Exam Frenzy!!

Rarely have things been as hectic as in the past two weeks for me - I guess the same could be said of my entire entire batch. Deadlines looming for every subject. We barely finished with our mid-terms and we have already come to the end-terms. GMP has really forced all of us to work on our priorities correctly.There is a plethora of stuff to be done and unless you are focused and sure of what you want you may miss out on many good learning opportunities. To put it in economic terms :- "The Marginal Utility of sleep has become abundantly clear to all of us". A sincere advice to all future GMPians - Sleep as much as you can before you get here .

The professors have been most co-operative but they too have a syllabus to complete. We have been clearly told that academic standards would be very high so the onus is on us to prove ourselves. Also, a lot of emphasis is put on group work and assignments which seems to be working very well!!

I am reminded of following lines from the Bryan Adams song "Summer Of '69'" -
'....Ain't no use in complainin'
When you got a job to do....'

On a happier note we would be 25% MBA in about 2 weeks from now - now that is something :):)

Its time to go - have to hit my books !!!

Self Appraisal

An interesting point of view about how to assess the satisfaction of your employer with your performance.


Enjoy !


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A little boy went into a drug store, reached for a soda carton and pulled it over to the telephone. He climbed onto the carton so that he could reach the buttons on the phone and proceeded to punch in seven digits (phone numbers).

The store-owner observed and listened to the conversation:

Boy: 'Lady, Can you give me the job of cutting your lawn?

Woman: (at the other end of the phone line): 'I already have someone to cut my lawn.'

Boy: 'Lady, I will cut your lawn for half the price of the person who cuts your lawn now.'

Woman: I'm very satisfied with the person who is presently cutting my lawn.

Boy: (with more perseverance): 'Lady, I'll even sweep your curb and your sidewalk, so on Sunday you will have the prettiest lawn in all of Palm beach , Florida.'

Woman: No, thank you.

With a smile on his face, the little boy replaced the receiver. The store-owner, who was listening to all

this, walked over to the boy.

Store Owner: 'Son... I like your attitude; I like that positive spirit and would like to offer you a job.'

Boy: 'No thanks,

Store Owner: But you were really pleading for one.

Boy: No Sir, I was just checking my performance at the job I already have. I am the one who is working for that lady, I was talking to!'

The Dark Knight !!!!

Have been missing certain things of the US for the past few weeks - but what really has me dissed is that I could not watch "The Dark Knight" which released last weekend to rave reviews and $67 million over the opening weekend !!!!!! Check out this site - one of the highest ratings I have seen in a loooonnnnggg time...

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_dark_knight/

As I was reading in an article recently - this is the summer of super-heroes!! Iron-Man, Batman, Hancock - where every other formulas seem to be failing super-heroes are coming to the rescue..not that I am complaining.

Well hope to catch it on the local LAN at XLRI as soon as it is out :) so its not as bad !!

In the end it doesnt even matter!!

This is one of my all time favorite numbers - was listening to it recently. I always thought this as a very groovy number but the last listening made me realize(at an indecent volume thanks to someone!!!) that the lyrics are as true as anything else I have read or know. The events in everyone's life mostly follow the same set of events at least largely...beautifully captured in the song.

For people wanting to sample the song here is the link:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wr50NZIB1g

And here are the lyrics :-

http://www.lyrics007.com/Linkin%20Park%20Lyrics/In%20The%20End%20Lyrics.html

Some more words of wisdom - Liked it so posting it for all.....
"Remember its a race and in the end its only with yourself - so decide whats important and make time for it."

ciao.

Old but a classic.!!!!

Stumbled upon this old video ..Absolutely Hilarious :):)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLwxcrAIUB4

Makes u wanna go back to school!!!

Dr Randy Pausch - II

Dying Professor's Final Farewell
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1368038977236116185&q=&hl=en
Watch it for an awesome experience....

Super 30

Impressive to say the least..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX5S6YyBm-8

Ramblings!!!!

There are lessons which we learn everday - personally I believe that nothing is beyond one's reach provided we are willing to work for it - what seems tough today may become very simple tomorrow - the most crucial requirement is to arm oneself with the right training/skill-sets for the kind of job on hand. Also, it is very important to give a positive spin to everything........The true taste of success comes when it is achieved against all odds - success is all the more cherished when nothing seems to be going in your favor and voila in spite of everything you have done it !!!!

Of XL and Finetune!!!

I am having an amazing experience here - the first few days in XL have been eye-opening - The professors here are some of the most passionate and excellent teachers I have ever come across. It really is most important to not compromise on the quality of one's education - its worth waiting a while than going for some other option - I always believed in this and now I can see the wisdom of my own words!!!!! I also recently came to know that two of my closest college friends have made it to to IIMC and IIML - wow this year is only bringing good tidings till now - hope it continues ......

On Another note , I listen to online radio stations over the internet a lot - however discovered that pandora has been blocked in India due to licensing issues - stumbled upon finetune.com and it seems to be an even better site for playing online music. You can create a palylist of upto 45 songs in a playlist and save it for future listening!!!! Amazing to say the least....... My XL days are taken care of - with the best education and great music to go alongwith it !!!

XL - First Impressions!!

First Post from the hallowed portals of XLRI . Its a quiet serene place and its absolutely impossible to gauge that so much of intelluctual activity is going on around me . However this is what I had asked for :) - Its always a game of patience and learning and then some more learning !!!! Orientation starts tomorrow but before that meeting with my classmates - I can already see it - I will be a changed person before I am out of here.

Everyday Something New!!

Interesting - although I have learnt so much, there is still so many things to explore!! Everyday brings something new - I am off to India in another week and for the first time in my life just dont feel like working !! This is not who I am but its for me its like the lull before the storm.... Besides I think it is important to refresh and recharge before taking the plunge into the academic world again. Academics should be good, after all the practical learnings on the job...Lets see ..

XLRI GMP Placements 2008

XLRI General Management Program (GMP), one year full time management program, has concluded a successful season of placements for its 2008 batch. The batch has been offered plum roles - like AVP-Finance, Director, Associate Director, AGM Operations,Chief Manager, Managing Consultant, Strategic Account Manager, Client Solutions Manager, etc. - clearly highlighting the potential of the participants to don middle and senior management roles. Also placements helped 30% of the batch change sectors where students had prior work experience. One participant opted out of the process to start his own entrepreneurial venture.The process attracted 54 companies, as opposed to 23 last year, and made 101 offers to 53 participating students. The average salary of individual offers stood at INR 17.8 Lakhs (an increase of close to 20% from previous year), while the highest domestic offer was INR 33.8 Lakhs and the average of international offers was USD 130,000 (an increase of 30%). Sponsored candidates have also got elevated roles and middle/senior management responsibilities from their parent companies.The batch witnessed a good mix of participating companies from diverse sectors such as Banking, Energy, IT, Consulting, Manufacturing, Steel, Real Estate and Telecom. Arcelor Mittal, Reliance ADAG, Jindal Steel, DLF, Tata Communications, Cairns Energy, L&T were some of the major recruiters of the batch. Few of the consulting companies that participated are Mckinsey, Accenture, IBM S&C, ICRA Management Consulting (IMACs), TCS Global Consulting, KSA Technopak. Axis bank, SBI Capital, ICRA, UBS were some of the BFSI companies that turned up for recruitment. IT/ITES majors like HP, Cognizant, Satyam, Wipro, Inautix, Hexaware, and Genpact participated."With just two years of organized placement support from the Institute, the one year General Management Programme of XLRI has firmly established itself as a source of quality talent for recruiters. There were a number of recruiters who personally expressed their extreme satisfaction with the quality of the participants. These positive comments reinforce our belief that we are doing things right as far as our one year programme goes." quoted Prof. Uday Damodaran, Chairperson of the Placements at XLRI.The placement season was held during 2nd week of February at Mumbai followed by rolling placements in March at Jamshedpur. The process was aimed at offering flexibility to the students and recruiters to find the right fit, as the participants were potential middle and senior management candidates with experience ranging from 5.5 to 15 years, with the average pegged at 7.5 years. Students also visited Australia as part of the international immersion introduced in the curriculum from this year. From the next batch, the immersion module is expected to include various options for students, with the tie-ups that XLRI has with major universities across the globe. XLRI has plans to increase the student intake from the next batch, due to high response from industry.

The Last Lecture......

I have been following Prof. Randy Pausch of the Computer Science in CMU. He was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer and in spite of having the best medical care in the world he is slowly slipping into a void from where there is no turning back. CMU has a lecture series called "The last Lecture" where a renowned personality is asked to give a lecture imagining that this would be his/her last lecture in this life !!!!!!

The speech by Prof. Pausch shows what a person is capable of. An excerpt from his speech(verbatim).


"And the other thing is I am in phenomenally good
health right now. I mean it’s the greatest thing of cognitive dissonance you will ever see is the fact
that I am in really good shape. In fact, I am in better shape than most of you. [Randy gets on the
ground and starts doing pushups] [Applause] So anybody who wants to cry or pity me can down and
do a few of those, and then you may pity me. [laughter]
All right, so what we’re not talking about today, we are not talking about cancer, because I spent a
lot of time talking about that and I’m really not interested. If you have any herbal supplements or
remedies, please stay away from me. [laughter]"

His speech is being published in the form a book called "The Last Lecture" by to be released on April 8.

There are many other nuggets throughout.The complete text of the speech is present in youtube at : -

video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5700431505846055184

Commanding Heights......

I recently completed a book "Commanding Heights" by Yergin and Stanislaw - it is an amazing read . It takes you down through the ages and shows you how in spite of changing times the basic tenets , underlying assumptions on which the human society is built has remained the same. It has a special chapter on India and correctly predicts what would have happened if the ecnomy would be liberalised - just yesterday the BSE sensex reached its higher ever closing of almost 19000 points. It also makes a detailed analysis of things that went wrong - what prevented nations from becoming great and also showcases a few indivisuals who by the sheer dint of their beliefs and conviction changed the course of history. It is highly recommended read and makes for a very enlightening experience.

Life comes at you - fast !!!

Nationwide says "Life comes at you - fast !!!". Who can be more cognizant of this fact but me :):) I have been thinking of doing so many things for the past many days - cant seem to be able to find time for everything. It has been a free-wheeling life till now - however, there have been some recent big changes in life - and they are good!!!!

The "Good" Life.

I had a long discussion with three of my clients yesterday. Topics ranged from the mundane to the exotic - we talked about how life was different in the states from India, how I have grown ,how I have done a "GREAT" job - how I am prepared for moving on in life, the favorite sports in India(one of my clients is a big sports buff - we had a long talk about cricket) , about my personal life(I believe in keeping my personal and professional life separate but made an exception here!!!!) - it was a freewheeling discussion for almost 2 hours..I was pleasantly surprised to say the least :)

I had a dinner at a colleague's houes yesterday - it was a pleasant evening..I Liked it...
Dinner table discussion centred around the american way of life - I have begun to like the american way of life slowly but surely !!!

Career Focus takes a New Meaning...

I am sitting a Starbucks coffee joint close to my place....I have simply fallen in love with this place...Its a beautiful setting... People sitting and having coffee....Christmas carols playing (it is close to Thanksgiving)...Starbucks has given a new meaning to drinking coffee....Just see a young couple walking in-the guy has a crutch , seems to be hurt..the girl(a face worth remembering!!!!!) is helping him walk...the sight brings a smile to my face....a mother with her kids(joyfully playing around), wish I could snap a picture of her playing...A lawyer-client discussing something(the client seems very disturbed - the lawyer looks so caring - reminds me of some hollywood flick ...what was the name...huh...forget it..)

The staff here is all so young..hear that almost all are college students who have to work in order to support themselves and their studies...Wouldn't have to think of such a thing in India....I began working at the age of 22..no worries before that..all things paid for..everything taken care of...Ah..how lucky we all have been!!!!!!

.....The biggest question bugging me right now is "Where do I see myself 5 years down the line?" This is something I have been thinking for sometime now..The undeniable fact(whether we want to hear it or not) is that we are getting older....I have been one of the luckier guys....have received the best education in India...Terrific Schooling followed by a Bachelors degree fron REC(NIT). Academics have been good...the job has been a great learning experience...but the question is "Where do I go from here?"......Recently visited Yale, MIT, Harvard, Columbia and UCONN...to get an answer....The next logical thing for me would be an MBA, no doubt but it requires a BIG investment/committment both in terms of material and time...However, as usual I am again getting ahead of myself...

Anyways, have decided to take things one at a time...First step would be to get a good score on the GMAT...I guess there is no point in thinking light years ahead.A strong GMAT score would make things a lot clearer..Planning would be so much easier..

On a different note, have got a new JVC everio camcorder
http://www.jvc.com/presentations/everio_g
and am pretty excited about it...Should be posting some new photographs pretty soon...

Also check out the new Canadian Band - Niclekback
http://www.nickelback.com/
..simply love their numbers...

This Clip Will Melt Your Brain

It finally all makes sense. I think?

Long time..no post...
Life was hectic for the last few days.
Now its almost a month in the US.The trip was exciting via. Amsterdam, Minnapolis and Windsor. Bungled a bit in the immigration check-in counter in the US but I guess I could be forgiven for that , this being my first trip to the US.
For the past few days the work was not much but the time spent in miscellaneous activities was quite a lot.
probably saw the last snowfall in connecticut this season just 2 days after arriving. It was beautiful. Could not take snaps and sorely felt the need for a camera. Plan to buy it soon.
The client seems to be good(ever the eternal optimist!!!!) . Things right now, seem very much manageable and under control.
Probably meeting friends next weekend, the old chums from Pune. This should be good.
will keep this blog updated.