"Aloo ka Paratha in Chennai"..

My friend called yesterday night and asked whether she can drop by to have breakfast with me as she had to go to some church in Chetpet with her roomie. Well, we planned to eat a Punjabi breakfast. Nungambakkam is supposed to be one of the most cosmopolitan area of Chennai and with all the famous eating joints located within a radius of 2 kilometers, it sort of try to live upto that reputation. There is Pizza Hut, Pizza Corner, Cafe Coffee day, Barista, Mocha, New Yorker and many others to list including Dhaba Express. Some 20 restaurants are located within 2 kms and I guess that most of their menus have listed "Aloo Paratha". So i was confident that we can easily get Aloo Paratha and would try to revive our taste buds for Punjabi food.

Well, the search started at 9 in the morning. WE went to Raj Bhavan and learnt that they serve parathas only after 1 PM, Sangeetha offered paratha but of different varieties, Most of the restaurants open after 11 so it was like we were walking to each restaurant, asking the first question and then walking out. It continued till 10:30 and we reached Dhaba Express only to find it closed. Finally we returned to Sangeetha and settled for a quick Cheese Sandwich and a cup of coffee. We finally tried one Sambhar Vada and found it really satisfying.

Well, I remembered my CAT preparation days, when I use to leave my hostel at like 5:30 in the morning to travel to Chandigarh which was about 100 Kms from my college. North India is famous for its bitchy cold. The plains of Punjab are famous for enveloping fog which refuses to go before spending three days on the land. Well, even during those months of cold also I use to find a lot of eating joints in Patiala and even in this small town Sangrur (which is closer to my Institute) which serves you hot "Aloo Da paratha" with curd and tea from 7 in the morning. I use to walk in one of my favorite restaurants at 7 as the first customer and in a matter of 15 minutes I use to see all the seats occupied for morning breakfast. I am still wondering that typical south Indian dishes like Idli, Dosa and Vada was also available at 7 in the morning. That was something amazing.

I am not trying to draw any comparison. The early morning crowd in "Sangeetha" was enough to explain that the eating out habbit of North Indians are almost same as that of South Indians who go for heavy and rich breakfast. The only thing is that may be there are not too many takers for the North Indian breakfast here and poor people like me have no option other than to convince our Punjabi friends to eat a Sandwich or to try Sambhar Vada... ANyways, it was fun to go out and hunt for Aloo Ka paratha. We were really looking like two fool out there at the wrong place. But then these small things are what I am going to remember about Chennai... Slowly developing a strong liking for this place..

Abhyudaya- Rising Sun, Growing Challenge

Abhyudaya is our annual B School fest and we have taken the responsibilities of organizing the second edition. Back in engineering college we use to have about 30 student committees with 15 members in each who share the burden of the daunting task. Now, here we are only 27 people taking up this seemingly impossible task to rope in sponsors, plan the event, send invitation, arranging the boarding and lodging of the outstation participants and then make this whole event a unique experience for the participants.

In a way, this is going to be the most challenging exercise for us as most of the other B schools have large number of students involved behind organizing activities of the similar magnitude. We don’t have the number advantage but then we have the advantage of working in a closely knit group where each one of us knows the other person inside out. Now, when I look back at my text book, I don’t think that reading about “Customers Experience Management” from Kotler’s marketing manual is going to help us making this event a unique experience. All that it takes for delivering result is a clear vision and holistic efforts towards turning your vision into reality.

Let’s see how far we can go ahead with this. The going is surely tough but when the going gets tough, the tougher gets going. That’s suo-motto.

Between Competition and Complacency..

I think that these two words represent two extremes of characters. You can survive your under-graduation easily being complacent but for a professional post graduation degree, being competitive is the key. Now, again it’s a matter of personal values and attitude which subconsciously moulds your character. First trimester is over and with 2 A- and one B in 3 subjects here I am, feeling the heat for being complacent for all this time.

Studying hard and working like a dog has never been my priority and I think that till now, whatever I have achieved even if it’s not substantial at-least is significant and that is where complacency creeps in. My feeling of satiation with whatever I have achieved or with the pace of my life is the thing which is becoming the matter of concern for me. I see life as a set of priorities. You assign weightage to them and the way a person decides and assigns weightage to their priorities makes them unique in their approach towards life. For some a good salary could be of higher priority then having a family or vice-versa. However, the priorities keep changing depending on the environment. And again the pace of change varies from one individual to another.

In a B-School setup, I think that the change is pre dominant. The pace of this change gives you the competitive edge over others. People have started complaining that I have changed but when I try to see around me I think that they all have changed. The change is everywhere, in their conducts, in their behaviors and in their level of academic commitments. I might have changed too but then I still sleep for 10 hours a day. I tried to think about it but then decided against it as it’s not worth that much of my time. Analyzing people’s behavior and molding my behavior accordingly is now out of my priorities for the next one and half year at-least. “A rough exterior is what you need to protect that softness inside”.

I still remember that during our initial days of confusion and chaos here, one of my friends asked me that what these people are going to do with us to transform us into managers? I was unable to answer this question then but now I think that I have an answer. They will teach us how to get our priorities right. And that’s all.

NO Subject..

One trimester ended, one is about to begin. So here I am sitting at the threshold of one and initiation point of another. On Friday evening we were informed to collect our books and other materials immediately after the exams. The sight of Kotler - Kellers Marketing Management book and the book on corporate finance was just enough to make me week on my knees. I felt numb holding the book as if something is being forced on me and intruding into my peace for the next three nights three days. I don’t want to give myself any credit but I can’t deny that I have tried my level best for the papers except for the economics paper where I was really bamboozled by the paper. The point is that in our Engineering College end of the exam meant a lot of fun for at least a couple of weeks.

Well the speed of the life has changed. Maturity is slowly creeping crawling into our system. Movies are only subject of discussion during weekends, girls are no subject now. Wine and Vodka is now a part of fantasy, Food doesn’t matter anymore. However bad it may be, people will eat and complains are restricted to the dining table only. Sleep is unimportant for most of us (exceptions are there). Sleep deprivation is compulsory. Suddenly any distance above 5 kms sounds too far away and silence seems to be too good.

I remember how we use to drive for like 40 kilometers at early hours in the morning to get something to eat. Here, everything is available on a click of the phone but take the fun, frolic and friendship out of my food, and food has no meaning for me then. MBA has started making sense for me. It’s really about unlearning and relearning. I am unlearning the meaning of fun for me and relearning about how to make this fun into a Business plan. Well, the thing is that I just can’t complain. The pseudo Punjabi factor in me makes me gregarious enough to enjoy whatever I have on my platter. Be it the food, the amount of free time I get, the friends I have here and well also my MBA. Classes from tomorrow, I think I will get enough to pen down.