What the FAA!

It's high time I say something about this. I scored a 'D' in FAA  (by the way, FAA = Financial Analysis and Accounting) and I consider it one of my biggest achievements in MBA, no kidding. Till the results came, I had my heart in the mouth. Whatsapp didn't help much. This is what happened before results came on Whatsapp/Telegram

'9 failures'
'What?'
'Yeah, Nine'
'Someone post the scores please'
One good samaritan went to the college notice board (so much for technology), clicked pictures and posted in Telegram (Whatsapp never worked in college wifi in 2014). 38... 39... 40... 42 (my roll number) ... heart pumping...

Road-less travelled!

Every MBA student, at least from premier B-schools, has times when he feels he needs to discover himself. Be it his plans about what job to take, or more generally what to do with his life! For me, well, I just felt I needed a break from routine and wanted to unearth something that was missing or was present earlier that didn't come up of late! Of course, your favourite professor teaching Emotional Intelligence has some part to do in this (For those who don't get this last line, EI is a wonderful subject, by far one of the top 5 in my MBA life)

Of course, everything needs a little bit of inspiration. When one of your close friends undertakes a solo trip to Goa, you definitely get inspired. More so if she motivates you to do the same. And of course, with some pushing by others too, I overcame by initial hesitation and booked tickets to Lonavala (thanks to IRCTC it works well even at 2 AM these days!). At the last moment, one push came from my classmate, he said "Go go, if not now, then when!" That moment... sealed the deal.
"You need your support groups without which, life will still be fun but not so constructive!"

Grab something to eat. It is going be a long post!

Outsourcing the spouse-finding: Climax

To all those who have missed the prequel to this, click here
"If something is not your core competency, outsource it and save time and money"... and heartbreaks!

அனைவருக்கும் வணக்கம்!
Straight ah matterku போவோம்...
Let's say the hero was just doing his business from stage one. ("மூடிட்டு அவன் வேலைய மட்டும் பாத்து இருந்தா...") His parents find him an alliance.

Resources and Capabilities: He would have had a lot of time to explore his personality, build his career and become better. Not much costs and time involved prior to marriage or engagement, except for the sourcing cost. Your resources (parents and relatives) are fully capable of finding a good match. You don't have to build any capabilities. It is an asset-light strategy.

Competitive advantage: Easy (சப்ப மேட்டர்!) He would have got into the best colleges / universities and/or started his own business and/or other stuff! May be he may not have some advantage over others, may be he has changed his game altogether. It's so much easier to focus on one thing at a time than having some nagging text messages all the time.

Yada yada yada... Superior happiness!
"There's always more than one way to reach the destination. Look around."

There's been an interesting video doing the rounds in YouTube recently. Well, arranged marriages are cool. No big fuss. Parents decide - 11 times out  of 10, they are right. And they do know what's best.
And this is not to say they are marrying you against your wish. Assuming you accept and then it is a proper arranged marriage.

Benefits:
1) Straight to the finish line without much hurdles
2) Strong support system - doesn't break often
3) "If you can fall IN love, you can fall OUT of love. No guarantee in that. 'Arranged' is a safer option"
You don't want to find one more thing you suck at, right? Leave this to parents! :P

Tradeoffs:
1) It's not going to be a lowwwwve marriage. That's alright. Strategy is all about deciding what to do and what not to do. There's got to be some tradeoff - you can't have everything in life. Look at what happened to Continental Airlines when they tried to emulate South West.
 நான் என்ன சொல்ல வரேன்னா "ஆணிய புடுங்க வேணாம்!" (What I'm trying to say is, don't pluck the nail)
2) There are people who say "How can I marry someone without knowing him/her at all?"
Hey, come understand me, you have 5 years time. I know people who have said "ஐயோ T.Nagarல ரெண்டு வீடு போச்சே!" after a breakup. Think again! There's no such thing as loyalty, faithfulness in this world anymore. Broken glasses are always replaced with new ones, mostly without much crying over them :)

If you are of the adventurous type, try living with someone in arranged marriage. It's worth it. Our previous generations have done it extremely well. Sure you can do the same. Our generation is better in everything right? Better them if you can!

There's a traditional aspect worth enjoying - all the mantras (if you are a Hindu, others please imagine something I don't know what happens in other weddings) and everything - it's an experience in itself. And the food, relatives, friends, musical instruments. If you can't enjoy 'that' music you are struggling in life!

Coming to the I-am-a-very-modern-person types. Some 'stuff' for you
1) You don't care about the past right? Everyone has a past. Accept it. Still, this strategy works
2) You don't believe in dowry system and other traditions? Men: Stand up and say No. Women: Do the same. Still, this strategy works
3) Bored of dates and fooling around? Try this. Thank me later.

Coming to the traditional types...
1) Soup boy / girl? This is your only resort
2) Waiting for someone special? உனக்கு straight ஆ 60ம் கல்யாணம் தான்! அப்பா அம்மா சொல்றத கேளு! நல்ல வருவ!
3) Fell in love by mistake? Never too late. Escape or face facts! :P
And yeah, do MBA!

Like sarcasm, 'bro'?
"In a love marriage, you marry your own girlfriend. In arranged marriage, you marry someone else's! Sounds hot, right?"

Yeah, deep. [Same for women. Not being sexist]

In B-School you don't learn management alone, you learn a lot more. Putting it in a different way, it teaches you management only, but you can learn a lot of other things, starting from philosophy! And you understand people better. May be it's got something to do with age, doesn't matter. Whatever it is, I have never had so much clarity about many things in life than I have now. Hence this post!
Yeah, it's a little brutal and more realistic than usual. But then, you know...

மீண்டும் சந்திப்போம்!
Au revoir!

___ing the spouse-finding: A strategic viewpoint (Part 1)

"Wow what a cute couple!!!"
"Made for each other"
"Awesome" [ with 'N' number of hashtags ]
If you are one of those people admiring facebook posts like that one and wishing fervently that it happens to you some day in the near future, I am here to throw some cold water on your face. And for those people who are double (my favourite term for those who are not single) right now, I don't give a damn. Love, dating, relationships... are way too overrated in this digital world. And social networking websites, Whatsapp, Snapchat and other communication monsters have convincingly sold this point to the larger population that it's the 'in' thing to find that special some one during college days or school days for posterity.

These buildups (a South Indian slang word which means building a mountain out of a mole hill) are usually followed up with some home-cooked stories about arranged marriage, all of them showing arranged marriages in bad light. Now that I am nearing 'that' age inevitably and interacting to some extent on those lines, the time has come to give some enlightenment to the world.
Now that the context is set, get ready for some gyaan!

MBA Life - One year done!

One year at NMIMS has gone like a dream. It might sound cliched but in a B-school life mostly goes in autopilot mode. You never ever stop to reflect and dwell upon things you do, or don't!

MBA is radically different from engineering or IT life. For highly individual personalities like me, the transformation has been a little difficult. If I could divide my life over the past six years before June 2014 into 3 buckets, it was all similar in one way or the other.
1) Chess - Prepare, play, eat, sleep, repeat
2) Engineering - Study, write exams, go for tournaments, repeat
3) TCS - Sign in, Do coding, Leave
It was all quite simple, yet immensely meaningful. I had loads of time to stand and stare, enjoy music without a slightest feeling of guilt, wake up sans the sound of cellphone alarm, in a nutshell - a lot of control over what I wanted to do.

Enter NM, and none of this were even remotely similar to my lifestyle. Nothing is individual here. May be I wasn't good enough, may be I was, I can't pretend to know the answer to this question. But I know this for sure - most of the Management students don't know what they are doing either; and first year is something that is too fast for most of us. It's just an environment of total noise and everyone just tries to dance to something that's not exactly musical.

That's not taking anything away from what this colossal institution has offered me, something that every lucky soul that lands up here gets for free - the experience of meeting various kinds of people, the crazy lifestyle and Mumbai. Whether we learn good management subjects are not, students do become philosophical at least once a day!

From my own experience I have seen a variety of people - some good souls who are quite honest about the fact that they have no clue and work towards finding something worth pursuing, some annoying creatures who do anything under the sun to put one extra line on their CV, the CGPA mongers who pretend to have a life outside numbers, some very intelligent people who make a mark in everything they do, a few good friends for life, hypocritical species who say anything to the gallery and shamelessly go back when time comes, the list is endless. The hardest challenge was maintaining one's individuality in this environment. And I am not making this all up - find out for yourselves!

The climax was the internship. The experience was amazing. Due to obvious reasons, I am not commenting on it, but it was definitely an above average experience, more than what I expected it would be. And I did meet people who were better in character than the average individual back in my college. All is not wrong with the corporate world.
"There's still 'good' in this world"

The end of internship is really the end of an era. A summer internship will never happen again. So will another full year of college life. The remaining nine months, I pray God, will be as exciting as the first 12! And I wish to be put up a better performance.

On that note, I wish all the juniors (as a responsible senior), the very best for their last gig at student life. Am pretty sure you will think about your IT life more than once during your stint here. Remember me then!

See you soon :)

Disclaimer: The views expressed are personal and do not represent the institutions mentioned here in any way.

Mumbai – Dating OK, Marriage NO!

 Mumbai. Really?

Crowd

Good or bad, Mumbai is just way too crowded. You got to feel for Mumbai, people come here to make a life for themselves and the influx of population is just inevitable. But that’s none of my concern; if it’s crowded it’s crowded and that is it. A spade is a spade! Compared to Chennai or Delhi or Kolkata, Mumbai scores for the worse.

Still, it’s Mumbai man!

The fact that people are nice here is no justification for the fact that the crowd is okay, which brings me to the next aspect.

Whose Goal is it Anyway?

Some people and management from all the NMSL teams arrive at the ground. All teams were supposed to be present on the inaugural day.
Chandru: Pallavi… Pallavi, where are you?
(Jha calls to find out that Gangstars management were still in their photoshoot)
Chandru: Okay, let’s see if the other teams have arrived. Krusherz?
Dawar: I guess they are a little slow… Remember the auctions?
Chandru: Oh yeah…
Dawar: Dream Kickers are here.

Doke was busy with his mobile phone. “Hey guys, what, no ‘#SirDoke’ in facebook and twitter today!? ” Rhea was hooked to her tablet trying hard to get 1000 likes for DK facebook page. “Any ideas guys? Shall we upload selfies? Shaleen what do you say!”

NMSL 3.0 Auctions – Part II

NM Shooterzz
Shooterzz is one team whose auctions largely depended on one man – Ishan Jha. He more or less ran the show entirely for the team. Ably supported by Gagan, Nikita and ex-Shooterzz bloke Shrey Arora who is the owner of the team this time around, this lot managed to put up a really decent show at the auctions. They seemed to operate with a definite plan in mind. Solid in defense, solid in approach, Jha decided whom to go for, and whom not to.
May be, the approach to game and life is pretty similar to most sportspersons (including yours truly!)    

Under control: NM Shooterzz – Putting the best man in driver’s seat

NMSL 3.0 Auctions – Part I

The auctions held last Sunday evening was a whole lot of fun. Kushagra Patwa and (Mr!) Tanuj Baru truly rocked the show and helped a great deal in the smooth conduct of the auctions till the end. The session which started around 5PM ended only around 8.45PM with all teams fighting it out for the best possible squad.

Let the a(u)ction begin! (Baru, Patwa)

Let’s see how the teams fared in the auctions… the hits, misses and much more.
NM Gangstars
“No team has loyal followers, as much as Gangstars does!”

NMSL 3.0 – A run up to the auctions and the exhibition match

MBAs are good businessmen – can handle pressure well, use money wisely and make critical decisions in short spans of time. All these are easier said than done. What do all this have to do with sports? When the sun sets on Sunday evening (Dec 21), the teams of all five NMSL franchises will be tested on all these skills and much more when the auction for this season of NM Soccer League begins. It’s not going to be easy.
“Sports is serious business”
The fact that Mr.Tanuj Baru is expected to co-host the auction adds much weight for the Super Sunday here at NMIMS. All teams have a virtual fund of $1,000,000,000 each, to play with.
This is how things stand at the moment for the five teams.
NM Gangstars

NMSL 3.0: A Curtain Raiser to the most-awaited sporting event of NMIMS!

“When it’s January, it’s time for action!”
While there are many ways to welcome a new year, NMIMS has its own way of doing it in the beginning of a calendar year. Not sure how many professional B-schools have this kind of kick start (literally!) so soon in their scheme of things. We do things differently!
Cometh January, five big teams will be competing for ultimate glory – the Championship of the hugely successful NM Soccer League. This edition will be a continuation of our success story from last year, and the players will be looking to continue the rich legacy left by NMSL 2.0. Let’s have a look at the teams and how the story looks like so far …
NM Gangstars

Team Owners: Pallavi Kini, Amulya Goomer
Position Last Year: Winners

Love can kill… A perspective on stirring moments in Cricket

Some stories in sports remain forever. Some great, some pleasantly great, some not so pleasant to remember. Cricket has been, and always will remain a dangerous sport.
May 12, 2002
St. John’s Antigua
Test matches were worshipped that time. Anil Kumble, India’s crisis man was hit by Merv Dillon when he was batting at number 8. He just spat out blood and kept batting. India made 513 for 9 and declared. The story does not end here.
The following day, Kumble showed the meaning of dedication for generations to remember. He came out to bowl with a broken jaw, something that was never seen before in the history of the game.

And trapped the great Brian Charles Lara, leg before wicket for 4. He bowled 14 overs in a row! This episode stands testimony to how some people keep their love for the game in high regard. When asked the reason for taking the risky step, Kumble replied, “I didn’t want to sit around”. That sums up his approach towards the game! That’s about the real ‘Jumbo’ of Indian cricket! Sachin recalled this incident on Kumble’s retirement saying Anil had a big heart and that this was a match he would never forget.
Fortunately, no injuries happened when he was sending down these 84 balls! Of course, he would have known this; the love for the game can make people do different things!
One gripping image to show his joy – and his celebration after the wicket…

The match ended in a draw, dominated by batting. Remembered for Kumble’s bowling!
20 February, 1998
Bangabandhu Stadium, Dhaka
Raman Lamba was fielding for Abahani Krira Chakra against Mohammedan Sporting in Dhaka’s Premier League, when he was summoned from the outfield to go to short leg.
Khaled Mashud was captaining Abahani Krira Chakra in the absence of the regular skipper. “I brought on the left-arm spinner for that one over and after three balls I decided to change the field. I looked around and I saw Raman and asked him to stand at forward short-leg.” Mashud asked him if he wanted a helmet but Lamba said that “it was just three balls and so it wouldn’t be a problem”.

other players gathered around me to celebrate, I looked for Raman. He was lying on the ground.”
Lamba was well enough to get up and after reassuring fielders he was okay, unassisted he slowly made his way back to the dressing room. The team doctor told him to lie down and gave him water to drink, but after a few minutes Lamba told team-mates he felt unwell and was rushed to hospital. By the time he got there he had lost consciousness, and after he suffered convulsions, surgeons operated to a remove a blood clot from the left side of his brain. A specialist was flown in from Delhi but returned almost straightaway, saying there was no hope of recovery.
Aminul Islam, the former Bangladesh captain, recalled “I was the new man in and asked Raman if he was okay. He said, ‘Bulli (Islam’s nickname is Bulbul) main to mar gaya’ (I am dead, Bulli)”. Three days after he was hit, Lamba’s life support was turned off with the approval of his family. Lamba died on February 23, 1998.
There ended a story of a great man who was a motivation for players like Aakash Chopra among many others in New Delhi. He also played a formidable role in the development of Cricket in Bangladesh.

The incident doesn’t affect just one person. Mehrab Hossain could not sleep for two or three days after he played the shot. He even went on a break from Cricket, then returned and went on to play for Bangladesh.
This incident wouldn’t have had a mention here if Lamba had not died. Things would have been forgotten if those three balls were normal ones. Sports is always cruel, every sport has its own will. Nowadays whoever fields close in, makes sure to wear a helmet – which was in this case a hell-met! Of course, his photos would have been viral if we had had internet and social media back then.
These two incidents have one thing in common. Kumble knew he was taking that risk. Lamba didn’t pay heed to his Captain’s words. We can argue that no one can anticipate these things to happen, but then, well, I still feel Lamba could have worn the helmet. Kumble’s risk was much lesser; still, the modern rules wouldn’t allow him to play in that condition I guess!
The next incident is so cruel because it can happen to just about any batsman in the world.
25 November, 2014
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Phil Hughes was batting on 63* when he was knocked unconscious by a Sean Abbott bouncer. Apparently, the ball struck an unprotected area just below his ear. The injury was a rare (only 100 of these have been reported in history and just one of these was cricket-related) but described type of blunt cerebro-vascular injury called a vertebral artery dissection which led to subarachnoid haemorrhage. In simpler terms, he died after a few days on November 27.

The events that unfolded are well-known to all. Here’s a video tribute by Michael Clarke that might leave you in tears. Again, the bowler Sean Abbott would be having some worst days of his cricketing career now, probably his lifetime of 22 years. The sheer mental trauma could be indescribable. Cricket is a mental game too.
I have always felt the umpires were not safe. I couldn’t believe when I read the news a few days ago.
29 November, 2014
Hillel Oscar, an Israeli umpire died after being hit on the jaw by a ball. He did try to escape but it hit him anyway. He was 55. Seems he was of Indian origin. Newspapers reported that he even suffered a heart attack after being hit by the ball. May be that’s got to do with his age. Still, it is a very sad incident.
The next time Dhoni hits a straight one and the Umpire ducks, BE SCARED! I don’t think the umpires have a change of survival if the ball hits them straight on. I mean it, considering the quality of bats these days.

How much protection is enough protection? Cricket can never be fully safe – and nothing is fully safe anyway. We cannot have baseball helmets in Cricket! The one thing that drives everyone towards the game is sheer passion, nothing else.
Test Cricket makes men out of boys. And these men are heroes, forever.
RIP Phil Hughes, and the Umpire.
And God give good health to Sean Abbott.

The Royal Game: Fostering friendships, promoting joy!

It was a surreal Sunday last week (November 9, 2014) at NMIMS for the chess folks. With no games scheduled the previous day, the players got some time off. Scheduling became an issue for Sunday. As is often the case, the ‘cruel’ B-school mails before we close our eyes at night meant that I had to stay awake till 2AM (essentially running into Sunday) to finalize the fixtures for Semi-finals and Finals. With help from ‘sporty’ seniors over Whatsapp, I somehow managed to do so!
‘It’s a B-school; we cannot do everything single-handed!’
The big four teams of the semis were NM Warriors, SP Jain, Sydenhams and KJ Somaiya. The first semi-final of the day was between host NM Warriors and SP Jain. The visitors arrived bang on time at 1 PM. This time they reached the correct building without any hassle! After logistical delays, the match started at 1:30 PM at room 507. Fittingly, it was the Student Council room for the day, which gets a place in this article today.

I am waiting!

In a little over 12 hours, NMIMS University will experience a euphoric mix of agonized ecstasy and infectious enthusiasm, as the curtains draw open for the annual sports fest, ‘Samarthya’. It’s not often that these things happen. When they do, make sure to make the most of it. So, what’s the big deal about it?

For some people, it’s just another happening in this extra large MBA world, full of events. For others, it could mean holidays. For sports buffs like me, it’s everything. People ask me “How do you feel when playing?” I mostly say “Alive!” There’s more to it than meets the eye.

The Perspective

After every day in college, you mostly feel like a fruit put in the juicer

Arcadia Day 2 – Spotlight: Chess

“Silently they made history!”

It’s not often that chess hogs the limelight when there is a wide array of spectator-friendly sports going on around the campus but today was an exception. The day clearly belonged to the royal game – possibly it was time for the silent game to make the loudest noise!

Chess was slotted to begin at 4:30 PM. Division A won its match against CM and BM won its quarterfinal against CMB. The much-awaited quarterfinal match between HR and defending champions ‘F’ began around 6:15 PM. All three boards went beyond 30 minutes. After the first two boards finished, it was all fair and square at 1-1. HR cracked under pressure to give F division their semi-final berth.

Arcadia 2014 – Day One

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going”

This classic line is always true, more so at NMIMS. Balancing academics and extra-curriculars is a herculean task in MBA life. Given that we have classes at all odd hours here, it was always going to be tough.

Arcadia 2014 began with a bang on Tuesday, the 7^th of October. All of the indoor sports – Badminton, Carrom, Chess, Counter Strike, Squash and Table Tennis. Scheduling the events required meticulous planning and you got to say the Sports Committee did a fantastic job. The timetables of every class, both I and II years, had to be checked each time a fixture was put. The first years had more than just academics to handle, which meant lesser players being available for the event. Hopefully some day, sports gets due recognition in this campus; only then we can match the allure of events like Valhalla et al.

Destination XLRI Valhalla 2014 – Part Two

Thanks for making it to Part 2.

Day two was all about upping the ante and elevating the performance to the next level. And yes, the cheering and sledging were to intensify too.

First in action was our chess team – 10.45 AM, semifinal against XLRI. Well, it was scheduled to start at 10.30 AM, but then, when did NM boys reach on time early morning? On a Sunday?

“NM habits die hard!”

A 15-minute delay was okay, and the organizers were kind enough, even though they were visibly frustrated a little bit. We defeated XLRI 3-1 to reach the final. This game was more difficult than the first. XL played well and initially threatened to draw level. By one fortune swing, we were through. Clearly, we were happy to beat XL once at least. So much for history! FMS Delhi won the other semifinal to set up a final showdown against us. By the way, when this semifinal was going on, outdoor games also started around 11 AM. Intensity was at its peak on day 2.

Destination XLRI Valhalla 2014 – Part One

It’s not often that you go to a different city with your college folk, play sports, sledge, and cheer, make noise and have fun, especially if you are in a B-school, and a top one at that! But that’s exactly what happened for 30-odd adventurous folks of NMIMS, over the last weekend of July 2014.
Our contingent for Valhalla, the flagship cultural event of XLRI Jamshedpur, reached the XLRI campus on Friday evening, the 25^th of July, for what would turn out to be one of our most memorable events. On reaching the Tatanagar railway station, we were received by a liaison officer, a first year Sardar student, good man. He had come to pick us up in a van. The journey to the XLRI campus was smooth as silk. A little bit of rain made the atmosphere pleasant, it was a 30-minute travel to the sprawling campus. Accommodation was provided in XLRI’s newly constructed hostel – we were possibly the first ones to occupy it, for, XL’s own students had not yet ‘experienced’ it.