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Never celebrated it…didn’t ever feel the need to…

Never bothered a heck about it…definitely didn’t buy someone a rose for 5K at an auction (and yes…this has happened in front of my own eyes…the very same with which I see…!)

Never thought it was even worth spending 5 microseconds on…there were better…far more important days to consider…


But what the heck…someone (and a marketing genius…would be my best guess)…has created the day…very smartly passed the entire buck onto some St. Valentine (who for all practical purposes was a divorcee…who cares…!)…however has managed (to near perfection) to move an entire generation towards the concept of the same. Impressive…

To this gentleman…and the feeling of love that permeates much beyond a single day…

Happy V Day…!


~a


PS:

• ISB has an awesome candlelight dinner scheduled for this evening. God damn it…I have my BCG dinner as well…! Career 1st…! :)
• Except for a few…many shortlists haven’t yet poured in. with placements starting Friday…I expect the new few days to experience a deluge of announcements. Damn my weak heart…!  

Almost a week has passed since the last entry…and a lot has happened…(as always). The campus is amazingly different. Its hard to visualize this state when you first enter ISB. You know…you have this… “oh, it will be courses and a lot of work…and then finally a job”…! Somehow…no one can actually predict…or even begin to imagine…the period between one preparing for a job and eventually getting one.

People are talking a different language…suddenly the newspaper is the hottest commodity on campus…CNBC the best channel…10 lakhs is passé…and London/NY is cool…!

The Pre-placement talks got over last evening…and quite a few of the companies are looking really good. They are taking advantage of a bullish economy and I have no reasons to believe that the placements this year shall be much better than last years.

Had the privilege of interacting with the MD of ICICI Securities, Mr. Mukherjee, last evening. Its so amazing to see people who have achieved possibly everything that we at this stage wish to achieve…and yet be the most down to earth and humble people around. During his conversation with his colleagues I overheard him say “Mr. Damodaran called me just when I was boarding the flight. He is really excited about the conference. That’s so nice of him. It will be an honor to meet him” (Damodaran is possibly the most prolific corporate finance professor in the world right now. Teaches at Stern, NYU.). Now, I have a strong respect for damodaran…but then at some level one is led to question whether he can even come close to the power that Mr. Mukherjee enjoys. And yet he chooses to acknowledge Damodaran’s greatness.

Its not an easy thing to do…and I know this…! Truly amazing…!

I guess at some level…the best thing that ISB has offered me…is the chance to interact with possibly the most powerful and smartest individuals all across the world. And realize that if there is one thing that binds almost all of them…its their humility. I would consider myself lucky if I could reach even half of where they are…on this front…!


Anyways…

So…the happenings…! Had a party this Saturday…the last one before everyone plunges into the rat race. Was quite a dud party…not many people turned up…! but then ok…I enjoyed myself…was very tired though from the 4 hours of cricket early in the day…!

ISB’s management, this year, had constituted a new set of awards for overall contribution in co-curricular and extra-curricular activities towards promoting the ISB brand. 4 students were awarded the ISB young leader award and a set of 34 were awarded the ISB Torchbearers Award.
A very nice way of appreciating the efforts of so many people…who in their own little way have played a crucial role in maintaining the honor of ISB. Congrats to the winners…!

The BCG shortlist came out. And the minute that happened there were a series of mails sent across…with mostly the following concerns:

1. 23 students find a presence in both the McK and BCG list. Damn!
2. What the hell will happen on the 1st day…all these guys will end up with the jobs…and ultimately choose just 1…! Which means disastrous job losses…!

The PLACOM has been thinking on how to handle this…and we met up last night…and this afternoon. A lot was discussed and I think we have a structure in place. It needs to be tested 1st before the actual launch…so the next few days shall be dedicated to the same.

Lets see how it goes…!

Lots to look forward to…! Lots…!

~a

This post will be a little ‘cryptic’…!!!

There is so much happening in life right now…its not even funny. People are telling me all sorts of stories…about stuff…and I don’t know what to do…whether to believe them…feel happy…or feel disgusted…or what…! And if what they say is actually true…then its very unfortunate…at some level unfair…!!!

Allright guys…I am done here…! (aka Krishna Ramaswamy)

And apologize for the incoherence above…!

Ok…so today is republic day. And inspite of being a holiday its been quite a busy one. Had a meeting in the morning and ever since have been studying for the branding exam tomorrow. If people (and logic) are to be believed…then we are required to read 650 odd pages of text for the exam. Most of which shall be new stuff…since class was hardly any concepts. Branding class used to be…

lalalalala…I am entering…lalalalalala…there u see me reading the case…lalalalalala…ok now I am doing CP…alalalalalalala…and here I am reading ET….lalalalalala…oohh break time….lalalalalal…CP again…alalalaa…sleep for sometime…lalalalal…sms people as if fighting for the fastest sms competition…lalalala… “and in the next class we shall deal with how to build brand equity”…wassaaapppp…!!!!

And mind you…this is not just one exceptional class…this is each and every class. That’s why I enjoy it so much…and do so much of CP. Cause the class is effortless…however the exam seems to indicate otherwise…!

The McK guys have formed an anonymous club here at ISB. I have a feeling they have come up with a different language or something…in order to communicate their plans on “how to crack the McK interviews” without shelling out with too much of information to the competition. They are seen dining together…chatting together…in class together…during case preps together. I hope they end up working together as well…!

A is planning a party this weekend…and if everything goes as per plans then the crowd might go thru the torture of bearing me as the DJ…yet again. I am really looking forward to it…desperately want to unwind myself before the big battle…! Plz do it A babu…! Now that my ‘other’ request cannot be fulfilled…wink wink (he knows what I am talking about!)

Rest all good…life is happy…

~a

The 1st ‘big’ thing happened on campus. And no…its not me getting pregnant…!

The McK shortlist came out on Monday. They have, fortunately for all of us, increased the number to 35 (a jump of 10 from last year) and all the smart people were part of the list (quite possibly the reason why I wasn’t).

What was however a relief of sorts was that not all of them are the ‘top graders’…if I may even dare to say so. Maybe speaks for McK’s conscious decision to interview with people who they think bring more to the table than simply academic excellence…and that too in just a single (maybe insignificant) year of their life…!

Go on guys…rocks the McK guys…force them to take all 35 of you…! :)


A lot of action happening on the PLACOM front. There are concerns from the marketing segment of the batch that there isnt an exciting representation of marketing firms in the registered companies list. Which, I admit, is the truth. However…there is a reason behind it. Most companies have been used to hiring at the entry level…the Management Trainee position. Now for them to undertake a mind shift and start hiring for laterals, requires quite some convincing on our part. More importantly, the BD guys are not even sure whether students of ISB (you know the usual…5 years work ex…etc etc) will be willing to accept MT positions. So…there has been some gap on that front. We are working hard to fill that up…and insha allah…things will work out just fine…

And then the entire tiering process. But then that’s another story altogether…!


Really exciting period ahead…I hope at some level fate allows me to be part of the excitement…!

~a

As usual…long time…!

Its strange that inspite of the ‘heat’ on campus…I failed to write much about the entire placement season here at ISB. So here goes…my take on the placements…and what I am going through at this precise moment…

The PPTs (pre placement talks) are happening. At times 3 in number. The attendance at all of them have been more than satisfactory…and even the roles etc are pretty impressive.


Occasionally…the following sequence happens…
Student 1: “what the f*** is this company Agilent…never ever heard of it”
Student 2: “I know man…these weird companies coming over and all”
Student 3: “dude…I have heard of the company…its good”
Student 1 and Student 2: “F*** OFF”

During PPT
Agilent: “our salaries shall be between 17 and 28 lacs…depending on experience…”
Everyone: Jaws dropped…shat in pants…foot in mouth

Student 1: “ohhh man…Agilent rocks…was always my dream company”
Student 2: “I know man…mine too”
Student 3: “someone heard of this company ebay? They are coming for a PPT. is it any good”
Student 1 and Student 2: “F*** OFF”


Anyways…as one can deciper…moods and preferences are changing…faster than I can say “holy moly”…and the atmosphere is just mind blowing…

Not many people on campus are sleeping before 3…not many are getting up for their 8.30 class either. The race is to have “Ankur Warikoo Resume Version 19883.2” stored somewhere on your hard-disk…to have cracked 7897893 cases…to blurt out “so tell us something about yourself” in less than 23 microseconds…to get 3 suits stitched…to find as many ties as you can…and shirts to complement the same…!

The race is to find a job…! Well…not just that…it needs to be well paying…! The role is only incidental…!

Mckinsey asked for resumes last week…the shortlist is coming out tomorrow…! BCG’s deadline for application is tom. Infosys has posted some 24 odd jobs…! Mittal Steel and EDS have finished their process…DB is still wondering how the hell did the IIMB get away for so long…!

Spend my day working on my resume…working on others…reading cases…working on personal interview questions…attending PLACOM meetings…reading the newspapers…and the markets…and counseling people on what to do…(well…what not to do…given my history…!!!)

Exciting time ahead…looking forward to it…

~a

Movie: Dil Chahta Hai

Remember that freak…who was sonali kulkarni’s (the girl who played saif’s better half) original boyfriend? And recall how to used to bloody time everything…right from his shitting moment to his breathing rhythm. Well…for people who know me…I am not that far off.

Has it ever happened to you that you come out of the shower in your undies…NOT draped in a towel…only to realize that your curtains are not pulled and there are people outside your window. And then you have to maneuver across in a rather james bond manner…making your way through the bed and study table (and duhhh!!! Not realizing that its better to just go back and get the towel)…and what nots…to finally make a lightening quick movement of your hand to pull the curtains…! Well…i am such a geek that I would make an excel sheet for the process…and then estimate the time I would require to handle each stage…!

Ok…so you get the point. For people who know me…I am this excel freak. Creating worksheets for just about everything…expenses to time table…to priority list…to ‘to-do’ lists…! I maintain a daily log of my life at ISB…and I was juts going through the same today.

Realized how much life has changed in just 6 months…within the same place…!

Wednesday, May 11, 2005
8.15 – 8.30 – Daily Stuff
8.30 – 9.30 – Gym
9.30 – 10.30 – Daily Stuff
10.30 – 11.00 – Internet
11.00 – 1.30 – Studies – Stats (G)
1.30 – 2.30 – Lunch
2.30 – 4.30 – Class
4.30 – 5.00 – Nothing Specific
5.00 – 7.00 – Class
7.00 – 7.30 – Nothing Specific
7.30 – 9.00 – Newspaper
9.00 – 9.30 – Dinner
9.30 – 10.00 – Telephone
10.00 – 10.30 – Lying down on the grass
10.30 – 12.30 – Studiess
12.30 – 1.00 – Walk

Total for the day: 16.75 hours


Sunday, January 15, 2006
10.00 – 11.00 – Daily Stuff
11.00 – 1.00 – Resume
1.00 – 2.00 – Lunch
2.00 – 4.00 – Studies
4.00 – 5.00 – Nap
5.00 – 9.00 – studies
9.00 – 10.00 – Dinner
10.00 – 1.00 – studies
1.00 – 2.00 – Nothing Specific
2.00 – 5.00 – Studies

Total for the day: 19.00 hours

life has changed…!

~a