Enchanting Glorious Uncertainties

India may have won the first T20 world cup... they might had come close to lifting the ICC World cup in 2003.. but still the form i always liked more to watch was the longer version.. which they call a "real test". In the earlier days of my upbringing , there was no cable connection in the house.. so i used to watch the highlight packages or video snippets in news. Although i was too young when tendulkar sizzled in perth, i recall hearing the heroics of sourav ganguly in first 2 tests. Finally, the first series which i watched live was Ind-SA Test series in 1996. Alas! that was the complete blunder for the team India. I still recalled india bundling out for 100 and 66... and first time i saw the helplessness of indians on a bouncing deck.


Later in the ganguly era, some respect was restored, but still we were not able to dictat the terms on foreign soil , moreover so in south africa which remained a bogey-land for team india. So this team when the team crossed the pacific ocean, everyone was nervous, how would they perform, can they justify there no 1 tag, which is challenged brashly by their counterparts. They almost do a dis-service to their fans when surrendering meekly in centurion. Although little master added yet another milestone to his already glorified CV.. still it was a rout, to say the least.


Boxing day, as the next day after christmas is referred to, generally marks the last test of the calendar year. This time there were 2 tests. One where Australia was finding their gears to stage a comeback in Ashes.. and another in kigsmead durban , where south africa is going gaga over the plantation they have made on the playing surface.


But this indian team is known for turnarounds. Earlier they win the first match to lose the advantage in further outings. This team knows to bounce back , and to their believers they have done the impossibles this year. In SL, VVS Laxman played an incredible knock to secure a drawn series when the chips were down.. and then in mohali, he even surpassed his legend. If my heart needs the check-up for its cardiac health that match has certainly provided it. I remember being glued to the TV set. Every run scored by VVS was like gold-dust. Again the kid was back in me. Again i was shouting,yelling and dancing as if the on-field players are looking at me.


As the story goes, my mom used to told me that while watching a Ind-NZ test match in my younger days (mind you those matches started at 3 AM).. i used to shout a lot.. doubting my neighbors of a burglary in my house. And that day my mom told me that i was almost repeating my performance of the younger days.


So why this all now.. because once again my favorite format is back, once again batters are facing music.. once again bowlers looks like tanks on mission.. once again VVS showed why he is dreaded in opposition dressing room, and once again i am shouting, screaming , praying, dancing. I forgot i am 25 years old.. i forgot my examinations are going on.. its test cricket at its best baby... you better remember it.


P.S. Keiron Pollards and Dwayne Bravos of world may get unbelievable auctions in IPL, VVS is priceless, damn you lalit modi.. you put a knight among the pawns of T-20 circus.

Take Only as Much as Your Hands Can.

I always find this very interesting why people keep cribbing about why cant get this why they cant get that, but he always gets everything and I dont. I try so much I do this and that but I always fail whereas he suceeds with minimal effort or maybe this way why do I always get all the problem and so on. Tell u what it does work out this way. Perhaps this world runs on the very famous Saytzeff's rule, which says "The rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer". Maybe a kind of inertia develops around you, that whatever the situation builds i.e the envionment, you tend to assume it as reality.

Significance of Saytzeff's Rule
Lets put it this way: you are caught in a situation that is unfavourable to you, you try and try to come out of it but you lose. Now this will become a perception as reality. You may not be , but you assume yourself to be one. The dissonance between your desire and what you deserve develops and that is the beginning of all the problem. I think someone said it right that "There is enough of resources in this world to satisfy your need but not the greed". This may sound too vague here. But as you see when you are down and you feel small the whole world looks large. Whatever you get you want more and more. And it turn it causes further resentment. You tend to get further dejected for you dont get what you wanted. And no wonder you further loose your morale and you cant see opportunities coming your way but the problems you do. Now if the sucess comes your way, it comes too bulky for you as you were too small till then. It is obvious you get knocked off your anchor because it is too much for you. And you feel like cloud nine. But as i said, it is surplus for you. Consequently some is taken away from you. And once again a big opportunity looks like gone with the wind as you see what you have gained turns out to be too small in front of others. You feel like you keep loosing all the time.
Now take the case of a man who keeps winning. He is high on morale and feels like sky is his limit. So whatever sucess comes his way it seems small to him. He could take it all with pleasure and still be anchored. No wonder he loses nothing. Even if he has to lose something it doesn't seem big to him. Hence it looks like he keeps winning always. For all that he pays is negligible campared to what he has.
Hence proves that happy man always suceeds and loser always loses.

You are what you believe
Actually it all depend on what you believe about yourself. A lot depends on your will actually. If you believe you can make it, sure you can. Its like if you want to be treated like a king act like one. And what does that mean?? If you get something react how a king would react i.e act with dignity and always carry your self-esteem. Keep recalling you deserve it and so you got it. Never loose your feet and get excited if something comes your way. Cause it is then that it gets nullified by another force. If you want to relish your success to the full you have to have either two things:

1. You should have bigger hands to grasp it. Or in other words the reach of yours should be higher than what you get. E.g. Keep your heads high. Carry yourself well. Which is very typical of saying be a king.
2. You should make that success look smaller i.e give the value to it lesser than you give to you. It is a basic principle of life. Whatever we get in abundance is valued lesser while the one we get once in blue moon has higher value and it holds in every case of life. Consequently the corollary also hold quite often. If you value less you will get more.

Opportunities are like a wave. They come in bulk. Spread your hands as far as you can. but keep yourself well grounded so as to make sure you don't loose yourself or blown with it. Even if you want to sail with it, know where you are heading. Those who can take more will get more. So cribbing about why you dont get while other get is quite baseless for the answer is in your structure which is created by you and it is you yourself who has to blame for it. Always remember, you can take only as much as your hands can accommodate. The others you have to leave them behind.

To Pratigya, with love

She's not my girlfriend, nor is it one sided love. Pratigya is the mother of five children - Neev, Swashakti, Swatchatha, Jagruti and Suraksha.

These babies are created with planning and capital during incubation. Supplement it with contents, targets, service by volunteers and other important stakeholders - babies were born on 13th November 2010.

I am talking about seeding the idea when the foundation is conceptualized, nourishing it to grow healthy and then monitoring it till it matures.

Pratigya is a social initiative taken by one of the premier B-schools in India ( and one of the fastest growing B-school in the world! ) I am talking about IMT Ghaziabad.

Neev is what it name means; foundation. Establish a base for right education of the less privileged child. A team of students proceeded to nearby schools and interacted with students of class-IV and class-V. During the visit, they found out that the basic level of understanding was quite sub standard. Apart from study, there was little to look out for these children. There is a plan to nourish their future in sports and studies by providing them with the infrastructure and training at a better frequency.

Swashakti is targeted to encourage women entrepreneurship in groups. Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) joined hands with volunteers to manage a women group in preparing delicious pickles and market them. Similar activities have been managed by MADF (Make A Difference Foundation) where female inmates of Dasna jail prepare fancy candles and diyas for Diwali decorations.

Swatchatha is a cleanliness drive which was carried out at places like India Gate and Nehru Place in Delhi. It was an effort to sensitize people about an individual's responsibility to the area he lives in. Students recognized the thankless job of the cleaning staff by felicitating them.

Suraksha was all about spreading awareness about traffic rules and reminding busy commuters about little precautions we tend to forget. Students holding placards utilized the red lights at major chowks in Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad to spread the word. Some even pointed out to the car owners to fasten their seatbelts.

Jagruti was the campaign in Central mall at Gurgaon, Pacific Mall at Ghaziabad and another one at Noida. It's agenda was to highlight the issue of corruption in our professional lives and reiterate some energy conservation tips.

Do we need god !!

Things were going at their usual place, people were looking for opportunities of growth and financial stability, when suddenly a genie ( or you can say ghost) of early 1990s came out of the bottle. I am witnessing this game of cat and mouse over the Ayodhya Issue verdict since last fortnight, and it really pissed me off literally. It is usually said that justice delayed is justice denied.. in some case it is even injustice. It seemed like government was hell bent on having a verdict when nobody else want it or even care for it. And this gave rise to the question.. Do we need Mandir or Masjid.. do we need the verdict.. or more fundamentally do we need a god at all !!!!..
Now I know many of you would think that I had gone crazy, and as a student of management I should do some kind of research to validate my hypothesis. So to claim whether we need god or not.. i first wanna know whether what is god ? .. so here are some of the replies which I got ..
God is a belief, we believe in god
If you ask a teenager, what did he believe in… he would definitely say that he believes in the power of expression. He can have the jeans he like, he can vouch for the bike he likes, he can choose his career and work towards it.. They say money is bad.. at least it does not discriminate between the people of flesh and blood.. money do not ask for the caste and religion of the hand holding it. So what do we really believe in.. if we have the will.. we have the resources.. there are enough choices available for us to make our lives better… do we believe in god to take our decisions.. do we believe in god to deliver our message 1000 Km away from one location to another. So, if god is a belief… where does it exist ?

God is fear, it controls people
Again it needed a bit of survey and things started pouring in. The things people are worried of is about their cell phone getting switched off rather than some god in the heaven being angry upon them. With science to our aid, we can almost predict and control all of the parameters in this world. So, who is the controlling force, its we.. so why should we afraid of some supernatural power.. who doesn’t even care what the hell their followers are going upon.

God is the unifying force
On this account I agree to a point, but then again examples are not in abundance in front of us. Let us take mobile itself, you get a camera, a Bluetooth, voice transmission, video transmission and data transmission on single platform, its like convergence of all the technologies, and we say all religions take us to one path !!!.. so who should be god here !!!!!

Well I know that there are no comfortable answers but there are no comfortable questions either. Whether it would be a temple or a mosque , how will it affect the people, they continue to earn the same, they continue to live the same life.. only impact could the negative disruption of their lives…
It is right to correct the wrongs of the past… but in order to do so.. we should also remember two wrongs will never make a right..

4 Reasons not to Watch Peepli Live

I usually have very high expectations from an Aamir Khan's Flick, which was further reinforced by movies like TZP and 3 idiots, but peepli live to say the least has been disappointing. Here are some of reasons which i found quite bizzare in movie :

• Is it Satire?
  

Well while seeing the promos of the movie, i got the feeling that the movie would be a satire on the plight of the farmers, who are so helpless that they are left with no other option than taking their own lives .Treatment of the movie was certainly not in line with that. Yes, the situation can be shown in a humorous way, but then director should have cared about a thin line between the fun and the message he want to convey by the movie. Suicide by farmers are a serious issue, and in the movie it was ridiculed more or so as a resort of extracting money from the government. They can take a leaf out of the book from "Munnabhai MBBS" which had a very delicate balance of emotional and comedy scenes. In this movie, there is hardly a poignant scene at which you feel moved.

• Media as a Joker

Alright , we have several movies depicting the act of media as a bunch of paid jokers. If my memory serves right " phir bhi dil hai hindustani" was based on the sensationalism of media, and there are few other movies too. More than that, we in our daily lives , experience this hoopla for media. So, apart from 15 minutes of entertainment, there was nothing more in the media circus shown in the movie. Media is the fourth altar of democracy, and there were instances where media had played its role in a very responsible way. It could have been much better if media had been depicted as a responsible agent. May be it has served as a model for the prevalent media in the country

• Acting by 'Natha'

Despite all the hype by Natha, the acting was sub-standard. The expressions were not there, body language was not apt. In place of looking as a despised farmer, he looked like a minor caught in a soup. At this moment , i can hardly recollect any substantial Dialogue by him. Most of the dialogues are given to Raghubir Yadav, who no doubt is a good actor, but then it became an overkill. I sincerely believe that much work could had been done on his character.

• Abuses in the Movie

okk, i agree to the point that this type of language is common in villages. But i sincerely believe that, director had been over-enthusiastic in using the flowery language. Words like G***d, Be****d, M*****d galore in the movie. Supposed to be a family entertainment movie, it places lot of people in a very uncomfortable situation. I also found it the tough way, went with my aunt and mom, and constantly had to fix my eyes on screen during the movie to avoid eye contact.

Movie is good, but then its not according to the status we associate with Aamir Khan. He had set the the standards high, and this movie really looks half-cooked. At best an attempt to score over the prevailing issues of ailing farmers and agriculture in the country. In my opinion. this is not worth a movie to watch spending your hard-earned bucks.

Why Facebook ?

Many will detest this note, because it's antithetical to the concept of 'Facebooking'. Status updates and more recently notes have engulfed the interests of all and sundry. My love with facebook started with some desired and strange applications like predictions, lover of the day, friend of the day, ideal job et al. These applications asked some questions and popped the results. Even if there was no connection, I thought I've achieved something. I'm sure same is the case with others. People feel happy if they see something extraordinarily nice about themselves. For me, it was a confidence booster. It's hard to acknowledge though. It also works as a proxy if not enough friends are online and thus keeps us busy.

To increase the networks of friends, Facebook suggests names randomly. Mind which feels hesitation in requesting friendship, thought of loosening the shackles gradually. FB is preferred over Orkut because FB is a broadcast network unlike Orkut which came across as a point to point connection. The more friends you have, the more people you reach out to. Wall updates can be seen on all friends' news board. Orkut implied a concept of scribbling on the other person's scrapbook.

The habit of lingering on this social network is effectuated by the lack of result oriented work and worthy substitutes. I don't know about other B schools, but this one is surely hooked on to FB. People release unique status updates and there you see a series of likes and comments within no time. This brings us to analyze the dearth of student activities which has propelled deviation on to the web world. As common in every B school, student managed clubs and committees are active in the college. But most prefer to ignore them due to reasons best known to them. Academics as usual, attract little attention. Credit must be given to high frequency of exams which resist us to delve deeper into understanding of the subjects. We tend to behave like machines. Input -> Process -> Output with least retention. This is what I feel, respect to those who have managed to learn regularly.

By garnering applauds on writing a witty remark or by creating a thought provoking video/pic; we feel belongingness to the FB world. This world is 'real like' but not real. After all, nothing has replaced the intricacy of analog human interaction. Try executing a project without meeting a single time and you would know. We are still bound to excel using age old methods of convincing naysayers through table discussions and spoken presentations. Hooking on to FB undermines our focus on the what should be the strength of a modern day manager. Plain confidence does not make up for paucity of facts and analysis.

How to use FB to one's advantage ? I've tried few things. During the summer break, games like Scrabble kept me indulged. I hope I've improved my vocabulary to some extent(God knows!). Creating pages and raising support for causes justifies our passion. 'It's my Earth' page was created as part of a contest organized by one of the IIMs. I'd decided to continue with the initiative, though it demanded only one investment - time. Lots of friends have accepted it. Thanks folks! The idea was to change the way our mind thinks about the environment. Believe me, I can't tolerate wastage of electricity now.

Game(s) People Play

Smoke came out from the pistol...sprinters started to run for their lives in a 100 m race with crowd getting behind them...they just got pass the 50m mark... suddenly the race track collapsed... and i saw my cell phone it was 0345 AM in morning ....!!! Thank god... it was a dream..

With so many stories unwinding around the CWG'10.. i am certainly very anxious about it. Do not be surprised if swimmers find algae in the swimming pool, or one of the football just cant arrive to stadium . because of the traffic jam.. most possibly because 2 cars have brushed each other..and the owner of those vehicles decide to settle the matter on the road itself.

Being in NCR for almost 3 years.. one thing i am pretty much sure about.. you can bring CWG to Delhi.. u cant take Delhiite mentality away from here... and believe me for most of the people the brazen social class of Delhi is an unpleasant experience at least in the beginning. Now the news channels are running rhetoric episodes on the dismal state of affairs.. and any tom dick and harry is giving expert comments here. As to put one of my friend's comment " Jisne aaj tak ghar mein shaadi bhi nahi karwayi.. wo bata raha hai ki CWG kaise karane chaiye".

Yes we are very concerned about the image of India.. by the way what is the image of India!!! A developing nation whose stock market is outperforming the rest of world, no matter few 100s of farmers commit suicide every year, or is a nation where people run crusades over Sania marrying Shoaib.. while youths are murdered in the name of honor killing. A nation of billion + people could not manage to create a decent football team... a nation where the gaps between the haves and have-nots is increasing day by day. A country where a chief minister can brazenly defend its communal minister or a state when traveling by a train demands an insurance!!!...

Anyways, we have to protect the image of nation, because various foreigners will visit the country. Its like putting a nice curtain on the door, so that people feel that everything is well and beautiful inside. But the curtain is now started having holes.. where people can peep to see the divide between India and 'Bharat'.

No i am in no way recruited by that psycho 'Mani Shankar Aiyar" who is praying to rain gods to unleash havoc and destruction upon the commonwealth games.. well its almost praying for a death of a person... i seriously wish that games go on smoothly..coz once u had taken up a commitment.. you should follow it tenaciously.. but the buck should not stop here.. these games ought to play a bigger role in developing a sports culture in the country.

P.S. As per Swapnil.. we indians are masters of doing things at the last moment.. so when India wakes up on the inaugural day of CWG... they will see a picture perfect games... Japanese may have invented "JIT".. we will put into rigorous test here

B-School Lexicon

In my 1.25 years of so called "B-School" Life, i observed certain phrases which was like gospels for the people living out here , so this is one of my humble attempt to mention some of those as to pay tribute to this wonderful and innovative B-School Lexicon

1. Bull-Shit : We, the people, in b-school somehow feel that it is more fashionable and kool to swear in english although there are various hindi substitutes available to that. So, one of the most common used word is bull-shit. When i first heard the word, i was a bit amused. Traditionally, in india cow-dung is popular, but why bull-shit is so revered in b-school parlance. Be it teacher, be it students , whenever they have to ridicule something, the first word which comes into mind is "bull-shit". I am seriously thinking of watching a bull shitting carefully, and may be attach a photo for you people also, so that we can demystify the code.

2. Fuckin : If there has to be a word , which is most abused in any language, it has to be this word. The power of this word is awesome. it could be noun, adverb, helping verb and adjective. There is no scenario which cant be explained by this word. Paper was "fuckin" tough, i am "fuckin'ly happy"... The usages are infinite, from the most momentous occasion to the most pissed of occasion, this word will never leave you alone. ( And oh Yeah !! there was a band performance by the college students, and they are using 'fuckin' almost 5 times in a minute, so no college song is complete without it )

3. It Depends: The beauty ( or u may say curse ) of MBA education is that seldom there are right answers. This helps students a lot, when they were basking in their blissful ignorance. Whenever you caught off-guard by a teacher , asking a question, the safest answer is "it depends". Coz there is no situation that cant be moulded as favorable or unfavorable. So basic tenet of MBA , don't be sure on what you are doing, and when you can not convince people .. confuse them..

4. "Case ki summary bata de " : We, the people, in B-school are always very hard pressed for time. Be it for playing tennis, watching movies , doing bakar and ohh yeah sleeping ( wait a minute.. i heard a lot about sleep deprivation in B-Schools.. make it very clear.. IMT never sleeps.. but IMTians do...) , that we hardly get time to do other stuffs. It seems that our professors do not understand our precarious situation. Heap of Case studies ( Typical HBS one .. with pages>20 ) keep on mounding in our rooms, and 99% of the times, we could not get time to go through them. So, what to do in class ??... Thankfully 1-2 holy souls had read the case, and before 5 minutes to class... the common request is " Bhai .. Please case ki summary bata de.."

5. "Meri Proxy Laga dena " : When i was a young kid, i was told by my parents that god is omnipresent, and they look at every good or evil deed of us. After coming to b-school i realized that we mortals can also possess same powers. People could be present at more than 1 place at a single moment of time. Giving and requesting for proxy is one of the most holy ritual of b-school. The bonding between "proxy-bretheren" is unfathomable to comprehend. Sometimes, i feel afraid that people may not get affected by "multiple-personality disorder", not even knowing which name they are representing. Any ways, this is the blood for the life in a B-School, else you would find a long queue in front of prof's office looking for their attendance.

6. 'Lunch/Dinner mein kya hai ' : when i first went for higher studies, i was surprised that why that dining place is called mess. Then somebody told me that anything you get there would be a 'complete mess' , and that's why this place is unequivocally called mess. To give credits, our college has a good mess, and a hard-working mess committee too ( which sends menu for a fortnight with due diligence..). But do not get misguided by the items on menu, you may find a helluva of difference in what was written on menu, and what you are tasting right now. As of now, the favorite item is rajma.. which i think they boiled for on month in advance. So, every time , some body asks "Dinner mein kya hai" he is hoping against hope.. that today he may get some good thing to eat. The safest answers to questions are "Chhole aur Rajma".. There is 90% probability that you may be right !!!


Disclaimer: All the views expressed by author are personal and experienced in personal capacity. No offense is intended to the mess-connoisseurs, who find it best place to eat, or to the people of "yo-Gang" for whom 'fuckin' is second name for god. Also i might have missed some of the key-terms in my analysis.Please feel free

'A happiness'

A wave of happiness swept the whole IMT yesterday when almost everybody who took any level of CFA cleared it. Everybody was happy for himself or any dear. Feelings of the people sending the congos were really overwhelming. The charm in their minds could actually be made out from the words they uttered. Really happiness is such a flash which can indulge everybody around. Even a bit of that flash can refresh your minds, body etc. of anything stale or bad located in any corner of your mind. I sometimes think why this happiness is so momentary. Why this happiness does not last that long.

I think happiness, sadness or any feeling you come across indulges your mind for some time and then resides in your mind itself. It resides there as a layer. These feelings, layer after layer, make the unconscious mind. These feelings stay there as they are and last really long.

To search any feeling that is there in your mind like a layer, you will have to first uncover the layers above that feeling. Beneath, you will find the feeling you desired for. Once found, you can do anything with that feeling like you can play, enjoy, make a fun of it, etc. Once done, it will automatically go again in your heart but will stay at the top of the stack of feelings. So the next time you want to search that feeling you will not have to go that deeper. You will be able to find that somewhere at the top. That is a wonderful way to keep your happinesses fresh.

This way you can enjoy a happiness multiple times and reach the conclusion that happiness is not a flash that just sweeps across. It is something which lasts really long. It is only that we don’t know where it stays.

It is not that hard!!

N here comes the second blog.. which actually comes at a time when nothing other than derivatives can dare to penetrate your mind. For the guys who are not much friendly with derivatives, I will have to define ‘derivative’. Derivative, as a subject, is something which is introduced in the curriculum of PGDM to increase the number of finance subjects. Derivative, as a activity, is something which has been there in world for long centuries. It finds its mention in various writing written by the people as early as Aristotle, Plato. Even in the small towns people engage into derivative practices without knowing that what they are engaging into actually sucks the MBA students. Does that mean despite studying business all the time we feel hard in understanding the simple business concepts or that Darwin’s theory of evolution, which says that human’s brain is becoming complex day by day, does not hold. I have not done any research to go with the latter so I assume first one to be true.

The question here is why we feel hard in understanding something which might be very easily and comfortably understandable in somebody else. I think that underutilization of your processor and overutilization of the hard disk is one of the primary reasons. We always try to fill one thing or another in our hard disks and hardly left with any ‘computing power’ to use the processor which is why we feel hard in processing anything. We do this without realizing that by using the processor we can make as much information as we want from a particle of information but no growth is possible in the information without the processor. It connotes that adequate utilization of processor is far more important than the overutilization of hard disk.

The reason for spending so much of power on our hard disks is that we always try to convert our RAMs into hard disks. We are always apprehensive about the retention of data in our memories without realizing that our memories are the types of RAMs(which are quite volatile), rather than the hard disks. So the effort to refresh the data in the RAM is actually the wastage of effort.

What I suggest is that we should always think before spending even a bit of our computing power on anything because it is actually a very critical resource and it should be put to use as optimally as possible.

First blog without knowing to do blogging

This is the first blog I have ever written. While reading various blogs written by so influential the people I realized I hardly know anything about anything. Then, I asked myself if I knew anything about the people or the System around. After giving many nights to these thoughts I realized that knowing anything and doing anything are completely independent. I realized that I don’t need to know anything to write. The knowledge which serves most of the purposes is the raw knowledge. It is the knowledge that is embedded in your mind through the experiences of your life. It is the knowledge that comes handy when all information acquired from the books falls flat. It is the knowledge that we call, in our b-school language, as ‘global’.

Sometimes people ask why I think that ‘global’ is more important than the knowledge which we acquire from the books. I answer that the answer lies in the word ‘Global’. Global is something which knows no bounds. No territory can control anything which is considered to be global. The territory that I want to refer to here is the territory of the books, the territory which makes us conceive that we are safe only within that territory, the territory which makes us think that our thoughts have some limit, the territory that bounds the unlimited potential that the upper 1.5 KG part of our body has. This territory makes us believe that we would be superior to somebody if we have read two more books. Had these beliefs really been true I would have been better informed that Mr. R J Masalamani(our strategy teacher) because I have gone through my strategy book and Mr. Masalamani, I believe, would not have opened it once even.

Here the question is, if Global is more important than Local, then why do we need to have anything local. I believe this again is a method introduced by our highly intelligent ancestors. According to this method, a lot many local things are continuously inserted in our minds and we are asked to assimilate, understand and retain these. This is a method to test if:

· we are able to assimilate anything global that comes our way in our life.

· If we can actually make a sense of that global thing that comes our way.

· And if we can retain any global thing that comes our way.

I believe that this method of checking us is very important to manage the chaos in the world. If we don’t have the caliber for three points stated above, we should not be allowed to move up the ladder of success and if done so, we can lead the world to the chaos.

Kissa Kahani Ka..

Guest Lectures, to be frank, are generally a mundane affair. A speaker from a reputed organization comes.. Accolades are lavished, people clap.. and soon after a power-point presentation starts and people enjoy siesta, only to be disturbed by the claps in the end. So, when i was to attend the guest lecture of "Consumer Behavior".. i already had planned to make up for my lack of sleep.

In between the routine talks, there was one particular moment, which stimulated me. He was asking what is the most influential theme of communication, and all of us are giving answers which are consistent with the marketing jargon to which we are highly exposed day-to-day. His simple response was " story telling"... and yes it is the most influential tool for communication.

If we look it on a bigger scale, all our beliefs come from telling and listening story. What are religions ? A grand collection of stories to be the best. Why panchatantra is so popular ? because simple moral values are depicted through perfect sweet little stories. Stories are the way to help the audience relate to the incident and feel the consequences as if it were their own.

Take example of children, in their younger age of development, values are imparted to them by the means of story telling. Imagine saying to a child " Telling lie is bad ".. or " Hurting others is bad "... and they will reply " ok... but wats the big issue.. why it is bad... what are the consequences !! So, the stories and fables are constructed where there is a protagonist depicting the same behavorial patterns as our child can imagine, and then we can make him understand the consequences by telling him the fate of that protagonist .

People in general, do not change much from their childhood days. They still need a story to be stimulated by some marketing communication. That's why you might observe that most of the successful brands are the brands which have a story to tell. If you have heritage associated with the brand, nothing could be better than this.. but if you do not have , you have to construct a story around it. Just type "balbir pasha" in you tube and you can witness how creating a story can send the message across more effectively..

So next time when you have to market something or market yourselves, think of some story.. because its not the product, its not the benefits, its about the story by which you can engage your customers...

P.S. By the time i wrote this, our football team has done very well to play 2 very good competitive matches, and now we can tell this story for other sports too.. to motivate people.

Surrogate Nationalism

By the time i am writing this...streets in Spain must be jam-packed, and millions would be shell-shocked in the dutch-land.. yes 'Paul,the octopus' was again right, and beliefs and superstitions cut across each and every border of this world. An ardent dutch supporter, it was tough for me to swallow the bitter pill, but among all the things which shocked me the striking one was the amount of attachment people have with these foreign teams.

One of the scene of the night which shocked me most was the moment when the Spain national anthem was played down, and people sitting next to me actually got up... although they may feel ashamed doing the same for their own national anthem. Statistically speaking, we Indians have nothing to do with the world cup ( although i read somewhere that 'jabulani' has some material made in India). In the FIFA ranking, we are 133rd or 134th or whatever.. we actually do not care. Even if we take Asians as our identity still we do not have representation after the round of 16.

But still, come the world cup, we have a big screen in amphitheater, people with their divided loyalties , and i bet 1-2 must have wept for the Netherlands(i was very close to it). I wonder whether same would have been the scene if a WC cricket final was going on.

Final, to say the best, was competitive not beautiful. If any one would have got the chance to see the 3rd place match between Germany and Uruguay, it was the match of the tournament for me. May be some time reduced expectations allow players to play freely with their natural game. Anyways today Spain deserved it, they were marginally better than Holland.

The only thing consistent in WC'10 were the predictions of oracle octopus. I am sure maneka gandhi would be having a close look on the matter. After all, too much attention on him may infringe his right of privacy, but he is undoubtedly the biggest star of the world cup. Spaniards surely will exclude eight-leg creatures from their menu at least for a short time. From no onwards, when the football game goes to extra time or penalties, call the octopus.. at least it will prevent heroes from turning villains... hail the genius !!!

Ecoball

Good to see Netherlands and then Germany making it to the final four. By the time you would be reading it, Spain shall make it too. But I could not find justification in supporting any of them. All throw their hearts out in the field, only to lose or win by some chancy goals. The truth is, I hardly know more than one player from every team and have not followed the club football ever.

So I thought and came to a conclusion : It'll be better off for the world if an European nation wins the cup. Put the economist's eye and you will be happy to agree.

The Euro crisis driven by mammoth Sovereign debts of many EEC members is looming large. Investors have started washing their hands off Euro. It's falling wrt. Dollar and other currencies and thus, the costs of repayments are getting higher. This discomfort is supposed to be healed by implementing austerity measures and rolling back of govt. stimulus. But the conditions have not improved with close to 20 percent unemployed population in many countries. The squeezing of money will actually affect demand adversely. A long recession resulting from deflation seems a possibility.

If any of the three wins the world cup, things can be lot optimistic. More so Spain, which is reeling under the Fiscal deficit of 11.4 percent needs spirited hope and actions. Needless to say that a Football world cup win in a sports crazy nation usher in a grand celebration lasting weeks.

Lets be hopeful that it will provide a much needed cushion to the treasury and more time to think. As we all know that

- Lots of beers will be boozed

- Festive occasion will grace population

- Families will spend on entertainment

which will generate taxes for the exchequers and income for people.

Crisis in Europe will affect developing world (say, India) adversely as exports will go down due to shrinkage of demands. Contrarily, imports will increase as the European currency will be relatively cheaper. Thus domestic production will suffer high competition due to technological imbalance. Moreover, lower interest rates in European countries will attract ECBs from corporate world. Indian banking system will be pressurised to compromise. Sub prime crisis in America may have not shown it's direct effects in India, but it has unsettled the public.

When debts range in thousands of billions of dollars, a world cup win will hardly titillate the foundation. But, the motivational self-esteem oozing out from the mega achievement shall inspire politicians, bureaucrats and the 'aam aadmi'. They'll be expected to act in their country's utmost interests.

Loss of words

It was final year of PGDM (Finance) for them at The Management Institute, Bagiazad. New batch had joined in and the B-school was back in life! Jatin and Romin were in pensive mood, sitting in the mess during the dinner hour. Gulping down the Chinese food and updating themselves with score of the WC football match, both went for puff...followed by a walk around the park.

Jatin says, "I remember last year I was mad about blogging. The creativity enthused by the marketing classes and insightful case studies spurred me to write. I had participated in blogging contests centering on different marketing themes. Building on it, I diversified to write about other issues. The craziness was such that I dared to start new blogsites for operations, economics, finance and even word of the day. Many people often ridiculed the exercise. You, who's as passionate towards blogging had been there to contribute. It's soooo enthralling. It was another matter that the warning bells rang soon. I was found wanting on the basic knowledge of Finance and thus, turned my interest towards it. It was proven by track record that I liked numbers. But, I believe a lot of effort from my family was the driver."

Jatin turns philosophical, "Now I am into the sea of Finance, swimming among the numbers and trying to form a life boat out of them. It's not easy since they are attached with the mesmerising formulas, which in turn are to be explored deep into the sea. Finding the roots is the key. Thus, the need to learn 'YOGA' to stop breath for a substantial time and dip in. Ha! Ha! No joke! Try it and you can feel the difference."

Romin feels weird to link Finance and yoga. He enjoys his sutta and adds his own piece, "Brain has transformed into a calculative mood with adherence to all the constraints. Interaction with people has decreased considerably. Life seems to be coming a full circle and the true self is now back. The PGDM programme is a sort of change management for me. I have been a recluse for large part of my academic career. The idea here was to open up and express myself to people. Be a known person, that is. The main difficulty arises when the socialization gets into the psyche and I deviate from studies. It happened here too and I had to change back to what I was good at. Understand the concept better than anyone else...deep down. It involves a lot of mental exersion. Something like forgetting the world when you and your book are together."

He concludes, "Look at the way Marketing guys spend their 24 hours. They read one book and write answers for 3 subjects. And we, immersed in books all the time. Finance and Marketing are two different sides of a same coin. People who are equally good in both of them can be considered Geniuses."

start of a journey

Coming and going is the universal law of this world.. and it cant be more true for a B-School. So after our seniors left for their corporate sojourn, yesterday we had the registration of the incoming batch. Among all the other things one enjoyable thing about this event is the delicious food served in the mess , which is a bi-annual phenomena ( second occasion is convocation), which also shows that how the incoming and outgoing of batches is a sacred event for a B School.

As i have been there , done that.. i can safely say that there is lot of anxiousness while joining a B- School. When you join a Engg college or any other graduation course for that matter, you are still in your teens and you dream for the sky. your mind knows no limitation, your ideas of this world is completely different. Now contrast this with a B-School. Few of the joiners come after a work-ex from good companies, some leave decent job offers.. so the first question which a student ask on joining a B -School , is how much he can expect to earn after the completion of the course. In this summer i address numerous queries regarding the ROI of the institute.

With all the humbleness, i just wanna suggest that if the view of the person is limited to such a small objective he will miss the bigger picture. From the very beginning i have a firm belief that the purpose of education is to make a person better human being. This comprises of a nice personality, knowledge of surroundings, confidence in what you do, and last but not the least the way you behave and act with other people. In the age of competition its very east to get carried away, but as i firmly believe that life is not a zero sum game. Its not necessary for someone to lose if you have to win. To keep it brief, try to learn from others and also help other learning what you know, so that collective worth of this place increases.

Last but not the least, summers is at it is torturous best now a days, and sincerely now i began ti believe what Mr Algore has said, that its very hard for the earth to survive like this. Thank god IMT G has AC Lab.. else this summer would definitely had killed me. Now eagerly waiting for the monsoon... and calcio rombio ( inter disciplinary football tournament)...

Takes Time

Takes time


It takes time for a toddler to hold her mother,
It takes time for thoughts to discover,
It takes time to give vent to our emotions,
And to lose someone and let go of all false notions...

It takes time to sport a smile when you are down,
It takes longer to hurt someone and hold back before you drown..
It takes time to understand one another,
And takes a life-time to know oneself rather.

It takes ages to unravel the words unsaid...
takes time to see through one's eyes and the uncomfortable silence
instead...
It takes time to reciprocate the unconditional love and care we get
from our loved ones...
and to realise what we've lost until it silently burns...

This isn't mere procrastination...it's just a part and parcel of human

nature..

Incessant Chase(s) of Life

In couple of few days life has definitely turn around a whole circle. People are now calling me as whether to join IMT or not? and i recall my days as a MBA aspirant when i was so much confused that once i almost decided to drop MBA. Thank god, common sense prevailed and i joined IMT. But after one year of the so called management education, i came to know about one thing, no education in any of the school can make you a manager, it has to come from inside. The only thing which you can learn from a B School , is to apply common sense , and believe me its very uncommon, as there are numerous examples of various well planned campaigns went for toss. As quoted by somebody " After MBA, you feel that you doesn't need to do an MBA.. bit to feel this you gave to a MBA".

More on personal note.. things are not going that smooth. Life is never kind to anyone, but on some of the days i ask questions to the god and more to myself.. Why Me? I know people ask these questions only when they are in pain and not when al the things are going right for them. Some times things doesnt go your way, despite you give your best of the efforts. You try to improve yourself, change the habits in you, just to have something you desire. And its not the case that i desire a lot. Although there is no end of human aspirations, i only desire have company of someone who is dearest to me !!!!!

But at the end of the day, there are somethings which you can do.. and there are somethings which just happen. You can study hard.. you can try to improve yourself.. you can make efforts to excel in your life.. but you cant make a person become a friend of you . Friendship and Love are the things which usually happens. So, then why people try for it, if the effort is not required at all. Again the vagaries of human life, the more a thing elude you , the more you are after it. In life we do not value the things which we have, and constantly chase those which we do not have. So, for the time being , just have to keep the matter in cold.. and i think i should believe in adage of true love? Lets test the age old mantra .....

10 things I've learnt during the first year of PGDM

1. Don't go for CGPA, you will learn more and feel better. Remember 3 Idiots! Go for the excellence, not success.

2. Don't think about placements, prepare yourself to understand management.

3. Be passionate towards your course, irrespective of what the world thinks.

4. Use laptop only when necessary. Make an entertainment window for FB, youtube, movies etc. It's very difficult to resist in high speed internet facility!

5. If you become part of any club/committee, show (by your work) that you run it.

6. Those who become NCCs (No Clubs and Committees), need not get disheartened. NCCs are the most creative people in the campus.

7. Beware of the socialization virus. It will kill your time.

8. Read books at Library. It will enhance your ROI.

9. Respect the faculty and do interact with them. They are expert in their field.

10. Follow your hobbies and play outdoor Games.

The global meltdown of 2008 offers multiple case studies in management. B-schools should cash in on them.

(This article was published in the Financial Express dated March 29, 2010 in which IMT Ghaziabad was the featured B-school in its Campus Page. I'm posting the same here on Ishan Rohit's insistence.)

I think it is appropriate for me to make a disclaimer here-the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the author... :)


According to the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus, “the only thing that is constant is change”. This dictum has been central to everything in the universe. Everything evolves, and the agent of change galvanises this process.

Management education in India has also undergone change and evolved in the past few decades. It started off by understanding business practices in the western world and trying to implement them in the Indian context. Somewhere down the line, we also studied the slightly different Japanese management styles. Indian institutions managed to incorporate the best of all worlds and put it into a concise curriculum to be taught to budding managers in our B-schools.

But what has come of it? Have we actually created business leaders who can drive organisations through times of crises and prosperity or have we simply created managers who end up making bad decisions in uncertain times?

The economic liberalisation started in the 1990s brought with it economic development in the country. The boom times brought with it opportunities like never before. Management institutes, sensing the need of the industry started responding to the market and began churning out industry-ready managers. The students were given a feel of the industry through internship programmes and the mind was moulded to look forward to the jet setting lifestyle in the corporate world.

Suddenly, the subprime housing crisis in the US snowballed into the worst financial crisis the world has seen since the Great Depression. The Wall Street banking industry caused a lot of damage and their excesses affected the Main Street. There were millions of bonuses given, but some of the over-pampered bankers were committing grave mistakes by way of short-term risk taking. Ill-advised risks were taken in the mortgage business. From mid-2008, the global economy turned upside down and ripples were felt in India, too.

It is said that no crisis should be wasted for the lessons it teaches. So, B-schools around the world are embracing the financial turmoil as a valuable teaching tool.

Maybe it's time to look at management education as something more than just preparing for the corporate world. These days, courses like innovation, creativity, leadership and entrepreneurship are in much demand. It is imperative for B-schools to respond to the changing business climate and come up with these types of courses. B-schools should also take conscious steps to nurture an entrepreneurship mindset among its students.

The real goal of management education must not be in pushing students for plush corporate jobs with mind-boggling salaries. It should rather be in sowing the seeds of entrepreneurship which would create more jobs and propel the country forward. The financial crisis brought with it various lessons to be learnt. The B-school curriculum needs to be revamped to include all these lessons which can ensure better learning, understanding and decision making by the managers of tomorrow. Most management institutes have responded promptly and are in the process of incorporating these modifications in the curriculum.

The global meltdown of 2008 offers multiple case studies in management theory and practice. B-schools should cash in on them to stay relevant.

Smoke art...

Smoke art is a form of photography to bend and blend smoke to create some abstract shapes. The interpretation of each picture varies according to the person viewing it, some might think of picture as meaningless smoke while other will see a shape, object or a story..

some of my work...

Motherhood...
An abstract form of smoke depicting a mother carrying her baby.



Dhol Wala


Burning Desires...


Heart of a lady..



The Flying Beast..



Sound of Music...


for more, Click here

Thanks to seniors for allowing me to showcase my work.

Regards
Tarun Chawla
IMT 2010-12

And the Search Begins..

Half past midnight.. one of the days when the sleep is shying away... so once again back to writing something.. one of the thing which engages me quite well !!... Last month has been a pretty happening one.. once again back to corporate jungle (read internship) after a wonderful 1 year sojourn at IMT. But somehow today mood is quite thoughtful.. may be rainfall couple of days before is having some lagging effect.

Last weekend i went to home, and while i was traveling i saw a very interesting scene in train. There was a couple and a small kid, and as usual the baby is troubling parents and was not in mood to eat anything. Then the father hold him in hand, while mother took the bowl and then they start travelling all over the compartment trying to distract him, by showing him different things. Seeing it, i remembered my childhood days. Papa used to tell me lots of stories and in between put stuff in my mouth , and that's how i eat the food then. Today, we sometimes take our parents for granted, but we don't know what efforts they had put in bringing us up. It was really like traveling down the memory lane for me.

In life we do mistakes, and some time the situation is like that you know you are doing a mistake, but you cant stop yourself. This is the beauty of life. Rational and irrational are very much hyped concepts, just tweak the consequences and you will see the most rational person in the world behaving irrationally. The problem lies in trying too hard for something. There are somethings in life which just happen. you cant force those things to happen.But poor mortals, the heart can defy every logic presented by mind.

So i will also try to dissociate myself, dunno how successful, i would be, but still i will give it a fair try. Somehow, today there is a new hope inside me, somehow i feel myself lighter. I was too much afraid of loosing something, that i was not even asking myself that was i happy holding on to that thing? really wanna thank someone who said " do those things in life which make you happy", this is the only way you can make your loved ones happy. Will try to follow the path, and hope for the god's grace with me.. till then c ya.....

The Journey

And so the wheel of time comes a full circle. May 2009 is when I started this journey. I took my final year exams, and gave some thought to which direction to take after graduation. I wanted to go to B-school; after having studied three years of theory, I thought B-school would be where I'd learn to place it a practical context, the first step to entering the corporate world.

I'd taken for CAT in '08 as well, just to see if I was even reasonably equipped to enter a top B-school. I never studied seriously for it; it would have been gruelling to do that in my final year. And I achieved a 90th percentile. "Not bad," I thought to myself. "I can spend a few months preparing for CAT and other exams, then take on the exam season."

My parents were completely supportive when I decided to not work and devote one hundred percent to entrance exam prep. I enrolled in coaching classes, took the mock tests, pored over the newspaper like my life depended on it. But to be honest, it was hard to stick to a study schedule when I was completely vella :D And so I enjoyed the wonderful city of Delhi with the most wonderful bunch of friends a girl could ask for.

Exam season rolled around. Nerves have never been a problem with me. IIFT went badly; that was to be expected. CAT was a complete fiasco, with all the glitches and whatnot. I had an early slot, so I had no way of knowing what would be a good attempt. I did 42 questions and felt ecstatic. Later I got to know that all the brainy ppl attempted well over 50 questions. Crap.

That only made me work harder for the other exams. TISS, SNAP, XAT, FMS, NMAT.. I studied like a robot and took all the exams on one after the other, mechanically, Sunday-to-Sunday. January end, I was finally done with all of these papers. And I took a well-deserved few weeks off, to rest, relax (still read the paper like my life depended on it, though!)

XAT results came first, and I nearly fell over in disbelief. I'd gotten a 98.6! XLRI apparently had pretty high sectional cut-offs, but I got a call from GIM :) The interview was weird. The interviewers didnt ask me one single question about Eco, why MBA, etc. They grilled me about rock music for a while. Then told me that as a fresher, I didnt have much hope of competing against the work ex ppl. I left that interview room completely demoralized.

Then CAT results came out.

I had had literally zero expectations from CAT. To see a 96+ score was.. Mindblowing. Literally. I dont remember much about that day. Mostly I just bounced around the room, walking on air, talking on the phone to a zillion people. I had done it! The late nights with mock-tests, the stressing over unconquerable geometry questions, the uncertainty of sitting at home and wondering if I took the right step - All worth it.

So what if I had no IIM calls? (Low Math score) I had interview calls from LBS and IMI and TAPMI and IMT and KJS! Surely I would get through somewhere!

The next month went by in a blur. I sat through umpteen GDs and interviews (and 1 case analysis :D ), till the point came when I no longer stressed when interviewers fired questions at me such as "Where is the Nifty at today? Sensex? What is the current price of gold? India's GDP? How many kms of Metro track in the NCR?" I learnt that its ok to not be able to answer these questions. The IMT interview, though, went well. Best of the lot. I could steer the interview along my lines.

Somewhere along the way, I got calls from TISS, NM and FMS (the latter with a fantastic 99.3 %ile). I went to Bombay twice. I found time to visit my grandmother in Jaipur. To see Avatar three times in the hall. I cried when I didnt convert FMS. I jumped for joy when I got through GIM- the idea of studying in Goa was fantastic! Then I got a little immune to the whole process, and took the NM conversion and TISS non-conversion in my stride.

But I was still not rid of the uncertainty. GIM or NM? I ruled out NM cuz I didnt get the course I wanted. My folks wanted me to stay in Delhi so badly, that I even considered LBS. The night the IMI results came out, April 30th, I was stuck. IMI was good. Was it better than GIM? Should I send the 2nd instalment to GIM? Did I want to stay at home or experience the hostel life? Should I leave it to my parents to decide?

That was a long night. I prayed for the IMT results to be positive. I refreshed the damned site every ten minutes. By next morning, May 1st, I'd spoken to alumni from both IMI and GIM. There wasn't much to choose between them. I steeled myself to give Goa up, for my parents. We were drafting the cancellation of admission letter to GIM, when, out of habit, I checked the IMT website. "Congratulations," it said, and I didnt even finish reading the rest of that sentence. End of confusion. I. Was. Going. To. IMT!

So there was the end of the journey. A full year after it started. May 2010, and I had been accepted at one of the most prestigious B-schools in the country, in the course I wanted! Life seems colourful again!

And now, after having communicated with other IMT entrants and seniors, I just know it: Its going to be a great two years!

And so the drop-year is officially over. That journey has ended. And another one begins.

The Celebratrion called 'LIFE'

The gentle twittering of the swallows,
The faint rustle of the wild mangrove,
the anguished summoning of the cuckoo,
and the customary setting of the ageless sun..
It seems, except me, life is everywhere around..

I lay down indifferent and still,
witnessing the celebration of life,
with my heart itself devoid of any mirth and ecstacy..
Suddenly, a hope kindles out of nothing,
Suddenly, a desire is born in my encephelon...

There's nothing, yet there is so much to inspire,
And as my eyes of concsiousness unseal themselves,
I find myself as a part and parcel of this majestic jubilation...

Time to play "The Game"

When 'Satyam' was exposed about 15 months ago , it was quipped to be the nadir of the corporate life in india , but i fear that current IPL row has surpassed it big time. The protaganist , Mr Modi. not only riding the tiger, but also feeding him, and believes that he can always be able to ride on it. Once, in my younger days, i heard a proverb that things which rise fast comes down faster. The adulation , the money and the glitz involved with IPL had blinded many eyes, or they chose to shut their eyes remains to be a matter of contention...
Generally, a big puntcure starts with small prick in the balloon. Everyone remembers the emergency imposed by indira gandhi but few remember the historic judgement by high-court responsible for that. Similary, in the history of the "India Paisa League" , the tweet of Lalit Modi would be remebered for its historic impact on arguably the biggest thing happened to cricket.
After sacricing Mr Tharoor, Ruling party is on the prowl, and i expect some very high profile casualities in the coming week.
As a passionate cricket fan, i never liked IPL from the beginning itself. People may accused me of old-fashioned, but i am the guy of the era where run rate of 6 is considered very good , and 300 was still a respectable score. 3 Ads in an over, karbon kamaal catch, DLF maximum, Max Mobile Timeout and MRF Blimp make me go crazy. Sometimes i wonder whether commentators are covering the game, or they are pimps of the franchisees.
So, what next? well one thing is certain, IPL is too big to fail.. So after the cleansing act, somebody else will be appointed head , and the show will go on, but what about corruption? Well somebody quoted few days ago " Its the money which makes people crazy and make them run pillar to post" so i, least expect the corruption to end. As aptly said by the head of the company on first day of my summer training " If you are working in field of finance, dont look at the source of money. It will unnecessarily bother you, coz in this world only 2 people have money Politicians & Criminals.. Rest other are their Proxies "...

Clash of Titans

In recent days, there is lot of hue and cry between the 2 regulatory bodies viz SEBI and IRDA on the issue of validity of ULIPS. For uninitiated, unit linked insurance plans (ULIPs) are the products sold by insurance companies, which have some insurance component, but fair percentage of the client's money is used to invest in the equity market.After a course on business ethics, i sometime wonder how people can't see obvious things in world, or rather they didn't want to see.

Why do we need regulators? because the common people are not expert to judge whether the products and services offered to them are in their interest or not. Suppose, you go to a doctor , then you believe that he will offer the treatment in your best interest, without fulfilling his interest. You have no way of checking this out, as you are not an expert in the field of medicine. So, people vest power in the hands of the regulators , who ensure that professionals work for the best interest of the customer, and to ensure that there are certain guidelines which should be complied.

So, what will happen if regulators start to get dysfunctional... we need a regulator to look over the regulators and thus the system would be crippled by the sheer number of the regulators in the systems. It will become a classic example of "who will guard the guards ??". so this ugly spat between the 2 of the reputed regulators had left a bad taste in the mouth of the investors. Insurance companies, despite their best of efforts, can't deny the equity nature of the ULIP products, and my hunch is that SEBI will get the mandate in its favor from the high court. After all, for mutual funds like products,why a investor should pay a commission in range of 40% , where it is in single digits in the case of Mutual Funds.

People who live by the sword.. dies by it.... Nobody will appreciate it better than our own Shashi Tharoor.It's so ironical that his problem started with a tweet.. which was his forte till now.His alleged involvement in Rendezvous sport world (RSW) has raised quite a few eyeballs in media even before the truth is out. I am sure. Lalit Modi would have astronomical increase in his followers after this incident (Your truly is one of them). One of the interesting thing which i pondered over is that is twitter and facebook, replacing the media in the world. Now you get to kisten directly from the horse's mouth, it may be the sign of things to come.

I just had a week working as a summer intern in gurgaon, and already i am sick of it. Gurgaon as a place sucks. with only cars, malls and dust. And yups, core finance job, with data crunching gives me nightmares (with number falling like matrix...). Hope i can survive the remaining 5 weeks. So, signing off for now.. c ya soon !!!

Dasvidaniya

In this box I feel like king

Going outside is so nuking

Cocooned life is all we yearn

Which bring mirth followed by burn

Yes, I came here to learn

No no no, first must 'unlearn'

New words, new phrase; lots of hoopla

'Per se' most popular; English oo-la-la

B.Tech. already, now go for MBA

Trend must be followed, O you CFA

Me too me too, lets catch them all

If all are equal, who among many a(ll) ?

Future is on the line, one must fight

Bullshit the ethics, that silly 'right'

My mind so busy, so disturbed now

Bewildered, happy and sad mow

Why so serious, the joker asks

Is it the disappointment at the lass :-)

Well well well, being single hurts

Does it mean being more free sucks ?

One year gone, 50 percent manager!

Asked the green field, preserved by the gardener

Eyes relieved, after hard work at laptop

The lifeline at office and killer at health cop

Trees & plants I love u all

U give me joy and I run(away) without call

God so kind, I have some alternatives

This crazy man looking for superlatives

10 things to do before I leave mine

Are they easy, absolutely defined ?

Search for the answers keepin stakeholders in mind

This is a Cricket game, team not 'I' find...

Bored u a lot, many would agree

My first attempt, care not a degree

Confluence needs YOU!

Hi,

We need YOUR contribution to confluence. It can be any original work, ranging from writeup to sketches, video, photos etc. conveying some message. Not for wholly entertainment purpose!

Confluence is different from other blogs because it's a mix of thoughts emanating from different minds. Rahul and I were ensuring continuous updation till date. But now, we need others to join us.

Interested people can email their gmail ID to me at 'ishanrohit@gmail.com' for author rights.

Just Noticeable Difference (JND)

Business Ethics Classes for this term ended with a documentary " The inconvenient Truth" by the noble laureate, Mr Al Gore. He is a wonderful orator and the things which he said had all of us moved. During, the fag end of the video, he demonstrated us an example. Suppose, a frog is put in boiling water, it would jump out of the jar immediately. On the other hand, if you put it in lukewarm water, and then gradually increase the temperature, the frog will not notice the change in temperature, and hence keep sitting on jar, and ultimately will lose its life.

After the lecture, i tried to extend this idea into the other realms of life. Somehow, i have the feeling that this concept affects the human behaviour and particularly the consumer behaviour to a large extent. I searched for some literature in the library, and then I came across the term “Just Noticeable Difference ( JND) coined by Weber in early 20th century. To put in simple terms, suppose you are watching 2 light beams of same intensity ( Say 100 W) and then intensity of one is varied,then after how much variation of the intensity, will you observe the difference in the intensity of 2 light beams. This variance, is sometimes also called the differential threshold of JND.

Many of us know that it exists, but still we never give much of a thought to it. This is one of the concept which are used by companies to manipulate ( or sometimes say fool customers). Here, I would like to quote the example of FMCG companies, because the products in this category are generally the low involvement products with the price being the key determining factor in the decision making process of a consumer. Companies, by the way of packaging, by promotion mixes create a clutter of products with JND often less than the threshold level. So, when a consumer goes out to buy toothpaste, he is often subjected to the choice of 80g of pepsodent for Rs 25 and 100g of Colgate at Rs 30. Now, by packaging them cleverly, Pepsodent reduces the JND between these 2 products. So, consumer tends to behave that both the products are almost the same. Now, the key determining factor for them is the price, and here they will go for the one which is quoting lesser price (Pepsodent in this case). Even though, by buying Pepsodent they are paying more Rs/g than Colgate.

JND concept is also leveraged by the companies, which over a time try to evolve as per the business environment. Particularly, for the strongly positioned brands, a sudden transition could be Hara-kiri... so they change over a period of time, in which every time the gradual change is less that the differential hold of JND.If you get a chance to see the logo of Pepsi, in last 10 years, you will definitely notice the difference. But as everything has another face, this concept is also utilized , particularly in rural India, by the companies which copy and fake the well known products. By closely resembling names, packaging, and promotion mix, they hold the change below the JND level, and thus fooling the consumers.

Apart from business, JND is part and parcel of human life. When you meet some one after a year or two generally the reaction is "tu to bahut lamba ho gaya yaar". While his family members would not be noticing the gradual change. I use to visit mussorie very frequently, and one of my favourite place is kempty falls. Every year or so, i go there and enjoy the scenic beauty. Last year, i went after a gap of 3 years, and i was shocked to see the condition of kempty fall. When i enquired about the reason, it was due to a reservoir which had been building there for last 10 years, gosh!! i hardly noticed that.

This can also be leveraged in relationships, when things start getting wrong, initially we do not notice the gradual damage to the relation, unless it reaches to JND Level. After that, it is very difficult to resurrect a relation. Thus in relationships, we should be conscious in keeping our JND threshold level low, so that we could read the distress signals, in their primitive stages. For the time being, yours truly signing off, wishing you a wonderful time.. muaaah !!!!..

Avatar and it's after effects

Damn! Here comes the destroyer of a beautiful planet. The fliers in their helicopters and electronic gadgets, robots beatified with bullets and explosives. Out here to destroy the tribal dwelling, established under a giant tree. Ecology is perfectly in equilibrium with the cool balance of birth and death of organisms. But, selfish motives must be sufficed. Humans are at it to seize the place, which could be beneficial to them.

This is the background of Avatar, the film. Well, the freshness is the love between the human mind and the indigenous lady. The result was satisfying, the nature taking on the artificial power. I can foresee the same happening out here. Slowly and acceleratingly, we are heading towards hard times. The times of shortages, scarcities, extinction to hound us. Till we reach dangerously close to the unexpected, we will keep holding our stand. Similar to the military in the film.

These days, the Save Tiger campaign has gain foothold. From 50,000 and prided as National animal of India, they are reduced to a paltry 1411 this date. People will keep killing them and selling their skins for hefty amount. Why should they worry ? The other person must! I am fan of this attitude here.

Right from the childhood, we study some useful lessons regarding the moral behavior, duties of a citizen and try to apply that in our lives. Then we see someone we respect and look forward to, lacking in this sense of conduct and wonder who’s right. We consult our elders and friends. Based on our understanding, this is the time when we may switch our stand and learn to live by the ‘practical world’.

It depends on the life at one’s place and surroundings, surely. Nobody wants to wait in a queue for long hours and miss important tasks. Thus, some may deviate and they feel they are justified in their actions. Similarly, in all the environmentally hazardous activities, we feel we are doing what we are ought to do. The purpose is to enjoy a cool life with our family and whatever way we can suffice our needs, is welcome.

The big picture is blurred. We never care to adjust it’s focus. If we wait and think, the competitive world will run over us and we’ll be left behind. That’s the case with India, a highly dense country. So what happens, everybody’s conscience is active, but most advocate it for their dear ones. No accusations, I am the culprit too.

Social networks help us realize our ‘Positive’ side. There is nothing like social expectancy pressure, the force to engage in causes which are socially desirable. As we are vast in numbers and variety, we discuss and collaborate on some meaningful work, beside fun filled activities. The twitters and facebooks’ popularity have instigated in youth’s memory, the basic do’s and don’ts to give back their bit to the society. This is what I believe, and those who don’t actually don’t realize that they also believe it. J

Beauty or the Beast

In the times of integrated market communication ( a jargon for peeping in your life 24*7).. you would have inevitably see the number '1411' at some place or other. Numbers are fascinating ( or at least you have to fake it as a finance student), but i found this number very mundane in the first go. There are magical numbers, squares, cubes, fibbonaci series and i also did a quick calculation to check whether it is a prime number. But surprisilngly, it is none, but yet it is fascinating as due to claims from the authority, it is the number of tigers left in India. Alarming !! isn't it... but from when we started tracking the number of tigers in our country. We never knew when the number went 3000 and when it touched 2000. So, it needed a well drafted marketing campaign to drive home the point that yes they are in danger, because every one of us want to look benovolent, provided we are informed about the problems prevailing..

Coming to tigers.. i think they are one of the biggest brand of 'incredible india'. Once i read it somewhere, that a succesful brand should have majesty and exclusivity. Well, no body can challenge the majesty of tiger in the eco-system of jungle, '1411' also provides them exclusivity. Thus, its one of the most favourite brand of india. Take any travel magazine remotely wirting about india and you will definitely find the pic of tiger in that. In fact tiger is the darling baby of our corporate world, when you feel the need to do CSR.. start a campaigning for saving tigers, because everybody knows they are in danger. ( No need to educate consumers !!!)....

Aircel, after Idea, is the company in the telecom demain, which came up with this CSR activity. Well, in case of idea, it seems to solve issues by leveraging the features of mobile, i am still not convinced that how can a mobile used to save tigers , and i want to be proved wrong if i say that there are hardly any cellular netowrks in tiger habitats. So, the exercise is more about increasing the brand visibility than something else. But again, i really fear about brand cannibalization in this case. When you think of kingfisher, you think of beer and aeroplane, when you think of camel, you think of paints, but when you think of tiger, you think of majesty and exclusivity, and i seriously doubt whether aircel is either majestic or exclusive.

Ohh my god.. i am getting obsessed with tiger..or i think this is the year of tiger, lest you forget Tiger woods...during his hey-days, his shots have an air of majesty, and most of the women think he is exclusive ( now they must be sulking)... and thats why he is the star endorserer , from a game, which is popular(or notorious) for its mundane pace . Then , he lost his exclusivity, almost a dozen times, and now even accenture is having different ads on air featuring dolphins , whales, and other animals ( off course , except tiger)..Grapevine is that he may be back sometime in this year, and then i could check another jargon " Wounded-Tiger"..

At the fag end , i just wanna mention some of events happened with me in recent times. After almost a decade, i attended a marriage of my home, albeit i have to go to Bikaner. If you are from delhi, where in a metro 4 people are touching 4 different parts of your body, you will feel that your personal space hs increased out there. Vast areas with sparse population, sometimes you long to see a vehicle on road. Back in college, another mutiny is brewing up... against some draconian( Most of the people say so..) ruling of college administration. Some times, we need to revise our history a bit... you can view a thing both as opportunity and threat... and there is always a tradeoff between choice and competetion. In india, we typically hate competetion (may be our socialistic heritage..), but we are here, after facing so much of comptetion. The bottom line is that if you are good , you will get good things, and once for a change, this is a universal truth and not a relative phenomenon. With this, yours truly signing off.. take care.. and save tiger.. oops.. not tiger woods... cya ... muuaaaaah..

To the spirit of love

THE VOICE OF THE PROLETARIAT

In a country like India where each and every individual has a prerogative of voicing his concerns and attracting attention of the incumbent politicians, we often find their voices lost in the maelstrom created by their own representatives presenting a myopic picture of their people to the government. They hardly make an attempt to see through the real and deeper picture of what is it that the commom man really and desperately needs. Just fulfilling the basic requirements of their people isn't enough to make a regime or domain happier and stronger, if we consider these things from a holistic point of view.
We all know what happened in the areas of Saurashtra and Bundelkhand. Needless to say,until and unless apposite endeavours are not made to recuperate the present state of affairs of the proleriat or the working class, the situation is going to aggravate to a greater and irreversible level and in turn leading to more apalling results. It's about time that we start to learn what are those necessary steps that we as responsible citizens need to take and expect to be executed judiciously and effectively because devoid of a backbone how can a body remain stable and nimble.

It's my Earth

Ethics ? My foot !

I suppose Newton gave theory of relative motion. We used to create a lot of buzz over it in our engineering preparations’ days. If I am not wrong (Hail Rubics Rostrum!) this theory concerns about the differences observed when two objects are moving in different frames of references, with different speeds. If you are present in the same frame of reference in which motion is occurring; its calm state for you. It will appear stationary if you are sitting in the backseat of a Honda CIVIC sport blazing through the highway, your eyes closed and soft music entering through your ears to create the euphoria. If you are standing by the roadside waiting for a lift, the same car is a rash speeding object (Of course it won’t stop unless you are a lady!). What is the frame of reference in ethics? Its your emotions and feelings related to a particular case. If the case have happened to you as an unjust treatment, you tend to show the associated revengeful response as a green signal. So you can’t judge the wrong part in it. It’s impossible to gather and get convinced about the inappropriateness of your mis-step. Only, when an unrelated, unbiased, unaffected feeling challenges your conscience, there is a discomfort rising within. You slowly begin to lose your sleep and want to see the light, the solution.

A frame of reference sits in the human mind. We can refer to multiple frame of references too. We have capabilities, but we cherish hiding them under emotions, nonchalance acting as mini-skirts. Some people do realize the right way of doing things, but what if its wrong according to their surroundings. The office they work in, the sabzi mandi they buy groceries, the queue they stand for depositing their bills or for buying rail tickets are some examples. We abhor unjust practices, but what do we really do when it comes to us ? Are we always preferring to go by the rule book, or allowing occasional deviations because “Sab karte hain”. If I give honest opinion, even I am guilty in some cases. Though many times, I resist the temptation. Not having the resilience to stand against the crowd, I become the spectator (if not part) of the game. Few days ago, one of my friends spoke to me. He was pitying for me as I had refused to prompt answers (and ask for similar favors) in quizzes. People had made team and they were collaborating to get good marks. So my efforts were ‘waste’ as per his judgment. Maybe for records I would agree. But the positivity generated by the clearheaded approach will certainly be the torch bearer for future successes. This is what I believe and beliefs are imprinted by experiences.

What about the system ? Honest approach takes years while money infusion is treated as characteristics of ‘smart’ people. They get work done easily, through the back door perhaps. For everything to work normally, it will take time. It will be large enough to breed discomfort to echelons, but quite relaxing for a majority. As India has a vast population but limited resources, everyone dreams to enjoy monetary benefits. To the people, a ‘nazrana’ is a gift for some consideration. A consideration which, for them is trivial. Only a bypass does not amount to crime. Somebody has to come by the way, so why not 'that' gentleman! The ‘nazrana’ may be distributed from ‘bade sahib’ down to the ‘chapraasi’. Everybody has a share, so this is an unofficial conduit to follow for ‘special’ cases. There is no point in denying that which sector is most corrupt. We all are corrupt, happily. The amazing thing is we don’t acknowledge that, or we feel happy about it.

I know there’s no use writing all this stuff. It will not bring any change. But to our moral sense if we can award a honest human; life will be on a smoother ride. Then one can always enjoy listening to the music, relaxing in his home (if not the car!).

Winter's Day Out

So, at last the historic end term exams ended on 15th of January. Historic in the sense, that for the first time in my life (albeit only 24 years old !!!) i had gone through this experience... For us , 3rd term classes was scheduled in the morning, and we had our exams in afternoon. Whola!! this is MBA at its most unique way, and the icing (pun intended!!) on the cake was, characteristic windy and chilly January days of infamous Delhi winters... Still we survived, which shows that how much we underestimate ourselves.
So, after the exams , people having BFs and GFs went for shopping, movies and outing.. people having LDRs ( Long distance relationships) increased the congestion of the mobile networks.. and yours truly who, fortunately or unfortunately, does not fall under both the category so was thinking what to do to kill the time.. Then i decided that the best option is to do some jogging and exercise, i had to break my new year resolution quite a few time during my exams ( I know its it’s hardly a fortnight after new year :( ).....
Next day i decided to have a tour of Delhi, so i caught hold of one of my dear friend, netaji ( figuring the real name is left for readers!!).. and went to chandni chauk and India Gate. When I just came to Delhi about 2 years ago, Delhi metro seems very beautiful and comfortable to travel. But, now a days, it is also running as a DTC or Blue line bus jam-packed with the commuters. With the extension of metro line, the crowd is increasing exponentially. In some of the stretches yesterday, we really struggled to go to the door to de-board the train.
But , the most interesting of Indian people is that they talk a lot, and when you are in such congested arrangement, you are bound the hear. So here goes one pretty girl in metro " Meri muumy bol rahi thi ki surya grahan (solar eclipse) ke baad sardi kam ho jayegi, dekho aaj ho gayi" , here you go the meteorological department, even a mom can predict better than you !!...
And the boy with him, was nodding in affirmative as it was the perfect scientific reason !!!....
Our first destination was India gate, and somehow unknowingly, we were days before 26th January, so the preparation was on full swing. New seats were being arranged, roads were marked for parade , and practice for parade was going on. Really, it was a good experience to be there. Next , we headed toward chandni chauk, as a food connoisseur i relish the paranthas (which was aptly termed as kachori by netaji) of chandni chauk.
After satiating the appetite of stomach and mind and somewhat eyes too ( read gals of delhi !!)... we finally decided of returning as the chilly night of winters is fast approaching. But our ordeal was still not over, we somehow managed to board a local train , which was not supposed to be boarded. All the lights switched off, it hardly stopped at any station. At the Ghaziabad station, it stopped in somewhere , where there was no platform to be seen off. Netaji was grumbling " saala 3 Rs ke kiraye mein aaoge to yahi hoga ".
So, this completed a day out and from Monday again there would be classes , lectures, and projects.. but do watch this space.. as we Indians love to talk....
P.S. If you ever heard about tongue in cheek.... go and ask Mr Sehwag.... he must be hiding behind some curtain, by making an audacious comment yesterday. That is way it is said, greatness lies in humility....