Life, ISB, MBA and Beyond

Emotional Intelligence

2012-12-21T14:48:00.000+05:30

Some hackneyed topics don't die - do they? I used to think the same about the topic "emotional intelligence" even without much of an exposure yet with its subject matter.

That was till yesterday. Thanks to a workshop I attended today - I feel in someway enabled with some tips, tools and techniques (however simple yet hard to apply they may be)

There were a lot of exercises in the workshop and the last one was where to teach how important it is to appreciate people around you everyday the instructor made us go around the room and ask fellow attendees to mention appreciative words on a sheet.

Here is what I got - feels good to be appreciated in any small way.

I take a pledge to try and appreciate good deeds by people around me every day (especially my family members)!

the complete man....

2011-09-15T13:31:00.000+05:30

Married in Jan 2011 to my love, had my honeymoon in Andamans (yes, I went there twice - it is pure heaven!)
Spent a few months in hyderabad and then Delhi - here I got transferred back to you!

Another few weeks in Delhi and I bought a car (Tata Vista - Aura ABS) after lot of research in June (exactly six months after my marriage). Daily driving to Gurgaon from other other corner of Delhi (read rohini) is not exactly fun especially in rains. The ODO reads 4500 kms and today, I am celebrating my first birthday post marriage - thanks to my lovely wife, sis and jijaji, they gave me a surprise cake & smear at 12 am

Life is moving on fast for me! Gosh, the Raymond suiting ad just came before my eyes, did someone whisper ..Raymond..the complete man?'

There is something about 'Odd-Hours'

2010-08-03T04:15:00.000+05:30

There is something about odd hours (read post 2 am any night) - that keeps me coming back to them. I find some reason or the other to go back in that 'mode'. Can decide if it is my work-life balance or the life style itself.

Come to think of it, for people who actually like peace a lot in life- A night has everything so peaceful including no traffic on roads, no loud noises around, no people in hurry around and there is just a calm serene night to embrace. At ISB, it was very usual to be awake till the wee-hours of morning and friends and alums used to tell me that once I move to my post-MBA career and settle in my job- the late nights will disappear. Sadly, has happened for me yet!

What is keeping me busy these late-nights ? A little guitar (yes, picked it up recently and learning from some cool people on youtube), a little blogging (like this one), reading a couple of books I have picked up etc.

ISB forms 'Ivy League' with 3 Asian B-schools

2010-07-24T02:38:00.002+05:30

Sample this:

Asian education has now reached a critical mass trajectory. It is in our interest to give students multiple options. Hence, we got together with the other prominent Asian B-schools to jointly market our programmes. This proves more effective than going it alone

-Deepak Chandra, deputy dean of ISB.

If that gave you enough context - here follows news & my views

The Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, has tied-up with three top Asian B-schools (below) in a venture represented online at the link http://www.topasiabschools.com

The b-schools represented are -

China Europe International Business School

Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

Indian School of Business

Nanyang Business School

ASIA 4

Almost 4-5 months of meetings and discussions between the four prominent b-schools in Asia have resulted in this taking shape. It would be interesting to see this quad-power take on the G-8 of Ivy League b-schools in future.

The website further mentions 'Asia4, represented by the region's top B-schools – CEIBS, HKUST, ISB, and Nanyang Business School – all feature among the top 30 in the Financial Times (London) rankings of the Top 100 Business Schools in the world'

My personal view is that the partnership will be useful for ISB too to attract more international applicants. The partner schools would definitely have seen so called 'operational and marketing synergies' in promoting a joint front (the quad of four schools together) to attract the international applicants looking to understand asian markets by doing an MBA in Asia.

I read another article recently which mentioned - the professors from IIM-Bangalore (IIMB) and ISB, Hyderabad kick-started a collaboration with the Canada-based Richard Ivey School of Business, to develop case studies in the Indian context (read full article on ET ). I think that is an awesome effort. For those who do not know - most of the MBA education (pretty much everywhere) still relies on standard cases - these kind of initiatives are very much needed to develop case studies which are more relevant, practical and customized to the asian markets.

I am wondering if we would see more collaboration between the four schools in future in this and similar other areas too. But definitely it does look like that partnerships hold the flavour of the season at ISB!

ISB Term 2 End - Party

2010-07-15T02:44:00.000+05:30

After getting repeated invites from current batch students and still not being able to attend many parties with the current batch at ISB - I had resolved recently to attend the next party for sure :)

Thankfully, after a long time, I did attend one soon. This one marked the end of Term 2 at ISB. Although there were quite a few separate get-together events happening too, but the main party was in the Class of 2008 lounge (see the image) only. And (for those who do not know) as is the tradition with all ISB parties, people 'started' turning up only after 1 am in the night. It was awesome to visit campus and dance to punjabi beats!

ISB Aspirants: Sharing two cents!

2010-07-11T18:10:00.000+05:30

For all ISB aspirants following my blog - Sharing two important items here!

1. ) Artcile: How to improve your profile for B-school

A good article to build and improve your profile for Bschool. Especially suited to the Indian context. I like the structured approach of the article and the concrete actionable items suggested in each area!
I would suggest - take a print out of the article above and hang it near your study table and keep ticking on things you are working on or planning for. It would also give you a good thought process if you are attempting ISB application online or writing any essay out of the two mandatory ISB essays this time (read my earlier post on ISB 2010 essays!)

2. ) Scheduled Chat with a group of ISB alumni for ISB Aspirants !

You can make use of a wonderful opportunity provided by ISB alumni group - ThinkISB on GMATClub

There is a scheduled open chat for all MBA aspirants for getting their queries resolved by ISB alumni themselves! For more details read the announcements below

GMATClub Annoucement

http://gmatclub.com/forum/scheduled-chat-with-isb-alumni-17-jul-10-00-am-india-time-96870.html

ThinkISB Announcement

Official announcement from thinkisb blog about the same - http://www.thinkisb.com/blog/2010/07/11/upcoming-event-gmatclub-chat-with-thinkisb/

Seth Godin at ISB!

2010-07-09T02:47:00.002+05:30

Till Seth Godin visited Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad on 8th July'2010
(I being an ISB alumni got few emails asking for registrations for the event)

-to be frank and honest - I had never heard of him - except passing by some books written by some author with a weird photo of a large head on the cover (and yes never cared to read any of them in past)

This is what I know of the person called Seth Godin:
- MBA from Standford
- Author of numerous books (check Free Prize Inside and All Marketers Are Liars for starters)

- A great thinker about marketing & ideas and a great motivator and speaker on leadership

- and yes old aged person now but damn energetic!

for more about him and his visit to ISB - do read on thinkisb blog here!

Quite a few of my friends attended that talk! (No, yours truly could not make it due to work pressure! and cursed himself a lot later!). Many of them held the view that it was an awesome reinforcement to the content in his earlier talks and videos

See his two videos below Or Skip further to read my comments on his concept of "Tribes"

Seth Godin Video - Short one

Seth Godin video - Long one (2 hrs! so sit back, play fullscreen!)

Tribes
The concept of Tribes as introduced by Godin is game changing. It is one of the ideas that people know all the time but are not 'awakened' to it ! I mean all of us know that there are people who have passion about a thing or a concept or an idea - but I think the essence of what is conveyed in videos above and probably ISB too was that - the next wave of marketing is building tribes - gone are the days of television or push-push-push kind of marketing. Interesting concept I may say!
So, What tribe are you building for your business?

ISB Admission events

2010-07-08T18:43:00.000+05:30

Sharing important information for this year's ISB Infosessions and ISB Admission Events happening across Indian Cities !

ADMISSION EVENTS

Info-sessions

City	Date	Time	Register
New Delhi	July 11, 2010	11.00 AM	Register
New Delhi	July 11, 2010	1.00 PM	Register
New Delhi	July 11, 2010	3.00 PM	Register
Hyderabad	July 16, 2010	6.00 PM	Register
Pune	July 18, 2010	11.00 AM	Register
Pune	July 18, 2010	3.00 PM	Register
New Delhi	September 12, 2010	11.00 AM	Register
New Delhi	September 12, 2010	3.00 PM	Register

To register for other Info Sessions in India, Click here
The ISB admissions team also travels with the World MBA Tour and other educational fairs throughout the world. This is a unique opportunity for you to meet representatives of the ISB and discuss your future education and career goals.

To register for the World MBA tour, click here

(Note: This information has been taken from the ISB Website - on 8th July'2010 - you may check the latest version online - ISB Admissions Events Page )

Twitter Guide

2010-07-07T20:02:00.003+05:30

Twitter - a platform I have long ignored after making my first login in 2009 or so- has caught my attention in a big way recently. It so happened a few months back that my good friend Nitin - was visiting ISB for class of 2011 orientation week. He showed a twitter based application 'Tweetdeck' which makes the normal and dull looking twitter platform so very dynamic. Since then I am getting hooked on to it!

I realize and am very sure there are many other applications which may be even better than this one - but the idea here is that - it is the applications - like Yoono (which integrates all social networks as a browser plugin and is very neat to use) and Tweetdeck that are helping users like me understand the power of tweeting!

Couple of examples (mentioning here since they might be useful for new users of twitter)

- Twitter Hash list : Basically in every tweet, people insert '#' character before the topics that the tweet relates to. Examples would be #Startups, #ISB, #SethGodin
- Replies - If you want to mention someone in your tweet then you use '@username' anywhere in your tweet
- Re-Tweet: this is a neat option to share someone else's tweet to your followers and any lists you want it to appear in (using # of-course for that). Re-tweets appear with 'RT' prefix and work a viral methods in spread important news!
- Verified Twitter accounts - Browse through the twitter directory and you will see actors, actresses, thought leaders - quite a few accounts have been verified by twitter and appear with a green tick with the username while searching. So you are sure that you are following the right Aamir Khan or right Barkha Dutt or Obama for that matter.

Now time for some nice examples. Say, if I wanted to check in real time about the weather/news or simply what people are tweeting about in a particular indian city then just check the #hyderabad or #delhi searches or say if I want any news being tweeted about #ISB - all I have to do is just keep them as columns in tweetdeck! - feeds keep pouring in real-time !

PS: There was a a Seth Godin session at ISB today ! . I wanted to go there badly but work pressure didn't allow me to go in the afternoon today. So, I wanted to check the session's feedback in real time ? I searched for tweets with '#SethGodin' and '#ISB' !

As I explore twitter more with lists and tools like wefollow and other stuff - will post here about them as well !

Disclaimer: I am no expert on twitter - the thoughts presented above are just my opinions and experiences with the platform ! I would love to hear your thoughts on the same from which I can also learn and share further !

Re-applicant to ISB?

2010-07-03T10:15:00.005+05:30

I have interacted with quite a few re-applicants to Indian School of Business (ISB) in past 2-3 years. Couple of burning questions on the mind of any ISB re-applicant are

How to get formal feedback on what went wrong from ISB

Answer: Email to PGP Admissions (pgpadmissions@isb.edu) and you will hear back from them in due course)

Understand how ISB looks at Re-applicants

Answer: Read content and my views below for ISB re-applicants. This probably indicates that re-applicants are encouraged to apply to ISB.

The ISB website prospective re-applicants link says (as on July 03,2010):

RE-APPLICANTS

We are delighted to see you visit this page.

The Post Graduate Programme in Management at the Indian School of Business is one of its kind programmes in the country. Each year we receive a large number of applications for the same. As much as we would like to select many candidates, the limited number of seats to the Programme does not permit us to do so. However, we do invite re-applications so that you have a chance to showcase your abilities, or any other quality we could have missed out earlier, once again.

We are sure that you will have many questions on the procedure and the process to be followed. We have attempted to address a few of them here.

Before you begin your reapplication identify the areas where you might need special focus and work towards improving the same
Each re-application is reviewed on the basis of its merits just as in the case of first time applications. The fact that this your second time does not affect our perspective in any negative manner.
After a gap of one year you may have more information to share with us. Please include everything in the application as it helps us evaluate better.
All the mandatory information required for the re-application has to be current and up to date, especially with regard to your academic transcripts, essays, reference letters, work history etc.
Based on the new and current application materials the admission decision will be made.
You may opt for recommendations by others as it may bring out different qualities or traits of your personality which may have gone unnoticed earlier. However, if you would like to make use of your 2010-11 recommendations, you may do so by using the appropriate radio buttons in the evaluation page of the online application.
In case your GMAT/TOEFL score is no longer valid then please take the test again and send us the latest results. If the scores are still valid then you do not need to send them again to us.
The decision made by the admissions committee is final.

If you have any queries, please write in to us at pgpadmissions@isb.edu Our Admissions team will be happy to guide you"

I think the bullet point list mentioned above is worth reading and re-reading for all ISB re-applicants. Lets understand the first three points (from the content above):

Firstly, the one on identifying and prioritizing focus areas - Are you confused and don't really know how to actually go about it! how to prioritize/focus on what areas- read thoughts on what this requires at my earlier article
Secondly, very clearly understand that you are at equal or better footing (better as you have an advantage of familiarity with the application system - but don't let this make you overconfident - e.g. the ISB application for 2012 has mentioned in the guidelines that there are only 2 mandatory essays this time. Lookout for such key points!) as compared to any fresh applicant.
Finally, I would say to address the third area 'What has improved in your profile since you last applied to ISB' - you need to really do a lot of introspection and enlist key achievements in all areas of your profile - analytical, work-ex, leadership, ECA or diversity.

Hope that helps! More later - happy applying to ISB!

If you like what you read above, you may share/follow this blog and/or leave comments below!

Disclaimer: the view presented are personal views of an ISB alumni and do not necessarily reflect the views of the school itself.

Should I go for an MBA Degree in a downturn?

2010-07-02T01:00:00.001+05:30

Ignoring the news of economic downturn subsiding (Forrester Report), I thought this article (which I wrote an year ago for thinkisb) is quite relevant even now for any one aspiring for an MBA:

Should you go for an MBA (especially when the market conditions are not good) ?

Sorry if you expect a yes/no answer to this question here, hard luck man! It is still you who has to decide.
This article is intended to be a small help to put some career stuff into a clearer perspective.

All of us know, or at least pretend to know the real reasons behind choosing engineering branches we opted for. I 'pretend' my reason to be my love for computers back there in year 2000. From 'my-dad-told-me-to-become-engineer' to a 'quick-way-to-start-earning' engineering has been preferred choice of talented people in our country.

But many of us decide later to move for something flashier and glamorous called M.B.A. Why so? Simply stating, the perceptions of success (defined below) changes over time.

I define success by my own concocted formula:

Success (at time t) = Aspirations (t) + Hard work (0 to t-1) + Intelligence
+ NETWORK (0 to t-1) + Luck (t)

Aspirations definitely need to high to achieve a higher degree of relative success. Of course, that has no implication on satisfaction levels which may not be related to success always. But for purposes of a continued well sounding discussion, we will assume them to be correlated (satisfaction and success). Hardwork, Intelligence are without doubt important elements.

Lets deep-dive into what constitutes 'Network' and how MBA would help you in building it:

An MBA degree, may not promise you a superb high paying job as media reports, but it is definitely very promising to work on each aspect to ensure a greater success in the realm of business. I am in no way suggesting that those without it are any lesser or can't taste equal amounts of success. But the message I want to put across is, for people like me, it worked wonders to change me as a person.

First of all an MBA, made me much more ''networked", a cliché word, which is still the most important word for your professional and personal growth. I say that with confidence after reading data based reports about how many people you know and each contact adding a slight percentage to your future salary level. Consider this, my study group (MBA is all about team assignments, from one deadline to another, catching food and sleep in classes) consisted of a doctor, banker, two consultants and I (engineer). In my MBA, I guess I have made decent friends with lawyers, doctors (all major specialties! consultants, finance experts, etc. It really helps your personal as well as professional life
Secondly, your aspirations change, obviously with a positive thrust. That follows from the peer groups and interactions with high achievers in various fields during an MBA. Here an important point is that you need to take care about which school to target. Each school, irrespective of what they project, has a major focus area from placements point of view. Certain specific types of companies visit the campus and get involved in co-curricular more than others per campus. Aspirations of dream workplace and dream roles are impacted accordingly

Thirdly, hard work and intelligence will not change much, except that you will realize that you can put in more hard work / utilize more of untapped intelligence in pressure situations too. This one comes with time and people take some hits in initial terms and then realize the best that works for them.

All that is left is luck.

Best of luck towards a successful life!

Awesome Mausam in Hyderabad!

2010-07-01T22:50:00.000+05:30

Its that time of the year again in Hyderabad! It is not Cats-n-Dogs raining rather it is a sweet little drizzle all day long type of rain. I love hyderabad for this. During my ISB days also, the whole campus used to look so awesome. The hidden lake in ISB campus also used to get filled with good amount of water.
(btw, only recently - an year later I got to know about the pathway to that lake ! thanks to a daring friend - who showed the way hidden in the jugle-ee grass area)

off to finding some good ISB photographs..

ISB Essays: Getting over writer's block

2010-06-29T22:21:00.000+05:30

Writing ISB Essays for ISB Application to ISB Class of 2012 & feeling stuck how to start?

Writer's block got you probably! For the uninformed souls - Writer's block is a condition, associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work (source: wikipedia)

I have interacted with many ISB Aspirants over past three years and still do. This is a common excuse that each aspirants gives to himself to delay writing the essays! It is nothing more that procrastination to be honest - and I also suffered from it in my ISB application days.

How to get over it
------------------
- Interact with your
   A) Family members
   B) Friends
   C) Co-workers

Ask these different groups open ended questions like 'Tell me about myself' or 'What I do well' etc.

- Note down all the points that come up in these discussions in a comprehensive bullet point list.

- Revisit each point when alone and write down your thoughts in front of it

- Arrange the total list of bullet points by category - diversity bullets, work ex bullets, analytical skills bullets etc. and then map them to different essays required for ISB Application

Whoa! you are already over the writer's block!

Stay tuned for more content for ISB Aspirants !

To all ISB Aspirants (ISB Class of 2012)

2010-06-27T21:35:00.001+05:30

If any of you are planning to apply to ISB in cycle 1 or cycle 2 then read on!

As an ISB alumni, who has gone through the process and also evaluated quite some applications to ISB - I can say the following :

- GMAT score is important - but do not spend abnormal amount of time preparing & giving GMAT that it leaves you with only a week to complete the ISB application on the ISB Online Application Portal
Ideally, one should give GMAT at least a month before the application deadline (Round 1 Deadline is 30th August, 2010). Aspirant should spend the entire month introspecting, writing/reviewing essays and the many other important areas in the application (yes, the ISB application is much more than the essays! - which many aspirants forget)

- If you have already taken a date too close to the application deadline (read - an exam date within a month of the application deadline) then it is a good idea to start working on the ISB application content - specially the areas like - Work Experience , Awards and Achievements, Figuring out references for ISB Application etc.
Do it whenever you get bored with preparing for GMAT

The essence of above two points is also captured in an article I wrote a while ago - Plan Do Check Act

Best of luck in your ISB Application / ISB Essays / Research about ISB / GMAT preparation etc. etc. !

Keep reading this blog for more content for ISB Aspirants!

ISB Placements - Class of 2010

2010-06-15T23:54:00.000+05:30

Class of 2010 also witnessed a 33% increase in the number of offers over last year as companies chose the ISB students for a variety of roles including several senior management positions. Overall, the salaries offered to the Class of 2010 increased by 11% over last year. Key highlights summarized below:

ISB Essay Analysis - ISB application 2012

2010-06-15T22:35:00.000+05:30

Reproducing ISB Application 2012 essay analysis by ISB Alumni venture (ThinkISB) Blog ....

Most of the applicants for ISB Class of 2012 have already started working on the ISB application. It is a good idea to start early, but even if you haven’t, it is recommended to start thinking about your first draft. The R1 deadline for ISB is approaching. ThinkISB has done a detailed essay analysis for ISB essays which is presented below. Surprisingly, this year, there are only 2 mandatory essays and essay 3 is optional. Essay analysis follows:

Essay 1: If we were to admit one more student to the class of 2012, make a compelling argument as to why that student should be you? (300 words max)
Imagine a group where every individual has the same thought process. Do you feel excited about being a part of this group? How much would you learn from such a group? The answers to these questions make this essay the most important essay in ISB application. Read more

Essay 2: What are your short term and long term goals? How will the ISB help you achieve the same? (300 words max)
Through this essay ISB Admissions Committee wants to understand your intent behind applying for MBA. You should very clearly know why you want to do MBA and how it is going to help you in your career. Why this is important for ISB and you? Read more

Essay 3: Please provide additional information, that will significantly affect the consideration of your application to the ISB. (300 words max)
All this while, were you thinking that ISB is not giving you room to tell something you want to? Or is trying to tie you down into some calibration frameworks? Well, then here is your chance to say that you wanted to say and were not able to all along. Read more

ISB Alumni Re-union

2010-06-03T22:34:00.000+05:30

Recently, we organized an ISB Alumni get together in Hyderabad at Marriott Hotel (30th May'2010)
It was an awesome experience for all 100+ alumni who attended the event with their families

The get-together was also a sort of a welcome party for the new alumni who have joined the hyderabad chapter.
Unlimited food (600+ dishes) & unlimited drinks served with a smile and shared with fellow ISB alumni made the whole 5-6 hrs I spent there a memorable day. Catching up with friends from my batch and knowing about the amazing entrepreneurs from past batches kept me engaged throughout

A bunch of us also forced Marriott staff to give us access to the lounge area on 8th floor - which provides a breathtaking view of the Hussain Sagar lake and the city.

ThinkISB - a venture to guide ISB Aspirants

2010-04-28T02:28:00.003+05:30

An ISB alumni venture which is very close to me:

www.thinkisb.com, aims to guide ISB aspirants to present a strong case to ISB Admissions committee and assists candidates end to end. Do check it out.

Andamans – Best Kept Secret of India

2010-01-04T03:34:00.003+05:30

A Trip to Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Day 1- 28^th December'2009

We started our 'fantabolous' trip with all of reaching Chennai on night (my family flew down from Delhi and I from Hyderabad; after a night's stay at Chennai- caught an early morning flight to

JetSki - a 10 min jet scooter ride over the waves, costs Rs. 750 to book the scooter with the driver. Two people can sit along with the driver. After Lifejackets-wearing and no-liability-paperwork-completion, one can start it.

Evening Stroll and sunset watching at Corbyns Cove beach(CC beach) – A coconut palm fringed beach, around 6-7 km from Port Blair- Good place to watch a soothing sunset

Self driven boat ride (all four of us in one boat) at Marine park back at the JetSki area (Some water park on the way to CC beach)

Shopping at 'Tilak' wholesale shop for shell based ornaments (near CC beach)

Cellular Jail: (referred as - Sajaaye Kalapaani – in pre-freedom days)

Late evening: Surf the net, talk to friends to make sure each day is really happening one; finally got Elephanta beach on Havelock Island and Jolly buoy Island trips included and rest of the not-so-good things erased from our itinerary

Day 2-29^th December'2009

Wakeup at 4 am, get ready and get packed breakfast to catch the ferry to Havelock Islands at 6am. Havelock Island has become really famous at the beach # 7 (called Radhanagar beach) on that Island got featured as world's 7^th most beautiful beach. The travel agent sends a cab to the port sharp at 5:30; we are now headed for an entire day trip to Havelock Islands. There are apparently only two ferries to Havelock each day, run by administration with fixed timings.

Ferry trip: The trip was an awesome experience – after spending some time in the AC seating, the decks were opened for the public to visit. It is interesting to see how a ship/ferry of big size operates. We got friendly with the captain. His team showed us the front deck, GPS operation, radar operation, ships direction control (which is a very small joystick – like one on Xbox remote) etc. Being on the top deck and the very front of the ferry, gives a different feeling- with splashes and water laden wind pushing you back every other moment.

After an enthralling ferry ride, we landed at the Havelock Island Port

Day 3- 30^th December'2009

Central Jail (Remember the 'Sajaay KalaPaani') . There is a light and sound show that happens there

Day 4 -31^stDecember'2009

(Find the Antropological museum closed)

Visit Gandhi Memorial Park

Visit to Joggers Park – Gives an enthralling hill-top view of the Port Blair international airport on one side and sea on the other side.

Remember the words…

2009-11-30T02:48:00.002+05:30

(Incomplete lines of a poem I am writing..)

How does it matter which path one should choose

why should any choice cater to bring us the elusive juice?

Paths reveal the craters along the way, like they reveal the brownies, cakes and surrounding wafers

Plan as much may we, designs are unique in life's amphitheatre

Hard it maybe to realize, it doesn't pay to be a retreater!

Good things in life are easy to forget

What we remember are the indecisive moments

Delay or Dheelay?

2009-11-08T03:29:00.001+05:30

Did you ever realize that the hindi word 'Dheelay' and English word Delay are somehow related.

Different aspects of my life (as below) have different levels of 'dheelapan' or a delay element in them. Let's take a deep dive (no delay here or 'wait for it'- like Barney of 'How I met your mother' – I know I am the undisputed PJ kingJ)

Guitar life: Managed to again break the E string recently - got replacements. If not a good guitarist I might as well become a good guitar repairerJ. Here is my latest dheelay reasoning: I do not have good guidance to take me out of the stagnation point in guitar journey.

Dance life: Last I did a few salsa steps was at a party at a friend's place. Not really giving time to something I just keep imagining myself doing more but not actually do it. Big delay here!

Yoga life: My work life and indirectly the financial life are the culpritsJ. Never mind, the basic tenets of yoga are there in place. And tension not! Mom is there to keep reminding me of what simple techniques I can keep following even if there is not much time available for doing proper Yogasanas routines daily. Dheelapan shows its ugly face again!

Work life: from a boat standing still in unknown waters to ship sailing smoothly in calm waters. Funny team parties (recently one at F-café and lounge –7^th Nov'09 -awesome fun) are back. I am getting appreciation for my work and liking it for now. There is not really much dheelay here … only thing is my time to reach office is having increasing dheelay J

Family life: Upcoming planned trip to Andaman with Dad, Mom and Sis. But other than that, I just keep delaying future planning etc, you know what I mean.

Financial life: Loans and bigger loans are over my head; I am working hard to improve the situation - Adding further stings to my big time 'kanjoos' outlook to finer things in life… Dheelapan here pertains to my long overdue tax planning for this year. Boss, when will I do it? Last weekend I initiated preparing an excel and then something more important caught my attention ..

So you see, Delay is the element of varying degree and complexity levels in various aspects of my life. But really, what is life, if lived from task to task, goal to goal or very generically NO-DELAY to NO-DELAY. I think a little delay helps you sit back and enjoy life.

So enjoy the dheelay / Delay elements of your life while they last.

Dil ne kaisi durgat ki hai…

2009-08-20T02:23:00.001+05:30

To continue from where I left last time, we were discussing about the changes in my life (workplace, rented house) and the parallels I drew from last time. Then today I sat down to think some more and strange coincidence that when I noted down the time and date when I started, it came out as: 12:13 am, 20-08-2009 (So the patterns says +1 from 12 to 13 and 2008 to 2009).

I can be as comically philosophical here as I want to be, since if you would not like what I blabber about -the rule that would apply to you would be "Thou shall not proceed further!"

I am experiencing life in its full blown manner in the post-MBA world. Although I come across to many people around me as a refined person but truth is I may not be in all situations. I am still a kiddo at heart. I assume everyone around me to be good people, with only a few cases of abnormal behavior in them. To the extent that I don't think twice before forgiving

I don't want to grow up. Something in me says to me constantly "Why is world around me so complicated. Why aren't things perfect and in the way that I want them to be"

Probably it is my moon-sign Virgo. Probably, it is my inexperience with life.

Don't know which song fits me today: Aahun Aahun Aahun(Love Aaj Kal) or Hai junoon (New York) or Raat ke dhai baje (Kamine)??

I prefer to kiss- keep it simple stupid. Its 2:30 am now.. so the Kamine song wins!

MBA = Cross the road?

2009-07-15T13:26:00.002+05:30

A lot has happened in life since May 16^th, when I posted last.

My ISB Academic Associate avatar was a transforming experience. (Do I hear giggles? No, I mean it boss! Personal, professional and spiritual transformation). I even thought of starting a centre at ISB called CRAP (Centre for religion and philosophy!) with Srini as the leader.

I left those ideas in discussion as parallel threads to develop them further. I guess I do the same with a lot of things these days. Moving on, I have joined a Big Five consulting firm (all those who have been reading the blog may know it already). And now I am feeling nostalagic. Ask why? Okay since you want to know it so much, let me tell you that the D-company (post-mba firm) is just opposite to the O-company (pre-mba firm). Imagine this, I used to drink free Maaza (yeah, it got paid towards the fag end of my stint at the O-firm) at 3^rd Floor of Cyber Gateways facing the D-company and now, I am sitting on 3^rd Floor of D-block of this D-company.

Hold on! Its not over yet!

The rented accommodation I have taken is in Sai Residency is a room just one level below the earlier one (pre-mba one, when I was working at the o-company!)

Hang on for more! (lots of things to talk about, and the trainings at D-company are taking up all my time!)

Life on the other side of ISB

2009-05-16T18:42:00.003+05:30

Yes, I am in ISB since April 20th, and plan to be here till July.
No, I did not fail any subjects last year and Nooooo, I am no repeating any terms for any honor code issues!

I am a academic associate for Statistics course this time. Hence, "life on the other side"

It is rightly said, to change the system, you have to be in the system
with that idea in mind, I wanted to come back before I join my job.

Now guess what, I enjoying... spending time here with new batch, sharing so called 'gyan-bytes'
helping them cope up with tension of settling down and also having parties with 15-20 other ppl from my batch who are staying on campus.

Of many other things, one peculiar happening is that every time I meet students, there are always 'personalities' whom I can relate back to some or other person in my batch. Its fun!

It kind of amuses me to listen to what they are feeling what they go through because I can relate back to things in my time ( that is precisely an year back. Btw : do I sound very nostalgic?)

Of various things that I have picked up again besides taking statistics tutorial classes etc. are guitar and swimming ... oops, yesterday only I escaped being hurt while re-stringing my GB&A guitar. The 2nd string broke while I was tuning it for first time

Of various other things, I am also considering taking up an initiative for starting some kind of spirituality centre etc. ( Okay, nostalagia leads to spirituality, you can stop reading if you so wish :) )

Before I go further and discuss my talks with Srini... lets take it offline :)
Many profs use this line, isnt it?

Graduated....ISB MBA!

2009-04-04T23:08:00.001+05:30

Yeah buddy, I got graduated, now you can call me an M.B.A ( or really some PG D...shit..who cares)
Besides having got some solo pics with Arun Sarin (ex vodafone ceo) and hearing insightful talks of Deepak Jain (Dean, Kelloggs)and Rajat Gupta (Mck) .. it was an awesome experience as a whole

Dressed in Harry potter type robes, with some complicated thread-on-the-hat left to right movements taught to us to be performed right after we get the degree on stage.. I was in a confused state of mind. Happy of course, but for sure gonna miss the ISB-way-of-life

Believe me, looking back i think i was in a different world altogether for an year. With hundreds of new people