scribble

Godrej sponsored Mumbai trip

2009-10-27T14:47:00.022+05:30

After juggling for two long months and mails going back and forth, we finally got the dates that suited our academic schedule as well as to the schedules of the top bosses of Godrej Sara Lee Ltd.

We (the nine of us) had won a competition organised by Godrej and the prize was a two days sponsored trip to Godrej campus in Mumbai, including the air fare.

We started early, on the morning of October 22, 2009. When we reached Mumbai airport, two air-conditioned-chauffeur-driven Innovas were already waiting for us. We got so excited when, for the first time, we saw someone holding our name plates outside the airport.

Day 1 was reserved for Mumbai sight seeing. We started with Bandra sealink (yeah.. that is one of the new attractions of Mumbai) and went on to Haji Ali and Mahalakshmi temple. We'd a lavish lunch at Relish near Nariman Point. As they say food tastes better, if it's free.

Later, we went to the usual places viz. Marine drive, Gateway of India, Taj hotel etc. They'd arranged for our accomodation at Godrej's guest house, but I preferred to stay at home.

Day 2 was reserved for meeting with the top bosses of GSLL:

Mr. K.Somanathan - Executive Vice President (PSO)
Mr. R.S. Gopalakrishnan - Associate Vice President (Manufacturing H&BC North East)
Mr. Vinod Salve - Marketing Head
Ms Pooja Sharma - HR Manager
Dr. Sreedhar - R & D Head

They gave us a series of presentations giving us an overall idea about how things work in their respective departments.

At the end of the day, we met Mr. A. Mahendran (MD, GSLL). It was hardly a 10 minutes meeting, but the whole staff was on its toes for the said duration.

Later, we clicked few pictures in the Godrej campus and left.

It's not everyday that you get to meet people, at the top of corporate ladder, explaining the nitty-gritties of business. All in all it was a memorable and learning experience, besides, I got some new friends!

Please click here to see some more snaps.

Sanghamitra & HR Conclave

2009-09-06T01:23:00.019+05:30

We'd two major events in our college in this week - Sanghmitra (3rd Sept) and HR Conclave (5th Sept).

The two events present the extreme flavours. On one hand is Sanghmitra, which is year's first cultural festival, filled with youthfulness and on the other hand is HR Conclave that brings together the corporate HR heads of top firms to speak on a theme.

I got a chance to do the compering in HR Conclave where I did a goof up. Instead of thanking a speaker for his speech and apologising for a technical glitch that occured, I said "Thank you Sir for the technical glitch". Needless to say the whole auditorium was in laughter.

Some snaps of the events.

Godrej competition

2009-08-24T23:41:00.002+05:30

Won an air trip to Mumbai, two days stay and visit to Godrej campus in a competition organised by Godrej.

Certainly one of the high points of my stay at Great Lakes!

The Night Riders

2009-08-24T02:08:00.006+05:30

6 guys riding on 3 bikes.. on some highways and Chennai's streets.. from 10 PM to 4 AM..covering a distance of around 200 kms..stopping at various places including the food court at Chennai Airport..

Click here for some snaps.

Ek ladki ka phone number..

2009-08-14T03:29:00.031+05:30

Luckily, some of our exams on the weekend were postponed at the last moment and we got straight three days' off. I and my three friends packed our bags and headed for Mumbai.

We reached the Chennai airport on time and boarded the flight. We'd our seats in the last but two row. We put our luggage and settled in our seats. Some announcement was being made and one of my friends pointed at the announcer. I looked at her and said "Boy! She's got the looks."

Her name was Shirley. Unfortunately, she was catering to the front rows and came to our side of the plane very few times, but I made sure that whenever I needed anything I asked her only. By the time we reached Mumbai, I completely fell for her.

The plane landed at the Mumbai airport and people started to get down. Something was going in my mind. I was supposed to get down from the gate at the back, but she was standing near the front gate. I waited for sometime till the way to the front was clear. I was among the last few passengers to leave. The aisle was completely clear and I could see her standing at the end. I started walking towards the front door, but the path seemed never ending. I was completely blank about how to start the conversation. I reached near her and she was ready with an airhostess-smile.

Shirley: "Thank you, Sir"
Me: (Not sure from where this came) "Hey! Are you from Mumbai?"
Shirley: (She stepped up) "Yes"
Me: (Falling short of words) "Where in Mumbai?"
Shirley: "Bombay Central"
Me: It was nice meeting you!
Shirley: "Same here"
Me: (Sounding casual) "Can I have your phone number?"
Shirley: "Sorry Sir, we are not allowed to give our phone numbers."
Me: "Oh ok. Have a nice day! Bye"
Shirley: "Bye Sir"

I turned around and got down the stairs. I'd be lying if I say I wasn't disappointed. I know that it was not the perfect way to approach a girl, but it was my only chance.

PS: Later one of my friends found Shirley's profile on Orkut, so the hope continues.

Road Trip to Auroville

2009-08-10T00:03:00.015+05:30

While most of the guys in the college were busy burning the midnight oil, preparing for the next day's end term exams, some of us were refueling our bikes for a road trip to Auraville.

Please click here for some snaps.

We left early in the morning at 5 and took the ECR(East Coast Road) highway that goes along the Bay of Bengal. It is around 90 kms drive with a scenic view and we reached our destination by 7.30 AM.

Auraville is a small town near Pondicherry and is meant to be a universal town. We went to the visitor's center, but couldn't get the entry passes for the Matrimandir, which is one of the major tourist attractions.

We'd an early breakfast there and left for our college by 9.30 AM as we too were supposed to write our exams the next day. We reached the college by noon, completely refreshed and rejuvenated.

Photoshoot

2009-08-08T00:59:00.012+05:30

We'd a photoshoot in the college today. The pictures taken will be used in various brochures. Here are some shots taken by personal cameras.

HR Conclave Team

Amphitheatre in the background

My hostel room

Jam session

2009-07-26T03:27:00.007+05:30

Had a jam session today in the boy's hostel from 2 AM to 4 AM. Most of the guys were completely drunk. Some snaps:

Photoshopped - I

2009-07-12T02:44:00.007+05:30

Was trying my hand at Photoshop today. Here is my first work.

Basketball Court

2009-07-11T04:09:00.004+05:30

Finally, the college's basketball court is ready for playing. Hope to spend some good time there!

PS: The length of the writeup reflects twitter effect.

Karma Yoga Project

2009-07-10T01:24:00.012+05:30

We've started working on the Karma Yoga project. We need to work for three hours every week in a village. The initial few visits require us to survey a village and identify the problems to work upon. Needless to say, we are thoroughly enjoying the serene beauty and the laid-back village life. Some snaps:

End of first term

2009-07-02T23:51:00.004+05:30

With a series of exams in the last few days, we've finished our first term. This week has been particularly hectic. We'd to work on one book review, one assignment, one presentation, and three end term exams. I've slept for hardly 10 hours in the last 72 hours.

Anyway, I'm 1/7th MBA now (assuming I get thru all the courses). Celebrations are already in the air. Everyone is planning for the coming long weekend. I'm planning to go to Mumbai, if things workout.

Officially blogger

2009-06-24T01:27:00.008+05:30

We've a formal blogging committee that maintains the college blog. My SOP for the same, which was supposed to be as casual as possible, read something like:

The most obvious response would be something like:
“I want to be a part of the college blogging team so that I can be of help in creating a better brand image of the institute in the virtual world and taking it to newer heights.”

But, that didn’t impress me itself, leave alone the reader. Then, the usual thought of Googling for a SOP came to my mind, but that’s what we usually do for all the assignments. So, for a change, I thought to be original this time and started to think for something creative. Alas!

Now the problem with the creative portion of our brain is that the moment you are in need for some ideas it starts sending the signs of its non-existence (Can something really send signs of its non-existence could be a topic of empirical research though).

While engrossed in my thoughts, I looked at the word count and realised that I’ve already crossed the prescribed limit of 150 words. So, here I’m, in this hot and humid summer afternoon of Chennai, sweat flowing all thru my body, still waiting, for my creative juices to flow.

Till few months back, I used to visit this blog to know more about the college. It feels great to have my name as one of the bloggers on the same blog.

Please click here to visit my college's blog.

Life at Great Lakes - I

2009-06-21T04:39:00.006+05:30

facing problem with uploading videos..looking for options..

My first speech in MBA

2009-06-17T20:24:00.008+05:30

This was a part of Business Communication course where-in we'd to give a speech of two minutes on any topic. Since delivery was more important than the content, so I chose what I like most about Mumbai.

Hi Friends!

I am Shobhit and today I am going to talk about what is considered to be the life line of Mumbai – the local trains.

First, let me share with you some of the facts about Mumbai local trains. There are three different lines of local trains in Mumbai: the Western Line, the Central Line and the Harbour Line. Among these three lines, the Western line is considered to be the most important and most crowded one. It runs from Churchgate to Virar and covers some of the most famous stations of Mumbai such as Mumbai Central, Dadar, Bandra, Andheri, Borivali etc.

The local trains carry around 6.5 million commuters daily and run for almost 24 hours a day.

The local trains have a life of their own. The early morning trains are full of fishermen and newspaper hawkers. Between 6 to 10 in the morning, the trains are full of college and office goers. After that comes the turn of Dabbawallas. These Dabbawallas pick up lunch boxes from the homes of people and deliver the boxes in their offices at lunch time. As you all know, the functioning of Dabbawallas is a case study in itself.

In the evening traffic increases again, but in the reverse direction. I have read an interesting observation somewhere. It says that during peak hours, the density of people inside a local train is more than anywhere else in the world.

In the end, I’d like to say that if you get a chance to visit Mumbai, please take a ride in local trains and experience the fun.

Thanks. Have a nice day!

PS: The speech went well and people were interested in knowing more about Mumbai local trains, so the discussion about local trains was continued in the class.

Washroom humour!

2009-06-12T16:44:00.013+05:30

Just after writing the Group Dynamics exam, I was talking with one of my friends in the washroom. As after every exam, we're totally frustrated.

Our Economics Prof, who is considered to be one of the most ferocious Profs, entered the washroom. I wished the Prof, but my friend, who was standing facing the other side, didn't see him.

My friend: "Saale ne bola tha movies se question aayenge..."
The Prof hearing this smiled and gave me that so-this-is-going-on look. I wanted to let my friend know about the Prof's presence.

Me: "Sir, the paper was very tough."
But, my friend didn't listen and continued.
Me: (trying harder)"Sir, the paper was really very tough."
But, of no use.

I started laughing by now, knowing we are screwed.
Prof: (Smiling and speaking in Hindi)"Tum log khud kuch padhte nahin ho aur phir exam ke baad faculty ko gaali dete ho."
My friend turned back and realised what'd just happened. The Prof still smiling went ahead. We were looking at each other, thinking what to do next.

My friend: "Sir, it was just frustration coming out and not our intentions." (waah! some damage control).
Immediately the Prof turned.

Prof: "Tum log mujhe to bahut gaaliyan dete hoge?"
I don't know what was going into my mind,but I replied within a split second.
Me: "Sir, abhi apka exam nahin hua hai."
I still can't believe I said that!

Within few hours everyone in the college knew about the incident. Later in the day, we'd a Eco lecture. We were really scared, but the Prof didn't point us for anything.

We hope he took it as just another incident. We are now waiting for our final grades to confirm that!

Main campus

2009-06-06T03:54:00.022+05:30

A view of our college's main campus - consists of amphitheater surrounded by academic block. Click on the image to see the enlarged view.

really fast track..

2009-05-25T22:21:00.003+05:30

I came out of the exam hall completely puzzled. I wasn't even sure whether I studied for the same subject over the weekend.

Such feelings may come, when the subject in question is Indian Philosophy and includes five books on:
- Upanishads
- Practical Vedanta
- Karma Yoga
- Bhagvad Gita
- Vivekananda Lectures

People took hundreds of years to compile and understand these scriptures and we covered them in 8 sessions only.. that's really fast track MBA!

Karma Yoga Project Inauguration

2009-05-24T02:54:00.008+05:30

20th May 2009, Chennai: Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai inaugurated the Karma Yoga Project in collaboration with Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) Kalpakkam at the Great Lakes’ newly built campus. Dr. Saibaba, Director IGCAR formally inaugurated the Karma Yoga event. The other prominent dignitaries present for the event were Mr. Reddy, MD MARG Constructions, Prof. Xavier, PGPM Director and Prof. Venkat Krishnan, Head of Karma yoga committee at Great lakes.

As part of the project the institute is going to adopt 12 villages in the vicinity of Kalpakkam and students will work in groups for the development of these villages. The students will identify the key areas of improvement from among healthcare, education, sanitation etc and work on them for the next five months. The institute will facilitate students with all the necessities. IGCAR and Marg Constructions have also promised to support the students.

PS: Wrote this press brief as part of the application process to apply for college's Branding & PR committee. Though I couldn't make to the final list of the committee, but we'll start working soon on the Karma Yoga project.

My new abode

2009-05-11T21:28:00.026+05:30

G2E (Ground floor, second block, Eth room) is my new address for an year.

Accomodation is on a single occupancy basis. The furniture range is from Godrej Interio.. I guess.. as Godrej is one of the promoters of the college.

Here are some pictures:

The first look: well lit n air-contioned..

Single bed, book-shelf, study table..

Outside view.. construction still going..

Cupboard, shoe-rack..

Warning: Room in pictures may appear more spacious than it is.

Out Bound Training Camp

2009-04-30T23:57:00.018+05:30

I joined Great Lakes on 23rd of April 2009. There was a OBT scheduled for us as an ice breaker session on 25th and 26th April at the Adventure Zone, which is 90 km away from Chennai.

We left from our resort at 7.30 AM, but lost our way in between and reached the place at around 9.30 AM. Maj S. R. Roy, former Army man and Adventure Zone’s founder, was already waiting for us. He debriefed us about the day’s proceedings and set the ground rules. We were then divided into six groups: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo and Fox of 21 persons each.

We started with various psychometric tests, which lasted for around two hours. After the tests we were given a demo of Rappelling and Rock Climbing from the experts.

After lunch we played a game of Mine Fields. It was a strategy game wherein some mines were placed on the ground in a bounded area. Four teams had to start simultaneously from the four sides and had to go from one end to other while maintaining the human chain. Only the captains of the teams were allowed to speak through out the game. It was complete a chaos initially and we could complete the game in our third attempt.

Next was rappelling from a four storey building. Though it seemed too scary even with all the safety measures in place, but I went ahead. Taking the initial position is the most difficult step when you have to stand on the edge of the roof and get inclined while holding the rope. After this going down was just a cake walk (or should I say cake hop).

Next day, we started early at 7 AM with rock climbing. We’d to climb on the wall of the four story building. It was the most tiring task. Later we faced the obstacle course where we’d to complete 10 small tasks like walking on a narrow board, spider crawl, climbing rope ladder, passing through tunnel, rope walk etc all in a matter of 3 minutes.

After lunch we were introduced to Orienteering. Wiki says:
“Orienteering is a family of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain. Participants are given a map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they use to find control points.”

We were given a compass and a card specifying the coordinates of next card. It was exhausting to walk hundreds of meters in scorching heat at 2 in the afternoon. Our team could collect only 3 of the 5 cards in the alloted 90 mins, but we enjoyed finding our way through the jungle.

The camp ended with a small talk from Maj. Roy. Our team, Charlie, ended at the second position overall!

It was fun to do so many activities in just two days and definitely to make so many new friends!

Quotes!

2009-03-02T16:02:00.006+05:30

Some of the quotes that were part of my official signature at some point of time or other:

~ I asked my new girlfriend what sort of books she's interested in, she said: Check books.

~ My software never has bugs. It just develops random features.

~ I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers done.

~ Warning: Deadlines in calendar are closer than they appear.

~ Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.

~ Whenever I find the key to success, someone comes and changes the lock.

~ The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend as to find a friend worth dying for.

~ How many of you believe in telekinesis? Raise my hand.

~ I only work on days that don't end in a 'y'.

~ If something "goes without saying," why do people still say it?

~ I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure.

~ 42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

~ When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

~ To err is coder. To conceal it is supercoder.

~ When there's a will, I want to be in it.

~ I'm on a See Food diet, whenever I see food I start eating.

~ Doesn't expecting the unexpected make the unexpected become the expected?

~ No one is perfect. Apart from google ofcourse.

~ My income seems to be the only thing I can't live without or within.

~ A day without sunshine is like night.

~ If at first you don't succeed, coding is right for you.

~ Life would be so much easier if we just had the source code.

~ If the sky is the limit, then what is space, over the limit?

~ Everyone has a photographic memory, some just don't have film!

~ Love me or leave me. Hey,where is everybody going?

~ The three most dangerous things are a programmer with a soldering iron, a manager who codes, and a user who gets ideas.

~ I can resist everything except temptation.
Oscar Wilde

~ A girl can be poor in history but great on dates!

~ When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

~ Me n my girlfriend have similar taste; she finds chocolates sweet n so do I.

~ Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done.

~ All generalizations are false, including this one.

~ I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.

~ Don't be so open-minded your brains fall out.

~ Sometimes I lie awake at night, and ask, 'Where have I gone wrong?' Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one night.'

~ Sometimes I wish life had subtitles!

~ Creativity is great, but plagiarism is faster!

~ The best things in life aren't things.

~ Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.

~ Some goals are so worthy, it's glorious even to fail.

~ I disclaim my disclaimer!

End of my Syntel story..

2009-02-25T21:31:00.008+05:30

Yesterday was my last day in Syntel. It has been a long journey of 4 years 9 months and 5 days.

Syntel being the first company will always remain close to my heart...

My interview experiences

2009-02-23T00:58:00.022+05:30

I got Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI) calls from two B-schools on last weekend.

On Friday, it was for Great Lakes, Chennai. The venue was Hotel Tunga Paradise, Andheri and timing was 11.30 AM. I reached the venue on time. The whole admission process was conducted by the students only as GL is a student driven institute. The crowd looked impressive. I got a chance to interact with few guys and found most of them had 3-5 years of experience. Some of the guys were dressed in business suits. I was among the very few, who were not even wearing a tie.

After the documents verification, I went in for the interview. There were two guys in the panel. One person was from industry and other one was an alumni. Both were very cool and were smiling all the time. They asked questions about how things work in IT, deadlines, project estimates, day-to-day activities, difference between working in USA and India. The interview lasted for around 25-30 minutes, but there was no stress at all as the questions were restricted within my domain only. When I came out I couldn’t believe the PI was already over.

The GD was also cool as everyone got chance to speak and it was followed by a psychometric test of 10 minutes. The whole process was very smooth and overall it took 2.5 hours to complete.

On Sunday, had a GD/PI call for SP Jain Dubai-Singapore programme. The venue was SP Jain Mumbai campus and timing was 2.30 PM. I reached before time and had to wait for one hour for the process to start.

There was no GD. We were given a case-study and were to answer the questions in 45 minutes and had to write two essays in 15 minutes. After the documents verification, it was interview time. People from earlier slots were already waiting, so we had to wait for our turn and it was a long wait.

By the time my turn came, at around 5, I was already tired of waiting. I went in and found two old khadoos professors in the panel (P1 and P2). After the initial greetings, they started firing the questions.

P1: We've gone through your profile. First of all tell us, how come your acads are so poor?
Me: (I know I’ve average acads, but POOR?? Anyway, tried to give some explanation.) Always wanted to do an MBA and was not much focussed in engineering.. blah.. blah..

P1: How do we know that you'll be focussed in MBA?
Me: Sir, this is what I always wanted to do.

P1: You said you were not focussed in your engineering, but why do you have poor scores in school also?
Me: Umm..well..actually..I mean..you know..

P1: How did you get admission in DAVV college? Was there any payment seat?
Me: Sir, it's University's own college. There are no payment seats. I got through pre-engineering test. Actually I had an All India Rank of..

P1: (Cutting me in between) So you got through some test.
Me: (Huh..some test..I took an year's gap to prepare for it) Yes sir.

P1: You've mentioned that you did your schooling from CBSE. Which school was it?
Me: Central School, Mhow.

P1: Mhow?
Me: Mhow is a small town near Indore.

P1: Oh! That Army Headquarter?
Me: Yes sir. I've done most of my schooling from there. I've lived most formative years of my life there and have lived closely with Army people.

P1: Is that the reason for your poor performance?
Me: Sir?

P1: There is a lot of freedom in that society and I guess you misused your freedom.
Me: Umm..(where is it going?)

P1: What is the biggest achievement of your life that you are proud of?
Me: It was when I was titled Best Student of the year in school. Normally, the School Captain gets this title. Even though I was not the School Captain, still I was given this title as an exception.

P1: Do you think you were very popular in your school?
Me: Not exactly popular, but people liked me.

P1: Why?
Me: I'm a likable person. Even in my college and in my organisation people like me.

P1: And you still don't help yourself?
Me: Sir?

P1: You don't help yourself and perform so poorly in your acads.
Me: (Acads again!) Umm..

Later P2 asked me about Satyam fraud, IT best practices, social issues, my hobbies etc, but P1 kept cutting me in between to ensure that I’d not get comfortable at any moment.

I came out, not sure what went inside or how long it went. They’ve a second round of interview with Dean, if the first round is cleared. I was definitely not expecting, but got a call for it immediately after coming out. I was surprised, but was not in a state to feel anything though only a few moments back I'd seen a girl in tears when she got a call for Dean's interview.

The Dean too started with the same question about my decent GMAT score, but my not-so-good acads. It was a short interview and he asked about my career aspirations, why SP Jain and some usual stuff. He kept marking and writing notes on my application form without looking at me, not sure even if he was listening to my responses.

The whole process took around 6-7 hours to complete and included a lot of waiting time. I mentioned this as a scope of improvement in my feedback form also.

It is very difficult to predict how an interviewer judges a candidate. Both the interviews were extreme in nature. The only thing common was that I came out smiling.

And for now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed!

Finally some respite..

2009-01-21T20:58:00.009+05:30

After four long hours of struggle, the final screen came up with these two options - Report Score or Cancel Exam. I decided to go with the former one. It took some 4-5 seconds to process, which seemed like eternity to me, and finally flashed a score of 710. Though not an exceptional score considering that people even get a perfect score (800 on 800) in GMAT, but definitely some respite for me.

I'm not sure even if I'll use this score or not, but after facing so many not-so-encouraging results in the last few months, more than anything I wanted this score for myself. I'll be joining back my office from this Friday and the last thing I wanted was to go back as a loser.

Mumbai Marathon 2009

2009-01-18T20:06:00.025+05:30

The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, Asia's Largest and Richest Marathon, has completed its sixth edition successfully on January 18, 2009.

Although I wanted to participate in it this time, but couldn't register for the event. I got to know that the registrations were closed in August only, a fact that speaks voluminously about the popularity of this event.

Anyway, I decided to be a part of the event as a spectator. I wanted to write about the event, but couldn't put everything into words. So, instead, I decided to upload some 80-odd snaps of the event with some description. As they say, a picture speaks louder than words (or was it something else).

So, click here to have a look at Mumbai Marathon 2009. You can leave your footprints here by using "Post a Comment" link below.

Disclaimer: The image captions are not intended to offend anybody!

Time to sit a while..

2009-01-13T02:30:00.012+05:30

It's already half past two in the night, I'm ready to switch off my lappy. A look at the date and I realise that five months have gone since I'm off of work. Even before coming back from US, last year, I was sure I’d take a break, but didn't know it'd extend so long.

People wonder how I got such a long vacation from work. Well, they say it's all about employee care at Syntel; the moment you put your resignation (or threaten to do so), they start caring for you!

After completion of my high school, my class teacher, Ms Nelson, after so much of my insistence, had written a few lines in my slam book. Though these lines didn’t make much sense to me at that time:

“May you have a hundred more beautiful years to live. Take time to smell the flowers that grow along the way, time to watch some little one happily at play, time to spend with someone lonely, time to lend a helping hand, time to sit a while and listen, time to look and understand..
Do more of all those little things God has in mind for you.”

..they have started to make some sense to me now..

Why MBA?

2008-11-05T01:21:00.043+05:30

There are a lot of questions that are asked in a B-school interview, but this one seems to be the most favourite among the interviewers. It's asked in almost every interview. The Interviewer knows that the Interviewee is not going to give an honest answer, but asks the question as it has been a sort of tradition. The Interviewee knows that whatever he says is not going to be believed by the Interviewer, but tries his best by saying something like:

~ It'll provide an environment to grow as an individual and expand his horizon of knowledge.

~ It'll provide an opportunity to interact and learn with some of the best brains of the country.

~ It'll provide a holistic view of the functioning of an organisation..blah blah..

~ It's all about money. Honey! (kudos to this guys' honesty, but not sure if he gets through)

~ Why not? (this one's surely out)

Some even give it a Ms-India-contest touch by saying that after their MBA they want to serve the society. Ok, I know that was a bit exaggerated, but you got the point of its being so pointless.

Well, the question has been haunting me too for quite some time, but still I couldn't find a convincing answer. So, after a lot of brainstorming (one of those high-sounding-MBA-words) I've come up with my 4-Gs theory, much in line with 5-Cs of economics or 4-Ps of management.

Glitz n Glamour - One of my earliest memories of an MBA was a young guy in his early 20s, working as a top executive with an MNC, earning a fat pay package, wearing a formal suit, sitting in a plush office in a high rise. The image was created as a result of reading some business magazines, which sells on the success stories of young enthreprenuers and 30-something CEOs. Though this image gradually changed when some of my friends after completing their MBAs were placed in field jobs for sales and marketing. They used to say "glamour kya..sabun bechna ka job hi hai yaar!"

Ghostel Life - Don't even bother to look into dictionary, the 'G' is intentionally added. As I haven't been (un)fortunate enough to stay in a hostel for my grads, there has always been a feeling of missing that crazy life.

Gorgeous Girls - Due to dearth of nice girls in my Engineering college and later in IT industry, MBA seemed a lucarative option with some colleges boasting a boys to girls ratio as high as 1:2-3 in HR. Once again my MBA friends shattered my hopes by calling it a myth.
I've started doubting if this species really attends any college as everyone seems to agree with the 99%-of-girls-are-beautiful-remaining-1%-are-in-my-college school of thought.

Getting Back to School - After working for so long in the same company, I need a break from the routine life of project deadlines, office politics, appraisal issues, salary concerns, etc and going back to school seems to be the only escape route.

Some people say that I never had a genuine reason to go for an MBA and I just say "Wait, till I come up with another reason".

I've already started looking for words starting with the alphabet 'G'!

Tour de' ISB

2008-08-02T10:01:00.038+05:30

As I'm in Hyderabad on a official trip I thought of visiting the Indian School of Business (ISB) campus. They organise a campus tour on every Friday from 6.00 PM to 7.30 PM (maybe I should charge ISB for advertising this). So, I went online to book a slot for yesterday, but found that the batch was already full. Disappointed, I just dropped a mail to the Admissions Office saying that I'm from Mumbai and wanted to take the tour. To my surprise, after few hours I got an invitation from them, something that I might not expect from other established Indian B-schools.

The campus is located on the outskirts of the city and sprawls in an area of more that 250 acres. I'd not say that the infrastructure is phenomenol because that would be an understatement. 'Truly worldclass' would put it more appropriately.

The tour started with the tour guide showing us all the facilities present on campus from shops, banks, sports facilities to everything required for an years' stay. After this we headed for a classroom where the presentation was to be given about ISB and its admission process.

The ISB song '525600 minutes @ ISB' with slides showing the student life at ISB really made me nostalgic about my college days, which now seems like ages before. The presentation was handled by a student from the current batch and a guy from Admissions Committee. They went through the slides explaining why ISB is ranked in the top 20 B-schools of the world. By the way, it's the first B-school to get into this league in the very first decade of its inception. Some more stats were thrown at us, which we normally find on the ISB website.

Next came the most interesting part of the tour - 'Q & A session'. I was amazed to see the diverse mix of people attending the session. In the group of 50 odd people, we'd Army officers, Airforce officers, CAs, Consultants, News Reporters and obiviously a lot of Software Engineers. It was pretty visible from the queries asked that people were so specific about what they wanted from an MBA. There were some budding entrepreneurs also, who wanted to know how ISB could help them with their business plans.

I almost fell off my chair when the person behind me asked - "I've 16 years of work experience and I'm CEO of four companies. How could MBA at ISB help me"? They said it all depended on what he wanted from an MBA degree at this point of his career. Later he revealed that he wanted to take a break from work (maybe mid-life crisis) and wanted to utilize it properly. I was glad that we'd similar reasons for doing an MBA, only with a slight difference that he'd been in the industry a bit longer than me.

The gentleman next to Mr CEO was an Army Officer. He wanted to know how his application would be evaluated as he may not have best of acads and GMAT score. They said that it is entirely on case by case basis and each year around 5-7 Defense Officers join the program. Even the class President of current batch is an ex-Lt Colonel. When he asked - "Would it matter if I get a referrel from the Chief of Army Staff"? I almost fainted.

Why don't they ban such people from applying is what I was thinking on my way out. And this is not all. It's a weekly tour. Next week another group of aspirants would visit the campus and another one on the week next to that and so on.

The session turned out to be an eye-opener. I could now imagine the kind of people who finally make it. Some food for thought and a lot to be done. They say, aim for the stars and you'll atleast land up at the Twin Towers. Oh! that stupid Osama even destroyed them.

And I let myself go.

2008-06-24T08:04:00.001+05:30

It's already 12.50 AM. The flight will depart at 1.20 AM. Boarding has already started and I am waiting for my row number to be called.

Finally the day has come for which I've been waiting for the last 13 months. Here I'm on the San Francisco airport waiting for my flight to India but I'd never imagined that it'd be so hard for me to leave this place. It's not actually the place that I'd be missing so much, but the people here and the fun we'd in the last one year.

~I'll miss the weekend poker at Casino D where winning was more important than the means (read cheating!).

~I'll miss playing Volleyball on weekends and pulling each others' leg on the court.

~I'll miss playing Cricket-with-custom-rules on weekends where main target used to be not having a negative score.

~I'll miss going to late night movies on Sundays to extend our weekends.

~I'll miss renting cars on weekends just like that and then driving around for no reason.

~I'll miss hunting for food on weekends in other apartments and finally finding Sid as our savior.

~I'll miss Nandan's witty jokes and body building lessons.

~I'll miss Anna's dialogs from latest movies. Only in his company did I realize that the dialogs of AAA and Hera-Pheri are universally written and can be used almost in any situation.

~I'll miss Manoj's sixes in unisex Hindi like wo naya chokri.

~I'll miss Yash's photography tips and the long discussions we used to have about where life is going.

~I'll miss Bond and me watching the same girl in the whole crowd and either me or he saying abe! munh to band kar.

~I'll miss Pandeyji's non-stop chatting, which leaves no moment of dullness around him.

~I'll miss Bheda's chumma chai (as he used to call it).

~I'll miss Lavya and all her stepping over foot and hitting the people around. And wondering, while having serious discussions with her about life, is it the same girl from 5th B !

~I'll miss Deepa's comforting company as of an old friend.

~I'll miss asking Naveen a puzzle and his asking counter questions and leaving us all puzzled.

~I'll miss Mishi's lively talking and putting expressions in every word, which I could watch for hours even without blinking my eyes.

~I'll miss Reddy playing those comedy clips (including kauwa biryani and shaadi ka khana) again and again and we laughing hysterically everytime watching them.

~I'll miss me, Yash and Bond running to catch the last train at 12.25 AM from office everyday and then eating frozen parathas at 2 in the morning.

~I'll miss those Daru Parties where others enjoyed more making me take a sip from their drink than they having it.

~I'll miss those weekend trips, which we had in the last one year, covering most of the US.

~I'll miss those b'day celebrations, giving b'day bums and applying eggs, ajax, juice, liquor or anything available in kitchen to the b'day boy/girl.

~I'll miss those parties on Saturdays when we used to go to a new desi restaurant for dinner and creating so much noise that others would leave the place.

~I'll miss my Bhabhi scolding me for not calling her for ages and then we chatting for hours.

~Oh! and I'll miss the girl at starbucks whom I'd asked out (obiviously she said NO), but couldn't ask her name in more than an year.

The list would go on.. (not the list of girls).

This is one of those few moments in my life when I want to hold on.. but I know I've to move on.

The final boarding announcement is made.. and I let Myself go..

Newyork trip

2008-06-21T17:31:00.001+05:30

September 2007

Another weekend..another trip..we were 6 guys..two days' time n Niagara-NY on the list..but most of the time we were catching flights...missing flights n waiting on Airports..

We took an overnight flight SF-Cleveland-Buffalo..hired a car in Buffalo to go to Niagara falls..

There are two must see rides:
1) Maid of the Mist - it's a boat ride, which almost takes you to the foot of the Niagara falls..
2) Cave of the Winds - clad in a yellow poncho, you can walk to a point, which is just a few feet away from the foot of the American falls..got completely drenched n stayed there for around an hour..probably the best part of the trip..
view of Niagara at night is just spectacular ..which might not be captured in snaps..

Had to catch an early morning flight to NY the next day..n as u guessed..we missed it..some Orange Security Cover was on n we were late by just 10 mins..well somehow got another flight Buffalo-Chicago-NY..was quite a DDLJ experience..people actually saying dialogs like ab hamari life mein koi problem nahin hai..

First place we went was..of course..Statue of Liberty..need to take a ferry to the Ellis island..long queues..takes around 4-5 hours in all..but all the pains r worth taking ..it's an engineering master piece from France..as they say about it even the best thing in USA is not made in USA..

We only had half a day in NY..but covered most of the tourist attractions including wall street, ground zero memorial, a ride in subway to times square n the view of whole city from the 86th floor of empire state building.. though it would take at least 2-3 days' stay to really feel the city..it's very much like Mumbai..crowded..untidy..fast..

All in all a good trip..some snaps..
[link removed]

My first trip in US

2008-06-21T17:13:00.002+05:30

May 2007

On my first weekend in US , we went to Yellowstone..it is one of the best National Parks in US..spanning around 4 states..

Established in 1872, Yellowstone National Park is America's first national park. Located in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, it is home to a large variety of wildlife including grizzly bears, wolves, bison, and elk. Preserved within Yellowstone National Park are Old Faithful and a collection of the world's most extraordinary geysers and hot springs, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. (Excerpts from http://www.nps.gov/yell/)

We were 13 guys in all..took flight from SFO to Salt lake City...hired 2 Nissan Quest (7 seaters..like Innova..but very very spacious)..had a GPS with us..was amazed to see its accuracy...it prompts even on changing lanes..like u r going in the wrong lane..
it made life so easier...finding gas stations, restaurants etc..

Best part was that we'd an encounter with cops...they actually chased our car at 1 in the night..we were driving at 101 mph where the speed limit was 65 mph...could have put us in jail, but left with a fine of $117...

People were envious that I was at Yellowstone at my 1st weekend in US while most of them have been here for almost 1-5 years n no one had been there before .. though I was damn tired n was under jet lag..

The place is really very beautiful...seen all kinds of landscapes there..pics would show that..uploaded only a few of them...there were some 3000 in all...

Life in general is very different here...everything is just SO PERFECT..for initial 2 weeks I felt I was dreaming..cant believe how can they get into so much details of everything..abhi kuch aadat pad gayi hai ..
still whenever I m on freeways it all seems like NFS to me..traffic rules r so many n followed like anything..the painted lines on road r taken more seriously than road dividers in India..no I m not complaining..India is still the best...

Started with Tennis, Volleyball n gym..but only on weekends..weekdays r very busy..
we stay at Union City..office is in SFO..about 40 minutes BART (Bay Area Rail Transport.. apne locals yaar) journey..n after coming back cooking n all...week kab khatam hota hai pata bhi nahin chalta..

City is very colorful...get to see so different kind of ppl on the streets.. just love to walk around whenever we go out for lunch..though mostly we take lunch from home..as veg food is a prob here..

Initially I was dying to go back but settling down now..let's see..

My first experience in War Room

2008-06-16T03:42:00.001+05:30

Prologue - We've been working on a project for the last four months. It's finished now and going to be installed today.

War Room - It's a place where people from different groups, involved directly or indirectly in the development of a project, gather on the eve of a project installation. It has been renamed to Ops (operations) Room, but people still like to call it the War Room due to nature of the work that goes inside. It's a huge conference room fully equipped with gadgets. Large LCD panels are placed on the three walls of the room. At the center, there is a large table where around 20 people can sit and connect there laptops to work.

The Project - It's a re-write of an existing application, which facilitates users to apply online for a Wellsfargo Credit Card. The existing application needs user to fill out 17 pages to complete the application, which makes a lot of users to drop out in between. The new application has simplified this process and reduced it to a single page and that is why the name Next Stage/Generation Credit Card application.
The project has a very high visibility in Higher Management of Wellsfargo, but it has been in News from the day of its inception for all the wrong reasons. The Go Live date itself says it all ..June 13, 2008 ..Friday the 13th.

Date: Thursday June 12, 2008
Location: War Room

4.00 PM: People have started gathering in the War Room.
4.15 PM: People from all the groups involved are either in the War Room or on Call.
4.30 PM: Officially starts the installation process. First announcement is made "Starting phase one".
5.00 PM: Beginning to realize the importance of the project now when who's who of Wellsfargo, whom we've only seen copied in some of the mails, are walking in and wishing us luck for a successful install, which is not a normal practice.
5.15 PM: All the teams are busy in doing their respective jobs. Through out the evening we keep hearing voices like:
"Shutting down servers at Arizona".
"Data Center Cassie Hill is up and running".
"All the servers are in sync now".
"Application is up on first set of servers. Rotating servers now".
This would be a daily job for these guys, but all this sounds fascinating to me.

5.30 PM: Things are going smooth..I go for a coffee break.
6.00 PM: Me still out of office..actually on a long walk..thinking about the things that are coming to an end with this project..long working hours..late night stays in office..my stay in US..n so on.
6.30 PM: Reach back to office. Two people are playing golf outside the War Room..practicing a putt..I walk in with a smile..things must be really going smooth. Dinner is already served.

7.00 PM: The application starts coming up partially on Production (web). Everyone is cheering for every new page that comes up.
7.30 PM: Business Users start testing the application.
8.00 PM: The whole application is up and seems to be working fine. Heard a voice "Routing live traffic to the new application now". Everyone's excited.

9.30 PM: Live Users are hitting the application across the globe..everything is working fine. There is a minor issue of some user applications not reaching the back end system, but the number is too low..we start analyzing the problem.
10.00 PM: Got mail from Business Manager saying the application has been successfully installed on Production on 6/12 and thanking hundred odd people from different groups involved.
11.00 PM: The teams done with their job start leaving. We are also thinking of leaving as we are supposed to be in office early next morning to monitor the application for any post-launch issues.
11.30 PM: Phase two starts, which involves starting the backup servers. We are still analyzing the issue of some user applications not reaching to the back end system.

Date: Friday June 13, 2008
Location: War Room

12.00 AM: Date changes and maybe our fate also. The number of lost user applications has increased in the past couple of hours..total 38 till now..and it has raised alarm considering that these are off-peak hours. Various teams are on hot line now to trouble shoot the problem.
12.15 AM: Not able to find the root cause yet. Time seems to be ticking faster. If there has to be a back out, it must start soon as normal traffic would start coming in within 3-4 hours, from the East Coast users who are three hours ahead of us.

12.30 AM: No concrete information available yet. Back out seems unavoidable.
12.45 AM: Top management is on call now to make Go/No-Go decision.
1.00 AM: Business is not ready to go ahead with the issue in Production. Heard the words, which we never wanted to, "Backing out all the changes. Start phase one now".

1.30 AM: Only teams required for back out are on call now. Other people are sitting around..tired of whole day's work..chatting..
Manager 1: "Accha hua meri biwi India gayi hui hai" (As it is already very late for a married man to be out).
Manager 2: "Accha hua meri biwi abhi Canada mein hai"
Me: Just popped in and said "Accha hua meri biwi hi nahin hai"
Both the managers turned and gave me that is-it-the-time-to-crack-that-stupid-joke look and I was like ..looking somewhere else.

3.00 AM: Back out is successful. Traffic is routed back to the old application. We leave the office.

3.00 PM: Just came out of Fault Analysis meeting. Relieved to know issue is not on our side, but on one of the back end systems that we are using. Also, out of the 38 lost applications, 13 have reached to the back end system. Still analyzing the remaining ones.

6.00 PM: Got confirmation that all the 38 (supposedly) lost applications had reached to the back end system. It was a false alarm and the back out was not at all required.
Come Monday and it'll start a series of meetings, escalations n blame games.

What an end to the efforts that we've put-in in the last four months!!

Though ended on a sad note, but it has been quite an experience to see the launch of an application. Inside the War Room, I was feeling as if I was a part of a team launching a rocket. Saying that I don't mean that I've been a part of a rocket launching team before and considering the kind of trial n error coding I do, it is in national interest that I shouldn't be, in future too.

P.S. - I've tried to keep it as non-techie as possible, but there are some technical terms, which can't be avoided. Believe me, we use these terms in our normal conversation and they are not just thrown in to make it all high sounding.

P.P.S. - I know some people are scratching their heads.. thinking what was all this about..at the end of it, we are just adding a few more pages on the already overcrowded web. I'd have agreed with you, but they are paying me $$ only for doing this.

P.P.P.S. - I know most of you are thinking that had I spent half the time, which I spent in writing all this, in actually working on the project, we might not be in this mess.

Reno trip

2008-06-16T03:34:00.001+05:30

April 2008

It was just another weekend..I was supposed to be working, but in the morning my roommates woke me up and asked me to pack my bags for a trip to Lake Tahoe n Reno (remember DCH)..they even informed my manager about it without even asking me..I wasn't very much interested in the trip as I'd already been there, but it was definitely better than sitting alone in the office and spoiling the weekend..

The plan was to do skiing plus water sports in Tahoe n some gambling in Reno, but finally we ended up spending two whole days n one night in casinos only..the trip has put us in the category of hardcore gamblers..now losing some 100 odd bucks in one night doesn't hurt as much as it used to be..even our apartment has been renamed from Dharamshala (for obivious reasons) to Casino D, since we started playing poker on weekends with real money..

just before leaving the place we saw her..her name was Eliza..she was the dealer on one of the blackjack's table..in no time five of us were playing on the same table..for the first time none of us was playing for money..at the end she proved to be lucky as all of us won something on the table..though she got more in tips from us than any of us could win..couldn't click her as photography isn't allowed in casinos..so just got some non-interesting pics here:
[link removed]

PS: later we went to Reno again..this time only for gambling n Eliza..couldn't find her and lost another hundred odd bucks each..as Babu bhai would say..bacha le deva bacha le..humko nahin.. Eliza ko!!