I will never forget this day, December 31st 2005, for my life time. Only one heart knows the reason apart from my mind.

Going to other things, I was browsing the blog of my friend Vasanth. He has composed a beautiful summary about his blog for the year 2005. Amazing to see 6 million hits on his website! Also, he received 150 USD though Google Adsense. Great work!

I managed to complete 2 years and 4 months of blogging [I had a blog from 2003-Aug till 2004-Nov, which I lost in the middle]. I have made 330+ posts in my present blog. This year, I managed to post 257 posts. My blog has witnessed 200,000 page loads and 49,000 unique visitors till date. I am linked by 32 different websites/blogs. I have earned 25 USD through Google adsense so far. Search for “Bharani” in google brings my blog first. Was constantly second for many months.

Looking forward for Year 2006…

On new year’s eve, here’s wishing everyone a very prosperous, happy and fun-filled NEW YEAR - 2006.

I wish all my colleagues a dream placement, a great career and a phenomenal personal life…

Slept early (11:30) and woke up early (5:00 a.m.). I have tried this 2-3 times in the past one week. Invariably, the whole day is refreshing whenever I woke up early. The productivity level is high in the morning. Moreover, I get to take my breakfast! There is a refreshing feeling too…

Yesterday, I attended the farewell party of 3 colleagues who are leaving for exchange programmes. I put myself in their shoes for a moment. The very thought of leaving ISB was stirring some emotions! Hmm, I have shifted places quite a few times in the past 6 years. Each time I leave a place, there will be some emotions. But things will be fine in a few days…I think the ‘feelings’ is more to do with the process of ‘unsettling’ your settled life and also due to the bonding developed. ISB is a fairy world…getting accustomed to this lifestyle for long is also not good…! I am consciously trying to avoid this dependance..

Have been receiving comments that webpage is taking years to load. So made some changes. Hope this helps loading faster…

100 days left for Graduation. It’s a strange feeling to see the days remaining coming down from three digits to two digits!

Term 6 is coming to an end. We have exams and assignments for the next one week.

Quite a few people are leaving for exchange programmes across the world (mainly US). Some of them will return for the placements and some of them won’t. I wish them loads of success with their endeavours. It’s tough to see few of them leaving.

Had a rather delicate situation yesterday in BPMT class. I wandered my thoughts away from the class. At that opportune time, Prof was asking a general probing question looking at me. I should have said, “Sorry, didn’t listen. Can you repeat the question?”. Instead said some nonsense! Didn’t feel good for sometime to follow…

Have chosen the subjects for Term 7. I have kept the workload low, to enable me prepare well for placements.

Branding
Information Technology and Business Strategies
Business Intelligence using Data mining

By Term 7, I would have completed 5 marketing and 5 IT. Will complete my major [Marketing and IT] in Term 8.

Upcoming week is busy with 3 write-ups and 2 examinations.

Everyone has access to Java APIs, Microsoft Visual Basic APIs, HTML syntax, SQL Syntax. Now, how well one uses all these frameworks and tools to achieve the end-result determines the quality of the program/software. There are millions of ways to achieve an end result. Ranging from Brute force methods to divinely elegant ways! For example, to write an output “Hello World” on the screen, you can use a simple println statement or loop over the string and print character by character. Or you can simply embed the style elements in HTML or capture the style elements in a CSS and simply plug that file in to the HTML and achieve the benefit of reusability and loosely-coupled architecture! You get the picture…

Years of experience provides an added competitive advantage. Just knowing the frameworks and tools doesn’t make one excellent programmer. His intuition, creativity, logic, dedication, analytical ability, experience, business knowledge, general awareness everything together determines the calibre of the programmer.

The same can be said about an MBA. MBA programme exposes you to all possible frameworks, tools and methodologies to successfuly manage a firm/venture. Ranging from Porters five forces, 4Ps, 5Cs, 6-sigma, 7s to all financial analysis tools. Ranging from Regression to Monte-Carlo simulation. Starting from techniques on change management, knowledge management, corporate risk management, Managing IT, Business performance management, Operations management, Organization management to frameworks on Innovation management, Global operations management, Advanced Portfolio management and IT-service & Project management! Infact - ‘X Management’.

Take for example CAPM. Everyone knows that he/she has to use Risk-free return rate, market risk premium, Beta-asset to calculate the Return on assets. But what value to use for each of these items is left to the judgement of the end-user! You need to have deep understanding of the concerned firm and the industry it belongs to, market trends, alternative investments available, so and so forth…This form of subjectivity is what lends ambiguity and uncertainity to the jobs! Each MBA will come up with his own “Return on investment”. He/she is correct in his own right!

I think after 8 months of ISB, we have been exposed to reasonable amount of tools and frameworks. All we need to do is to just apply the right tool for the right moment with the right attitude and right approach. That will take us home. Can’t use an axe to cut a nail and can’t employ nailcutter to chop a tree! But you can choose between chainsaw and axe to chop a tree depending on the affordability of the client

Today, A pointed to me a rather interesting news. That Akshay Rangnekar, son of Mr.Ajit Rangnekar (Deputy Dean, ISB) got married in New Delhi Today. Both the Bride and Bride groom are stanford graduates. I wish them a successful married life.

Nobody in ISB knew about this, atleast officially not circulated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/25/fashion/weddings/25sari.html

(more…)

I am hearing all sorts of comments in ISB…of wide variety..because, people in ISB are diverse.. their aspirations are diverse….

I am going to apply to all companies….
I am in sabbatical, I can pick and choose the company instead of competing amidst such madness in the first 2 days of placment….
I don’t know what I want to do in life…
I like Consulting jobs. I wish I had prepared from the beginning….
I think I have made a wrong choice by coming to ISB…
Will I get a job?
When will this trauma end…
I like I-Banking, I like Journalism, I like IT, I like everything….

The pressure to make a right choice, a right decision is high…15 lakhs + one year of lost experience + one year of lost salary + one year of trauma + aspirations of self + need to fetch approval in society + need to make folks proud +….and so many other things are at stake…On top of this, people criticize each other’s choice, question the job prospects, question the choice…so even when some people make a choice, there is high probability for getting influenced and change the decision later. The Preplacement talks hasn’t even started. Once that starts, some more change in choices will happen…

By far, this one year would be the most adventerous year for most ISBians in their life. Highly risky year…That’s why people are pushing themselves hard…to make the most out of the programme. The whole set-up ensures that people always push themselves hard…ISB provides this high-mental-pressure environment, brings in highly competitive student body, brings in highly reputed professors, ensures that infrastructure is highly self-sufficient and takes a back seat. Everything else becomes the responsibility of the student. Students run the show for the entire year by organizing events, bringing speakers, organizing club activities, sharing career informations etc.,

What’s my situation? Well, I am targetting at IT services companies, IT product companies and XPO (BPO and KPO companies) for various roles including Product management, Project management, Business Development, Practice development and Pure-play IT consulting. It’s not a focussed target. In fact, I have intentionally kept it that way. All in all, around 20-25 companies are in my radar, out of which around 8-10 companies are of high priority. As days goes by, the list will become more concise and precise.

There are various factors that comes in to play when choosing jobs. Roles & challenges, Brand name of the company, Location, Fringe benefits, Career growth in the company, Culture within the company, Abroad opportunities, Fit with future plans, Salary, Job satisfaction, size of the company etc.,

There is a substantial growth noticed in the number of GMAT takers outside US, which is coming from countries like India and for the schools like the Indian School of Business. “Through Oct. 31, total GMAT volume is up 3%, but only 0.2% in the U.S. v/s 9.3% outside US” - quoted by GMAC in BusinessWeek.

V K Menon, Director – Admissions, at the ISB said,” The concept of the One Year programme in management, experienced student profile and the international faculty pool has been very well accepted by MBA aspirants in India. This has resulted in the sheer size of applicant pool for the ISB increasing by 80% in cycle-1. We are getting repeated requests to extend the application deadline for cycle-2 which is January 7, 2006, because of the unavailability of the GMAT dates.”

“Many of our students have had to push their test dates for GMAT because of non availability of slots. It is very unfortunate that we do not have enough centers to cater to the growing needs of the GMAT,” said Nidhi Khaitan Modi, Managing Partner, The Princeton Review-India.

Looking into the scenario the ISB will accept the GMAT scores till January 15, 2006. The last date of application remains the same as before – January 7, 2006 but applicants may send in their GMAT scores alone by January 15, 2006. This is also an opportunity for exceptional candidates with CAT (2002 onwards) scores to apply to the ISB. If they meet the combined admissions criteria, a provisional offer maybe made, subject to their taking the GMAT before March 10, 2006 and obtaining a minimum score of 680.

N pointed to me a rather interesting ad in wednesday’s newspaper, in “Times Ascent” section. The ad goes like this…

If a student wants to become…
…a doctor he needs…a medical college…
…a teacher he needs…a college of education &
…a lawyer he needs…a law college.

We are developing VBSE audio-visual content for primary and high school students. Interested candidates may walk-in…blah blah….

Now, this theme is exactly same as our business plan in PAEV course. When we saw this ad, we had two feelings. First, optimistic…that the need that we identified is wide-spread and there are working proofs available…Second, pessimistic…that someone must have stolen our thought…

Came back and searched for VBSE. Got access to the following three documents after couple of searches. VBSE has been operating for quite some time. The following documents will paint a very good picture of their thoroughness. Happy to see people pursue such efforts…

http://www.csee.umbc.edu/~suresh1/handout.doc
http://www.csee.umbc.edu/~suresh1/chartideas.doc
http://www.csee.umbc.edu/~suresh1/probcrossword.doc

Serious Preparations for placements have begun in ISB.

Yesterday, Mr. Pramat Sinha, Principal, McKinsey & Company gave a gyaan session on how to convert interviews into job offers. The talk was a perfect reality check. Good wake-up call to people who haven’t started serious preparations for recruitment.

This is it. Wait and watch some of significant placement achievements that unfolds at ISB.

From the time I reached Hyderabad on sunday night, I have been completely busy. Had 8 hours of class today! Even though, our capacity to tackle demanding situations and to work long hours has enhanced, it’s tiring sometimes and becomes an overdose after certain point. Takes a toll on everyone’s health…though it is seemingly unnoticeable. Many people don’t even bother to eat well, sleep for minimum needed hours, or take some time off their schedules. I wouldn’t blame them, because the situation demands such hard work. The problem with the 23-35 age is that much of the burn-out remains latent. The side-effects shows up late, but it does show up vigorously!

Huh! It’s been 7 days since I blogged…I am breaking my own records here, definitely not for better!!

Last week was busy with assignments and other activities. When people were pouring in to ISB from all parts of the country for Poseidon on Thursday evening, I left to chennai. My train travel was hectic, with 5 hours of delay. Reached home on Friday evening 5 p.m. Most of the tracks are damaged, so trains had to share the ‘good’ tracks. In the train I could not sleep, as I had all senior citizens as companions in my compartment and they were all happily snoring at different pitches and frequencies. At one point, I was able to observe a musical composition made purely through snoring!!! When I reached chennai, it was not raining, But I could see the results of the last 45 days of heavy downpour! The travel to my place had never been hectic before.

I attended my friend’s marriage reception. Met some more friends, including Vasanth. The function went on well. Was a nice evening. The purpose of my trip was achieved. I am happy for Jeeva, for getting married to the girl he has been in touch with for past 2 years …I wish him a very successful married life.

Since my brother joined me for the weekend, we decided to take my dad to a jewellery shop for buying him a diamond ring for his 56th birthday. I owe my brother a lot, for it was mainly his initiative. Was good to see happiness in my father’s face. This is the costliest gift he has ever received in his birthdays…Moreover, it has been gifted by his youngest son, who after facing lot of hardships in life, is finally in a decent position now…

It was raining throughout saturday and sunday. With the weather forecast team announcing another cyclone, I was wondering If I took too much of a risk by coming down to chennai. One more cyclone and one more day of non-stop rainfall is enough to cut-off my place from the city and I would be stuck! Luckily, I managed to catch my flight on sunday evening. The death of 42 people in chennai city due to stampede was disheartening. How many more lives will be wasted needlessly due to the poor administration?

The domestic airline terminal is now-a-days very busy, with 4-5 different airlines in operation. The waiting lounge was full and I had to stand for good 20 minutes before I could grab a seat! I travelled without ever producing any identity proof. Spicejet counter was put up on a corner. The crew were very friendly. Spicejet possess only boeing 737-800s in its fleet. No small Airbus like Air-Deccan’s. Decent aircraft. Two good-looking air-hostess made the package complete!, though I should say they were very amateur. During the travel, we were given 15 rupees worth of roasted-peanuts pack and 5 rupees worth of a small water bottle. OK for a no-frills! The flight was operating at normal noise level. Overall, Spicejet is much better than Air-Deccan in the no-frills sector.

When the flight reached hyderabad, airhostess mentioned, “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Chennai…”. After momentary perplexion, Passengers started laughing . Realizing her mistake, airhostess corrected by saying “Sorry Hyderabad!”

3 days of trip to chennai and quality time with family, amidst hectic ISB schedule is beyond my wildest imaginations. But it happened. Never felt better before…Mood == Happy! Mantra == B+.

PS: Now, my brother and parents know about my blog too…Me drinking beer was a major leg-pulling topic! Convinced my mom by saying that it’s all for socializing..blah..blah! Now, I don’t know what to write and what not to write…my entries will be more monitored from now on…!

My team thoroughly enjoyed competing in LABYRINTH. Each and every clues were fun solving. Some clues we cracked in 20-30 minutes. Some clues we spent almost 2 hours! Some clues we couldn’t crack (Iridium Satellites!!).

We had our final rounds today. The very first clue flummoxed us. But we simply bulldozered the second clue, third clue and the important TREASURE TROVE. We cracked the TREASURE TROVE in flat 27 minutes. That means, we had a time bonus of 120 minutes - 27 minutes = 93 minutes [translates to 93 points]!. I don’t think any other team would have got the TREASURE TROVE that fast!. But we had tough time with 1st, 4th and 5th clues. At the end of the session we were sure that all our answers were right. We had our own logic and it fitted the clue…But alas, we got 3 of them wrong. I don’t think we will make it to the final 3. But it was PURE FUN…never saw the entire team productive and highly energetic for the entire 2 hours duration…

Drank Beer for the First time in ISB today. I had tried Beer and Wine previously. Didn’t like, so left it. But today, I wanted to loosen up so badly that I decided to go to the Party thrown for alumns who have come to ISB for Solstice. After seeing people in high energy and All my friends with Beer, decided to try the Beer again. Taste was as usual disgusting! After 2 Beers, got the interest to Dance too. Had good fun. I was shaking hands with whomever I met! was it the Beer effect? But I am COMPLETELY RELAXED now

Had my first one-on-one resume session. On contrary to what I expected, the CAS team mentioned that my resume is definitely in the top 5-10% (in terms of conveying the message) of what they have seen so far this year! Not bad for what I expected…Got some really good feedback and direction from them. I have received many useful feedback from friends in ISB and friends outside ISB. Will incorporate them soon.

One of my friend mentioned about the rumour he heard about me. I said to myself, “Who cares!”. Gossipmongers starving for fresh stuff need something to ruminate, so why worry about that

Ok..Long weekend ahead…will catch some sleep.

I think I will get Class Participation marks in PRICING . In the last 4 days, within 10-15 mins of each class, Prof has managed to look towards me and say “Bharani, Can you say……why….what….how…blah?”. Then I go “Blah…Blah…Blah…Blah…”! Today in the beginning of the class, he said “Who hasn’t been active in this class so far?”…For once I didn’t raise my hands, confidently! That’s because, professor has managed to engage me forcefully and keep in me active in conversation in each class!!!

He signals subtly to the TA, if someone doesn’t answer his question. For example, he was asking one person, “Can you tell us what’s the case is about?”…and he goes..”Sorry prof, I didn’t had time to read…”. Then he looks at TA, with his smile still fixated on his face, and nods and continue saying…”That doesn’t sound good…”. I look at TA and see him obediently marking something on the seating layout chart that he carries with him always.. That’s pricing class for you

But the subject is good. Quant oriented, Marketing gyaan, little bit of conjoint, and other tools…

On the other day, one of the ISB Alum, who is temporarily serving as TA, asked me, “Bharani, You remain silent in the class..why so…But you write so well in your blogs…contrasting”. I go…”I am not motivated to speak in class..”…that wasn’t my brain answering, it was heart! I will let a secret out…Whenever prof asks some questions, I try to write down the thoughts in a sheet of paper…most of the time, it would be same as what prof expects…still wouldn’t speak…let me count how many times I would have spoken in class…On an average, 4-5 comments per term..that’s it!

I am an Introvert by nature. I am comfortable at one-to-one interactions or small group setting..But not quite comfortable in a large group setting…Even in my past work experience, I am not visible among my colleagues in the beginning. But as time goes on, I gained great popularity within the team, mainly through actions and one-to-one rapport building.

Over the past few months in ISB, I have had overload of humbling experiences. Academics, extra-curriculars, leadership, interpersonal relationships, career focus…now I have reached a saturation level…

ISB provides an environment which brings the best out of some people and worst out of some people…I have a long list of people in ISB whom I admire a lot..Should dedicate some posts for them sometime..But there is a risk of forgetting to mention someone…

What about people in ISB that I don’t like…well, for a diplomatic person like me, there aren’t many enemies…:) Even if there are, I will try to forget the ‘unpleasant’ experiences soon…Whoosh…what did I actually intend to post??? again the problem of not filtering the thoughts through brain…

Was awake for last 48 hours with just 2-3 hours sleep in between. Managed to complete 2 assignments, 1 Case Analysis, 1 negotiation analysis, 1 Text reading, 1 Consulting interview preparation, 1-2 hours resume stuff, 1-2 hours of focus group activities, and some more freebies

Now, I will catch sleep for 10 hours. Have classes only in the afternoon.

I have 3 classes on Tuesday, 1 assignment to complete and readings to do for each class. Need to do focus group activities before my next focus group meeting. I should compensate for NUS-Cerebration stuff, as I missed the meeting today. So long afternoon & (night) ahead tomorrow…I owe CCMA some quality attention…when? will squeeze some time…

The following weekend will be Solstice. So have to foresee some ‘time loss’ there! And have to leave to chennai for 3 days the week after that…and have to plan for contingencies…And I have to find time for brushing up fundamentals, improving ‘negotiation’ skills, updating current knowledge etc.,

Hmm…only 3 more months of this crazy life…and then, I will never ever , NEVER EVER slog in life like this…burn-out is simply too much!!!

After Mumbai, it’s the turn of Chennai now…Yes, Chennai is heavily flooded! My home in chennai is slowly getting drowned in the flood!! Heavy rain - not appearing to stop in the near future and overflowing reservoirs are the culprits…Luckily, electricity is still not disconnected in my town, where even a slightest of drizzle will somehow magically disconnect the power supply! According to my mom, who called me in the morning, water level was rising very fast…Hopefully rain gods will show some mercy!

Few months back, chennai city was crying for water…now it is there…in abundance!

Management Consulting jobs are the most sought after jobs in B-school. ISB is no exception. There are some souls in ISB who have been working day and night towards getting a job in McKinsey, BCG et al, since Day 1!

One such Consulting Club member (Yashraj Erande, who also happens to be among the cream of ISB:) ) has started a blog to capture his journey towards the dream placement.

http://bigticketatisb.blogspot.com/
“..The purpose of this blog is to keep everyone current on the progress various teams have been making in their journey towards the coveted ‘big-ticket’ consulting firm. This blog is meant to be a collaborative effort…”

The Consulting Club president - Rohit Kapoor, also has started his own blog…

http://rohitsversion.blogspot.com/

It’s just 3 days in to Term 6 and people are already running around with loads of assignments! I went to drop my PRICING assignment and I saw atleast 6-7 submission boxes, one for each subject!!!! Never seen such an army of submission boxes before…Wish I took my camera along!

By all probability, this will be the last ‘academic’ term. From next term on, everyone will take ‘light’ courses and shift their focus completely towards career.

As of me, after a major confusion of whether to go for 5 subjects or 4 subjects, decided to stick with 5. I like all the subjects that I have bid for..Only concern being the workload. Anyway, no looking back now. Will sail through this term somehow…The professors are all good. Pricing prof belongs to old-school. Very slow but steady. Cold calls!! Outsourcing prof is an ex-McKinsey guy, from law background, and is very articulative…Very tall too Marketing Metrics prof is just like Scott Ward. You know what I mean…Entertaining class. Corporate mergers and acquisitions prof is quite knowledgeable. But poor me finding it difficult to follow all the jargons. Need to catch up…The class is concept-heavy. Looks like there will be lot of take-aways from each class…Time will answer. Business performance management is a good course. Professor shook hands with each and every student before the class began!! Nice gesture…but quite cumbersome, considering 60 odd hands to shake…The first class hasn’t made much impact…hoping to extract more in further classes.

Another headache with elective terms is group formation. Each subject has different study groups. Quite difficult to keep track.

Placed order for a business suit today. I don’t have a complete suit yet. Keeping in mind the placements, this might be the right time to get it stitched.

My interest towards blogging is waning for the past few days. Motivating myself hard. Once you blog for sometime, Blogging becomes a habit. But once you break away from that habit, very difficult to get back the mode…