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.

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.

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 .

The Bliss List

Mani and I were discussing about the list of activities/things which brought ultimate satisfaction/bliss to us. Thought of posting those in this post. What a turnover from my last post where I have cribbed about that void feeling. Within a week, life seems bright !

Here is the list !
a. A Good Day's meal at Karu's or Komala's or at Khansama. You should have felt the hunger and desperation for a good/decent meal. We have been experiencing this quite often these days!
b. A wonderful tea with hot Pakoras and a fast paced novel/cricket match. Even chatting with friends bhi chalega. The chai should be real hot with tinge of ginger and elaichi in it .. Wah wah...
Add Sutta to the above list for Mani.
c. After playing/jogging taking a good hot shower ! This rejuvenates your entire body and soul. Water has such an effect on the body and the mind.. Just too good.
d. A good night sleep. Man, this what we all die for. Sleep at 10 and wake up at 6. You dont feel that tiredness and you just want to start the day with full josh... This is bliss in many sense.
e. Listening to your favourite band. When you are all alone, just pump up the volume and let the Doors knock !!!!!! Raja, SPB, Kishore, Rafi are also in the list. For Mani, it is ARR intead of Raja.
f. Vodka, Vodka, Vodka.. Get yourself totally knocked out.....This is exclusively for Mani.
g. When you see a child smiling and playing. This is one of my favourite past times when I travel in the MRT. The kids are so cute and man ....their smiles!... It makes me feel so light..
h. Taking a piss ! Imagine that urge getting built and you are in an important meeting where you cant take a break or you are struck in the MRT and you need close to an hour to reach the nearest toilet. How does that feel for Bliss ??
i. A wonderful movie with some terrific performances... Scent of a Woman/ Godfather/ Shawshank Redemption ...... Lots of these.........
j. Just letting your jaws drop on seeing a beautiful giggling damsel cross you !!!!!!!!!!! Hmm ..is this desperation ??? someways it is bliss too !! what say ?
k. Going to a new place where you have never been.... Nature abound... Mountains, Waterfalls, Sunrise, Sunset, Beaches etc....Where you get yourself immersed with nature !

There is one more thing which we discussed, but would like to defer that. We are not yet married to describe the same. Probably after a year :)

If you feel there are other things which we have missed out, go ahead and post them as your comments.

That Void Feeling.....

Hmm.... It has started all over again. You go through your routine activities of life. Go to job. Get totally stressed up. Rush to classes. Get totally pissed off on not reading the articles, cases. Return at late Night just to sleep in the room. The next day the same cycle follows. What has happened to me? I know being a Libran, I go through these cycles. But this is taking a toll on me this time. Tomorrow I have my Marketing Exam and here I am writing a blog. What has gone into my head?
Am I overconfident ? Am I careless ? I just dont know. Do I wanna sleep ...No ? Do I wanna see movies?... No. Come on yaar. What is this boredom dude ? Shame on me.....

Pacinophilia

Pacinophilia !

That is the one word to describe my current situation. Totally dumbstruck by his performance in "Scent of a woman". Have been watching this movie continuously. Very rarely you get a movie in Hollywood like this, where the protagonist steals the whole show. We infact were commenting the other characters like the Cat, the Limo driver and Chris Odonnell had equal part in the movie :-P

Coming to Pacino, the man is a killer. He is like the nasha which most of our guys are after. Undescribable performance. Deservingly, he won an Oscar for this ! The climax is the icing on the cake, with Pacino defending Chris for his actions. He is a master.

Have watched other movies of him like Godfather, Devil's Advocate, Any given Sunday etc. But Scent of a Woman is the movie for Pacino. Because of Pacinophilia, my condition has become from bad to worse. My assignments are pending. Not in a mood to look at them. Why am I like this ? Cantraal yaar...

Ok, Let us get focussed. Exams are nearing. Next week is the 12th week... Need to give my best shot. Ab blog wog ke liye time nahin hai... Ek aur baar Scent of a woman dekhna hai...:-)

Is winning the only thing ?

It has been a consolation this time for us in our Markops simulation game. We hit the rockbottom last time. This time though, we are three places up from the bottom. We brought in a new product and gave it some positioning and promotion. Also the other products gained market share. In the midst of this, we were shocked to find some of the strategies that other teams follow. Let me explain.

Markops is a simulation game we play as part of our Mktg. course. The game is a computer simulated one, with every team having its own version of the game. The game consists of 4 companies. Your team is one among them and the rest are computer simulated. So we have around 11 teams in the class. All the 11 teams have their own individual market place with their competitors. Whoever has the highest Share Price index (SPI) is the winner.

To promote each product, everyone gets 20MM, which the team needs to spend on Advertising, trade marketing and Promotions. Some of the other teams go in for the introduction of a new product, get the 20 MM, and use the 20MM on the promotion of their existing products. They leave the new product in the lurch. This becomes a Dummy product and the teams make use of the hefty money in their existing products. Assume it in a real life situation, you convince your Top management about the introduction of a new product, get yourselves the Production capacity and then on the day when you need to start producing, you say No. "We dont want to create the product. We did this just to get the 20MM marketing budget, which we will use it for the other products." Sounds logical ? I am not sure.

This was the topic of discussion yesterday in our class and it was quite hot. Everyone was in their own way defending/opposing this strategy. Yours truly was one of the vocal participant yesterday :-)). The Prof himself was undecided as how to treat this. Hmm thoughts to go on this....

But Think of it. Is it possible in a real life situation? The Marketing Department does not function on its own. The R&D comes up with a new formula, the strategic decisions are taken by the top management about the product launch and then Mktg goes ahead with the new product branding, promotion etc. I dont see the strategy being used anywhere in real life. When simulation games are simulations of real life, then why do we follow something that is totally impossible in real life? Am I ignorant here, of not knowing such strategies followed by companies in real life ?

Everyone plays the game fair. But when some team comes up with a strategy, which does not focus on Mktg, but on the creative aspects of Financing, then it is something that goes against the unwritten rules of the game. Will we do anything to get our way out of trouble and win ?

I disagree. There are many instances in my life where I preferred losing just to be on the right side. I know I am a winner in my own way. Had I gone ahead with any of these choices, I would have saved some bucks by fooling someone. But will my conscience allow me to take a peaceful sleep after it ? I doubt it. I just cant. Comparing those instances with just a simulation game may seem a too far. But just cant help the rant :-)

It is a long weekend this time. Hoping to finish some subject work. Ramesh is coming to Singapore. Will catch up with him this time. My ESSEC plans are getting finalised. I am gonna have fun @ France for the second time. I am looking forward to it.

The Baingan Barta experience

It was a four day official trip for me to Kuantan. Kuantan is a small town on the shores of South china sea in Malaysia and it is close to 250 kms away from KL. Good beach, Jungles surrounding the town( The place is flooded with Monkeys) make it an ideal place for a perfect weekend.

I happened to come across an Indian Bistro (restaurant & Pub) and was very happy that I could locate that for my very first dinner at Malaysia. Why is that I end up looking for an Indian restaurant anywhere I landup ? The whole world when travels around, tries different cuisines. I and some good old Indians are so nationalistic that we cant just imagine trying out any other cuisine.

It was run by an Indian from Singapore. I went in and asked for Chappathis and Baingan Barta. After sometime, I end up getting the dish and to my surprise all I could find in that dish was just Aloo. I searched for Baingan and to my relief was able to see four or five small pieces of the egg plant. Phew !!! When he said his roots are from Delhi, I should have guessed it...I was very hungy, hence did not complain and ended up eating the chappathis with the Aloo Baingan that I got.

The next day also it was the same. I went asked for Dal Makhni and imagine what I got ? I ended up getting Dal Fry. This time I politely told the owner that he should consider changing his menu card. Then he explained his entire story as how he was running the restaurant and pub separately and how he had got chefs from India. Now the business is not doing that well. He just had one chef and uses the same old menu. Hence the shock. Hmm..Not even an apology....Long way to go in terms of service. He knows that I will come to him without fail in my next trip. He had even had the guts to say that I should help him out by telling my colleagues (word of mouth..hee hee) about his Bistro and the craziest thing was that when he said "Hotel mein Dandora vandora Pito Yaar. Public Aati hai, aur Upar chinese restaurant chali jaati hai. Tell the receptionist about this wonderful Indian restaurant".

Grand Sweets & PSA

When I came back from India, I got good amount of rice-mixes which can be had with rice. Thanks to my Chithappa who introduced me to Grand Sweets sometime back, I have been enjoying tasty food here. These guys, though might be a little expensive for the common man are known for their quality of sweets and mixes they serve.

Their location and the way they run their business is a breath of fresh air. They try to make it as an experience. Liked it. They operate from a bungalow in Gandhi Nagar at Adayar, Chennai. The front part of their house is the place where the business happens. As soon as you enter, you get in touch with one of the sales person, choose your sweets after which you are given a token number. Till your order gets packed, you are made to wait. This is the time that people really look forward as they serve good amount of freebies to enjoy during the waiting period. You get hot and spicy Puliyogara or sweet Sakkarapongal or Kesari etc. They serve in such a sumptuous quantity that, by the time you are finished, your order is ready.

The concept of Broken Sweets is something which needs a mention. If you were to buy any sweet item it will cost you say X Rupees. The same item is sold separately at a lower rate because of mishandling due to packaging and this is quite a hit among the customers as they specifically ask for the Broken Sweets or Savories. Knowing that the broken sweets will cannibalise their unbroken sweets, they dont sell broken items regularly. They hold the broken items sales back and give them at intervals.

They just dont restrict their business with sweets alone. They have chaats/chettinad snacks/rice mixes/pickles etc in their menu for us to enjoy. If your order is more than 500 bucks, you get good discount on the books they sell. Yes they have a small collection of Hindu Philosophy, Mythology books. The junta keeps on coming to them just for the sheer experience and the quality of their products. You can go anytime and see the place crowded with the middle class mamas and mamis. I have been there many times but this time, I was observing them with real interest and could make out why they are succesful as they are.

"Athithi Devo Bhava" - Guest is like God and these guys truly know that their Customers are God to them. Kudos to them for their excellent service !!!

It was Good Friday and we had a get together at Arun George's place. I fell in love with the place. It was called the "Marina Garden" and the condo was huge. Nice Barbeque place they had and we went there around 7.45 PM and had fun till 11 PM. Later we went to Arun's apt and enjoyed till 1. Me and Mani were saying that we should shift to something similar to that place.
Networked (??) with a lot of new people. Siddharth and Shivani, Olivier, Serene, Siddharth and the other NBS stalwarts. Dada was having fun with full enthusiasm.

Moy and me were discussing about PSA on our way back and how they are slowly losing out to other terminals especially PTP terminal in Malaysia. Since I did some profiling work about PSA, I knew what Moy was talking. PSA, was one of the early adopters of technology. As early as 1991 or 1992, they implemented RFID solutions. Their CITOS (Computer Intergrated Terminal Operating System) and Portnet solutions were their pillars of strength. But their business is kinda taking a beating because of the concept "Commoditization of Services/Technology". Peter Keen also emphasized the point during his lectures. As the technology/service providers operate in a Product development mode these days, the technological advantage can be obtained by all. But PSA has also started to bounce back after 2001/2002 dip. Hope they get better and better. Now It is going to be tough for them though !!!

Orkut and Xeroxing !!!

Yesterday Mani sent me the invite to join the Orkut group maintained by Google. I am already a member of the yahoo groups and I never felt that I should be one at Orkut too. I accepted Mani's invite and went ahead in becoming a member. I was lost in Orkut for the next three hours. It is really a fresh air from others and the way you can connect across different groups, getting to know your friends, the groups they are into is cool. I got myself registered to 7 or 8 groups. Too bad that I am so late to join this group. But better late than never.

In one of our Marketing class, Prof emphasised that the concept of generalising a product with a brand name is harmful. I thought it was a success for the brand. But he was thinking otherwise. Example was Xerox. Now Xeroxing is the verb that we normally use for copying. But why should that be treated as detrimental to the brand. I am not sure. But recently I saw an ad by Xerox themselves saying that Xerox is a brand and not a product. Wondering if Google will also come up with something like this? The word Googling has come in full force replacing Searching on the internet. Is Google not enjoying the success ride ?

On my way back

I am writing this post during my transit time at Colombo. Thankfully, this time the transit time is just 1.5 hours compared to the 8 hours during my onward journey. So no need of thinking alternative plans for the time to kill.

My mission was successful on many fronts. I resigned from my previous employer, asked them to adjust my three months of notice period with my leave and PF. They agreed for the same. Missed my gratuity amount because I did not serve the company for full five years in service. (Missed it by 2 months).

Met my ex boss and ex colleagues. HR was quite cool and wished me good luck. Met almost all of my relatives. Had Ganapathy homam and Navgraha homam at Chithappa’s place. It was a nice get together with good food. My Mama suggested a gal’s horoscope saying that it matches very well with mine. Was a little confused when everybody rushed in and suggested that I should see the gal before I left. But common sense prevailed. I have asked my parents to send the gal’s photo after their successful first round of talks. Let me check out how lucky I turn out to be.

Went to Pondicherry. Suresh’s marriage reception was a good surprise. Most of the Pecneers of the 1999 batch were there. Shankar and family, HariPrasad and family, Srini, Pap, Dhileep, Kandavel, Chala, Venkatasubbu, Canessan, Rangadurai, Murugan and others graced the occasion. It was quite nostalgic when some of the ECE Professors turned up for the marriage reception.

Got amount of stuffs this time, especially dresses and food items. Was a little concerned if I have taken beyond the limit. But the Airlines allowed me to take 28kgs. Planning to become a Frequent Flyer in Srilankan Airlines. The clean and punctual Aircrafts, the very friendly cabin crews etc made me think of flying this airline once again. Kudos to their service. In Singapore, lots of things are waiting for my attention. Need to get my EP done.

India’s first three victories in the limited overs edition need a mention here. Except for the third which happened today, none of the first two matches were clearly in full control of India. The first match belonged to Sardar as he swung the match away in India’s favor with his topspinners and the doosras. The second match belonged to Raina with Dhoni assisting him by playing second fiddle. Quite a good show by a team, which is notorious for losing the game from winning positions. But the loss of Mumbai and Karachi tests still haunts me. We really need a formidable team for the tests. The great Indian Middle order is now crumbling. Barring Dravid none of the others showed consistency. Sachin, VVS and Dada, the other pillars of the Indian middle order are nearing the dawn of their career. Dada is out of the team although Dravid said that all is not over for him. Is the Indian team in need of his all round (??) abilities for the upcoming Caribbean tour? Time will tell. Let us hope this time Kiran More talks sense.

Heard recently Rahman’s Godfather. Two songs captured my attention. Ilamai sung by Udit and Innisai sung by some female singer. Hummable. Do listen to them.

Sing-KL-Colombo-Chennai

Wow. What a journey from Singapre ! Everyone was thinking that I have gone crazy to have booked a ticket through Srilankan airways with a stop over of around 8 hours in Colombo just to save 130 dollars. But I went ahead with it. Thanks to my senior Arun C, I got this idea of seeing around Colombo during the break. I got hold of Bijoy and Sridhar who were coming from KL and who had to wait like me in Colombo. We three got our Visa on arrival. Converted the money and ended up getting an A/C car for 5 hours. It cost us 4000 Srilankan Rupees, which is like 40 USD.

Man it was such a pleasant place, I fell in love with it instantaneously. It is exactly similar to Kerala with lots of foreign cars and good clean roads. Very rarely could I see a slum. We went inside Colombo which is 30+ kms away from the Airport. The first place we visited was the Beira lake and a Buddhist temple nearby. Nice and Clean temple. Then went to the Colombo beach. It was the teenager's hangout. What on earth could people doing on a Saturday afternoon in such a scorching heat ? They were all in pairs and I dont know what they have been talking to each other in such a heat. They were all in their teens as pairs under a big umbrella cuddling, talking, embracing each other. Hmm.. I remembered the way I spent my teenage without a fuss. Could not emphathize with them. Had a nice walk at the beach.

One thing should be told about the Srilankans. They know that their life is not easy because of the unrest in the country. But rarely you will find them dull and sulking. The way they moved around, enjoyed their day out, busy shopping, lovers talking for long hours, breaking traffic rules(no honking or swearing...)... the people were so full of life and hope. Though one could spot security personnel here and there, people were going ahead with their tasks without a fuss. Lots of Indian brands are making their presence. TVS, Bajaj, Taj Samudra, Tata, Lipton etc.... Infrastructure was better. Traffic jams can be a little higher.

Cricket needs a special mention here. The number of grounds we saw,the matches being played, the ads with Srilankan cricketers all reflected that Cricket is very much part of their lives. We went by the side of Premadasa Stadium too. One more thing that needs mention is the number of cinema halls and the Adult movies that were running :-).

Then went to Shanti vihar. Had Madrasi thali for 125 Srilankan rupees. On our way back saw Colmbo port, the Parliament, the President's place. The buildings remind of you a Bombay Churchgate area or the Chennai Fort area with typical British style buildings. I would definitely love to be in this country for sometime and explore the place. In tau's words the colombo trip has " Sax macha di ".

Came to Chennai at 7.50 PM. Appa and Chithappa were there to pick me up. Poor old man is getting old. The same old shirt without the dentures, he looked really bad. Wanted to shout at him, but his only reply will be Let me live my life in my own way. So did not bother him. Came home and had good Vathakozhambu, Rasam and kichdi. It was great.

Need to start my activities here slowly and get back to S'pore within a week.

"Thodi si dhool meri.. Darthi ye mere vathan ki" - RDB, ARR rocks !!!

Two Heroes nearing their end ??

I have to get back to Cricket once again. The addiction is just too much. Cant get out of it.

The last few days were a great testimony to the fact that All the stars are mortal. The ongoing test series between the Kiwis and the Windies has been of my interest just because of Brian Charles Lara. How he failed to live upto the expectations of the cricketing fans !!! It is a sad tale for a guy who holds world records going down without a fight. It was the same Lara in his prime with a similar Windies team gave them a series victory against Aussies. Remember the two consecutive innings of 214 and 153*. The 153* is touted as the best chasing innings ever played. Now the same guy is struggling against lesser known pacemen at the Kiwiland. Will he bounce back and shut my mouth in the last test ? I will be the happiest guy if he does so !!!

Why to go that far ?
We have our own god, Tendya struggling for form. The Calcutta crowd went to one extreme when Ganguly was dropped and it is the turn of Mumbai crowd going beserk by booing Sachin. It is a pity that the same crowd, the same people whom he grew up with, treat him like this. "The Hindu" says that the sporting culture of the country has become corrupt and we have become mad behind instant celebrities.(The standard of the The Hindu magazine has come really down. Will rant about it sometime later). To some extent, I would agree with this. The same Sachin who melted our hearts by playing those great innings at Sharjah braving the sandstorm is given a raw deal by the spectators. He is currently going through a bad patch and if the board feels that his performance is not upto the standard, let him be dropped. The yardstick should be the same for Sourav and Sachin. If he is not getting runs, let him be sidelined. (The tour of South Africa and the Carribean are nearing. Will they drop him ??) But booing the local hero, who still is the darling of the country is harsh and shows the immaturity on our part. We still have one more innings to go Tendya !! Show the Mumbai crowd that you still are the king !!!

I was expecting similar kind of innings from Dada during the Karachi test. Dada promised on both the innings and failed. Now it is Lara and Tendya in a similar situation. Can they bounce back ??


"Thaye Yashodha" - By Maharajapuram ....

Amul - The Taste of India & Hatred against the Best

Recently I had a chance to go through Shamsher's presentation on Marketing Communications. His presentation was on Amul and its ads. It was quite interesting to go through the presentation and know about them.

Started in 1954, the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union adopts the name Amul for its milk products. Amul derives its name from the sanskrit word "Amulya" meaning priceless.

Amul ads feature the sweet looking little girl and they act as a social observer. It has the highest iconic status amongst all the Indian brands and it is the world record holder for the longest running campaign ever - 40 years and on !

Have a look at their site and enjoy the ads.

So it was Alonso last week and Fisichella this week. Way to go !!
Am happy atlast that Schumi's supremacy is getting a beating.

I dont know why I am like this. I dont like Schumi or the Australian Cricket team. Sampras and Steffi were not my favourites. Among the men, I am an Agassi & Ivanesevic fan and on the fairer sex, I liked Seles & Hingis.

Why is that I always want the best to be beaten ? (not applicable for India though :-)) I dont know. When the Proteas beat the Aussies on the final onedayer chasing a record score, I was jumping like hell. It is just not me, I have some good amount of friends like me who share this feeling with me. Some thoughts for a Psychological analysis... eh ?

"Tu kahan...Yeh Bata.....is nashili raat mein.....Maane na mera dil deewana.." - Rafi saab tussi great ho !!!

Changing Sides & T2 results

The recent developments in TN Politics has been keeping all of us busy following the latest developments. ADMK invited Vaiko to join their coalition with 35 seats and he dutifully obliged.
I remembered the lines of Godfather, "Let me make you an offer you can't refuse".

The T2 results have come and thank god, I ended up getting decent grades this time too. I was a little tense with my results this time, but it all ended well. Most of my batchmates have got good grades except for one or two, who have been given a raw deal. Sometimes life is not fair. Guyz who have toiled hard, put in some of the best work end up getting grades on the lower side. But they understand Grades are not the only thing and the learning experience is what that matters. In that aspect, they have outscored all the others.

Some Operations contest has come up in MIT Sloan and the invitation has come to our school. Might participate in the same. Need to discuss with others regarding the composition of the same.

For me, folks at home are on the lookout for a gal. Moy asked me what are my preferences ? My preferences ? I was asking myself as what I should expect. I had no answers. Well I cannot associate with the usual Fair, Beautiful, Long haired etc etc. If I find someone with qualities, I should consider me really lucky. No such sane person will say ok for me :-)) Then what do I expect ? Need to think. Should come up with the requirements. This is going in a typical SDLC way. The requirements are not clear, but the Project team goes ahead with the Design and Construction.

"Pappu Yaar" by Junoon

Free rider problem

It is that time of the trimester again. The first week is over. You need to form groups in each of the subjects for case studies, projects and simulation games. After having been in MBA for two trimesters, I have become pretty careful about choosing my team members. While it always helps you out to pair with someone in the same hostel as you are, it also has its pitfalls. You end up losing a good opportunity to network with people from different cultures and also you end up facing the free rider problem. After observing people over the last two trimesters, I decided well in advance this trimester as who my team members should not be. Well, this may sound harsh on my part, but T3 and T4 are really going to be busy trimesters as we have the extra load of job search alongwith studies. You would definitely not like to team with someone who enjoys a free ride.

Things are taking a bright turn these days. I have taken four courses this trimester which include
a. Stat & Research Methods (By Das) - The guy is cool and his range of interest fascinates me.
b. Mergers & Acquisitions (By Boyd) - What can I say about him and the course ? He does not cease to amaze me.. A thorough Professional... He comes prepared for every class and gives out handouts for the entire class about the current global M&A scenario. Hats off !!!
c. Marketing Mgmt (By Krishna) - He is cool. Enjoyed his session y'day. Has a good voice modulation..

Some of my batch guys have landed up in jobs. Arun Nair has landed up in Media industry, I am not sure of the name of the company and Mani has landed up in AC Nielson. Congrats to you folks. Most of our senior guys are placed, except for a few. I pray that they also land up in their jobs of choice soon.

While the one day series win made me sit and take note of the Indian team, the third day of the first test against England reassured my faith that Indian batsmen always succumb to decent swing bowlers. Good fight by Kaif and Kumble though. Barring Dravid and Sehwag, our batsmen have not been consistent. Infact these are the two who have been instrumental in India's wins over the past two years. Performances from VVS, Sourav, Sachin are happening once in a while. Well, the yardstick for selection should be the same. Be it dada or VVS or Sachin...If Dada is shown the doors in favour of the youth, then VVS/Sachin should be treated in the same way. Will the selectors listen ?

"Aadathu asangathu vaa..." - (Listen to this song sung by Maharajapuram Santhanam. It is bliss. )

Ramprasad ban gaya Lucky

The title itself says what has happened to me. Yeah it happened around 1.15 PM today. I was trying to trim my french beard and suddenly felt the urge to remove it. So I went ahead in removing the beard and also ended up removing my moustache. Hee hee..looking like a Nadaswaram vidwan now :).

Went to Gurudwara today at Outram Park in Singapore. Atlast one good thing that I did during this break. Went and prayed. It was so peaceful. It was a blissful feeling after a long long time. Everyone is equal in front of the Almighty, All of us are humble in front of him. Listened to the Sangeeth, which was so relaxing. Had good food. Felt at home in Singapore. People are in queue to offer seva. There was a gentleman waiting for washing our dishes after we had our food. Housewives were cooking food for the devotees. Sikhism, which came as a protector for Hinduism reiterates on Equality and Service to mankind. One should see people taking turns offering seva at the Gurudwaras. An enlightening experience indeed.

"Ki Aag hai Mujhme kaheen... suraj ko mein nigal gaya......"

Half Baked & Keen on Keen

The second trimester exams are over. I am now MBA/2(hopefully:-)). Corp Fin which was giving me jitters went off pretty ok. Should sail through. But my grades could get a beating. Let us worry about that later. Otherwise things are pretty bright these days.

Yesterday nite, we went out Clarke Quay and Boat Quay to bid adieu to our Exchange friends. Went to this place called Crazy Elephant. Crazy elephant has a band, a pool table and a pitcher there costs around 30 SGD. Guyz had been drinking drinking all through the nite. Later moved to this place Desire, where we danced all through the nite. Danced after a long time and enjoyed it to the fullest. Came around 4.00 afterwhich our guys had a drinking session till 6 in the morning. Whew...That was some commitment shown towards drinking ! But I always wondered as how come these guys are mad behind something which smells and tastes yuck !!

During the next week break, we have a half credit course taken by Mr. Peter Keen. He was recognised as one among the top 100 business gurus of the world in 2003. The course is on Emerging Technologies in Businesses. I feel it should talk more about Ecommerce and stuff. Anways, enrolled for the same and I am keen on attending Keen's classes ! For more info about him you can look into his site www.peterkeen.com.

What else ? Planning to see some movies during the break. Will watch RDB definitely.

So long !

"Aa ab Laut Chalein !!"

Delphi and the Olympus Oracle

Well, today was the last day of Market Research class. It is a non examinable subject. Your grade is based on the case submissions, presentations and the game DELPHI. Delphi is a wonderful game and it is based on an imaginary place called Olympus, that has around 100,000 households. There are three types of product categories namely the Ambrosia (wholesome beverage), Panacea(Health food) and Hygenia(Personal care). There are three manufacturers M1,M2 and M3 who make different products in these three categories. There are two retailers R1 and R2 who sell these products in their stores. The game is about making straregies, making decisions based on these strategies, negotiations between manufacturers and retailers etc. All these 12 weeks were full of excitement and fun. My team was a retailer, R2 in this game. We were the smaller retailers in the game. The quantity decisions that we made, the price offs we gave, the ad spend that we made and the negotiations we had with manufacturers were all simulations of real life experiences. Dada was taken into task by the retailers. Poor M3.

We all had our business plan submitted today and our performance was reviewed. We got some nice insights. M2's presentation was very good and so was R1's. I thought Sheroo and Ash shared some wonderful ideas.

Ours was full time pass. Infact it was around 3.00 in the morning that I ended up finishing my Ambrosia graphs. Mani worked on it later coming up with the "Taking A dipstick" slides. Very creative slides indeed. I was told around 2 PM when I enter the class that I should be presenting the Ambrosia part. I brushed through the graphs I made and did a decent presentation. Ours went well. AK, Tau and Mani all gave good gyaan to the class and maintained the lighter side throughout the presentation. Hope the Prof likes it and gives us some good grades:-).

Exams are just a day away and I have not studied anything. How overconfident I have become? I dont know. SCM and Corp Fin are two major subjects that give me jitters. I hope the almightly takes care of me the coming week.

Well, hmm no cricket please for sometime.

"Ange malai mayakkam yarukkaga....?"

Another Series lost

Well, What can you say about a team that has the world's best batsman, god on the offside and a batsman who bats like god ? No words to describe the greatness of such a team... Give them a challenge when they really need to apply themselves, fight it out and come out winners. Can they pull it off ? They showed us today that they cant. Accept the fact. We are chokers. We cannot withstand pressure. Laxman's innings of 281 was a miracle. Miracles wont happen often. We dont want miracles to happen everytime when India plays. We want real fighting cricket. I am okay with defeats. I know you win some and you lose some. But the way you lose is what pisses me off. Take the first day. 0-3 and 39-6... What better start you need ? Pak team should have been bundled out for a score less than 100. They end up making 245. Now that is what I call a fighting innings by Kamran. We replied with just 237. None of the top batsmen made a 50. Then they start their innings and toyed with the bowling making 599 leaving India 607 to win. I was of the hope that this team has in it to fight it out. I was expecting a draw. A loss after a fight would have satisfied me. But the team did not even last for 60 overs. We have one full day ahead of us. What is this team when a young guy like Yuvraj can stay there and score a century and the others could not even give him company ? Have not these guys played some of the best bowlers in the world ? Dont they know how and when to curb their instincts ? Well I also start to doubt the yardstick that we follow for different players. If Sourav does not play, the entire country is against him... But what abt Sachin ? Sourav gets out playing a needless pull of Razzaq in the first innings and Sachin gets bowled to a ball that kept low. So what..? At this level, the guys are expected to play. After all he is the best batsman in the world... If he cant, Well he is not then....

What am I doing ? Why the rant ? This is gonna get me nothing.. Will this loss make me stubborn enough not to follow cricket at all ? No.. The one day series is gonna start and I am going to follow the entire series... coz I am a crazy Indian Cricket fan.... Damn it...

Go to Hell !!!