The rays of hope at the end of the dark tunnel

Since the time Lehman went burst last year, the markets all over the world seemed headed for a bottomless pit. The impact was felt by everyone and it was easy to see how the plight of the rich bankers got transmitted to even the last strata of society including the maids and washermen who too knew that it was
recession time .

It seemed to be a dark tunnel with no end in sight. I personally knew a lot of friends who became the victims of this crisis and lost their jobs within the first few months of their joining. Some of them were into the first ever job in their lives and were totally clueless about how to find another job, specially in geographies like US and UK. The same geographies which were indulging in reckless brain drain from India few years back were keen to throw all the unwanted rubble back to the poor nation without delay lest they eat up the resources meant for the original citizens. I guess those legislators demanding reservation of jobs for nationals are nothing but the American avatars of Raj Thackrey.

Everything seemed to be headed for doom with even the IIM campus placements being dismal to say the least. Every month, I got to hear about some batchmate or the other losing the job...really tough time.

But, just as they say - Change is the only constant in this world. Even this stage was not going to last long but the battery always seems to be running out too soon.

In the meantime, a black man for the first time in the history of the world reached the White House promising the world only one thing - "Change". But, in our own nation, the junta janardan reaffirmed its faith in the honest Sardar who ushered in the era of liberalization.

The economy world over has started showing the signs of revival and I too am happy given that my friends have started getting the appointment letters instead of retrenchment ones.

Let us hope things continue resurrecting from hereon and this does not remain another deadcat bounce.

Boost your brains !!!!!!!

It is often touted that people get complacent after getting into prestigious institutes like IITs and IIMs. Having been at both these places, I have seen the faculty getting worried about how to boost these (so-called, I do not believe it) best brains of the nation. To help them, biological researchers have come up with this path breaking conclusion -

Chocolate and sex can boost brain.

Just to let you know that, this is not a creation of an idle mind - you can check it for yourself on rediff news. Now, the need of the time is to realize the gravity of the situation and act on this finding.

The institute authorities need to take the actions on both the fronts immediately:

Chocolates - The easier part

1. Tie into sponsorship contracts with all the chocolate majors - Nestle, Cadbury etc.
2. Ask the global recruitment companies to bring with them cartoons of imported swiss and Belgian chocolates to please the taste buds of the premium Indian talent
3. To provide convenience to the best minds while ensuring delivery of chocolates - make on-campus arrangements 24X7 room delivery.

Sex - The tougher one

This part is too tough to be answered by an inexperienced unfortunate zombie locked in the male dominated campuses of IIT-IIM for last 6 years. Hence, I would invite insightful comments from the experienced readers in this regard.

B-Charo

"B-charo!

ab samay jald aa raha nikalne ka
Sabko alvida kehna ka

Chalo phir un dino ko yaad kare.......

jab tum sab mujhe faartaa pukaarte thein
Adrian ke sar par class mein haath firatein thein
Group 10 ko cold call karvate thein
Challenge CP -- prof. se bhi karaate thein

Lotion ko random bumps dilwaate thein
Tarak ke mooh khulte hee usse ghoor ghoor kar dekhte thein
Chepuri ki tarah haath uthane ki koshish karte thein
MuLi ko ladkiyon ki taraf dekhte range-haath pakadte thein

Benjy, Roto ko zyaada yaad nahin hoga,
Sapno se woh kahaan nikalte thein
Woh haataa-paayi yaad karo jab,
marks chhupaane..
MANAC ke corrected quiz papers baat-te thein

Kuch pal toh bhoole jaaye na,
Kaul ki leli jab MC prof. ne STOP!!!! bol kar,
Ya Prince Bivaash ko jab bulaava aaya,
Toh Chetan Soman ne leli unki khol kar!!

Yaar chalo phir un dino ki yaad kare
Mil baith sab arbit puraani baat karein

Negi!!! chal phir se kaam par lag jao!!!"

This poem has been composed by one of my batchmates, Swatik Nigam (PGP-2008, IIMA)
and is in the memory of the first year days of Section-B, Boozters.

Driver No. 1

A couple of months back, this blog saw a post (Failed yet again) from a dejected individual counting the failures of his life. But, the guy did not give up and he kept trying and this reminds of the oft quoted line from "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho -

If you aspire for something very earnestly, the whole world conspires to do it for you

I got my driving license for both 2 wheelers and LMVs yesterday after having failed the test on November 19, 2007. It took extra efforts from my instructor, Mr. Mehboob to train a dumb head like me.

Thanks to Sumit and Ashok from my dorm, I can comfortably drive motorcycles on Ahmedabad roads which is a big achievement if you take into account the unruly traffic and the gujjus who are always in a hurry. Though I am still a little jittery when it comes to driving a car, I hope to be able to ride it comfortably soon.

My next target - Perfecting my skills as a car driver, buying a nice silver color car and taking my mother for the maiden drive beside the sea on the Mumbai marine drive.

Expected Time line: 1-2 years

23 and still going

I turned 23 today. It felt really great when all my friends called me right from the stroke of the midnight to convey the birthday wishes. Those sweet words took me to the top of the world. I am really amazed how all these people remember the date as I am really bad at it.

Friends are really a treasure for life. The campus friends arrived at the room, right at the stroke of the midnight. The friends from school days and IIT days were also calling right from the morning. I am really surprised at the patient lot who kept on trying my number while i was attending the early morning class.

Thanks to all of you.

2007 - Summary of an eventful year

Jan - Mar

The year started with my journey from home to Ahmedabad. I was going to start with a new group for my third term. I had heard that there was going to be a lot of group work and I hardly knew my group mates. In due course of time, their sincerity and professionalism towards work really impressed me and by the time, I left the campus for summer internship, I had won some good friends for life.

We, the new Entre team (IIMA's Entrepreneurship club) had very successfully organized the annual Venture Capitalists' Conclave at IIM Ahmedabad. Thanks to amazing efforts by Kunal (Head, CIIE), Vikas Nair, Pranay Gupta, Vijayendra, Vartika, Kaushik, Prashant, Ajay among others.


Apr-May

These two months were spent in the cosmopolitan environment of London in an enviable investment bank. I really enjoyed the support that I received from the alumni and seniors on the desk. The hours were chill and work was interesting. I am glad that unlike many others, I was not just making ppts and pushing numbers without understanding them. I could take full ownership of my work and thoroughly enjoyed it. Except the high cost of living and the tax rate, London seemed like heaven.

Jun-Aug

The fourth term had started, the regular first year classes were gone and the workload of IIMA vanished all of a sudden. I simply did not know what to do. I took in additional subjects to kill time, but to no avail. I had taken a course by Prof. Sunil Handa, "Laboratory for Entrepreneurship" - Thanks to it, I was still interested in IIMA.

The Prayaas school (IIMA school for slum children) kids had started going regularly to Sahjananda School. We were collaborating with Riverside for improving the study environment at Prayaas. Radhika and others led a good dramatics workshop for the school kids.

Sep-Nov

Things started changing for a little.

Entre Club under the leadership of Vijayendra organized the first Social Entrepreneurship event in the history of IIMA - Pratyarpana, the brainchild of Prof. Anil Gupta. We also organized the first Idea Camp at IIM Ahmedabad, in collaboration with CIIE. Thanks to Kunal, Devanshi and Charmie.

Piyush's visa got canceled and we teamed up for our course work. I still think how come we never spent time together earlier. But, it is never too late to start and I am fortunate that I got to know him during the fifth term.

I started participating in B-school contests, thanks to Gendy for taking me in Jumping Jalebis. We started with a couple of failures but the results did not matter, the team spirit did and I was truly enjoying working with this team.

In due course of time, our patience paid and the wildest of our dreams came true -

Jumping Jalebis won the Confluence Award of Excellence

December

Yes, the last month came with lots of fun. It started with ERI course in the deserts of Zainabad. The course was a lot of fun with a sight seeing trip and few good sessions on aerobics, dance and breathing exercises. It seemed to be a 6-day picnic, away from the reach of laptops and internet, in the lap of mother nature.

To add to my pleasures, Vinit won a contest at IIM Indore and Piyush, Pranav and Ankit won the TATA Business Leadership Award during this period. Though I was not present at both the occasions, I was a part of both the teams....(I know, you are thinking how lucky this free-rider can get...)

We supplemented with a visit to South East Asia - Singapore and Kuala Lampur.

A trip with tempting destinations like Sentossa Islands, the night Safari, the Genting Highlands, the KL Minar, the Petronas and the Singapore Zoo was an ideal way to end a fun-filled year.

Jumping Jalebis - A Journey of Joy

Jumping Jalebis - The team

Gendy - The 6'2" tall sportstar bachcha, always filled with enthu and never say die attitude...
Vartika- The under 40 kg baby - a diligent worker, can be a source of inspiration to red ants for perseverance and hard work
Adrian- The "mature" sportsperson who speaks with elan and experience.
Thita - The pseud girl the swift talker, the confident practical manager
Tasha- The funny little girl, the one who keeps the energy and fun going together, under pressure.
Muli, Myself - the famous freerider :P

November 25, 2007 00:00 am Venue: D-325, WIMWI

Confluence NB gives the ratings of the team for awards of excellence, we are yet to open our account and the leading team "Absolutis" is way ahead with 64 points.

Gendy: Do not worry guys, we still have three events tomorrow and we still stand a chance.
Vartika: Ya, let us put our best effort, I am trying hard for our PPT
Muli : We got no chance, what do you think we are going to win all three events tomorrow....all in a day, you seem to be dreaming...it is even less probable than India winning this test match.
Someone: India can win this match if they restrict Pakistan early tomorrow..

November 25, 2007 01:30 am Venue: D-519, WIMWI

Adrian and Vartika have finished their parts for the R&D PPT. I had gone for the Deloitte event which we lost, my laptop started giving problems and disrupted their works.

Thita arrives with her pseud PPT for Opulence, I am just amazed by all the efforts put by her.

We criticize it, discuss and make the changes. It seemed good to me.

They asked me to find few facts and we left to catch some sleep.

November 25, 2007 09:30 am Venue: CR-7, WIMWI - Opulence

Thita gave a good confident presentation and She and Adrian tackled the questions tactfully. It seemed good and we heard all other teams as well.

Thita: what does your gut feel say/
Me: We should be in top three... (I too knew that it was not good enough to be in top three, to keep our hopes going, we must be at the top .... but the pessimist in me stopped me)

The judges commented on our slides, white font on yellow background...utterly bad choice...you simply cannot read it..our hopes start dwindling.

They ask for the second round with a change in situation, we put all our grey cells to work and came up with a flurry of initiatives...judges condemned it saying you should stick to your initial position and should try to scale it up rather than coming up with new proposals....our hopes are thrashed.

Vartika left for making modifications for the paper presentation contest. I get anxious and excused myself by saying I am going to help Vartika. Truly speaking, I was unable to stop myself there to keep waiting for the results.

November 25, 2007 12:30 pm Venue: 519, WIMWI

I come back to the room and listen to the good news -

We stood first in Opulence and have earned our first 30 points

Vartika is disappointed to know that I did not find the facts for my part last night...I ask her not to worry, I get motivated and first few searches give me the required material.

We move to D-3 for getting comments from team mates.

November 25, 2007 1:30 pm Venue: 325, WIMWI

We revamp the old PPT, full reorganization, adding the international experience from Singapore.
We make our submission and head on to the Global FootPrints game.

November 25, 2007 2:00 pm Venue: CR-2, WIMWI

We start badly in the global footprints game, after an hour and half is passed...I have lost all the hope in this game and I ask thita and gendy that I am going to Adrian's room to practise for my presentation. Basically, all hopes are down once again as we seem to be lagging behind in this simulation game.

November 25, 2007 4:30 pm Venue: D-438, WIMWI

I do a dry run of the PPT- adrian and vartika telling me to calm down and forget about the stakes. I am getting really anxious, the serenity of adrian's face and vartika's diligence inspire me to put in my best without caring about the rest.

November 25, 2007 4:45 pm Venue: CR-4, WIMWI - Transcending Barriers

We go for the presentation - Vartika begins in her soft voice, I talk about the brain drain, passionately only to find the slides have changed faster than my speech - Adrian realizes it and gives me time to talk calmly before he comes in.

He talks well like a veteran about his part, the time keeper says five minutes remaining...I think what, I again get anxious...there are 2 videos and around 8 slides yet to be shown.

I go in and again get anxious, suddenly I remember the advice of my partners to keep the cool and forget about the stakes....I get calmer and I finish my presentation.

The judge asks a question and Adrian gives an apt answer with examples from the company he has worked for - another glimpse of his maturity. I try to chip in somethign from what I knew, the judge still does not seem convinced.

The judges talk about they were looking for a focussed and actionable approach. We think we suggested quite a few options and hence did not have a great chance.

Again, this was a contest where we were not even shortlisted initially. It was where one of the teams moved out at last moment and we, being the waitlist # 1 got a chance to present.

I go to CR-2 and see that our team does not stand a chance of winning even at Global footprints. They ask me about the presentation, my pessimistic reply ...Dont know, they were looking for a more focussed approach. I come back to CR-4 for results.

The results

Vibhor Tikiya and team gets third prize - Hey, he himself has been a researcher and of late, has developed good presentation skills.

Vijayendra Haryal and team gets second prize - he is a really good speaker and I thought we might have lost.

One fachcha volunteer murmurs - I thought your team was good enough to be a second or third..but

The Jumping Jalebis win and get another valuable 30 points

Now, everyone is anxious, we are definitely getting 3 points for participation in Global footprints but can we get one more to make a joint first with absolutis - the answer is no because, the two last guys get 3 points and 8th position gets 6 points...so we need to be in top 8.

We start asking teams...how did they do, everyone is secretive and we are eagerly waiting for results.


November 25, 2007 4:45 pm Venue: CR-2, WIMWI - Global Footprints

The results are getting announced and we are not in top seven. By some logic of the game which we misunderstood, we had lost badly. It really seemed like it all stopped at the end...but no, God was with us today and we were eighth, taking our tally to 66.....all in a day.

In the meanwhile, India had also gone to a winning position in the test match.

November 25, 2007 4:45 pm Venue: RJM Auditorium, WIMWI - Award Ceremony

The team Jumping Jalebis receives a standing ovation from the audience.

Thanks to the friends of WIMWI for supporting us all along....

We dedicate this journey to the spirit of optimism and enthusiasm which fuels us.

Jumping Jalebis with their certis, at the end of the day

Jumping Jalebis on the Conflu stage in Action
(Note: Vartika is not missing, the huge Gendy has covered the miniature Vartika in the pic)

Failed yet again!!!!!!!!

I failed yet again...I am simply incorrigible.

I don't know how can I be so stupid, so absolutely crap?

Here is this driving test, cleared by thousands of common people everyday....very very easily and here comes the dumb boy with his fingers wavering like the steering has got an electric current flowing into it....

the job was to get a simple stupid driving license, done by everyone from a school going girl to a fifty year old man so easily, so painlessly....but here comes this chap thinking himself to be intelligent and all that....in truth, more frightened than anyone else around, his face has gone white, he is mumbling prayers but to no avail, he goofs up yet again......

I simply don't get it what can be done of this stupid creature.....I wish he could have been a little more relaxed, a bit more confident, a little less Phattu

Finally I request all the readers of the blog to pray to God that the guy gets some driving skills and succeed in getting a driving license some day.....

Holi Hai...the first at IIM Ahmedabad

The bare body CEOs in the making

Hey, this place never fails to amaze me....always strikes me with a surprise even after having been here for almost a year. I never thought that psued MBAs would throw away their corporate facade and be their ownself to enjoy the festival of colors.

Like the traditional style, we went for Holika dahan, the last night and today the show was all on. With the arrangement of environment friendly organic colors and 1500 L water tank, all enthu junta assembled right in the morning, 9 AM...after all these very people have been attending all the soporific lectures, by 08:59:59.

But, Holi is not a festival where people go in a civilized manner and shake hands saying Happy Holi....so what, these future CEOs do know how to dirty their hands. We had a wonderful mudpit which had an awesome power to attract people and once they have been immersed in mud, the person himself offers to get dunked in the tub and becomes an active participant in the show.

To add to show, the fun was multiplied after having Thandai and Bhole naath ka prasad...so, all in all, the best holi of my life. So, for your fun, I am adding a few pics.

They all had fun....

A morning walk

More often than not, we forget to appreciate the beauty spread around us. How often have you thanked God for the warm sunshine, for the relieving rain and for the singing birds which wake you up from the sweet dreams....almost never.

So, it happened with me. Despite living in the hallowed brick walls of IIMA, I never appreciated its world-class architecture, I never thanked Louis Kahn for endowing us with a gift which will be instrumental in scripting the stories of our dreams..and as a PGP-1, you do not even notice its beauty because the system keeps you engrossed in bloody WAC runs and short MANAC quizzes(for non-IIMA junta, these are the most terrifying courses in first year).

But not everyone is oblivious to the surroundings and it took an exchange student from US (one of my good friends, Kriti Bhandari) to prepare me for my first photo shoot of the campus on an idyllic sunday morning.

So, we roamed around the campus and took pics of the beautiful Louis Kahn Plaza and the famous Harvard Steps.

And here, in this pic is our dormatory structure, just the right balance of light and shadow. I simply am in love with IIMA.

Thanks Kriti for taking me with you on the photo session.

Prayaas Treat : A rendezvous with True India

Today we discussed the widening gap between the Indian rich and the poor in our soporific EEP class. Since I was betting on myself for CPs (class participation game), I was not sleeping. So, I learnt something about India: We have worse situation in educational inequality than the Sub-Saharan African nations like Ghana.

For us, India is on the path of historic growth. We are dreaming of double digit growth and fat pay packages, increasing perks and what not. So, I forgot it, reached my room, performed the usual chore of checking Dbab (this is more important than food and water at WIMWI) and reached NEWS NB to see this http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/feb/26inflation.htm

Now however insensitive I might be, I could not stop myself cursing the system for doing nothing to ensure that the fruits of success trickle down to the lower strat of the society. But that is what we do, curse others and do nothing. Can we do anything? Can we add few moments of happiness in lives of some people who have not been as fortunate as we are?
(For economics-inclined junta, they call it "Endowment failure")

And then, I saw the post about the treat for Prayaas kids. These kids had given an awesome dance performance during Chaos, the cultural festival of IIMA. The Prayaas team had called them to show them the video of their performance. After showing them the video, we had an awesome pizza treat. The kids had a chance to bite the italian food with the American coke. I will believe globalisation to have succeeded in India only when all Indians will have enough purchasing power to live the life of global standards.

After the treat, the kids performed their chaos dances once again and gave a performance of their folk song. Their faces were gleaming with joy when we bid them good bye along with a handful of candies.

Overall, I had a wonderful time and am feeling great.

Just Another Drink!!

Just Another Drink and we landed into Tuchchadom(second year at IIMA, for the uninitiated) ...yes, the long year of wait and frustrating fachcha life (PGP-1) seems to be over now.

Yesterday night was the Corpo-D (Corporate dinner) of Dorm-V and believe me, D-V rocks..The small bus laden with 20 inmates of the brick jail proceeded on its way to give them an evening of freedom when there were no rules, when you knew no bounds.
All 20 inmates of the Penthouse (as Dorm-Vians lovingly call their abode of WIMWI life) were immersed into the pool of unbounded merriment. The dry throats got a golden chance to gulp the divine drinks and quinch their thirst.

The swimming pool saw the historic water rugby battle between adventurous tuchchas and skilful fachchas...people have doubts about who won, who cheated, when it was a foul and so on....but let these cribbers cry, none will deny they were all filled with joy.

Then came one of the most enjoyable dinners of my life and it was not because of food but the chatter and the company.

It reminded me of the times when I was a second year at IITKGP and we were giving farewell to the final years of the wing...but there were no secrets shared this time, no heartfelt feelings for the place you never wanted to live...may be these WIMWI MBAs are too pseud for that....or two years are too little to bind you to the brick walls. I do not know but without the sentiments, it becomes just another drink.