Creating the thought leaders...

I want to share something with you which completely blew me away. The passion behind this system is overwhelming and I am fortunate to be a part of one such system, if not the exact same.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid992329247?bctid=769654260

We have such similar things here. This makes me see my own system in a very different way - how much it has to offer and how much more I need to make out of it. Term 4 is on in four days...way to go Sodium.

A stepping stone to a career in finance or financial consulting..

The news is just in..

Results came out. The company had given only one project here and 19 teams bid for it. Two were shortlisted, the other one of a very close friend. Both were interviewed and then high drama ensued. Results for all other companies were announced on the stipulated date but this one was withheld on part of some ongoing discussions on the client side. Then the two teams were called again for another meeting but the meeting was cancelled at the last minute. The results followed soon after.

We have got the project from one of the most coveted I-Banks. It was also the hottest project of this year here. Wishes have been pouring in since then. Have to agree, this is the biggest name associated with me so far.

And it all started with one phone call.

Watch out this space for more...for now, I have to meet my study group for tomorrow's case discussion..

Manish Sabharwal strikes again..

Three days ago, on 12-Aug, we had Manish Sabharwal of Teamlease Services come to address our group who had taken the course on Planning an Entrepreneurial Venture. They call this guy a serial-entrepreneur whereas he insists that the adjective 'Serial' be used with only mean words like 'Killer', 'Rapist', etc.

The auditorium that is usually very hard to fill for any event here because of the continual pressure of acads and a multitude of parallel activities was full that day. The guy has earned a loyal audience by his spell binding presentations and speeches in various conferences here. And this day was not an exception. For 2 full hours, not a single person left Khemka (the Auditorium), and when he finished, he got a standing ovation for one full minute - quite a big thing here.

Here are a few witty one liners I remember from his presentation. They may look weird out of context here but were apt in the presentation. Nonetheless worth reading -

- Even if you win the rat race, you are still a rat (Damn! How many of us have realized this?!)

- You guys won the ovarian lottery (= you were born to a family who could provide you a respectable education. Respect man! what a logic!)

- Sexually transmitted CEOship (for family heirs becoming the CEOs of family owned businesses - blew me away!)

- One biggest advantage of being a bisexual is that you double your chances of finding a date (of course! Just that I never looked at it this way before!)

- If it went right, it was a skill. If it went wrong, it was bad luck.

- Entrepreneurship is about staying alive till you make money.

My quadi says I am influenced by the oratory skills and witty remarks. But, really, sometimes you go just for the pleasure of listening!

Closing remark at a VC session tonight..

Everyone pities the weak..

Jealousy, you have to earn

- Arnold Schwarzenegger

A power packed night..

Just came back from the ISB Arm Wrestling Competition. I and three others jointly organised it under the aegis of the Sports Club and the event was a huge success.

23 people challenged 23 others in the Challenge round. And 32 guys and girls participated in the Open Round. The event was attended by some of the hottest guys and girls of the batch.

Will soon update this post with some pics too.

And yeah, something came up in my discussion with another girl from my section -

If people feel that you are too complicated to understand, you probably are too complicated for even yourself.

A walk through the dark night..

"Dude, look at the last year's shortlists - No one below 3.89/4 shortlisted by McKinsey, BCG, A T Kerney..." said my engineering classmate who has joined me here too. The guy is serious about this claim and has hit 4/4 in Term I. But he is still mourning the 'screwup' in Term II in which he thinks he will have to be content with only 2 A's and the rest 2 A-'s (=3.75/4), a portfolio of grades that would make most sensible people here open Champagne in the beautiful SV grounds under the cloudy night.

"No dude, I saw at least one guy shortlisted at 3.6 something. There may be more. I didn't check all." I said.

I have scored 3.75 in Term I and as usual, am very optimistic about the top tier consulting firms offering me a position, not just because I have good grades but because of my entire resume.

"No man! Then look at that guy's other activities too. He had done quite a lot." He suggested me.

This was a typical Sunday afternoon in the dining hall.

This is one year at a place that offers many opportunities to grow across several dimensions. Nobody is clear what is right. Everybody has come in with his own set of priorities and his own perception of success. In any conversation on what is right for the future and what is not, there is tremendous opinion clash. Some are going all out for grades because that's seriously all they have ever known. Some are fighting for grades under peer pressure to make it to top tier consulting firms. Surprisingly a few guys who were happily 6 point someones at IIT are slogging for 4/4 here. This is the last platform to a great career, they would tell you - right or wrong, nobody knows, not even the alumns. Some would tell you not to focus too much on grades and do other things too but the hesitation in the voice gives out way too much - They are really not sure what would work in this market.

A substantial chunk of student population - those still trying to make sense out of the chaos and determined not to be the part of a meaningless rat race - meets in fragments on cloudy night walks around the academic center and asks others of the group whether it's really right to succumb to the peer pressure and register for all those industry projects or business plan competitions just because everybody else is working hard to add that extra line to their resume that might signal their superior level of willingness to join the AAA rated recruiters and to prepare some material for those 5 minutes of interview that would make the entire difference between the upper casts and the untouchables of Corporate India.

You should listen to those fighting souls on those dark night walks. The confident adults in business are nervous students for sometime. One puts hands around the other's shoulders and tries to comfort them on the same dilemma that is eating himself within. Nobody is just ignoring academics here. We are infact getting above average grades. After that level of hard work, should we really not do what we want to do - play football everyday, do gym, go swimming, dance, perhaps look for a special someone...or..is it really a sin here to think of relaxation - mental or physical. And they listen to each other. In half an hour of each other's company, they feel better and go back to their rooms, read the latest issue of The Economist, something they so wanted to do from the last four days, do some course reading and get lulled into a peaceful sleep.

The day breaks with sun shining through the flimsy curtains, there is a lot to do today. Morning classes, some afternoon assignments, an alum session from some AAA rated company in the evening, discussions with numerous classmates throughout and the day ending in hesitation at 7.30 in the evening whether to go to the recreation center or to pitch for the new industry projects posted this afternoon or may be go to the professional club's meeting to be a part of the focus group trying to organise some high profile conference on some esoteric management topic, not because that's what they want to do, but because who knows networking might come in handy for a good job tomorrow and of course 'Key member of the organising committee of So&So summit' might give them a spike on the resume. 'Might' because nobody is sure..

At 11.30 in the night, I look out of my window into the cloudy sky and pick up the phone "Aloke, want to come for a walk for sometime?"

Mental Attyachaar...

Last year when I read the blogs of top MBA school students sometimes, I also came across a few from those from the Indian School of Business. Some of them wrote their posts at 2 am or 3 am and said they were about to go to read a case for the next morning class after the post. And I wondered how difficult that should be at that hour knowing that you have had a packed day, have morning 8 am class the next day, and still haven't yet started reading the case at 2-3 am!

Fast forward almost an year...

In the morning, I had 2 hours each of Managerial Accounting and Corporate Finance class from two of the world's most revered Profs in the areas - one from Kellogs and the other from UCLA. In the afternoon, I went for the last term's end term paper viewing session that took me another 2 hours. Caught a short nap in the evening. Went for the consulting club session from the BCG people who had flown down from Mumbai for a day and because the BCG partner there was an economist with a passion and authority in his subject, it turned out to be almost another class in economics and finance resulting in a severe information overload in a single day. The stress buster was a sweet 10 min chat, after BCG session, with one of the prettiest girls of my batch - yeah, you are free to assume anything about my intentions; when the girl has that mix of qualities and beauty, anybody can slip. But I hear that she already has an equally eligible boyfriend, though I have no source to varify that information yet.

Ah, I have this tendency to digress from the subject!

Alright, so after such a pecked day, it's 2 am now, I have a class at 8.15 in the morning, and still have to start reading the case for tomorrow's class...