk from china and dumping it in India. Sad part is that Rediff doesnt allow u to post a feedback longer than 256 characters.
Buyer Review: Yet again i realize that i am dumb :-(
Finally : Hmm... I lost Rs.300 feel sad, this would go into my huge list of "money wasted on stupid stuff" at ISB, the list is led by the Rs,15K i paid for the preterms and currently and includes various other stuff like dominoes cheese burst, unnecessary parties etc.
The Bombay firings are sad, my prayers for the souls of those dead to rest in peace and for their near and dear to be able to develop enough courage to get over this agony.
Although the firings are sad , whats sadder still is that the educated, the rich of India are clueless about what they can do to help in this hour of crisis. Yes that list includes me too. That said when you cant do something good, its better not to do something harmful. You can sit silently and think of ways to help, voice your concern(is as little words as possible) and pray for the affected, try and improve national fervor- make people more patriotic. But that said ironically the educated that i am close with these days had the following to say
disclaimer : These are not my words, these are words of some educated (highly educated) but (IMHO)immature Indians.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It’s time that we pull up our socks and said that enough is enough………..It’s time we questioned our senile polity about what is being done to ensure our safety………… It’s time we stop we stop feeling and being so helpless…………"
"Its very easy to say enough is enough – what do you suggest we should do ? Go to war with Pakistan? Kill innocent Pakistanis in return? Its easy to ramble – how about some constructive suggestions, thoughts . . . . What happened to peace and prosperity – what happened to love thy neighbour – what happened to forgive and forget."
"But aren’t we have forgotten too much. Whenever there is bomb blast, we all forget it in a week. And go on with our lives. Cause by God’s grace, we did not have to go through the pain ourselves."
"Keep on forgiving, keep on forgetting and keep on reliving these moments. "
"I think we need to boycott a government which due to its inefficiency is becoming a source of pains of many fellow nations.. Killing is not an option, but pain points have to be cut out.. There is a limit to everything.. "
"Just because we haven’t retaliated ever….we are looked at as a soft nation…attack at will…kill…and kill again…Some kind of deterrence has to be developed. Forgiveness won’t buy us that."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am not sure if i am the only one who sees immaturity in all that talk, also am I the only one to notice that these people are adding to the problem by increasing the tension and through war of words and what more they haven't suggested a single thing that will help alleviate the pain, solve the problem, control terrorism.
So am I suggesting that people who cant do shouldn't talk. Not exactly , but these are people who are after big money(bigger pay cheques), these are people who wouldn't miss a day of opportunity to get richer or secure their future, these are people who would probably never volunteer to fight for the country and to me it seems hypocritical that these are the people who talk all these big words. (My apologies for the generalizing but then "some of these people" at every place i used these looks weird). Whats even more interesting some of them don't even have a voters id card or have at least skipped a couple of elections. hmmm........................
Ya i am no good either, i vote and all that , but know of no solution to the problem, so till the time I find a solution all i can say is be sensible dont flare up like the people above, most problems get aggravated cos someone chose to get flared up when he/she shouldnt have , dont spread rumours, dont give aggravated speeches and pray for those affected. (btw if you do know of a solution please stand up)
P.S: on another note, i cant believe TV channels are back at it, they are trying to improve their TRP by making people cry, what kind of a dumb idiotic question to an affected is "how do you feel now that you know you are safe here and your loved one is trapped inside as a hostage" obviously they feel sad, bad and the whole world knows it. Stop being so business minded BD and stop conducting interviews that will pierce knives into the wounded hearts.
--Badri--
Now Playing "Mundhinam partheney" - from the movie "Vaaranam Aayiram". Awesome Sax , Harris Jayaraj has done a wonderful job in this song, cant stop listening to it This number from the movie lingers in me.
Overall although the movie sucks(ok tolerable) , harris jayaraj has done a wonderful job. Too bad Gautham messed with him and they wont be working together anymore.I dont know why but i liked sameera reddy's character in the movie. But that said the movie is tolerable and can be watched only once.
Cheers,
--Badri--
Term 5 ended 1hr before schedule for me, i finished the Managing Teams exam at 3.30pm even though i could have carried on till 4.30. That ends 62.5% of our course at ISB. Although technically 5th term aint over till I turn in my FINS and NEGA assignments , i happy that the exams are over.
5th term was the most demanding of all terms so far, way too many assignments, I took 5 papers hoping to complete as many as possible ASAP but in hindsight that added way too much to the pressure.
MPSD- Managing Products Services and Development was my favorite of the 5 i took, not much pressure , good learning value and a real good prof. I know there are folks who disagree with me but then this is my view. I definitely recommend the course to anyone interested in product development.
NEGA or Negotiation analysis rocked too, Dishan is awesome and the learning value from the course is definitely very high.
MGTM or managing teams gave me mixed vibes, its a course that teaches you that people can hold only 5-7 pieces of information at a time and has a final exam that tests 20 odd concepts.
FINS was a waste of a time for a anti-fin guy like me, although the subject financial institutions was very informative, the 8 o clock class and my attraction to the subject made me sleep in every single class.
And finally OPFR - options and future, i loved this class, dont know why, wouldnt say there is much learning value from the class and dint turn out to be a scoring paper for me but was definitely fun.
Bad health, interview preps, resume preparation and all that saw to it that i missed a good number of classes this term but hopefully I will end up performing above average.
In all as with all other terms, term 5 was grrrrrrrrrr8 and yet am glad its over :-)
cheers,
--Badri--
In the last one week, in spite of the several assignments that needed completion, the resume building and the job applications and yada yada yada there have been things that have cheered me up and made me feel good. The chief among those is that several of my classmates are stopping by to say
"hey you are looking different" ?
"whats new have u put on weight" :-(
"whats up u are looking good man, new hair do or what" :-)
"hey badri looking smart yaar, putting on weight but looks good" :-)
The best part of it is that a few of those classmates who complimented my new looks are gals :-)
Anyways here is my analysis on why perhaps I am looking "good" ;-)
i) I used to sport a beard for a long long time but recently decided to do away with it
ii) I havent had a hair cut but i started combing my hair (yes i attended classes for 6 months without combing hair and with a beard)
iii) I have been wearing formals, business casuals the last few days cos of some meeting or the other.
iv) and finally this is what I would like to believe , there is an old tamil proverb that goes "agatthin azhagu mugaththil theriyum" (the state of the mind is reflected in the face).
Recently i made a decision to be free from all worries, I decided that irrespective of where i land up and where i am headed i wont gripe, I decided that I will follow the "happy go lucky" strategy. Why this sudden awakening, i was going through my blogs and realized i have griped a lot over the last 6 months(I am sorry u guys had to put up with it :-) ) and that all this griping is bringing me down and making me depressed.
Anyways bottomline i would like to believe that the change in attitude and the positive energy is reflecting on my face and making me look good.
So here is my new moto "Dont u dare gripe again"
Cheers,
--Badri--
P.S: I have put on weight , 2kgs of excess fat thanks to Pizzas with extra cheese
hypothesis : every system is flawed what varies is the degree to which it is faulty
proof : my strong belief in the hypothesis
after spending some time evaluating applications and conducting interviews i have been wondering what the ratio of drop and go errors would be in the ISB application evaluation process.
For the uninitiated
Drop error: a mistake made by a company in deciding to abandon a new product idea that, in hindsight, might have been successful if developed
Go error: a failure at any stage (but especially at the screening stage) in the new product development process when a decision is made to proceed with a product which, in hindsight, should have been abandoned.
I have also been wondering if I am an ISB student now only cos of a "Go Error" ;-)
cheers,
--Badri--
I had the privilege of being in one of the interview panels that interviewed ISB 2010 chennai and bangalore applicants today and boy was it a wonderful experience. Although the whole idea of having to spend time from 9 am to 6.30 pm on something other than studies, with 5 assignments to complete seemed daunting , i decided to go for it and i can gladly say i made a good decision.
I conducted several mock interviews over the last few weeks for prospective students but the real interviews were way more exciting. Here are some fields into which i got valuable insight
i) The diversity of people applying to ISB
ii) Self selection bias(smart people applying to ISB cos its a big brand name and the vicious circle)
iii)How to bowl questions to an applicant, how to see if he is shallow, really talented or ...
iv) How to make the applicant feel comfortable and confident before starting the interview, how to help me get on his feet if he feels helpless or nervous
and finally the most interesting
v) What is the hottest fake trait/experience that people mention in their resume to get an ISB admit
I also learnt how the process works, got to meet several good canditates, got to spend more time with the alums and thus got to know them better and personally i also felt quite important today ;-)
This being my first day at my new office i was very lenient with all the folks i interviewed but tomorrow i plan to test out my stress interviewing skills ;-) (jus kidding)
cheers,
--Badri--
Two people whose online avatars were happily married in the virtual game "maple story" , suddenly got divorced, the female got pissed with this and killed her online husband. And the police arrested her, not for murdering an online character(that would happen in 2015) but for hacking.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/10/23/avatar.murder.japan.ap/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular
My thoughts : Why don't these people get a life ;-) That said games really can be addictive.
Cheers,
--Badri--
P.S: What most important to note is how important a part of our lives Virtual Reality is becoming. We live in a dream and the dream within the main dream is getting even more precious than the main dream itself. Essentially we are trying to stay as far away as possible from reality. hah thats philosophical !!!
I guess the toughest and most demanding course in ISB although it aint a course per se is the resume and interview prep. I was staying a bit aloof and dint get started till about last week and boy did i screw myself. The last one week has been very demanding, running helter skelter getting my resume prepared and trying to locate benevolent souls(typically alums) who would do a good resume review. And in spite of all the effort i have just gotten started.
Also I hadnt formed a prep group, a team of 4-5 with similar interests in jobs and placements who will help each other in the placement preparation. Again a big mistake but thankfully it dint backfire by much since even though i started the last minute i was successful in convincing a group to take me in.
To add salt to the injury , PAEV(a course in ISB which i really should have avoided) cost us 120 man hrs last week for a 10 mark assignment. I know we could really avoided a lot of what we had done but then i wasn't successful in convincing the team. Nevertheless I learnt a lot about powerpoints(more on that later) during the course of the PAEV assignment and loved what i learnt.
Bottomline, first week of term 5, thanks to elective bidding, worries about courses to take, PAEV assignment, prep group and resumes has by far been the busiest week i have had in ISB. I have only slept 7-8 hrs a day last week (much lower than my 11hr avg) and i have scary dreams of being jobless, failing in exams etc. GOD BE MERCIFUL.
--Badri--
I have had an on and off affair with astrology the last 7-8 yrs. In the past the two times i started to read about astrology my well wishers asked to give up my pursuit thanks to Parvati's curse (apparently goddess parvati cursed all astrologers that they will have a life filled with struggles and the predictions will never be correct.)
But a recent 3hr chat with an astrologer yet again piqued my interest in the science. I was tempted to believe that it would be possible to predict the pattern of ones several past births(if you believe in the concept), ones future births and with great accuracy how their current life will shape up.
I was interested in getting the calculations right to predict with 100% accuracy 2-3 details of a persons life , instead of predicting 100 with 10% accuracy. Thus started my research project that included reading lot of material on the web and collecting as many horoscopes as possible from people whom i know well(so that i can verify my accuracy).
The plan backfired, every person I wanted data from wanted to hear some predictions, in some cases i obliged , turned out to be accurate(predicted some dark secrets of their past) and that made me want to predict more and become vain. Also I see a lot of bad stuff abt their future while reading the horoscope , not revealing the details to them makes me feel bad, revealing makes them feel bad :-)
Also there is this continued debate within me as to whether predicting the future and succumbing to fate, leads to a self fulfilling prophecy, shud at all someone who wants to surrender to god and let god lead ones life look at what fate has in store etc. Anyways thanks to the confusions for now I have stopped my research on others and am just reading my own horrorscope ;-)
--Badri--
The 4th term was kinda slow and a bit boring too. The zealous participated in several competitions and won several "spikes"(spike - a line you need in ur resume to get good placements). Sloths like me slept our way through since no subject other than INVA(investment analysis) had any subject matter in it there was really no need to study so things were cool and contrary to popular belief a few of ISB had loads of time to rest at ISB.
GSBC(government, society and business .. wateva) turned out to be the worst exam i have taken in my life time, truck load of totally useless info to mug and all you got was 25 marks (thats if u remembered all you mugged). The syllabus was sadistic and the exam was a mockery of MBA but who said its all going to be 5 on 5 , there are a few 3 on 5s and hence the avg rating of 4 on 5 for term 4.
The study group from core term(the first 4 terms) submitted its last assignment , yet again S skipped the study group meeting, I was depressed , not being too emotional but felt it wud have been good to finish as a group. But again thats how study groups work. Its a mini world there among the 5, there is competition amongst us, we dont like each other, we hide key info abt studies from each other and pretend we never knew, we gripe about each other to folks outside the grp, nobody works more than 40% but yet everyone thinks they did the most work, but yet we smile when we meet, giggle and praise each other :-) nah not all study groups are this bad some are worse. ;-)
Blew about 1500 INR on darden innovation challenge, learnt one valuable lesson though you cant innovate when people want to get things over with and give up saying "I dont have an idea you come up with one else we key in something"(the lesson only cost me a day of my holidays and rs.1500)
Evaluated about 30 application for prospects of class of 2010, felt good and nostalgic. Glad i only faffed in such a way that i got thru, many of the 30 had faffed so blatantly that even i could figure them out. Learnt a lot from looking at all those applications, no jokes here, for one thing i learnt how much potential there is in india, many of the applicants were well accomplished and with diverse accomplishments.
well now u shud have kind got some idea on why i blog only once a month, nothing much happened in the last one month to make for good posts.
cheers,
--Badri--
one lingering sentence in my mind and i wanted to make a poetry out of it. at 1.30am i continued with my want and here is the outcome, dint like it much but seemed good enough to post, especially cos i haven't posted in abt a months time now.
Like a surprisingly wonderful serein
Out of no where, the "US" began
oh how wonderful the first date
when fortune more than compensated for bringing a gal in my life late
your silhouette in the yellow restaurant lights
embellished with the glowing ear rings, over shadowing many a wonderful sights
I heard not a thing u said
although my eyes were glued to your lips so red
I do not know of love at first sight
looks and lust perhaps. i believe got morphed as love at first sight
but here i was free from looks, lust or love
chanting to the almighty, frequently wow
in this weird state for which i have no name
awake but dreaming, i dared to see you as "my dame"
a few dates later i heard you call out my name
and say your life has been different after into it i came
you hinted at we becoming us and blushed
"you are beautiful will you marry me" finally i gushed
Out of no where, the "US" began
Out of no where, the "US" began
I argue that its all false
and something bigger and better in life calls
but who am I trying to fool
after all I am in a management school
I am as much here for fame and the loot
as anyone with no spirtual root
so all these talks of morality and sainthood
are i guess cow skin to cover the fox under the hood
Hence when so many say I am wrong
and for a friend a confidant here i long
Its obvious I am making a few big mistakes
Since I am not a saint the others aren't flakes
But still the blame I try and cast on them
Even after analyzing where from their opinion stems
Oh god how self involved am I
For the mistakes I do i have no eye
My silence, and ignorance makes them smile
pretence and a pat and they like my style
I speak out their mistakes and what I opine
In their ego wounds I drop a few drops of brine
So the solution is simple - be diplomatic
it doesnt matter if some think its hypocratic
For thats what they seem to like
To your abysmal popularity it will give a spike
Alas if you are in rome be a roman
Else everything you do in here u will see a bad omen
Admit that since others see wrong it exists
stay assured that greatness and goodness in others eternally persists
for there exist only two solutions to the situation
and neither one is going to cos joy and elation
but if you choose to be you, more pain is for sure
but if you admit mistake and see greatness in others at least some fake friendship you will lure
--Badri--
While I go around telling everyone that I havent really learnt much from ISB, the truth is I have learnt a whole bunch of stuff like valuation techniques, market risks, managerial accounting, EVA etc that I really dont know how and where I will use in life. Going by the 4 years of engineering which dint really teach me anything that i couldn't have learnt myself from books and the internet (as and when i needed that skill in life) I am afraid MBA is going to end up in the same bucket too. But perhaps then its too early to predict the outcome since there are 5 more terms to go.
That said it is not like I haven't learnt anything from MBA
i) I have learnt that even at MBA level some folks feel very attached to the section, to the class, form cliques and that the song "Time of your Life " is going to push several of my batch mates into tears in about 5 more terms.
ii) Things that seem absolutely trivial to most folks, could be hyped up, become things of political interest and become things that must be done to uphold the dignity and honor of the folks, something through which team spirit is displayed even if you cant really understand how.
iii) Its ok to blast a person, shoot them down, as long as u finish your sentence with a smile, give them a light pat and say something that praises the batch or glorifies his/her team skills etc
iv) Irrespective of what people tell you they are working towards higher grades and those whom you expect least to have scored high are generally among the class toppers. ;-)
v) Apple Polishing(Networking) is still the most efficient way to get a job.
Will stick to just 5 points for now , will add a sequel to this learnings list later. its 3.30 am and too much surfing, movie watching and blog reading has driven me into the borders of insanity, making it hard for me to recollect the learnings. And ya if you think I am incorrect, I am generalizing blah blah, nope I am not generalizing, I am definitely to an extent right ;-) and these are well what I have learnt with my limited observing capabilities.
--Badri--
Clearly my "blog only if you have something sensible to say" moto is not working well for the blog post count of my blog, I haven't posted in the past one month since I dint have anything sensible to say. Well what sense could
i) The ending of third term and the excitement of going home
ii)Explosion of activities like companies visiting ISB
iii)Resume building and thus soul searching
iv) Starting of term 4 , the last of the core terms
possible make to you if you are a non-isb reader. Now having said that most of the activities that take place here, even the ones I participate in, dont make any sense to me, so obviously they wont make any sense to you too. That being the case I would never get to blog if I decide to blog sense. (deep though eh!!!) so here I go a small senseless rant after a month long hiatus.
--Badri--
Not sure if its me, or if its something that happens to every ISBian. But with the commencement of 3rd term , attending classes has become a routine display of the art of sitting through the 2hours. Its as if someone is inflicting severe pain on me and I am being patient enough to ignore it for 2hrs.
The profs are great and the subject content is good too, just that i have gotten bored of school. Cant wait for the course to complete , if ISB were to charge Rs.2 lacs and give the certificate today with a 3+GPA i wud gladly take it.
We had our midterm today and it was an eye opener, i realized how much i have gotten into the sitting through 2hrs syndrome. I was constantly looking at the clock and counting how much more time was left before i cud run away from the hall , reach my room and hit the bad - GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME :-) :-)
--Badri--
p.s: Spoke to a couple of guys in my village, guess what they are suffering from the syndrome too
Before even i start reviewing the movie , let me remind you "Idhu rajni padam alla"(this is not a rajni movie), its a pasupathy movie in which rajni has a role. In the game of cricket(Rajnis movie career) where the balls bowled are Rajni movies, this one clearly is a wide, a no ball , a ball that doesn't count.
Hence this wouldnt, shouldnt count as a dot ball(flop), in the lines of pandyan, nattuku oru nallavan and Baba.
Ok "AV" was kind enough to book tickets for a few members of the tamizh gang at ISB, and since most of us presumed it was a thalaivar(aka Rajni) movie we were more than happy to leave our chores at school at run to the cinema.
But then Vasu managed to make life (the 2hrs 40min we were in the theatre) miserable for us, while at the end of the movie some emotional(tele serial loving types) ended up crying due to the strong emotional touch in the movie, the rest of us ended up crying too for having decided to watch the movie. It was miserable.
Here is what made it miserable and what made it watchable.
i) Meena(the heroine) has always been a horrible actress, while paid re.1 to act she acts for rs.5 this movie she has acted for rs.10. Watching meena overact and her constipated dialogue delivery was a kodumai (torture)
ii) Pasupathy(the hero) is a good actor, in fact some of his performances are wonderful , but in this movie, he decided to match meena and has acted for re.5 when paid only re.1
iii) Vasu(the director) cant create anything good, so perhaps he should just stick to taking malayalam hits and remaking them in tamizh. His attempt at making the movie a rajni film(in spite of rajnis requesting him not to do so) is nothing short of pathetic. He loses track of what he is trying to convey to the audience several times, and stretches the movie far more than required to over glorify rajni. Dude vasu u dont have to do that , Thalaivar has already been deified by us.
iv) Editor Sarvana must go back to the basics of editing , apparently he doesnt seem to know when to cut or perhaps he sleeps on his job.
v) The music by G.V.Prakash Kumar although not catchy is tolerable.
vi) The art by Thotta Dharini especially in the egyptian themed song was good. Although the song by itself wasnt required(so were all the other songs in the movie)
vii) Nayantara since she dint have any acting to do, decided to show skin for re.5 while paid re.1(or perhaps now a days she exposes more for lesser pay). What was the director thinking while taking the camera aand focusing it on her thighs. And what was she thinking, she apparently is the numero uno among tamizh actresses and she seems to be trying hard to cash in on the position. But all that said she does look cute :-) And its becos of her that I could recover some of my cost on the ticket :-)
viii) Thalaivar does a cameo. Thalaivar rocks, thalaivar is the superstar(am i stating the obvious)
Vadivelu was good, Santhanam was good, Livingston was ok. Meena wearing starched new sarees while her husband dint earn enough to afford sugar or milk , while the house was in wretched poverty was as absurd as dolphins swimming in some river in tamilnadu(i am glad they stopped with dolphins and dint show the titanic). Pathetic usage of graphic, much elongated story line, horrible direction, over acting actors and too much misplaced emotion all that should summarize kuselan to about 90% , the only thing good about the movie is Thalaivar.
If you are extremely bored, got nothing better to do with your life, have free tickets, loads of time to kill , are a thalaivars fan and dont care what the story is as long as there is thalaivar in the movie , then and then alone watch kuselan else it aint worth it.
--Badri--
P.S: I am die hard Rajni fan, but then i am a movie buff to , so got to be fair in my rating of a movie and cant skew it just cos there is thalaivar in it, that said i might have made the movie sound a little more better than what it is since i am biased towards thalaivar movies. :-)
So much happening in term 3, although i dont want to bore u with all the details, there are somethings i do want to blog about.
i) New Quad and Loads of sleep
Shifted from SV(students village)2 to SV1, my room is in the middle of a small jungle , very windy and loads of fresh air and hence I spent 90% of the free time last week sleeping(otherwise i do spend only 75%).
The movement to the new quad was tough, too many things to carry, rearrange and all that movement stuff. But the cricket and football with my quadmates made up for all the pains i tool to shift.
ii) Movies movies movies
Last 4 days have watched 5 movies, 5 episodes of "The wonder years", 4 of "Friends" and a few He-Man episodes. Who said ISB is very hectic and term 3 is the most hectic of all terms.
iii) Donation to ISB canteen.
I dont wake up before 10.30 these days(on an average) so miss the breakfast on most days since breakfast closes at 10am. at Rs.55 per breakfast since I have paid for the entire year by skipping at least 10 breakfasts this term i have added rs.550 to my donations to the canteen. Wait a minute am i donating or are they exploiting hmm....
iv) Grades - no grades
The debate over grade disclosure vs no grade disclosure opened up in my batch too. Its always been there and will continue to be there. The ones who have good chance of making it to the deans list and thus into mckinsey or bcg believe that grade disclosure gives them a competitive advantage and are in support for the same. Their argument shouldnt isb stop asking gmat scores if they arent supposed to disclose grades. Thats so lame does wharton not ask for gmat scores even though students dont disclose grades there. while interviewing for jobs at isb u are ISB + your previous experience , the fact that ur are ISB speaks something about urself hence grades dont matter. But while applying to ISB itself how else can ISB distinguish u from the remaining 15000 applications. And yes its 15000 applications into ISB vs 450 people fighting for a job.
Those not in chance of making to the deans list think grades shouldnt be disclosed since it spoils the spirit. well thats lame too people find some means to compete if not on grades. Come up with some novel argument folks (btw i am neutral i just have fun watching them fight)
v) Ethics
If you dont drink is it ok to listen to the gibberish of the drunk around you. Is it ok to gossip about their 'secrets' that they so loudly declared to you while they were 'spirit'ed
vi) Speed dating party
There was a speed dating party at ISB tonight, yup u read that right. Wear red means u are not interested in a date, green u are all set, yellow u are confused, any other color is equivalent to green (i dint get that either). Well all the unmarried gals turned up in red so the party rocked :-) so there was dance and music, booze and aerated drinks like in all isb parties and no dating(no dating as a consequence of the speed dating ;-) ) at the party.
--Badri--
Si is leaving ISB to join Babsons, coming from an entrepreneurial family she decided babsons was a better choice.
Now she wanted it to be different from all the other parties at ISB so this was thrown at a pub called Scarlet Pub. The party started at 9pm and went on till 12.30am. Some 50 of us attended the same. Here are some highlights of the party
i) When i reached the party it was 10.45pm so the folks present there were already 2 hrs into the party and had guzzled dozens of flaming lamborghinis and bazookas , beers and vodkas and whiskey.
ii) I was greeted with hugs from several of the party animals on the dance floor and i immediately knew they were far too drunk. (I dont remember the last time they said hi to me when they were sober ;-) )
iii) I found out who loves whom, who thinks what abt whom, folks where in a confessing mood. i heard everything from "Man i love her a lot but dont tell her too" --- "that guy is a A.hole ....."
iv) Some of the drunk folks took to the wheels and raced us back to school - god it was scary
v) of course there was puking, shouting, dancing, jumping etc etc etc
vi) some caring folk ensured everyone reached home safe - good job I must say
vii) Everyone who was rocking from excess -anols in them (ethanol, methanol ...) felt the party was rocking, sober folks like me who saw the guys who rocked felt it was fun.
Nevertheless its one of the best parties i have been too, all the best to Si, and to the drunk folks of the day -some of you told me secrets that you really dont want me to know ;-0
--Badri--
And I am awake at 2.30 AM , forced to work on two assignments that demand immediate attention, If this is any indication of how much more this term is going to suck I am immensely sad that the second term holidays got over.
Even otherwise it was a bit of an effort and a good deal of mourning before i decided to leave home for ISB after term 2 holidays. Interestingly several of my classmates concur with my view, they mourned having to come back to. So what went wrong, why are we folks who fought our way into ISB now feeling sad to return to school after a break.
The alums tell me things will change after 8th term we wouldnt want to leave school - ya right !!!
--Badri--
Reached here this morning at around 10 am, no crowd , not much traffic on the roads. My younger bro and me walked up the mountain meditated for sometime at the caves and slept for a while on the mountain. at about 4pm We decided it was time to go to the temple and descended the mountain.
The sight that greeted us was a shocker, people people people everywhere, many important roads cordoned off for vehicular traffic, no place to move, no place to stand , jam packed crowd. I estimated the count to be around 1 lac. A policeman standing nearby said it was more like 1- 1.5 million.
Apparently a 1990s tamil flick had this hero who goes around(girivalam) the Arunachala mountain at Thiruvanamalai on a purnima day and his prayers are answered. I couldnt locate which movie it was but the impact has been astounding. A place that used to attract a few over 1000 people back in 1980 on purnima(Full moon) days now attracts 1-1.5 million. Although Ramana recommended girivalam to all who sought advice, he never mentioned anything about purnima days, but apparently Arunachala mahatmiyam the book on the greatness of Mount Aruncahala talks about the benefits of girivalam on a purnima day.
Another noteworthy fact is that most of the devotees doing the girivalam today are telugu speakers i am not sure if they are from Andhra but if they are boy they have travelled some distance.
I have been to Thiruvanamalai once before on purnima day and sworn never to visit again on a purnima day, but tomorrow being guru purnima (a day when u pay your obeisance ) to your guru I decided to visit anyways so that I can pay my obeisance to Ramana my guru ;-).
So far the visit has been anything but exciting , but nevertheless as with all Arunachala visits , its calming and has significantly recharged my spiritual batteries.
--Badri--
In continuation with my last blog post, its important one i mention one conclusion I have arrived at after spending close to 3 months at ISB.
THE LAST THREE MONTHS HAVE BEEN A REAL WASTE OF TIME
this thought has been circling in me time and again, it has taken so much share of mind that i am quite often depressed. but then thats the truth, i havent achieved anything in the 3 months, not done anything worth while. Guess its time to take stock of things and replan my future attacks.
"Arey Rey" - Sung by Karthik, from the move "Happy Days". One of the most hyped telugu movies in the recent past saw it, wasnt great but definitely wasnt bad, good time pass. But this number from the movie lingers in me.
Give it to the AMUL guys for coming up with real whacky, hoardings saw this hoarding at VIZAG and cudnt stop appreciating the creativity. Not sure who is their ad manager or if their ads have good ROI , but wateva it is , this is great stuff.
--Badri--
At the beginning of term 2 at ISB i decided I will speak as minimal as possible, the talkative loquacious guy that i am, people came to me and enquired if I was alright what was wrong etc.I gave myself a few pats on the back, felt happy and soon became garrulous . When you have a game of markstrat to play , where you are trying to fight competition and make your team win and when there is a dmop assignment to complete along with your study mate, talking becomes inevitable. And this talking leads to spill over talks with people from other sections (classmates, friends, colleagues etc).
Feeling a bit bad on breaking my mauna wrath, but happy we did well in markstrat. The competitors are unhappy that we cut prices, prices war were taboo based on unwritten agreements, but then we dint have a choice, while marketing a product to a consumer segment that feels your product is the thing for them but for the price which is $200 more than what they feel is ideal what do you do. Slash prices and thats what we did.
The DMOP assignment was very simple but still took 4 hrs thats a lot of time wasted on nothing, Is it like a protocol that two or more guys sitting to do homework must open up the class photo directory and discuss all the gals in it . And more importantly must they do it every time they meet.
Global Economics the other subject in term 2, successfully puts me to sleep, not the profs fault, the subject is too vague for me. Strangely several feel its exciting. on the other hand Competitive Strategy by Prashanth Kale is wonderful and interesting. The term is running away, its seem to be going faster than term 1 although still a day has only 24 hrs.(sorry abt the PJ).
Going by the past blogging about my birthday seems the thing to do
I posted this when i was 23
then this when 24
then this when 25
I am 26 today , and I feel old, somehow I always felt folks above 25 were perisus (oldies in tamil). And now I am in the category. But yes I have several good lessons in the last quarter(25) of which one is significant and I plan to remember it in my journey here after. Whenever I have set out to achieve things on my own, when i set goals, planned tasks I for sure failed. I kept hitting the wall, felt frustrated, sad etc. But when i took life as it came, it seems to throw nothing but happy stuff my way. Thank god for that .
--Badri--
I am not sure if its a universal problem or if it is just global, but as many underwears as you might have in your closet, on important days when you need to get ready in 10 min they are all wet, from rain, from yesterday's wash etc.
And now you run them thru the dryer two times, sometime take desperate measures and use the iron box but it doesnt help. did murphy frame some law in connection with this
on a somewhat connected note , in andhra survival is all about undies, emundie(what sir/madam), chepundie(tell me sir/madam), vinundie(listen folks/sir/madam) etc, undies signify respect. ;-)
--Badri--
Term 1 ended 5 min back with the completion of the marketing term exam.
The enlightening, rollercoaster ride through Managerial Economics, Financial Accounting, Statistics and Marketing Management comes to an end. And boy what a ride it has been, the first term at ISB, so much gyan coming from all directions, so much to learn, so much to cope up with , lots of unlearning and lots of ego bashing and humbling.
The back to school experience has been both unnerving and fun. Now its time to take stock of the situation, plan our strategies for remaining terms(hoping that we have understood a bit of how ISB works) and to party and celebrate this success of living thru term 1 .
cheers,
--Badri--
3 of 4 Exams done, the last one marketing will end in another 3 hours and with that irrespective of the grades i get I become 12.5% MBA(unless i get a F) and also live through term 1.
3 cheers for surviving, hip hip hurray!!!
To call this a rollercoaster ride would mean one doesnt know anything about rollercoasters. This was all downhill for me, a nice spiritual experience where you learn you are insignificant but yet useful ;-) . In other words Low Grades, Lower Successes, Lower Self esteem but larger network.
--Badri--
If the conclusion of the game is that I am gonna die
Then what pay off have i today to even try
Why for the sake of the lost should i cry
Why for glory and fame, aim at the sky
Isnt the end a foregone conclusion
Isnt then life all about inclusion
Through whatever happens remain calm
And perhaps read the gita, kuran or psalm.
They say to lead a good life you learn
And of course life is better the more you earn
Get to a place from where you can get all for which you yearn
All so that finally you can be ash in a golden urn
No I am not saying give up be a pessimist
But then the end is sealed i insist
To where do we go, and why do we think we exist
"My mind" keeps asking me that question and it "I" cant resist
Hah then is there a mind and a I
Or are these just two thoughts one truth and one the lie
Does the mind perform my actions or is it I
why bother if at the end I am gonna die
If you are aspiring to be ISB class of 2010 , the news is
ISB application portalopened today. As usual the essays are very interesting.
1) Please give three reasons why ISB should admit you into the class of 2010. Try to distinguish yourself on the basis of your past academic achievements, professional achievements and what you think you can contribute in terms of learning to the class
2) You are contesting the election to be the President of the ISB Student Body. Write a speech you will deliver to the student body on why they should elect you as the President?
3) You discover that your immediate supervisor is taking kickbacks. You are uncertain whether to report it. The conflict is between your loyalty to your boss and your commitment to the greater good of the company. What would you do and why?
OR
You work for a nonprofit organization that helps AIDS victims. You discover a government error that results in significantly higher funding for your organization. Do you keep the money, which you know will go to a good cause, or do you report the error?
4) (Optional) Please provide additional information, if any, that will significantly affect the consideration of your application to the ISB. Please do not repeat information which has already been stated elsewhere in the application. You may use this to clarify any breaks in education/work, inform about any other item which you think has not been covered elsewhere etc.
All of course 300 words
Tips on what to do with the application after my term exams.
ATB
--Badri--
My mid term scores were below average in all the papers. all though i started off thinking i will shoot for the deans list, i soon settled for all A-s but now it appears that the max I can get is 2Bs and 2A-s(A, B, A- are grades) and some how i am finding ways to console myself. The talk i mentioned in "The Result"(the previous post) has a line that came to my rescue
success and failure are the results of prarabdha and not of
will-power. A man may be doing only good and noble actions and
yet prove a failure. Another may do otherwise and yet be uniformly
successful.
I know this is but an excuse by a drowning man needs something to hold on to ;-)
The elections are to be held tomorrow morning and the results announced morrow evening. I came back from class today and slept for 4 long hrs. In bliss from the sleep, I decided to do Vichara for sometime. Once done with my Vichara I picked up Talks with Sri Ramana Maharishi and as if hinting at something I hit on the below talk. (Talk 422)
Will-power should be
understood to be the strength of mind which makes it capable for
meeting success or failure with equanimity. It is not synonymous
with certain success. Why should one’s attempts be always attended
with success? Success develops arrogance and the man’s spiritual
progress is thus arrested. Failure on the other hand is benefcial,
inasmuch as it opens the eyes of the man to his limitations and
prepares him to surrender himself.
Cheers,
--Badri--
What happened from may 19th to may 27th:
Mid terms got over and we blinked and its term exams in another couple of days. As if this wasnt enough pressure, we were gifted with a few assignments to keep us 'busy'. The weekend was spent preparing for the elections which in a way was a not so efficient use of time, since most of the batch dint turn up for the soapbox. But then democracy has its own disadvantages, and the person who is campaigning has to devote time for the same.
One efficient use of time was the blood donation camp that was organized here by "Team Net Impact" it attracted 263 donors and was very well managed Kudos to the team. But for my participation in the event most of the time period from may 19(my last blog) till now may 27th has been spent on not so important items. The results of mid term came out and I managed to stay below average in all exams.
Now I have an excuse for not studying, I have been practicing lines such as "man mid terms killed my enthu", "exams are not indicative of ones wisdom", "grades are not important" etc.
The campaigning for the elections along with itself brought the side effects - mud slinging, kicking some dirt and I am so much in a quagmire now that if not rescued i might drown ;-). Ok PJs apart - the campaigning has been a great experience, I got to know several things about myself, went thru a round of ego bashing, there were highs and lows and one gets to figure out who his friends are.
I have been fighting to get enough sleep and the last few days have missed my breakfast , the sad part is i have already paid for the same. And finally the subject of this blog, all the happenings and the lack of sleep have kinda drained me out, I have been running slight temperature the last two days too. All this makes me too weak and too lazy to blog.
I love analyzing website traffic data, so since I am awake and got nothing better to do checked out my blogs traffic data and these came out to be the top 3 articles or pages w.r.t "entry page" criterion
http://badrinath.blogspot.com/
http://badrinath.blogspot.com/2006/09/jaane-kya-janee-mann-pyar-ka-side.html
http://badrinath.blogspot.com/2007/05/why-do-people-marry.html
Do checkout the last one.
And yes while u are reading the stats pls put up with some more unashamed boasting :
stats for the last 5 months.
i) 7200 folks have visited my blog since dec31st 2007
ii) the avg users per day is 42 and highest is 103 (2 days ago)
iii) Most folks spend at least 2.5 minutes on my blog :-)
--Badri--
How you ever been through this feeling where you know for sure your choice A is wrong and the other choice B u havent taken is right but yet end up choosing the wrong one. What is it that forces the mind to chose A or better yet what prevents it from choosing B.
I am not talking about scenarios where one makes a deliberate , conscious decision, I am talking of scenarios where u just cant allocate thought time to choice B , times when the subconscious dominates the conscious.
Cheers,
--Badri--
Movie Name: Kaadhalan
Singer: Unni Krishnan
Music Director: Rahman AR
Year: 1994
ennavalae adi ennavalae
endhan idhayaththai tholaiththu vittaen
endha idam adhu tholaindha idam
andha idaththaiyum marandhu vittaen - undhan
kaalgolusil adhu tholaindhadhenru undhan
kaaladi thaedi vandhaen
kaadhalenraal perum avasthaiyenru unaik
kandadhum kandu kondaen - inru
kazhuththu varai endhan kaadhal vandhu iru
kanvizhi pidhungi ninraen
(ennavallae)
vaaymozhiyum endhan thaaymozhiyum inru vasappadavillaiyadi
vayitrukkum thondaikkum uruvamillaadhoru urundayum uruludhadi
kaaththirundhaal edhir paarththirundhaal oru nimishamum varushamadi
kanngalellaam enaip paarppadhupoal oru kalakkamum thoanrudhadi - idhu
sorggamaa naragamaa solladi ullapadi - naan
vaazhvadhum vidaikondu poavadhum undhan
vaarththaiyil ulladhadi...
(ennavallae)
goakilamae nee kural koduththaal unaik kumbittuk kannadippaen
goapuramae unaich chaayththukkondu undhan koondhalil meen pidippaen
vennilavae unaith thoongavaikka undhan viralukku sodukkeduppaen
varudavarum poongaatraiyellaam konjam vadikatti anuppivaippaen - en
kaadhalin thaevaiyai kaadukkul oadhivaippaen - un
kaaladi ezhudhiya koalangal pudhuk
kavidhaigal enruraippaen...
(ennavalle)
Cheers,
--Badri--
Nope its not a fancy dress contest
cheers,
--Badri--
Its 7 days since i last blogged, a full week. I was under the impression that my hiatus was only 2-3 days strong. Well we had our midterms the weekend and some preps for the midterm last week so was kinda busy. Also dint have much to blog about hence the hiatus.
The midterms revealed the creative side of the folks and several 100 spams were sent across the mailing lists. We lost a lot of sleep to score a few marks. The first part of the first term concluded with a farewell the 4 profs who handled the classes. Cant complain about teaching when you have two profs from wharton, one from duke and a Stanford phd teaching you. We had a pre midterm party and a post mid term party to shake off the exam and scoring fears respectively.
The GSB(graduate student board) elections are in a couple of days and I heard some 80 odd folks have filed their nomination to become president of the GSB. ;-)
My parents and a few well wishers were upset that I dint put in the required effort and dint strive enough to top the class. They were also upset that I stay awake till 5am (like today) and yet achieve nothing productive. In my defence
"The feeling ‘I work’ is the hindrance. Ask yourself ‘Who works?’ Remember who you are. Then the work will not bind you; it will go on automatically. Make no effort either to work or to renounce; your effort is the bondage. What is destined to happen will happen. If you are destined not to work, work cannot be had even if you hunt for it; if you are destined to work, you will not be able to avoid it; you will be forced to engage yourself in it. So, leave it to the higher power; you cannot renounce or retain as you choose. (Maharshi’s Gospel, page 5)" ;-) ;-) ;-)
--Badri--
April 12th 2008, we set foot at ISB and then commenced our PGP in Management. Its May 12th 2008 today and at the risk of quoting a cliche "time just flew" , It was hectic, It was demanding, It was fun, It was puzzling, it was interesting but whatever it was we have conquered this last one month and its now behind us. I hope the remaining 11 months fly this way too.
Cheers,
--Badri--
Its another product offering from google, and it targets the social networking domain (a domain gaining control of which is expected to give the controller access to tonnes of data in the years to come)so obviously everyone who is remotely connected with google and web2.0 savvy is already aware of its coming. But if you are one of the few who by some stroke of bad luck or lack of info missed it, here we go
Google FriendConnectLaunches today, As of now the site throws a 404 but hopefully it will be up and running within 24hrs
The tool aims at adding social networking features to any website out there, thats right friendconnect is not social networking site , but a tool that will add social networking features into other websites.
More info on the same http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/annc/20080512_friend_connect.html
disclaimer : gripe
"Red carpet" thats the theme of the party thats currently rocking ISB. gentlemen and ladies from the class of 2009 dressed in their finery, shaking a leg along with the faculty.
But somehow the party made me feel depressed. I went around the dance floor a couple of times and walked back to my room, Its been a long long time since i went into a state of depression so in an ironic way i am enjoying this depression. But what is it that has been preventing me from dancing in the last 3 parties , what is it that has lead to a severe loss of confidence, what is it that is affecting my focus and performance, what is it that is bringing down my energy levels? Several questions but one answer. ;-) Anyways partying dint seem to be the right thing to do when one has so many questions to hunt answer(s) for.
Something else happened today for the first time in a few months, someone walked up to me and said be humble man , you are outgrowing your boots. I have made a conscious effort to stay humble the last couple of years after i received a similar comment a few years back. I was surprised that i have still not succeeded after so much practice and of course i felt very upset. But yes this incident lead to the depression although it was the tipping point.
Our mid terms are scheduled this week, in about 4 -5 days from now , so the folks partying out there are making sure they unwind as much as possible, sad though that i am not able to loosen up :-( :-(
--Badri--
The GSB(Graduate Student Board) elections are in 3 weeks and folks are all geared up for the same, thanks to the several mails i have sent to the junta at least 20 people (I am not kidding) have walked up to(ran into me) in the last 24hrs and asked me the question "Are you running for the president?" when i reply in the negative their reaction is "Dude you must run for something, from all your mails i thought you will."
Now thats tricky ;-) what are trying to convey here. Anyways I am seriously considering running for the Academic Affairs Council ,Hope they meant what they said.!!! ;-)
--Badri--
Wake up at 7.15PM
Get ready and breakfast by 8.30 PM
Class in the morning till 1.15 PM
Lunch and Chit chat till 2.30 PM
Post Lunch Chit Chat till 4.30 PM
Sleep till 6.30 PM
Pooja(prayer) till 7.15PM
Dinner till 8 PM
Shopping till 10.30 PM
Section party till 12.30 AM
Dunkings till 1 AM
SV1 Party till 2.30 AM
And mid term exams in 5 days, stuff that I haven't touched and am yet to cover - everything
I am sure I am going to make it to the dean's list ;-)
--Badri--
And yes I blog and have been sharing gyan on ISB at Pagalguy ;-)
I dont know what has taken possesion of me the last two days but i have been feeling very sleepy, I slept a record 14hrs yday which is really something at ISB and today too i have slept quite a while.
So this sleepiness of mine oozed into the Economics class yday and I dozed off. From what my section mates have to say abt it , it seems I had gone into a very blissful state, the prof had walked by me a couple of times yet i dint wake up. I missed 1 hr of the 2 hrs class. And boy o boy did i attract some flakes this morning
Section Mates : - Man its 5000 rupees per hour how can you waste rs.2500
Me : Sorry dude
SM : Dude its an insult to the prof if you sleep that way
Me : Man across schools, across all prof classes , folks sleep dont they
SM : Thats not the deal I still feel you insulted the prof
Me : Sorry pal
SM: Man how can you sleep like that
Me: Well I dont know, mebbe some rare skill
SM : Dude i am serious , yday class was so interesting and still you slept
Me : Was it???
SM: Man did you do the cost benefit analysis of sleeping you have paid 17 lacs in fee and your marginal cost keeps increasing if you sleep.
Me : But i thot the fee we pay is sunk cost ;-)
SM: :Frowning: dont sleep man
Well one thing sleeping in the class doesnt seem to be a good idea irrespective of whether or not you have good reasons for why you did what you did.
--Badri--
"Aa Ante" - Sung by Malathi(of manmadha rasa fame) from the move "Arya ". This song is kinda like the anthem at ISB - at least for my batch.
The song's dedicated to SV , who felt sad that the last few days there has been no song playing in my blog.
Cheers,
--Badri--
The Stats Quiz got over this morning and then it was immediately weekend. I slept thru the economics class, came home and slept till 8 and now am chatting and blogging. There is this huge sigh of relief.
I have never been a topper and wanted to be a deans lister when i joined isb. Its been only weeks here and i have already given up on that goal. The new moto "read what u can, write what u remember, make peace with the score u get, the objective is max fun". 3 quaddies who stay locked up and read, read, read are a bit scary and dont help much in my have max fun moto but then jinka dimag hei woh tho padengey hee, but true to the new moto i have created, i have been contributing several spams to the isb students mailing list and sleeping a lot. :-)
How i wish all days at ISB stay as light as this one.
--Badri--
The study group is a very important part of one's ISB curriculum. A good amount of what you score and how successful you are here at ISB depends to a great extent on what is called study group dynamics, damn i dont know what it means.
Anyways my group submitted our first assignment last week.
Several hours of hard work, 2-3 bitter fights, long unnecessary emotional mails, 100 rupees worth of phone calls to gather folks for work and some real brain storming later we managed the assignment.
Of course there were those who did the brain storming
and then those who did the hard manual work :-) 
Pic 1 : my study grp. Me,V,P,R,S respectively
Pic 2: P
Pic 3 :Yours truly
--Badri--
Dont let your thoughts run wild, i am not going to write abt terrorism. This D company is different. They hang out together, have fun, drink beer(s), watch movies, sing songs, laugh a lot, eat maggi, play games and so on . And all this at ISB. So whats the big deal. The big deal is even when the air around here is as still as a graveyard and folks are immersed into assignments the D company does party and i am happy to be an add-on to the company for all the fun I get.
I am thinking the profs went easy on us since this is the first week of core 1 . Only 4 assignments(some teams had 3 depending on whether or not they had LDP sessions this week), Even before I could blink its the last day of the weekend and I have achieved nothing. So much time wasted. I slept like crazy today. Nevertheless I got no regrets. Some miracle happened and my Study Group got real close today. I guess the aftermath of the secret sharing that happened in the LDP session. I am told by optimistic seniors that very soon I wouldnt want to look at the faces of my study group members. I dont know about that but todays 3-4 hrs of group interaction was fun.
We discussed each other, cracked jokes, laughed together(that really helps), spilled coffee and even managed some reading. The fun was hampered a bit by the irritating erratic nature of the ISB wireless network. Anyways more on that later for its 4 am now and i still got 2 assignments to complete so its zzzzzzzzzzz time .
--Badri--
--Badri--
4 working days a week - Sounds exciting , well then you have taken the bait. I had been told how the 3 day weekend is loaded with assignments and tasks to do but i underestimated the same.
Woke up at 1.30pm (missed my breakfast for which i had paid 45 rupees in advance :-( ) and from then on it was run, catch up, run , catch up all day long (i slept again from 6 to 8 pm but that was the effect of referring to kotler). There are several assignments to do and some studious folks are scaring me further by discussing stuff like revising the week's lessons, pre read next week etc.
As if this wasn't enough at around 8.30 pm I find that I am weak and tired and put my palm on my forehead and voila I am hot (I am never hot ;-) ) . Fever - thanks to partying in the dew till 7.30 in the morning. Boy ISB is going to be on hell of a ride ....
My study group worked together on an assignment for the first time today , We met at 10pm and it took us only close to 3 hrs to solve 6 problems, the problems weren't tough but convincing everyone and escaping the vetos was. There were loads of ideology clashes and fights. It was fun and it would have been lot more enjoyable had it not been for the fever and bad headache.
--Badri--
Rather must say misplaced Its 4 AM I am still awake the party is on at SV2 mirror pool. About 100 odd dancing but somehow I have lost the enthu and the interest , I love dancing but the last 2-3 parties the enthu to shake a leg was something I cudnt find. might be cos of complex there are so many stags who can give prabhudeva a run for his money , or may be because the movements so replicate a cockroach which has been sprayed with hit and that I hate cockroaches ;-)
Anyways thats abt the dancing shoes, The first untoward incident at ISB happened to me abt 30 min back, One guy in high "spirit" punched me in my stomach twice, wasnt sure whether to hit him back or excuse him for his "spirits". Why did he hit me , cos i wasnt dancing, and yes he did shower some expletives too. Wonder how educated, high IQ folks in some wonderful professions can get very high "spirited".
--Badri--
One week of core terms is over, the first week, loads of misconceptions, loads of fear , loads of anxiety got removed only to be replace with new loads ;-). I am weak have been loitering around the campus with no mood to hit the books. We have a party in our village today to celebrate completing the one week. A new week starts morrow morning with this weeks assignments ;-)
First class of Leadership development programme happened today , I dont subscribe to much of what was told but I need the grades so will follow whatever order that is made. I was very pleased to see the feedback people had given about me one of my colleagues had written "Badri should continue to be badri" in reply to a question "What is your advice for the person" I was touched. Of course a couple also mentioned that I was arrogant (yes they will get touched ;-) ). Will write sometime in detail about LDP. For now me heading towards the dance floor. Wheres the party tonight in SV2 Wheres the party tonight at ISB Wheres the party tonight.....
--Badri--
Did i mention that most folks at ISB, their parents, their spouse, children, uncle , aunty, chacha , chachi and et al have only 3 goals here at ISB
i) 1 crore salary
ii) Dean's List
iii)McKinsey or BCG
Weird though cos BCG or McK really dont pay 1 crore. Anyways we will discuss that later. The Deans List is a big thing out here.Located this video on youtube(thanks to intra ISB spams) that spoofs the deans list at INSEAD.
Cheers,
--Badri--
No more parties, no more hanging out, no more loitering in the lawns, no songs , no gala, no cafe coffee day. Everyone is locked up in their rooms or in the LRC doing one thing - reading. Its strange the kind of change the atmosphere here has had, scary too for those who were all gala till like 3 days back are at their tables reading 8-9 hrs a day . And its only day 3 of core term 1.
I understand the one crore salary pressure part and the requirement of the so called 'spike' in academics that a Mckinsey or BCG job needs but then aren't we missing something critical here by being all studies, aren't there other things to take from a MBA.
Had my first quiz today , it is supposed to contribute 5 marks towards the overall grade , i managed to score 4 and guess what i am at least one standard deviation away from the top mark ;-)(yes it was a stats quiz)
Have been reading the blogs of several alums and its surprising how they have gone thru the exact same thing we are going thru, 3 years from their batch ISB life still is the same.
waiting for morrows class to end so that I can earn a well deserved weekend(hopefully). I am in a dilemma now should i go to sleep or read (when in rome be roman)
--Badri--
Dont believe me see this 
I am told the reptile was abt 3 feet long. 
And sadly , I am also told that the reptile was sentenced to death for entering a students room :-( :'-( why cant humans make peace with other living forms,at least to the extent possible, monitors are traded as pets elsewhere in the world :-( :-(
--Badri--
Now this gal walks upto me and says - "hey arent u the guy who wears the white paint something on your forehead, why do you do it are you a shiv bakht". Nope i am not cheer leading for the Shiv Bakths squad(I dont mind actually) and hence its not paint. Its sacred ash and why do i apply it long story .....
I figured out that one way of keeping up my spirituality and spiritual leanings at ISB to get into some discipline and rituals (as much as i dont like rituals) so I do madhyanigam(a kind of pooja done in the afternoons by brahmins) everday. And when i do something with interest i do it properly so i smear the sacred ash at places where its supposed to be smeared and that my lady is the reasoning.
But what abt the shiv bakht part. Arunachala Siva , Arunachala Siva , Arunachala - I am a devotee of Arunachala .
--Badri--
I am amazed at my skill of coming up with new titles quite some improvement i would say. Yesterday wasnt that eventful so dint blog, Went to RK mutt, slogged with Stats and economics (Pre read for todays class, imagine having to do a pre read of 100 pages) till 2 am and it was all OHT (over head transmission)
Woke up scared this morning and took my place in the stats class(boy have i got good seats, even though the chair creeks a lot giving me unwanted class participation points.) Enter Bob Stein , he rocks , this is my first class with a foreign professor and I must say there is a marked difference between his teaching style and that of the other indian professors who handled some classes for us (who btw are from some very reputed B Schools in india). He was a bit too fast for my grasping abilities but well he dispelled my fears of lack of preparation and some how managed to drop some statistics gyan into me. (Never knew what i was talking about when i answered my isb interview panel saying "well i want to join isb cos of the great international faculty it has blah blah" now i do).
Economics class was interesting too, we played a game and I made Rs.3.50(I could have made 5 had i understood the concept better). I know its just one class and really too early to comment on faculty and teaching but so far so great.
My study group(a gang of 5 which is supposed to enrich each others knowledge by their diversity and work together on some assignments) met officially for the first time today and guess what - one person was missing ;-). Thats abt it so far wasted the last 2 hrs in chit chat , so i guess its time to get to studies - pre read for morrow's class
--Badri--
April 25th - Day 14th at ISB. we have received mails from the profs or the academic associates regarding the core term subjects. In a way its a bit scary. The core terms start monday april 28th.
The first proper (but informal) consulting meeting happened 25th night with two alums from BCG, the junta had several questions to pose and the alums patiently answered each one of them. Yet again it was proved that ISB's greatest assets are the alums.
Post the meeting there was a back to school party(remember core starts monday), the participation in this party was way lower than the previous 3. But nevertheless the party was on.
Folks have started purchasing books now for core 1 and some are also giving the books a read.Its weird that I am yet to gear up . I registered for the preterms to get into the practice of sitting in class for 6hrs a day and to do homeworks etc. But what do i really do, sleep till 1.30, skip classes never do home work, so much for match practice.
--Badri--
April 24 - Day 13 at ISB inauspicious you could say . It has been in a way, I am running low on enthu, something crept into me that says ISB is just another "Indian" school. Nah i dont mean to insult India or ISB by any means, but its just a thought , mebbe when i pass out if you cross me i will give u a totally different opinion.
Some how everything i see the folks (the majority) doing seems to be gearing towards the rat race , acting "smart" in class, asking utterly useless doubts (neither contributing to class or themselves), PR building to run for presidents of various clubs and activities, getting into cliques and working secret "strategies of combat" and above all wanting to go to consulting and especially mckinsey.
I was hoping i will discover my strengths and weaknesses, realize whats my passion and here i will see a class that has wide variety of interests. But then cant blame them either its our schooling and the way we are brought up. And yesit must be noted that i am a part of the system too and i behave much the same way.
Another note worthy thing was the discipline part, we are divided into sections and although it would be impossible to switch sections during core terms during pre terms it is possible and very easy too , since there is no attendance marked. So people switch sections at their will, making it a tad inconvenient for others to find seats also several attend the preterms without having paid the preterm fee (atleast thats what i hear several griping ;-) ). now that begs a question at ISB one of the leading schools arent folks expected to be more disciplined or ethical ? well u might want to pose the question as, is doing this unethical ? ..... hmm so lets just agree its a thing of perception .
Also from another angle, while we are at preterms I really cant understand why ISB cant make the preterms free.
--Badri--
P.S : did u notice the change in the title
I have been dunked 3 times so far at ISB, this one is the latest, just 2 hrs old.
April 23 - Moms bday so wished her at 12 am, woke up at 5.30 am thanks to appa's gift (the alarm clock) but went back to sleep to wake up at 7.45, rushed to the 8 am stats class but went in at 8.15 ;-)
Slept thru most of it, Accounts was good, post that from 1 pm to 4.30 pm spoke with seniors/staff and picked some gyan. Realized what i had been told several times before by seniors ...
-- if u are an ISB aspirant and thot reading my blog doesnt pay , well here is the news that might change ur mind and help u save 15k perhaps even more --
... the preterms arent worth it. I shouldnt have taken them(Talk about sunk costs ;-) ). Decided to walk out of the math class midway and went to RK mutt, came back at 11 and joined the swimming pool dunking party, although only 1 of the two bday boys turned up 11 of us got dunked and it was fun :-)
Cheers,
--Badri--
P.S :Can you believe it dozen days gone
One of my all time favorites, a bit dated but nevertheless absolutely wonderful. TMS as usual is extraordinary , Kannadasan in wonderful and Asokan is amazing in his acting. Sorry the quality of the sound track isnt that great
Movie: Vallavanukku Vallavan
Year of release: 1964
Music: Vedpal Verma
Lyrics: Kannadasan
Singer: T.M.S
Lyrics:
Orayiram paarvaiyile (of one thousand eye sights)
un paarvaiyai naanariven (yours i shall identify)
un kaaladi osaiyile (in the sound of ur footsteps)
un kaadhalai naan ariven (your love i shall identify)
indha maanidar kadhalellam (the love of these mortals)
oru maranaththil maarividum (shall change in one death)
andha malargalin vaasamellam (the scent of those flowers)
oru maalaikkul vaadividum (will vanish in one evening)
nam kaadhalin dheepam mattum (but the light of our love)
endha naalilum kooda varum (will continue to shine along forever)
Orayiram paarvaiyile
un paarvaiyai naanariven
un kaaladi osaiyile
un kaadhalai naan ariven
Orayiram paarvaiyile
un paarvaiyai naanariven
indha kaatrinil naan kalandhen (in this breeze i merge)
un kangalaith thazhuvuginren (and brush your eyes )
indha aatrinil oaduginren (in this river i merge)
un aadayil aaduginren (and in your dress i dance)
naan pogindra paadhaiyellaam (in watever path i take)
un poomugam kaanuginren (your flower-like face i see)
Orayiram paarvaiyile
un paarvaiyai naanariven
un kaaladi osaiyile
un kaadhalai naan ariven
ISB has started winning the battle I woke up a little early today at around 11am. struggled to sit thru the 4 hrs of classes, the profs rocked, but the mind and body arent tuned to sit and concentrate for 4hrs. But then that was the mission objective behind taking the 8 days preterm , to get myself geared up.
Folks have started studying , library or LRC(Learning resource centre) as we call it has issued several books today to the batch. the cliques have closed the shows and vacated the lawns, they are all locked in their rooms doing the one most important thing we came here for - reading. Learnt to day in statistics that " you have your head in a hot oven , and your feet in a freezer on an average you are very comfortable!!!" -
--Badri--
April21 : First things first i need a new title for this line of posts.
Anyways happily slept till 11-12 noon and went to the pre term classes that started at 2.30. I realized i have lost all my ability to sit thru 2continuous hrs of lecture. The body wont sit straight , the mind wont concentrate and the eyes wont stop closing and of course the mouth started yawning every time the prof looked my way.
The stats class that got over at 4.30 was interesting, never knew stats cud be fun. The math session although humorous was pretty long drawn and a bit boring. It went on till 7.30. Dinner, some chit chat and then the first internal club meeting. The guys took their enthu to the next level by organizing the first club meeting today, The consulting club meeting attracted pretty much everyone in the class. But it was just yet another gyan session. All marks to folks for taking the responsibility but it cud have been better.
Then played dumb charades for like 2 hrs from 12 -2 outside my village, interesting movies like "peticoat key neche kuni ...." came up(and there were gals playing with us). My calendar has no open slots left since from tomorrow onwards we have a series of internal meetings planned.
--Badri--
Of course we werent born knowing everything and we do require how tos to find out how to do certain things, even if they seem really simple and/or weird
So here are two interesting how tos i found today , well i wasnt searching for any they just showed up on google ads ;-)
http://www.wikihow.com/Wear-a-Pancha-Kachcham
and the most interesting
http://www.wikihow.com/Put-on-a-Loincloth
And for those of you who are wondering why to wear a langoti, well the first para of the how to page seems to answer that
--Badri--
Why why why do i have to surf the web till 7.30 in the morning sleep till 11.30 am spoil my health, reduce my sleep even when there is nothing compelling me to do so and my peers are effectively using the time to study.
20th april 2008, day 9 at ISB , I woke up at 1pm perhaps that how long u sleep after attending a party till 6 in the morning.
Today was a day off for us from a tiring 8 day stint, most of us went into the city for dinner, lunch or a hyderabad tour. I personally went to Ramakrishna Mutt and spent some time with Thakur.
There has been a bit of an unwinding today and folks can be seen loitering around, chit chatting , relaxing etc. The preterms begin morrow the 21st. Most who arent taking the preterms have left for their homes and will return once the core terms start on 28th.
We are being bombarded with mails from our batchmates these days. Everyone wants to discuss his/her field of interest, get to know like minded people etc So there are mails ranging from golf club to consulting club and oil and gas enthusiasts. Ironically everyone who sends out a mail seems to apologize for spamming. At the last count it was 124 mails in 4 days. which is interesting considering the fact that some of us are yet to get our laptops. I personally contributed 3 mails to the list of 124. but i wasnt discussing clubs so hope i wasnt spamming.
Spoke to the IT folks about mail lists , they cudnt impart much gyan so waiting to meet some of their bosses and get things sorted , hoping that with mailing lists in place (i see that the previous batch has created several) the spams will reduce.
--Badri--
P.S: is sending mails trying to collect like minded people a PR building exercise ;-)
P.S1: a good number of the class has started studying , some even seem to be studying in groups :-(
P.S 2 :I have been thinking I should add more pics to this blog and incidentally some batchmates suggested the same too, will see what i can do about that.
Does "This is the last time you will get to do something for them , they have done so much for you, so please contribute generously" constitute emotional blackmail ???
The 19th of april 2008 , started at 12.45 pm for me, thats right i managed to sleep that long even at isb. so what all did i miss out on while sleeping.
i) Some gyan sessions
ii) A guest lecture by someone from Azim Premji Foundation(which i hear was good)
iii) loads of study time.
What did i achieve about 10 hrs of good sleep. The "Talent Nite" took place in the evening , I danced with some friends and we spent most of the afternoon preparing for the same.
The farewell party scheduled for 11 pm started at 12 midnight , i was there till 2am but felt bored and sleepy. I guess event the party enthus wear off , like other things to which one is over exposed one gets bored about.
--Badri--
update : went back to the party at 3am and am back now(6 am), the party is still on, from the crowd on the dance floor i presume it will go on for another hour. There was a lot of emotional overflow , the alums were hugging each other and crying. I dint know this one year here could create such emotionally intimate relationships.
Barry Schwartz, a professor of Social Theory talks about the perils of too many choices in affluent western societies in this TED talk. His focal points are that when people are presented with too many choices, they either
- get confused and procrastinate decision-making
- make a hasty choice and repent for not making the perfect choice
- feel dissatisfied with even the best of choices for not meeting their expectations
Prasad in a blog of his with the similar title from which i have borrowed the above paras with professor , Prasad says people who cant make a clear selection when presented with choices are duds.
Well , what do you know, I find now that me and many of my batch mates at ISB are duds, why cos there are multiple choices when it comes to any activity at ISB and most of us are left confused.
You want to join a club well there are only 20-30 of them, you want to
specialize in something that should be easy only 5 diff specializations and 30 different career profiles for each of them .
Oh the choices !!!!
Of course choices are good but not in a one year course ;-) at least not for duds like me i am sure i am going to spend most of the next 6 months wondering where i want to go post ISB.
--Badri--
Today 18th April 2008 is our 7th day at ISB, i realized my blogging at 1 am and 2 am was leading to confusion about the dates hence the clarification. The orientation week is almost coming to an end. just 1 more day to go.
Today has by far been the most relaxing day in our stay here, I skipped the gyan sessions in the morning and that allowed me to sleep till 9 in the morning, Just one pedagogy session to attend at 1 pm that lasted till 3pm and then we were free to go.
The football and cricket finals are going on, the non-sports enthusiast that i am , i got to steal some time from there too and spend it at the swimming pool. There is the screening of a movie(which was made at ISB by a alum) at 11pm that i hope to catch. Some of us are preparing for the farewell party thats morrow. I helped design the invitation to alums(co08) for the same. There is also a talent night scheduled morrow and when i walked past the village i could see folks crooning and shaking their legs in preparation for the talent night.
--Badri--
P.S: - Everywhere I turn I see IITians or delhiites or Delhi IITites , so much for diversity :-)
Today was both good and bad
Good cos - I got to skip the gyan sessions
Got the wireless in my laptop fixed
Attended our first case study which was wonderful
Attended the leadership programme which was great
Had section gyan (sec E) which was good too but for the prolonged intros
Skipped the club gyans
Attended a party from 11pm to 4.30 am , danced so badly that my knees pain inspite of a good hot water bath
Bad : - Cos i believe its going to get more hectic going forward and i am yet to manage the current schedule properly
The class diversity and strength is scary almost everyone is a stud
ISB is not helping my spirituality,
I had known from what i had heard from seniors that the materialism and sexuality at ISB will be damaging to my spiritual pursuit. I had strongly followed parahamsas warning and tried hard to stay away from women and gold, But the seniors were proved right, constant chit-chats and flirting(or attempts at flirting) at ISB arent helping me. I know i got to stop but its too tempting. As far as materialism goes , well there is competition here, hence there is competitiveness and jealousy and that doesnt help too. I cant blame ISB for it , obviously its my perspective thats harming me but in any case i am mentioning it since the same has become an integral part of my isb life now.
I already feel that I have lost all the spirituality i gained by staying at thiruvanamalai for 4 days. (can people lose the good karmas they have earned ;-)) I guess only time will tell how well i stay spiritual through the course.
--Badri--
Loads of gyan(thru all of which i slept), cricket, football and one more prank by seniors should summarize the day. But i must mention that i am not able to comprehend why we are being bored with so much Gyan.
one Mrs. Middleton gave us a lecture today on Leadership and it was a great session. Nothing more worth mentioning except that the day was tiring like all others that i have spent here.
--Badri--
P.S: The cricket , football sessions showed that everyone in my class wants to be the captain ;-). Some smart ones amongst us took charge and started organizing a party for the alums at campus. They are smart cos they started without consulting others, of course this morning they made an announcement and included the others.
Nah I am not thinking abt writing a day by day update, just the orientation week and then on whenever i find time
yday was loads of fun filled tiring activities all played out in the hot sun, the objective was to get to know each other and build stronger team relationship, Post that we had an informal party at 11 pm. The activities themselves ended around 7pm.
I had abt 30 min to spend at the swimming pool yday and that was good, what did i realize, whatever be the field there are folks in my batch who are way better than me :-)
--Badri--
The morning started at 9 am today with a series of really boring lectures. I slept through most of them. Post lunch we had a treasure hunt , which although it made us run a lot was quite fun. Finally I got thrown into the swimming pool as part of the treasure hunt. ;-)
I got back my laptop today from the ISB IT team , they installed a new license of windows but removed all my drivers, took me close to 2.5 hrs to reinstall everything and I am still not done with the wireless connectivity. The internet connectivity is very fast here.
The series of informal lectures on the clubs here starts today , actually one such lecture on the placom is in progress right now.
There was a party last night, but i dint find it really interesting even though the DJ did play good numbers, i am told that post 1 am the party got real interesting.
Our study groups got formed today .
--Badri--
The day started at 9.30am today with orientation week.
Last night we partied till 3AM but yet i managed to wake up at 8.30 this morning.
There was a serious gyan overload this morning from 9.30 to 11.30 (we are having a break now, gyan continues at 2.15 , its 12.45 pm now). The breakfast in the morning was great.
The breakfast was followed by a gyan session by Prof. Ramachandran, which was then followed by a gyan session by Mr.Rangnekar. There was a presentation on the accomplishments of the previous batch , which was followed by the intro to the current batch(my batch) and our salient points.
Like
i) Rocket scientists
ii) Gold medalists in their univs
iii) Viren (X Indian hockey team captain)
iv) someone with 15 patents etc it was a bit intimidating but then I am a part of the class too so its ok.
There was some serious gyan sessions last night with the seniors , I am soon heading towards a pressure cooker syndrome and I am only into middle of day two.
:-)
--Badri--
Update : post lunch there was another 3 hrs of gyan on what each club at ISB does and what should one do if he/she wants to run the club.
Some "wake up" games were organized by the co08 which was fun.
The co08 made a desperate attempt at a prank when at 5 pm they called us for a medical examination. Although many of us had predicted the prank and wanted to counter it at lunch time itself we couldnt. Any case their prank was decently succesful , cos quite a few got scared by their skewed medical reports and one gal even started crying ;-)
Its 9 pm now , i feel sleepy, hungry but there is a party at 10 that i dont wanna miss.
--Badri--
Although I dont plan to write a day by day account of my life at ISB, I am convinced the very first day here that life here is going to be exciting enough to get recorded very often.
Today was the registration day, but for the long line for the Bank Loans the rest of the stuff was exciting and pretty smooth, the planner and the timetables that were distributed were scary... but I guess thats what we signed up for.
We were given a case study the very first day, one that talks about a problem at ISB. (more on that later).
My laptop has been taken away from me for scanning and stuff like that, once i get it back, will blog in detail.
--Badri--
