Sunday, July 27, 2008

Daily Scribblings....

Maintaining a diary seems ridiculous at this frenetic pace... I cant afford to update the blog about what I am doing daily.. Because I will miss out on the fun while I am spending time twirling fingers over the keyboard... still my best try... date followed by whats hot on campus...

21/07/2008

The orientation and hostel allocation left me bugged up initially but I am getting accustomed to things slowly. The seniors of SOM'09 batch have been really helpful ... not to mention the ice breaking activity (which also helped me discover the masseur within me!!). Though we still havent come to grips with all the things on campus and classes are yet to begin (ohh shucks!!!)
I think we'll b havin a gr8 time here....


23/07/2008

And finally they begin... bole to...classes. after 2 years of slogging it out in the offices its really difficult to sit out a lecture that too for 2 hours.
But its fun, gettin to learn new things, acknowledge the fact that some ppl in our batch have a lot more understandings of the topic being talked about
and to find our feet amongst this knowledgable crowd. and yes, its finally sinkin in.. the feel of an IIT campus, both in its enormity and its vibrance.
our first real interaction with seniors has started... dekhte hain kaun kisse pahle pakta hai.
watch this place for more on life@SJMSOM

25/07/2008

First weekend of active life @ SJMSOM and boy did we want it ??
so much to do and so little time, volunteered for one more committee.. and now I am beginning to wonder if 24 hrs will be enuff to take in the fun I am having here ...

details abt the weekend will follow.. gotta rush for dinner... planning to sleep early today!!!!


26/07/2008

Its getting scary now. I have done nothing of note today yet I am huffing and puffing to fulfill all commitments on the calendar.. tomoro got another round of presentations and thereafter I need to start preparations for my own presentation.. first assignment of Bschool life and I can see a couple of rocking days ahead...
btw today and tomoro are supposed to be weekends ... notionally i suppose because the mail doesn't stop working on weekends... and ya last nite's plan to sleep early got deferred by some 4 hours. hopes of making up the lost sleep seem slim ..in near future atleast ..
but bottom line I am having fun !!!

PS: Almost forgot.. it never stops raining here... big problem...


27/07/2008

Weekend over... first weekend in recent years where I hv slept an avg of 6.5 hrs only. Attending presentations by clubs and running around for the business suit. Right now busy with the assignment.. God knows wats gonna happen with that. Lots of plans for the weekend remained just that, mere plans!!!! no sleeping like a log.. no reading financial reports of company.. lots of Googling though... guys around me are getting their laptops now... all latest configs. makes me feel like an archaelogy professor in quantum physics class!!!!
Weekend's over..whew can't believe it!!!
gotta go ... need to prep for the assignment...

28/08/2008

yeah yeah yeah.. its been one month but its lucky that i have made it thus far. spent sleepless nites fillin value added questionnaires.. dreaming up resume bullet points and running from class to club meets... nt to mention the continuums, L!ve meet and hundred other arbit works.. its no wonder that i have been away from blogosphere. next weekend term ends can u believe that.. even i cant but thats the way it goes.. hope to scribble something soon.

19/11/2008

I wont say there was nothing to scribble about in the past three months but just couldn't get any time off. Approaching the end of another term and with this we are no more novices to the intricacies of B-School life. Next term expects us to stand up and be counted as we start the mantle from our senior batch.
yeah abt the exams which are going on now... u can understand my level of preparation from the very fact that I am blogging rite in the middle of the exams..


21/11/2008

Exams suck big time!!!!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Pagalguy ka infamous video and moral policing ki maa ki &**^!!!!

I am an ardent fan of the concept of Pagalguy. Besides being a wonderful platform for all Bschool aspirants , it all provides growing Bschools an oppurtunity to connect with prospective students. Above all this, student community trusts PG and treats it with reverence.
A recently posted video, showing girls of one premier Bschool hurling abuses at the students of another premier Bschool, has created quite a stir. As the people incharge of PG have come out with a well timed riposte to all those accusing them of sensationalism, the broader question of moral degradation and moral policing have largely been left unanswered.
There can be no absolute standards when it comes to morals... and hence, whats ok/right/normal for me might be despicable/stupid/obnoxious to you. Moral policing is possibly the most customised and dynamic consulting industry and also the shadiest of regulatory systems. And surprisingly just as the biggest question in morality is "where do we draw the line?" the biggest question in moral policing is also the same. At what point does any moral brigade turn into an obstructive force and by virtue of its actions become a liability to the very society it seeks to protect.
Now people may argue that the case in point here, PG's infamous video may be a trivial incident in the magnum opus called "moral policing" and that debating the bigger question in light of this incident would be irrelevant. I agree we have seen bigger cases, and with more serious consequences, of moral policing but then since this issue has generated nothing short of a controversy on a reputed forum like PG, automatically qualifies this as a candidate for discussion.

The whole prelude above, kind off simplifies the question I wish to answer here... Where does moral policing draw a line in a country, which is keen on discarding its sexual inhibitions, discovering the joy of being expressive and finally not afraid of calling a spade a spade ??

As a introduction to this, let me introduce you to the biggest sham (of course, we discount the democratic system, we claim to have) running around in the country. Welcome to the world of the B-schools. Every year students of prestigious B-schools get into the limelight with million dollar packages and a never-ending grin on their faces. Almost all TV channels line up outside the haloed portals of certain traditionally great B-schools to get those beaming faces on camera, talking about Wall Street jobs, Hollywood lifestyles. Brain drain probably was never more glorified, I guess. The constant bombardment of these faces creates a dreamy eyed aspirant in almost every home, which has a TV. Of course, in a country where you either need that kind of a lifestyle or a politically motivated reservation quota to take you somewhere, there is not much of a choice. But spare a thought to the trials and tribulations that beaming face on the news channel faced during the 2 years, and even before that, to get to that place. There have been tears, anguish and tempers have flared, words have been exchanged. To say that the competition is cut throat is an understatement.Listening from first hand experiences, I can evidence that the guys ( no gender bias here...just that it comes more naturally to me !!!) are no angels, not out of their predilection for selfish behavior but more because of the system's structure. Hence, higher we go in the value chain of B-schools we have more competition and everyone wants to be that beaming beacon of capitalistic glory. It doesn't matter how many heads are crushed as you step over them or how many backs have been stabbed en route. It is natural that such journey will leave you bruised, battle-scarred and with scant respect for your fellow mates or competitors (whichever way you wish to see them!!!).
Should our sensibilities get hurt when we see girls leading the way in hurling abuses at mothers and sisters of others ? Well these are well-bred, well-educated girls coming from reputed families. Families similar to that of ours, perhaps someone we know. Surely the morals imparted to them by their families can't be so shallow. It sounds male chauvinistic rhetoric but if the role models of the country, our cricketers, can go around swearing on their competitor's mothers then such an incident can't be too far behind. Indeed it is strange that the same country which once supported its cricketers swearing on the field as a rise of the new world against against old-world capitalists, has now abandoned the same reasoning to gain moral high ground. Can't the expression of emotion have been a heat-of-the-moment act ? Even if the event was preplanned then it just represents the off-the-field maneuvering which happens in against every guest team by home team supporters.

TO BE CONTINUED....

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

First Impressions @ a Bschool!!!

It is extremely unfortunate that these days we need to be diplomatic everywhere. Every word ever uttered by us has to be insured against any misunderstanding by issuing "Disclaimers". So here I am "disclaiming" that the views expressed below are personal to me and others might have had a different experience. Thus, the description below is just for knowing what are the scenarios people can face when they are new to a B-school but certainly no definitive guide towards the teething troubles of any fresher in B-school.

I came to SJMSOM (to the uninitiated it is Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, hereafter referred to as SJMSOM or SOM) with a baggage of mixed feelings. True that IIT Bombay had been my dream college but that dream had evaporated 6 years back and now I was coming back to my "old flame" to do my Master of Mgmt.
If it wasn't bad enough that I hadn't got into the IIMs the picture was turning gloomier each time I had to explain to some "Uncleji" that I was going to an IIT to get a management degree. I resigned myself to this state of uneasiness about an "engineering college" giving a MBA degree (the phrase of course, is borrowed from a very respectable Uncleji ).
In due course of time I get my date of joining and orientation schedule and all arrangements for my Mumbai travel are done. Parents of course, are happy that their son is going to an IIT for his higher education and so are all relatives and well-wishers. In the midst of various warnings about Mumbai's lifestyle and the lure of various earthly pleasures, I was also offered a few words of inspiration by one and all. It seems to the collective responsibility of the neighborhood to make the life of people like me, who are travelling out for jobs, education etc., miserable with infinite tales of distant relatives and son's of family friends, who went all wrong the moment they landed in a metro. well thats just about it... finally this heavily taxing ordeal of giving my farewell ended and i set off towards this uncharted territory called SJMSOM..and more importantly, a degree in Management.

2 words to describe my first day in IIT B... "pissed off" ..ha ha ha surprised na... but then we stuck out like a sore finger in the batch of PG students. We couldnt find a mention in the speeche s of most speakers nor were our courses listed on most of the forms provided at the time of joining. The last straw was the hostel... we knew that the accomodation would be for 2 people in a room but the rooms were not exactly in the ideal condition.... I have no words to describe the sinking feeling I had when I was lunch on the day of registration. It was akin to being promised a luncheon with silver cutlery and being given porridge with a wooden spoon.