This week, it is Luxury Brand Management. We had Simon Nyeck and Dennis Morrisset talking over the various concepts of luxury brand management. We also had a visit to Lous Vuitton Workshop, Museum and their Retail store. We got to know more about Fashion and Fashion brands. Atlast I found a subject which encourages me to watch FTV :-).
After this week, the final takeaway was that there is not much of a difference when it comes to Marketing of FMCG and luxury brands. Luxury brands make you dream, which puts them at the elite list. We also have the concept of Masstige, where some of the prestigious brands becoming accessible to commoners. All in all a nice one week of learning.
LV visit needs a special mention. Their workshop was on one corner of Paris. I was shocked to see Osterich, Alligator skins used as Exotic leathers for their bags. Also had a look at their museums, which had snake leather bags and seal leather bags. These guys get the leather from authorised suppliers and you need to have the permit to carry these leather bags for your travel. Left me thinking that we are taking the entire animal kingdom for granted for our luxury. The craftsmanship at LV is something that should be praised. Observed some of their employees making bags and trunks. Being a Mechanical Engineer I just could not help the feeling that if these processes were automated, they could en up producing more bags at a shorter time with much better quality. But it is for the craftsmanship they charge such a higher price.
Their museum had some special orders which were made for specific customers. Attained bliss on taking snaps with custom made order of Sharon Stone:-).
Friday night had the chance to visit this placed Caveaux de la Huichette, where Jazz was first played in Paris. As the name implies, it is a cave, where the Jazz band plays throughout the night and we have the old French men and women dancing. Swing or Lin-Hop was there to see and God it was so wonderful to see all these older people enjoying their time. Maybe I should take a clue from them.
Saturday, it was the France Brazil match and after the match was won by France, we went to Champs Elysees to have a look. Man it was chaos with cars honking and the traffic completely blocked. There were huge processions going on shouting Allez Le Bleu, ZIZOU and HENRY. ¨People were screaming, shouting, venting out their emotions. Made me feel a little uncomfortable,I should say. Here is the other face of Paris. This was completely opposite to the one that we saw at the Jazz place.
The third face of Paris was seen when we visited the artists village at Montmarte. It was a wonderful place with artists painting the portraits/caricatures of the walkers. I and Ashish got our caricatures done and it was really funny. These guys are geniuses in their own way. A couple of strokes here and a couple there, voila... you have the caricature of Arune ready! Later went for the boat ride at the river Siene.
One more week of romancing Paris still left. I just somehow dont feel that I have had enough of this place. Paris Je t'aime !!!!
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Belgique! Here I am.
Friday was kinda hectic in the sense we had to dress up in full suit to Louvre museum(sounds odd) and then to Credit Agricole visit. Also we had to change from Arun's place to Jitin's place. Arun and Jitin said that they will take care of the shift. We also had plans to go to Normandie by car. I and Tom tried to arrange something on the net, but in vain. So we gaveup the Normandie plan. At the back of mind, I was having the Belgium plan, if Normandie fails.
We saw the match at Arun's place on Friday nite after deciding that we will take the Thalys to Brussels. Saturday we reached Gare Du nord around 9.30. Got the ticket to Brussels for the 9.55 train. We went Dada's style this time... yeah..First class! Called up Kama in advance saying that we are coming to Brussels. Reached Brussels Midi in an hour and 20 min. From there went to Brussels Nord. Got up with Kama. Met him after 4 years. The guy has become more stylish these days. I looked the new Kama and his specs.
After a good meal at Kama's place we went to have a look at Brussels. First we went to Grand Place where we met our very old friend Shiv Puram. The guy remains the same. No change in voice. Then we went to Mannekan Piss. Opposite to the piss, we had drinks. I recommended to Ashish the Cherry Beer, which he enjoyed a lot. Later we went around shopping and went to Atomium. Our bad luck, it was closed after 5.00 PM. So was the case of the miniature Park. Atlast came back and had good food once again. Kama cooks really well. Dost Thanks for the grub.
Sunday was the day! Went to Brugges the third time. I just dont seem to have enough of this place. Took us one hour from Brussels by train. We went to the City Tower(close to 800 short, steep steps). Nice view from there. Also had the canal ride. Then roamed the place as I did during the last time too. This time weather played spoil sport. It was drizzling all the time.
Bad luck. Came back around 11.00 to Paris Nord. Reached home around 12.00 and Jitin had cooked rice for us. Our friends have really taken care of us this time. Indebted to them a lot.
We saw the match at Arun's place on Friday nite after deciding that we will take the Thalys to Brussels. Saturday we reached Gare Du nord around 9.30. Got the ticket to Brussels for the 9.55 train. We went Dada's style this time... yeah..First class! Called up Kama in advance saying that we are coming to Brussels. Reached Brussels Midi in an hour and 20 min. From there went to Brussels Nord. Got up with Kama. Met him after 4 years. The guy has become more stylish these days. I looked the new Kama and his specs.
After a good meal at Kama's place we went to have a look at Brussels. First we went to Grand Place where we met our very old friend Shiv Puram. The guy remains the same. No change in voice. Then we went to Mannekan Piss. Opposite to the piss, we had drinks. I recommended to Ashish the Cherry Beer, which he enjoyed a lot. Later we went around shopping and went to Atomium. Our bad luck, it was closed after 5.00 PM. So was the case of the miniature Park. Atlast came back and had good food once again. Kama cooks really well. Dost Thanks for the grub.
Sunday was the day! Went to Brugges the third time. I just dont seem to have enough of this place. Took us one hour from Brussels by train. We went to the City Tower(close to 800 short, steep steps). Nice view from there. Also had the canal ride. Then roamed the place as I did during the last time too. This time weather played spoil sport. It was drizzling all the time.
Bad luck. Came back around 11.00 to Paris Nord. Reached home around 12.00 and Jitin had cooked rice for us. Our friends have really taken care of us this time. Indebted to them a lot.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Rest of the first week
The week went off. The first week at ESSEC was quite okay. Except for the first day, the rest of the days were ordinary.
Tuesday, we had a Macroeconomic view of Euro, Euroconversion etc by Andre Fourcans. He was quite okay. Afternoon we went to Paris Stock Exchange. Took snaps at the exchange. Nice place for an exchange. Now it is fully computerised. We had a presentation about the Euronext, Derivatives (Sleepy....) by the people from the exchange. Later we went around Operah, St Michel. Came back and slept.
Wednesday, it was Macro once again. Afternoon we had lunch at Champs Elysees. Later walked all the way to St Germain via Concorde. Saw the match in a bar. It was Fete De la Musique in Paris that day. Went to two different places. The second place was the Ministiere D Outre Mer, where we had Carribean music by Mike Ibrahim. Later we had Polynesian tribal dance. Enjoyed the show thoroughly. Went to Odeon later. It was raining like hell, hence came back.
Thursday, it was Entrepreneurship. We had a case study in the morning. Later in the afternoon we had a talk by one of the ex ESSEC student, who is owning a company now. Quite a day. Roamed around in the malls of La Defense. Met a wonderful waitress, who liked like Drew Barrymore. Dil kho gaya re....
Friday, it was the Louvre visit and later it was the visit to Credit Agricole. Louvre visit was more towards the Dutch paintings, French painitings. Went and saw Mona Lisa. Too immature to comment about the beauty of these. So keeping my mouth shut.
Now it is Saturday today. Decided in the morning to to Brussels. Took Ashish and rushed to Gare Du Nord. Got tickets and now I am at Kama's place writing this blog. Quite an eventful week. Planning to go to Brugges tomorrow.
Had been talking to Amma and her. Need to talk to her some more time and come to a conclusion. Idhar Mobile international roaming mein vaat lagne waali hai. Cant help it.
Tuesday, we had a Macroeconomic view of Euro, Euroconversion etc by Andre Fourcans. He was quite okay. Afternoon we went to Paris Stock Exchange. Took snaps at the exchange. Nice place for an exchange. Now it is fully computerised. We had a presentation about the Euronext, Derivatives (Sleepy....) by the people from the exchange. Later we went around Operah, St Michel. Came back and slept.
Wednesday, it was Macro once again. Afternoon we had lunch at Champs Elysees. Later walked all the way to St Germain via Concorde. Saw the match in a bar. It was Fete De la Musique in Paris that day. Went to two different places. The second place was the Ministiere D Outre Mer, where we had Carribean music by Mike Ibrahim. Later we had Polynesian tribal dance. Enjoyed the show thoroughly. Went to Odeon later. It was raining like hell, hence came back.
Thursday, it was Entrepreneurship. We had a case study in the morning. Later in the afternoon we had a talk by one of the ex ESSEC student, who is owning a company now. Quite a day. Roamed around in the malls of La Defense. Met a wonderful waitress, who liked like Drew Barrymore. Dil kho gaya re....
Friday, it was the Louvre visit and later it was the visit to Credit Agricole. Louvre visit was more towards the Dutch paintings, French painitings. Went and saw Mona Lisa. Too immature to comment about the beauty of these. So keeping my mouth shut.
Now it is Saturday today. Decided in the morning to to Brussels. Took Ashish and rushed to Gare Du Nord. Got tickets and now I am at Kama's place writing this blog. Quite an eventful week. Planning to go to Brugges tomorrow.
Had been talking to Amma and her. Need to talk to her some more time and come to a conclusion. Idhar Mobile international roaming mein vaat lagne waali hai. Cant help it.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Le premiere jour.. deuxieme fois
The first day.. second time... I posted the blog and when I was about to hit publish post, my sytem went down. Was cursing windows once again and now here I am giving the same piece of stuff second time.
The first day started with headache for me. It was still drousy and I somehow recovered and went ahead. Reached the La Defense building well in advance. Paris is the same except the stench in metros have increased. Once again I just could not help the feeling that the creator is really biased.
We had an introductory session given by Michelle and supported by Delphine (Jaws Drop!!!). They both explained about ESSEC, the summer module, the professors, the industry visits et al. Nice start. Had breakfast and then the real session started with Aurelion taking the stage. His session was team building, communicating and intercultural differences. We had wonderful games. Games like Beauregard price fixing (we also did exactly the same under John in his OB classes), Portrait, Different types of listening and intercultural differences were enjoyable. With his very pleasing personality and good command over English, his session was really good. Aurelion had worked with Ex Prime Minister of France as an advisor. He has strong networks. The Dada in me woke up to get his card. Too bad, somehow it escaped my mind. But we have three more weeks. Can get it sometime else.
The participants were from all over the world. There was a participant from Columbia, who was an ESSEC student. Americans, Japanese, Chinese, French, Koreans. Indians, Indonesian,Singaporeans all constitute the batch. Sheroo FYI, there were two Finns too. Nice mix.
Had lunch at an Italian restaurant (pasta and water). It cost me 6.20 Euros. Ah... Classes ended at 5.30. The Desi in me woke up. Guess it..... you were right. I took Ashish to La Chappelle, Gare du nord, Paris's own little india. hee hee.. The place is the same, nothing changed with some new restaurants. Had dosa at Pondicherry restaurant which sucked. Got some calling cards and rice and came back. On our way back went to Arc De Triumphe. The one bad thing is that the sun rises around 5 AM in the morning and it is bright till 11 in the night. Had to console myself that we are not in Norway for an exchange.
The first day started with headache for me. It was still drousy and I somehow recovered and went ahead. Reached the La Defense building well in advance. Paris is the same except the stench in metros have increased. Once again I just could not help the feeling that the creator is really biased.
We had an introductory session given by Michelle and supported by Delphine (Jaws Drop!!!). They both explained about ESSEC, the summer module, the professors, the industry visits et al. Nice start. Had breakfast and then the real session started with Aurelion taking the stage. His session was team building, communicating and intercultural differences. We had wonderful games. Games like Beauregard price fixing (we also did exactly the same under John in his OB classes), Portrait, Different types of listening and intercultural differences were enjoyable. With his very pleasing personality and good command over English, his session was really good. Aurelion had worked with Ex Prime Minister of France as an advisor. He has strong networks. The Dada in me woke up to get his card. Too bad, somehow it escaped my mind. But we have three more weeks. Can get it sometime else.
The participants were from all over the world. There was a participant from Columbia, who was an ESSEC student. Americans, Japanese, Chinese, French, Koreans. Indians, Indonesian,Singaporeans all constitute the batch. Sheroo FYI, there were two Finns too. Nice mix.
Had lunch at an Italian restaurant (pasta and water). It cost me 6.20 Euros. Ah... Classes ended at 5.30. The Desi in me woke up. Guess it..... you were right. I took Ashish to La Chappelle, Gare du nord, Paris's own little india. hee hee.. The place is the same, nothing changed with some new restaurants. Had dosa at Pondicherry restaurant which sucked. Got some calling cards and rice and came back. On our way back went to Arc De Triumphe. The one bad thing is that the sun rises around 5 AM in the morning and it is bright till 11 in the night. Had to console myself that we are not in Norway for an exchange.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
One helluva week!
I cannot explain my experiences last week any better!
To start with, I, Mani and DV decided to move out of Grad Hall. This was definitely was one of the sad decisions that we had to take coz we still have the luxury to stay inside the Grad Hall till December. We decided to stay near our offices and hence moved out of the Grad Hall. We saw three apartments and finalized the one at Yishun. It is a nice 2 BHK condo apartment with all facilities like Gym, Tennis, Squash, Swimming facilities. The house owner wanted to us to move in ASAP and we decided to do it last week. Also I had my France trip lined up during the weekend. Somehow moved myself out of the Grad Hall and landed up in the new apartment. Thursday night was totally washed off and Friday morning was hell. Managed to land up in office and leave out of the same early to catch my evening flight to Chennai. Landed in Chennai around 11.00 PM.
The next day, Saturday was the D day. Yeah. I met the first gal whom my parents have identified. Wanted this to be a very private affair with just me and the girl. But my dad arranged this to happen in a temple with both the families. I was pissed off and asked my Dad to cancel it. Then it happened in Hotel Sangeetha. But it was just not me and her. My Dad, Her parents and her cousin came along. I just couldn’t help it. They left us in a corner. We had a chat for an hour. Then I told their parents that I will get back to them after some time. They were really anxious and were insisting on a good result. I am quite hesitant and confused right now on this.
Then the same evening set to Mumbai, where I and Ashish had to catch the Delta flight to Paris.
PAHREEH……………. Here I come. Nice flight, which started half an hour late and landed in CDG at 8 AM in the morning. It was a nice chilly, sunny morning and the sky was as clear as it can ever be! The French babes…Sigh…. Man, this country makes me totally depressed. For a moment, I felt two eyes are not enough.
Odun was there to receive us. Saala budda ho gaya. Had food at his place. Went for a walk to the Eiffel. Huge structure made of just rivet joints. What an engineering master piece. Had the chance to visit it anytime during the one year I stayed in Paris last time. But this time it was special. The water fountain at the front has become a swimming pool for the public and they had a blast. The clothes were as minimal as you can imagine and I just could not help the feeling the creator is really biased. Phew..
From tomorrow onwards, got to start my ESSEC journey. Will try to update this blog frequently with my experiences. There are close to 30 participants in this program. Some nice faces. Will try to network my way with all of them. I am looking forward to it .
To start with, I, Mani and DV decided to move out of Grad Hall. This was definitely was one of the sad decisions that we had to take coz we still have the luxury to stay inside the Grad Hall till December. We decided to stay near our offices and hence moved out of the Grad Hall. We saw three apartments and finalized the one at Yishun. It is a nice 2 BHK condo apartment with all facilities like Gym, Tennis, Squash, Swimming facilities. The house owner wanted to us to move in ASAP and we decided to do it last week. Also I had my France trip lined up during the weekend. Somehow moved myself out of the Grad Hall and landed up in the new apartment. Thursday night was totally washed off and Friday morning was hell. Managed to land up in office and leave out of the same early to catch my evening flight to Chennai. Landed in Chennai around 11.00 PM.
The next day, Saturday was the D day. Yeah. I met the first gal whom my parents have identified. Wanted this to be a very private affair with just me and the girl. But my dad arranged this to happen in a temple with both the families. I was pissed off and asked my Dad to cancel it. Then it happened in Hotel Sangeetha. But it was just not me and her. My Dad, Her parents and her cousin came along. I just couldn’t help it. They left us in a corner. We had a chat for an hour. Then I told their parents that I will get back to them after some time. They were really anxious and were insisting on a good result. I am quite hesitant and confused right now on this.
Then the same evening set to Mumbai, where I and Ashish had to catch the Delta flight to Paris.
PAHREEH……………. Here I come. Nice flight, which started half an hour late and landed in CDG at 8 AM in the morning. It was a nice chilly, sunny morning and the sky was as clear as it can ever be! The French babes…Sigh…. Man, this country makes me totally depressed. For a moment, I felt two eyes are not enough.
Odun was there to receive us. Saala budda ho gaya. Had food at his place. Went for a walk to the Eiffel. Huge structure made of just rivet joints. What an engineering master piece. Had the chance to visit it anytime during the one year I stayed in Paris last time. But this time it was special. The water fountain at the front has become a swimming pool for the public and they had a blast. The clothes were as minimal as you can imagine and I just could not help the feeling the creator is really biased. Phew..
From tomorrow onwards, got to start my ESSEC journey. Will try to update this blog frequently with my experiences. There are close to 30 participants in this program. Some nice faces. Will try to network my way with all of them. I am looking forward to it .
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