Chinese curses and perspective

I wonder what those in the ISB class of 2009 have been feeling, ever since the world went to hell in a hand-basket, or so it seemed starting September 2008. If they’re like me and my peers from the batch of 2006, most of them took a break from their in-progress careers to “upgrade” their qualifications, to potentially change career tracks and definitely to improve earning potential in the medium and long term. Some, with very specific thoughts on where they wanted to be, others, with a much foggier idea, looking to ‘sample the menu’ as courses unfolded and options made themselves available.

The challenge, I clearly remember wrestling with, was to show patience and refrain from the temptation to latch onto whatever job opportunity came along first. Seniors philosophically remarked how a large percentage of the batch would’ve switched jobs come month two, so it didn’t even really matter what you picked on campus anyway. Wonder how I would’ve reacted to being told that the challenge wouldn’t be “which” but “if”. The atmosphere in a highly competitive environment is brittle at the best of times, with CTC comparisons and “sexy” industries or job functions causing people to fret about the appointment letter in hand just because “so-and-so got offered xx” and “the other got into that much vaunted field of xxxxxx”.

As those who’d “been-there-done-that”, most of us would nod/smirk knowingly when hearing about the current batch talk about the nightmare that term 2 was or how sleep-deprivation was so big a deal. It’s been almost three years since I graduated. I know a lot more now about my career preferences than I did while handing over the key to my room in SV2-H12. Yet, I’m glad I’m not answering questions about how to deal with the scenario that seems to have paralyzed so many companies into freezing recruitments.

Logic suggests, its temporary. Logic suggests, only businesses operating out of 4 X 4 Sq feet and selling crushed betelnut with an assortment of flavours and wrapped in betel leaves, namely corner paan-shops can afford to not continuously induct fresh managerial talent, and expect to grow and satisfy investor expectations. Logic suggests that the great Indian middle class that has got its first taste of Mcdonalds, Playstations and Power-steering will want more, much more. Logic suggests that this phase should be a very short-lived hiccup in an otherwise upward trend. That come 2012, those of the current batch will be a more sought-after battle-hardened group of professionals than those preceding them.

Logic, struggling at the best of times to explain the gaps in the actualized versus the expected, is going to be even short-handed now. It’ll be a challenge to take the measured decision rather than the convenient one. Here’s wishing them all the ability to maintain that elusive animal called perspective in times, that the Chinese, call “interesting”.

On never losing teammates

Passion. It’s a lot rarer than we might think. Most often its mistaken for Drive, of that there is plenty. The professional who puts in 90 hour weeks, the sportsman who trains for the better part of each day, they’re all driven. Passion is so much purer. The pursuit of an activity or an endeavour, not because of what it leads to, but for the sake of the pursuit itself. The means is the end, in fact, there is no end. We come across it all too fleetingly in our daily lives. At the time I write this, I’m having a hard time thinking of any everyday examples from my personal encounters that can be categorized as passion. And it was one such clear example that got me started on this post.

L Rama Krishna (RK to us) had it. He one of those I made acquaintance with at ISB. I first met him during one of the dinky little indoor cricket matches played with a tennis ball and a couple of bats that had seen better days and also during ’07 application-review sessions. A rake thin structure, a bushy moustache, any guesses on his age would fall in the 40 – 50 bracket. It was his enthusiasm that you noticed, be it when he batted, bowled or even more when he fielded.

It was later, on seeing his email addressed to the student group id, inviting those interested in playing for the ISB cricket team, I realized, his interest in the sport was combined with significant talent and experience at the club level. As is my wont, I set aside brightly burning assignment submission deadlines, trooped off to tear around a mostly grassy field, lobbing a 165 gm leather sphere, waving a block of wood and called it therapy. My cricketing endeavours are all well-documented on this blog, a little too well-documented for some. We played half a dozen games against teams from various companies, lost all except one. But, dang, did we have fun. The game we won was our last at ISB.

Placements rolled by, term 8 parties did too, the next ISB batch moved in. Over 8 months after graduation, RK sent an email talking about his new role on the office of admissions and financial aid. I congratulated him and asked him how the cricket was going, for good measure adding in brackets “(was part of the 06 cricket team)”. His response was a good 1-page long, talking about how good the current team was and how they’d won 3 out of 4 games that season.

What will always stay with me is his chiding opening to his response “How can you think that I’ll forget you? A cricketer doesn’t forget his teammates.” As if to prove his point, he went on to recount, in commentator-detail, a couple of shots I’d played in one of our games.

RK passed away on August 13th 2008. Rest in peace buddy. Here’s to always being teammates.

placements 2007

The 3rd week of february has got to be without doubt that time of the year when the ISB is at its worst. Stress, insecurity and self-doubt hit record highs and there is a nervous tension in the air that would need nothing less than a chainsaw to cut through. Slight deficiencies in EQ all but completely overwhelm way-above-average IQs into having otherwise level-headed individuals fervently hunting for shortlists, even for jobs that they couldn't care less about. Sanity takes a sabbatical as the evil twins (not the ones in the Coors commercials)...brand and CTC wreak havoc on peoples equilibriums as the desperation to find that role that can be appropriately flaunted (to ex-colleagues and friends) for fear of being asked the question...about why the expected quantum leap on both fronts ended up seemingly as a stuttering step?

Was there for placements and needless to say, being on the other side of the panel was a revelation...to see one after the other individual...sporting impressive CVs...but for those few minutes, concerned about making an impression and trying just that bit too hard. Been there, done all of that, got the t-shirt and yesterday, got the helicopter view as well. Finally made 5 offers, which is substantial for a firm this size. More importantly, hoped to have atleast conveyed that none of those designation/company combinations were the 'be and end-all' and that things were only getting started for each individual of the batch of 2007

And even with the high level of stress and the higher pulse-rates of all the impeccably dressed individuals out there, the ISB environment, even at its theoretical worst... what an environment to be in!

Of arrogance...

"You guys are arrogant"; words from one of the Delivery Managers who was giving us this presentation on a certain business unit at my new job. The ten-strong batch of inductees (6 ISB, 3 IIMC, 1 IIML) into the Business Analyst track looked at each other, with some incredulity. He went on to add how management grads from the premier institutes tend to have little patience when working with people of 'conventional' and 'ordinary' caliber (both his words not mine!) The problem he said wasn't limited to management grads and was present in engineering graduates from the illustrious IITs. Quoting himself as an example of the latter, he explained how 'we' (apparently we were the latest additions to the fraternity), join any organization with expectations of revolutionizing the way it conducts its business, making sweeping changes to its strategy working in teams with other like-minded individuals. The reality, however, hits when your job description is anything like the expectation and your responsibilities are almost identical to those being handled by that deadbeat who graduated from <gasp> a tier-II college! Indignation turns to disillusionment as your performance on the job seems to be no better than his and you reason that the mechanical nature of the job shackles you from unleashing your true potential (" even a monkey could do this job!"). The true challenge, he said, was to work with people, and get work done, not judging them by the names on their degree certificates (in our case diplomas).

Well-intentioned advice all of it, in fact would serve us well to keep in mind some of that. A year and a half ago, when my peer group was mainly engineering graduates from various colleges affiliated to Mumbai University (not too favorably compared to the Carnegie Mellons of the world), I would've been inclined to agree. Just look at those schmucks in suits with fancy titles who seem to do little else but attend meetings all day! The proverbial shoe's on the other foot and I find myself protesting that very idea, so energetically propounded by the DM. I only speak for those of us who, after not insubstantial experience in various lines of work, set out to obtain that management degree. By no means is it a slur on fresh graduates, but I think as individuals, the former group puts more on the line. Putting careers on hold, be it to attain incremental growth or to switch tracks altogether, is dicey business. Its only during the course that does one realize that its much more than an additional qualification to add to your CV, its a completely different way of looking at the business of running a business. So, I think its completely fair that we then come out of B-school demanding more from our jobs, in some part in how big the figure on our paycheck is, but more importantly in the exact nature of work. Exposure to the different facets that go into running a successful business means that you have a much better idea of what you'd be good at doing and anything different is just a waste of everyone's time. I think its this finickiness(sometimes confusion?) about what you want to do that comes off as arrogance.

So, no, we're not arrogant, but we sure are proud of our alma mater and there's nothing wrong with that...

deja vu..all over again

It's official...Ya Ali is the Kajra Re of 2006! Ok, for those who're wondering if I've completely lost it, had been to my first party post-ISB. The open air, the man-sized speakers (and i'm not alluding to individual organs), a DJ who 'seamlessly' shifted between trance and the latest hindi hip-busters, a booze counter that was easily the most popular area...and get this...a tiled dance-floor...u know..the kind made up of infinite tiny pieces of bathroom tiles?! weird...but for some of you reading this, the resemblance to any ISB party would've jumped off the screen to make itself obvious. Except there was only one ISBian around...ok...maybe a couple from the IIM's but since when do they count! ;) Was still fun...some very old friends...some brand new ones...Another distinct difference was I couldn't keep raiding the booze counter (it was free of course), simply coz I'd then have the unenviable task of explaining to mom why I was weaving to and fro on my way to bed. But, fun nevertheless. No such qualms starting tomorrow for the duration of the weekend...especially on the various roof-top restaurants in the city with the surprisingly beautiful but deserted beaches (well, as of four years ago)...zubhaan allah...blame fm and all those fanaa promos

G(6-1) Reunion

The first G6 reunion in B'bay was all of the things every G6 meet in Hyderabad was...good food...even better conversation. Except that it wasn't quite all of us and hence can't be called an official reunion, therefore the title. K was missing (latest reports from campus suggest he really wasn't missing anything ;). S and I met up to pick S at the airport, needless to say the wait for him to emerge was probably longer than the duration of his flight from Pune. He was to spend the night at his friend's place, and hence we decided on early refreshments at this mexican sounding lounge. Its gonna take me longer to remember all the new places in B'bay. C and V joined us as S shopped for a suitcase big enough to hold the contents of his 'carry on' (talk abt understatement!). The usual banter as we looked to convince C that Chennai was more happening than B'bay cud ever hope to be and why he should take the Citi Ops role there. Finally deposited S at his friend's (for what was s'possed to be a dinner outing) and meeting adjourned with future meeting dates specified...'Solstice' and the Dubai Shopping Festival...There's a reason why leaving that campus for good sucked...just had dinner with a large part of it...

G6: The Code

As we speak, a horde of fresh-faced newbies is registering at the LRC counter and trying to distinguish between the identical looking Student Villages and looking hopelessly at the rather unhelpful towers to find the way to their allotted quads. To think, some smartass would be shamelessly intruding in the 2nd village in the 12th room in H-block. The runt might even be walking around that quad with some sense of ownership by now! In fact, its possible that all four occupants might now be in there thinking G6 HQ actually belongs to them! Only if we'd followed through on my idea to booby-trap the place when we left! Darn it!

Come to think of it, one glaring error on our part was to not have nailed a 'Code of Conduct' to the living room wall. Guess it'd go something like...

G6 CODE OF CONDUCT

You have been bestowed with membership to an elite cabal and your conduct should at all times be fitting a member of this group

Acad Centre

1. One of your primary duties on campus is to make sure the catering outfit (Sarovar in our case) remains profitable always. You will use any and all means necessary to ensure this, be it by spending approximately 4-5 hours in the cafe ordering beverages and food. Quality of food is never to be questioned
2. You shall be the good samaritan who allows his batchmates to obtain morale-boosting points on the CGPA curve
3. You shall not spend inordinate amounts of time in your room (this ties in with #2 above). Any time available should be spent in the cafe or other locations as will follow

Parties

1. Turn up at every party, be it an elaborate GSB shindig or a beer 'n' chips, BYOB affair. This is non-negotiable
2. You shall stay till the last song has been played and leave only when the DJ has disconnected the speakers
3. You shall make every attempt to use up the entire stock of alcohol available at the bar. Your batchmates will help, but take responsibility.
4. No amount of booze in one party excuses you from being absent or late for the party the next day. In the event of parties on consecutive days, prepare in advance with ample sleep, cutting classes is one way of doing that

Hyderabad City

1. Hectic schedules aside, you will make weekly trips to various establishments in the city; BnC, Liquids, Waterfront...to name a few
2. Your responsibility to Hyderabad's economy is second only to your duties to Sarovar. When not in the cafe, you should ideally be in the above mentioned joints

The less-important stuff

1. Submissions happen. You can either start worrying about them a week before they're due or 7 hrs before. As G6, you shall follow the latter, Always.
2. You shall not get your knickers in a twist over assignments, individual or group. Its not an offence punishable by death to get an answer or two wrong
3. You will not attempt suicide on learning that you took the wrong discount-rate in the Corp Fin end-term problem though many around you will convince you otherwise
4. LCM is a valid major

War and Peace

I think of this as my first post as a civilian. Makes sense, considering I'd first started blogging from SV2-H12 in the ISB fortress. The similarities are uncanny; demanding and regimented schedules, the mess food in the dining hall and the casualties (well, shouldn't really count the odd nervous-breakdown as those).

Have gotten over the 'jet-lag' of moving from ISB time to the regular 24-hr day and long snoozes and leisurely meals have helped make that transition. A few trips around the ol' neighborhood, meeting friends I hadn't seen in a long time, even enrolled in a gym. Was kinda bemused as my first workout was supervised by this trainer who wouldn't let me lift anything heavier than a sandwich, atleast till he observed the thoroughly bored expression on my face.

Some other friends coming down from B'lore et al this weekend, so, looking forward to some catching up. From the interaction with a few batchmates, seems everyone's struggling to cope with post-school blues. Guess its the drastic change of pace thats thrown everyone out of stride.

Guess it'll all work itself out...soon...

April 8th '06

Graduation day dawned bright and sunny. (add sweltering hot and the fact that it wasn’t any different from any other summer day but that wouldn’t make interesting reading)

I had to report to the hangar about an hour before scheduled start to be given specific instructions as ‘leader’. All that meant was that I was one of the corner seats and hence had to keep track of two things…when to cut into our row on the way in and to keep a tab on when our row had to stand and make its way to the stage.

Next was to assemble in our allotted classrooms from where we’d form the parallel queues that would follow the dean and school board into the hangar. All very meticulously planned. The excitement level started on a level climb as we started off towards the presentation area and was quite evident once we’d all taken our seats.

Inaugural address by the dean followed by Chief Guest; Ratan Tata and then Rajat Gupta, chairman of the school board. Best thing was they kept their discourses short and sweet (and made sense too!). But this was all ho-hum compared to the general feeling when asst. dean announced…”Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the class of 2006”…damn! It was happening!

The dean’s list followed by the rest of us in order of last name, the reason I was in the last row. But it turned out to be just as well…coz there was the increased excitement of watching good friends walk up there to receive their degrees and the anticipation of your own turn. Finally, it was our turn, and before I knew it, was back in my seat with the ‘fake’ degree – apparently the real thing was too precious to let the chairman of the Tata group to handle J

The biggest round of applause was reserved for the last name on the list…that was followed by a momentary pause…and then the most deafening applause that lasted a good minute…the batch of 2006 was applauding itself…and the sudden constricted feeling in my throat told me this was special!

A final address by deputy dean, don’t remember too much of that J and then we were out…340 odd crammed onto the staircase leading down into the atrium and screamed our throats hoarse “ISB rocks!!!”. You bloody well better believe it does!

A date 344 of us will never forget...

Graduation!

burst of static

Ok...so it turned out that, owing to some blessed oversight, my laptop could still connect to the outside world after the much-hated formatting process. So, after reconciling myself with a 'heavy' heart to not posting from this campus, and that too when the mother of all events was happening, I find myself with a blank page staring at me and suddenly, nothing to write! or, rather, no way of knowing what to say. Should it try to capture the year in a few paragraphs (a task that I think would challenge the most prolific writers, let alone hacks like moi), or maybe about the emotions that I currently experience, or maybe about the spectacle that is the ISB graduation ceremony?

But then, as always, any thoughts on a structure are quickly swallowed by the chattering of my keyboard and soon the post is about something completely different that mostly doesnt make any sense. My folks got here today, and with rehearsals and photo-shoots on the agenda, thought they'd better spend their time having a dekko around hyderabad. Later, had a community dinner with most of G6 and extended families minus S and C. It was quite the assorted bunch with folks, one-month-old inductees into the G6 family, S - alumnus from the 2nd batch (btw, i refuse to acknowledge being called that till 6pm today). Good time all-in-all. Came back, plonked ourselves at hq(SV2-H) and recapped the harmless pranks (read, malicious toe-curling gags) that had been perpetrated through the year (in which i was never an accomplice...yeah...its my blog after all). And thats when it happened...kinda like when you finally dislodge that morsel that lodged itself in ur teeth and wouldn't leave no matter how much you poke it with your tongue.

Been agonizing about what I'll sorely miss about ISB. Thought I knew, but the realization has been some time coming. It was the thought of relationships fractured and never being the same again once we'd received the gate passes and left the campus for the last time as students. The despondency about friendships thrown into disarray the moment one or both parties leaves the confines of this campus is a ridiculous notion. The most fleeting moment of reflection is unequivocal in stating how the relationships that ever truly mattered are actually bullet-proof. These, will be around, to be called upon, when needed, like that 'health pack' that you know is certainly there behind that door, in Doom, especially when your health bar shows dangerously low. Any other kind of 'friendship' that lends itself to the word 'convenience', was just never that in the first place. So why give a rat's ass? especially considering i can easily think of a score of the former versus the odd example of the latter.

The gist...Those that are, you don't need to, and those that aren't, are not worth it. So why worry.

For someone who privately thinks of himself as smart, i do sometimes take an inordinate amount of time to figure out the obvious ;)
Graduating in just over 5 hours...damn! :)

radio silence...

Exit formalities completed. All except one that says "Complete laptop formatting process", hence the post. All very 'streamlined'. Funny, how streamlined doesn't necessarily make it any easier. You can call it an electonic silence, with very few emails with the subject line that people love to hate <SPAM>! Maybe its a good thing for the mail servers to get a breather before the next batch of spammers gets into the act :)

Of course that doesn't mean there is a dearth of activity about the place, everywhere you look, sombre brown cardboard boxes piled high with varying destinations stencilled on them and their owners milling about, doing their bit to make sure that their luggage remains in the same hemisphere as they do. Think I'm being paranoid? My quadie had his 3 boxes carried off rather professionally only to find at the sorting area that the letters 'BLR'(bangalore) had been smartly printed on them. The fact that he's from MBI(mumbai) meant that this was a l'il disturbing.

Got the graduation gown today, the folks handing it out were particular about you trying it out to make sure it fit. I did, and it felt like sticking ur head through a bedspread with a holepoked in it...what was the big deal about the fit? and i wonder if it was designed with the intent of discouraging people from wanting to get too many degrees...

Took a walk around campus, alleged photo-shoot. Was more a "spray-and-pray" operation, lots of pics of everything around, doubt if any would be worth the battery power needed to download them to pc. Nevertheless, one of the first signs anyone entering ISB would see...(apart from the "peacock crossing")

Approaching radio-silence...in 10...9...8...7...u know the rest...

let it go...

One of the most awe-inducing songs I’ve ever heard, when I first heard it about 5 years ago…it still is. The soundtrack with the backdrop of falling rain…ethereal……enough said.

Jaane Do

beeti raaten hain

kaisi baaten hain

barsaaten hain

jaane do…

uljhi yaaden hain

suljhi ghaaten hain

jeeti maaten hain

jaane do…

beeti raten hain

jharno ki awaazen aati

mujhse yeh kya…kya kuch keh jaati

jharno ki awaazen

jaane do…

beeti raaten hain

kaisi baaten hain

barsaaten hain

jaane do…

beeti raaten hain

paayal ki , chan chan..chan chan chan

le jaati thi , mujhse mera mann

paayal ki , chan chan chan

jaane do…

beeti raaten hain

kaisi baaten hain

barsaaten hain

jaane do…

beeti raaten hain

kaisi baaten hain

barsaaten hain

jaane do……

DEFCON 1

Not much noise…except maybe the occasional subdued beep from distant vehicles. Out in the yard, and seem dwarfed by towering evergreens, coconut trees and even mango trees around. That’s the sedate environment of a quiet suburb of the city. Several independent bungalows in the area and one of ‘em serves as the office of the designer/publisher who’s doing our yearbook. One can imagine why he’d like working in such an environment, being the creative kind. I mean, the setup was nice and cozy…3 computers…looked ordinary enough…but the speed at which they boot and the ease with which they ran resource-monsters like Pagemaker gave an indication of tons of RAM and high-perf graphics cards. Also, carnatic music being piped (at a low volume) from a 2+1 system to get the juices (no..not those..the creative ones) flowing. I’d expected to take a liking for a work-environment like that…but surprise surprise…I found it positively coma-inducing.

With graduation day not a hop-skip-jump but a drunken lurch away…we went to DefCon 1 in an attempt to actually hand it over to our batchmates, considering that for several of us...there might not be another opportunity to make it to campus (sounds melodramatic…but true). So it was an evening of adding substance to stingily written anemic profiles (read: he is a good friend [under “stuff only friends know”]), cutting down those where the friends had been a tad too loquacious (read: droning on and on about how they like to fold their underwear in a particular manner), identifying mismatched profiles (wrong name/picture) or worse, pics of married folk with their alleged significant other, who in fact happens to be their neighbor’s other…believe me, there’ve been enough of all those instances. And there’s this other thing…Formatting of laptops which essentially means being locked out of the network…so starting sometime this week (next coupla days)…the batch of ’06 will be cutoff from the outside world…no lan…no internet…can’t wait! Tomorrows another session with the publisher…hopefully will have ironed out all kinks… now for more ‘profile-repair’…almost wish this was something that did not matter…like a Fin assignment… ;)

p.s: DEFense CONditions describe progressively alert postures for use by the Joint Chiefs of staff (http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/defcon.htm). Simply put, the title means…”We’re screwed!” :)

'06 PM Stage @#teen

The party that almost wasn't...owing to the date and an email proclaiming that the supposed 'masks' theme party was nothing but a prank. 3 emails and eye-witness accounts later, people were convinced and it got under way...with a difference this time. Venues for all parties have traditionally been one of the mirror pools, SV1 rock garden or the Rec Centre. This time around, the dance-floor was setup on the floor adjoining level 1 of the Acad Centre. This meant the bar was setup on the ring road (no booze allowed in the school main structure...an edict that was conveniently forgotten an hour later). The DJ from TDS was alright...but there seemed to be a reluctance for ppl to hit the floor...after a few trance and hiphop numbers...he pulled out what must in every DJ's survival kit...loud bhangra! and sure enough! before the first # was done...u cud see hordes of one-legged folks with arms raised...as in a stop-motion fight sequence from the Matrix. Wasn't really plannin' on dancing...but then with a partner like N...cudn't help but ask :) not withstanding the jealous stares (wink wink)...also with an inebriated P for entertainment...had a good time.

true?

We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered.

–Tom Stoppard

the nominees are...

With the amount of interest in the ISB, lots of prospective B-school grads around the world look for this information with the simple task of typing in “ISB” or “ISB Blogs” into the multi-colored know-it-all…(google of course!) And am sure they’ve been well-rewarded with information through the various excellent weblogs that my batchmates update almost religiously. And there are blogs like this one that really should only be read when one is the mood for a complete lack of structure/content/insight.

However, as graduation day draws closer, am wondering whether the aforementioned prospectives aren’t wondering if there’s something wrong with google as it seems to point them to all these sites that seem to be very ‘Oscar award’ like. People waxing eloquent about how all that’s been gained here is coz of these people in their lives. This is in no way a slur on those meaningful and heartfelt expressions of gratitude. It’s indeed nice to see that almost everyone’s evaluated this experience, not on the basis of details printed on their offer letters but on the friendships formed, testimony to the fine group of individuals that’s called this place home for a year…

The list of my ambassadors of kwan…coming soon…

Alcatraz

Term Break…day 1…oh wait…can’t do that this time. Since am done with classes and exams and the one submission due Saturday, this really is like any other break. Except that, instead of the usual rush to catch up on sleep/movies/alcohol/food/loud music, this time around it’s about Movers & Packers/Back ups/EXIT PROCEDURES (in caps coz that’s how there were in the friendly l’il email).

After having hit the ‘Postpone’ button on the Outlook reminder that’s been popping up from that email I mentioned, I finally had a look at the contents today. Turns out it’s a list of ‘to-dos’ before we can be allowed off campus. Stuff about getting our laptops formatted, books/dvds returned, apartment inventories checked. Each activity, with a deadline attached, a form to be signed and an ‘exit-pass’ to be issued once everything’s been checked and found to be in order. Makes sense, doesn’t it. I mean its highly possible that there might be a large number in the batch of ’06 who might’ve quit their jobs, moved from different corners of the world, basically, put their lives on hold for a year for the sole purpose of infiltrating this place with the intent to swipe a couple of books and maybe (gasp! )even a fork or two! I even suspect there’s increased security personnel around lest the more enterprising (read hardened criminal minds) might just think of digging a tunnel or constructing some kind of flying machine with the tools at our disposal! The wardens at Alcatraz would be well-served to study the processes here to make sure that they don’t release mass-murderers into the general peace-loving populace. Good job indeed!

In other news, there’s this ‘Wembley’esque structure being erected on the lawns (on the side of the exit to SV3)…the venue for all the hoopla (read graduation ceremony). This too had been the subject of controversy when we were told we could get 2 passes and any additional guests would have to be paid for. Not so much that, as much as one of the inconsequential ‘admins’ sending out an email about how free-loaders are waiting to come in and have a free meal at the school’s expense. Don’t get me wrong, am as excited about it as anyone…black gown...formal shindig. Quite a departure from my Bachelor’s graduation where the degrees were handed out from a counter at the University office in a “come-if you-care-enough or whatever” fashion.

So its finally happening…can imagine about 420 odd folks from the incoming batch starting to pack their bags and get nervous about what’s in store…all that eagerness to find out what they should do and read and wear etc etc. for them, all I’ll say is that prepping for their time here is like tying to prepare for a tornado that’s headed ur way…in their case…they’re actually going looking for it. But then, there’s something about the thrill of anticipation don’t you think… :)

your mother warned you there'd be days like these...

To say that I’m gonna miss scrambling to make it in time for the 8.30am or miss the momentous struggle to stay awake in the 2.30pm would be just reaching for reasons to feel bad. What will be missed though are the 2 teaspoonfuls of bitter overpriced coffee that the vending machines dispense, hurriedly procured during the 5 min break. The sms surreptitiously (well kinda) exchanged, the numerous gtalk windows (some connected to the person sitting right next to you). Not to mention the ‘stimulating’ discussions held in numerous classes (read as those with a Class Participation component of > 10%). Yup...as could be guessed from depressingly similar posts ;) on other blogs…my last class ended about an hour ago. Marketing Strategy…was a low-key affair…but fun albeit…dynamic churn models (yeah, listened enough to pick that up).

Ok, just in case you’re almost about to hurl coz of all the nostalgia spewing from this page…some choice comments I’ve heard profs make…

“Folks...You’re all here to polish your diamonds” – the managing IT prof makes a decidedly sexist statement

“ISB is not a swimming pool…if you all go in…everyone won’t come out wet..” same prof…reveals his new dunk-proof compound

“So you’re saying that his only achievement was to be a member of the lucky sperm club” Strategy Implementation prof’s tirade against all methods of contraception

“Zara is basically Dell on steroids” the Business Performance Measurement prof calls for testing of corporates

“That’s nothing but a Mickey Mouse example” Customer Focussed Product Development prof’s response to a Disney fan’s pearls of wisdom

as you'll find in my HBR article...

It's been that kinda day…one of those…where you think there’s a conspiracy on to exasperate you. I wonder though if there might be a correlation (however weak) between having a bad day…and the following:

Þ Staying up till 5.30am with an 8.30am class to go to
Þ Consuming copious amounts of alcohol in the process

Hmmm…I just might be onto something here…maybe should consider publishing an article in HBR about that.

So, here’s the synopsis…

Take 1: woke up to the shrill jangling of the phone…K’s wakeup call…8am…just time enough to make it to class. Sat through 2 hrs of the most unapologetic kind of self-promotion you cud hope to see. Someone actually counted the number of times he talked about his articles in HBR (hence the brainwave above). 16 at the break. In an attempt to further my learning...downloaded and installed the NFS underground Rivals demo. But the game wont run…and whats worse…my machine then slowed to a crawl. Snapped laptop shut with a snarl…luckily class ended 5 mins later.

Take 2: second class…I cudnt possibly afford to break my streak of paying absolutely no attention to what was said in class for this subject. Think even the prof ran out of stuff to say…ended class 20 mins before time. seemed more like we’d gone over by more than 10 times that. Laptop still behaving weird…starting to get worried...

Take 3: The heavenly feeling of dehydration makes itself felt now…make a pretense of lunch…home…check my email? Machine still giving trouble…chuck it…take a nap. Had promised to help G and A with this enterprise of theirs…but apparently was dead to the world…didn’t wake up to 8 missed calls...

Take 4: time: 6pm. Woke up…I swear the room was moving in slow revolutions (the jury might not buy that). Finally steady the room…laptop still spluttering (later found it was a virus)…looked outside window…beautiful sunset…note to self: not gonna be many more of those here. Grab my Powershot and go outside. Think the SV3 K-Block wud be an ideal vantage point…fire off some shots outside my quad, then sprint towards SV3. Turns out hangovers and sprinting don’t mix (imp finding for my article). Reach SV3 heaving like I’d just run a marathon…get into position…guess what…sun goes behind a bank of clouds low on the horizon…@#$%&^!

Take That! …Hours later…fixed the laptop…attended section party…did not so much as glance at the crates of beer…took a shower…relaaaxing...things looking up. its hot in here…look for AC remote…press Power…you guessed it…ain’t working…mother#@$%!&!