Monday, November 20, 2006

Placements knocking.... tic tac tic...

It is in the last few days that I have come out of the vicious cycle of pointless work- assignments, cases-studies, events and energy sapping committee work.

Its been a tough journey so far, but just wondered if the last year and half could have been much different if situations were different! Well, pretty difficult to say... If there is one thing that should have been different is getting more theoretical knowledge in areas like -finance (yeah... they are bloody hard to learn if one's not ready to put in an extra effort).

Well, that apart... a NITIE MBA has offered me everything else. Now, with 2 months to go before the placements, I feel that I've been on the right track- though, been walking slowly! Need to speed up things now...

Time to switch back from 'sleep mode' to 'power up'. Watch space for updates...

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Monday, July 17, 2006

Ennerving interviews.....!

Well, it seems like ages since i last posted!! Lotsa things have happened and many more in pipeline... whatever it is, a B-School life can never be called "boring".

For a change....have been thinking of studying for a certification course which i have taken in finance, also in pipeline are moots to write some papers for certain competitions, placement/impress work, etc etc....

One good thing to happen was the selections for IMPRESS 13 (the media cell @ NITIE for the uninitiated). Narrowed down on 8 people from 95 applicants, totally exhausted with all the interviews and final shortlists!

Seriously speaking, taking interviews is no joke-

1. Usually you start off with a cliched question- "Introduce yourself"
2. Gradually move on to what the person thinks about the work we do (Hardly 10-15 guyz knew what we did as a committee?! ..hmm some food for thought- 'do ur homework, it helps in any interview')
3. Guaging how sincere/hardworking the person is... Here lies the biggest opportunity for people to post rosy picture of their own. Usually people tend to shift towards the 'white' side of things whenever there is an opportunity for shades of 'grey'.
Lemme explain - Rate urself on 1 - 10 on "ability to contribute in committee work when your acads get seriously affected". Ans- 8 to 10. That was the most common answer... But seriously, if someone is so neligent of acads (that too in a B-School where you have come here to study in the first place), is he/she worth taking at all?? dicey question...

Hmm, pretty tough task to conduct 20-30 interviews....that too for 2 days (nights rather). Usually interviews kick off at 7 PM and go until 3-4AM.... I really pity the HR ppl who's sole work is taking interviews!

Well, lemme get back to do some studying now....hoping against hope that I clear this Fin thingy...!

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Friday, June 23, 2006

Its 'Summers' time folks!

Summer internship or 'Summers' in short was 8 weeks paid holiday in Bangalore.....or that is how I literally felt. It feels good to be in Bangalore amidst the familiar crowd, back to same old friends, weekend bashes, our own 'Sakkath hot - Radio Mirchi', 'swalpa adjust maadi' type of bustling crowd and yeah... 'yella ok- cool drink yake?' type of local pubs!

Well, now amidst all this I did have a lot of 'learning' to take back from my Wipro experience (The summer internship is called WiSE @ Wipro....now don't ask me the expansion, have just forgotten!). Worth remembering are some of those late-night telecon's with analysts from Ovum, IDC, iGR, etc.. was quite surprised to see how helpful some of these analysts from international research agencies are! Ironically it is the Indian ones which shrug from interacting professionally...

Yeah.....also worth not forgetting were those lunch-time outings to that typical Andhra restaurant next to Wipro M1 with all those by-now good buddies of mine- Karthik aka 'beta' from IIM L, our own Bishnu aka 'French Detective' from NITIE, Joydeep the 'amazing attitude guy' from XLRI and yeah.....the HR woman (well.....better be in her good books) Vijaya from TISS....

Well....thanks guys for making my office time worth every second.....all those talks, movie outings, PH visit, analyst meetings (especially Karthik!) and yeah.....innumerable tea breaks, mini lunch breaks :)

In between all this.... most of us slogged our a**es off... for the better part of 8 weeks, trying to gain some domain knowledge in Telecom sphere and also try to give back to Wipro some useful insights which they can use in the coming year. Worth mentioning are some useful interaction with top brass in Wipro....trying to understand their perceptions on various business relevant issues.

Well... 8 weeks rolled by, another bunch of good friends, another new environment experienced and most of all some sweet memories to treasure.........

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Saturday, June 03, 2006

My photo blog....

Have a look at my fotu blog. Want to give you a peep into NITIE through this. Will give you an inside view of various things which keep coming up in NITIE and elsewhere!

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Ironies of Life!

I have just started understanding what my summer project is, but unfortunately... have to submit my report by next weekend. Can things get any worse? don't tell me they can.

Life as they say is made of two parts- 'past' and 'future'. Between these two phases is a thin line dividing both called as the 'present'.

Most of us tend to live in what I may call as the rosy future- true dreamers as most of us are! Building castles in air is a pastime to most of us.....yeah, someone wrongly (according to me) has said- 'castles in air, precedes castles on earth!'. How wrong can this sentence be... There are others who talk of the gone-by days. My Granny is one classic example of this. She always has a story or two to tell about the golden years of 60's and 70's and the 80's....how she was the epicenter of so many people's world! (she had 5 children, yeah....must have been quite a time dividing attention!).

In the midst of planning for the future and brooding over the past, we miss a trick or two... and forget that the line that divides the future from the past is slowly inching ahead. The line of 'present' is very difficult to grasp!

Well, atleast I have 10 more days with me to grasp the line and make this present a memorable 'past' when I look back in 'future'..... As another saying goes- 'You may be on the right path, but still be run over if you stop moving ahead!'

Just signing out on this note:

Yesterday is, but a dream
And tomorrow, only a vision.
But, today well lived makes...
Every yesterday, a dream of happiness!
And every tomorrow, a vision of hope!!

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Monday, May 22, 2006

Alum meet @ Bangi

Alum meet in bangalore was supposed to be an eventful one with atleast around 90 odd people expected this time.....and also representation from all batches right from IM1 to IM11.

Well, somehow....the number of people who actually turned up was a little less. Exasperating, though not dissapointing.

The meet:

Though the time to kick off was 7 PM, most of the alums trickled in by 8 PM (Indians are Indians everywhere.......MBA, BA ya CA.....we turn up late!)

It was heartening to see the IM12 junta religiously turn up by 6.30 PM ....something to cheer about! Even Pratap had postponed his all important Chennai trip to be there on time! (well, the kid is surely growing up quite fast).

After the initial round of updates from NITIE, the round of introductions started. Well....its rather surprising that many ppl have jumped more than 4-5 jobs in a span of 3 years! Ironically ppl from older batches (say IM1, IM2) have stuck to the same company for over 10 years (Roma from HLL and Prashant from GM are shining examples of the same).

This time we had formulated a new game called 'Down the memory lane' to break the ice instead of the usual musical chair. Worked out pretty well.....after that, ofcourse the refreshments poured in.....bringing back the memories of parties at NITIE... a real walk down the memory lane for the pot bellied managers who have bourne the twists and turns of corporate life with elan.

One great dissapointment was the NITIE level of female turnout......was hoping against hope that somethings change :P

After thoughts:

Deepak and Ankit did a wonderful job calling all the people and finalising the venue. It is really sad that not all of us in Bangalore from IM12 worked for the alum meet from day1. There are a lot of thoughts though worth pondering on-
  • The alums could have been better contacted through combined efforts of all from IM12 in bangalore (around 15 of us). Calling up/mailing 10 people individually is better than 1/2 individuals calling up 70-80.
  • A need to pitch in for some partial sponsorship for the event... more along the lines of 'sansmaran'. The entry fees of 600 was really on the higher side (may be this was a reason why not many alums turned up?)
Hmm......some points for IM13 to carry forward...

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Monday, May 15, 2006

Invictus - My favourite poem...

William Ernest Henley, one of the best critics/writers of modern day poetry and prose....excellent poems, better still are his series of critical essays....wonderful timing, with the right kind of pun intended.

Some of his best known works are (according to me- his short crtical and caustic series of essays-'Views and Reviews' and offcourse my favourite poem- 'Invictus')....

In tis world of furious pace and time is money type-of-attitude, its sad that we are losing some of the best moments of our life sittin in cramped rooms (called in plain words 'cubicle', in a s/w firm)...coding....brooding.....cursing....and whining.

Its worth every second reading works of this awesome man....more so in the times we live.... His works reflect the changing lifestyle in the upheavel days of late 1890's, when England was more like India we know today... in midst of a mind set make over..

Here's his poem- 'Invictus', for those who haven't come across yet:

OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul!


Wow....wat a poem...me ready to hit the bed!
Ciao till next time...Harsha

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Thoughts and after-thoughts....

Sunday evenings are the best part of the week, whenever I'm in Bangalore...., because thats when I can catch up with some of my best friends in koramangala (sejil, nagi and pree). Most meetings are incomplete without some nerve wrecking arguments on arbit topics ranging from- sports, medicine, crime, CAT, engineering, international politics, mushrooming of IT and love (a recent favourite, as all of us have failed to find one!).

The week has seen some of the most stubborn protests from junior doctors and medical students on the issue of increased reservations in medical institutions. Its sad that what had initially started as an instrument of equality has mushroomed into an uncontrollable dimension in Indian politics. The statement by politicians in the issue seems to be- more the merrier!

Well, Sejil (a close friend of mine who's doing MBBS and to describe him in one word- 'stud'....) had these thoughts to share- 'Reservations should be present, but it should be seen that even in unemployed masses, a reservation system should be maintained i.e., 50% of the unemployed should be from backward classes......' Umm......some thoughts which Arjun Singh can put into practice.....?!

Well, donno where tis thing will stop? 57.5, 62.5, 75, 87.5......???? Donno if these numbers hold any meaning.....we are still searching for the boundary (stretching the limits?).

Conversation drifted on to this topic of health and beauty....ever heard that certain pheromones could increase your attractiveness with the opposite sex? well, an interesting possibility... i never knew that gymming regularly not only improves fitness and physique, but also increases production of certain vital pheromones (umm....ready to hit the gym..).

The other noticable factor in our locality is the mushrooming little restaurants and eating joints....expensive for sure, though much cheaper than the baristas and the coffee days.....(and yeah, wen itz ur treat, its gr8 to go to maharajas cafe bar than coffee day!).

Well, its gr8 to spend time with some restless souls like myself......and yeah, with this... another sunday gone by.... sleepin...ponderin....and whiling away...

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Thursday, May 11, 2006

(Re) defining ‘VELA’

VELAness seems to be on everyone’s mind. A B-School student doing his summers would know this better than most others….So, what does this word VELA mean??

A person like me would expand this as ‘Very Energetic….but, Lazy Attitude’- I think of doing so many things every day in the morning, but somehow end up doing all the ‘VELA’ ones…

Most things in life are not left behind…the roads that lead me to Wipro, Madiwala are equally VELA…: ‘Very horribly Enlarged Lunar Abyss’..

It feels bad thinking about what I may finally end up as… VELA: ’Vacillating Energetically Looking for unknown Aim’? ..

Uhhaa….lemme get back to work now, enough of tis VELA…

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Reserve v/s Deserve?

Well, what starts as good may not remain good always....(or that is what usually happens). Yeah...may be reservations fall under the same category...different people have different opinions, here's mine:

Venkamma, the woman who sells flowers near our house was quite excited the other day. My mom usually buys flowers from her, and seeing her enthusiasm that day...enquired what was the matter...

She replied that her daughter's SSLC results may be out that day, and was hoping she would pass the exams (SSLC is Secondary School Leaving Certificate equivatent to 10th Std in Karnataka). Naturally.....she was elated at the prospect of having a 10th Std passout in her house!!!

Really, the so called educated populace of our nation would be delighted to welcome a new member to the SSEC (Secondary School Educated Club)!! Well, the sad part is, even if Venkamma's daughter scores good marks in 10th, she would not be sending her to college (and take advantage of the quota reserved for the backward classes)...what an irony, when the real 'leverage of education' for the downtrodden starts...Venkamma is closing the door on better prospects for her child.......

Its really sad that there are many Venkamma's in our nation, who just stop at the point where the real push begins...Alas, most of them climb the mountain, only to go back on the same side, rather than continuing in the journey and finding the easy descend on the other side to the the smooth valley down under.........tut tut.

Its really ironical that not many really deserving people get the benefits of our systems...do they need reservations in IIM's and IIT's ?? (well, it would be a surprise if they even know..... that such institutions exist!)

Need of the hour is free education to economically and socially backward classes till secondary school level, give active encouragement to people in the lower strata to cross the hurdle called 'high school'.......and then think about IIM's and IIT's.


Well, here's a funny article I read the other day in Business World (Wanted to just paste the link, but you need a password to logon to the site):

"From Business World, Diary of a Non-Obc Man: An excerpt from Emcee's diary exactly 50 years from now.

Ahmedabad, 30 April 2056: I attended the bash at the IIM-OBC Alumni Association to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the reservation of seats for OBCs (Other Backward Castes) in IIMs. Since I'm not an OBC, I was not supposed to attend, but at present, we MBFCs (Moderately Backward Forward Castes) together with the Non-Scheduled Tribes have a political alliance with the OBCs. We sipped champagne and talked about how so many of us had progressed from reserved seats in the IIMs to reserved jobs to reserved promotions. Unfortunately, the party broke up when a Non-scheduled Tribes faculty member objected to the OBCs dancing with all the pretty girls ? he wanted equal opportunities for every caste at each dance. I pointed out that the Non-scheduled Tribes had exceeded the quota of champagne reserved for them. The party ended in a pitched caste battle.

1) May 2056: Today, I became president of the IIM Board of Directors. Under the present rotating presidency system, a member of each caste is made the president by turn. When it was the turn of the MBFCs for president, they had to choose me because

I'm the only MBFC on the campus. True, I'm only the campus dhobi, but then every caste must be given an equal opportunity. All those centuries of oppression by the OSBFCs (Only Slightly Backward Forward Castes) and the OFCs (Other Forward Castes) must be rectified. I hope to restore the high standards at IIM ? I overheard some foreigners calling it the Indian Institute of Morons, the other day.

2) May 2056: They've announced the cricket team for the series against Australia. I was overjoyed when they chose an MBFC man as captain. But my hopes were dashed when I realised he was a Most Backward Forward Caste and not a Moderately Backward Forward Caste. The selection committee lamented that it was gross discrimination that no member from the Jarowa tribe (the Stone Age tribe in the Andamans) had ever found a place in the Indian cricket team. A squad has since been dispatched to the Andamans to capture a Jarowa tribal to play in the national team. I hope he will improve their performance ? they had an innings defeat against the Maldives recently. I would have played myself except for the fact that I lost a leg some years ago when I was in hospital with a toothache and a doctor recruited through the Unscheduled Caste quota extracted my leg instead of my tooth.

3) May 2056: There are too many NFCs (Neo-Forward castes) in the IT business. Under the terms of the Business Reservation Act, their firms will now be taken over by the other castes. I hope they will be able to restore the Indian IT industry back to its former glory. For some unfathomable reason, it has gone down the drain after job reservations were implemented. I went for a movie featuring star actor Mungeri Ram. He may lack teeth, be four-feet-three and have hair growing out of his nose, but this year it's the turn of the EBC-RYs (Extremely Backward Caste-Rural Yokels) to be stars and Mungeri Ram is the best of the lot. I wonder why foreign movies have become so popular.

4) May 2056: A truly great day. We now have an OFBMBC (Other Forward But Moderately Backward Caste) general as the Head of the Armed Forces. I hope he'll be able to win back the territory we lost ever since reservations were implemented in the Army. Since then, the north has been taken by Pakistan, the North-east by China, the east by Bangladesh and the south by Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Only last winter, we lost the war against Bhutan and free India is now limited to the western coastal states. But I'm sure the OFBMBC general will turn the tide.

5) May 2056: My wife and I have been blessed with a bonny daughter. Since my wife's an SBBNSBC (Slightly Backward But Not So Backward Caste), my daughter will be an MBFC-SBBNSBC.

I must lobby for reservation for her caste. She's the only member and I'm sure she has a great future".


Ciao till next time...Harsha

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Holi@NITIE!!

Have we redifined holi as a game of not just colors, but also mud, slime and dirt!!??. Holi here is a never before and a never after experience......here are some pics of the same:





Ciao till next time...Harsha

Saturday, March 04, 2006

The gr8 train journey.....in the making!

How not to travel in train?!

The situation
: I ask a friend of mine to book a train ticket online(well....dont have a online account myself) from Pune to Bangalore on Saturday mid-night (5th @ 2.30AM....note tht date will be 5th and not 4th...haha)........as i had thought of attending SIBM's fest Transcend. Amit Karale also wanted to go to bangalore frm pune.....so, we plan to go together.......

As things sometimes dont work out as planned, i somehow stay back in mumbai (while karale goes to pune). So, have got to take a ticket till pune.....and then go to bangalore as planned.

What went wrong: Ticketz wrongly booked as 4th March, instead of 5th March. Well, the date would be 5th March since its morning 2.30AM. As it so happens, well....i end up with a ticket which is not valid.......and wat worse.... i did'nt realise this till quite some time....

Here's a nice chronological sequence of events.....that happened today.


7.00PM: i leave nitie, catch an auto.....and reach Kanjurmarg station. Immediately, i take a slow train to Dadar.
8.15PM: after enquiring, i take a ticket to pune. something fishy when i dont find my name in the list of seats booked in the list on s5 compartment.
8.30PM: have a masala dosa and mosambi juice outside dadar station....really gud one, a karnataka reataurant!
9:00PM to 10.30PM: start readin this book called 'Blink' based on how intuition can suggest u stuff which data cannot proove....nice book. make a mental note of finishing it in train.
10.30PM: board the train, and quietly occupy the seat.
10.45PM: train leaves, all happi:)
11.20PM: something wrong.....why has someone else got a seat to bangalore for seats 5 and 8 in coach s5??
11.30PM: TT asks for the ticket. well...well... i am travellin with a old ticket!! yes, i should have got on the train yesterday!!
wat now?!
11.45PM: call up karale who's in pune(he's a little bewildered).....weighing my options.
12PM: Ask the TT wat can be done: 2 options- take a ticket frm pune to bangalore in general (or travel in sleeper waiting for a confirmation) or quietly get down at Kalyan and get back to 'welcome to nitie'.
12.05PM: i call home....well more abuses, still thinking.....
12.10PM: i call up karale and tell him tat me goin bac.....yup...he's also a little edgy
12.20PM: i get down at Kalyan, apply for a refund (for the ticket....gone waste)...catch a train to kanjurmarg.......well, yup Kalyan is quite far frm Kanjurmarg man....never knew it was this far...
1.10AM: i reach kanjurmarg station....thank GOD......so many autowallahs are night soldiers!
1.25PM: welcome to nitie! am so happy, literally....pay the auto chap 80 bucks.....plz keep the change.
1.40AM: update blog......and now, go back to sleep........................azzzzzzzzzzz

better chk out the details frm next time:)......small things do matter, dont they?


Ciao till next time...Harsha

Friday, February 17, 2006

Long time no see?

Well, its been an awfully long time since I last blogged (yup, 2 months is quite a long time)....I somehow feel that I have slowly mastered the art of feeling and looking busy on the outside, though on the inside.....things may be monotonous, a bit boring.

Yeah.....may be I have fallen into what one may call as 'routine'......have been lately having some regular classes and assignments which have somehow kept me occupied, along with extra heavy dosage of IMpress wrk (student media relations committee of NITIE).....drudgery, hah.

One good thing which has brightened my spirits is the excellent, fantabulous placements. Placements went along on expected lines....bringing smiles to all 98 ppl in the senior batch. The important factor one needs to look into a B-Schools placement figures is- the lowest salary one bags.

Well, frankly speaking its amazing..... that the gap between the highest and lowest salaries at NITIE is very small (according to me the difference is the smallest among all the top 10 B-Schools in India). Its an awesome feeling if a fresher from an engineering college with no work experience at all gets a minimum of INR 6 lacs p.a., on passing out from NITIE!!!!

Well, that has been the scenario this year (I hope we can expect the same next year!!). The average and median pay packages have been another comforting factor (both zooming well over and above the 8 lac mark).

Ah.....am I boring you with stats?? oh,oki......tats enough about placements.....!

The other important thing which has just come out is the the GD/PI shortlist for NITIE. Good to see a lot of prfile based selections (more like the SP Jain model) than just selections on sole criteria of CAT scores!

Ciao till next time...Harsha