Carefree gal's musings

thank you visit to Chilkur Balaji Mandir
Today I went to a mandir in the outskirts of the city with my flatmate and her friend. The name of the place is Chilkur and it has a Balaji Mandir and a Shiv Mandir. This temple apparently is one of the oldest in Telengana and is situated in picturesque settings and drive was quite beautiful.
Its amazing to see the crowds at temples anywhere in India. On a Sunday morning (we reached there by 9am) there were more than 700 people at the mandir complex at any point in time. I guess as we are becoming more materialistic, somewhere we feel that we need to be more religious so that we can continue to be materialistic. I was told that this mandir is called visa mandir because for obvious reasons. I was also told that you ask anything and do 110 odd parikramas of the temple and your wish comes true. Then I guess you are supposed to go and say thanks to the god. But I did not have any mannat to seek. So I just went there to thank god for now almost successful completion of the one year at ISB.

I guess i have had good 10 days of lazing infront of TV. its time to get back to some value appropriation of the facilities at ISB. I will start swimming from tomorrow... i swear that i will start.

I just saw English Patient, very powerful performances by the actors. I think thats what had made this movie an multi-oscar winner. Other wise there is nothing in the story that I would call different. Though I have to concede that the direction is excellent, top-class.

its all about the money honey!!
Its been some time since i have had time to blog. I have taken a break now that i have got the first offer. i got it day before yesterday. Its prety good i should say. I am satisfied. But, it would have been better if it were in Blore. But, u hav to make such trade offs in life. I have another interview lined up. with Tata Motors. the final round is in Mumbai. Its a damn good role. and i want to crack it!!!

Last night, the day - 6 of placements and the campus looked relaxed for the first time. My guess is at the end of the day-6, more than 75% have had atleast one offer. Vikram is back to clicking photos... after very tense 50-60 days are placement prep and interviews its great feeling to see normalcy in and around dining hall...

As I walked out of SV1 after the offer, Venkat - the second in charge (after Mr. Menon) and one of the most capable men i have seen in my life, told me 'now u can peacefully go back to ur exercises and gym". so true!! its a a miracle that i have not put on much weight despite no regular exercises for the past many months. I guess i will start them at the right earnest.

But there are some irritating things too associated with offer. the friends and acquintences just congrtulate you for the offer. But others, whom u have just seen in the campus but never had the oppotunity to interact with - come & ask so freely, how much are they paying. I never disclosed my pay to most people before I came to ISB. I have no reason to do so now...My logic is why the hell should it matter to them? For me the factors like role, location, exit options are far more important than the pay. I guess having worked and lived very well on a government salary makes me like this....

My flatmate also got her first offer the same day as me... we had a little celebration dinner at home. got pizzas and generally lazed on the sofa. the third flatmate is on sabbatical and wants to go back.. she has generally been partying for the last 10-15 days. She has caught on to hollywood movies and english soaps. thats nice. the other day, i asked her to watch desparate housewives..... the girl was so shocked to see it. it was fun to watch her reaction :)
the fourth flat mate is having fun in LBS. got a mail from her today. our quad has become one happy relaxed flat now.

8 days to go
8 days to go before day-zero. I still cant understand this logic behind naming day 1 of placements as day zero. It probably excites the young MBAs with out work ex and makes them feel macho. I am applying to only one company in the day zero list. I would be pleasently surprised if I get shortlisted.
I would not be disappointed if I dont get shortlisted. Honestly i see myself that i dont have good fit.

This morning went out and got a haircut and did some shopping for the kitchen, in preparation for placements. Tomorrow 350 ISBians are gonna paint Prasadz red by watching the movie together. I am waiting for this. and I have an exam around 40 hours later. It is such a big change from Term-1, when I would skip going to dining hall for dinner thinking that it is waste of time :)

Tomorrow is also the second one-dayer. that means that i am gonna waste a lot of time just folloing the score. I better pick up marketing research hand outs this evening itself.

At lunch, this girl, very bright CA, was so nervous thinking about placements. I keep thinking, why am I not nervous at all... I am doing very routine interview prep, no case prep, no GD prep. I should be shit scared. But even today, just 8 days before day zero, I am still doing mandatory one hour TV, (more on weekends) 3 newspapers, 3 magazines a day, these after atleast 7 hours of sleep everyday.
I guess I am only to be blamed if I pull down the average ISB salary :)

Happy Republic Day

Today is our Republic Day!! For ISBians this only means no classes!! The rest of the routine continues...

We had flag-hoisting by the dean at 9am. After reaching late for Independence Day celebrations, my flatmate and I reached well in time to be there for flag-hoist. Few of the classmates actually rose early to be there. It is one of the days which makes me feel good generally - of being an Indian.

Vir Sangvi (one of the few journalists I respect) in his column in HT has put forth his views on RD Parade. He feels that showing military might is more suited in a country like China and not in a democracy like India. Further he also is against the kids forced to take part in the parade against their wishes, that too under sad facilities for them at Delhi. I guess his views echo many Indians' views.

But I fully disagree and have an entirely different point of view. I remember, as a child I used to be maha enthu to take part in school parade and would wish that our school gets to particiapte in RD parade at Delhi, which unfortunately never happened. Though I fully agree that facilities available to participants has to improve, I am fairly sure that kids STILL enjoy taking part in such functions. This gives them an opportunity to feel more proud being an Indian and may be remove some of those deep rooted cynicism within all of us!!

Lazy day, Sleepy Afternoon and Kotler Evening

8 windows on the laptop trying to read 8 different things at the same time - routine continues today also. I am reading a lot of things which is surely helping me to gain knowledge (most of it junk). But will it help me to crack my placements, time will only tell. I dont even have to enthu to pick up Kotler since morning. During these lethargic times, I feel like blaming Scott Ward, our Term-1 Marketing Professor. He was a pretty decent proffesor. He made marketing interesting for people like me for whom marketing was synonomous with advertising :) But for some reason, he did not think that reading Kotler was so necessary and so though I have almost majored in marketing, I am yet to completely read Kotler. Its almost blasphemous not to read Kotler for marketing major types. If Prof Ward had made it compulsory, I would have completed one round in Term-1 itself, rather than struggling with it now.

I cant avoid it any more. I am sitting in the evening with some guys to discuss few chapters. I have to pick up up the book NOW. So, Sunday evening is gonna be a Kotler evening :(:(

after a long break

All these days I was too disorganized to pen anything. This term I have taken only three subjects and one of them is real cool. First week into Term 7, its been relaxing so far. We quadmates even managed to go out and shop this evening.

But am I not supposed to be preparing for placements? Entire campus has tranformed. You hardly see a soul in a relaxed mood. Dining hall conversation is always around BCG, McKinsey, BT, BP, Cognizant, RPG, Goldman Sachs..... the list is endless. Placement week is around 5 weeks away. The thought scares me! So, most of the time I refuse to think about it.

I am doing the routine of Kotler, very few cases (since I am not gunning for Consultancy career, well even if I did, my grades have not helped me even a bit), business press reports (Economic Times, Hindustan Times Business Section and Economist), brushing macro eco and operations, apart from some interview prep and researching target companies and target industries.

Honestly this is the minimum that I have have to do. I am doing all these in such a haphazard manner that its terrifying to think about my future!! This afternoon I was catching up with cricket score, reading review of Zinda, researching on BP, and airlines industry and was also chatting with sis and answering few mails all at the same time!! God help me please.

Well, today is Lodi for Punjabis, Sankranti for us South Indians and Bihu for Assamese.. Lodi party organized by spouses is still on. We went, danced for a while and came back.... as usual.

Current Music: balle balle

good classes, good news and a relaxed evening

I have the project mid-review presentation tomorrow. I hope it goes well.

Its a week into disbanding of sections (since electives have started) and we already had our first reunion party! I came back after mid night. The music has stopped. So, the party must be winding up.

I have 3 heavy courses this term. Now I am getting scared whether I can manage so much. Then there is ELP. Its going to be a big fight this term.

Marketing Implementation is taught by Prof Nirmal Gupta who incidently was professor of the year for last batch. His knowledge about Indian markets is amazing. After spending 6 months studying Intel, Dell, Nucor steel etc. his classes brings in a breath of fresh air. While discussing a case he mentioned Dr. Ashok Ganguly and I looked around the class. Only few faces registered recognition. Rest including me had blank face. In my effort (without any success) to learn as many concepts, knowledge as possible I have read much about the likes of Michael Dell, Andrew Grove, John Chambers, I have completely ignored Indian Business leaders.

If I am going to stay and work in India, I better read about Indian Business leaders, their work life, their strategies for success.

Well, now for the good news

Sourav has hit a century in the Duleep trophy match that has been termed as the most important match in his career. Ha ha. He has bought himself atleast another tournament. It is to be seen what will happen to Dravid. Poor guy.

Arbit upset feeling to nostalgia

Its so upsetting and irritating, World-XI putting up such a pathetic show against the Aussies. The team with the likes of Sehwag, Flintoff, Dravid, Lara, all who's who in cricket are playing like amatuers. I think it shows the lack of motivation, casual attitude more than anything else. Is it the coordination problem? But, in the professional level how much time do they need to click as a team? Most of these guys have already played 3 matches and is it not enough to sort out these issues and put up a decent fight?

I was just thinking about the NBA all stars game. Those guys die to be a part of the all stars game. I think cricket has and will remain a gentleman's game and professionalism will remain a dream (of course excluding Aussies) for quite some time to come.

One of my friends from AF days came to visit me last evening. Its amazing, how much I look forward these visits. Its probably due to the fact that I hardly go out (I did go out more frequently in Term-2 and 3) nowadays. I remember my training days, when we used to long to see a human being not in uniform!! The guys (we had to call them, our brother-officers!!) had a shock of their life when they saw us in civilian clothes (we girls had decided to wear Salwar suits) for the first time almost 3 months into training. Most could barely recongnise us. One of guys told one of the girls with all sincerity "Hey You actually look like a girl!!, I never could have imagined!."

Well, those were some days.

Current Mood: blank

Good start to the term break

After a very long time, I truly relaxed today (rather yesterday).

Most of the junta have gone home since it is a 9 day break. Few like me who have to do project work have stayed back. After 3 weeks of arbit search on the internet and discussions we made some progress today. I felt for the first time that we are doing some thing worthwhile after all. Though we worked for quite sometime there was no time pressure and it felt nice doing the work.

In the evening I went out with some friends to the pub n discotheque at Taj krishna. It was great fun too, My first visit to the place. and Hyderabad is certainly not as traditional as its name sounds. It rocks in the evenings. Its as happening as or may even more than Bangalore (at least the Blore I have seen, which is not much... to admit)

Yesterday was 73rd anniversary of the IAF my previous employer. Well, it sounds so crude to call IAF, an employer, that was my past career. I watched news in the morning and was remembering the airforce day celebration week. We used to have social evening in the officers' mess, lunch with Junior non-commissioned cadre, ceremonial parade on 08th October. They were good days.

Tomorrow evening I am going home for few days. I am so eagerly waiting to reach Bangalore. 4-5 of us ex-faujis who left IAF together are meeting first time since we left. It should be pretty insightful to hear how the civilian world is treating them. As for me, I am waiting (with a lot of apprehensions) for April next year, when I step into this big, bad world!

While googling for some marketing stuff yesterday, I chanced upon 'walking pilgrimage' of an Indian couple Nipun and Guri. Their walk through Indian hinterland is an effort to increase their trust in inter-connectedness in life and in the hope that more goodness spreads in this world. Though much of the writing in their blog is heavy stuff for me, I can't help but admire their determination in pursuing what they believe in. Truly amazing!

I am feeling sleepy. well, this reminds me of an episode (then torturous, now funny in retrospect) during my training days. But some other time. Its time to sleep!

Current Mood: peaceful

End of sections and exam time ....again
I can study and understand 3 of the subjects this term. but don't feel like studying them...
The fourth subject, Investment Analysis that I am trying so hard to understand since morning, just flies 10 kms above my head. I have given up (give up maar diya sounds better tho')

Yesterday was the last day that we attended classes as per sections. Next term onwards (which begins on 17th) we will have electives. I bid for 5 subjects and got all of them.
Though I have got Financial reporting and Analysis (FIRA), I think I better take a break from fin subjects before I lose my sanity.

For the first time in life (rather since I left home 7 yrs ago) i am home sick. I think the pressure and highly competitive environment has gotten me. Thank God I am going home after exams. I have some work regarding ELP. I will complete it before weekend and go home.

I keep pogosticking (picked up from 'English, August) which means jumping from a topic to another. I thought I will write about last day in class and ended up writing about feeling homesick!

The last class was good. we were supposed to dress in ethnic dress. I wore a salwar suit, bangles, ,,, the works. A few classmates said that I looked good. After almost 2 very gloomy days, their comments certainly cheered me up!! Few girls in the class wore sarees and were looking stunning. We generally clicked hazaar pictures as if we are leaving ISB for good!!

I better get back to IA and MO.

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: Gazals

Life is beautiful!!
Its 11.16 am.

I am doing total TP since 8 am. Caught hold of a still sleepy flatmate at 8 am and gave her good (read painful!) gyan on the totally liberalised swedish society v/s conservative Indian society. Poor gal must have got so harassed that she has gone back to her sleep now.

This place is cool. There is a spouse's club here. Just now one of my friends forwarded a very much required e-mail about beauticians that had been sent to her husband (ain't it cool?) from the spouses club prez!!

For the first time I could attempt all questions in yesterday's Global Economics paper. so, generally feel good about myself. The subject is so good. The prof could have done better justice to it. Well bygones are bygones. I am impressed with the new prof. He made his first class far more interesting than the first prof.

Today there is ladies singles finals at Wimbledon. I want to sit and watch it. So I'd better pick up some really bulky 'bulk pack' and study for some time.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Beautiful world

HORRIBLE WEEKEND!!
This weekend is the worst we have seen till date (u of course dismiss the pre-exam weekend. The pressure is at a different level).

First, we have classes even today (that too GE, YAAAAWN!!).
Second, we have Global Economics, MDM simulation for today
Third, we have DMO (2 of them), CS, MDM for early next week
Fourth, Mid term in Global Eco late next week

I am losing track of assignments I have to submit.
I fear I am losing my sanity too

There is an Atul Kabsekar talk this evening. Am really looking forward to it. Might help me get back my sanity at lteast for some time.

All the marks are out. I strongly feel that instead of killing people like me four times in a same week, we should get all the marks the same day. I'd rather get butchered once than 4 times.

I hope I come out alright at the end of this all.

Worst, I have lost my energy to go to gym. I have not excercised for the last 3 days. Feel fatter, more tired than before.

God help me!!

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: Hum Honge Kamayab

Sad, the weekend is already over!
At this place the fun weekend starts at around 7 PM on a Thursday and is over by early hours of Friday. Then you slog and slog over the remaining 3 days to complete the massive load of assignments that are lined up.

I am done for the day. Had taken initiative to hold a JAM session. But this clashed with a Tambi movie show at SV-1(ISB has a seizable number of South Indians) and B section party. That took away a large crowd. I was disappointed at the crowd turnout. Still 10-15 of us out there had fun singing. There is this girl K who has an amazing voice. She sang a carpenters song to the perfection. I tried singing "killing me softly" and I thought it came out pretty decent.

Two of my flatmates went out to a movie. Must have seen Mrs and Mr Smith. Thats one movie I want to see.

Today, the Global Economics class was pretty decent. He goes so slowly that it suits slow learners like me. I managed to ask couple of questions and he did not DISMISS them as stupid. Thats surely is an improvement over Term 1 (where the only question I managed to ask was always "can you explain this again please?")

This evening I was talking to my neighbour and was feeling sad that daily routine that I had taken for granted all life(like reading newspaper, watching soaps) have become luxury. But I still manage to read newspaper for at least 10 minutes everyday. The headlines yesterday was that Michael Jackson has been
released. I was wondering about the money that his attorneys must have spent to do get a Jury of their choice!

gotta hit the bed now.

tomorrow is a brand new day and I will attack the BARCO case with all the might that I can muster!

Gosh! so much of pogosticking!

Current Mood: blank
Current Music: Its a brand new day

Its study time or is it sleepy time?
At this place there is no mid-night point. There is no single point where you can say good night and hit the bed. Till now, I have sort of managed to keep the night for sleeping and and in worst of times have managed to sleep before the sun rises. But my flatmate has got used to the habits of a 'real ISBan'. Most of the days, as I get up at around 6AM, she will be getting ready to say "Good Night".

Term II has begun. Around 5 weeks ago, when the second Economics assignment was due, I remember thinking to myself "Nothing can be tougher than this". I was so wrong. Two days into term II, I am dreading this weekend. Here I should clarify. Weekends begin on Thursday evening and go on till you submit your assignment on the early hours of Monday. The early hours can be 8AM (with a class at 830AM).
Next Monday, two assignments are due and one is due on Wednesday. That effectively kills my glorious plans of reading "Mammaries of the welfare state". I had read "English, August" long ago and had not been able to get hold of its sequel. I found a copy at LRC and the book is lying with me for the past 1 week. (You see, During the term break I was too busy sleeping!!)

The only thing I am proud of till now has been the fact that I manage to go to the Gym at least 4 times a week. I was thinking to myself. Even if I can't be among the top 10 percentile in Acads, I can surely get into the top 10% of frequent users at the Gym.

Its 2.10 AM. I better pick up Global Economics bulk pack. That surely will put me to sleep immediately.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Oh papa laali

exam fever!!
Its been not yet full 7 weeks since my arrival here at ISB. Term 1 exams are round the corner. Today, I walked up the economics prof and asked him whether the entire bulk pack(its 350+ pages long!!) will be there for the exams. He gave me a mini lecture on Oligopoly models and I still have no clue about those models. There is no way that I can cover the entire book. I have 3 more subjects to study.
I have to do selective learning.

Current Mood: awake

here I go
This concept of writing in a on-line journal is comparatively new to me. I became aware of it about an year ago. It still kind of amazes me that people write straight out of their hearts, in spite of being aware of the fact that whole world can read them.

For some body like, web journals and blogs are a constant source of amazement and entertainment (at times).

Today, we got results of mid-term exam on stats and my score is much below the class average.
I am at my lowest confidence level right now. Confidence Level (ha ha). If only my concepts were clearer, I would have done well to get better scores.

The guys sitting next to me have got substantially better marks and must be thinking what a stupid woman sits next to them.

I think I better close my first post and get to studies. I certainly would not want to flunk in the finals which are due next week.

Current Mood: and determined!!
Current Music: When will you get serious??

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