Achievements and accidents

A few months ago, while I was still in India, I drove to a restaurant to have lunch with a couple of colleagues. After lunch, we were returning to our office when it happened One of my colleagues casually threw out an empty envelope though the window. Accidentally, that envelope struck a person who was riding a motorcycle. He was a rash and rowdy young man and there were 2 others riding pillion behind him. Suddenly they started shouting at us. After a small verbal courtship, they wanted to take our new relationship to the next level! He was driving through my left. And I was going straight. He, well cajoled me to stop. I was in no mood for amorous exchanges and certainly didn’t want to get physical, so I drove straight ahead. But he was desperate to get to know me better and suddenly pulled his bike right in front of my car… and …I lost control and … ACCIDENT!

Thankfully no one was hurt, and we came to ... er ... an "out of court settlement". But accidents are part of our everyday lives. More people die in road accidents than in wars. About 115 people die every day in vehicle crashes in the United States -- one death every 13 minutes. I’m not even counting flight accidents. Accidents are unfortunate. They are sad. Accidents may also be happy, though not for the car owners.

I made it into ISB this year. It is a privilege and an honour to be part of such an illustrious group of people. I would think that this is an achievement. But I also believe that I have had my fair share of luck. I got the right breaks in my career: I made a very risky job change that turned out alright, volunteered for some high risk high reward assignments and pulled 'em through, quick promotions, great set of team mates, few amazing people guiding me about the admission process et cetera, et cetera. So is ISB just a happy accident?

I don’t think that our lives can be determined only by accidents. I surely don’t hope so. But many of you will say that things go wrong all the time. It’s a big bad world. Mr. Murphy certainly thought so. You must have heard about Murphy’s laws.
1. If anything can go wrong, it will, or the corollary
2. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way.
3. Or this corporate variation: After any salary raise, you will have less money at the end of the month than you did before. That certainly holds true in my case.

Are all promotions accidents? Let’s not even go there. Well, truth be told…the world is random. It is chaos out there. And accidents are just waiting to happen. When I first started driving on Indian roads, I was amazed at how an accident doesn’t occur every second. You have an auto that suddenly barges in from the right. When you escape it by turning left, a rikshaw honks its horns from the left and nearly hits you. And then you look in front and there’s a man standing there….right in the middle of the road….just looking at you and smiling…crossing the road at his leisure as if he’s taking a stroll in the garden, almost enticing you to just go and whack him! Believe me, when you are driving in India, just reaching your destination safely is an achievement.

If we look closely, we will find that our lives are very similar to the roads we drive our cars on. Few months ago, I had the delivery date of a very important project coming up. To make matters interesting, my GMAT was scheduled just before this date. But the week before this deadline, my mother got sick and had to be hospitalized, then when she got better, I got sick. I gave GMAT with a fever of 102 degrees, heavily drugged. Then when I got better and rejoined office, there was a man standing right in front of me looking very angry: my manager. But I stayed late in office over the next few weeks, worked really hard and completed the project before time. The project even earned client appreciation: a small achievement. And yes, I eventually made it into the class of 2010 in one of the best B schools in the world - a bigger achievement despite the accidents. We need luck, yes, but we shouldn’t count on it. I believe that the harder we work, the luckier we will get. Finally, let's hope that unlike the title of this post, “Achievements” and “Accidents” are not adjacent in too many sentences of our lives.

MBA app: Exaggerations

Yesterday, one of my very close friends, told me that a person he knew got waitlisted at University of North Carolina, Kenan Flagler Business School(UNC). Now UNC is a top class school. Great strength across concentrations, great brand name, solid faculty, alumni network, placement, the works. So what is special about this particular chap who got waitlisted? Well, he had made up most of his resume, by his own admission. My friend had shown this other person's CV to me once. There was a line about: Volunteered during flood in Kolkata. Now Kolkata has never ever been flooded. Not just in my lifetime but ever. Now agreed, even a small amount of rains cause waterlogging in the city due to an outdated drainage system (thats a topic for another post altogether), but that's not a flood and the only volunteering people do during during such a time, is to turn up in office. In fact almost all of his "social work" was made up, by this person's own admission. The fact that he has a good chance at an admission at a US top 20 school certainly throws up some questions for all applicants.

People bloating CVs is nothing new. Though most of the schools are very strict about ethics and many schools actually have a separate essay to identify ethics in applicants, applicants have resorted to under handed tactics over and over again. A few years ago, Harvard rejected 119 applicants for hacking into their application site. Recently Fuqua expelled several students for cheating during exams. After Enron and worldcom, most business schools have tried hard to focus on and instill ethics into their students. But what can you do about a basic human urge to do one better than your peers? Many of us faced the competitive pressure during school exams that everyone cheated, so unless you also follow suit, your marks will suffer. The same analogy exists in today's business/political spheres. Unless you are corrupt like others, you will be left high and dry. For the purpose of this post, however, I shall focus on MBA applications only.

From a business school adcom perspective, it is almost impossible to verify every bullet point in the resume of applicants. I know Emory performs background checks of admitted applicants (and charges about $70 for the same as well). But by that time, the harm has already been done. Some worthy applicants have already been rejected. Off course, the adcoms can call up the immediate supervisors etc to verify the work credentials, but it's is not feasible all the times (say for a work history spanning several years). Moreover, how can you authenticate whether a personal story listed in an essay is true? So the fact is, some people will seep through the system, no matter what.

However, I firmly believe that such a tactics on the part of an individual is counterproductive in the long run. Say this person made it to UNC. Most of the other applicants would have been selected on the basis of their actual experiences and talent. So in class performance and during eventual placements, the difference is bound to surface. Most likely, such a person would not be able to cope with the MBA program rigour and/or reap its true benefits. Hard work, or the lack of it, does eventually show up. It's not a perfect world but things do average out over the years.

Books: an endangered species?

The following is my 2nd Toastmasters speech: Organize Your Speech

Some people say we have only one life. They have never read a book.
For books give us the opportunity to step into the shoes of a sharp detective and solve the mystery of Hound of Baskervilles, to fall in love with Juliet, to fall in love with the departmental head’s daughter despite being a five point someone at an IIT, to make a journey to the centre of the earth, to travel to far away galaxies, to play chess with death himself, and to do much more.

This printed object woven between two covers did not even exist five and a half centuries ago. Gutenberg, the German businessman invented print and voila, all this hoopla about books. But didn’t people learn and share knowledge before the time of Gutenberg? Wasn’t there Papyrus scrolls? Who said books cannot evolve as well? After all, the shiny little gadget which graces your pockets, is that the same monstrous instrument called telephone that Mr. Alexander Graham Bell invented? So even if people read e-books, let’s encourage that. Of course, bookworms would have to find something else for a profession but that’s another story.

Speaking of profession, we are all professionals. We are busy with fulfilling our official duties and running personal errands. Do we really get time to read? In fact, research has shown that reading, especially in the developed countries, is on the wane. In American universities, scholars have termed this generation: a Post-Literate society. A society where people know how to read, they have that capacity but they won’t read. They’d much rather go to the discos, surf the internet, play video games or watch television. Well I personally find television very educating. Whenever someone turns on the set, I go to the other room and read a book. But, that’s just me. The million dollar question is, if internet and other avenues of entertainment are so appealing, why would people read books?
In order to answer that, let’s find out what would have happened if books never existed. What if no one ever told us: “The world’s a stage where everyone must play a part”? What if Hamlet never procrastinated: “To be or not to be”? What if Harry Potter never weaved any magic? What if Humpty Dumpty didn’t have a great fall? Can you imagine such a world? What if Jules Verne never took us Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea?

Regarding Verne, Arthur C. Clarke, the great science fiction writer, once said, “I’m sure we wouldn’t have had men on the moon if it had not been for Wells and Verne and the people who wrote about it and made people think about it. I’m rather proud of the fact that I know several astronauts who became astronauts through reading my books.”

Well, you might say what we don’t know can’t hurt us, right? Wrong. Ignorance is not bliss. Creativity, literature, art, books are the soul of any civilization and it would surely be the bane of modern society if we discouraged reading in any form.

Let me share a small personal story. When I first went to Pune, for my first job, I did not know a soul here. I had no friends, no relatives no acquaintances. I was all alone in a big city. But I had my books. And I had my world. Just the knowledge that a good book awaits us at the end of a long day makes that day happier. Outside a dog, book is a man’s best friend. Inside a dog it’s too dark to read!

In Pune, one of the first books I read was "Shantaram". It’s an autobiographical account of an Australian named Gregory David Roberts. He was a budding poet who lost his daughter after separation from his wife. He got addicted to heroin to overcome his loss. To support his addiction, he started armed robbery. He was caught and convicted for 20 years. He escaped from this maximum security prison and fled to Mumbai. He learnt Marathi, fell in love, lived in the slums, established a free clinic there, worked for the underworld, went to fight for the Mujahideen in Afghanistan and if you thought he he led a dull life, hear this: he acted in a couple of Bollywood movies in between. The book is hard hitting and savage yet tender and lyrical. The vivid imagination and lyrical imagery of the man is so profound, it will leave you spellbound. If it wasn’t for this wonderful medium called book, we would never have known about the remarkable story of this extraordinary “criminal”.

Hitler, the greatest criminal of all, tried to burn all books in Germany to inhibit free thinking and creativity there. You don’t need to destroy books to destroy society. You just get people to stop reading them. And where books are burnt, people would be burnt sooner or later. We all know what happened to Germany in Hitler’s hands. He tried to eradicate an entire race from the face of the earth just because he believed if his own racial superiority. This is what happens when you don’t respect books. So let’s learn from the mistakes of the past and let’s gift our posterity a world which is free, where the light of knowledge illuminates our hearts and minds and graces our souls.

We all have a big part to play in this. Let’s promise to ourselves that we would all read more books, we’ll spread awareness of the importance of reading and learning, we’ll present more books to our friends, we’ll even try to receive more books as presents – you now know what to give me for my birthday!

The books that help you most are those that make you think the most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy learning but a great book by a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty. So let’s make a pledge today, that we would try to find this truth and beauty in the world around us and more importantly in the people, from various cultures, across all boundaries, of different nationalities and from all walks of life. Let’s promise, to read and read and read. Amen.

Social Responsibility

For a while now, I have been thinking of posting some of my Toastmasters speeches online. Here goes unedited version of my 7th speech - research your topic.


Last week, my friend Vikram, while approaching a stationary shop, saw a old lady come out of the shop and drop a 5-hundred rupee note in front of him. She kept walking down the street. Vikram looked around: there was no else there and the lady was now far away from him. No one but Virkam saw her drop the hundered rupee note. So what did Vikram do? Did he return the money to the lady who dropped it, even though she was far away at this point and might’ve taken some effort to catch up with? Did he take the note and run in the shop and quickly spend it?
Did he have any responsibility to return that money? Do we have any responsibility towards another person? Well, the bigger question is: can we survive living our lives in an insular disconnected manner?

We owe our existence, and our values to the society which rears us, we owe some responsibility towards its upliftment. All of us privileged persons, who were lucky to be born in a family that could afford to pay for our education, our clothes and all our frivolous desires. – do bear a responsibility towards our not so fortunate brothers and sisters. It is very encouraging to know that many of us here, like AR, AM, and some others in our office are involved in such an initiative, an NGO called Jagaran that financially supports underprivileged but motivated students.

About one month ago, some of us went to visit a few of our beneficiaries to verify how they were doing academically. We visited one a boy named Imran. We came to know from our local NGO contact that initially the NGO used to sponsor Imran's books as well as his private tuition fees. After a few months, Imran had turned down the aid for tuition fees while continuing to receive books for his studies. When we asked him about it, he replied, with a charming smile, that he finds it immoral to ask for tuition aid when he can very well manage on his own! The facts support his quiet confidence. He has never stood 2nd in his school and was a consistent top performer even in std 11. Here was a person who lived his life out of just one dank room, where his parents, his sister and he vies for each inch of space, who cannot even afford to replace his worn out shirt, yet he dared to refuse aid for something that he could well do without. We had set out in the journey that day to give something to others but this soft spoken, charming, bespectacled boy of 15 gave us so much.
Such is the nature of social work – you get more than you give.

Now the people are what make an organization. So if we, as human beings share a social responsibility towards the society at large, what about corporations?

Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR is concerned with treating the stakeholders of the firm
ethically or in a socially responsible manner. Many people criticize companies which undertake CSR programs because they feel that the companies are trying to distract the public from their unethical practices

Milton Friedman, a Nobel winning economist said, and I quote, "There is one and only one social responsibility of business -- to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits."He goes on to say, "so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud." (I'm sure you can think of a few companies that forgot that last part.)
Let's look at some of the side effects of single-minded pursuit of profit
“There were thousands of bodies. There were bodies everywhere. And people were dying all round.” These were the words of one of the victims of Bhopal gas tragedy. On early morning of 3rd Dec’1984, 40 tons of poisonous methyl isocyanate gas was released from pesticide plant of Union Carbide Corporation in Bhopal. Severe cost cutting measures resulting in improper security facilities were to blame for this disaster. The disaster left 15,000 dead, 5.5 lakhs ill, with a polluted environment that is yet to recover. An average monetary rehabilitation of … Rs 200 per year was awarded to each person. Rs 200(!!) for the victims of such a disaster!
We have all heard about the Enron scandal. At the beginning of 2001, the Enron Corporation, the world's dominant energy trader, appeared unstoppable. However, after a series of revelations involving fraudulent accounting procedures perpetrated throughout the 1990s, it stood at the verge of undergoing the largest bankruptcy in history by mid-November 2001. As the scandal was revealed, Enron shares dropped from over $90 to just pennies.
To draw a contrast with the above examples, let’s see a few examples of socially responsible behaviour by corporations.
Let’s take PwC: it has a well developed CSR program worldwide.
Various offices of PwC engage in activities like volunteering in the community (eg. parties for marginalized children), monitory donations by individuals and the firm to supported organizations, free professional Services such as Audit, Tax Advice, etc to community or not-for-profit organizations and so on.

Closer home, the Infosys Foundation has taken a lot of initiatives. While I was in Pune, I was part of one such initiative: we used to go teach slum kids in a place called Khadki. As most of the kids were Marathi, I had to teach them Marathi while I couldn’t even say “Hello” in that language! Well what happened was I knew Hindi and since the alphabets of Marathi are same as that of Hindi, I somehow managed it. Nonetheless it was great fun.

The ITC e-chaupal initiative also deserves mention. The e-Choupal places computers with Internet access in rural farming villages; the e-Choupals serve as both a social gathering place for exchange of such information as market prices of the crops and also help the farmers to locate potential buyers. This system is also a highly profitable e-commerce platform for the company.

The social responsibility of businesses may always be a sticky point to argue about, but plain old responsibility shouldn't be hard to strive for. Sir Winston Churchill used to say, “The price of greatness is responsibility”. It stands to reason that companies with great management teams that focus on profiting from excellence and innovation, and not "profit at all costs," are the ones that will produce sustainable profit growth.

So, today we have examined various instances of both responsible and irresponsible behaviour by individuals and corporations. Personally, I believe in what Samuel DiPiazza, our Global CEO, says, “Our obligation as business leaders and as individuals is to leave the world better than we found it”. So the choice is ours: whether we choose to focus our attention on our own lives or we look slightly above and beyond our quotidian tasks and try to make a difference in the lives of others as well. And to come back to my friend Vikram, he did take that extra step. He did run after the lady and return the money to her. He was socially responsible. Just as you and I are. And we all can, as Michael Jackson sang,
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race

Circuitous roads, a memorale vacation and a little bit of business

I took a well deserved(!) vacation over the thanksgiving weekend with a few friends who flew down from New Jersey. We covered Orlando (Universal Studios theme park) , Tampa and Clearwater beach. Not to mention the thanksgiving sale.
Ill come to the sale later. I drove for about 600 miles during the 3 days! Since I d been to Clearwater beach earlier, Universal was a special attraction. I was amazed at the scale and creativity of the park. They say that the world of movies is like a dream world. The theme park has actually carried that notion forward and carved out several rides/shows out of the all time favourite movies (produced by Universal pictures). The Shrek show (4-D) was awesome. The seats in the hall place you inside the horse carts in the movie, or take you on a boat though a waterfall i.e. the seats move along with the motion. When Shrek sneezes, you will get wet! The terminator 3D show was also awesome. The real actors getting inside the screen and zoming off on a bike. In addition, the 3-D terminators bounce off the screen right onto your face, the whole experience was breathtaking. The best experience, however, was the Revenge of the Mummy ride: It's an awesome, nerve wrecking ride! What a feeling. These 3 are probably the best shows/rides-there are others such as ET ride and a lot of behind the scenes coverages of the various popular films such as MIB, etc....The whole place is decorated as a studio...with street names/signs shops etc all organized like an old world city. It's truly a dream world.It may be due to my impending MBA, but I couldnt help but marvel at the brilliant business idea behind it all. There is no reason (other than a few million dollars) why the concept cant be replicated in India. Why not have a a Sholay ride, with you chasing Gabbar in a horse? Or Taking rani mukherjee on a ride while singing Ae kya bolti tu? Packaging is something we all can learn from the Americans. I read somewhere that a movie, even if it is a super flop, recovers its cost for the producers through the television /DVD and other promotional avenues. And such parks ensure that the legacy lives on for 20-30 years and continuously remains a top earner. There's no business like show business!

We went to clearwater beach just off Tampa. There are a lot of street performers there - spray painting, fire tricks, et all. The beach was as usual magnificient-resplendant in all its glory at the sunset.


Then the Thanksgiving sale. I shopped for about 10 hours that day! Things were just so damn cheap, and quality goods mind you, I just couldn't resist. My exploits included Laptop, digital camera, micro SD card, external Hard drive, sweaters, jackets and what not. I ravaged the lands of Circuit city, Macy's and Old Navy. However, the biggest surprise came 2 days later. A persistent salesman had made me buy a laptop cooler during the sale, saying it was extremely essential! Next day I realized my folly and felt the pang of conscience (read $15). I just checked the receipt once, and it was written that "If you change your mind about a product, we'll refund your money." So I thought of testing its validity. And whoa, no questions asked, I got my $15 back! Talk of customer service. Even bigger surprise was awaiting me, however. I saw at the store that the camera I had bought was $20 cheaper now. I complained to the Ckt city manager that this made mockery of the long wait in queue for the thanksgiving sale. He promptly refunded the balance $20! I was amazed at the congeniality of the personnel at the store. Whoever has experienced the lordly behaviors of salespeople at Indian stores will realize what a sea change in attitude this is. In India, most stores follow a "No refund or exchange policy" - none has even heard of discount adjustment for fall in price. Circuit City may have lost out on a few $ of sales but it gained a lot of loyalty. And that eventually will bring more business. Something to ponder over in my future career.

B school essays: Impact

Well moving on to the application process, as is well known, the essays form the most important and distinguishing part of the entire application. Coz through the essays, we can generate an image of ourselves which can overshadow any other stats that we may have. Some people have asked me about tips on ISB essays but since there's so little time for R2 deadline, I'll make my observations generic to all b-schools essays.

I feel that the key is impact. What impact have you had on the 4 spheres of your life: professional, community, inter-personal/social, personal (in order of importance). By impact, I mean you contribution. For professional impact, especially through resume, it is very important to write what exactly you did as part of the team in quantifiable terms. Use billing rate, man-hours etc to arrive at a numeric value. That's what differentiates your impact from another person who may have just been part of a multi-million $ project but didnt do anything to either win new projects or save a few $s. Similarly in community/personal sphere, just being part of a few clubs/NGOs is not enough. For instance, If you are part of the marketing side of an NGO, tell how many people you have recruited/amount of funds (Rs) you have collected, etc. Through all the essays, the impact shuld come through. On personal side, if you learnt a foreign language, be sure to highlight why you did that and what you gained form it. Just a certificaiton in Spanish would not get you far, coz you have to specify how that helped you and makes you a more desirable candidate to the MBA program.

ISB aftermath

How is it that once you achieve something, it seems very easy and once you don't, it seems like an insurmountable barrier? I remember that after any exam in school or college, the people who got the correct answers to a few questions that most of the others couldn't, boasted about the question being very easy. "Oh that, that was an easy one! You couldn't get it right, eh?" I felt like givin a whack on the head of the speaker on hearing this (the times when I was not the speaker that is!).

So when over the last few days I started to feel "oh ISB, that wasn't so hard, what's all the fuss about?", I felt that some1 gave a whack on my head. That someone was the memory of the time just before the results came out. That excruciating wait before the final result was the true indicator of the scale of the achievement. I know that selections can be quite subjective but still, it's an honour and a privelege to be part of this batch of super achievers.

But wait, is this an achievement? Is this what I have been figting for? Well, yes and no. I have struggled for the last 2 years to get into a top MBA college. The road was arduous, and I did try my best to develop myself personally and professionally for this day. But what was all that for? That was for a jump in my career. And that jump will come, if at all, only after I earn my MBA. So now the road has got that much tougher. I know that the next one year is gonna be one hell of a roller coaster ride. People complain about the pressure of a 2 year MBA so the 1 year MBA would be that much tougher. However, I am excited and hopeful because of the people I'm gonna be spending this time with. After getting to know some of the fellow admits, who are from all over the world, from such diverse backgrounds (actor to doctor to journalist to consultants, etc), and are generally such nice people, I am sure that I m gonna madly enjoy the next year of my life.
Next few posts would outline my thoughts on B-school essays .

Accepted at ISB

After a week of anxiety and a night without sleep, finally the result came out.
I am IN !!
Thanks lot to all the people who supported me through this journey.

At one moment I breathed a sigh of relief and at another I was shouting at the top of my voice and yet, in another, I felt like crying. It's a shame that I am hundreds and thousands of miles away form the people who are truly happy for me. I longed to rejoice with friends and family.

Anyway, it's a great feeling and it's awesome to find my hard work rewarded.
Ciao

ISB: Still waiting

ISB results are supposed to be out on the 20th. So why am I waiting for the results today? Well the word on the market (well Pagalguy, really) is that the results would be out sooner. Many predicted Monday/Tuesday. Both the options have been invalidated now. So let's see if they post the results by tomorrow.
I have some big plans lined up for the thanksgiving weekend. Few friends are coming down from NJ. The fun would surely be whipped off if the results dont go my way.

But anyway, that's life I guess. The blogworld was surely a help in the whole process. The number of readers to my site has gone up radically in the last few days. Welcome all of you. Leave me a comment if you have any queries.

Earlier, I had put in a lot of effort for the Darden and especially Fuqua apps. Since ISB is probably going to be the only school I'm gonna app this year, I might have written the best Fuqua essays never to be submitted :) I guess that the Darden and Fuqua essays did help me for the ISB interview as I could clearly articulate my career goal and progression. It always helps writing things down.

Since tomorrow I may come to the end of the road of this yr's apps, let me share a few tidbits
US B Schools: The road is not rosy. Especially for an intl applicant who needs funding/loan to get through. Even if you make it through to your dream college, chances of getting a non-cosignor/collateral free/guarenteed loans is very bleak. Most the the colleges outside top 10 have discontinued the guaranteed loans. But it gets more interesting once you somehow manage. The H1B cap is 65K and a 20K more for Masters (MBA included). However, the degree awarding date is very generally after the visa application deadline so the 20K quota is generally renedered useless. Then comes the companies. In this climate, very few cos will recruit many ppl to start off. And even fewer will go into the hassles of H1B sponsorship. So you are stuck with a 100K+ USD loan and no jobs.
That was a risk I couldn't take. Not with the various responsibilities I have. Maybe next year, who knows. Coming back to the applying process, as many people have mentioned it is very hectic and very challenging to integrate the various dimensions in the app: GMAT, essays, recos, school research, alumni/student networking and so on. But it's is extremely fulfilling due to the introspective nature. I am sure I m a better professional just because I penned down my thoughts through the various essays. I now have a direction in my career, and a clear understanding of myself as a professional. Even for the interviews, I encourage people to write the responses to gthe common questions down - just like they would for an essay. And if possible, show it to a reviewer-whether it makes sense.

The ISB essays were extremely challenging because of the length. It is so frustrating to be limited to just 300 words. Having said that, they echoed something the bard said long back: "brevity is the soul of wit". It takes real calibre to express the same thought in fewer words. So I think the essays would have brought out the best in the applicants' writing prowess. Very often, a little play on words brought down the length drastically. There was also the issue of prioritizing points and putting in the most important ones. All of these require great managerial skills - which is what the whole thing is about. So I guess ISB essays were a great test for the creativity and communication skills of the applicants.

That's it for now. Wish me luck.

ISB Interview

I had my ISB interview today. Woke up @ 5:15 AM for the interview @ 5:45 AM Florida time (4:15PM in India). It was quite casual in flow. There were 2 people on the panel.

The very first question was a bouncer. "So I see from your essays that you have researched on ISB a lot. So what do you think we are gonna ask you today?". Top that!
Then I was asked to speak on "Television" for a minute. Nailed it. Courtesey TM TT practice.
After I finished, the senior interviewer actually said " Wao, I can't clap here, but that was good"!

Then came the typical questions on Y MBA, Career progression, Career Goals. They also asked me about my contest winning speech :)
The last qs was another bouncer: Rate urself on analytical skills: I said 8.
Then came the actual qs: There's a 100 storey building. There r 4 lifts: each servicing successive 25 floors. They are state of the art lifts. Yet the users of the lift are unhappy with them. Why?

Then I asked a couple of questions on the Global Consulting Practicuum, Artist in Residence and Problem Solving (McKinsey).

Anyway, I think I did well. It seeemed as if they were only trying to complete the picture. As they asked questions that weren't addressed in the app. Not a single qs on Jagaran. So Im guessing they are content wid the other aspects of my profile. So all in all it seemed positive. Fingers crossed

ISB Interview call

After days and day of great anguish, finally the interview call arrived, when I had given up hope. Better late than never I guess.

Meanwhile, I didn't app to any either college, not in R1 anyway. Some personal reasons have even forced me to rethink my decision to earn an MBA this year.

In all probability, I'll only app to ISB nd depending on its decision, take the next step.

Over and out

Enter the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave

I was standing freely on the train when it started t move. And move fast. The sudden acceleration of the train nearly made me fall. I realized I am in the US of A, in the inter-terminal train in the Chicago airport.
It's been a week since I landed in America. I left my mother and my motherland on the 5th Oct early morning by Lufthansa flight. The last few days were very difficult for me personally. I didn't realize I'd be so sad leaving my family. The 28-hr flight was so uncomfortable. The dometic Kingfisher flights are more comfy than the lufthansa ones. The Frankfurt and Chicago airports truly took my breath away.
Life took on the all too familiar busy colours soon after joining office. But that was expected.I am amazed to 2 particular things in America. How nice people are and how easy things are.
Strangers nodding and saying Hello to grocery store attendants wishing you "Have a nice day" with an endearing smile, every person seems so nice, I'll have to watch out for diabetes now. People are so sweet!
And everything seems like an easy or a beginner level in a video game. Things are just so damn easy! I opened my bank account in 10 minutes! Yes 10 minutes, not 10 hours or 10 days!
Within a wek, I have a bank a/c a house a car. And the roads, phew! Whoever has driven through the Indian roads will know what an experience it is. But here, sometimes I get bored. People follow all the rules!! Drivers follow the signals, there's no pesky auto rikshaws or cycle rikshaws and bicycles have a separate lane. There's hardly any traffic and all the roads have 3/4 lanes. Man things are cool here.
But things are not what makes human beings. People love not things but well... people. And in spite of everything, I miss the hustle and bustle and the pollution and the love of the people i left across the ocean. Miss you guys.

Essay update-Fuqua, Darden

I have dropped Kellogg off my list. Tuck as well. Even though I may get in at these 2, the costs associated would be too high. At least in Darden and Fuqua I may get some good schols. + writing the essays takes so much of energy and effort, I feel it's imperative that maximise the return from my effort. Things are on track for my US visa etc. The only issue is the upcoming Puja holidays in Cal. It may be difficult to get a Visa interview date.
Anyway comin bak, I have written the first drafts for the Fuqua essays. Darden is stil sketchy.
Fuqwua essays 1 and 4 are givin me nightmares. Not individualy but the combination. I feel there's so much overlap in the scope. I mean your long term goals would obviously include the impact you wanna have in the world. Ohterwise, Fuqua essays are very balanced-they do bring about most facets of my personality, unlike the darden essays-they are very narrow. I mean you can be a good manager and a great leader even though you haven't experienced a big failure, or a huge creative challenge or an "ethical dilemma" (phew). After all, a great perosnna makes the best of the situation-does ordinary things extraordinarily well! That's difficult to portray through the darden essays.

Ive realized that writing MBA essays is like designing a software solution.
Step 1: Requirements gathering: read up on various sources: website, blogs, interviews, etc.
Step 2: Design: Prepare a rough layout of the structure of ur esay-Intro, body(pt 1, pt 2 , etc), Conclusion.
Step 3: Coding: Expand the points-write all things substantially.
Step 4: testing: Give your essays to the reviewers.
Step 5: Bug fixing: like any software project, the testing phase will invariably involve loads of bug-fixes coz the reviewers generally come up with both "aha" and "duh" pointers.
Step 6: Deploy: Submit the app, and hope for the best.

Note that the development methodology may vary as some people may go for waterfall model (listed above) or an iterative model-all the phases performed iteratively or even Agile model-testing driven development i e first ask the reviewer for pointers then start writing!

B a software engineer does have its advantages!

Seismic schocks

Things will never be the same again. A 158 year old financial giant is dead. Another big fish has been eaten by a shark.

24000 employees of Merril Lynch are expecting pink slips.

All employees of Lehman Bro have started polishing their CVs.

Satyam has laid off 2500 employees.

The job market was never more competitive. Though Finance is not my post-MBA choice of , I am worried as hell. Because all these capable people, most of 'em anyway are now looking for redemption. And most of them will look at an MBA to take them through the next 2 years of their lives. If you are gonna be without a job, you are far better off being so in an MBA school for obvious reasons.

The implications are very clear. The applicant pool will probably be the most competitive ever. Especially in the later rounds. So EA (if the option is there) and R1 are the only choices for poor souls such as me.

I was thinking of app-ing to Fuqua in R2, to have some more time for the on-campus interview, but that seems like a very dangerous choice now. it's either EA/R1 or never.

1 other thing is e timeline. Fuqua R1 admit offer demands pulling out of other apps.

Here's a brief sketch of timeline.

Probable US journey: 29 Sep
US (may get delayed): 6 Oct
Fuqua Interview R1: 7 Oct (sat)
Fuqua EA: 15 Oct
Fuqua R1: 27 Oct
Darden R1 28 Oct
Fuqua Interview (EA): Nov 1 (sat)
Fuqua Offer (EA)
ISB interview (probable): Nov1 -Nov 12
Fuqua offer (EA): Nov 14
ISB Offer: On or before Nov 20 (15 days time to accept offer)

Fuqua Tution Deposit (EA): Dec 12
Darden interview: Dec 5-19
Fuqua offer (R1):Dec 19

Darden interview:Jan 5-9
Darden offer: Jan 30
Darden Deposit: Mar 12

So Fuqua R1 is a bit risky since if ISB offers, I'll have to pay 2 lakhs and then get the offer form Fuqua and kick myself in the back.

Let's c wat the future holds

Ciao

ISB submitted

Finally! I submitted the app at 00:30 AM last night (technically, today). It is so irritating to every time look at a piece and change this or add that ...

To save myself from wasting the weekend as well I decided to get over with the whole damn thing yesterday itself.

It's a relief.

Over to the US B-school now.
I'm thinking of applying to Kellogg as well., just for the heck of it. At least they'll give me feedback on what I lack. If only someone can sponsor the $230... Any kind souls out there?

Transition

It's been a while since I got a chance to pen down some thoughts.
A sea of changes has swept through my life since then. Most positives.

For starters, my US trip got back on track. So no more wasting TIME on Sunday mornings.
I am supposed to reach the golden shores of Florida on 29th September.

Regarding my apps, my ISB app is nearly done. It's high time anyway as 15th Sep is the deadline. Both recos done, I "just" need to submit my essays now! However, every time I review an essay, I feel like rewriting it from scratch! Anyway, essays have taken a good shape, courtsey SB ( I don't know how to thank him enough), and if everything goes smoothly, I am pretty confident about my chances in ISB.

The US schools are a different ball game all together. Probably I would n't have app-ed to any US school if it wasn't for the US trip. But now I have been advised to app in R2 with around 3-4 months of intl exp. Recently I had a free consultation with MBAMission's Jeremy. He told me that my choice of schools is very prudent. Duke, Darden are pretty realistic targets for me, UNC and Emory being safety! He said he liked what he saw. That has made me very upbeat. He even thought that I may try my luck with Tuck or Kellogg!! Tuck, I can still understand, but Kellogg!! Whoa! As usual, a ton of questions came to my mind, after I hung up. Anyway, I have another free consultation lined up with clearadmit. Hope to have more effective conversation this time.

P.S. I won the club contest with the speech last posted, though couldn't make headway in the area contest!!

Are you crazy?

Here's the speech I'm going to deliver in the speech contest...

Are you crazy?

How many of you have seen The sixth sense? You know, the movie that made M.Night Shyamalan famous. It’s the story of a boy who sees dead people that don't know they're dead and seeks the help of a child psychologist.
Mr Toastmaster, contest judges and dear guests, today I am going to tell you a little secret
I also recently consulted a psychiatrist, here is how the conversation went…
Me: I see crazy people.
Psychologist: In your dreams?
[I shake my head no]
Psychologist: While you're awake?
[I nod]
Psychologist: Crazy people like, in mental institutions? Did you go to Ranchi?
Me: Walking around like regular people. They don't see each other. They only see what they want to see. They don't know they're crazy.

It’s true. I see crazy people all the time; they are everywhere. I even see some in this room.
I get on a bus, and they are there. When I was in college, I once boarded a packed bus and I was hanging on to the rod for my dear life. The bus was speeding past other cars as if racing on a formula 1 track. There was suddenly a tap on my shoulders. I looked around and there was a man who was also hanging just like me. He looked like a saint, had a beard and was wearing grey robes. I thought maybe he wanted to discuss the philosophy of life – the inner meaning of this precarious situation and what it means in the after life. But, he had an even deeper question for me, of which I had no answer to. While another bus whooshed past me, he raised the solemn question, “Boss, why are you pushing me?” Crazy!

I turn on the TV and I see madness. A few months back when Suchitra Sen was admitted in hospital, I was watching an interview of her biographer, who was talking about Suchitra Sen’s favourite food items. Suddenly the breaking news flashed on the screen: I feared for the worst and …. There it was…
Suchitra Sen loved to eat jalebis in the morning. The prime time breaking news on a television channel: Suchitra Sen loves to eat jalebis. Crazy.

After analyzing all these situations, I have come to the conclusion that there are only 2 types of people in this world. Normal and crazy. The difference between the 2 groups is that the crazy people think that the world is normal and the normal people don’t realize that they are crazy themselves.

People in Nadia, a village in Bengal, call Sangeeta crazy. Sangeeta and Rina go to the same school every morning. Rina is in class 3, Sangeeta is in class 11. Sangeeta is Rina’s mother. Sangeeta had to leave school when she was in class 8 because her father couldn’t afford her tution. But all these years later, when her daughters were in school, she felt an inner urge to go back to school. She recently sat for her class 10 exams and cleared it with 63% marks.-Crazy!

So is Sangeeta really crazy? How does one know whether one is crazy? There are actually books on the market titled: Are You Crazy?: 18 Scientific Quizzes to Test Yourself
No, I am not asking you to buy that book.
I have an easier set of questions for you.

Do you feel that inner calling, that urge to do something different? Are your ambitions off the beaten track? Can you think outside the box or when there is no box? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then my friend, I have news for you. Believe it or not, you are crazy!

So now, what do you do?

Rabindranath Tagore had some ideas to counter that,
He who calls you lunatic today and throws dust in your eyes,
Will honour you tomorrow with a garland

Every great idea, every great thinker have been called mad at first
Just because the other people, whatever their pedigree criticize you, please don’t lose hope. Just because they are great, doesn’t mean they are not crazy! In 1943, Thomas Watson, the chairman of IBM said, “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” –Crazy! Albert Einstein just before the Manhattan project said, “There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable.”-Crazy! Just before this week, many people in this room said that India would never win an individual gold in Olympics- Crazy! I told you – I see crazy people in this room. So, the next time you have a crazy idea, say quit your job to join an NGO, go back to school, or win an Olympic Gold medal for India …Do remember that you will hear voices all around : “Are you crazy?”… “Are you crazy?”… “Are you crazy?”… “Are you crazy?”… Don’t forget to answer: Well, I am! Aren’t you?

ISB essay update

I am struggling with the ISB essays. I thought things have settled down and all the essays were in shape but a recent reviewer says, that the material is good but the presentation isn't. I'm now in the process of re-vamping my essays from scratch, especially the 1st one.
I feel that the essays lack one important question: Why MBA? (and also why ISB). There just isn't a place to put in Y MBA and my career goals. I feel that my career goal and why MBA are some of my differentiating factors. May be I can utilize the optional essay for this.

This have been quite "normal" at office. We are organizing a humorous speech contest next week. In order to prepare for that, I am switching between writing ISB student body presidential contest speech, humorous speech, responding to Zumba residents' protests and convincing ISB why they should take me. So life is good.

In toastmasters, I have now delivered 5 speeches. Next Wednesday it'll be my 6th speech. So pretty good going there. I hope I'm able to complete CL by this month and CC by Oct.
I'll post some of my past speeches next

Schools shortlisted and essay update

I have recently been reading up on a lot of blogs. I must say I was particularly impressed with Raja Banerjee's blog: http://isbpgp.blogspot.com/ on life pre, during and post ISB.
It gives one a clear snapshot of life in the great school.
ISB is certainly on top of my list.The question is, how realistic are my chances there. My GMAT certainly isn't my distinguishing factor. My work profile is varied but I'm not sure whether it can be my USP. So that just leaves me with XCs and community work. And certainly the essays.
The first 2 essays are a bit overlapping, I feel. Which experience to include in diversity essay and which one in leadership? Since I'm new to the whole application procedure, I'm also unsure about which aspects should be highlighted and how. Amidst all these confusions, I have just decided to stick to the thing I know best in this world. Me. I'll just let things flow. It's difficult (and risky) to second guess the Adcom's views. So I wouldn't try.
I had asked an ex-colleague to review the first drafts of the essays and had requested him to be frank in his feedback. Boy, was he frank! Excoriating-ly (is that even a word?) so. But he has awesome insights and has pointed out amazing things. No wonder he's made it to LBS this year! Another thing I worry about ISB is the lack of international experience. But as this colleague of mine says, this is not the time to focus on the have-nots but rather the time to focus on the have's. Time certainly is running out.

I figure that if I'm to have any chance to gain admission to any of the top schools, R1 is the way to go.

So, the colleges I've sent my scores to and the respective deadlines are:
ISB-15 Sep
Fuqua-Oct 15(EA)
Darden-Oct 28(EA?)
UNC-Oct 24(EA)
Emory-?

I'll not apply for the early action rounds as that means a payment of the huge acceptance fees before ISB's decision. I don't really have that much money to spare. In fact I'm not very sure about apping to all of the schools either. Miss Emory being schol friendly would certainly be getting a love letter from urs truly but mademoiselles Fuqua and Darden, being such up uptown girls may not be hearing from plebeian me.

Over and out

GMAT

After a few months of prep, I gave GMAT yesterday. I had planned the date for a long time. But the almighty surely has a wicked sense of humour. 4 days before the exam I came down with 103 degree fever. Since rescheduling within 7 days would cost me another 11K bucks, I decided to give it a go despite having 102 degrees on the day.
I scored 740 (50, 40)
Lack of stamina probably cost me 20 marks but what the hell: 740 is stll a pretty decent score.
No I'll have to start thinking of essays.
Over and out

Snow, headline and hospital

It has been a long time since I last posted. Towards end Aprial, I took a well deserved break and visited the North East. We were a group of 5 people: friends and family. We took the flight to Assam from Kolkata airport. Thgen the trip took us from the Kajiranga forest (elephant safary) in Assam to the land of the rising Sun: Arunachal Pradesh and then to Meghalaya.
In Arunachal Pradesh we had a great time visiting Tawang, PTSO lake and Madhuri lake (named after Madhuri Dixit as a song from Koyla was shot there). After a long long time I saw snow in Tawang. Military camps mushroomed everywhere we went in Arunachal but the military comprised very nice and helpful people who guided us a lot on the places to visit.














Pics: Sela Pass, Arunachal Pradesh: 13700 feet
It is said that every place, every name ha a history. The above pics are of Sela pass, named after very brave lady, Sela, who showed great resistance to ward off Chinese soldiers during the Chinese insurgency in the 1960s. The Chinese had killed her in the end.
Her memory is still alive in the region.

Then we spent a couple of days in Nemari forest (Assam) trekking in the dense forest and rafting in the river. In the last leg of the journey, we went to visit Shillong and Cherrapunji (locally known as Sohra, the place getting the highest rainfall in the world).
The whole journey took 9 days and was a thoroughly enjoyable and a refreshing experience.

I needed the calm serene break as a tempest awaited me back home. Soon after returning my mother fell ill and had to be admitted in hospital. In an ordeal of around 2 weeks, my father and I spent nearly 2 weeks shuttling between office and the hospital.

But thankfully she's back home now and on the way to recovery.

In the mean time, our toastmasters club has really taken of. It has got officially chartered and we (the club) have been featured twice in the past month in 2 leading dailies in the city.
Here's a link to the last one which also quotes me:The Telegraph
We have also launched our own website: TM website

So I guess it's been a mixed bag over the last 2 months. I got to experience best and the worst of times. It is said that one finds true friends in most trying of times. That was certainly true in my case. One gets to separate the chaff from the wheat in these times.

Well , one learns every day.

U me aur hum - A review

CRAP

Mr President

The office bearer elections have been held and the executive committee has been formed.

We are a full fledged Toastmasters club now.

I have been elected as the President! The election was conducted as transparently as possible – with an advanced Toastmaster who was not going to become a member of the club, chairing the meeting. Even I didn’t know beforehand who had nominated himself/herself for which role. However, immediately after the election, I faced an ego issue among some people.

We had 3 nominations each for the roles VP-Education and VP-Public Relations. Since the work required is huge, and so as not to disappoint anybody, we decided, in fact I decided to ask the runners up to take up the backup roles and

The eventual winners, who just previous to the elections were expressing interest in resolving the roles amicably without an election, were now taking on airs and refusing to work with the runners up.

I had to call separate meetings with respective parties and had a polite but firm talk with the team members to ensure that they work together. The situation seems to be under control as of now. Let’s see what the future brings.

The whole experience has been so enriching. When we started off, just 3 or 4 of us had the faith that we would eventually make it. But today there is a palpable enthusiasm running across the office. Many people are approaching me as well as the other office bearers about joining the club. It’s very encouraging. In fact there were various people who initially said that there’s no place for such whims in our office. The same people are now approaching us again wanting to join the club. I guess this is basic human psychology. When there’s no structure, people don’t want to get their hands dirty. But when they see a set stage they also want to share the limelight. I guess it’s an achievement on all our parts that we have successfully effected this change in the people.

Hope to have an even brighter future.

Approval

Well, tomorrow's the big day and here I am writing my blog which I'm sure nobody will ever read. Ah well, for posterity may be.
My flight starts at 7:35 in the morning tomorrow.
The sad part is that I'll arrive at the new Hyderabad airport which is around 1.5 hours drive from the main city. I'll be alone and bored for most of the day. The return flight is at 8:40 PM and going by last time's experience, it's sure to get delayed. Today I'm feeling a bit jaded due to the heavy hours I've put in over the last few days. Let's see what happens.

It sure isn't easy to to live a dichotomous life. Here I am, going to Google 2morrow but spending the entire day to finalize toastmasters club processes.
We got the green signal last week from the top mgmt. Yippeee.
3 cheers to all members of our team who done much.

Over and out for now.

Going to Hyderabad

Next stop Hyderabad!
I had the telephonic round on Friday. The interviewer was a s/w engineer from US. There were some good challenging questions on core java and 2 puzzles. The only bad planning on my part was that I kept the interview at 10:30 PM! I could hardly keep my eyes open when the questions were being asked. Well, as they say, all's well that ends well. Got a call today from my HR contact point informing me abt the onsite call. This means that the tele round went quite well as otherwise they hv a second telephonic round. Ah well....

Hope to have a blast at Hyderabad next wk.
Fingers crossed!

Contradictions

Our lives are prefect examples of contradictions. On a day I lost Rs 10K +, out of nowhere, a Rs 1 million opportunity was staring at me right in the face. Well, to be honest, it’s not worth a million. As the Mastercard ad goes, a bad day in the stock market: Rs 10,000; on-site opportunity: Rs 10lakhs; an interview call from Google: priceless. When everything in my life and career seemed to be stable, when I had worked out every minute detail of the next career moves I would make, there comes across an offer I can’t refuse. Though Google wasn’t around when Godfather was released, they have perfected the art of making offers one can’t refuse. Technically it’s just an interview call, and in all probability the dream would remain just a dream but it does feel good to know that you have what it takes to be considered for employment by the world’s very best.

I find myself asking: What do I really yarn for? Why do I indulge myself in so many activities? Why do I always reshuffle the pack of cards? Why can’t I just settle and let things be? Is there anything called moksh?
The partial answer to those is that I am curious. I am curious to know what I am capable of. I am curious to see whether I really CAN make a difference. I am curious about this world we live in, about the people that inhabit and about the depth of mysteries that reside in the penetralia of our mortal existences.
So has Google appeared as Deus ex Machina? Is it going to be a case of 2nd time lucky? Well I don’t know. But I’d rather have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Previously when I went to the Googleplex in Hyderabad (in Jan, 2007) I was grossly unprepared. I had to pack in 4 years of IT curriculum into 1 week of preparation. Just one bad interview (out of 5) and I was out. More importantly, I didn’t really believe. I was so overawed by the company, the place, the people. I didn’t realize that my interviewers were going to be my teammates. I didn’t believe that I belonged.
So what has changed? My outlook, for one. Now, I think that I belong.
However, I’m very happy in my present company. I got a major breakthrough on Thursday when the no. 2 man here agreed to meet me about the budget approval for our Toastmasters club! Such is life.
So I go to Google for just the experience. Their hospitality is amazing. A fully paid trip (even the food is paid for) to Hyderabad, a night’s stay, another peek at the googleplex, an afternoon with some of the smartest people in India (probably the world as well) is certainly enticing.
To sum it up…
Am I taking it easy? Heck no. Not in my nature. I’ll prepare to the best of my ability.
Would I have gone if it was any other company? Absolutely not.
Do I want to change? No.
If made an offer, would I take it up. Absolutely.
Contradictions!

A special Sunday - Jagaran

Well Sundays will be Sundays and Indian Cricket team will be Indian cricket team. Yet another lame loss and snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory. The same pugnacious Dhoni who refuses to own up to his own mistakes and continues to play the blame game.
But that is not what I want to write about here. Last Sunday was special coz I had an amazing experience. As part of Jagaran (the awakening) (http://www.jagaran.org.in) , I, along with some others, went for the mid-term evaluation of beneficiaries. A little background information: Jagaran, an NGO, was set up in 2006 by Infoscions - mainly JU passouts. It seeks to provide a platform for poor but meritorious students to live out their dreams. Jagaran financially supports aspiring students, mainly school students. Other activities include career related coaching, mentoring, development of school infrastructure, spreading awareness about environmental protection, etc. There are already over 500 members with over 150 beneficiaries all over the country.

Since all of us are working professionals, it is difficult for us to directly get in touch with all the beneficiaries. So we take the help of experienced NGOs having direct access to the needy students. We provide funds to the NGOs and they supply books and pay the school dues and tuition money for the students. Twice a year, we, the members of Jagaran, visit the students at their homes to evaluate whether the funds are being utilized properly and the students are getting the desired benefits. Last Sunday, about 6 of us jagaran members went to evaluate 3 students in and around the Dum Dum area.

First, we visited a girl named Joyeeta. After walking for more than 15 minutes through a maze of narrow lanes and by lanes, we reached her 1 roomed shanty. She studies in class 11 and lives with her parents and kid brother. Her father is a carpenter and barely manages to earn Rs 1000 a month. But the spark in her eyes is impossible to miss. She scored over 80% in her std 10 xams which is quite an achievement considering her circumstances. She wants to get a PhD in Bio-Medicine in the future. Wish her luck.

Next up was a chirpy boy named Idris, also studying in std 11. In fact all 3 of the students we interviewed that day were in std 11. Idris' family's financial condition was decidedly better than Joyeeta's, TV fridge, etc. His attitude however, was circumspect. His performance in exams was on a downward curve and all we received as explanations were nothing but lame excuses. After some more prodding, we came to realize the main cause ... he hardly studies at all! At most he puts in 3.5 hrs of study per day! After getting a piece of our mind, he promised to study harder. Let's hope he does, for his own sake. For education is the magic wand that can transform our lives. My own life stands testimony to that. It is the only way through which a person coming from a middle class background can seek to touch the stars - to live out his dreams. The only way out of poverty is through sheer dedication and hard work. I hope I was able to put this across to Idris.

The 3rd and last person on our list was Imran. In Urdu, "Imran" means "exalted nation". Well, we were certainly in an "exalted mental state" after meeting him. His behaviour and his attitude set him apart. We came to know from our local NGO contact that initially the NGO used to sponsor Imran's books as well as his private tuition fees. After a few months, Imran had turned down the aid for tuition fees while continuing to receive books for his studies. When we asked him about it, his answer, accompanied by an understated but charismatic smile, stunned us all. He said that he finds it immoral to ask for tuition aid when he can very well manage on his own! The facts support his quiet confidence. He has never stood 2nd in his school and was a consistent top performer even in std 11. Here was a person who lived his life out of just one dank room, where his parents, his sister and he vies for each inch of space, who cannot even afford to replace his worn out shirt, yet he dared to refuse aid for something that he could well do without. We had set out in the journey that day to give something to others but this soft spoken, charming, bespectacled boy of 15 gave us so much.

His long term goal is to be a Robot Scientist. When I asked him how he came to know of this exotic profession, he replied that once in the Calcutta book fair, he had bought a book on Robotic Science authored by an IISc professor. That book had really inspired him. Well Imran, it is YOU who inspire all of us. Wish you all the best.

TM: Birth

On Friday, the first TM session, though informal, was held. Our L&E head was very supportive of the idea when we spoke to him but tried to stymie our initial enthusiasm and urgency by citing the upcoming appraisal season as a reason why things have to slow down. He promised to hold a demo session towards the end of March, when some senior executives may join us. But the proposed course of action would inevitably be blessed by some political dilly dallying which would delay the whole thing further. So we went ahead and continued our preparations, urging people to develop capabilities in their individual roles. On Friday we held our first full session. It was a major success – very well managed and coordinated.
I gave the only prepared speech on that day as the other person wasn’t prepared. The Table Topic session was a laugh riot. ‘AG’ did a commendable job. The topics for impromptu speech included: “If electricity depends on electrons, should morality depend on morons?” and other such gems!

Given below is the text of the speech I delivered on that day:


Money:It’s a crime

Money, it’s a crime.
Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise it’s no surprise that they’re
Giving none away.

Ahh, “Money money money, if I had a little money, in the rich man’s world”.

We are human beings: the smartest animals on the planet. We are born with the mission to improve ourselves/ our conditions. Our lives are like a complex web of emotions, relationships, aspirations, dreams, heartbreaks and well, money.

However vehemently we try to deny it, everywhere we look, there’s the bait of money and there’s corruption, for money. Take the most powerful man on the planet who, as a hobby, attacks a new country everyday for the sake of its rich oil reserves and in the process kills thousands of innocent people.
Look at a poor government official who is corrupt as it’s the only way he can send his child to a good college. Turn on the television and you would be bombarded with thousands of ads asking you to buy this hot looking car or that cool new TV. Take a look by the roadside and all you will see are hoardings advertising your dream home for a huge chunk of money.
Money drives us all!

Or does it? Did Mahatma Gandhi not have enough money to buy a shirt or a pair of trousers? Why did he spend most of his adult life clad in just a dhoti? He promised to his motherland that unless his countrymen have the means to cover their body, he himself wouldn’t do so. What inspired him to lead the life of an ascetic when he had the opportunity to live life king size as a lawyer?
Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian Noble laureate, was born in a family richer than that of many kings. His grandfather, prince Dwarkanath Tagore once had lunch with the queen of England. But he spent the later years of his life in a small hut in Shantiniketan among friends and relatives. Much of Tagore's money including (entire Nobel prize money) and time went towards Vishwa Bharati: an experimental school he founded at Shantiniketan, based on his ideals of an enlightened and free-thinking. What inspired him to do that?
Why did innumerable freedom fighters sacrifice their lives to free India – a freedom they themselves could never witness?
So is there any pattern here? While some people sacrifice their all for money, others sacrifice all their money for a cause! This disparity is due to the characteristic of money. Aristotle once remarked, “Apparently money is not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else.” Two points to note here:
1) Money is merely useful and
2) Money is for the sake of something else
Money is undoubtedly useful as it allows us to live out our dreams. It gives us the power to buy what we want, to do what we like and more importantly, it allows us not to do what we don’t like. But in all the cases, we are using money FOR something; it is not independently useful. For example, if you were offered a bag full of cash but left stranded in the middle of Kalahari Desert, the offer would surely be an evil one.

Speaking of evil, what about the common refrain, “Money is the root of all evil”? Or as George Bernard Shaw put it, “Lack of money is the root of all evil”. Well, have you ever asked what the root of money is? Money is nothing but a tool of exchange. It is the material shape of the principal that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Man makes money; money doesn’t make man. Money will neither give a downright corrupt person a lofty set of moral values nor will it turn
a saint to a sinner.

But where does the common man stand in all of this? As Woody Allen once said, “Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons”. Well, personally speaking, I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something. No, seriously, my bank balance seems to be static at the end of every month! It even decreases sometimes!
Jokes apart, whenever we talk about money, we have to put things into perspective.
We live in a country where nearly 30% of the population lives below the poverty line. I spend Rs. 100 to watch a movie at a multiplex whereas nearly 80% of the population earns less than that amount in a day. Hence the colour of money may not seem identical to all and sundry. Most of the people in this country and the world at large spend their lives in pursuit of money - in pursuit of a better standard of living.

At the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to: pursuit of a better life. Money can only take you so far in that regard. To have a remotely possible chance of a content life, one needs, among other things, professional success, a loving and supportive family, a reasonable, secure society to live in and of course, money. Each of life’s components must be given due weightage for us to be happy. Just like in a symphony, each instrument must independently produce coherent music so as to give meaning to the complete composition; each of life’s components must also independently produce its own sweet notes to allow us to sing the complete song of life. John F Kennedy, in a completely different context, once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country!”. I’ll conclude by saying this: Ask not what you can do for your money; ask what your money can do for you!

Bye bye Gilly

Adam Gilchrist announced his retirement from international cricket yesterday. He has been a phenomenon in world cricket. Before he came into the picture, wicketkeepers were supposed to be decent batsmen; a test average of around 30 was supposed to be very good. Seventeen thousand runs and 32 centuries later, he has forever changed the definition of a wicketkeeper batsman.
Some of his career highlights read:

• The fastest Test wicketkeeper to 100 test dismissals.
  
• The fastest Test wicketkeeper to 200 test dismissals.
• World recordholder for the most number of wicketkeeping dismissals in One-Day International cricket.
• World record-holder for the most dismissals in an innings in One-Day International cricket.
• World recordholder for the most number of wicketkeeping dismissals in Test cricket.
• Fastest strike rate in the history of One-Day International cricket for a batsman scoring over 5,000 runs (96.9!).
• First batsman in Test cricket history to hit 100 sixes.
• World record holder for a wicketkeeper for playing consecutive Tests without ever being dropped for form or injury - 96 in all.
  

A perfect gentleman on and off the field, he was a rare batsman who always walked off, without waiting for the umpire's decision, if he nicked the ball.
I first saw him in a 6-a-side tournament where he smashed all the bowlers around the park.
Ian Healy was still at the helm then. While Gilly couldn't replace Healy as a keeper then, he forced his way into the Aussie team purely as a batsman. And what a batsman he was. An average of 47.9 in Test cricket will have done any top order batsman proud but that avg, from a man who batted at no 7, was simply unthinkable. After Healy retired, no other keeper has been able to take his place yet.
The innings that I most remember of his, is the one that he played to steer Australia to a test victory over Pakistan. If memory serves me right, it was an Australian tour of Pak, and Aus had won the 1st 2 tests. Paksitan had played very well in the 3rd test and had Aus on the mat on the 4th innings. Aus needed something like 360 runs to win but were down at 180 odd for 5, courtesy Wasim Akram and co. But Gilchrist came out all guns blazing and turned the match on its head by pounding the pakistani bowlers all over the park. He remained around 130 not out with Langer also scoring a century at the other end. It was one of the greatest innings I have ever seen.

I was truly saddened by the news of his retirement - for watching a great man, irrespective of his origin, at work is an inspiration. It remains to be seen whether Australia can recover from the loss of such great cricketers as Warne, McGrath, Langer and now Gilly in such quick succession. Thanks Gilly for all the entertainment you have provided over the years - and wish you all the best for your future.

O Captain! My Captain!

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:

But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red,

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

Here Captain! dear father!

This arm beneath your head;

It is some dream that on the deck,

You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;

Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!

But I, with mournful tread,

Walk the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

A young boy of 16 inchoate years goes to Australia with the India cricket team. After just 1 ODI, he is dropped from the team. He is written off by the critics and excoriated by the media. Everyone gives up on him. Except the boy himself. Armed with nothing but self belief he dares to dream and instead of sinking into an abyss of negativity, he channels all his frustrations into performing well in domestic cricket.
After slogging it out for 4 yrs, he finally gets the long cherished national call up. After an unceremonious walkout by a prominent player, he gets a chance to prove himself. The stage: the home of world cricket - Lords. He walks out regally and stamps his class over the game bewitching the crowd with his majestic cover drives and fluency. A century on debut at Lords. He follows this up with another century in his very next innings in the next test. All his doubters turn colour and laud him as if they never doubted his mettle in the first place. He becomes a hero back home. He is christened the Prince of Calcutta. Time moves on...and he becomes the captain of the Indian team when Indian cricket was going through a tumultuous phase of match fixing allegations. He takes a young unproven team and gels them into a winning combination, becoming India's most successful Captain ever. As a player, he becomes one of the highest run getters ever in International cricket.
So did he live happily ever after? He would have, but providence had other ideas. After giving so much to India cricket, he is malevolently thrown out of the team by the authoritarian new national coach who cannot stand the respect that our young boy, now an experienced man, commands among his boys. Any lesser man would have packed his bags and left for good. He just packs his cricket kit and comes to the practice field. And he trains. He trains and produces a mountain of runs in banal cricket fields all over the country. After a year of toil, he finally gets his dues - he is picked as part of the team for the South African tour.
And then he performs. In the hard and bouncy pitches of South Africa, he emerges as the highest Indian run getter in the series. After forcing his way into the ODI team, he emerges as the 5th highest ODI run getter for the the entire year after his comeback. Towards the end of that very year, he strikes a purple patch and becomes the 2nd highest run getter in Test cricket for that year, scoring a double century against India's arch rival Pakistan to help India win the series.
Then comes the big test. Against the best team in the world, he continues his rich vain of form although in a losing cause in the first two tests, while being subjected to some Buck-was umpiring decisions. Then in the 3rd test, he is part of arguably India's greatest Test victory ever. When he is sure that he has finally weathered the storm, he is dealt the final blow. He is dropped again by the selectors and the current ODI captain. Our hero is shattered. Our hero is stunned. He recalls that it was he who had brought the new Captain into the team and backed him for success. But then he remembers, Brutus was never dead.

Integrative Thinking

The latest management fad or the new horizon in management? Whatever may be the case, it certainly grabs your attention.
In an article in HBR (Harvard Business Review), Roger Martin, the dean of Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto tries to get into the head of successful business leaders and analyze their unique way of synthesizing conflicting ideas.
Many books have been written about the decisions and the results achieved by great executives but he takes the less trodden path to deconstruct and analyze the causality of these actions – their decision making process itself. He says that many times we have two opposing ideas in our heads. While conventional thinkers usually panic or simply settle for one alternative or the other, integrative thinkers are able to creatively resolve the tension between these two ideas by generating a new one which is an eclectic mix of the best points in both the original ideas. He has extensively studied the actions of and interviewed many highly successful executives like Jack Welch, Larry Bossidy, etc to establish his viewpoint.

What is a key takeaway from the article is his conclusion that integrative thinking is not an innate quality but may be developed and perfected over time with awareness and a conscious approach towards the integrative thinking concept. Not only was this article an interesting read, but it also got me thinking about my own personality. I used to think this as a quirk in my own thinking that whenever I am faced in a multifarious situation with equally strong and often conflicting alternatives, I tend to be very careful about taking a particular stance. Most of the times, I ponder over the matter for a long time until I am absolutely certain of the actions and their implications. In most cases, it’s not an either-or decision. For example, in the Toastmasters club that we are trying to set up, there were various views on the cost structure we can propose to the management.
1. Company pays the entire fees associated with the club.
2. The company pays only the $125 chartership fee but the membership fees should be borne by the members themselves.
Now the first option can be very effective in attracting potential new members. But the problem, I have found out from other Toastmasters with similar fee structure, is that many members register with the club just to get it on their CV but never show up again. This is certainly not desirable from the club’s point of view
While the 2nd option is very effective in getting the company’s approval, it hits the members very hard – on their pockets. So this is certainly a deterrent for any potential new member.
After discussing this over with a lot of people, I have come to the conclusion that a hybrid fee structure is the most effective solution. I present to you option 3 (drum roll):
3. Company pays $125 charter fees and $20 new member fees. But the $27 recurring fee is paid by the member himself. However, whenever the member completes say 5 speeches (50% of CTM certification), the company reimburses 50% of the fees paid by the member till date. And on completing 10 speeches (CTM certification), he gets back the rest of the membership fees paid till date.
This structure is genial on the pockets of both parties concerned and performance based as well, in the sense that a member gets back the fees based on his involvement in the club.
Now that’s integrative thinking!

Bitten by Toastmasters

I had my first brush with Toastmasters in Pune, through my previous company.
Toastmasters Club is an internationally recognized club for developing your public speaking skills. Many renowned companies like Infosys, TCS, Capgemini, Cisco, etc as well as great B-schools like ISB, IIMB, Harvard, MIT, Wharton, etc have a Toastmasters chapter.

Back then, we weren't Toastmasters club yet, just a cohort of enthusiastic people who wanted to develop our public speaking skills. The informal club was called Lets Talk Club (duh)! But then gradually the word spread and we became a full fledged Toastmasters club. I was actively involved in its set up, as a Treasurer - (sigh!)- and it felt gr8 to be able to start the club there.
I could not enjoy the fruits of my success though.
At the time the club started functioning, I had already taken up an offer for employment in Kolkata, where, at that time, there was no Toastmasters chapter. Then after a long hiatus, 2 weeks ago to be precise, the bug bit me again. Why not start a new club here? Like most simple questions, this had no simple answer

Back in Pune, there were so many able and industrious people around me and I was a mere cog in the wheel. But if I had to start something now, I had to take on enormous responsibility. But then again, someone has to dare - to venture where no man (at least in my Company!) has gone before!
I realized that I could not do it alone. So I managed to rope in 3 of my colleagues who were aware of the idea of Toastmasters. The most important task before us was generating publicity. I knew that once at least 20 enthusiastic people were 'in', the rest would be a ball in the park.
I also established contact with the only Toastmasters club in Kolkata (which had sprung up 2 months back). The president there is a very nice and helpful guy. He guided us a lot and even allowed us to attend their TM sessions.
By this week we have already managed to pique the interest of around 15 people.
The next step would be to get under the aegis of management. We have a meeting coming up with our Learning and Edu Dept head next week. So if everything goes well, my 2nd Toastmasters baby would be born sometime next month.
Cheers