A Collection of PJs

Have been planning to compile a small collection of PJs which I have created over the past few years - been a while now, but here are a few. More to come

Situation: The RIL Office in Sewri is the Fly Capital of the World… (I mean the Insect variety, not Pilots)

Complication: Employees often spend most of their time swatting away the flies and manage to spend very little time actually working…

Conversation in the morning:

Client: "My God, there are so many flies here... All we do through the day is to swat them away"

Ranga: “That’s what we said we'd deliver at the beginning of the project right? We now actually have a SWAT team!

For more info on SWAT teams, please refer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWAT_team !

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Why do misers simply adore cans and cans of Tropicana?

Coz they are Can-juices (kanjooeses)

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Lower Parel, Mumbai>

Hari: Ranga, why don't you get a vodka for me?

Anip Sharma (simultaneously): Hey Ranga, I am planning to go on vacation to Europe... you know any good places to go to?

Nithin Chandra (also simultaneously): I need some fresh air man... it is so stifling inside...

Ranga: Ba(ha)r-se-lo-na !

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During the Heights of the currency crisis (pre liberalization) in 1991, India was forced to pledge its gold reserves to Bank of England to maintain solvency. The country was literally on its knees and days away from bankruptcy! The celluloid potential of an event so momentous could not but be noticed. Yash Chopra ji has decided to 'cash in' on the opportunity and wants to make SRK play the role of Narasimha Rao in a movie about the crisis. Qn. is... what will the name of the movie be?

Ans: Cheque De India...

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Once upon a time in China, (not so long ago) there was this really talented painter... like many of the impressionist masters, he was widely acknowledged for his use of colors. However, the market for color paintings in China was not too lucrative. He decided to move to India, where the market for such colored artistry was booming at that point of time... and true to expectations, his work was a huge success here. What was the name of the painter? And what was the painting style he used?

Ans: Rango-Lee

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How do you describe the following situation?

One of India's brightest lawyers fell in love with a colleague of his. He takes her to Paris, that most romantic of cities. There, they go to the Eiffel Tower. On the restaurant atop the tower, just as the sun is setting, the lawyer proposes to her….

Ans: High Court

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Which Bank has the Most Unfriendly customer service at its branches?

Ans: I see Icy Eye (ICICI)

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Which hill station is a Boxer's favorite retreat?

Ans: Punch Gunny (Panchgani)

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Dr.Salim Ali, when he was young, had built a reputation of being quite the flirt. But he grew out of it, later to become one of the greatest ornithologists in the country. Many moons later, he decided he had had enough of ornithology and decided to make a profession out of his second great love… Aeroplanes… he became a pilot. Soon after retiring from aviation, he decided to write an autobiography narrating his life story from the cradle to almost-at-the-grave…what would it be called?

Ans: Birds I-view

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Traffic Sign board en route to Vashi

GO
SLOW
WORK IN
PROGRESS

Yours truly felt it was lacking in proper punctuation. Modified suitably, it reads as:

GO.

SLOW
WORK IN
PROGRESS

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Here's one interesting incident from office… protagonists being Sonali Agarwal and Rangarajan Vijayaraghavan

Sonali Agarwal: "Ranga, where's the slide?"

Ranga: "[slid across the marbled floor] There you go…"

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What do you call a dark, talented, male Bengali singer?

Ans: Tan Sen...

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How do you describe a really hot Indian woman?

Ans: Sizzling Brownie

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Why is it that the normal, average human being is so selfish and nasty?

Ans: Coz statistically, the average human being = a mean human being

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A geeky statistician Mr.Ranjit Singh Quartile falls in love with numbers so much that he spends all his time in the statistics section of the library. And, as fate would have it, there was this attractive female statistician (!) who shared the same passion for numbers… it was a case of love at first sight for the guy... Time passed and the couple kept running into each other more and more frequently at the library. One fine day, RSQuartile could no more bear to keep his love under wraps and he launched into a fervent declaration of love towards his star attraction… what song did he sing?

Ans: Pyaar humein kis 'mode' pe le aaya…

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Why did the second guy in a row of three laugh at another guy who was third in a row of five?

Ans: coz he was a co-median…

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What do you call a website that helps you make fun of yourself?

www.takemytrip.com

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ATK Colleague 1, ATK colleague 2 and Rangarajan having a conversation about the Marathon. Reference was made to how we ran in the hot sun, wearing a shirt supporting the United Way NGO cause…from which a rather intuitive connection was drawn… as follows

Ah… how much more trigonometrical can we get? We run for a cause(cos), wear a sign(sin) and get (tan)ned…umm… wait a (sec) ….caught(cot) the point?

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Next to the Nestle Milk Chocolate Factory in Switzerland is an animal farm.

There were some prize bulls in the farm which bristled with discontent at the treatment they were getting from their human masters. In true Orwellian style, they launched a stinging attack on the inhabitants and the contents of the factory next door. What was the outcome of the revolt?

Ans: Chocolate Moos (Mousse)

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There is this particular collection of clothes doing the rounds in various fashion capitals of the world which mysteriously gave the models wearing them some highly embarrassing moments in public, by malfunctioning at ....umm... inappropriate times - Question is: what is the collection called?

Ans: The Fall collection

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Why would it be a very bad idea to give loans to HUL retirees?

Ans: They are already lever-aged

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What would Napoleon the Great be called if he were a glutton?

Ans: Napoleon Bon-Apetit

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Which cell phone brand would Johnny Depp endorse in the movie 'Pirates of the Caribbean'?

'Sea-men's' (Siemens)

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Q. What did the Inventory controller say to the Head of Procurement to explain to him the benefits of pooling?

A. 'Prevention is better than pro-cure'!

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What term do you use to describe a frustrated birdwatcher (and I don't mean the winged variety :D)?

Ans: Horny-thologist

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The character 'Donkey' in the film Shrek is chosen as the mascot of a popular internet shopping site. The name of the site was changed in its honor… what were the original and revised names?

Ans: www.ebay.com became www.ebray.com

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Why is a car without a stepney the longest lasting variety?

Ans: Coz it is tire-less

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What would be an assassination consultant's favourite movie?

Ans: Kill, Bill

( Bill as in billing the client)

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Which is the world's most lecherous website?

Ans: www.go-ogle.com

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What is the favourite music of Comp-Sci Engineers

Ans: Algo-rhythms

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Why did Princess Anne and her husband Philip feel happy about conducting a Photograph throwing competition ?

Ans: because it was Phil-Anne-throw-pic ...

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It was the peak of the resume submitting season and PGP1s are scrambling over themselves in order to apply to all the Day Zero companies.... some consulting and Fin companies ask for covering letters to be attached to the resumes...

One such hypothetical case stares a consultant in the face: Mr.xyz has always wanted to do banking since he was in the cradle and has dedicated his life to the singleminded pursuit of investment banking as a career ... [damn...copy-paste gone horribly wrong!]

How would you describe such a resume?

Ans: Ctrl+(C-V)

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The West Bengal State Government decides to formulate a policy to promote three industries in the state. The Industries are: 1) Information Technology, 2) Golfing and 3) Tea .. what would the policy be called?

Ans: The West Bengal IT, I-Tee and High Tea Policy

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Imaginary Situation: House Maid is found stealing money from the house and is caught red-handed by my mother.... she is chased rather publicly to the ends of the city for her transgression... and in the end collapses out of exhaustion after covering pretty much the whole of the city... This became highly celebrated and the public decides to take out an annual event in its commemoration... what city am I talking about and what is the event?

Mum-Bai Marathon...

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Misbah Ul Haq was caught sledging in the ongoing Indo Pak cricket match and the match Referee Ranjan Madugalle booked him for an offence under the ICC Code of Conduct... what did he term the offence?

Ans: Misbah-aviour….

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King Arthur, the leader of the Knights of the Round Table was obsessed with fighting evil and expected his twelve chivalrous knights to share the same obsession. He made them go through drill after monotonous drill to train them for fights - real and imaginary... "Up thy noble steed Sir Lance-a-lot, chaaaaarge...., let ye ugly dragon feel thy might…attaaaaaaackkk....Well Done Sir Lance-a-lot! You may now Alight and take a bow.." and so on... Doing so many up-down routines on a daily basis can decidedly be a wearing business and the noble knights were pained in more ways than one... they decided to name their physical affliction after their Leader. What was this affliction called?

Ans: Arthur-itis (Arthritis)

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The market for re-treaded tires is a dangerous one (highly fragmented and low margins)… and yet an entrepreneur decided to seek angel investor funding to set up a small scale retreading plant in India … the investor, naturally, declined the offer and our entrepreneur decided to go it alone… How would you describe the situation?

Ans: Fools rush in where Angels fear to "Tread"

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A.T.Kearney, despite having some profitable clients in the Middle East, took quite some time to set up a Dubai Office… why?

Ans: They thought Dubai's No Great Sheikhs (No great shakes)

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There was this Arab who went prospecting for oil in the vast deserts of the Middle East and , not unexpectedly, he found huge reserves just waiting to be tapped. He immediately had an oil well built in the area, but did not start pumping out the crude from the well immediately… soon after this event, there was a huge earthquake in the immediate surroundings of the well… Why?

Ans: Coz, Mother Nature read the situation as: "Sheikh Well Before Use"

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When does one musician fall in love with another musician?

Ans: When they strike a chord

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What does one musician say when he meets another musician at a meet?

Ans: Let’s exchange ‘notes’

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(C) All Rights reserved - No part of this work may be reproduced in any form by anyone without the written consent of the author :-)

A Consultant's life Part II

In this post I am supposed to write some stuff on how things change and how things don't. But then, as someone before my lifetime put it,
The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men Often Go Astray (or some such thing)

To cut a long story short, my best laid plans have changed, not permanently, but enough to warrant a deviation in the topic of this post.

We at A.T.Kearney had an intra-office cricket 'tournament' - basically a lot of young and old consultants getting together and having a lot of fun. I prepared a match report and thought it fit to post it on the blog. A word of warning though: All characters mentioned in the report are real, though the non-ATK reader can, for all intents and purposes, treat them as fictional :)

Official Match Report

A Lukewarm start, a sizzling mid-game and a red-hot end (literally!)

Ladies and Gentlemen, call it Saturday morning blues, call it cold feet, but indisputable was the fact that the start to this all important cricket fixture was lukewarm. Of the 18 members registered, drop-outs were so significant that the teams had to be pruned to two from three, with “Scorching Suns” being the casualty. The captains of the remaining teams, viz. Kearney Kangaroos and Dada’s Devils took to the field on a pleasant breezy morning to inspect the pitch and formulate team strategies accordingly. This was followed by the toss for Match 1

“Dada’s Devils”, under the leadership of our very own Kaustav-da (who, ironically, is a bigger fan of Sachin Tendulkar than Sourav Ganguly), got off to a good start by doing what has eluded even the charismatic captain of the Indian Team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni – winning the toss. Batting first was the natural choice and, as time proved, a good one.

The Devils’ innings – An idle bat is the Devil’s workshop

Kaustav-da and Nithin took the field, with Varun “Lee” Poddar opening the bowling for the Kearney Kangaroos. Disaster struck quickly as both Kaustav Da and Vivek Kalucha (who came in after K-da was out, caught) came and went without troubling the scorers within the first over. The score at the end of the first over read 3/2 and the Kangaroos, justifiably, were jumping all over the place. However, for Nithin “Yuvraj” Chandra, this was just the calm before the storm.

GG was the first victim of Nithin’s onslaught, with his second over being mercilessly dispatched for 30 runs including three towering sixes and two fours. The spring in the step of the Kangaroos was brought to a brutal, but effective halt. Jassi turned to Arunav to stem the haemorrhage. A run-out effected of Nishant in the third over provided a brief respite for the fielding team but Dada’s Devils still managed to eke out twelve runs from the over, including a couple of well struck fours.

Nithin and Abhiram continued the innings for the Devils with Arunav and the Jassi/Mahesh combo holding fort relatively economically. Arunav conceded just 25 runs from his two overs… (the figures would not have been as bad, had Nithin not decided to despatch Arunav away for a 4 and a 6 just as the innings was winding up to a close) and Jassi/Mahesh managed to keep Abhiram quiet, though they would not have liked the Umpire’s strictness with balls going down the leg side being heartlessly declared wides. (Damn those limited overs rules!)

Thanks to Nithin’s masterclass and significant contribution from extras (13 of them), Dada’s Devils set the Kearney Kangaroos a target of 85 in 6 overs, translating to a run-rate of just over 14 runs per over. The lukewarm start had morphed into a sizzling mid-game and a mouth-watering chase loomed on the horizon.

Kangaroos’ chase - look before you leap

Jassi planned to lead from the front as he took the field with Mahesh to open the innings for the Kearney Kangaroos. The chase began disastrously with Jassi being stumped efficiently by Nithin off Vivek’s opening over. Mahesh soon followed, getting run-out without troubling the scorers. GG restored some life to the chase, with a brilliantly struck six right over square leg, followed by another sparkling four.

The second over of the chase was a tight one, with Nishant steaming in and beating the batsmen with sheer pace, conceding just three runs and bowling GG out. The pressure was mounting! 71 runs to be scored off the 4 remaining overs. Dada turned to the star of the first innings and said “Ek over daalega?” , to which Nithin said, “haan, daaloonga”, and the rest, as they say, folks, is history.

An extremely tight over with Arunav’s wicket thrown in for good measure made the task for the Kangaroos even more difficult. What made the task more difficult for the chasers is the fact, that the graciousness shown by the Kangaroos while bowling to Nithin, was not reciprocated, with not even a single extra being conceded.

Varun Poddar struck some valiant blows for the Kangaroos and their team took 25 of the next two overs (Vivek and Nishant being the sufferers), without the loss of a wicket. Still, the required run-rate was not met, leaving the chasers a 36-run target off the final over, to be bowled by Nithin.

If Nithin had been miserly in his previous over, he was downright mean in this one. A nagging line and impeccable length meant that the ‘roos task was that much more difficult. Apart from a conciliatory 4 off the penultimate ball of the innings, the last over was a terrible let-down for the Kangaroos with neither Varun nor Kunal able to make any impact.

The result: Dada’s Devils defeat Kearney’s Kangaroos by 28 runs – a convincing victory, with the Man-of-the-Match award going to Nithin “Yuvraj” Chandra. Kaustav-da marshaled his troops very well, though his contribution with the bat resembled more the hero of his land, Sourav than the hero of his mind, Sachin

Match 2 & Match 3: Commentary truncated!

The remaining two matches were on similar lines, except that Ranga, the resident photographer, added strength to Dada’s Devils while Kunal and Hemant lent their expertise to the Kearney Kangaroos.

An added attraction was the commentary of Varun, Vivek, GG, Kunal and others whose observations on the activity on the field were as funny as they were insightful, though their sledging against the umpiring did not find much favour with either the opposition or the umpires. There was talk of the commentators being fined 50% of their post-match pizzas for the transgressions.

Just before this correspondent signs off, late on a Sunday night, his blow-by-blow commentary on the excellent proceedings looking to be cut short by a series of uncontrollable yawns and project commitments looming large in front of him, he feels it worthwhile to recount one unforgettable 13-ball over from the Kearney Kangaroos to Dada’s Devils in Match 3 as a sign-off gesture.

The bowler in question shall not be mentioned, but Mumbai Mauler Nithin Chandra was the tormentor. The bowler managed to deceive batsmen, wicket-keepers, umpires and commentators alike with his flight, with one well-directed (!) delivery failing to release properly from his hand and trickling down to short cover.

The few times the ball actually managed to float into Nithin’s vicinity, it went away rather quickly, getting dispatched to all corners of the ground. The outcome: a match-winning 37 runs conceded off 1 over, with 2 sixes, 4 fours (including byes) and god-only-knows how many wides!

This particular over sent the Kangaroos scurrying to all parts of the ground and was well liked by the rather limited audience of Parul and little Arjun Kalbag, whose presence did much to add to the fun and festivities (For those who did not turn up to watch the match today: You missed the treat of the year, people!)

Till the next event, cheers and lagey raho!

- Rangarajan Vijayaraghavan

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The One With All the Resolutions

MY NEW YEAR RESOLUTION: To update my blog at least once a month!

Reflections for the new year

I have always been fascinated by the concept of new year resolutions. It is almost like a capsule of all the good intentions that one can have. It is like one of those rare flowers, (I think it is called kurinji in Tamil) which blooms only once in 12 years, only to fade again as quickly as it came.

I have tried to give up the habit of making new year resolutions for quite a while now, but even if I don't declare something formally as my new year resolution, I find myself unconsciously becoming determined that I would achieve something worthwhile or do something better this year and Hey Presto! I have a New Year Resolution even before I know it. Needless to say, not one of those good resolutions has materialised fully till now.

What causes the human brain to make resolutions? Fundamentally, I think we are a dissatisfied lot. The ability of the human mind to reflect analytically and/emotionally on past happenings and dissecting them into some specific cause-effect relationships is no doubt well established. But it is during some landmarks in time such as birthdays or New Years that there is this trigger which prompts reflection much more than during normal times. Again maybe the human mind is fundamentally optimistic? There is always the inclination to believe that the future will be better than the past if one takes the necessary actions... maybe that is what has made our race so successful?

But then, what prevents most resolutions from seeing the light of the day when it comes to action? In my opinion, it is that reflection is generally almost completely internal but action is completely external. And being external, there are a lot of forces in the environment that influence action a lot more than they would influence reflection. The really exceptional people can focus upon their reflections and use them to take the necessary actions to influence the environment in such a way that the reflections bear fruit in terms of actions and results. Will I be one of them? Till date, I haven't been able to achieve even a tenth of what I set out to do, but that will not keep me from trying :-).

When will the term get over?

ugggggghhhhhh!

Life in the fourth term has been one never ending series of submissions. I remember reading somwhere that if one unravels the DNA o f one's body and lays it out end to end, it would be long enough to encircle the world thirty times or something. Well, if I started laying out all the waste paper I have churned out in the name of submissions, I am sure I can do the same thing as well!

Our seniors had warned us that 4th term is not as easy as it seems and that we may have to put in a lot of hard work. But we dismissed them thinking it was all bunkum... we were sadly mistaken.

Still, this term has provided some learning opportunities, for which I am grateful. What I am more grateful for, however is that the term is coming to an end in around 5 days and I will be seeing home sweet home again soon!

I pray to God to give me the strength to last out the last few days of this nightmare term...

Blogging off
Ranga

Come to the Point

I have often been accused of sending the entire class (and sometimes the prof ;-)) to sleep with long CPs (for the uninitiated, CP means class participation). It is almost a natural urge in me to contribute in class, having done that all my student life. At that point of time, however, my contribution was not incentivised in terms of marks/grades being awarded for CP. In fact, it was a welcome relief for most of the class and a valuable learning opportunity for me.

But here, things change. The same activity carried out when there are incentives attracts a different response. Something which represents an intrinsic motivation to learn is sometimes construed as an attempt to gain better CP grades. Which is strange, to say the least. It is amazing how 'economic' incentives to an activity change people's perception of those indulging in it.

Anyways, a lesson I have had to learn from my first year here is to make my communication more precise and structured. Defining my context every time I speak may be useful for a layman, but I find that it is mostly redundant when I address such a bright gang as the one found here...

Whether I have fully achieved that objective is for other people to say, but from my side, the key learning I have had is regarding the "punch" I need to pack into my statements if I want an audience...

One more entry coming up soon :-)

Joys of Velladom...

Ages and ages since i visited my corner on the web for an update. But then, popular demand has shaken me out of my inertia :-). So, yours truly is back with a vengeance. Expect a series of posts in the next few days!

The first and most omnipresent fact of life in the second year is the arrival of the first year students a.k.a. facchas a.k.a the lowest form of life on earth. Mind you, having gone through the grind myself I pity those who have the (mis)fortune to become PGP 1's at IIMA and know that the pathetic creature called a faccha metamorphoses magically over the summer training period to become a butterfly-like tuccha :-D.

Most of a tuccha's initial time after coming back from summers is taken by giving gyaan to the facchas, encouraging them with blood-curdling shouts of "Muggo facchon muggo" and making them yearn for tucchadom with idyllic songs such as .. "Aish karne walon toh aish hi karenge, PGP 1 saare mug mug marenge.." ;-).

But then, there is more to life than that... a tuccha's happiness just begins when he sees an over-enthusiastic faccha scurrying back to his dorm after a lighthing quick lunch to prepare for one of the seemingly endless array of quizzes in the first year. His life is also about movies, music, food and more importantly, friends! He socialises like never before and finds himself spending inordinate amounts of time in pure hedonism. "How can he spend so much time doing timepass?", one might wonder...

To start with, class preparation is quite different from the first year, where he had to mug all sorts of subjects - liked or disliked - because he needed to participate in class discussions. In the second year, he takes electives of his choice and prepares for class if he really thinks it fit... this frees up his time like nothing else. Moreover, it is more of a 'spiritual' liberation for the tuccha from the harassments of erstwhile facchadom. When freedom exists in spirit, time is but a relative concept :-))))).

Extracurricular activities also gain more importance and prominence and it is a major task to coordinate participation in various such activities. Basically, life in the second year is more balanced and eminently more enjoyable than the first year.

Sleep, however, is something that is often compromised... I guess I have mentioned something on sleep in another earlier entry. One of my friends has rather appropriately described sleep as Stress Level Elimination Exercise Plan :-)... couldn't agree with him more. Lack of sleep is a terrible thing after a while. I really wonder how many I-bankers manage to do with so little sleep in their lives ...

I have rather let myself go in this blog. I really don't wish the reader to get bored of my endless ranting on this topic...so I'll stop

Bloggin' off
Ranga

Anonymous Feedback

Feedback is an important process of self realisation and improvement. In terms of our ID (Individual Dynamics) learning, it helps us reduce the size of our blind self.

We have this concept in the institute where people are requested/allowed to give feedback to others in their junior/senior batch, through a particular website. Unfortunately, the feedback is allowed to be anonymous. Some people reveal their names out of their own volition, while some do not. Then the very idea of feedback gets warped in the sense that people who dare not say some things to your face seek the cover of anonymity to settle their petty grievances.

It seems a rather cowardly thing to do to take cover under this system and use it to vituperate against people with whom they have a grudge. This thing has happened with a few of my batchmates and it leaves a very unpleasant feeling with absolutely nothing constructive to work on for the person concerned.

When we did our course in SBC (Spoken Business Communication, for the uninitiated), we were taught some of the characteristics of good feeback ; it was supposed to be direct, controllable by the recipient of the feedback and so on. But this system of anonymity seems to bring out the worst in some people and defeats the purpose itself.

Mind you, I am not saying that this system is all bad. Not at all. In fact, I have received some valuable feedback myself and it has set me thinking on the right lines (hopefully ;-)). The only thing is that it acts as a convenient cover for some people which they use to the fullest.

The natural reaction for someone who receives unpleasant anonymous feedback is to become defensive. But once we realise that our reactions to such feedback is the first thing preventing change, we can hopefully overcome this initial reaction and try to use the feedback to mould our responses.

Again, if the feedback is just a set of gaalis, then it is just a waste of time to even think about it... hard though it may be. Well, I guess I am a die-hard optimist anyway and believe that there are positive things to be gained from every experience. This feedback idea is a novel one as far as I am concerned, at least in terms of its implementation. Whether this will stand the test of time, however, remains to be seen.

Sitan

500 Hits...Oops No! Make that 600

I planned to write an entry marking the 500th visitor to my blog, but then the hit rate seems to have gone up quite a bit over the past few days. So, I am forced to write a commemorative blog on the 600th visit to my corner in the web...

To the reader who has endured my random mumblings over the past few months, I can only say: "Wow! You have got some patience :-D"

This habit of mine started in quite an inconspicuous way, soon after I entered the Hell Hole, otherwise known as IIMA (Make no mistake, however: all references to Hell are only related to academics and the rat race for grades...But in all other ways, you will not get a better place to spend two years of your life).

What started as a hobby in the first term became a sort of passion in the relatively chill second term. Then, even when the supposedly nightmarish third term started, I could not let this habit go... It offered me a strange sense of peace. Maybe it was because I was always attracted to the English language and writing seemed to be a sort of outlet for my emotions. I never had the habit of writing a diary. But then, things change when you are in your room all the time and the only thing you get to know really well is the computer monitor. This blog then became my outlet - a vent to my frustrations, a place where I could share my happiness, my thoughts on life and its foibles in general and on life at IIMA in particular. It still continues to serve that purpose...

This blog has caused me to introspect quite a bit. And the lessons I have had to learn have been very valuable. Generally, I find that this place teaches to strike a balance between the various priorities that we generally tend to have in place all at the same time. There was a time in the first term where I thought I would not have any time at all apart from mugging. But as time progressed I realised that I was spending my time invisibly in many ways which could be controlled. That is when I realised that we all have the time for doing all the things we consider important. Later on in life, we will also find that we have to strike a balance between work and personal life. This is where the pressure put upon us by the institute comes in really handy. All I can say is, I am glad I came here.

I have also become a big fan of Sidin's blog ever since I came here. I was inspired by it. I even had grandiose plans of making my blogs as delightfully witty as his. However, after a series of botched attempts at creative witticisms, I decided to stick to my (rather ordinary) style of writing. Another lesson learnt... Never try to imitate others. Be what you are and people will appreciate you (read my blog, in my case :-D)

Anyways, this blog also made me realise that I would be happiest doing the things that I like. It doesn't matter what other people think of me. So, I'll keep blogging, like it or not.

Finally, to the persistent reader, this is my message:
"Read on, O ye reader, for thou art getting an insight into my soul"

(And even if the reader decideth that there art more worthwhile things to do in this world (as surely there must be :-)), I'll keep blogging away in my corner of the web...

Cheers
Sitan

Three Cheers for Ajay Pandey!!!

Our Finance Professor from the second term is back to teach us again... he is THE BEST professor that I have ever had in a finance/ accounts related area. Whatever be the area he teaches, he manages to throw some useful insights and conceptually relate whatever has been taught so far to the current discussion.

Finance was always my favourite subject even at the CA level. Now it has become more so, thanks to the professor. I am not alone in this feeling either. Most of my classmates feel that way... Prof Pandey has a huge fan following (including many members of the fairer sex :-)).

Another thing I realised today was that I waste inordinate amounts of time. Take this blog for instance. What I could probably type out in 5-7 minutes takes me a full 20 minutes because I am not able to organize and put down my thoughts lucidly. It is an immensely painful experience. One may think, 'What is the big deal with 10 minutes ?' . (At least that is what I do :-)). But then it is these small intervals of 5-10 mins each that really eat up your time...It is actually waste your day one minute at a time...How do I discipline myself to cut out the distractions and focus on my work? That is the challenge I set myself now...

Gotta Go
Sitan

The Joys of Slumber

Third term has begun here at IIMA. This is supposed to be the toughest term in the first year. And believe me, when they say it is tough, they mean it! We have loads and loads of work this time and hardly any holidays worth the name. Even the public holidays are compensated by classes on saturdays...

I had a whale of a time in the term break. The first thing I did on the exams getting completed was to get as much sleep as possible...Ahhhhhhhh! The joys of slumber! The exquisite sweetness of a refreshing sleep is not matched by too many pleasures in life :-) It was a treat to be able to get up totally refreshed in the morning and read the papers at my own leisure instead of hurrying through my activities like an automaton. But then, too much of sleep too becomes boring after sometime. What is really needed is a nice balance of work and sleep. Sleeplessness for a while is fine (especially if there is some important work to be done). Foregoing sleep is really worthwhile only if you get some overwhelming reward for doing so (and don't mistake me - a feeling of achievement is also a good enough reward; I am not talking about monetary rewards alone - in fact I don't think money is worth losing sleep over )

The thing with sleep is that you tend to crave more of it, the more you get when you have a sleep debt. At that point of time, it does not really refresh you. Quite puzzling in fact. I would have thought it would be good to grab whatever snatches of sleep you could when you are sleep deprived. Doesnt work that way though... Sometimes it makes more sense to keep that sleep debt at bay...

It is a very confusing thing actually. But I guess in a place like IIMA, there has to be some sort of compromising on sleep if you are to get your job done. The balance between the additional work done and the reduction in sleep is the tough thing though ...

Sitan

Nothing to write about...

This blogging habit of mine has become a fairly addictive thing over the past few days. I want to keep writing on it even if there is nothing worthwhile to mention. Now, going over the last couple of posts I find that there is that 'spark' lacking in the posts. Eek! If it is like this to write an ordinary blog and sustain the interest of the reader (myself in this case :-)) , imagine what it would be like for an advertiser whose bread and butter is made by sustaining the interest of the target customers (who are nowhere as kind as I am while evaluating my own literary efforts :-)).

That has led me to decide that I will update my blog only if I really find some meaty stuff to write on. (Oh, I am a vegetarian, by the way... the 'meat' allusion was just a figurative one). So why am I blogging now? Actually, I am feeling wide awake even at 3.30 am in the morning today and don't really know what to do!

Come to think of it, I think my next post will be on sleep, its aftereffects and side effects...
More stuff is just around the corner...

Sitan

Loneliness...

The second year students broke for their term breaks around one week back (they get 3 weeks holidays between the fifth and sixth terms!). The dorms generally wear a deserted look without them around. It is almost as if the place is devoid of life. There is no music constantly blaring out, no shouts of "Muggo, Fachhon, Muggo!" ... and so on. We do not realise the value of all these things when they are there but feel bad when they are not present. The pervasive feeling is that we can't wait for them to come back. The presence of the 2's does a lot to bring "spirit"(no pun intended :-)) into the dorms, which we all miss sorely.
All we facchas get to do is to attend a few company talks and mug on as usual. Btw, there was this BCG talk on strategy on Sunday. It was very interesting indeed and threw some useful insights into what a consultant really does.
The thing that impressed me most during that talk was the definition of strategy one guy gave us. He said strategy is all about making hard choices in order to get the best out of the available resources. I then realised that it was what I have been missing all my life. Everyone needs to make hard choices if they have to reach the top. Naturally, it is a painful process. But running away from unpleasant decisions will only delay the inevitable. The "winners" are the ones who can take the challenge head on and be decisive. More important is the commitment to the decision once it is made. Once these two things are there in place, a formula for success is already brewing. Add to it a recipe of grace from God's Hand and voila! Nothing can prevent one from going to the very top...
This musing seems slightly philosophical to me, but then I am coming face-to-face with myself while writing this blog. I know that I have not been required to make the kind of tough decisions, many of my batchmates have had to do so far. I have generally enjoyed the best of many worlds, with my parents always ready to provide me the support I needed. But now, if I have to go out into the real world, I have to develop the skill of explicitly making hard choices . Even as I write, I am making a choice of what I want to do with my time at IIMA and the choice I am making, I feel, is helping me see things in black and white.

This blog somehow resembles a diary of sorts, where I can really let myself go... I think it is good for me. Let's see what I do from now on...

Sitan

Stable Change

I am not referring to horse stables in my heading :-)
I was prompted to log in after i finished filling up my TAS application form for the Summer recruitment process.
I really am at a loss to understand why companies insist on us filling out these long painful forms that apparently seem to serve no purpose other than make for good creative fiction writing...
But then, maybe it is intended to cultivate patience in our minds, a good characteristic of managers. Maybe I will look back at this experience and say it was all for the best, but then, maybe not :)
I am editing this post ages after I actually created it. Now I am absolutely determined to publish it!

Logging off for now
Sitan aka Rangarajan