An interesting e-mail

From the Housekeeping office,

"We have found a set of Keys : The loser may please contact the Housekeeping Office @ 4677."


What a judgement !

Cheers

I love Office 2007

It can do APA referencing, something I have never been able to do since the time I have come here. Professors here are very particular about referencing and insist on APA style. Now that I have Office 2007, it does it automatically. For a change, Microsoft rocks !

Question - Will Bermuda beat Bangladesh

Even if they did, I don't think our boys deserve to play the Super Eights. A dismal performance to say the least. And all you Sachin fans out there, this was one more example of a situation when he din't perform when absolutely necessary. He should hang up his boots and retire gracefully.

I can go back to hoping that West Indies will finally have their glory days and lift the cup ! And that the Indian team is safe!
Cheers

A Day of Upsets (?)

India (quite deservedly) have lost to neighbours Bangladesh. And as I write this, Pakistan are well on their way to become the first team to book seats on the plane back home. For players like Inzamam, this would be his last world cup. Sad ! Oh Yeah, they might as well go now as O'Brien has smashed Shoaib Malik for a six as I type this.

Coming to the India match, I don't have anything say as it was a completely listless performance. Its like they din't turn up to play at all. In what was a good Queen's Park Oval Track, they could manage 191 only, that too thanks to the last wicket partnership. Losing 5 wickets for two runs means you don't deserve to be in the World Cup, let alone win it !

I shudder to think of the kind of money that people would have lost today via betting on the W/C matches. Both the favorites were beaten, and comprehensively. Oh wait ! A wicket.. Pakistan need 5 more and the Irish need19. Whattay !! If India bow out, it would be the sponsors losing a helluva lot of money because the viewership in the subcontinent would obviously decrease !

Am off to watch the last few minutes of the Irish Match ! Cheers

Half a term more :-)

Another half a term and I would have completed the most gruelling part of my academic life ever ! Its probably the most gruelling part for all of us ! 19.75 credits would have been completed. Each credit comprises of 100 hours of work including 30 hours of classroom contact hours. I did some rough math and it turns out that a minimum of 5 hours of work would be required every day of the week throughout the year to satisfy this requirement. All this translates into one word - INSANE !!

By the end of the third term, we are just about ready to give up, if we haven't already ! Third term involves more group assignments than any other term with the quizzes drying up, courtesy MANAC. I shall save MANAC for another post, its a story in itself. Ask any IIM A student about MANAC and tell me what he/she tells you :)

Mid term exams due towards the end of this week. Lets see how they go :)

Cheers.

P.S - Do check out the video in the next post.

Manchester United - The New Era

Watch this - All Man Utd fans. Some of the greatest moments ever :-)

Been a while ! But I am back

Yeah i know, I have been saying that once too often, but I shall attribute it to the hectic schedule as always. The third term started with jet lag for me. I had travelled approximately 24 hours halfway across the world and sat in a WAC lecture. For the uninitiated, WAC stands for Written Analysis and Communication, quite a painful course. It consists of 3 or 4 classes and about 3 written reports, all to be submitted on Saturday evening. There is a famous tradition behind all this known as the WAC run. This run is done when people finish their reports at the last possible minute and run from their dorms to the classrooms in order to submit the report. Sometimes, as I personally found out, students are locked up in their rooms and not let out until the last possible minute. All the tuchchas gather in the long pathway from the mess to the new campus underpass and shoot videos as some fachchas run. Its another WAC weekend next week and the case is frigging 27 pages long. And I have a class tomorrow.

I also have a marketing quiz tomorrow, one of the few times in the first year that quizzes are announced. Our professor, voted unanimously by all as the chillest prof here. Where else would you find a professor, who announces a quiz, then feels all guilty about it, gives only multiple choice questions, attaches last year's paper and explains in an email why a quiz is necessary.

Well, am off now. Going to mug (or atleast try to)

Cheers.

New Year is here !!

Happy New Year !!

I am in Ner York City this time for new year and it has just been ossum. Times square was filled with people on all directions and 12 streets were blocked. Saw most of the sites in this city over the past two days. However, the city IMHO is over-hyped and has nothing spectacular. Off to LA tomo evening..
And yes, I almost missed my flight from Mumbai on 28th. More on that in a later post. Until then, have fun and be good !

Cheers

Sreesanth at his swinging best !

Easily the funniest thing I have ever seen on a cricket field. Sreesanth was showing his heart, his dance and his bat at Nel ! Someday, Nel needs to be fined for his sledging !! Cheers

Is the justice system in India finally coming of age ??

In the recent weeks, India has seen some landmark decisions in its courts.

There was Sanjay Dutt, who was convicted under the arms act but acquitted under TADA and his sentencing is due next month. Then, there was former Union Minister Shibu Soren who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his secretary. Incidentally, his first night in jail was a troublesome one as mosquitos bugged the hell outta him !

More recently, Navjot Singh Sidhu, the man famous for his quotes was convicted in an age old case (1988) and sentenced to three years in prison. Earlier, the impression among the general public was that powerful people would never be convicted, even if there were tons of cases and charge-sheets against them.

In my opinion, this trend is changing and soon we should see more and more tainted famous people behind bars ! In fact, the supreme court has quashed petitions from Lalu and Rabri asking all their cases to be dismissed ! Way to go !!

Atleast now, these people will think twice before they do something wrong. I mean, having someone as a union minister, someone who has murdered his own secretary is simply not done!! Alas, the prime minister, one of the most respected people in India has no choice as his hands are tied because he has to run a coalition government.

Hopefully, things have changed for the better now!

The Leading Lipstick Indicator :-)

Came across this in a quiz yesterday. Was amazed that such a theory existed..
Check it out :)
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lipstickindicator.asp

From investopedia,

An indicator based on the theory that a consumer turns to less-expensive indulgences, such as lipstick, when she (or he) feels less than confident about the future. Therefore, lipstick sales tend to increase during times of economic uncertainty or a recession

You can just imagine the creative answers it got from the participants :-)
Cheers.

Should Chappell go ??

I have always maintained that Chappell was never the right man for the job. Recently, I read a news article in which it was said that Sunil Gavaskar also opposed his appointment when Chappell was interviewed.

Well, Sunny seems to have been right on the money as the Indian team is not performing at all. To use an oft-repeated argument, it all started with the Ganguly - Greg spat after the Zimbabwe tour following which things were never the same. Ganguly went, and with it, the fighting spirit in the team. Dravid is a class player, no doubting that. He is also a good thinker, but lacks that X factor which Saurav had. When Saurav was on the field, he was charged up and demanded good performances. I don't see that with Rahul Dravid.

Another thing that is prevalent with the current team is that some players take their place in the team for guarantee and they never seem to be dropped. They consistently don't perform for 10-15 innings and suddenly, one innings they perform and people go, "aaah!! There you go!!." Something needs to be done about this!

There is just too much money in Indian cricket and the performances to match them are just not there! Greg Chappell is paid a lot of money as coach but I don't see any results. And its been a while since he has taken charge. The will to win just does not seem to be there!!!

If this team goes to the world cup with the same attitude, we might as well concede defeat and not play !

Cheers

Memoirs of a WimWian

Mid terms going on here. I can't believe that its been close to 5 months now at WimWI. Time has just flown by and 25% of my stay here is already over. When I reflect on the things that I have done so far, lots of fond memories have already been formed.

T-Nite will remain on every fachcha's mind long after he has left the hallowed portals of this campus. It is easily the best thing that happens in the first term. A period of bonding, intense competition and more importantly, its 4 nights of complete fun. The mugging is forgotten and the PGP office is generous enough not to schedule quizzes during this week. Those were the times when the entire section used to be present in the classroom even at 3 and 4 in the morning and sleep was forgotten. Needless to say, we caught up on sleep in the classes and this is the first time I actually slept in class. At IIM A, all our classrooms are horse-shoe shaped with 4 rows on the three sides, each at different levels. I sit in the well (or the bottom row), right under the instructor's nose. This works to my advantage because it is not in the line of sight for the professor and cold calling is minimal. Cold-calling is a phrase associated with business school students around the world where you're randomly called in class to answer any question that the professor throws at you. It is fun when someone else is cold-called but believe me, its not funny when the victim is you as I found out quite recently in an accounting class. I was staring into space when the professor asks me something from the case of which I had no idea. I looked blankly at him and he offered me a glass of water :P.

There are other memorable things that have happened here, especially in the dorm. The dorm culture in most dorms is quite strong and your loyalty is first to your dorm, then your section, then your batch, and finally your institute. After the institute comes the loyalty to your girlfriend. Dorms go out to dinner together, drink together, have parties, and also make tempo shouts. Tempo shouting is a tradition where one group out-shouts the other. Mind you, these are not random shouts, but the words have a meaning attached to them too:P

I'll complete this post later as there is a mid term in 5 hours and I need some sleep.

Good night :)

Whattay Match !!!

Chelsea Lost!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

John Terry sent off.. Half a dozen or so players booked.. Lost to Tottenham by a goal. And Man Utd won yesterday against Portsmouth.. Three points clear at the top!!!

We are well on course to win the title..

Where are y'all, Chelsea fans?????????????

Also, Arsenal lost earlier to West Ham.. All you Goooooooooners, say aye!!!

Bring 'em on!!!!

Go Red Devils Go!!!

Cheers!!

PS- Mid terms from tomo.. :) Wish me luck :)

Happy Diwali

Another example of where this country's politics is headed for..
Read this

And yeah, Happy Diwali to all once again !!
Cheers

Deadlines and more deadlines

A deadline is something that is sacrosanct in WimWi. Most deadlines are specified as 23:59:59 and believe me, these are followed. I have become a very punctual person after coming here, if I might say so myself.

The second term here is much more hectic than term 1 in terms of deadlines. Summer placements are around the corner and the campus is very active with everyone applying to companies of their choice and busy filling forms, networking etc etc.

And as is tradition, all work gets done in the last hour before the deadline approaches. I was actually surprised at myself for finishing something about 6 hours ahead of time!! :-)

Which reminds me, such joys are shortlived. Off I go, chasing another deadline.
Cheers

Heights!!!

Saw this news article on the News Notice Board on Campus. I don't know whether to laugh or be sad. Read on..

Balasore (Orissa):
Sometimes when police talk business, they mean monkey business. This is a story of a simian who has been caged in Orissa for the last five years for, believe it or not, disturbing communal harmony. The seven year-old monkey called Ramu is serving life imprisonment at Remuna police station in Balasore district.

Raised by a Hindu family, he bit some Muslim children five years ago, sparking communal tension in the area. When police intervened, they put him in this cage. Says the officer in charge, Remuna police station, M K Dhir, "The Muslim community people whose children were bitten came here and made a complaint. In order to calm the situation we caged this monkey."

Though caged, police say they treat Ramu well. They say he gets more than two kilos of fruits everyday apart from his usual meal. However, animal rights activists are not amused. Says an animal rights activist, R K Sahoo, "This is a punishable offence and the monkey should be immediately set free in the jungle."

The forest department wants to release Ramu from the bondage, but police officials say they have developed an emotional bond with the monkey and don't want to lose him.

Source:
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/hindu-monkey-bites-muslim-kid-held/24127-3.html

I am here..

Lots happening in life. I got through the first term here at IIM - A, said by most as the toughest period on campus academically. Term I ended ten days ago, I made a short trip back home for 6 days, and was back in time for the second term to start.

Seniors on campus told us that the second term is lighter than the first, but I am yet to see that happening. If nothing, it is actually more workload than the first term. Hopefully, things should even out in a while. The highlights of term 2 are "Confluence", our inter B school management fest and the summer placement process, both happening in november.

Hectic time ahead though. I also went to a garba event on sunday and it was a lot of fun. Very tiring, but thoroughly entertaining. Being in Gujarat does have its advantages after all !! :-)

Back with more later
Cheers,

World Blog Day

Today being 31st Aug, bloggers all over the world are celebrating blog day.

5 of the new blogs I like

Rashmi's Youth Curry. I have been reading her blog on and off for a while now, never really commented..

Abhinav Ex IIM Cal. I like his writing.

Ms.V's realistically speaking Another one which I follow sporadically. I simply love the template on her blog.

sidin An ex IIM A grad.. Writes totally hilarious blogs :-)

War For NewsMy current favorite. Gives you an inside view into the functioning of the major news channels in the country. Entertaining read

Cheers

There are times when you don't know what to say.

There are times when you have loads of things in your mind, but can't really assimilate them into meaningful thoughts.

There are times when you miss some of your friends, but are unable to tell them that you miss them.

There are times when you miss family, when you wish that you were at home, and not having to do housekeeping by yourself.

There are times when you feel that grades don't mean everything in life.

There are times when you feel that there is much more to life than degrees, jobs, money and recognition.

There are times in life when you feel nice, when someone special, stays awake just to keep you company when you are working on a boring assignment.

There are times when you look back at life, and feel stupid for some of the things that you've done.

There are times when you regret doing/saying stuff to people and feel bad at not apologizing for your actions.

There are times when you miss the peaceful lifestyle that you used to lead.

Today was one such time, when all of these thoughts came to my mind!!

Cheers!!