History is in the Making! From where do you want to see it?

The world around us is changing, no one will question that statement. After years of stable progress the world has been thrown into sudden turmoil. Organisations are fighting for their existence, a nation stands on the verge of bankruptcy and people are running scared in all directions. Newspapers and journals have no qualms about brandishing around words like 'recession' and 'depression', with a common feeling that the times ahead are only going to be more turbulent. But this piece is not about the change as such, but how we are going to witness it. What kind of vantage point do you want, while witnessing the most historic turn of events in the 21st Century?

Over the last few weeks, several people I know have had doubts over their decision to join a B-School during this period. Leaving aside comfortable jobs to come here only to find their future's becoming seemingly insecure or at least a little less iron-clad than before. However, I am of a different view, I think that a B-School is the best place to be at this point of time. Consider this analogy, when history is being made, do you want to be part of the making or do you want to be the one recording history. The one's who are part of the events, may or may not come out victorious, and in this case God alone knows who (if anyone) will win. But those recording history are relatively safe, and yet have the added advantage of knowing exactly what happened. I think that's the kind of position I am in right now. At SP I have gotten a far greater understanding of events around me than I would have had I been anywhere else, same goes for any student in a B-School. With the vast number of knowledgeable people around me, it is easy to make keep track of and make sense of what is happening. For example the Economic Forum of SPJIMR sends out mails almost daily explaining economic events happening around us. But more than the knowledge its the perspective which really helps. It feels like having a real live case study where you can apply the stuff that you learn in class everyday. And as the situation evolves so does our knowledge, which means that after a year or so, once the situation stabilises (hopefully it will) we'll be best prepared to tackle the brave (or not so brave) new world. Compare this to situation to people who are working or directly impacted by the economic crises, they have a very narrow view of the situation. For example most players of the stock markets supported the federal bailout by the US governement without knowing the real impact of the act. But as a B-School student you are exposed to several views which you can study in detail before reaching a decision. Finally, from where I stand, the future is still in my hands, and I can still mould my career choices to the economic environment.

And as Pink Floyd said " "And would you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?".

So what do you think is the best vantage point to view this crisis from?

Thank God Its Wednesday !!!

Since here at SPJIMR we live our lives in between Wednesdays, i've decided to start a sort of "my week in review" section, every wednesday.

The High Points:

Well never thought I would say this, but the high point of my week was my trimester end exams. Oh yes those God awful exams which made me cringe during my times in Engineering, are actually a welcome relief in a B-School. Without saying much more I'll just give you guys a few facts; I slept for about 7 hours on an average during the 3 days of exams, while my average sleep time durina a normal working day at SP is about 4.5 to 5 hours. Perplexed! Me too. In fact my average sleep time during exams in engineering was about 3 to 4 hours. Somehow studying for exams seems utterly pointless, considering I actually ended up doing reasonably well (well enough to be in the middle 50% of the class, where I am extremely happy to be).


Well enough of exams, another good high for the week was the Federal $700 Billion bailout being rejected, although the stock markets didn't react to it that well. However I feel it is a good thing, particularly because the bailout would be equivalent to rewarding the recklesness and greed of the largest corporations in the world, which put us in this mess in the first place. However personal feelings aside, the B-school student in me tells me that in the long run it would be in the best interest of the economy as a whole for these companies to survive, even if it means rewarding (or atleast rescuing) their stupidity. Again however opinion on that front is divided, read this point of view from a Harvard Economist

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/29/miron.bailout/index.html



The Lows:

"What the HULL?"

Sorry for ripping of Times' headline, but that was my low point in the week, to watch agonisingly, on Saturday, as Arsenal lost (at home) to Hull City.It was a truly painful experience. Didn't help my exam preparations either! And it was made worse by the, awesome performance of Arsenal against Porto yesterday, which shows how awful a day Saturday truly was. And it troubles me that Arsenal are become one of the mercurial sides, who can go from the sublime to the ridiculous in a matter of days. And the problem is, earlier when Arsenal lost it was because of some lack of killer edge, or failure to convert their exceptional football into results, but this season whenever they lose, it it because they have played terribly, without any commitment or desire. That hurts as a fan.


Well I have to mention it cause it happened, the bomb blasts. Seems every time I sit down to write a blog, there has been a blast. And I am truly speechless about what to say about these hideous acts. We seemed to be trapped in a vicious cycle of hate and counter-hate, which just doesn't show signs of ending.I truly regret my words in the last blog where I said that I wouldn't think about these things till the next blast. I get the feeling maybe I tempted fate there. But honestly I would consider it a perfect week, if the next time I write a post I could do so without using the words bomb or blast. However tomorrow is Gandhi Jayanti and the 'International Day for Non-Violence', I just hope God does not like irony.



WTH Wednesday

Well this is the moment of the week which made me go WTH!!! (What the Hell), I do it quite frequently but this is the one moment where I meant it.

Well for this week's WTH (more of a WTF) moment; it's a truly comical moment, and I am sure Mr.Murphy will be rolling over in laughter in his grave, looking at Ferrari and saying "I told you so!!!", because what happened with Ferrari in the Singapore GP on Sunday, must surely come under the category of "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong".
I mean allowing a car to move with the fuel hose still attached to the car, is something I wouldn't expect from Indian petrol pump attendents, let alone a Ferrari pit crew, who I guess might be better paid than most B-School graduates (well maybe not)! It was just one of those moments that doesn't make you just laugh but rather roll on the floor with the kind of sarcastic laughter which Nelson has in The Simpsons (he basically points at the person and goes "Ha Ha", repeatedly). I mean for all the money that Ferrari spends on the car, and the fuel and the technology, you would think they can refuel the damn thing without a glitch. Too bad it happened to Ferrari, would have been even funnier, had it been Mclaren, or funnier still had it been Fernando Alonso, in fact Alonso might have gotten out of the car at that very moment and started throwing a hissy fit, as it happened the whiny cry baby spaniard, went on to win the race.

Random Nonsense

One interesting thing I realised this weekend was that, somehow exams seemed to bring out the worst in even the most talented people. And by worst I mean, people who you think could breeze through papers are actually fretting over it, losing sleep and getting nervous. Which kind of really surprised me until I came across this really good article:

http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Columns/Impostor.html

And it really seemed to connect with me, cause this is a feeling I have gone through personally, especially in a place like SP, where I am sorrounded by some incredible talent, it seems difficult not to feel out of place and wonder whether I deserve to be here. But then after reading that article, it was sort of comforting. And as Harsha Bhogle says, in his speech at IIM-C (a must watch), "One thing the college taught me is...that I after coming here I felt that I have arrived". And it is true, because for once after going through one rigorous, hellacious month at SPJIMR, I finally feel that this is something I can do, that maybe SPJIMR knows what is is doing when they selected me. And maybe soon I will be able to say, I too have arrived.

On that bright note. Ciao .

And SP Rocks!!!

Random Words on a Wednesday : "They claim to be be free-market advocates when its really an anything-goes mentality: no regulation, no supervision, no discipline. And if you fail you will have a golden parachute and the taxpayer will bail you out." - Nancy Pelosi

"Pinky: Gee, Brain. What are we going to do tonight?

The Brain: The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world. "

Dedicated to the Memory of Investment banks...

Well it seems to be becoming a pattern for every Saturday and Sunday. For the 2nd week in a row the following events have occurred:

1. Arsenal rocked in the EPL, their rivals faltered.

2. Terrorism struck again.

3. Financial world was turned upside down.

4. And i suffered through yet another exasperating exam at SP.

So begin with the bad news first, its the end of an era, so the Financial whizz in my class tells me, there no longer exist any investment banks, the 2 large remaining behemoths of the game are now just run of the mill banks. Not earth shattering news to the layman, but men in the world of business, it is as if someone pulled the rug from beneath their feet. And it is especially bad news for the MBA grads who dreamt of careers in i-Banking (and believe me there are a lot of them), because it causes them to seriously rethink there career goals. Not that it means all of suddenly we MBA's become jobless, but maybe some of them will have to climb down a bit from their lofty perches. It helps in that case when you are a fresher with very meagre expectations, and anything goes. Just for additional info, the marketing students at SP had a field day at the expense of brothers in Finance. All of a sudden selling soaps and shampoos doesn't seem that bad a proposition.

Now we move on Arsenal, yet again Arsenal rocked and their rivals were bad. The Man Utd-Chelsea game seemed like the 2 teams forgot how to play football, and were concentrating more on getting the opponents foot than the ball. And yes Liverpool are still the most boring team ever. But let's move off the pitch for a while, and there is this interesting bit of info I came across. As the financial turmoil shows, its not been a good time for banks, but what about football clubs. Even they have suffered badly in this situation. Its been quite widely mentioned about how Malcolm Glazer (Man Utd) and Hicks & Gillette (Liverpool) have had trouble repaying interest on their loans which they made to purchase these clubs, because of the credit crunch. But even Arsenal have been hit in an unexpected way. After Arsenal switched stadiums in 2006, the site of the old stadium Highbury was used to develop a housing complex to act as an additional source of revenue.But the downturn in the economy, especially the Real Estate sector, has seriously affected the profitability of the project and is probably one of the reasons why Arsenal maybe short of funds for players. So there you go, football and business in the same post.

I really don't wanna talk about stuff like bombs and exams, because after a depressing week I am finally in a good mood now. So lets just say that these horrible things happened, and maybe we can put them behind us, at least till the next mindless terror attack takes place or till I get my exam grades.

On another note, one of my friends asked me for the meaning of a word I had used in my previous post - Schadenfreude.

Well Schadenfreude basically means taking satisfaction from the misery of others. And basically scientists say that no matter how much we pretend to be empathetic and sympathetic, there is some sense of schadenfreude in each of us.

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude

Brought this up today, cause there was obviously a lot of schadenfreude around today after the whole i-Bank collapse.

So bye from me for now. As I write this I realise that I am one week away from become a 16.67% manager (end of TRIM-I). So heaven and hell wait at my doorstep. Goodnight and good luck to all.

Random Thought for the Day : The plot for the next Jurassic Park sequel will go something like this - "A bunch of intrepid and reckless individuals, characterised only by the initials M.B.A enter into the deadly financial jungle looking for the extinct beast they once knew as the 'i-Bank'. This once powerful being is now nowhere to be found, but the remnants of its existence still remain in the form of a swamp of written of loans, and the deadly 'bad debts'. So the question remains will the men find this beast, will they be able to control it, or will it devour them also."

My Top 5 - I

This idea is inspired by the tradition of having Top 5's during birthdays here in the SPJIMR Boys Hostel, the subject matter however is something different.

I have basically decided that from time to time I am going to put up lists of my own, giving my top 5 on anything that catches my fancy. So here goes..the first Top 5

My TOP 5 - Songs to Get Away from it All

Sometimes when life becomes really hectic and chaotic (refer last post), I find my solace in music, and sometimes you have these songs which you just close your eyes and listen and forget about everything else in the world. These songs somehow just take me to place where I am alone with only the thoughts in my head. And boy do I need them nowadays.
So in no particular order:

1. Tuesday's Gone - Lynrd Skynrd
A really melancholy song, with beautiful instrumentals and those awesome country vocals.

2. Mr.Tambourine Man - Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan's awesome lyrics, it feels like poetry flowing through your brains when I listen to this song.

3. Wrote a Song for Everyone - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Not a very famous song, but just couldn't get it out of my head when I heard it the first time. Thank you Winamp Shuffle!!

4. Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton
My favorite romantic song of all time. Clapton's guitars and that slow waltzy beat just make this an awesome getaway song.

5. Comfortably Numb- Pink Floyd
This list wouldn't be complete without a Floyd number. My getaway play list probably has more Floyd songs than any other band's.

Honourable Mentions:
Orion - the Acoustic Version by Rodrigo y Gabriela
Soldier of Fortune - Deep Purple
Wish you were Here - Pink Floyd

Random Words for the day :
"I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade
Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way,
I promise to go under it." - Mr Tambourine Man - Bob Dylan

One More Thursday, One More Week....

As one more Thursday disappears into the horizon, its time to reflect on what has been a truly tumultuous week, not just for guys at SP, but across the world.

Where do I start, for one it was possibly one of my most stressful weeks at SPJIMR till date, with 9 hr classes almost every day, tons of assignment, falling like bricks, and a few quizzes to to add to the chaos. All of which was accentuated by the return of the rains. And this just a prelude to the real hell awaiting us in the final week of our trimester - 3 Term Project submissions, 3 quizzes, 6 End term exams and probably more rains. I guess from now on we call this business as usual. And somehow my life seems so chaotic nowadays, so much work to do, that I don't even remember all of it, no clue where to start, and in generally I am so confused.

And the funny thing, is that somehow the entire world around me is mirroring this chaos and desperation( or maybe it's the other way round). First we had the bomb blasts in Delhi, and the frantic manhunt following it. Not mention the fear which has enveloped the nation. And then almost immediately came the news which spent the world's economy on a downward spiral. The collapse of Lehman Brothers and sale of Merill Lynch in the same day. Then AIG's last gasp rescue just the day after. And news coming in that even players like Goldman Sachs are looking for salvation. I have never seen a bleaker economic outlook in my life, and its down to a stage where all the finance graduates are virtually shitting in their pants worried about there future.

Even the Red and White couldn't cheer me up, Arsenal got only a draw at crummy Dynamo Kiev, and the only good thing about the match was that I couldn't watch it. And it turns out that the career of a player I really like, Tomas Rosicky, is in serious danger due to a debilitating injury. It just kept getting worse.

I made plans to watch Wall-E thrice and had to cancel them all the times. I saw Rock On, liked the move, but for some reason just couldn't enjoy it. And as if to top it of the book which I got as a part of my college book club this week was - "Death of a Salesman". Ironic isn't it?

I guess for some reason I saw everything through a black shade. Maybe it was just one of those weeks!!

And finally, possibly the most depressing thing I read all week, is the one which cheered me ; the inflation in Zimbabwe hit 11.2 million percent this week (the highest in the history of history) and well It got me thinking, atleast I am not stuck in god forsaken Zimbabwe.

Schadenfreude` Anyone?

An Innovative Business Model for Helping the Society

One of the first things you learn in a B-School, is that for any business to succeed is the need for a good business model. The same I believe can be applied to social service. The problem with most social service initiatives in the country today, is that they don't consider the basic understandings of the people working for them. Also most of them struggle to become self sustainable and are overly reliant on the altruistic spirit of human beings. Which is my most of them get underway but fail to take off and don't make a significant impact.

Recently however I had the opportunity to listen to a very impressive presentation by a group, which I really believe have an idea that will work. The organisation was called Teach For India and they proposed an idea which can go a long way in eradicating educational deficiencies of the impoverished section of the country. The basic idea was this : the organisation planned to go around the country to the finest educational institutions and aim to recruit the best students from these universities, through quite a rigorous selection process I might add, and then train them to teach in a government school in a poor section of the country for 2 years. Now after this is where the real innovation comes in. After the 2 years of teaching experience the participants in the program are free to stay or leave to return to their careers and ambitions. And in order to facilitate that the group plan to (and have already started) to establish ties with corporates and educational institutions, to allow people to take up deferred job placements and the educational institutions provide preferential treatment to people who have undergone this program. This program which has already been tried in the USA included institutions such as Harvard and organisations such as Goldman Sachs.

Now here is why this plan can work:

- The people who sign up for this program are amongst the most intelligent and well educated, which increases it's chances of success.

- They have something tangible to gain out of this. A great experience which will add on to your resume`. A better chance to get into a good college (SPJIMR has already signed up for this program with Teach for India, and several other prestigious institutions might do so).

- For graduates with time on their side, many of whom often spend few years unnecessarily in meaningless jobs only to go on and do an MBA, this is a great chance to do something worthwhile and also to improve their chance for success.

- Most importantly, the organisation is self sustaining in the long run.

I wanted to share this idea with you because I believe it's a model for not only improving education but also for all other forms of social service in the country. Basically what we need more than just a spirit it needs to be modeled properly, we need to provide sufficient value to the people who are a part of it. The problem with our country is that we jump into action without enough thought and planning. Whether it be improving education or flood relief, we are far more comfortable throwing money and charity than trying to finding a viable solution.

I truly hope that the 'Teach for India' innovation succeeds, at least it will act as a fine model for others.

The Gun(ner)s were Blazing...But unfortunately,so were the bombs...

Well, another saturday goes by, where the rest of the world enjoys a nice weekend while the future leaders of the country at SPJIMR slog their asses away. We had yet another gruelling mid-term today, DMS. And although my performance wasn't particularly heartening, I will say one thing, God bless the man who invented relative grading (you are not screwed, If everyone else is also screwed). And btw, if you seem to discover a pattern amongst my posts, wherein almost every post has some quiz or mid-term mentioned in it, it's because of 2 reasons mainly : 1) There are just so many of them!!! As one of my friends puts it, when we first came here our reactions to quizzes was - WHAT!!!, and now it is - So what!.

2) With so many quizzes around it's probably, there is no time for anything else here, its the most worthwhile bloggable thing that happens around here.

It was a mixed day really, after the dampner of the DMS mid term, my favorite team in the world, brought a smile back to my face, as the The Gunners demolished Blackburn Rovers with a 4-0 scoreline and a 5-star performance. And it seems Adebayor finally put his shooting boots back on,as he got a hattrick. And if anyone wonders why this team is so special, Arsenal finished the game, with a team on the pitch whose average age of the outfield players was around 23. And the entire team probably costs less than one whiny cry baby Dimitar Berbatov, whose presence could not prevent Manchester United from losing to a Liverpool team without their 2 best players. I do remember somebody saying Man Utd sucks without Ronaldo, oh wait a second, that was me. 

Earlier this week I posted about the futility of rankings, particularly for educational institutions. A couple of my friends told me that I was wrong, and not that I am trying to justify my position, but take a look at this, a ranking for B-Schools, by one of the most popular networks in the country:

http://campusfever.com/blog/forms/zee-bschool-survey

Please do pay attention to the positioning of IIPM in the rankings. And every B-School student or aspirant knows where IIPM stands. And its not just this one fact, look at the various sub-categories given in the rankings. With any amount of decent research and information gathering it is extremely easy to see what a piece of crap these rankings really are. I am not even going to get into the details. But just one glimpse, MDI, Gurgaon, arguably one of the best in the country when it comes to infrastructure is ranked as low as 13th.

The day however ended on a sour note, with the bombings at Delhi. Its really sad to see these kind of incidences occuring so frequently now. And I don't what to jump on the 'attack the government' bandwagon, but really isn't there anything we can do about these things. The cloud of fear is slowly creeping over this nation, and it has almost reached a stage where all the citizens of the major cities are living in a constant state of fear. In fact I remember about a couple of months ago, when the blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad took place, a week after that I had to travel to Marine drive by train for a class assignment, I had to think twice before travelling and almost postponed the trip, because of the threat of an attack. It has almost become a perennial Sword of Damocles, hanging over our heads. And I know we have almost made a catchphrase out of the whole India bounces back again and again thing, but there has to be a limit. We shouldn't have to bounce back so often. Someday we might just stay down. And this attack comes on the eve of one of the biggest celebrations in Mumbai, the Ganesh visarjan and I do believe the mood for the festivities will be dampened by today's events and the extreme security bound to present tomorrow.

May peace be with the families of those affected by this act.

Random Quotes for the Day: "Terrorism is contempt for human dignity"