Monday, July 24, 2006

Joyeux Anniversaire

Congrats to me and all other NBS stalwarts for completing one year in Singapore and NBS. It was in July last year that we came here. July 13th was the day of registration and a couple of days later we had our orientation. Profs John Beck, Michael Connor, Ashish Lall rocked during the three days. Getting to know each other was fun. 14 Indians in Grad Hall from a single batch. What was one great contribution to the society ? Evolution of DVism as a phenomenon.

Naye bache aa rahe hain August 1st mein. Dada is sure gonna rock. He will be the most after dude in our batch. Let us wait and watch.

Happy Anniversary NBSers !

Sunday, July 23, 2006

CRM @ the speed of .....

CRM @ the speed of light was one of those books which I rented from library and never read it. Having worked in MUST, a GEMS after sales service system, I had quite a decent idea as what CRM was and how things should work. Also after doing some sort of research for the Contact Center applications, I thought my CRM knowledge was quite decent, until I took the CRM course by Dr.Lakshmi Mohan.

Known as the mother of CRM, she is from State University of New York, Albany. What a treasure house of knowledge she is ! No words are enough to describe. Her energy level never ceases to decrease and it is hard to believe she is close to 70. Her background is simply amazing. A Ph.D in Maths from Columbia univ, 4 years of work experience in MR in HLL, Founder faculty of IIMC, Faculty at Sloan etc etc. She has been a consultant to all the top notch companies and taught in almost all the continents of the world. In tamil there is a saying.."Katravarukku sendra vidamellam Sirappu". She is a perfect example for that. We were dumbstruck by her classes for the past two days. What voice modulation, what case studies and what memory she has.. I was really lucky not to have missed her classes. My weekend has been just great. She is gonna teach BI for the next weekend. It is gonna be one more fun filled weekend. This is the first time in my life I am enjoying my weekend attending classes, preparing for lectures, getting ready for the assignments. Very rarely you come across people like her. Thanks NBS.

Well, as usual my ISD bills have been on the rise. Things are taking quite an interesting turn these days. I am getting to know her more these days. Life is gonna be a roller coaster after Feb. Aruneganeshaaaaaaaaa....... Take care.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Le Derniere Semaine

The last week of the ESSEC summer program was the most demanding week in the sense that we had to prepare really hard for partying. Since this was the last week, everyday we had to go out and party. I was lucky enough to escape around and be back before 12. Poor Ashish came home manytimes after midnite. On Friday he did a full nite out partying.

The week was full of action. We had a session on HR by Maurice and he was good. His talk about marriages and marriage counselling was good. Every marriage goes through three phases. First phase was the romantic phase. You like her. She likes you. The world is such a nice place to live in. This first phase is quite a shorter one though. Then enters the second one, the phase of Delusion. Here slowly reality strikes. The shortcomings of both the partners are exposed and the true nature of the couple shows off. The third one is the Acceptance phase, where couples accept their partners shortcomings and go ahead in their life loving the other. For the divorced couples, it is the delusion period that hits hard and they dont enter the acceptance phase but take the rejection option.

We had a visit to the Air France and Airport. Waht a wonderful waste of time. We were shown in the airport as where business class people check in, where economy class checks in, what is a lounge, what is there inside a lounge and all other wonderful things in an airport which any traveller is aware of ! Wastage of a day.. Could have slept the entire day for partying in the nite.
The next two days we had negotiation session with Alain Lempereuer. Nice sessions. Good cases and it was fun ripping Teelie with Dan during one of the negotiation cases. Enjoyed these thoroughly. Friday, we went to the ESSEC campus at Cergy where we had a session with Nicholas about Education from different parts of the world. Quite a decent session afterwhich we had dinner at a Restaurant situated at Van Goh's museum. It was the place where Van Goh stayed in his last years. The lunch was typically French with Rabbit and Lamb. For Ashish and me, they made special salads and vegetarian dishes. At the end of the day, we all went to Biere culture, where we partied. I came back around 9.30 to do the packing and also the key was with me. Next day bid adieu to Arun and Paris.

I should have taken the Air France flight from Chennai. Just could not help it. Took the Delta to Mumbai. Networked with a couple of managers on my way back. I am becoming a true follower of Dada these days. First Class and Networing. Was stuck in the Mumbai Airport for 7 hours for the next flight to Chennai. Lost my sleep all through the day.

Came Sunday. Came Chennai. Met my future partner once again and said yes to her! She came our house and we went to hers. It was a fun experience for me at my home when my relatives were taking me on in front of her. The same experience at her place too. Got to know her family.
It was a new experience altogether. Then went to Sarath's marriage reception. The guy has put on so much of weight ..seems so much of beer ! Got back in time for the night flight to Singapore.

Losing precious sleep all throughout the day. But hell, who cares about sleep. But the only pain in this trip was missing the world cup final. I was there cheering for France and Brazil during this worldcup in the bars of Paris. The final which France played against Italy was missed as I had to travel back to Singapore. Poor French, they lost it in the penalty shoot out... Felt sorry for them. Zidane going out with a red card, was not expected out of him. But what went in the field was something unsure. Why he got wild ? What was goin on between him and Materazzi ?
Not sure.

So the coming days promise to be more interesting and challenging. Got to register for my subjects. Shit loads of work is pending at office. Jet lag does not allow me to sleep. It is 4.15 in the morning and I am awake. Will take some time to adjust.

So long !