However hard you try..

Preparation of any degree is not sufficient to take one full session of a marketing and that's one statement that I can make out of all my experience. You read the case two day before, you read it even five times, you do everything possible, you even explore the i-world to check what exactly the company is doing now or how similar business models are working now but then the moment the professors walks in, it seems that time stops for the next two hours and all you can experience around yourself is a dumb awkward silence which normally comes with the feeling that in spite of all the preparation you did, you still do not know anything.

The professors give you cues, and then blast you off and then again try to stimulate your thought process and there is a point of time when you enter into full submission with a desire to listen to him on and on. Kotler is blasted like anything and perhaps out of all business schools in India this is one school where students hate the Kotler most not because it's too tough to read or have increased in size and content over years but because of one simple reason that it's not going to help. We have come to believe that "Kotler fellow can write anything and his USP is to provide all the latest marketing jargons in his book but at the end of the day what matters is your abilities to think through". So, in the end it all boils down to this one thing that however hard you try, it doesn't matter because all your Kotler fundas are going to be hit for a six. IIM K people got a hint of that when they were here to participate in the advertisement contest. They were pretty annoyed/impressed only after 15 minutes of probing. Guess, we have to go through all that thrice a week.

Holi @ IFMR

I remember that 6 by 6 pit outside our boys hostel in my engineering college which was watered for 24 hours and was then used to throw people one by one flat on their back. Everybody refuses to be a part of it but then the moment one is thrown inside, he wants to pull the other one with him and then the other one and then one more and the chain goes on. You know now that you have a team now with ego boundaries blurring and inhibitions giving way to a fun-filled experience seeking mindset.

Well I thought that B School's holi will be much different from normal Engineering college's holi which is rowdy and rough and more boyish you can say. But then my fundas went for a six. The spirit was unmatched given we had a viva next day and those people who were completely reluctant to start were the ones who enjoyed most. The coloured water washed away the line between seniors and juniors and painted faces did the rest. After half an hour people can make out each other only by the vague recall of the body shapes as every visible part of the body was either painted blue, green or golden.

I missed that pit thing from my engineering college but then MBA is all about managing well within the constraints. People were spot on in realizing that the open tap and the covered enclosure gives a feeling of a pool and with a little digging with our feet can turn it into a mud pool. So there we are, throwing the people one by one in that pool and making up for the depth by the use of buckets, hands and legs (splashing muddy water) to paint the whole body into mud. (Glad that guyz didn't get plaster of paris that time or somebody would have carried all the weight around him/her for at-least next 4-6 hours).

Girls were equally enterprising and they seemed to be knowing the use of mud well as it was all splashed around their hairs, neck, face and all over their dresses. Guyz didn't know the proper use so they generously put as much as possible on each other (use as you want style). After two hours of jumping, shouting, running, tugging, pulling, pestering, forcing, arguing, convincing, debating, cajoling, luring and co-ordinating finally somebody evoked the need for Bhang. But then, in Chennai this is one rare commodity. (Not so rare if you know the right people). So finally we had to do away with specially prepared "Thandai" with only the colour of Bhang in it. Finally somebody shouted that we have viva too and then there came the break.

I don't want to miss on the story of washing the dirty clothes but then that is again a long one. Will continue.

Guilt and frustration..

Missing out on blogging for even a single day is making me feel guilty and frustrated. Well, was seriously busy since the past couple of days and partly because of the colourful holi celebration and partly due to the viva scheduled on 5th. So, I was seriously reading something academic for the first time in IFMR. But then in the end I realized that guilt and frustration is not only because of missing out on blog posts but also due to missing out on one chance to revise the whole thing. Anyways, there is always a next chance and there is always a better opportunity.

Looking forward to an interesting weekend but lot many things scheduled for the next week.

The festival of colours is here..

Hope this year brings you all the beautiful and happy colours in your life. Have a great Holi, Have a great year.

My little Poem..

There are times in your life when you suffer from identity crisis. You are identified as a group, as a batch, as a class or just as a part of the crowd and somewhere deep inside you feel that you are just an extension. Like an arm, or a leg and not a full body. Well, in one of those moments of frustration I wrote this little poem of which I remember only the first four lines.

Bheed se alag ek adad mukam chahta hoon
Apni rooh, apna jism, apni Jaan chahta hoon
Loot lo tum chahe ye saare sitare
Main to bas ye khula aasmaan chahta hoon..

The poor translation will be something like..

I want to get away from this crowd and achieve
a life, a body and a soul which I can claim as my own
You can have all the stars and the moon
all I want is this empty, endless sky

My Tryst with Poetry..

sometimes back I use to write poems but never thought about posting as most of them were written in Hindi. I am not well read but I specially like this small piece written by Robert Frost - Which asks a simple question that will the world end in a great and big moment like fire, or will it slowly just fade away like ice?

" Fire and Ice"

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction
iceIs also great
And would suffice.

But then I guess I can post some of those lines that I use to scribble whole day on the last pages of my notebook. So if you are a reader of my blog be prepared to get some poorly translated text from my poems.

The Big "W"..

Another Big Fat Corporate Wedding

Corporate India is busy talking about the big fat wedding of TaTa and Corus, Birla and Novellis and even of its NRI son Mittal and Arcelor but then much ignored is this another coprorate son who will be holding hands of his bride and walking down the red carpet by the time this post becomes available on my blog. Finally Arun Nair is getting married to Liz Hurley, first a christian Wedding and then a Hindu wedding on the cards. The smile on their faces are real believe me. Well, we can all now talk about how successful this new merger is going to be. No doubt TATA has the requred synergies to take over Corus, Birlas are doubtful but guess how long this real wedding of this young enthusiastic corporate Indian with the Damsel is going to last?

BJP's yoga Bad, UPA's yoga Good..

This was the same Congress and UPA which created much fuss on the issue of MP govt's decision to make yoga a compulsary part of the curriculum of all the governement schools. Now, on friday they submitted a report in Lok Sabha which recommends making yoga a part of the curriculum and their reasoning is that " Yoga will act a role in shaping up the mental and physical growth of the school going population". The only difference is that BJP added the word spiritual and reasoned that it's for the holistic development.

Now, I guess the only point of difference is the "holistic" issue. Well if UPA don't want that then they could beg to differ. No wait, there is another point of difference. An member of the committee is Mr. Rahul Gandhi. So actually it's "G" force.

Life as an Outlier..

Many of my friends say that I am an outlier. Well that's absolutely true, I have always been like that and have come to appreciate this way of life as it gives you the sense of satisfaction of being on your own. Okay I tell you that how life as an outlier is completely different from that of normal people (who falls within the range)? Well ... being an outlier ... I can clearly see the others trapped inside some boundaries. Isn't this true for all outliers?

How important is team work?

If you are in a B School, it's ofcourse very very important.