Regularly irregular

When it comes to blogging, I am as regular as attending morning classes throughout my 6 years of college (BE + MBA). It was with a lot of josh that I wrote a post more than a year back that I would blog regularly. Now normally I wouldn't try to correct my irregular ways but since I had publicly proclaimed to blog more often I am having an another attempt at it. Only time will tell if my blog will be like the morning classes or my basketball practice sessions (I was quite regular at that :)

Since my last post I have completed my studies at IIMK. Two wonderful years with many happy memories and good friendships!! I am now working with Accenture Consulting in Mumbai. I must add that the real estate prices in Mumbai are F***in insane. A small dingy one room 10*10 'room' in Colaba costs Rs 15k per month!!! Not that I am staying in that place

One rather 'irregular' incident did take place when I was in college. This actually took place during my final term in Year 1. The midterm exams were on and I had just written a couple of exams the previous day. Next on was Human Resources Management at 9 in the morning. A lot of theory was to be read for the exam ( I hate reading theory) and I had to burn the midnight oil and finally slept at around 5 in the morning. Before sleeping I had kept the alarm for 8.

Generally my alarms have the habit of waking up the entire hostel but me. The guys then wake me up! So was the case that day as well. My neighbor, Angad, woke me up at around 8 (I still feel he should have woken me up only by around 8.30 types). But I had no recollection of that. After sometime I woke up all of a sudden. Maybe it was my biological clock responding to the 8 am alarm and I was immediately scared that I was late for my exam. Its that sort of a fear you get when you wake up and know that you are late. But I heard my classmates' voices from the next room and so relaxed a bit. I just stretched a bit and then happened to steal a glance at my watch.

To my horror the time was 10.30!!!! My classmates were not doing 'the final-minute-before-the-exam' discussions but rather 'the after-the-exam-oh-no-shit' discussions.

Me: Guys the exams are over or what?
Angad: What you didn't come for the exam? I woke you up man.
Me: Err... I don't remember. Lemme go check with the prof and see if anything can be done.

The prof was a visiting one and wasnt there on campus that day. So I spoke to the person in charge of the PGP office.

Me: Sir I missed...
S: What?
Me: Sir I missed the exam.
S: Whatttttt? You missed the exam? !@#$%^%$#$%^&
S: (After regaining himself) There is nothing we can do now. At least if you had managed to come during the exam we could have done something even if you were late. Its now 45 minutes past the exam. Anyway you were not feeling well?
Me: Errrr... (Not feeling well would mean getting a medical certificate. Even then there might be no point). Errr..... Sir I lept off.
S: Whattttt? @#$%^&*(*&^%$#$%^&*
S: You talk to the prof but I doubt if anything can be done.

Then I spoke to the prof and he also look bewildered when I said that I slept off. But he was a nice guy and wanted to give me an assignment to make up for some of my marks (The midterm was for 20%) but the rules didnt allow for that. So I had to study real hard for the endterm and finally managed to get a B grade. Here I must add that the prof was quite liberal in his grading. God bless him!!

The bike and the blog

The 4th term ended in a blink and before you know the 5th term has already started. Spent some days in Chennai at home eating and sleeping to my heart's content. While I was in Chennai I did something that I ought to have done a long time back. I finally learned how to drive a geared motorcycle. Ya, I finally know how to drive a bike :)

I had been using a Kinetic Honda from 12th Standard through till my 4th year of Engineering at Anna. But I never learned the intricacies of changing the gear properly. Even though I got a license to drive a geared bike (as well as a car), I never got the release-your-clutch-slowly-while-accelerating-slowly routine. Lats year when my cousin got a job offer in Dubai he had to sell his bike. I thought that I will buy the bike and then learn how to drive it. It was a Bajaj Wind 125cc model.

Buy the bike I did, but learn to drive I never did. The problem was that whenever i try to learn to ride the bike I always become self-conscious and see if anyone is watching and wondering what an idiot I am. So here I was in IIM Kozhikode and still didn't know how to drive a bike. It was becoming a big handicap as well as an embarrassment with all the wide open-mouthed questions which go like "You still don't know how to ride a bike?". It also became my mom's favourite rant whenever I tease her - "Useless fellow. MBA from an IIM but whats the use. Still cant drive a bike". Sheesh....... (Btw teasing my mom is my favourite pass time whenever I go to Chennai:)

All this while the bike was lying in the parking lot of my apartment gathering dust and was only used by Sunil when he was doing his 2-month summer training at ICICI, Chennai. This time when I was in Chennai, another cousin of mine who is doing his CA had come home and the topic veered to my inability to drive a bike. That was when my cousin said let us go and drive the bike and he will help me with the gears.

Voila! After a few instructions and engine-shutting-off-in-first-gear episodes, I was able to drive the bike. Yippie!! Now after a week of driving through the streets of Chennai I am finally able to seamlessly shift gears. But then had to convince my mom to bring it to IIMK. She was finally convinced only after my cousin gave his assurance and I bought a helmet. But I could not bring it to campus immediately since the insurance had lapsed and couldn't get a new policy before leaving. So my dad will be doing that in the next few days and will send it to campus through KRS. I am eagerly waiting for the bike to arrive.

As far as campus activity goes, the Junior Media Cell guys have made operational a blog chronicling the life at IIMK. We had wanted to start it for a long time and now its finally up and running. It is not a collaborative blog in a strict sense. Blog posts are invited from all students and even alumni. All they have to do is mail the content to media@iimk.ac.in. Media Cell will post the content onto the blog after editing, if it is required. We hope to keep it running and maintain it regularly.

Of bed bugs & a dog :(

The past week a couple of creatures made my life miserable - a dog and a set of bed bugs!!! Lets first come to the stupid dog.

On Monday four of us (Ani, Gopi, Devare & myself) decided to go to NIT for a game of basketball. It was not raining after a long time and we had a good session. Gopi had bunked his FRA classes to come and play. While returning to campus, Gopi was travelling with Devare and I was comin in Ani's bike. They were driving ahead of us. There were hardly any other vehicles on the road and we were going at around 30-40 kmph. All of a sudden a dog was attempting to cross the road just in front of Devare's bike. It happened so quickly that he didnt haev time to steer the bike. They hit the dog and both of them fell down in a heap. Gopi broke his right hand and Devare badly hurt his right knee. It was a pretty long ordeal but I dont feel like writing anymore about it.

Now lemme come to the bed bugs. I was on my way to Blore on Aug 15th to attend a reception. I had booked my ticket on Kallada Travels, one of the reputed bus services plying between Calicut & Blore. So I had no idea that I would have a harrowing experience. I had booked a semi-sleeper and the seat was pretty comfortable with plenty of leg space. But around half-an-hour into the journey my right hand started itching. Soon afterwards my whole body was itching. Just imagine the nightmare. I just couldnt sleep the whole night and was waiting for the bus to somehow reach Blore. After reaching my room, I could see that my body was decorated with red itch marks all over :( The marks are still there on my body. It was easily my worst journey ever. For all you readers dont ever take a Kallada bus.

SEPT in rediff

SEPT's showing in Scandinavia was highlighted by Rediff. Here is the link.

Thanks to Ivan, the Rediff sports editor for putting this up.

SEPT - For the love of football

As part of our course at IIM Kozhikode, every student is supposed to do an SDP (Social Development Project). Some of our seniors were helping a football trust based out of Calicut. The name of the trust was SEPT (Sports & Education promotion Trust). Since Gopi, myself and a few others were interested in football we decided to take it up.

The basic mission of SEPT is to identify footballing talent among children from rural and tribal backgrounds and nurture them to international standards. In this process an awareness for the game is created in the grassroots level. The Chariman of SEPT and the man behind it is Mr Arun K Nanu. Other influential people from the footballing scene in Kerala are also behind this initiative. All of them have been united on the common objective of doing something to improve the state of football in India. For more visit their website.

As of now they have 7 centres in around Calicut district. Each centre is like a football nursery and 20 boys are trained every week in these centres. These boys are initially selected after a primary selection process in which hundreds apply. Every now and again residential camps are held whenever the foreign coach comes to town. Last year they even visited Goa for a friendly tour and won all the matches they played.

This year they got invitations to play 3 age-group tournamnets in Scandinavia - 2 in Sweden and one in Finland - The Darlecarlia Cup, the Storsjocupen Cup and the Kokkola Cup. We were the only team from India playing in these tournaments. Getting sponsors for the trip proved to be pretty difficult. Finally GMR Infrastructure, which is part of the consortium that is building the Delhi airport, agreed to be the main sponsor for the tour. A team of 12 boys, along with Mr Arun Nanu as the manager and Mr Jozef as coach left for Scandinavia at the beginning of this month. Before leaving, Mr Jozef said that this tour is going to be a learning experience for the boys and we dont expect to really win many matches.

But boy, win matches they did. They didnt do all that well in the first tournament as they lost all 3 of their matches. In the next toruney, out of the 6 matches that they played they won 5 and drew 1. They even beat teams by margins of 6-0 and 5-1. Mind you, these were all European teams !!!! In the process they topped their group. But their group ws not part of the knock-out phases. They have been invited to go there next year as well.

The boys bettered their performance in the next tourney. They topped the group this time as well. In the quarterfinals they lost to a Finn team 3-2 in sudden death :( But they finished 5th (out of 36 teams) by beating a Russian team in the next game. The boys' performance was reported in the Hindu on July 18 and July 21. The boys just returned tonight.

This shows that with the right support and structures in place Indians can do well in football, and sports in general. There are many people with the spirit and enthusiasm to devote themselves for the betterment of the sport in the country. The problem is either a lack of funds or mis-mangement. In SEPT, its the former case. They dont have any revenue stream. All the coaches work for free. Even the Chairman, Mr Nanu is a full-time employee of UAExchange and works for SEPT during his free time.

That is where our team from IIMK could be of help. Frankly speaking, we havent really put in much of an effort so far. We just helped them with getting their brochures, sponsorship documents etc ready. We are also looking to spread awareness with regard to SEPT in the mainstream media. The Scandinavian tour would definitely help in this regard. This could bring in more sponsors and funds would cease to be the main concern. I am really hoping that we will be able to do something substantial for them and make a difference.

Ronaldo with Bipasha !!!!

This article from rediff.com had me in splits. Some excerpts from the article which is written in true tabloid style:

"The lady at the receiving end of this pitch -- Bipasha Basu, during her Lisbon trip to compere the unveiling of the new Seven Wonders of the World -- was duly impressed. The pair met again that evening at a night club. They danced, they clinched, they gazed into each other's eyes, they, according to the Web site perez hilton.com kissed."

Wondering when this will create a sensation back home. Christiano might even get an arrest warrant, a la Richard Gere !!!!!

Things dont pan out the way you expect it to

Towards the end of the 1st year at IIMK (infact in most B-schools) the general feeling among the students is that the 2nd year would be a cakewalk. There are reasons for that. The grades that you accumulate during the 2nd year are not counted towards your placements. Also you can choose your subjects and take the ones that you like or are comfortable with. Infact during the 1st year most people are pissed off with the amount of work-load in subjects that they are not interested in. A typical example was OB (Org Behavior)

But the last couple of weeks have shown that things dont pan out the way you expect it to. Some people are going nuts with the amount of case presentations that they have been doing in the last 2 weeks. Now quite a few of them are angry & frustrated as they were preparing to chill out quite a bit during the 2nd year. Again it depends on the electives that you have taken. I have had a pretty enjoyable load so far :)

Now this had me thinking. I faced another situation like this in my life around 5-6 years ago. It was the time of my 12th Standard. The common thought that was ingrained into you was that all you need to do was study hard during the last year in school. A lot of us believed that if we got good marks during the 12th board exams then our life was settled. A prof's typical motivational lecture would go on like this: " All you need to do is study hard for one more year. Then you will get good marks and land in a good college. After that life will take care of itself". Almost all of us believed it and preparing for 12th boards was like preparing for the 'Last battle'

Fortunately I did well & got what I thought I had wanted. So joined ECE in Anna University which is TN's best Engg college (I still say it, though some of my classmates at Anna would disagree) after IIT Madras. I thought that I didnt have to slog like in school and completely switched off from acads. I started off pretty well in the first year. But it went downhill from there onwards.

My grades were moving in the wrong direction. My attitude wasnt tuned to making an effort to study as I had thought that it was not necessary. It finally hit me hard when I got my first arrear in DSP during term 5. Then I decided that I had to study hard. But it was too late by then. I could never understand head or tail of what the profs were telling by then since I didnt know the basics which were taught earlier. So at the end of the 4 years I hardly knew anything in electronics. This is not a story that was unique to me and there many others in my class who had done well academically throughout their life but didnt quite live up to their usual standards during engineering.

I firmly believe it was my attitude at that time which resulted in my poor performance. So who do I blame now?? Myself or my standard 12 teachers who drilled that attitude in me. I really dont blame my school teachers because it was a great motivational tool at that time and was in a way responsible for my good marks in the 12th boards. I was young at that time and you dont really have much of an idea as to how engineering is actually going to be. There is also a tendancy at that time to distrust whatever your parents say to you!!!

I think the best way out is to let students seek counsel from other students, their would-be-seniors. Its a system that is practised in B-schools where you have loads of interactions with your seniors and alumini. Forums like Pagalguy serve this purpose very well. There is nothing of that sort in an engineering college. I firmly believe that aspiring engineers should interact with their seniors who are actually doing the course and those who have recently passed out. These seniors would give students a better perspective of what to expect. (I actually took ECE because most of the toppers took that. But job and research opportunities were better for Computer Science. This scenario still continues!!! )

Now that I think about it, a website like Pagalguy which would cater to engineering students does make good business sense. Food for thought !!!!


P.S - Arsene Wenger pulled out a rabbit from the hat with the signing of Eduardo da Silva !! Just hoping that he is the rabbit that all the Gooners are hoping for.....