Why so serious ?

We were counselled by 'wise' people to shun any shortcuts to graduation and insist on engineering/medical. Commerce/Arts were regarded as liabilities on our career path, with a sole purpose to qualify us as graduates. Never had I thought that blind pursuit of common judgement will make me see such a day. A day, when engineers are unwanted. A day, where any association with A(Arts), B(Business) or C(Commerce) word will make you a preferred choice.

The summer of Twenty10 is a witness of such mishaps(perhaps). The subprime crisis will change the world so drastically was unexpected. Time is a great leveller I think. Every stream must get its due importance and it was high time when the mirage of Engineering was discovered. Theoretical knowledge, myriad of students and shortage of practical skills sum up the inadequacies and hence, the increasing unpopularity of engineering courses. At many private colleges, students do not get enough exposure and are literally studying there to buy a degree.

What more, the unstructured and least interactive teaching methodology ensures dearth of sound communication skills. Students are engaged in conceptual understanding most of the time, so the brain thinks most of the time before they speak. The aahs and umms prevail over smooth speech delivery. Hardly anybody address a sizeable audience. In future, if any such opportunity arises the mind is confused.

Infact, faculties do discourage students from interacting and gaining insights into the interpersonal dimensions. They feel that they are helping the students by encouraging self-monitoring and discipline. Students develop a peculiar work habit during the four years and in turn, become opaque to the new experiences. They feel odd when confronted by any deviations from the perceived correct approaches. They are not receptive to the idea and potential of a group discussion. How can a person, who has formed a tiring and difficult approach, search for an agreed upon solution in 10 minutes.

Problems in management do not involve formulas only. They also involve resources, constraints and time. This becomes an unprecedented scenario for our Engineering guys. They struggle to collaborate and synergise with others. Moreover, they are not sure whether others will reciprocate to their thought processes, which are rather different.

I did study about 'Change Management'. Certainly, we can follow certain practices to bring about a change in ourselves. Reading articles profusely, interacting with people meaningfully will help. Creating a good base of diversified knowledge and nurturing the same will enhance our chances in GD.

Engineering guys, known to be hard workers and good analysts, can accomplish any challenge. It's only time which has to give some chance so that we can prove ourselves.

Celebration of Divine Mother

Autumn is usually marked with nip in the air in mornings. It also marks the beginning of "shubh navratri " ( Sanskrit of Nine Nights). Also Popular as Sharad Navratri or Maha Navratri, these are the 9 days of paying tribute to the divine feminine power . After a long impasse in summers, navratri starts the Festive season in india, follwed by dussehera and Diwali.

Although there are many ancedote in hindu mythology, the most popular is the "mahishahur-mardini " incarnation of Goddess Shakti. Mahishasur was a powerful demon and had taken control of whole world. After caputuring earth , he went on to capture "swarg". All gods led by their king "indra" approached Lord Vishnu and prayed for their lives. Hearing their plight, lord vishnu , lord shiva and lord brahma combined their power to incarnate the divine "shakti " , creator, nourisher and protector of whole universe. They blessed her with their special powers and weapons. After that goddess durga , took the battlefield against mahishasur riding on lion. A fierce battle commenced , and finally mahishasur was given salvation by devi durga.

Even today, people keep the idols of mahishaur mardini in pandals for 9 days. Every day, aarti and yagnas are performed, and with devotional songs and dances , the complete atmosphere becomes " Bhakitmay ". The event is , particlaurly, popular in Bengali community, who perform "pujo" in the last 3 days. In fact Durga pooja is their biggest festival. In other parts of country also , the festival is celebrated with devotion and enthusiasm. People keep fast , children relish on good food and festive atmosphere. Garba and Dandiya are the flavour of gujrat during this period. In north , morning yagna and aarti is a common phenomenon.

The 9 days of navratri are clubbed into 3 groups . First 3 days are dedicated to Goddess Durga (Shakti ) which symbolises destruction. It is believed that in these 3 days, we destroy our bad qualities and vices and purify ourselves. Next 3 days are dedicated to "lakshmi". goddess of wealth and prosperity. Wealth is a vital ingredient bestowed upon us for maintenance and for progress in our life. It is much more that just having money. It means abundance in skills and talents also.Lakshmi is a energy that manifests as the complete spritual and material well-being of a person. The Final 3 days are dedicated to "saraswati" ,the goddess of Knowledge.She gives the essence of self realization. After the purification and wealth , it signifies the importance of knowledge which is essential to maximize the benefits of other 2 virtues.

Navaratri is the time to appreciate inner and outer beauty. It is a time when we show our grattitude to divine mother for all her love and care. These days are considered to be very auspicious and are recommended for starting any new work. May goddess durga bring happiness and prosperity in your lives. Happy Navaratri to all.

Rishabh -> Lehman -> Prashant

Cut to the year 2006. Rishabh was preparing for the CAT-2006 aggressively. He had enrolled for coaching classes where he went to imbibe 'gyan' in weekends. During weekdays, he would attend B.Tech. classes and surreptitiously solve AIMCAT questions hiding them in the textbook. After reaching his hostel room, he would waste no time in quickly resuming his English improvement strategy implementation. He would read novels, ET etc. till he finish his quota for the day.

Prashant, Rishabh's neighbour, had a habit of observing his friends. Both of them were offered a decent job, going by the standards of the institute. The fact that 85 students were offered the same job didn't make him feel special. Prashant had started to appear lethargic and listless. In search of a new goal, he thought it would be good idea to try for better prospects. He went to Rishabh and asked him about the future after CAT.

Rishabh was upbeat about it and estimated a 10-15 lakhs job if he gets into any of the top 20 B-schools. It was a realistic assumption, citing the past placement records. What extraordinary has Prashant achieved if he joins the company doling out a meagre 2.5 lakhs annually. He deserves more, he has the ability. He thinks so, and evidently starts preparing.

Two years pass and Prashant is busy pruning verbal ability. Its September 16, 2008. Prashant wakes up early morning and collects newspaper to peruse the headlines. He reads about a legend, a behemoth, going bankrupt. He rubs his eyes and drinks a glass of water. Given that he had opted to live in a single accomodation and was vacillating between job and study, this was a miserable news. Suddenly, his efforts to crack CAT look futile. Days passed and i-banks were falling like a pack of cards.

Prashant called Rishabh, who was in the second year of PGDM(Finance) at (guess!). Rishabh confirmed that situation wasn't well for Finance guys. But, there was a hope....hope of a change....the change we can believe in (borrowed from B.O.). But the change was not imminent too soon. Rishabh struggled to get himself any job offer. Prashant was audacious enough to leave the work and join the same college; same stream where his idol, Rishabh studied.

Facets of Human Beings

There are many things in a b-school , which you do at a time, which may seem abnormal to most of the people ,and they often tend to bring unusual results. One of them , is going to canteen for having tea at 3:00 AM. But, this tea is special, because along with it, you usually find one or another of your friend roaming around and while you came for tea , you end up doing lot many things.

Similar story is followed today , when i went to canteen with a friend and find 2-3 more roaming there. Since, tomorrow is sunday , a holiday, people were very relaxed , the most i have seen them after coming to IMT. Soon, we found ourselves discussing over plethora of topics. Started from summers ( the buzz word around the campus!! ) our discusson ventured into various areas.

One thing on which most of us agreed was the level of artificiality in the college. Most of us encounter people who tend to behave in a very artificial manner. The style of talking , the body language , infact you can instinctively identify this phenomena. Then , we tried to find out the cause for it. The primary reason we found out is "competetion" ( The most cliched word in the B-School Lexicon ). The blind comptetion, increases the opaqueness between people, because they do not trust each other. Nobody wants to speak his heart out, nobody wants to discuss about their plans. In conversation , people let their brain dominate their heart. Everybody wants to be politically correct, although internal feelings may be exact opposite to that.

Some argued that this is common among all B-Schools.People here are professionals. There is little, if any place, for emotional attachment. Everybody looks for his/her benefit and other things come after that. They laid stress on again a "cliched word" Networking. They argued that talk to people , incerase your network, so that you can use for your advantage in future.

Some how, i do not subscribe to their view. If human beings were computer , then we could have simply connected wires to make networks. But we are much more complex than computers . As our HR prof use to say, science has taken all the easy problems leaving the complex ones for the behavioral studies. According to me , a person should be genuine in whatever he/she do. Faking can give you the initial edge, but in the long run you would be whatever you are. The key for this is to accept the imperfectness in us. We should never try to become perfect, because its the imperfectness which teaches us lot in our life. We may loose a few things in being genuine, but we do not have to carry the burden of 2 or may be 3 facets of our life.

Being a CR , i am lucky to interact with almost everyone in the class. There are all types of people. Some are your close friends , some you know, some which gives you smile and acknolwedge you when the see you ,and also some who behave in a way such that you did not existed at all. The catch is that this is not what they are from beginning. They started in some category and ended in another. Some people who talked with you normally in the beginning , suddenly changed their behaviour after being a member of some "elite" groups. They give an impression that they do not care about other people in their class only.

Once i was sitting at the first desk, and a group was giving presentation, suddenly a girl quipped, who is he ?? is he in our class?? May be the lack of knowledge may be overlooked , but the attitude cant be. Even if she does not know, what's the point of shouting. Thing is that, people take pride in it , showing themselves elite.

There are some people, which hardly says 'hi' when seeing . You will almost remain unnoticed. Yet , at 2:30's and 3:30's in night, you would be aksed syllabus, class timings, quiz timings and all. May be this is the way the things are supposed to be ,may be i am too naive to understand it, but this is not what i was brought up with. Somebody told me , very early in my life, the cheapest thing which you can give to someone is smile, somehow it seems to be the most costly in the contemporary times.

I do not want to point out some one , or say something malicious about someone. The only thing which i want to say is that life is simple, respect its simplicity. We are in habit of complicationg our lives. Listen to your brain, but also give a thought to what your heart says. Competetion may be high, stakes may be high , but its people which matter and not things . Just remember , happiness does not come with achieving it comes with helping other people achieve it.

Can implementing an idea change our life ?

I believe that Global warming is not a farce. There is research involved in what I think. I have observed this year’s maximum and minimum temperatures till date based on their deviation from normal. They were commonly 3-4 degrees above normal most of the days for major number of cities. Rainy season beckoned and so the expectation of rains arose. But to dismay of many farmers the rain gods refuse to shower their blessings. Farming has been affected and it may tighten the supply of food grains. Winter last season was hardly a case for pullovers. The minimum temperature at Delhi was 8 deg. Celsius, which is quite high as compared with earlier climate trends.

High volumes of toxic gases are pervading throughout the atmosphere. These gases are effused by automobiles and factories. The gases react with ozone layer higher up in the atmosphere and cause it to deplete. The ozone layer performs an important function of absorbing Sun’s harmful U-V rays. So the depletion causes more heat to reach the surface of the earth. Thus the observations can be concluded.

Automobiles cannot be decimated, neither can the factories producing equipments by using electricity. Transportation is a business enabler for efficient trade and tariff. Also it is an unavoidable means for people now. We are dependent on electricity just like heartbeat.

How to tackle the impending doom? Its surely a case to research and implement new less polluting technologies, but that’s already in process and may take some time. Think of replacing old systems in India and you will realize how difficult it is! The safety measures have to be prohibitive.

Plants. We all love them. We want to have them near us. Whenever we stroll for a morning walk or a casual conversation with our friend(s), we are fascinated by the divine environment surrounding us. What’s so special about them?

Plants emit oxygen. They absorb Carbon dioxide. Thus we need more plants. Trees are a larger sink for Carbon dioxide, but they cannot be afforded by public in general.

model:

As an indispensable measure to counter global warming, the government must force plantation of more trees. Green belt area should be increased and afforestation should be the focus. But, its easier said than done. With a huge population to suffice, there is huge pressure to utilize scarce resources. The globalization is waiting to sweep forests in some areas and convert them into land of factories and industries.

Thus the onus lies on WE, THE PEOPLE. My mind twinkles to exclude lower strata of society. But, going by their dominant number, they need to be approached. Buying plants is not a feasible proposition to them. If the rates are subsidized, they can think twice. Middle income group hopefully has some plants around their home. They need to show more enthusiasm. Suppose a firm sell plants. It has a distribution network across India. You call them and ask which plant is a highest absorber of Carbon dioxide! They reply and then you place the order for five such plants and within one day, the plant is in your garden.

B-plan ?

Where is the business in it ? Who will buy plants ? Who will sell plants to earn profits ? These questions can be answered positively by each one of us. We have to be prescient, proactive and precocious. We all know the concept of insurance. Its purpose is to provide benefits at later stages of life. What I am trying to portray here is the earth is increasingly becoming incapable of sustaining pollution. We need to heal it. We can’t stop the processes festering the environment, but we can medicate to prolong the resistance. More the plants, quicker will be the healing.

It’s all about keeping your mind open and realizing the inevitable future. This B-plan is entirely dependent on people’s propensity to buy future for themselves and their children. I know, people will say this is a killing of marketing. Don’t jump to conclusions. This idea is hinged on the efficacy of social marketing.

People must be imparted knowledge about the environment and the urgency of an action. Various NGOs are already there but they don’t cover a sizable audience. A better path will be government intervention and formulation of policy assisting people buying plants. For example, a tax rebate if the person has bought 25 plants/year. As explained earlier, there can be subsidy on buying plants for lower income group.

Ideas breed action. Lets think and discuss if we can take forward this idea and bring about a change. The change we want, the change which will ensure Earth a 'cool' life!

A LONG WAIT (Third In Line Of My Originals....)

It had been a long day and at the end of it Rishi was sitting on the sea beach with a bottle of vodka and a Pink Floyd number playing on his I-Pod, his Armani jacket carelessly flung beside him. He felt a mix of emotions, probably due to the vodka, sweeping him as he sat on the beach with the moon and a couple of stars looking down at him from a sky filled with clouds. He had a nice education behind him, a nice job that paid well, a nice set of wheels and good looks. In short, everything a man could possible hope for by the time he was 26. But Rishi felt hollow, a sense of despair creeping inside him as if something somehow was not right. After the last couple of swigs, Rishi got up, threw the bottle into the blue sea and searched for his car-keys. Something told him to walk home tonight although it was not typical of Rishi to commute walking. He lit a Marlboro and started walking on the sand. The dim glow of his watch showed the time to be five minutes to midnight. He had walked no more than a couple of hundred meters when he saw what appeared to be the silhouette of a woman’s figure sitting on the beach. Long hair locks dancing to the rhythm of the cool sea breeze and the soft glow of moonlight on the woman’s face stopped Rishi in his tracks. Somehow he felt attracted to the woman. He felt as if he knew her since a long time. Rishi stepped on the stub of the Marlboro and lit it out, searched his pockets for a mint lozenge, found one, popped it into his mouth and slowly walked towards the woman. The woman was facing the sea and appeared to be lost in her own thoughts. Rishi went up to her and said “Hi, Myself Rishi. I am sorry but I don’t think it is safe to be sitting here on the sea beach so late in the night. May I help you in any way if you are in some trouble by any chance?” The woman looked up. She was beautiful with almost angelic facial features. She smiled. Rishi smiled back. She said, “Hi Rohan.” Rishi replied, “I am sorry, I am Rishi. Would you like any sort of help from me?” The woman said again, “Hi Rohan. Don’t you recognise me? I am Radha. I wonder how you could forget me.” Rishi did not know what to say. He just stood staring. Radha got up and hugged Rishi. Rishi still did not know how to react. Radha went on “I love you Rohan. Thank God I found you. I am never going to let you leave me again.” Saying this she took his hand and kissed it. “Let’s go dear. I had been waiting for this day since ages.” Rishi said, “Madam, now you are starting to freak me out. Can I please ask for an explanation?” He could almost instantly feel the sorrow in Radha’s eyes. Radha said, “Sit down Rohan and let me explain” and started with her story.” Rishi sat listening rapt in attention. Radha continued. “I was a teen when I met you Rohan. We were in love. Madly in love. I had just completed high school and you were in college. After both of us graduated, you went on for a masters’ degree while I waited for you to complete your education. We married after you completed your studies. We had a happy life. We were contented. Two years after our marriage, we also had a son, Rohit by name. We had everything we could expect from life. But God probably had something else in store for both of us. Maybe God tests the patience of people who He thinks can pass His stringent tests. You were killed in a car accident when Rohit was just a toddler. I was inconsolable. I was broken, almost on the verge of committing suicide. But I could not do so only because Rohit was a toddler then and he would have been orphaned had I taken such a drastic step. I had to make a man out of him. Raising him was “our” dream and I could not have let go of any dream that was dear to you. I had to live for you. For us. For our dream. My parents forced me to marry a number of times since I was only twenty five summers old when you left me. But I could not marry anyone else Rohan. I was all yours in heart, soul and body. I could not have married someone else and ruined his life. I decided to raise Rohit on my own. Without any support. Without any help. . I took a job and arranged for all the care I could provide Rohit. I sent him to the best school in town, gave him the best of facilities. I never let him feel your absence and I worked really hard for it. Rohit was a bright student. He graduated and then went on for a masters’ degree. But all the while, your absence hurt me. It killed me from the inside. I was lonely without you. I missed your support, your tenderness, your care and your love. The only thing that kept me going was our dream. A dream that both of us had seen together. I had to fulfil that. It became the sole purpose of my life. I waited for the day Rohit would settle down in his life. I had missed you in all the important occasions, the day Rohit had won his first award for topping his class in the school, the day Rohit won a national level Olympiad, the day Rohit graduated, the day Rohit he got admitted into the masters’ degree in the best college of the country. He looked very handsome in his graduation robe Rohan. He looked just like you did when you had graduated. I was very glad that I could make him the man we had always dreamt of making him. I had missed you on all the important occasions of life. Every moment of my existence had become a pain, a slow death. But I had to go on for us. I could not quit mid way. I cried in front of your photo for hours the day Rohit brought his lady-love home to see me. I missed you a lot that day. Rohit settled down in a good job after his studies. I was happy that I had finally succeeded. I made all the arrangements for his marriage, saw to it that the proceedings went on smoothly, saw the happiness in his eyes when he was getting married, blessed the newly married couple and then peacefully waited for meeting the love of my life. I was ecstatic with joy. I had finally been able to successfully fulfil our dream. The only thing that I could do now was to be together with you. I had missed you and your love for 26 years and I had decided not waste any more time without you. I needed you. I wanted the togetherness I had missed for so many years. I wanted to be happy after all these years of patience. I ended my life Rohan. Sleeping pills, lots of them and they worked. I died peacefully in my sleep. It did not hurt at all. I was 51 and had made Rohit a successful young man. I was sitting here waiting for you, my love, in the same state of my life that you had left me in. I love you Rohan.” Rishi sat quietly, lit another Marlboro and kept on smoking.