Thank God its Friday

Yup yup.. that's what we all say, don't we ? :o)
Today is even more fun. We have a fusion ethnic day at office.
Though not many people have dared to do some fusion, some of them
are impeccably fused ! hehe.
Me has come with a wrap-around and a skirt and all bejewelled with
bangles and necklace and ear-rings and stuff. (Find it so difficult to
work with the bangles constantly hitting the table :( )
Will go for a round on all floors to see the variety we've got at office.
so long for now..

Another long hiatus.

Does the title tell you how much i missed blogging ? ;o)
Well to be honest I was so caught up that I hardly had
the time to think of my blog. Forget blogging I did not
even check posts on blogs i have subscribed to.
I guess a few of you are curious to know about my GMAT
scores. Not very good but not very disappointing either.
I need to slog a little more to cross the 700 mark. I shall
do that soon. :o) Awesome confidence.. I hope it works !!
Life is good, as of now. Wasn't very great till couple of
weeks back. Usual work issues. Sorted out as of now. Got
into a new project.. Seems exciting. Happy for now.

Perspectives

Was cleaning up my mailbox when i tripped on this URL .
It's a matter of perspective eventually, is it not ? If you look at
anything with the right perspective nothing can be daunting !
Hehe... I wish i could practise that more often though.

Another dilemma.

I am still not sure why my earlier post was not uploaded in my blog.
Was surprised to not see it when i opened my blog today. Technology can
never be totally depended on, is that what it says ? :o)

I was finally able to login to the students learning management system
provided by IIMK. Was shocked to see that there were 30 mails already in
the inbox. Hmm.. people i didn't expect to be net-savvy enough to read
mails had sent out mails to the entire batch. Good though.. :o)
I have suddenly become so disintereted in technology, wonder how i will
survive. Better do something about it soon, else i am in a big soup !!

After a day and a half of struggle i finally got a date for my GMAT that too
not in Bangalore. :-( Its a month and 21 days away from now. Should make
good use of the time available to me and ensure i get a great score. I also
am wondering as to the time frame when I should apply for bschools abroad.
Applying this year means, I MIGHT have to leave my current one year program
just before i finish it in August '06. But more than that, wondering if it will
hamper my chances of getting selected in good bschools !! I mean, does it make
sense to do a back-to-back MBA ? Tell me honestly.
So then does it make more sense to work in a discipline where you can make
use or see how management principles are use/applied in day to day business,
for a year ... and then apply to bschools ? That will also mean you know better
as to what you want to do !!

Hmm... still pondering over this dilemma. Your comments welcome.

After a hiatus.

Hi,
Writing after a long time. Life just got so hectic with parents visiting
and project
release nearing completion and stuff. Lots happening on personal and
professional front and kept me horribly occupied. Also let me confess, I
was
way too lazy to update the blog :(
Hopefully will be more regular now on.. Not sure though, as my laziness is
still intact.
LOL..

Well classes haven't started yet. Should start by September first week. So
that will
take up a lot of my time too. Well this is it for today. More later.

Not sure why this post was not uploaded earlier, trying again.

Surreal and Satiated

Yes, I am back from my week long induction, very reluctantly though. It was an
awesome experience, both academically and personally. A very refreshing and
energising trip. The place was beautiful, calm and serene, especially with the
regular PG students not around due to summer vacation. The schedule was
hectic with classes starting at 7:30 am and getting over only by 10 pm. Moreover
had to study for the final exam on Business Math. So was very hectic. Professors
are highly educated and experienced having taught in schools ranging from
IIM Ahmedabad to schools in the US. Looking forward to learning a lot from this
eclectic faculty.

Personally, the one week charged me up. Meeting a set of strangers does wonders
to your morale, boosts up your spirits and puts you on a high sans alcohol. It left
me with such a satiated feeling, its unbelievable. It has helped me come out of
the routine and get a fresh perspective of the world. The "truth or dare" at the
Calicut beach at 1 in the night... the Friday night dance party at the audi...
the quiet time i spend with myself at the Calicut beach on Saturday evening...
the dark waters of the ocean at midnight ... the trip back to the hostel...
everything is so vivid in my memory... It's like a film which i can replay over
and over again to recharge my sunken soul.
Let me hold those beautiful memories in my dreams for now...

Zombie

Hi, after a long time. I didn't expect myself to get so busy after coming here but the
faculty sure seemed to plan that way. Our schedules are getting hectic by the day and
the only break we will get will be when the in-campus module ends on Saturday
afternoon. Some of us managed to get ourselves a cool small outing though. :o)
We had a small informal dinner at the Taj in Calicut last night. After the dinner some
enthusiastic members of thr beach-bums fraternity made a plan to visit the Calicut
beach at night, despite the looming Maths exams tomorrow morning. It was the first time
I was out on a beach at night and it was very nice. I really enjoyed it. The group was good
too and we had some good fun.

Life sure looks very hectic for the next one year. Just a week out here has given me a
glimpse of what is it gonna be like . Classes are fun, though towards the late evening
everything the professor says seems to be having tangential property. LOL. Professors
are very good, well-read, and intelligent. Will learn a lot.

I think this is enough for today. Need to catch up on precious sleep, coz I am sure tomorrow
we are gonna have a night out, Friday being our last night together in the campus.
So long .....

A tiring day.

It was a tiring day. Have been trying to upload the snaps of the beautiful campus but
have not been successful. Will try again later sometime when I have some more
energy left.

Here I am

Writing from the hostel in IIM Calicut. It is as serene and mesmerising as it promised
to be. The picturesque landscape, green mountains, humble complexes, manicured lawns...
all give this piece of land an aura of grace and dignity. I am sure my stay here is going to go
down as one of the most memorable experiences of my life!

The course was inaugurated today morning with an introduction by the ex-chairman of
the programme from IIM Calicut. It was slightly boring in between and also scary. The
prof used the word "rigour" and its various forms around 20 times to stress that this is an
intensive course. We got a feel of that in the evening, when our classes officially started.

The intro was followed by a lecture on "The evolution of management" by another well-read
professor (who was a classic case of an absent-minded prof). We then had two classes of
2 hours each, one on Business Math and the other on Management Accounting. It is going
to be one hectic schedule for the week. Classes start at 7:30 am and get over at 9:30 in the night.
We also have a final exam this Friday on Business Math. Gotta study :-(

Disaster Recovery

I am feeling much better today, especially after the doctor confirmed to me that I didn't
have jaundice. :o) It was such a relief. I didn't want to miss out on the six days induction
programme in IIM Calicut, starting coming Monday. So even though I am feeling pretty
weak right now, I hope I will recover by Sunday and attend the programme with full
attention and energy. Travelling to Calicut tomorrow.
Will get the weekend for sight seeing. Hoping to click a lot of pictures.

Sickness and strength

Still recovering from last week's terrible sickness. I hope I recover completely before
I leave for Calicut this Friday. Heard from a friend of mine that the 6-day in-campus
module is very hectic and professors even finish teaching couple of subjects in that
duration. So I better get back all my energy to grasp all those fundas.
I will be gone for a week sandwiched between two weekends, albeit, effectively I will
get only 3 days to enjoy and soak into the beauty of God's Own country ! Hope to click a lot
of pictures though.
Finally IIM Calicut has agreed to give us accomodation in their hostel for 8 days and so
my commutation worries to and from the hotel (if i had to take one) to the campus have
been laid to rest. Thankfully (sigh). The campus is around 25 km from the main city of
Calicut, on a hilltop, and so you can guess the kind of transport I should've expected in
God's country. I am saved from that now. LOL. Take the campus tour.

Read an article about the Operation BlueStar that happened in 1984 between
June 4th to 6th. It's a very sensitive and controversial topic. Everyone has their own
views of looking at it. Most Sikhs even today believe what happened was wrong and
harbor grudges. Quite a few on the other hand think it was a very efficient way of
rooting out the Khalistan movement. Well, I think ,most times, that militancy cannot
be dealt with with an olive twig. They need a tough retort. They need an answer back in
a language they understand. If that means someone has to take a tough stand,
someone has to take the risk of being disliked, then so be it. Does a mother not chide her
loved child for his/her betterment? I understand completely that being the head-of-state
of nation 1-billion strong is a different ballgames altogether. Absolutely. Nobody would
want to lose that kind of power. But not at the cost of the nation. No way. Come what may.
Power, however, sure seems to corrupt even the strong-minded :(

Dichotomy

"Head over heart"... "Mind over matter" .... why does man always live with this dichotomy ?
Would it not be simpler to live with just one organ having control over the entire being ?
It would save a lot of us a lot of trouble, wouldn't it ? Tell me, when we already have an
organ called the brain, which supposedly controls our every action, every thought and
every move, why do we still need the heart to pitch in ? (I am sure there is a bunch of people
saying vice-versa!) Are things already not complicated enough ?
Do we need to complicate further ?

Hmm...well, my sickness in the past couple days has had me all muddled up. It brought
out, though not quite conspicuously which is again-I suspect-coz I suppressed my heart,
the need for a partner in life. The need to share. What makes this need even more amusing
is that we want the sharing to be exclusive. We want to share our deepest feelings and
strangest thoughts with just one person. We just want one person to hold on to. Then why
does everyone vouch for friendship? Again the dichotomy !!

So are we in a constant battle with ourselves ? Or do we just decide at the spur of the
moment which face of the coin we should be? If that's the case, then it again defeats the
purpose of having an entire organ devoted for the process of having a clear rational
thought process. Is this whole thing not strange ? Or is it me ?

Murphy's Laws proved.

Hi. My phone has got back to normal today and I too am slowly recovering.
Well, yesterday was a day where every of Murphy's laws could have been proven
right. Everything went awry and we (my 2 other housemates) were in a mess at the end
of the day.
Firstly I got sick and had to be rushed to the hospital and then one of my
housemate had a minor accident, so she had to be rushed to the hospital in the night. And
the burden of handling two ill people got the third one down. It was tough managing three
sick (:-P) people under a house. I really admire the nurses who have to put with cranky
patients.. It's a tough job!
I think I should get going now, too tired to write any more.

Torrential rains claim my phone line.

Have been busy running around for a loan to sponsor my part time mba from IIM Calicut.
Finally the paper work is done and the loan will come through in hopefully another fifteen
days. (public sector bank :-( ).
My home phone is dead since a week now, a victim of the torrential rains that Bangalore
saw last week. No response so far to the complaint raised,. So am not able to connect to the
net in the night when i usually do my updates and that makes me feel lousy. Yes, I was
plain lazy to do that in office, i guess i could do with this confession. Whatever, hope my
phone springs back to life tonight (hoping for a miracle) !
Was reading one of Simba's posts about the documents required for the visa and it scared
no end. Man, what the hell was that. It seriously made me rethink of pursuing my MBA in one
of the top business schools in the world ! But naah, am a brave gal and would do it anyway !
:o)
There's so much to write and so much to read from other blogs that I am praying desperately
for my phone to work from this moment on ! Let me go home and check it.

I knew the moment had arrived...

Hurray ! I got selected for IIM Kozhikode's (Calicut) Interactive Distance Learning
program. It's a one year programme with a 5-day residential component in the IIM
Campus and another of regular classrooms. The classrooms are not regular though;
they are hi-tech places with satellite connectivity to the IIMK campus from where the
professors will deliver lectures twice every week. So lectures are delivered fresh and
crisp from IIMK to 35 classrooms across India. This is amazingly convenient for
working executives who get to do the course without having to quit jobs or take
sabbaticals and stuff.
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calicut was established in 1996. Its's the 5th
IIM to be established by the Government of India in collaboration with the State Govt.
of Kerala. Though, so far, not as hyped and reputed as its other counterparts viz the IIMs
at Ahmedabad,Bangalore, Kolkatta and Lucknow, IIMK is striving to be there soon. This,
for me, ensures that they will maintain quality in everything that they do ! Ofcourse
you cannot expect anything but the best at an (and any) IIM, but still IIM A is IIMA. :o)
Given this background, I am still weighing my options of doing this against the
regular mba that I am aiming at next year. Will have to decide sooner than I want to,
as the deadline for the first installment is next Monday. So I better hurry! with my
otherwise slow decision making process !

A mail I received

Today I received a mail from Mr.Wilson NG whose blog I have linked in my site . His posts
are inspiring and his blog very real !It was a pleasant surprise and he sure made my day!
Thank you Mr. Wilson.

BTW, the email post option worked ! It's a cool thing to do when in a hurry. You can get the
"email post" option by going to "Setting->Email". Here you can choose the personalised tag
for your mail id to post "posts".

Trying out the "email post" option

Wondering if it works !
Will get to know in a coupla minutes.

Zen and the art of making onself happy !

Last night was the first time i gave up on a book mid-way ! I was reading
"Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" and not sure if I am not in the right
frame of mind or if i did not understand what the author was talking about , I was
just bored reading it. So after around 150 pages of the 400+ page book, I decided
it was better to stop and pick up the book some other time rather than go through
the drudgery!
Well, how many times in life have we come across a situation when we don't want to
be in it but just choose to do so for various reasons ? I agree that it is very much an
arguable topic and that it depends on the situation at hand. It depends on what we
value and how much that forces us to prioritise and take a stand. What i learned
recently was that, "unless i am happy, i cannot make anyone else happy". Profound
truth which can be twisted in various ways.
Some might say that, making someone happy makes me happy ! Agreed. Do you
however see the bottomline ? "It makes me happy!" So yes, you do it because it
gives you satisfaction and happiness.
Some might term this as selfish! Imagine a person who is not happy doing something.
Will s/he let others be happy by accepting that fact and not complaining ? Very rare.
So you see the point is, all I can take care of is myself. Rest is beyond my control.
Why should I worry of things which are beyond my circle of influence anyways ?

Have started reading "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell now. Seems interesting.
Will post more on it as I go through.

Small things

Last Sunday my roomy met with a possibly fatal accident. She didnt get major injuries,
just minor bruises and a lot of body ache. The pain gets aggravated by working 8 hours
in a claustrophobic office ! So when I came home last evening, she was in bed bunking
office, utterly in pain. I did small things to ease her pain. It was only today when she
send me a mail thanking me for what I did yesterday that I realised how very much the
small things in life matter. I always believed in it though.
If its true, then why do we run behind the big things in life ?

A Long One

Yesterday was one heaven of a day ! Worked from home but majority of the part was
spent looking up blogs on the net. Blogs that would give me more information about
an MBA. And you can bet your life on it if you think there are more than a couple hundreds !
I am impressed. People out there are so dedicated and devoted to their blogs that it's awesome.
It gives me a dose of inspiration to keep my posts regular. This also proves that, if used
correctly, the internet can be such a helpful instrument ! Yeah I call it an instrument coz it is
multi-utility,is upto the user's discretion to be turned on and off, does whatever you ask it to do,
there is every chance to get addicted to it (like the cellphone) and yes, it can backfire too ! :o)

Getting back to what i wanted to post today, bits and pieces though. Saw this awesome image of
"self-made man" on a blog about the days at the Indian School of Business (ISB). The original
sculptureis by Bobbie Carlyle. Its awe-inspiring. Take a look here .

The next thing i want to mention here is the article on Leadership in the HBR. Here the author
has got a point in that,unless you can lead yourself, you cannot lead others. 100% pure truth.
He pricks some balloons that most MBA graduates come out of school with. That stress can help
you perform better is what he strongly is against, however, not very successful in convincing
the same. He gets too philosophical towards the end though, talking about mind and body and
emotions and energies et all. Sounds more like a spiritual master talking. No nothing wrong in it,
just that I was expecting him to be much better given his Harvard background.

Ok the third thing i found out today is this "www.allconsuming.net" It records what items you
are currently using and gives its usage worldwide (as long as the whole world is subscribed to
it !) Not sure of its utility, but I guess you can find out how popular, the items you are using, are.
And the items include books, albums(music i guess), Movies, and everything else you can name.
I created an entry for the IBM T41 Laptop that I use !

I guess that's enough for tonight. Gute Nacht !

An overwhelming journey

Recently finished reading "The Fountainhead' by Ayn Rand. It was some experience!
Lots of changes happened during and after that book. Still keep happening.

Let me talk about the book first. It is awesome and now I know why it is a classic and why
everyone must read it. About the "must read" part though, I believe the book has to come to
you rather than you going to it. Somehow doesn't seem to make sense if one reads it with a mind
frame not suitable for absorbing the book. It's not a trivial book. It is so much more than that;
a philosophy with the power to make you take a U-turn, to relook at yourself and grow.
So I was pleasantly happy when I read the book now instead of anytime during all the years that
it was lying in my bookshelf.

Changes in me that the book brought in... quite a few. Firstly, I try and talk less, like Mr.Roark. :o)
I mean yeah it makes a lot of sense to shut your mouth most times and do your work instead.
I am finding it very helpful. It does take effort, however its adoption is beneficial in many ways.
Umm, I think that's a very significant change and I am liking it very much. (It has its drawbacks
though when it comes to corporate scenarios, but whatever.)
What else has changed ? I think I am striving to be as aloof and uninvolved as Roark and Dominique.
It has its own advantages. I think I am getting into my newly adopted shell now; think I am talking too
much. :o)
So long.....

Life and something like that.

Heyyy.
It was a long break. Sometimes work has a knack of catching you unaware and disrupting your
normal routine. And depending on your mood, either you react positively to it or you swear at it !
:o) So keep guessing what I am thinking now about my work !

Well the title for today's post is basically a movie I caught on TV. It's the one where Angelina
Jolie gets to know she is going to die in a week and how she gets a life after that !! It was amazing.
I think this is also the theme of the book "Your erroneous zones" by Dr.Wayne Dyer. Its amazing
to know how we would be if we knew certain things in life early on. Do you think we really would
be any different ? I dont know. May be !

Today I had been to the Aero India Show in Bangalore. It was a good one. Though i did not
technically understand what is what, I thoroughly enjoyed the dare devilry and the brilliant
performance by the handsome hunks in the armed forces. Take a look at it here .

Ok. I was supposed do this long time ago but just couldn't. Here it is. My Reading List for the year
2005.
1. Seven habits of highly effective people Stephen Covey

2. India Unbound Gurcharan Das

3. Zen and the art of motorcycle maintainence Zig Ziglar

4. We, the nation Nani palkhiwala

5. Art of War Sun Tzu (Rereading this, as one read is not enough :) )

6. The power of intention Wayne Dyer.

7. Your Erroneous Zones Wayne Dyer

8. Straight from the gut Jack Welch

I recently read The monk who sold his ferrari by Robin Sharma. Was a good and fast read.
It had good tips and techniques but I found everything very repetitive though. Cliched
statements and plagiarised ideas apart from high self-worth is what marred the impact
it could have had !

I want to write more, but I think I am done for today. Had an exhausting weekend !

Heyyy.
It was a long break. Sometimes work has a knack of catching you unaware and disrupting your normal routine.
And depending on your mood, either you react positively to it or you swear at it ! :o)
So keep guessing what I am thinking now about my work !
Today I had been to the Aero India Show in Bangalore. It was a good one. Though i did not technically understand what is what,
I thoroughly enjoyed the dare devilry and the brilliant performance by the handsome hunks in the armed forces. Take a look at it here .
Ok. I was supposed do this long time ago but just couldn't. Here it is. My Reading List for the year 2005.
1. Seven habits of highly effective people Stephen Covey

2. India Unbound Gurcharan Das

3. Zen and the art of motorcycle maintainence Robert Pirsig

4. We, the nation Nani palkhiwala

5. Art of War Sun Tzu (Rereading this, as one read is not enough :) )

6. The power of intention Wayne Dyer.

7. Your Erroneous Zones Wayne Dyer

8. Straight from the gut Jack Welch

I recently read The monk who sold his ferrari by Robin Sharma. Was a good and fast read. It had good tips and techniques but I found everything very repetitive though. Cliched statements and plagiarised ideas apart from high self-worth is what marred the impact it could have had !

Living in fear

I am still wary of this blog thing. I think its the psychological fear in me of getting exposed which
is causing this. Why am i so worried of being exposed to the world ? My life has been an open
secret more or less to near and dear friends. And passers by on the net will definitely not bother
about me once they go to the next blog, will they ? So... is it pointless ? I guess so but I am still
not convinced. :o)

Deja Vu !!

It feels great after meeting a friend ...especially when the months (and at times years)
of seperation do not show in the relationship. These are the people who will last my lifetime
and this is when I realise that some people come in our lives for a reason, some for a season
and some stay on, but everyone leaves a mark, nevertheless.

My first post

Hello World.
This is my first step in the world of blogs and I am expecting this journey will be an exciting one.
I wouldnt't say I was an avid blog-reader but yes, I would visit blog sites (mostly Indian)
randomly. It was when I saw my colleague and friend Ramesh edit his own blog, that I
thought of getting myself one. And here I am....
The idea is exciting ... atleast as of now. :o)