Round The Wicket: Cricket, life and random thoughts

New Coordinates

2006-12-04T20:28:00.000-08:00

I now blog on cricket at Drinks Break See you there! :-)

Some cricket rantings ....

2005-11-23T09:31:00.000-08:00

After a long hiatus, I've written an article for Sify Sports again ... here it is: http://sify.com/sports/cricket/fullstory.php?id=14017351 Comments, as always, welcome :)

Me and My God

2005-10-20T00:32:00.000-07:00

Whoopie ... I met the man himself!!! :) Charming, poised, humorous and energetic, Harsha Bhogle had the whole of SPJIMR captivated during Business Today's Acumen, an inter b-school quiz and debate competition held on our campus last week. I've always been a huge fan of his, but now after watching him effortlessly carry off a live performance in front of hundreds of shout-till-your-sore b-schoolers, I'm a total convert. He was also a model of humility and grace off the stage, greeting everyone with that characteristic disarming smile and entertaining innumerable autograph and photo requests. I ran up to him just after he was through with lunch and managed to snare both the magic sign and a handful of snaps with the maestro ... the latter are reproduced below :)

2005-10-20T00:27:00.000-07:00

2005-10-20T00:26:00.000-07:00

2005-10-20T00:24:00.000-07:00

Tenjewberrymuds!!

2005-10-07T11:11:00.000-07:00

Check this out .... an absolutely hilarious one ... it's apparently been nominated for the Best Email of 2005! http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1486675/posts

Comeback Capsule :)

2005-10-05T22:47:00.000-07:00

Now into the fourth month at SPJIMR, I'm genuinely ashamed to find that my last post refers to me being two months old at b-school. A zillion apologies folks for the prolonged absence from here ... The latest news from this part of the world is that the first trimester has wound up with a harrowing set of end-term exams and the grind of the next trim has well and truly begun. Sleep was of course the first casualty at exam time, but what also had to be given a miss was my cricket watching. I managed to catch a few exciting moments from the Ashes, but otherwise mostly missed out on the historic action. And post-exams, cricket news has been confined to the Ganguly-Chappell crisis, which has been deeply depressing and painful, to say the least. More on that from me soon ... :( For other events of note during my period of blogging abstentia, here's a quick blast from the recent past ... MBA (ummm, PGDBM actually!) ... Trim 1 meant "quizzes, tests, quizzes, tests". And the happy reality is that Trim 2 means "quizzes, quizzes, tests, tests, quizzes, quizzes, tests, tests"! SP Jain's brilliant multiplicative workload model, somehow doesn't bode too well for Trim 6 :) We were fortunate to have some excellent faculty though in the last trimester, especially for Financial Management and Macroeconomics. Marketing was interesting in parts, especially the industry presentations we made (see below). This trim, however, there is much more substance in the marketing course, as we've got into domains like distribution and pricing. No Mumbo-Jumbo this ... we also had to make a big end-term presentation on a company in an industry assigned to us. My academic group worked on the retail industry and we took up a study of Jumbo King, Mumbai's hugely successful "branded" vada-pav chain. The highlight of the entire exercise was an enlightening morning we spent with Ms. Reeta Gupta, Jumbo King's marketing head. An MBA herself (from Symbiosis in Pune), Ms. Gupta eloquently talked us through a wide spectrum of practical marketing and management issues, and how they as a small start-up handled them. Somehow, one can't help but feel that marketing cannot be learnt purely the Kotler and text-book-cases way ... it is integral that we get opportunities to go out into the field and interact with people who have made on-the-ground marketing successes out of their dreams. Committee Capers ... At SP Jain, all students are involved in some committee or the other, running the show on various fronts and hopefully acquiring some administrative acumen in the process. My committee, IT Comm, is responsible for the IT infrastructure in the institute. What that in effect means is that we are the favourite whipping boys (and girls) of our batchmates and seniors when the internet goes down for even a couple of minutes! We were also seen as being party to certain restrictive administrative decisions regarding IT usage in the insti, which did a brilliant job of beating down our popularity! However, we have subsequently recovered lost ground by some rather persistent negotiations with the institute's powers-that-be, and by engaging in an aggressive PR drive with our batchmates. We're now seriously considering having a crisis management case study modeled around our experiences :) Out into the field ... SP Jain has always had a very strong link with NGOs across the country, thanks to our active Centre for DOCC (Development of Corporate Citizenship). The DOCC committee recently organized a visit for all first years to the Yusuf Meherally Centre in Raigad district. The Centre has been able to generate fairly large-scale employment in surrounding villages by promoting and supporting small scale industries. They produce natural soaps, oils, furniture and pottery, all of which are sold in the open market, and have even set up a vermiculture unit within their premises. Overall it was an enriching experience to observe what they have termed as a "replicable model for rural development"

Fibs and TWIBS

2005-08-11T01:19:00.000-07:00

Cut out for the limelight, that's what I am. No wonder all the business newspapers around town have been queueing up to catch a few pearls of wisdom from me and elicit my views on subjects of national import. Given my media-shyness and pressing schedule though, I invariably have to disappoint them and send them home empty handed. However, occasionally when I'm not flying across the globe or busy in client presentations, I eke out a few minutes to oblige them. Last week, the beneficiaries of my generosity happened to be a team from the Business Standard, who waited for four hours for a 30 second sound byte from me. As is usually the case, my views were plastered all across the next day's paper. If you missed it, here you go ... Click here PS: I'm at present suffering from an ailment called TWIBS: TWo-months-Into-Bschool-Syndrome. TWIBS affects all those who over a period of time write tests/quizzes for more number of hours in a day than they sleep in two. The most obvious and serious effect of this deadly disease is to lapse into denial mode and not accept reality. Some victims are known to have said "life's great" after an eighteen hour working day; others have turned to philosophy and postulate that our purpose in life is to "add value to customers". And yeah, after a newspaper recently spoke to one victim and devoted an entire 'line' on Page 9 to what he said, the poor chap believes the entire media world is waiting for his expert opinions. :-)

Flatties foray!!

2005-07-13T07:01:00.000-07:00

There aren't too many "free" evenings at SPJIMR, so when one made a guest appearance a few days back, Flat 203 (my abode!) was abuzz with plans of where to go and how to maximize the utilization of such scarce resources (that should please the eco profs!) The initial idea was to catch a 6-to-9 at Fame Adlabs, but the Saturday-factor (read sky-high multiplex prices!) buried that plan before it took serious shape. Eventually, we decided that going out for dinner would be the best option -- apart from being a much-needed outing, it'd also mean some respite from the fare dished out at the mess. Deepak, who doesn't live too far away from campus and knows the area inside out, suggested pizzas at Smokin' Joes, which was where we all duly headed. Avinash, the most enthusiastic and energetic member of our flat, was unfortunately feeling a bit under the weather that day and had to give our outing a miss. Vasav, our undisputed flat-scholar, wasn't able to make it either. So that left Tanmay (who we later found out is close competition to Avi in the energy department), Sumesh (who has the distinction of inhabiting the only single-occupancy room at SPJIMR!), Stambhit (Stamdada, who's motto for the evening was pretty clear: "Only Non-Veg"), Deepak (the only veggie amongst a bunch of carnivores, but a sporting one!) and myself. Two hours and couple of nice heavy pizzas later, we left the restaurant and headed for a soothing walk down Juhu beach. This was followed by a quick cold-coffee at the jam-packed Shiv Sagar. Our thoroughly satisfied quintet then returned to the hostel, where a brief flirtation with our neglected textbooks ensued. Soon, however, we thought it wise to flash the white flag, and we collectively called it a day! On the whole, an enjoyable little outing, but something I fear the hectic routine here won't allow too much of in the future. Anyhow, just as good batsmen claim they take it one delivery at a time, we live life here one day at a time ... fending off the pressure-cooker ones and waiting eagerly for the fun ones!

Update

2005-07-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

Apologies folks for no fare for some time. Was away on a trip (actually a "group dynamics lab") to Lonavala along with the entire batch of 145 first year students of SPJIMR (or PGP-I as we're known in the insti). The trip was absolutely fantastic ... we went trekking in the Sahyadris, treasure hunting in blinding rain and played lots of indoor and outdoor games! The objective of the whole exercise was to get the entire batch to get to know each other and become more comfortable working in teams ... and boy was that achieved! This off-campus activity has been on for some years at SPJIMR and is something truly unique to this place. I'd really love to post more details and will look to squeeze out some time to do so ... Till then ... cheers!

Princely tales ...

2005-06-23T03:10:00.000-07:00

Now that the Prince of Calcutta seems to have regained some of his royal touch in the English county championships, it's probably the wrong time for a Ganguly joke. But I just can't resist passing on this one ... A creative executive at the ad agency of one of the two aggressive CDMA players in the Indian mobile market is reported to have got the sack recently. The reason for his dismissal is a punchline the executive suggested for an ad for the firm's new prepaid service, featuring none other than Sourav Ganguly. The line read: "Our tariffs, lower than he scores. Our pulses, more than the time he spends at the crease" :-) PS: All those with whom I've had countless arguments about the merits of Ganguly as both batsman and skipper, please don't think I've jumped over to your side of the fence! I'm still very much an ardent Sourav supporter! May the form he's found in England stay with him through the next international season as well ... Go Dada!!

Thursday on a Tuesday

2005-06-21T05:36:00.000-07:00

Never thought this day would come ... me getting a chance to blog on a non-Thursday (Hari, please note!). Well, today is a comparatively relaxed evening for the usually harrowed first year students at SPJIMR. For the uninitiated, we have a day off only on Thursdays, which is mostly just an opportunity for the faculty to burden us with even more work! Nonetheless, Thursdays do provide enough time for activites the civilized world does all through the week -- read the newspapers (not just catch the headlines), watch some TV (not just hear about earth shattering events like Bangladesh beating Australia) and of course, post on my blog! But, wonder of wonders, today isn't Thursday and you still get to hear from me! Hope this doesn't leak to the faculty, otherwise a bundle of assignments might just roll out of their closets straight into our mailboxes! Today hasn't exactly been a "free" day -- the usual rigmarole of classes happened just as usual. The only relieving factor is that there's no "must-submit-by-9PM-today" or for that matter even a "must-submit-by-9AM-tomorrow" assignment. And even more unbelievable - there isn't any (announced) test tomorrow either! What that effectively means is there's time for a nice long evening nap, without the guilt which would accompany the same on other days! Of course, all this happiness (and laziness) isn't likely to last till way past tomorrow morning, when a surprise quiz shall undoubtedly find its way to our desks! Anyway, the one thing I've figured out quite quickly (and smartly I should say) is that tomorrow's perils will be handled tomorrow! For now, its time to hit the sack and forget about the outside world ... snorrrrrrre!

No lights, no camera ... LOTS OF ACTION!

2005-06-15T23:34:00.000-07:00

"Catch it fast ... that's your breath!" That would perhaps be the most appropriate way of summing up my first few days at SP Jain Institute of Management and Research. Lectures through the day, group assignments, presentations, surprise quizzes ... the WORKS! And all in the first week itself! The cushy existence of a lazy engineering student has been well and truly disposed off to some dustbin of history!! The silver lining (ah, when will I ever stop looking for them in everything I do?!) is that I've met a huge number of new people from diverse backgrounds. Though predictably the class is dominated by engineers, most boast of work experience in a variety of industries ranging from IT to automobiles to consultancy which makes the classroom and group work sessions that much more interesting. And there's a healthy chunk of Chartered Accountants and commerce graduates who are much sought after during the Financial Accounting assignments! As is the norm at SPJIMR, there aren't too many freshers in the batch ... we'd like to think of ourselves as an exclusive club, though I think the more accurate description would be "sore thumbs"! More than anything, the first week has ensured that none of us have any illusions about b-school life. The glamour and shine the term "MBA" was associated with till not so long ago is wearing off at a fast clip! Hopefully, I'll find a few free minutes like these to catch up on the outside world and pay attention to this increasingly neglected space ... PS: For the few who've been eagerly awaiting the second part of the "Lessons on the Road to B-School" series, please accept my sincerest apologies. I'm not too sure when I'll be able to deliver on my promise, but will surely make an effort to eke out some time and pen some more pearls of wisdom!

Up in a cloud of smoke

2005-06-01T23:07:00.000-07:00

Much has been written and spoken about (and mostly and quite rightly against) the recent crusade by the government to prevent the depiction of cigarettes and smoking in films and television programmes across India. What few know is that this newest form of inane moral policing isn't the brainchild of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, which is mandated to handle issues of this nature. Instead all efforts in this direction have apparently been made by the Health Ministry, under the honourable stewardship of Dr.Anbumani Ramadoss. Even if we give the good doctor the benefit of doubt as far as his intentions are concerned, there have to be serious questions regarding the practicability of his proposals. For one, tinseltown is agitated because they will now be forced to ring in several changes of script in films already on the floor, some even ready for release. Secondly, the task of implementing the ban on tobacco brand names from even flashing momentarily on television screens is quite frankly going to be an impossible one. There are at present close to 300 television channels aired in India, many of which are beamed in from foreign countries where Indian regulations have no standing. Even for channels beaming from within India, ensuring complete censorship of this nature will be arduous to say the least -- can you imagine a news channel doing an innocuous story on the latest car rally in town and suddenly having to blip out the portions where a Marlboro-sponsored car whizzes past? Apart from the obvious question of what difference this sort of censorship will make (if anything, it will probably attract more attention to the expunged brand!), there is also concern about how these regulations can be implemented and monitored on an ongoing, long-term basis. Clearly this isn't the last we've heard of this saga. Bollywood bigwigs are already lining up to have their views heard, and I'm quite sure the tobacco lobby would have more than a thing or two to say as well. Dr.Ramadoss and his able colleagues will need more than just a "we're out to cure the world" attitude in their defence. Let's hope that this at least prompts them to have a look at some cold statistics, because that will be quick lesson in the infeasibility of what they're setting out to achieve.

Of coaches and administrators

2005-05-21T00:56:00.000-07:00

So Greg Chappell is India's new cricket coach. What I found most amazing in the weeks leading up to selection day, was that there were murmurings from various quarters about a foreign coach not being able to understand Indian culture and adjust to our social milieu ... particularly strange I'd say after an overseas man has just completed his term as one of India's most successful coaches! Even more shocking was that a lot of these misplaced ramblings were coming from the lone Indian in the race for coach, Jimmy Amarnath. Surely he could've found a more appealing USP than the swadeshi card! At the end of the day though, one would have to say the right choice has been made. Chappell not only brings with him a rare depth of cricketing knowledge and acumen, he also appears to be a shrewd, no-nonsense task master who will give his best and expect the same from everyone else. He might just turn out to be the right man at the right time for a team desperately needing a new way of looking at things. It's also encouraging that the BCCI has signed him up for two entire years (thankfully discarding their dreadful series-to-series contract system) and he has been given the option of selecting his own support staff. We must, however, guard against setting sky-high expectations right from the outset, as is usually our wont. It would be unfair to expect Chappell to brandish some sort of magic wand and reverse the fortunes of Indian cricket. Efforts at a turn-around will have to be multi-pronged -- the players, selectors and administrators will have to contribute just as much as a coach. Harsha Bhogle had a very pertinent point in a recent column of his, when he said that the best teams in world cricket need not be the best coached, but are almost always the best administered. Cricket Australia and England Cricket Board, please take a bow. BCCI ... well ... umm ... err ... And the same holds true for the rest of Indian sport. Every sports body in the country is run like the personal fiefdom of some politician or industrialist or worse a fatal combination of the two. Ronojoy Sen's article in yesterday's Times of India sums up this gloomy state of affairs pretty accurately. The truth quite frankly is that unless we completely overhaul the way we look at running sport in our country, we cannot hope to produce achievers at the international level. The best players and the best coach can only be step two and three in the process. We seem to have forgotten step one.

Much more than a BE project

2005-05-12T22:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our last day at Computer Associates. Harsh, Neha, Anish and myself spent the last ten months at CA doing our final year project and it would be an understatement to call it a fantastic experience. In four years of our engineering course, this project was our first (and unfortunately only) "on-the-job" exposure to technology, and the learning both on the technical as well as the how-organizations-work front has been incredible. I'm glad that we as a team were always keen on spending the time reserved for our project in a fruitful manner, and didn't want to end up just delivering some hastily cobbled together report at the end of the semester. I must admit though that when we started out last year, there were moments of concern as to whether we'd be able to match up to the high requirements from CA's side. Understanding the business requirements, developing a design strategy and then getting down to some hardcore coding -- we'd never done any of these tasks on their own, forget all together! But I guess our eagerness to learn and come out of this challenge successful eventually paid off - we managed to deliver what CA expected of us and we're delighted that CA views our work as a significant value addition to their existing solutions. A large part of our success can be attributed to the excellent work environment and culture we found at CA. Our guide Ashok and the entire CA Tech Services (CATS) team we interacted with -- Jignesh, Manish, Rajendra and Murad -- were always there when we had a question to ask. Moreover, they all made us feel like one of them -- it was never a superior-subordinate relationship, a refreshing change after the giant-sized egos we encounter every day at college! Finally (this is sounding a lot like an acceptance speech for some reason!), a big thanks to Harry, Netaji and Anishseth. Working with you guys has been the high point of my entire engineering and this whole project wouldn't have been the same had it not been for all the fun moments we shared on our Fridays at CA. We've all come together even closer as friends over the last ten months, and this for me will always be the most valuable take home from the entire CA experience. Here're some snaps of us at CA ... Harsh, Anish and me with our guide Ashok (second from right)
Me in CA's state-of-the-art Solution Center!
Neha in the Solution Center
Madhav and Harsh hard at work ...
... and Anish hard at play!

Lessons on the road to B-School – Part I

2005-05-09T02:12:00.000-07:00

First things first, a clarification: this isn’t an attempt at a “how-to” guide for MBA preparation – no one, least of all yours truly, would be in a position to come up with such a generic tips-n-tricks handbook. Neither is this intended to be some sort of inspirational “gyaan” – there are plenty of been-there-cracked-that seniors, instructors, well-wishers and more experienced CAT-takers who could be applied to for that. This is just a simple and honest chronicle of the months and weeks before and after I took CAT, appeared for interviews at four b-schools and finally managed to secure an admission. Encapsulating the entire experience and all that I’ve learnt from it, in just a few paragraphs isn’t easy – but given that I wouldn’t want this piece to substitute for sleeping pills, I’ve made a conscious attempt at space control. Part 1 deals with the first half of the battle – the written exam: CAT. The second part will be dedicated to the next round – the group discussions and interviews. CAT or GRE? This is unarguably the number one dilemma most third year engineering students are faced with. Take GRE, stay tech-focused and hop continents; or take CAT, wave pleasant good byes to engineering and jostle for space with a billion others right here in India. Decisions are often governed by many factors other than just interest and aptitude – the latest IIMA foreign salary reported in the previous day’s newspaper, the US software job situation, the MS funding scenario, the ‘is MBA better with work-ex?’ argument and so on. Happily for me, the choice wasn’t all that difficult – after the "phenomenal" amount I’d been learning in college from the most "outstanding" faculty in a "top-of-the-line" engineering institute, I could think of nothing but … taking CAT! :-) Getting off the blocks … “Six months of preparation, two hours a day, is sufficient to crack CAT”. Needless to say, this wisdom came from a leading coaching class. I wouldn’t say they’re wrong, but I’m uncomfortable with the generality of the claim. One size never fits all – there are many individual factors which should determine how much time you need to put in for CAT. I always had it at the back of my mind that CAT and my seventh semester exams would most likely clash, and felt more comfortable budgeting more than the conventional six to eight months. When the great Mumbai University announced two final semester exams on either side of November 21st (CAT day), I felt relieved I’d given myself the extra time allowance. Lesson: 150,000 people may take CAT every year … but there’s no need to match your preparation schedule with the other 149,999! Down to the Nuts and Bolts Goal setting, self discovery, visualizing yourself treading the corridors of Blah Blah Institute of Management … the first few weeks at any coaching class is likely to be full of such “inspirational” sessions. I’m sure these pedagogical techniques have some sound theoretical foundation, but personally I found them to be a waste. To a certain extent succeeding in CAT is about self belief and motivation, but isn’t that the case with everything? It’s far more important I’d say to get cracking with the nuts and bolts of the exam: Quant, English and DI. Lesson: Cut through the hype and hoopla surrounding CAT. You don’t have to be a Zig Ziglar to achieve a decent score (and by the way, neither do you need to be a Shakuntala Devi!) QED: Quant, English and DI! The first rule of CAT preparation, I was told, is that all sections of the test are equally important. There’s nothing to be achieved by cracking two sections and goofing up one. There is perhaps enough evidence now to cast serious doubts on the credibility of this conventional wisdom, but nevertheless it’s a useful thumb rule to follow. I didn’t find anything a huge struggle but wasn’t particularly extraordinary in any one section either (even my final result pretty much indicated that!). Quantitative Ability: They say all engineers are good at Maths. I’d like to stick my neck out and say that “they” have got it wrong! At most, there’s no discomfort with numbers because of constant exposure to them … but an engineering degree certainly doesn’t inculcate any special numerical powers. My personal quant barometer fluctuated through my preparation quite dramatically – initially I found the going good, then I hit rock bottom once the practice tests began, only to recover towards the end (and thankfully on d-day!) English/Verbal Ability: Probably my most comfortable area … the only “advice” I’d give anybody is: READ. I’m more of a newspapers and magazines guy, but I made an effort to lay my hands on different types of books. Apart from being the best way to tackle RCs, I think reading is a great vocab builder – any day preferable to mugging enormous word lists. Data Interpretation: DI is perhaps the trickiest section of CAT. Unlike the other two sections, no one generally ranks DI as their biggest strength or biggest weakness. I was never particularly fond of the number crunching caselets, so I looked to score in the analytical reasoning questions. As it happened, CAT eventually delivered something which fell somewhere in between these two categories and left me quite stumped! Lesson: Don’t assume you are good or bad at anything. Solid practice is far more important than believing your aptitude or background will see you through. The Mock Tests Practice tests are undoubtedly the most important phase of CAT preparation. They give you a feel of the real thing and highlight weak areas much faster than any amount of non-test practice can do. The first thing the mocks did for me is show me the Quant mirror – cut offs of 10 marks out of 50 were hard to achieve and this was demoralizing to say the very least. All I can say is that I’m glad I persevered even after those pretty severe setbacks. But it’s not just about hanging in there – it’s about improving! That’s where the importance of analyzing tests once they’re done cannot be over-emphasized. Most analyses lead to the irritating, but at the same time encouraging, observation that more than a dozen easy questions exist in every section but have missed one’s kind attention. Perfecting the art of sitter spotting is the key, I would say, to scoring well in CAT. Lesson: Use the mocks wisely. Use them to discover strengths and weaknesses and to formulate a strategy for the big day. Many people fret about the second decimal places of their mock test percentiles … this is pretty pointless if not accompanied by some serious introspection. Leading up to D-Day The most stressful part of the entire preparation for me was the time just before CAT. Much to the exasperation of the student community, University exams had been announced to coincide beautifully with CAT. And preceding them was the usual rigmarole of submissions, class tests and vivas. There was little time now to go through new topics (Permutations & Combinations being the first casualty!!) and the Mocks and home tests were all that I could manage. The only time I could seriously relax was the day before D-Day, when – at the cost of my Advanced Microprocessors paper two days later – I decided to hang up my boots and watch some TV! Lesson: It’s ideal to finish off exam prep well in advance so that CAT can hold prime importance in November. But having spent four years in engineering college, I can safely say this is IMPOSSIBLE! So there is no real option but multi-tasking – the most important of those tasks being praying! And then it was done … The paper was a shocker – weighted marking for the first time ever in CAT, 123 questions for the first time ever in CAT, sub-sections for the first time ever in CAT, DI with no “conventional” DI … yikes! My first thought on seeing the paper was: CAT 2005. My next thought, two hours and 60-odd attempts later, was: CAT 2005. Lesson: Never expect anything from CAT … except a frequent change of stripes! Results and Missed Calls The time I logged into the CAT results web site of one of the IIMs, was the first of many tense moments of the last six months. I found that a number was now associated with my name: 99.34 percentile. Actually, there were three other numbers as well – Quant: 98.9, DI: 94.58, Verbal: 97.31. The initially feeling was one of ecstasy – I had, after all, outperformed my mock CAT scores! The next morning though, was like being yanked from the clouds right into a rabbit hole. One after the other, five hallowed Indian Institutes of Management flashed a rather impolite “Sorry, you have not been shortlisted for GD/PI” message. Only IIM Calcutta, for some reason, deemed me fit for the next round of their selection process. Lesson: Two consecutive days are capable of delivering two absolutely opposing emotions! But the others came a-calling! After the five missed calls (or would “wrong numbers” be more appropriate?), there was plenty of “why didn’t I make it” analysis. Actually, to be honest, it was more like “why the &#$% didn’t I make it”! Each time I almost managed to convince myself that my DI score did me in, I’d come across people with lower DIs and Ahmedabad calls! And then there were lower verbals and Indore/Kozhikode calls and lower everything and Bangalore calls!! Thankfully, things just looked up from there on. I got calls from all the other institutes I had applied to: SP Jain, MDI and NITIE. Things were now really looking up ... it was time to shoot out of gloom and begin preparation in right earnest for the four interviews I was shortlisted for! ____________________________________________ Coming Up: “Lessons on the road to B-School – Part II”: The GD/PI experience

Return ticket

2005-05-04T10:53:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks have been crazily hectic as a result of which I've had little time to deliver my regular round-the-wicket doses. The chief time consumers were the maddening end-sem submissions followed by a spate of vivas (my last engineering vivas!!) . Anyhow, the worst is over and I now have some time to breathe ... shall try converting that to some time to sleep! The good times won't last for too long though ... I'm sure by next week the pressure for the written papers will start building up and I'll have to hit the books again. In the mean time, I promise to devote some hours of attention to this neglected space ... stay tuned!!

Farewell to engineering ... but no goodbyes to the workload!

2005-04-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the semester again! Assignments, journal work, class tests and just about everything I so detest about engineering college ... all landing up at once! To be fair, I haven't exactly been the most regular and organized of students this semester and this sudden deluge of work is more self-inflicted than anything else. Nonetheless, it feels pretty awful to be staring at a mountain of paper work begging to be completed and a pile of thick, as-yet-untouched text books :( There's been some cause for joy though in the last few days. We had our farewell party in college, the official booting out ceremony where final year students for the first time actually feel sorry that engineering is coming to an end! Check out the snaps below ... Miten, Neha, Harsh and Anish and Me!

2005-04-15T11:24:00.000-07:00

The long and the short of it ... with Vibha and Neha

2005-04-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

With Sujit ... pal of all pals!

An Ode to College Life

2005-04-06T03:42:00.000-07:00

There was a time I made a wish: “Give me a time full of fun! Where work n play go together, And life’s always on the run ...” I didn’t realize it at the time, But the Lord up there had heard, He planted me in my college, And said, “Wish granted ol’ bird!” He took the work part seriously: Exams, assignments en bloc! But the fun element wasn’t missed, And life really began to rock ... The years were four but how they flew Before I could even realize, Don’t know how much I’ve really learnt, But I’ve sure got worldly wise! First year seemed daunting to all, An unknown devil had appeared ... Talk was of low pass percentages And exams that everyone feared!

This was also a time for change, Nothing was to remain the same. New faces grew into new friends, And friends for life they became ...

Into the second year now ... Life zipping in the fast lane, I trooped round college fests, And had a blast in the bargain! But exams continued unabated, We were all completely immune! Nonetheless they weren’t much fun As we danced glumly to their tune. Meanwhile an art was perfected, That of cogging assignments blind. We churned out reams of paper, With an original word hard to find!!

Third year soon reared its head, “Placements time” everyone roared. “Who’ll seriously pay to take me?”, Was my first reaction to the horde!

Believe it or not there was a taker, And an offer I managed to land! Everyone else snared a job too, But most had other things planned ...

As final year descended upon us, The techies bore the GRE load. Lesser mortals like myself though, Embarked on the CAT prep road. There’re plenty more memories I have, Four wonderful years these’ve been! Memories of long chats in the trains ... And of laughter in the campus canteen!

Racing to complete submissions, And quaking as vivas would loom, And of course how can I forget Long hours in the xerox room?!

And now it’s the final semester, The reality is beginning to dawn. Two months down the road and This cocoon called college is gone ...

An air of gloom is descending, As mates will soon part ways. I think we are all aware that These were life’s finest days.

But there’s also a sense of excitement At the prospect of a new adventure. The past’s been a great experience, Let’s hope the same for the future ...

Maybe I should stick to the recipe, And squeeze in one more wish ... The Lord may just have the ingredients For yet another delectable dish!

What kind of a blogger I am!

2005-04-05T23:30:00.000-07:00

You Are a Pundit Blogger!

Your blog is smart, insightful, and always a quality read. Truly appreciated by many, surpassed by only a few.

What kind of blogger are you?

I care for My Brother Nikhil. Do you?

2005-04-02T22:01:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for time spent meaningully at the cinema, I'd recommend My Brother ... Nikhil, a sensitively crafted and thought-provoking film centred around the post-diagnosis life of an AIDS patient. Set in the late-80s and early-90s when AIDS awareness in India was minimal, the film shows the shocking treatment meted out to a state swimming champion when he is diagnosed as being inflicted with HIV. Director Onir's subtle style of storytelling, delightfully devoid of any melodrama, has a certain honesty about it which perfectly suits the theme of the film. The acting department, meanwhile, has a couple first-rate performances from Sanjay Suri and Juhi Chawla, along with able contributions from Purab Kohli, Lilette Dubey and Victor Banerjee. On the whole, a beautifully put together and touching composition, definitely worth a viewing. For more click here

Gloom

2005-03-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

Defeat. Comprehensive defeat. As India succumbed to a focused performance from Pakistan on the final day of the third test at Bangalore, it's difficult to rationalize the disappointment with "the-better-team-won" and "it-was-a-good-game" lines of thought. The series verdict stands at one apiece, though there's little doubt who holds the edge going into the one-day series. Pakistans hold all the aces -- psychological and cricketing -- and quite frankly they've earned it with a tremendously large-hearted effort. For the Indians, there must be an all consuming sense of gloom. Gloom because it was a series which at so many times seemed won -- for four days at Mohali, for all five at Kolkata and for at least one and a half at Bangalore. But it was not to be ...

Doston ke saath ...

2005-03-25T23:05:00.000-08:00

Me and my college friends ... I have wonderful memories of the fantastic times I have had with all of them :) ... click on the image for the enlarged version (may take some time to load) (L to R) Sunilbabu, Me, Vibha, Anishseth, Sujitbhai, Saumil, KP, Mi10 and Harry PS: Netaji ... really missed you!

Opposition and opportunism

2005-03-25T06:42:00.000-08:00

There aren't many politicians in the BJP I would say I'm particularly fond of, but my least favourite would have to be Lal Krishna Advani – chief architect of the Babri Masjid demolition, chief supporter of the genocidal Narendra Modi regime in Gujarat and chief proponent of the blatantly unconstitutional Hindu Rashtra school of thought. As Deputy PM in the Vajpayee government, the "compulsions" of the coalition era thankfully forced a dilution of his hardline agenda, but now as the NDA occupies the opposition benches, he seems to be returning to the inflammatory, issue-devoid brand of politics he made famous in the 1990s. No more soft stands and tip-toeing around demanding allies for LK; it's back to yatras, rallies and plenty of hollow rhetoric. Two recent events are testimony to this. First, of course, is la'affaire Modi. No sooner was the Gujarat Chief Minister sent back empty handed by the US visa authorities, than a "Swabhimaan Rally" was convened in Ahmedabad. With Advani presiding over proceedings, Modi predictably bellowed his lungs out to a hastily cobbled together saffron-clad audience. The visa denial, he would have everyone believe, was not just the rejection of an individual, but an insult to all five crore Gujaratis. Advani, not one to be left out when such occasions present themselves, piped in with a few sanctimonious words as well, more or less to the same effect as those of Modi. After all was said and done, the "hurt" leaders motored off in their riot-proof vans, satisfied at having skillfully utilized a terrific opportunity to whip up local passion and fervour. And whip up passions they sure did – the next few hours saw the American visa offices in the city targeted and effigies of George Bush of all people burning on the streets. BJP leaders, of course, distanced themselves from these goings-on, conveniently labeling the turn of events as “public outrage” and a “spontaneous reaction”. Disgustingly irresponsible and chillingly reminiscent of their attitude in February 2002, when the streets of Gujarat burnt in the worst state-sponsored pogrom India has ever seen. Advani clearly wasn’t satisfied by this cheap attempt at making quick political gains and finding some reason to stay in public memory. He had a shocking statement on the economic front up his sleeve as well – the refusal to comply with VAT. Barely a week before the entire country was to come under the umbrella of the value added tax system, the Advani-led BJP think-tank announced that the states ruled by their party will not comply with the new policy. This is outrageous to the say least, because it was under the BJP finance ministers of the NDA regime – Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha – that the idea of replacing the existing sales tax system with the more transparent VAT was first born. In fact, it was they who set the April 1 2005 deadline for the implementation of VAT across the country, before they were voted out of power last year. The new FM appreciated the economic sense VAT makes and released a white paper on the subject, which amongst other things promised that the deadline will be adhered to. All seemed on course till the BJP changed its mind. Their reasons: traders will be adversely affected and states will lose revenue in the short run. The traders issue seems to have been blown out of proportion – an honest trader under VAT will not only pay less tax on the whole, he will also be able to establish his bona fides better as every transaction will be documented, thereby insulating him to a large extent from harassment by tax officials. Of course, a dishonest trader will stand to lose a lot under the new system and so it should be. The catch is that the trading community forms a sizable chunk of BJP loyalists, and by opposing VAT the party is merely appeasing its vote bank. As far as loss of state revenue is concerned, Advani and co seemed to have missed the fact that the centre has assured all states that any short term deficits incurred due to VAT will be compensated. And, as the Haryana example shows, in the long run VAT results in significant revenue gains. Advani, as the leader of the opposition, must hang his head in shame for the kind of disruptive political opportunism he and his partymen have indulged in ever since they’ve been vacated from government. The role of the opposition to ensure the effective functioning of any democracy cannot be ignored. But opposition for the sake of opposition – an art the BJP appears to have perfected – is detrimental to any sort of progress. The only reason why one can be satisfied that the BJP is in the opposition, is that they would probably have been much worse in government.

Battle won ... war still open

2005-03-22T10:38:00.000-08:00

Bob Woolmer was spot on when he said that India's 195 run victory margin in the second test against Pakistan at Kolkata doesn't indicate how little actually separated the two sides. The visitors competed on a far more even keel than at Mohali and right up until the final day had a fair crack at winning. Eventually the difference between the home side and the visitors was the fact that the Indians were able to find the men to rise to the occasion. Two masterpieces from Rahul Dravid's magical bat and a relentless bowling display from Anil Kumble were the obvious standouts for India, but the importance of the supporting contributions from Sachin Tendulkar and Dinesh Kaarthik cannot be ignored. Kaarthik in particular was a revelation with the bat, and on a difficult track acquitted himself well with the gloves. Pakistan, on the other hand, didn't really have anyone to rally around their big performers. Younis Khan and Yousuf Youhana cracked awesome centuries in the first innings, but the rest of the batsmen didn't have much to write home about. In the second innings, with Younis, Yousuf and skipper Inzy back in the hut cheaply, the captitulation of the rest seemed inevitable. The bowling was competitive without ever being dangerous, except when Sami was firing it in early in the second innings. Danish Kaneria was played with considerably more ease by the Indians in this test match, while Khalil and Razzaq weren't ever much of a bother. So, all said and done, a well-deserved victory for the Indians and a much needed confidence booster after the win-that-wasn't encounter at Mohali. The Pakistanis are on the mat, but traditionally that's when they're at their most dangerous. With everything to play for in the final test in Bangalore, one would expect to see them come roaring back and take the battle to the Indian camp. The series is far from over - stay tuned!

Get back the pros!

2005-03-16T21:30:00.000-08:00

A lazy day at home invariably translates into a lazy day in front of the idiot box whenever there's some good cricket action to catch. With the second test between India and Pakistan at Kolkata poised evenly after day one ("Eden Stevens" as the TOI proclaimed this morning!), tuning in to the second day's play was an especially exciting proposition. Our friends at Prasar Bharati, however, are bent on dampening some of the fun, with coverage that can at best be deemed abominable. The picture on DD National would have one believe Kolkata is in the midst of heavy snow storms, while on DD Sports sound and picture are hopeless out of sync. DD Sports also seems to be plagued by satellite disturbances, resulting in a perpetually breaking transmission. And then of course, the over-eagerness of the blokes in the control room to vanish into commercial breaks is quite shocking. Milliseconds after a batsman gets out, it's cut to the Pepsi Khufiya screen, followed by one long break which ends after the new batsman has played his third delivery. And there's absolutely no patience for mid-over sight screen adjustments or walky-talky calls from the umps to the third umpire ... DD believes these are times to cash in with commercials. Even their own commentators are mercilessly interrupted mid-sentence at the end of overs or at the fall of wickets. All this is a real shame especially when one takes into account the circumstances under which DD has been awarded the rights to telecast the series. They've been extremely fortunate beneficiaries of the ESPN-Zee court battle but have been unqualified failures when it comes to coverage. One can only hope the legal tangles are resolved sooner rather than later and Indian cricket coverage finds its way back into the hands of seasoned professionals.

A beginning in a culmination

2005-03-14T10:25:00.000-08:00

It was way back towards the end of 2003 that the thought of pursuing management after I acquire my engineering degree was born. At that stage everything seemed distant and unlikely, a possibility but an improbability ... Now as I've finished with my final MBA admission interview, the reality of having completed the grind is slowly sinking in. The written tests, the results, the interview calls, the interviews themselves, the final admits ... all seem to melt into this huge blur of frenzied activity. And quite frankly, as everything draws to a close and institutes start disclosing their final calls, it feels great to have some reward for the effort! It feels good obviously because it means an admit into a good institute for a programme you really want to do. But it has been a great confidence booster more than anything else ... that feeling that you belong there with the best. I know that this is just the beginning of a long journey, one which will undoubtedly be tough, demanding and full of surprises. But that's all the future and I'd prefer to let it stay there ... for now, it's the present that matters. The present which has been rewarding and which demands respect in the form of some unadulterated celebration! So, let's say cheers to that! Hic!!

A blogging debut

2005-03-12T06:44:00.000-08:00

With India failing to wrap up proceedings on the final day of the first test against Pakistan, today is probably a rather inauspicious day for a cricket fan to launch his own blog! But I guess things have been worse for India in the past and a draw is a still a draw and not a defeat. Even Stevens. It's time now to look ahead to the tests at Kolkata and Bangalore and hope day 5 at Mohali hasn't proved to be just the tonic our friends from across the border were looking for ... More of my views and opinions on life in general and the world of cricket in particular will find their way to this little space. My space. And my chance to be me. The chance to opt for a lazy drive through the covers or a cheeky flick down to fine-leg. To fire in a yorker or slip in a slower one. So here goes, ladies and gentlemen ... it's left arm and round the wicket!