Is it time for a breather?

Hi Everybody!!! ((Especially to the 6 "followers" of my blog))


I know it has been a long time since I last reprised you of the events in my life. The only thing I can tell you is this... "There's no easy way out". MBA life is like a treadmill which has a mind of its own. If you step on it, you are no longer in control of it. Everything happens automatically. The treadmill starts, it gets you warmed up initially but soon, it picks up speed. And all you can do is prevent yourself from getting burned out otherwise soon, you'll have a taste of your own blood and the dust beneath your feet. And whatever short chances it gives you to rest, you better take it, for you have to graduate to the next level once it starts again.

Its one of those chances that the personified MBA life has given me. And this is the period after my internship placement. The placement season was like an emotional roller coaster. Every day, you tell yourself, "You're gonna do it this time". You go to the company process. The process ends with no result in your favour. You feel disheartened. You go back and tell yourself the same thing again with an appending line, "But I still can't understand why it happened." You MAKE yourself believe that the next one, among many in line, is THE one for you because you are "fit" for it. But after a while, you lose it because all those things that you thought were true, e.g. cultural fit, alignment of strengths for a particular role,this is where I want to be, just dont seem to work. Finally, what decides your selction is not YOUR belief but what the recruiter is looking at. If you don't match the criteria, believe me- no matter how much you "believe", you will have to sit for the next process. And when your emotions drain out (quite literally) after appearing for one process after the other, you become indifferent. As someone close to me always says, "If you run after something, you wont ever get that thing. But if you dont desire the thing, the thing will come to you automatically." So true. And finally what works?? Destiny. Yes! I, the disbeliever, is saying this. And once the struggle ends, you believe in it even MORE strongly. The only thing positive that happens to you is the strengthening of your character. You come out a changed person, almost NEW. New friendships are forged and existing ones get stronger. I think the best trait I have developed in this period is Empathy, Confidence, and Professionalism. Even after I got selected, I had nightmares of what had transpired. It might sound scary but that's the truth. And after the nightmares are over............. BLISS!!!

It seems like internship placement is the ONLY thing which has happened in this no-post period. Well, there were things leading to it and an imprtant part of it like the mind and body numbing (but interesting too) Corporate Valuation Project, the DOCC project in Delhi/Noida for 6 weeks, the SPJIMR Academic Conclave, and ofcourse, the never-ending lectures.

And NOW, this short time is the chance that the MBA life has given me again. I gotta make full use of it. Coz the grilling begins again soon. Will keep posting. Cant promise regular updates but yeah, this is the only blog I maintain. So, yeah, will keep posting.

P.S. Yeverybody must watch Zeitgeist Addendum. Its a great documentary.

Late resolutions

Today, the SPJIMR Academic Conclave(SAC) ended and I was relieved and worried at the same time. Reason: the classes are back and GASP practice is also about to begin in full throttle which means that I am going to be really busy atleast till the 4th of Feb. Now, during such a hectic schedule, it is very necessary to balance everything and to learn the maximum out of what is being taught. I think that I have not been serious enough to learn something out of my lectures here. If I ponder seriously, I think that I haven't taken the fullest advantage of all the resources available to me in SP. So, the title of the blog is justified in that the resolution which I have decided to make is coming a little (OK, more than a little) late.


Now, coming to the resolution. When I thought recently about what understanding I have gained about the business world after coming to SP, be it Macroeconomics, Finance, Marketing or Operations, I came to think that I have severely underutilized the resources available at the institute. While I could have spent more time in the domains of the Library satiating my thirst for knowledge, i only procrastinated like in my engineering days. Realization dawned upon me only recently that I am running the danger of being a "farzi" MBA in the same way as I became a "farzi" engineer. So, my resolution here on is that I will spend more and more time utilizing the resources available for my knowledge enrichment and start the conquest for the knowledge which will make me a better MBA otherwise I might end up with a degree and no real value add to my business knowledge.


Another resolution, which according to me is the basic problem and the root cause of all my problems here is that I have been very lazy in doing things and have looked for a cozy life shying away from real initiatives and hard work. Now, entertainment is another thing but it must not become the majority of what you do in a day. I think I'll have to shed this lazyness from my personality to become more proactive in becoming a better manager with a sharper sword of knowledge in my hands.

new year's eve 2009

OK..... I know this post is late to make it to the blog.... but still I couldn't have missed it for the world.... because the eve of new year 2010 was undeniably the most memorable one of my life.... it didn't start in a grand manner... the best part, though, was to come in the evening.... before that I was working on L'oreal Brandstorm, the competition which I mentioned in my last post (its sad, i know, but still, had to work on it).... after that, me and my friends with whom I was participating,  set out to go out and enjoy.... now eating out and watching a movie isn't so exciting to sound but beating the time to reach every place Just in time was.... even though we were going to watch "3 idiots" for the second time (had already watched "Avatar" so there wasn't a better movie left to watch).... we booked tickets online to a little known theatre and to our surprise, the theatre was pretty decent.... alright! let me come to the exciting part.... I got drunk!! first time in my life and I had four pegs!! (two vodka, two whiskey)..... and what followed was a feeling quite unlike anything... I was really "under the influence" as they call it.... I felt so light and the best part was that the sleep was so nice and my head also didn't pain in the morning as I expected.... maybe four was not enough quantity for the head to pain :p.... I really wanted to experience everything that night as I knew it would be the first and maybe the last time that I would ever drink.... but whatever! the feeling was really amazing..... I will remember this new year's eve forever!!

Preparing for L'oreal Brandstorm

I don't know man.... I am just not getting the motivation of doing anything right now.... I think its my "inertia of rest" which is preventing me to start anything..... This is such a prestigious competition..... it'll be awesome even if our team wins the college round. But for that, we need to get a structure made and the finer details of everything. And that is missing right now, I think.

For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, I am talking about a B-School competition organized by L'oreal called the L'oreal Brandstorm. As I mentioned before, its a very prestigious event and its in related to marketing. The question I ask myself now is, "I am a finance guy. Then why participate in a marketing event?". The answer is "in hopes of making my CV look good". God! I really swear right now that I won't touch marketing competitions again. Its such a pain in the ass. I could have used the 3 days of my holidays (my precious holidays) relaxing and clearing my Finance concepts. But, this event hasn't provided me with even a moment of respite. Will there ever be a pure moment of peace here? When I can peacefully relax and spend the day just doing what I really love? ("not doing anything")..... I ask myself again.

I guess pure moments of peace are hard to come by and will rarely come. But still, I'll wait.