The woods were lovely dark and deep. Walking slowly beside her, in the damp mud road, was her husband whom she barely knew. He was very relaxed, happily watching a group of kids playing at a distance. Her "mehandi" was still dark and smelling fresh, reminding of the excitements and tension 2 days back. "It cant work this way mom...please stop this", she kept telling her mother till the last moment,who wouldnt listen but carry on with beautifying her.She had been crying all night and her make-up had to be patched up twice or thrice to hide her awkwardly swollen face.
It was too late now.She had to get married "NOW" to the guy...The guy whom she had seen once and talked thrice.The guy about whom she knew nothing at all but for his name and work.Everything happened in a hurry and everthing was over before she could breathe again... here was she with this guy, all alone in this hill station... how can anybody send their daughter such a long distance with a stranger??? "Hey look at that....!!!" he shouted in excitement... she shrugged and looked where his finger pointed... Bright colored balloons dotted the sky. Children were jumping in joy and he seemed to be completely absorbed into it...colors are always exciting...but not now.She was not with her friends, not with her team mates, not even with her parents. This was not a 3 day tour or team building trip.This was her life and she has been forced to start off with this person. Loneliness and discomfort with this stranger was sickening...
She looked at him in wonder... does he even realize that he has married me?Does he understand that he has to love me,protect me,care for me,a new girl,a stranger,all his life?
The marriage morning started like a daylight nightmare for her.The first time in life she felt she should have fallen in love and then married somebody. some man who she would have felt more comfortable with, someone whom she could call by name and introduce to friends, someone whom she could trust. But marriage morning was obviously not the time to think all these. Her parents would never have said "no" if she had declared that she was in love.But she was not emotionally attached to anybody she met,especially guys.She was very friendly,playing,teasing, but never had second thought for any man around her.That brought the entire responsibility of looking for a groom on her parents' shoulders.
Her parents had had a very bad time with this entire process.They started their groom search with unending "&" operation. The concatenation of "Horoscope matching" & "Decent family" & "Good looking" & "Good pay" & "same cast" & so on... that always gave 0 output.Now after all that 8 months hunt,they were not ready to hear her "ifs" and "buts" for this 'good guy'. She had explained to her father.She does not feel anything for this person.He is nothing more to me than any other software professional.Like list of names she sees in the chat rooms. Distant and usual...Her father asked her to talk to him and even meet him and discuss their likes and dislikes.That meeting started like the induction programme self introduction and ended like a 3 hour seminar.She was waiting to get away from that place."So did you talk with him?"."yes"."was he polite and decent"."yes"."Oh he got that special flavoured tri-color icecream...!!!".OK.All her family and relatives discussed...She was given the chance to "understand her life partner" and that they have understood each other "well" and she is ready for the marriage now.
All arrangements geared up and it was 24 days after her first meeting that she was getting married to her man... perfect match as everybody else described.Marriage hall was full with excited people, kids got the chance to play,ladies got the chance to wear the silk saree.The smell of rose and jasmine filled the hall.Different poses for the photographer and atrificial smiles for the videos.The moment he had tied the sacred thread was unexplainable vaccum in the head.It was over.She was his wife.Accepted by the society and law.Her proud parents were relaxed.This was their duty they had been planning to fulfill since she was born.All this crowd will fade away,leaving her to explore her new world...
He pulled her hand gently to sit on the stone bench.The bench was wet and the chillness was indeed enjoyable."So what are you thinking about?"... that was an unexpected ball.should she reply?should she be silent?She remembered the two hour presentation she had taken last month.Bold and confident, she kept answering all the queries with a broad smile.Now she remained silent."Do you know honey... I was not for this marriage too..." Oh my God... what did i hear??? did HE tell that or did i think aloud? what does he mean?didnt he like me?was he forced into this? He must have noticed the quizzical look on my face...with a gentle smile he continued..."I wanted to look for a girl myself,buy her everything,care for her,argue with her,laugh and cry with her,then get married to her... Anything otherwise would be a drama. Traditional drama and i was not for it anytime. But my love for my work and also my stress would not give me time and mind to search that girl...When your parents talked to me 2 weeks before our marriage, about your fear of getting married,to a stranger, i could completely understand your mind. I could see myself in you and that was the moment i decided i will marry you.There was no time to prove myself to you,make you trust me,everything happened in a hurry.But there was the entire life before me, to please you,to love you, to make you trust me.This is no less than what i had dreamt,the girl i was waiting for,is you.Now tell me... will you love me???"
Tears came down her cheek.Her parents had done more than their duty.They had found her the perfect guy. Thank you Mom!!! Thank you Dad!!! His question remained unanswered yet both knew the answer....
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Saturday, April 14, 2007
How does one choose the special person?
I have been thinking about this question for a while and did ask a few people about the same, * I want something different*, *It can't be put into words, but he should be of my type* were some of the common replies. So it was clear that in majority of the cases, the choice is more of subjective nature rather than pinpointed objectivity! Fair enough!!!
So what are these underlying factors which people die to look for in the special person for months, years! Based on my dedicated research, there are four underlying trends upon which the special person is chosen:
1. Halo Effect: There is a single attribute on which a person is chosen and all other attributes are not considered either.
e.g. I want to marry a person who is extremely good looking irrespective of any other positive/negative attributes.
2. Weighted Average Method: The person assigns a certain weight to each attribute of the personality, and then he/she assigns the ranks on each attribute to the other person, takes the weighted average and if the weighted average hits a certain minimum, then the person is like, “Voila!”
The rank assigning process has been gorily painted in terms of numeric in this example, Mind you; it does not happen in that much of a quantitative bend of mind! But it’s more of a qualitative nature, where a person factors in various attributes in his/her mind as follows: The other person is not very tall, but never mind, he is very humorous.
3. Cutoff Method: There are various attributes like education, income etc (varies from person to person), that he/she decides to consider for the special person. And just like CAT exam, where you need to score a minimum cutoff on three sections, the person sees whether the special person scores a minimum on the defined attributes or not! If he/she scores the minimum requirement, then through!
4. Gut Feeling: Utmost nature of subjectivity, purely a decision by gut feeling! Something of the nature, “The reason for choosing a special man can not be described in words or numbers”
_________________________________________________________________
Did I miss anything?
So what are these underlying factors which people die to look for in the special person for months, years! Based on my dedicated research, there are four underlying trends upon which the special person is chosen:
1. Halo Effect: There is a single attribute on which a person is chosen and all other attributes are not considered either.
e.g. I want to marry a person who is extremely good looking irrespective of any other positive/negative attributes.
2. Weighted Average Method: The person assigns a certain weight to each attribute of the personality, and then he/she assigns the ranks on each attribute to the other person, takes the weighted average and if the weighted average hits a certain minimum, then the person is like, “Voila!”
The rank assigning process has been gorily painted in terms of numeric in this example, Mind you; it does not happen in that much of a quantitative bend of mind! But it’s more of a qualitative nature, where a person factors in various attributes in his/her mind as follows: The other person is not very tall, but never mind, he is very humorous.
3. Cutoff Method: There are various attributes like education, income etc (varies from person to person), that he/she decides to consider for the special person. And just like CAT exam, where you need to score a minimum cutoff on three sections, the person sees whether the special person scores a minimum on the defined attributes or not! If he/she scores the minimum requirement, then through!
4. Gut Feeling: Utmost nature of subjectivity, purely a decision by gut feeling! Something of the nature, “The reason for choosing a special man can not be described in words or numbers”
_________________________________________________________________
Did I miss anything?
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Summers in IIMs : A Hard Hitter
Here is a primer on the summers process at IIMs and other B-schools
FAQ
1. Are girls really preferred in summers?
1. Ahem!! Water is the most precious thing in desert. Investment Banks(IBs) and consults are terribly short of XX chromosomes. IBs need people to work for long hours, they want people in office working for 16-17 hours/day. If there are no girls, people won't have the motivation to stay in office. QED!!
The shortlist is based on 2 factors : 1. Resume and 2. Your photo in the placement brochure that has been distributed to the company.
My research shows that for a fresher girl with average looks and IT-work girl with good looks have almost equal probability of geting IB/consult shortlist! The company has some predetermined notions about each candidate. And they are trying to fit those notions in the interview. So if you've minimum quant skills and minimum communication skills, both fresher and IT-work ex girl has equal chance of making to IBs/consults.
Though from the bottom of my heart, I can vouch for the fact that an average girl has much better communication skills as compared to an average boy! The reasons are numerous, the simplest being a large portion of MBA students are engineers (70-80%). Owing to bad M:F ratios in engineering, a boy is not very comfortable or confident when he talks to a girl, but vice versa is almost always never true.
And yeah, am not painting an anti-feminist picture here!
2. I have high IT work-ex, what the heck?
2. Summers is a 2-months process. The IBs need fresh minds. work-ex people (espl. high work-ex) people need some time to unlearn the stuff they learnt in their earlier organization. And this is not quite possible in 2 months of summer training. Hence the problem So unless you ve high financial /relevant work-ex, LehmanBrothershereIcome is very very tough ( Even getting a shortlist is a luxury)
Exception being : Refer Question no 1
3. I am non-IIT/BITS, why am not getting the shortlists?
3. Again alumni factor comes into picture. IIT/BITS have proven excepetional track record for most of its alumni which may not be the case for non-branded colleges.So when a company wants to choose a shortlist of say 20 people, the safest bet is to choose a fair no of branded people. The reason being the company is more or less sure that even if they make a mistake in selection process, 80-90% of branded people will be really good! Now this may not be the case of people from unbranded colleges! QED
4. I took a job which I don't want just because of slot pressure.
4. the feeling of being among the last few to get placed is also terrible.The main agony is not at all that you are not getting the job. The major issue is all others in your peer group are getting summers.If you can handle the pressure, awesome As has already been discussed, slot is not the criteria to judge. Thus ideally there should not be *the terrible feeling*.Though one point I would like to make is that most of the people from non-IIT/BITS colleges have not experienced the kind of competiton that exists in the IIMs. Hence they might crumble beacuse of *the terrible feeling* as I have observed it in IIML.Waise some people in IIML waited till slot 3 because their dream company was coming then!This not only shows the patience but also shows the fact these people knew what exactly they want to do in life!
Last but not the least Summer process is not-the most optimum process. In fact it as good as an arranged marriage .This is a statistically proven fact :In summers, you are interviewed for approx 30 minutes and they hire you for 2 months!In arranged marriage, the bride-groom date each other for 3-4 days and get married. I ve assumed that average married life =25 years.So a CAT Quant student can easily tell that the ratios are almost equal!
Overall summers is a mayhem of emotions. Agony, ecstasy, dreams, crashes are all packed in a thriller of 3 days.
And the final nail in the coffin:
For heaven's sake , a MBA from IIM or otherwise, is not a passport to success. Only 5-10% of the alumni of any institute have done extremely well in life.50% of alumni have done reasonably well in life. And the rest have terribly struggled in life. Too much was expected out of them because of IIM MBA tag, which they just could not deliver! It's not the IIMA brand or IB summers that makes the difference. 10-15 years the down the line, all factors will get averaged out. It's you who makes the difference!
FAQ
1. Are girls really preferred in summers?
1. Ahem!! Water is the most precious thing in desert. Investment Banks(IBs) and consults are terribly short of XX chromosomes. IBs need people to work for long hours, they want people in office working for 16-17 hours/day. If there are no girls, people won't have the motivation to stay in office. QED!!
The shortlist is based on 2 factors : 1. Resume and 2. Your photo in the placement brochure that has been distributed to the company.
My research shows that for a fresher girl with average looks and IT-work girl with good looks have almost equal probability of geting IB/consult shortlist! The company has some predetermined notions about each candidate. And they are trying to fit those notions in the interview. So if you've minimum quant skills and minimum communication skills, both fresher and IT-work ex girl has equal chance of making to IBs/consults.
Though from the bottom of my heart, I can vouch for the fact that an average girl has much better communication skills as compared to an average boy! The reasons are numerous, the simplest being a large portion of MBA students are engineers (70-80%). Owing to bad M:F ratios in engineering, a boy is not very comfortable or confident when he talks to a girl, but vice versa is almost always never true.
And yeah, am not painting an anti-feminist picture here!
2. I have high IT work-ex, what the heck?
2. Summers is a 2-months process. The IBs need fresh minds. work-ex people (espl. high work-ex) people need some time to unlearn the stuff they learnt in their earlier organization. And this is not quite possible in 2 months of summer training. Hence the problem So unless you ve high financial /relevant work-ex, LehmanBrothershereIcome is very very tough ( Even getting a shortlist is a luxury)
Exception being : Refer Question no 1
3. I am non-IIT/BITS, why am not getting the shortlists?
3. Again alumni factor comes into picture. IIT/BITS have proven excepetional track record for most of its alumni which may not be the case for non-branded colleges.So when a company wants to choose a shortlist of say 20 people, the safest bet is to choose a fair no of branded people. The reason being the company is more or less sure that even if they make a mistake in selection process, 80-90% of branded people will be really good! Now this may not be the case of people from unbranded colleges! QED
4. I took a job which I don't want just because of slot pressure.
4. the feeling of being among the last few to get placed is also terrible.The main agony is not at all that you are not getting the job. The major issue is all others in your peer group are getting summers.If you can handle the pressure, awesome As has already been discussed, slot is not the criteria to judge. Thus ideally there should not be *the terrible feeling*.Though one point I would like to make is that most of the people from non-IIT/BITS colleges have not experienced the kind of competiton that exists in the IIMs. Hence they might crumble beacuse of *the terrible feeling* as I have observed it in IIML.Waise some people in IIML waited till slot 3 because their dream company was coming then!This not only shows the patience but also shows the fact these people knew what exactly they want to do in life!
Last but not the least Summer process is not-the most optimum process. In fact it as good as an arranged marriage .This is a statistically proven fact :In summers, you are interviewed for approx 30 minutes and they hire you for 2 months!In arranged marriage, the bride-groom date each other for 3-4 days and get married. I ve assumed that average married life =25 years.So a CAT Quant student can easily tell that the ratios are almost equal!
Overall summers is a mayhem of emotions. Agony, ecstasy, dreams, crashes are all packed in a thriller of 3 days.
And the final nail in the coffin:
For heaven's sake , a MBA from IIM or otherwise, is not a passport to success. Only 5-10% of the alumni of any institute have done extremely well in life.50% of alumni have done reasonably well in life. And the rest have terribly struggled in life. Too much was expected out of them because of IIM MBA tag, which they just could not deliver! It's not the IIMA brand or IB summers that makes the difference. 10-15 years the down the line, all factors will get averaged out. It's you who makes the difference!
Monday, April 09, 2007
"Damn, I don't have a boyfriend!"
"Damn, I don't have a boyfriend!" , we tend to hear the line many-a-times. So let’s delve into the nitty-gritty.
My research shows that if a girl is above 23.5 years of age and single, then the reason of singleness will be explained by one of the following four reasons:-
1. The girl has been very career-focused: No time to look for a suitable match
2. A wrong person in wrong place at a wrong time: Always in the wrong company
3. Nonsmartness (In terms of looks, attitude etc.)
4. Mentally or physically handicapped: Mentally handicapped is not in a negative sense necessarily. Infact commitment shyness comes under mental handicap which is not a negative thing.
Now the other question is what is so sacrosanct about the age 23.5 years?
Well let’s divide the girls in engineering and nonengineering streams.
The M:F ratio in non-engineering colleges is a healthy one ranging from 0.5:1 to 2:1. Hence there is always a healthy interaction between boys and girls in these colleges. And some couples might get hitched up!
In engineering colleges, the M:F ratio is very unhealthy. Hence there is low scope for healthy and free-flowing interaction between the opposite sexes. The bad ratio is detrimental to both the sexes, mind you! A boy is not able to meet enough number of girls in the first place! Meeting a suitable choice is a far-flung thing.
And there are many boys who are trying to leach a girl; hence a girl does not get enough quality time to spend with a certain boy. Hence even girls don't find suitable matches in most of the cases.
Hence even though most of the non-engineering girls have found the match, the engineering girls are still looking for one! The engineering girls pass out at the average age of 21.5-22 years. Being an engineer, most of them land up with a job in software sector or otherwise.
The maximum probability of finding a suitable boy is during training program or in the working team. The reason being in training program, you spend long hours in a small group working (or trying to pretend working) on a project, hence you get to know a few good people really well! And who knows, if the luck prevails, then you might meet your prince charming there!
But luck is not always very good; sometimes one may not meet the man of dreams in their first job. On an average, people tend to change job when they have at least one year of experience. Hence on an average, the average age of the girl who has just joined the second job will be 22.5-23 years. Again the search starts afresh and if the girl is lucky then she will find the man in 6 months maximum.
Hence in the worst case: 23 years + 6 months = 23.5 years of age
Brickbats and bouquets are welcome!
My research shows that if a girl is above 23.5 years of age and single, then the reason of singleness will be explained by one of the following four reasons:-
1. The girl has been very career-focused: No time to look for a suitable match
2. A wrong person in wrong place at a wrong time: Always in the wrong company
3. Nonsmartness (In terms of looks, attitude etc.)
4. Mentally or physically handicapped: Mentally handicapped is not in a negative sense necessarily. Infact commitment shyness comes under mental handicap which is not a negative thing.
Now the other question is what is so sacrosanct about the age 23.5 years?
Well let’s divide the girls in engineering and nonengineering streams.
The M:F ratio in non-engineering colleges is a healthy one ranging from 0.5:1 to 2:1. Hence there is always a healthy interaction between boys and girls in these colleges. And some couples might get hitched up!
In engineering colleges, the M:F ratio is very unhealthy. Hence there is low scope for healthy and free-flowing interaction between the opposite sexes. The bad ratio is detrimental to both the sexes, mind you! A boy is not able to meet enough number of girls in the first place! Meeting a suitable choice is a far-flung thing.
And there are many boys who are trying to leach a girl; hence a girl does not get enough quality time to spend with a certain boy. Hence even girls don't find suitable matches in most of the cases.
Hence even though most of the non-engineering girls have found the match, the engineering girls are still looking for one! The engineering girls pass out at the average age of 21.5-22 years. Being an engineer, most of them land up with a job in software sector or otherwise.
The maximum probability of finding a suitable boy is during training program or in the working team. The reason being in training program, you spend long hours in a small group working (or trying to pretend working) on a project, hence you get to know a few good people really well! And who knows, if the luck prevails, then you might meet your prince charming there!
But luck is not always very good; sometimes one may not meet the man of dreams in their first job. On an average, people tend to change job when they have at least one year of experience. Hence on an average, the average age of the girl who has just joined the second job will be 22.5-23 years. Again the search starts afresh and if the girl is lucky then she will find the man in 6 months maximum.
Hence in the worst case: 23 years + 6 months = 23.5 years of age
Brickbats and bouquets are welcome!
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Straight From Heart!
She was waiting for him in front of the restaurant on a wintry evening. The breeze flew through her hair, gently unwinding them. Mumbling, she checked her hair in the pocket mirror. She was a petite woman in her late twenties. Certainly a head-turner in her college days, but the undulating work in the consulting job had taken toll of her. But still, the charm was there! Her favorite pink dress was endowed with matching earrings ‘These men never come on time!’ she muttered.
Her mind went back a year, when both of them joined the consulting firm as fresh MBA grads from IIM Lucknow. He was a charming person. Very friendly, helpful and focused on work! Both of them were in the same training program and then ended up in the same team in AT Kearney Mumbai office. It all started when their team had gone for an outing to Khandala when both of them had lazed behind. He liked her company, she was pretty, mature and understanding! Both of them enjoyed good food, good music and movies and became quite close friends over the time.
She still remembered when she was promoted to senior associate level while he wasn’t. And in fact he was happier than her for her promotion! And that was the day since she started liking him, ‘A sporty guy with a big heart’, she had thought! Weekends, night walks, cell phone, google talk, the more they spent time together, the more she liked him. They had spent together almost 6 months, then she decided,’enough is enough; I am going to ask him!’ For her, he was the dream man, the handsome prince. He was the man of character, of conviction, of belief! And she wanted to go ahead in the relationship. She spent hours surfing the internet, trying to search the best lines. ‘We are going to meet this weekend’, she had thought while memorizing those line.
And then the news came, all of a sudden. He was going to Uncle Sam’s land for a 6-month assignment. He was supposed to leave in 2 days time. Her dreams were shattered, it was too little a time to discuss about relationships, and she just couldn’t stop crying. But she had no choice but to remain composed, she managed though it was quite tough. At the airport, he told her,” Keep in touch!” and his waving hand left. ‘That’s pretty interesting ‘, she thought.
“Keep in touch”. ‘Huh? These are all fake emotions. People never keep in touch. The world is disguised by sugary faces and honey on the tongues. Did he really mean it? '.Too many thoughts, my mind is getting bamboozled', she thought,’ Time for a hot chocolate!’ She went to the Airport canteen.
And Skype helped them to remain in touch. The number of hours that they chatted per day averaged more than 4 hours. She just forgot about the geographical distance. And suddenly, he told her that he is coming to Mumbai next week. She was so elated! She treated herself with an ice-cream.
She loved him, and she was going to see him again after almost 6 months .She had wanted to do this for a very long time now.... and tonight she was going to tell him....
And suddenly her cheeks turned red, she saw her man walking towards the restaurant. He looked so handsome in his Armani suit. Her heartbeats increased,’ It has to be this time!’ She was nervous but was trying her best to meet her composure. In the mean time, the best guy in the world was next to her; they hugged, exchanged pleasantries and walked inside the restaurant.
The dinner was ordered, and they started talking. He took her in arms. She felt the romance in the air. Looking at him, she gave a smile. Her eyes were full of dreams, she was going to propose him and they were going to get married, and live happily ever after. She would see him everyday morning at breakfast, give a goodbye kiss when they leave for office - life would be perfect. ‘Yes, I want a perfect life. Don’t fret, go on! Be positive!’ She took a deep breath, and drank a glass of water. The blood ran into her brain, after all in a short while, she was going to say those lines , he will be positive to her and the rest will be history! But she just couldn’t believe her ears.’ This is just not possible’, she gasped. She felt like losing consciousness. The nervousness started gripping her. She pinched herself. Her clothes were drenched; her face was full of tears. The man of character was sitting next to her with arms around her and the same person was merrily talking about drug binges and one-night stands that he had in USA. Her mind went numb. Her smile went awry; the glass in her hand was shattered to pieces.
It was not at all a perfect dinner! It was not at all a perfect date!
Her mind went back a year, when both of them joined the consulting firm as fresh MBA grads from IIM Lucknow. He was a charming person. Very friendly, helpful and focused on work! Both of them were in the same training program and then ended up in the same team in AT Kearney Mumbai office. It all started when their team had gone for an outing to Khandala when both of them had lazed behind. He liked her company, she was pretty, mature and understanding! Both of them enjoyed good food, good music and movies and became quite close friends over the time.
She still remembered when she was promoted to senior associate level while he wasn’t. And in fact he was happier than her for her promotion! And that was the day since she started liking him, ‘A sporty guy with a big heart’, she had thought! Weekends, night walks, cell phone, google talk, the more they spent time together, the more she liked him. They had spent together almost 6 months, then she decided,’enough is enough; I am going to ask him!’ For her, he was the dream man, the handsome prince. He was the man of character, of conviction, of belief! And she wanted to go ahead in the relationship. She spent hours surfing the internet, trying to search the best lines. ‘We are going to meet this weekend’, she had thought while memorizing those line.
And then the news came, all of a sudden. He was going to Uncle Sam’s land for a 6-month assignment. He was supposed to leave in 2 days time. Her dreams were shattered, it was too little a time to discuss about relationships, and she just couldn’t stop crying. But she had no choice but to remain composed, she managed though it was quite tough. At the airport, he told her,” Keep in touch!” and his waving hand left. ‘That’s pretty interesting ‘, she thought.
“Keep in touch”. ‘Huh? These are all fake emotions. People never keep in touch. The world is disguised by sugary faces and honey on the tongues. Did he really mean it? '.Too many thoughts, my mind is getting bamboozled', she thought,’ Time for a hot chocolate!’ She went to the Airport canteen.
And Skype helped them to remain in touch. The number of hours that they chatted per day averaged more than 4 hours. She just forgot about the geographical distance. And suddenly, he told her that he is coming to Mumbai next week. She was so elated! She treated herself with an ice-cream.
She loved him, and she was going to see him again after almost 6 months .She had wanted to do this for a very long time now.... and tonight she was going to tell him....
And suddenly her cheeks turned red, she saw her man walking towards the restaurant. He looked so handsome in his Armani suit. Her heartbeats increased,’ It has to be this time!’ She was nervous but was trying her best to meet her composure. In the mean time, the best guy in the world was next to her; they hugged, exchanged pleasantries and walked inside the restaurant.
The dinner was ordered, and they started talking. He took her in arms. She felt the romance in the air. Looking at him, she gave a smile. Her eyes were full of dreams, she was going to propose him and they were going to get married, and live happily ever after. She would see him everyday morning at breakfast, give a goodbye kiss when they leave for office - life would be perfect. ‘Yes, I want a perfect life. Don’t fret, go on! Be positive!’ She took a deep breath, and drank a glass of water. The blood ran into her brain, after all in a short while, she was going to say those lines , he will be positive to her and the rest will be history! But she just couldn’t believe her ears.’ This is just not possible’, she gasped. She felt like losing consciousness. The nervousness started gripping her. She pinched herself. Her clothes were drenched; her face was full of tears. The man of character was sitting next to her with arms around her and the same person was merrily talking about drug binges and one-night stands that he had in USA. Her mind went numb. Her smile went awry; the glass in her hand was shattered to pieces.
It was not at all a perfect dinner! It was not at all a perfect date!
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Two + Two = Five
The Mumbai airport was abuzz with passengers. The indicator glistened,” Air Sahara-Delhi-0700". She checked her watch and mumbled,” Still 40 minutes to go! Why did I come so early?” She found some staring male eyes.” Am I still so attractive or is it something else?” she took out a napkin and wiped the sweat. She was a petite woman in her late twenties. Certainly a head-turner in her college days, but the undulating work had taken toll of her. Sauntering at the airport, she checked herself in the mirror, "This pink top is not suiting me anymore. Maybe it's time to shed some weight". But on an afterthought, she gasped,” Or is it too late to diet?”
Just round a corner, she saw a man who had lost both the legs in conversation with a man who had lost his right leg. Eavesdropped she and deduced that both of them had lost their legs in the war. And they were going to receive ParamVeerChakra at Delhi on the Republic Day. One soldier was telling the other one,” You know what drives me to live even after I had retired 5 years ago. Iss duniya ki khoobsurati!” And both of them gave a hearty laugh!
She saw a cute little girl dressed in not so nice clothes, clinging to her emaciated Father. Both of them didn't look wealthy but looked really happy. She wondered for a while, how are they going to afford the fare of the flight? The child was going to receive the Red and White bravery award from the President. The feelings in the eyes of her Father said it all. She felt really proud of that little girl. Her heart filled with the sense of maternity something she was always going to be devoid of.
The whole lounge at the airport was jostling with enthusiasm."Life is beautiful!” she said. Every person she came across had a smile on his/her face. Even she tried to smile but somehow she didn’t manage!
The indicator showed” Security Check". She scurried to the gate. But already there were a number of people in the line. She saw the little cute girl, the man without the legs in the line few meters ahead of her.” So many good people in this plane!" She thought. The plasma TV nearby exploded into life," Today is the 100th Republic day of India. It is really heartening to note that India is the biggest economy in the world…”
She couldn't hear anymore. Her heart was filled with gratitude and eyes with water. The national anthem started in a jiffy. Each and every person in the line stood silently, honoring the flag. The words of the national anthem seemed to bang her. "Daddy, how will the parade at red Fort be like?" she heard the cute little girl asking her Father in the background. She felt like losing consciousness. The nervousness started gripping her.
Trembling with fear, she went to the ladies' toilet. She gasped a sigh once she was in and locked the door from inside. Her clothes were drenched; her face was full of tears. She checked that the door was tightly closed, took out some gadgets from her pockets, and took out a rope and "Thud". The final boarding announcement for the Delhi-bound plane was heard in background.
The headlines in the next day's papers read, "Drama at Mumbai Airport: A suicide bomber commits suicide "
Just round a corner, she saw a man who had lost both the legs in conversation with a man who had lost his right leg. Eavesdropped she and deduced that both of them had lost their legs in the war. And they were going to receive ParamVeerChakra at Delhi on the Republic Day. One soldier was telling the other one,” You know what drives me to live even after I had retired 5 years ago. Iss duniya ki khoobsurati!” And both of them gave a hearty laugh!
She saw a cute little girl dressed in not so nice clothes, clinging to her emaciated Father. Both of them didn't look wealthy but looked really happy. She wondered for a while, how are they going to afford the fare of the flight? The child was going to receive the Red and White bravery award from the President. The feelings in the eyes of her Father said it all. She felt really proud of that little girl. Her heart filled with the sense of maternity something she was always going to be devoid of.
The whole lounge at the airport was jostling with enthusiasm."Life is beautiful!” she said. Every person she came across had a smile on his/her face. Even she tried to smile but somehow she didn’t manage!
The indicator showed” Security Check". She scurried to the gate. But already there were a number of people in the line. She saw the little cute girl, the man without the legs in the line few meters ahead of her.” So many good people in this plane!" She thought. The plasma TV nearby exploded into life," Today is the 100th Republic day of India. It is really heartening to note that India is the biggest economy in the world…”
She couldn't hear anymore. Her heart was filled with gratitude and eyes with water. The national anthem started in a jiffy. Each and every person in the line stood silently, honoring the flag. The words of the national anthem seemed to bang her. "Daddy, how will the parade at red Fort be like?" she heard the cute little girl asking her Father in the background. She felt like losing consciousness. The nervousness started gripping her.
Trembling with fear, she went to the ladies' toilet. She gasped a sigh once she was in and locked the door from inside. Her clothes were drenched; her face was full of tears. She checked that the door was tightly closed, took out some gadgets from her pockets, and took out a rope and "Thud". The final boarding announcement for the Delhi-bound plane was heard in background.
The headlines in the next day's papers read, "Drama at Mumbai Airport: A suicide bomber commits suicide "
Sunday, July 30, 2006
CAT Fundaes
A few pointers for stuff just before/during the exam and beyond for CAt 06 people:
0. Reach exam hall early and enjoy the sight of the students who are doing last minute revisions. Don't get nervous when you see other people study but give them a healthy smile
Don't be nervous when you se hoardes of students. Half of them have filled the form because their parents filled it and another 25% filled the form because their peers filled it, so just to be a part of peer group, he/she filled the form! Remember for a given AIR, more the no of students appearing for the exam, better will be your %ile
1. You have done really well throughout the season. So there is no reason why you should not do well in this paper. So keep this thought in mind to overcome anxiety before exam. Don't overhype the paper, just enjoy the 150 minutes process , n you will be thru!
2. With approx 1.9 lakh students, the best way to remove milk from water is to change pattern.So just keep that in mind. Be prepared to get surprised if the pattern does not change Don't get psyched out by change in pattern. There are enough other aspirants who are going to do that! You need not join that group. So at time t=0 , itself you may assume that approx 5-10% people will get psyched out! Good for you!
3. When you get the paper, certianly there will be butterflies in the stomach, there have to be! Else consult a good psychologist. The target is to drive away these butterflies as fast as you can!So spend initial 10-20 seconds on scanning the paper, go thorough the pages, see how many questions are to be solved, check whether the paper has a few DI sets, a few RCs , check whether the paper is in English langugage. This will help you to drive away the anxiety and it will assure you of the fact that similar DI sets , RCs have been done by you over the mocks. And this is something which is not in greek n latin and hence no need to be nervous!
4. The next anxiety barrier will be broken ,when you get the answer of the 1st problem that you are solving. So don't spend too much time on solving 1st problem. Scan the questions to find the sitter and just DO it When you get the answer and you find that it is one of the options, butterflies are driven out!
5. With the anxiety bubble being burst, you will fully forget the hype of 1.9 Lakh students n blah blah You will be back in your tempo.Keep doing micro-time management using alarm in your watch i.e. after every 15 minutes, do review approx how many questions you have done. This will make sure that you don't lose track of time in the heat of exam!Just give the exam for 150 minutes in your ususal form and you will be thru!
6. It is very difficult to predict cutoffs on D-day ,so don't worry if some insti comes up with EU cutoff =22 and you ve got 18 marks as it happened in CAT05!So don't base your performance on these cutoffs. FYI EU cutoff was 13 marks last year!
7. There will be a void in your life after CAT.In case you have no more exams , there will be nothing to do! So do all those things that you missed because of busy mock Sundays.
8. Be patient about results. They will come , don't worry.Plz don't spend unncessary time, looking at IIM websites and hitting Refresh Refresh and hoping that a link for result will be out up. IIMs are not stcokmarkets, plz spare them IIMs will convey you when the results will be out. Don't waste your time about speculating !
All the best! Tumhein Jeet ki dua!
0. Reach exam hall early and enjoy the sight of the students who are doing last minute revisions. Don't get nervous when you see other people study but give them a healthy smile
Don't be nervous when you se hoardes of students. Half of them have filled the form because their parents filled it and another 25% filled the form because their peers filled it, so just to be a part of peer group, he/she filled the form! Remember for a given AIR, more the no of students appearing for the exam, better will be your %ile
1. You have done really well throughout the season. So there is no reason why you should not do well in this paper. So keep this thought in mind to overcome anxiety before exam. Don't overhype the paper, just enjoy the 150 minutes process , n you will be thru!
2. With approx 1.9 lakh students, the best way to remove milk from water is to change pattern.So just keep that in mind. Be prepared to get surprised if the pattern does not change Don't get psyched out by change in pattern. There are enough other aspirants who are going to do that! You need not join that group. So at time t=0 , itself you may assume that approx 5-10% people will get psyched out! Good for you!
3. When you get the paper, certianly there will be butterflies in the stomach, there have to be! Else consult a good psychologist. The target is to drive away these butterflies as fast as you can!So spend initial 10-20 seconds on scanning the paper, go thorough the pages, see how many questions are to be solved, check whether the paper has a few DI sets, a few RCs , check whether the paper is in English langugage. This will help you to drive away the anxiety and it will assure you of the fact that similar DI sets , RCs have been done by you over the mocks. And this is something which is not in greek n latin and hence no need to be nervous!
4. The next anxiety barrier will be broken ,when you get the answer of the 1st problem that you are solving. So don't spend too much time on solving 1st problem. Scan the questions to find the sitter and just DO it When you get the answer and you find that it is one of the options, butterflies are driven out!
5. With the anxiety bubble being burst, you will fully forget the hype of 1.9 Lakh students n blah blah You will be back in your tempo.Keep doing micro-time management using alarm in your watch i.e. after every 15 minutes, do review approx how many questions you have done. This will make sure that you don't lose track of time in the heat of exam!Just give the exam for 150 minutes in your ususal form and you will be thru!
6. It is very difficult to predict cutoffs on D-day ,so don't worry if some insti comes up with EU cutoff =22 and you ve got 18 marks as it happened in CAT05!So don't base your performance on these cutoffs. FYI EU cutoff was 13 marks last year!
7. There will be a void in your life after CAT.In case you have no more exams , there will be nothing to do! So do all those things that you missed because of busy mock Sundays.
8. Be patient about results. They will come , don't worry.Plz don't spend unncessary time, looking at IIM websites and hitting Refresh Refresh and hoping that a link for result will be out up. IIMs are not stcokmarkets, plz spare them IIMs will convey you when the results will be out. Don't waste your time about speculating !
All the best! Tumhein Jeet ki dua!
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Agony and Ecstacy (in some order)
We had section party today! The tradition here in IIML is every section has party once every month. The basic importance is that you meet all the people in your class in an informal atmosphere. So this is quite an unique experience as you see the guy who answers every alternate question in the class dancing to the tunes of *Summer of 69*
Got royal bumps as all July birthdays were celbrated together :(
The other day, a sequence of events took place which were quite coincidental.
14:00
I was reading a friend's blog whose Father had just passed away.And he had posted the entry titled *My Father's last letter to me* .The letter was quite touching!
15:00
I received an inland letter from my Mother. My Mother prefers snailmail to e-mail.
21:30 (I may sound a bit self-flattering, but can't help!)
I tried calling up my parents at Mumbai but I got *network problem* message on mobile
One of my friends told me told me that one of her friends was very unlucky. His parent died in a mishap.
And at this point a shivering went through my body, somehow all events seemed to be related to each other. I just couldn't gather enough courage to tell my friend that I am worried :(
It was one of those incidents when the words are at the tip of your toungue, but emotions drink them.
22:00
Talked to people at home.
oops!.Sorry for missing an important entry in the sequence:
1825:Mumbai bombblasts
My heart goes to all those who sufferred in Mumbai blasts and kudos to the spirit of this lovely city!
Got royal bumps as all July birthdays were celbrated together :(
The other day, a sequence of events took place which were quite coincidental.
14:00
I was reading a friend's blog whose Father had just passed away.And he had posted the entry titled *My Father's last letter to me* .The letter was quite touching!
15:00
I received an inland letter from my Mother. My Mother prefers snailmail to e-mail.
21:30 (I may sound a bit self-flattering, but can't help!)
I tried calling up my parents at Mumbai but I got *network problem* message on mobile
One of my friends told me told me that one of her friends was very unlucky. His parent died in a mishap.
And at this point a shivering went through my body, somehow all events seemed to be related to each other. I just couldn't gather enough courage to tell my friend that I am worried :(
It was one of those incidents when the words are at the tip of your toungue, but emotions drink them.
22:00
Talked to people at home.
oops!.Sorry for missing an important entry in the sequence:
1825:Mumbai bombblasts
My heart goes to all those who sufferred in Mumbai blasts and kudos to the spirit of this lovely city!
Friday, July 14, 2006
Creative n' Astute?
With due respect to all the CAs!
This is the joke that we came up with in the class!
Background: Out of 7 subjects that we've, 4 subjects have been studied by CAs formally!
CA to Engineer: Mere pass Law hai, mere pass stats hai, mere pass Accounting hai, mere pass Eco hai..Tumhare pass kya hai?
Engineer: Mere pass dimag hai! :
This is the joke that we came up with in the class!
Background: Out of 7 subjects that we've, 4 subjects have been studied by CAs formally!
CA to Engineer: Mere pass Law hai, mere pass stats hai, mere pass Accounting hai, mere pass Eco hai..Tumhare pass kya hai?
Engineer: Mere pass dimag hai! :
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Miles to go before I sleep!
7 different subjects.. 7 different project groups..Life@ 7th gear
The only thing that I am trying is to sleep enough!(Sometimes in class on first bench!)
Blog Update will take a while!
Sleep Time: 6 hours
The only thing that I am trying is to sleep enough!(Sometimes in class on first bench!)
Blog Update will take a while!
Sleep Time: 6 hours
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Of Balancing Life, Work and Balance Sheets
First week of formal classes is over!
The study-enjoyment timetable of body is yet to settle down As the initial days were spent in gauging the potential of various activities.
THe first 3 days were spent at pool table, a running round of IIML , TV Room and TT Table. One day I went to library (by mistake) and found people digging their heads deep in the books. SO the next 2 days were spent in the library pretending to study hard.
I was amazed by the study capabilities of some people! Some of them visit their hostel room just for sleeping and natural stuff! Good show guys!
Now the realization has dawned up that *All work and No Play makes Jack a dull boy * And vice versa!
I want to get a life! I have been doing only study or only enjoyment till date.There has to be some golden mean between enjoyment and study.Afterall after passing out from the college, when we meet after a few years, all we remember is how we had a night-out for drama practise, how fierce were we in sports and stuff like that. Nobody hardly knows about that extra hour that they spent in the library trying to remember an extra equation in the textbook. I want to set up the equation of my body right!
So will be begininng the next week with crossed fingers and balanced equations!
Oops... Project partner called... Assets are more than liabilities. The balance sheet given in the assignment is not getting balanced. Afterall who said that only life-work gets unbalanced?
Sleep Time: 7 1/2 hrs
The study-enjoyment timetable of body is yet to settle down As the initial days were spent in gauging the potential of various activities.
THe first 3 days were spent at pool table, a running round of IIML , TV Room and TT Table. One day I went to library (by mistake) and found people digging their heads deep in the books. SO the next 2 days were spent in the library pretending to study hard.
I was amazed by the study capabilities of some people! Some of them visit their hostel room just for sleeping and natural stuff! Good show guys!
Now the realization has dawned up that *All work and No Play makes Jack a dull boy * And vice versa!
I want to get a life! I have been doing only study or only enjoyment till date.There has to be some golden mean between enjoyment and study.Afterall after passing out from the college, when we meet after a few years, all we remember is how we had a night-out for drama practise, how fierce were we in sports and stuff like that. Nobody hardly knows about that extra hour that they spent in the library trying to remember an extra equation in the textbook. I want to set up the equation of my body right!
So will be begininng the next week with crossed fingers and balanced equations!
Oops... Project partner called... Assets are more than liabilities. The balance sheet given in the assignment is not getting balanced. Afterall who said that only life-work gets unbalanced?
Sleep Time: 7 1/2 hrs
Friday, July 07, 2006
A People's Republic!
I am a great fan of psychology ,body language and watching people. So IIM Lucknow has offerred me an altogether different platform for watching people. After all , with jargons like *diversity *, *work-ex* et al, I felt that I will be meeting a wide repertoire of people!
Everyday in mess, hostel,library, I have been meeting different kinds of people. Some honest, some cunning, some are really studious, some are perspicacious :D
Only 1 week or so has passed and somehow some initial impressions have started forming.
Some of them have disappointed me. I have been really enamoured by some of them. Some are really focussed. Some are studying hard. Some hardly study.
There is a genuine difference from people at IITB (Sem 1) and IIML (term 1) though. I met a lot of *namoonahs* at IITB, the creed which specializes in * We study a lot and still want to portray us as the ones who don't study*.
To support their cause, these people used to lock their hostel rooms from outside and they used to study in their locked rooms. So that nobody knows that they are studying !
Some of them used to study in cellphone light with lights off in the hostel room , just to give others' the feeling that they are sleeping!
In IIML, atleast people are studying openly and not *chup chup ke*..Well ab tak atleast :)!
Everyday in mess, hostel,library, I have been meeting different kinds of people. Some honest, some cunning, some are really studious, some are perspicacious :D
Only 1 week or so has passed and somehow some initial impressions have started forming.
Some of them have disappointed me. I have been really enamoured by some of them. Some are really focussed. Some are studying hard. Some hardly study.
There is a genuine difference from people at IITB (Sem 1) and IIML (term 1) though. I met a lot of *namoonahs* at IITB, the creed which specializes in * We study a lot and still want to portray us as the ones who don't study*.
To support their cause, these people used to lock their hostel rooms from outside and they used to study in their locked rooms. So that nobody knows that they are studying !
Some of them used to study in cellphone light with lights off in the hostel room , just to give others' the feeling that they are sleeping!
In IIML, atleast people are studying openly and not *chup chup ke*..Well ab tak atleast :)!
Another *Big * Chapter begins
I am a 1st year PGP student at IIM Lucknow.
This blog will more or less focus on windings and unwindings about life at IIM Lucknow.
Every Tom,Dink and Harry who aspires to be MBA has a lustful eye on that earth-shattering I-Banking salary. Hence the blog name !
DO I really belong to the heard of *fin chaprasis* or not?
Well ,only the time will tell.Till then keep your eyes on this space.
Sleep Time: 6 1/2 Hours
This blog will more or less focus on windings and unwindings about life at IIM Lucknow.
Every Tom,Dink and Harry who aspires to be MBA has a lustful eye on that earth-shattering I-Banking salary. Hence the blog name !
DO I really belong to the heard of *fin chaprasis* or not?
Well ,only the time will tell.Till then keep your eyes on this space.
Sleep Time: 6 1/2 Hours
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