Xtreme Experience.... Courtesy Megha!!!

With piyush singing poems to his broken knee and bum(thanks to his sweet friends ;)) and me being the lazy ass I am, I am posting Megha's creative writeup on the meet...

Happy reading...

dont forget the pics at the end :)

Welcome!! It was a Saturday evening (jiska Intezaar tha). We were at Xtreme Sportsbar on an unlimited package for unlimited fun. Most of us were part of the Dhoom Dadakka last meet. But, we had 3 newbies..

Uttam comes along with his “friend” and says “Hum saath saath hain”. On interrogation, he reveals about his real-life “Saawariya” pose in front of a French babe, gets to know how Priyanka wants to change his Avatar and shares their plans for “Vivaah” pre-ISB.

Vikram ne bhi Sapney dekhe.. Cash and more cash.. Shayad soch raha hai – ‘Money hai to Honey hai’.

We can only say, “All the best, dude!!”

Al Ameen - an awesome entertainer and a great rapper. About the dance?? It was like “Taare Zameen Par”. I mean.. a rock star performing on the floor.

We also had a guest appearance by Dhaval. While we were sharing our Das kahaniyan, Rishi says “Aaja Nachley”. Hum nahi jaante hain Mumbai Saalsa... Taal pe Naach humein maloom nahi…Par hum jaroor machayenge Dhoom!! Ahista Ahista, all of us were on the floor - dancing for the hip-hop, jazz and crazy numbers. It was always “Dil Maange More”. Masti me to hum sab hai Ek se badkar ek. Ash, Toufeeq, Sireesha, Rishi, Vikas, Navin, Vikram, Ameen, Uttam (and his friends) and I danced as if to say “Rok sako to rok lo”!!! Apurva aur Piyush to Guru ban gaye the and were leading our crazy dance steps.

And then suddenly, Piyush is missing.. Kahin Paathshaala jaanewaala Jail to nahi gaya?

We see him speaking to some gals next door.. He was hoping ki Luck by chance kahin Ajab prem ki ghazab kahani ban jaaye. Par, Race me shayad aur log the. The reply he gets “Sorry Bhai”. He comes back to our Team screaming “Rock On”. But, what we see is Dostana between Saroha and Piyush ;). Ab samjho yaar.. Life mein kabhi kabhi aisa bhi hota hai Kismat Konnection. Ok, lets continue, Let’s dance !!

Ab Paisa Vasool to karna he. Its unlimited… to khao..peeyo..mauj karo..

At the end it was “Kyon.. Ho gaya na?” for some.

And the action.. Birthday bumps for Piyush.. All go “De dana dan”. Ab Jaane bhi do yaaro!!

Well, going by this post, you may think I am a huge Bollywood fan... Not really..

But, our meet had all the flavours!! Music, dance, drama, action, comedy, masti, emotions….

Aa ab laut chalein, carrying memories of Jab we Met..

Jab tak Phir Milenge, I leave you with Yaadein.. memories to cherish!!

With apologies to Mr. Arindam Chaudhuri

I was reading Mr. Arindam Chaudhuri's editorial, dated December 1, 2009, presenting a comparison of IIM, IIPM and the ISB. He does a stupendous job of converting an article titled 'Arindam Chaudhuri on why ISB is better than the IIMs' into a pro IIPM banter. As much as I might not agree with his point of view, I would be remiss not to applaud his marketing style. We should give props where props are due.

In this blog post, I would like to concentrate on one aspect of his article - importance of international placements to determine the caliber of an institute. Comparing placements at IIMs and ISB, he states that ISB is better than IIMs because a higher percentage of the class accepts international offers. Applying the same logic, he concludes that IIPM Delhi is the best B-school in the country (at least as far as placements are concerned) because it had the highest number of international offers during the last two years.

This argument sounds absurd to me. It has more to do with the fascination Indians (in general) have about relocating to a foreign country and less to do with the quality of placements. I am as guilty as anyone else out there in having that mindset. During my engineering in India, my career goal was to relocate to USA. Just thinking about my naivety makes me sad. Dont get me wrong, I love the USA and have had a great time for the past 6 years, but that should not have been my career goal.

Although international exposure is great, I believe that the reputation of the school is better reflected by the quality of domestic companies that recruit on campus and the roles offered. A professor of mine at the University of Texas at Austin used to say that the quality of a University can be determined by looking at the number of domestic students it attracts as opposed to its international student enrollment. Anyone who has completed their masters in the US will know what he meant, but for the benefit of others, let me explain. At most medium tier to low tier US universities, the engineering colleges are comprised of students primarily from India, China and southeast Asian countries. As an example, at the University of Texas at Arlington, the electrical engineering graduate classes consist of 95% international students. A friend who studied there told me that his classmates called their American classmates as "foreigners". Unless studying part-time, domestic students always select reputable universities for their masters.

In my opinion, the number of international offers by itself in no way represents the reputation of an institute. Placements can be better assessed by comparing how successful the institute was in placing students in their desired fields and roles. As an example, many of you want to change careers and switch to consulting. Assuming that your preference does not change during your time at ISB, the percentage of students who successfully transition into consulting would be a better metric than the number of international offers.

(Mr Chaudhuri's editorial - http://www.merinews.com/article/arindam-chaudhuri-on-why-isb-is-better-than-the-iims/15789721.shtml)

ISB Pedalyatris on their first ride!

After a bumpy 50km off-road ride on Saturday, a sore butt, no rest (Yes the ISB admit has made no difference to my weekend working status :)) and a bagful of abuses for from my friends for missing out the late night movie (my alarm was set at 4am for the next day), I was up and running..err..riding at 5:30 am on a chilly Sunday morning.

The First ride of the ISB Pedalyatris was going to commence in a few minutes! Sudarshan played sport and decided to turn up for the ride at the first touch point. We also had the company of two other riders - Sudip and Puneet (in case you’re wondering, no they aren't ISB admits :))

While I and Sudip wait at the touch point, we see a strange looking old man huddled up in a blanket approach us.

Old man: Hello…

Sudip and I (with confused looks): errm ..Hello

Old man: Any problems

I: No.. no problem..we are waiting for a friend

Old man (thinking) – What the heck are these two jokers with strange helmets, reflectors stuck all over them and different colored blinking lights on their even stranger looking bikes doing on the highway at this hour? (Yes, he scanned both of us top to bottom!)

Old man: uh ok.. I thought you were in some trouble

Sudip (smiles): No Sir, we’re good. No problem

Old man: So any services required from me??

I (thinking) – WTF?! What services? (don’t ask me, I am still trying to figure out)

I (trying hard to sound hostile): No, we don’t!

Old man: So, shall I leave?

(Excuse me, what is happening!! I never invited him

here in the first place!)

Sudip: Hanji sir! Thank you ( Thank you!! …Yeah.. thank you.. please go!)

I try to convince Sudip he was a ghost… :D

The conversation ends when we see a small white light approaching us. Sudarshan arrives..hellos…hiis.. and we are back to pedaling. I am a little skeptical if he’d be able to do this ride without cursing me for spoiling his Sunday morning with cramps. So for the first few kms, we ride real slow and I keep asking him.. you’re good? .. wanna stop for a sip?.. but what the heck.. a few kms down the road and I realize he’s doing really good!

We pace up a little, cross the dirty Badshahpur, dodge speeding trucks and finally enter the serene and quiet roads of Bhondsi village.

Quiet prevails. All one can hear is the constant pedaling. The dense vegetation on both sides of the road brings down the temperature even more. With red noses, almost frozen fingers but a lot of enthu we keep moving until our first halt at the ‘Cheetah point’ .. yes you heard it right.. the ‘Cheetah point’.. In one of my previous rides to this area, a local villager had once commented ‘Madam, aage mat jaaiye.. wahan cheetah hain!’ and I had laughed so hard, he thought I was a vampire!

Some photos here, a sip of electral, peacock spotting and we are back on the saddle to our final destination – the Bhondsi Ashram.. no we aren’t on some pilgrimage! The Ashram is the only source of tea in this area :D

We cross a lake on the way when Sudarshan breaks the silence – ‘Wow! This is the closest you can get to nature near the urban jungle in Gurgaon. I didn’t know such a place existed here’. I grin from ear to ear! That was exactly my reaction during my first ride to the area a couple of months back.

More pedaling and finally we are at the Ashram. We park our bikes and climb up the stairs for a better view. Security machaans of the BSF dot the area amidst dense vegetation.

Those of you who have been to Gurgaon will know what I mean when I say the sun rose from a bed of greens. It’s a rare sight here!

Time for some tea and sandwiches huddled up near the bonfire at the Ashram. Bad idea! Our bodies cooled down (froze!!) and getting back on the saddle was a pain! But the pain was bliss! The sun was out and we headed back clocking a total 35kms. Not bad for a first ride :)

The journey of a cyclist never ends. Another day, another route.. we go on.. exploring the world the ‘old-fashioned’ way..

Fly like a seagull....with feet firmly on ground.

It has suddenly become awkward to crack those ‘life sucks’ and ‘I am an underachiever’ jokes.

Success (real/perceived) is like a heady cocktail. And for first time drinkers, it can give a very bad hangover in the morning if not handled properly. My Ma is a Hindi teacher in a high school nearby and she has a way to share her wisdom through one-liners, which she seem to have for almost every life situation. I have grown up learning from these adages. This is what she told me the day after I got my ISB admit.

“Udaan jitni bhi unchi lo, dhyan rakho ki pav zameen par hi rahe” ..which translates to (However high your flight maybe, keep in mind that the feet stays firmly on ground)

I had long believed that modesty is one of the most attractive qualities in a person but it is not for everyone to enjoy. Not everyone is automatically eligible to be modest. You need to posses something worth praise in the first place before you can be modest (about it).

When he was not the star he is today, Shahrukh khan could easily stand on the seashore and shout “i will rule this city someday” and nobody thought it was immodest of him to proclaim that. It would be a different matter if he does that today though. There are good reasons why he would not do that today.

It has been around 3 weeks since I seem to have ‘become someone’. Yeah I know it sounds funny but that is what someone congratulated me for the other day for….’becoming someone’ (‘good for you, akhir kuch ban hi gae”). It feels good to know that someone is acknowledging your efforts, but at the same time there is an (unintended) insult hidden somewhere. It would really suck if my only identification from here on will be that I attended ISB.

I am not sure how this next year is going to change me. I am going to be in company of some very intelligent minds, going to encounter some very different schools of thoughts, will have to challenge a lot of my beliefs and am scared of what will I be able to bring to the table for every one's consumption. I am sure each and every one present in the class will be an achiever in his/her own rights and each will have an interesting story to share. The opportunities to know, to share, to grow and also to fall will be immense. I expect to learn and unlearn a lot of things from everyone but amidst all the noise which is going to engulf me in next one year, I hope I will still have the strength to hold my ground. I will still be able to remember the things which have been important to me. I hope I will manage to maintain an identity which is independent of the college I attend, courses I chose, groups I associate with, job I get, or friends I make. I hope I suffer from no hangovers.

Year 2009 has been very kind on me, personally and professionally, and in many ways has changed my life. Year 2010 will be a test to see how I handle those changes. For a while it had been an empty room, a wandering treasure hunter, a long drive to nowhere, a fruitless tree. It will be interesting to see how things change when the room is filled up, the treasure is found, destination arrives and fruits weigh down the tree.

Funny how the more the number of fruits there are on a tree, the closer it stays to the ground.

thaati

Its not about the CTC!

This post is for everyone but especially for people to whom joining the course at ISB does not make immediate monetary sense. If you have a significant work experience it is likely that you are being taken good care of by your organization. Also you are settled, perhaps married, and feel quite contented with what you are doing. Why then have you taken a path that will suddenly leave you with no cash, grind you day and night for a year and perhaps be a little hard on your family as well? At the end of it you may or may not start earning as much as you are currently doing. You may be slightly better off but with a significant loan on your back, will you be really. To people in this quandary, I will say this: it is not about the money!

I am sure all of you who have paid up the initial 200k are pretty convinced that this is the right step forward. I am also sure that some of you still feel the occasional twinge in the stomach about where all this is going to lead you. Let me say this. Guys, you have taken the best step in your life so far! For life is not about how much you earn, but about how much you learn. At ISB you are going to be among the most diverse set of professionals you can ever hope to come across in your life. You would no longer be seeing the same people everyday – doing the same work for I don’t know how many years more. Life has given you a chance to meet new people, make new friends and learn things you would never otherwise have. It is time to rediscover those unknown corners of yourself and discover a sunny side of you that you never knew existed.

Ten years down the line when you look back, you would have the satisfaction of at least having done two different things with your career. One- your career so far which had enough achievements to help you make it to the ISB(believe me you wouldn’t have made it had you not been an achiever) and two- your learning at ISB and the step up in the knowledge ladder that you would take. Education is simply the best spend that you can make on yourself and the world class ISB education is priceless. Just imagine the who’s who you will be listening to and learning from during conferences and perhaps even usual classes.

So, forget the money, forget the CTC you are going to get – its not about the CTC. You are going into a world renowned program and will come out with a brand new (branded J) perspective. Welcome to the world of Indian School of Business!

Cheers

Sanjeev Sharma

CO 2011

Bangalore ISB meet #2

eXTREME sports bar, Indranagar

7 pm to 10 pm

Saturday, 19th December

Dec 12- We got in, we got sloshed out and then we passed out

For all those who want the crux of the matter, you have already read the title so that's about it. Others (with free time) read ahead for Dec 12 outing of 'useless' Delhi Admits...
Now for all those who love spam..here we go..
5:00 pm : Around 10 odd people were confirmed for the evening, then for some strange reason I start getting these calls... "Hey Vin! Is the plan on?"... All I had to say was ..."Yea yea..."... (I wondered then and I am still puzzled why did they call?)
7:00 pm : Another few calls.... "Where are we meeting? At Stone?".. My answer "yea!" ... Another question..."what time? at 8.30/9?"... My answer "yea!"... another question... "You will be there by then? right?"... My answer "Yea!"

My thoughts: This is easy... Just pick up the fone and say yea yea yea yea yea...10 times and say please fill in your questions, I just gave you the answers for all 10!

7:45pm: Sehwag starts smashing the ball... I look at the watch and say to myself.." If this goes on I am going to get late because I am definitely not missing his batting to meet anyone...Afterall, who wants to meet stupid morons, I see one in the mirror everyday!..."
Before I could contemplate more, he got OUT! I picked up my fone and called Vik, the second biggest moron I know (after me) and told him I am coming to pick him up...

8:15pm: Deepika calls... "I have reached".... My reaction..."Oh good! I am on my way..."... My thoughts... "WTF! Who comes before time, she is also a moron!"

8.45pm: A good 7.5 people are sitting in a space for around 3.5 people.... For those who are wondering about the 0.5 here... well that's Kriti...

For next one hour we were at Stone basically waiting for a bigger table... finally we got one...so now you guys will discover why all these people who came were a bunch of morons:
Reason 1) We waited for 1 hour to get a bigger table, the moment we got it...no one sat there and went on terrace (At this moment the food came and hence, I couldn't care less so I just went ahead and ate everything)
Reason 2) After 20mins when everyone was essentially laughing around, someone said this is not good let's go from here..By this time I had eaten all the food (non-veg only), consumed Vik's diet coke which he was getting along with his whisky. So I quickly realized that if we leave right now, I pay so much more than I have had as I haven't taken ...so I started shouting frantically... "we split the food n alcohol bill and everyone pays for what they had".... The morons agreed!! I paid the least, ate the most...and we moved out! Heeeehawhawhawhawhaw (yup that's the raamleela smile, I never got to laugh that way as I was always playing the role of Hanuman)

Juhi Dang aka Dr. Dang aka My wingie aka Sabzi waali mataji: She did not do anything, only ate her veg stuff which no one wanted and just kept shouting...."Next meet will be in gurgaon... please...." Everyone ignored her statement as here the bunch was so useless that they did not mind where the meeting would be next time and would show up anyways!

NEXT STOP: Urban Pind...
Vikas, the pimp: Just to faintly support the analytical posts doing the 'female population counting'...we were like 10 guys and 2.5 girls... Nevertheless, the pimp knew his way through the rules and got us a deal.
I never understood what people whisper in a nightclub manager's ears and then get people in...here also I did not try... Vikas was telling the that we are like 'the educated bunch' so we won't eve-tease and all... the moment I heard this commitment going forward, I stepped back thinking..."Wait a minute!!! What will I do if I don't do that? Who gives this idiot the right to commit on my behalf...let him get us in then I'll do it anyways".... anyhow kudos to him... the stud got us in, so Vik and I bought him a drink (Vikas, that was 500 bucks...actually 575 including taxes... I want a comment on my post that you really liked it else you pay me that amount!)

To my good (or bad) luck... there were so many hot girls that I simply got confused who to pass lewd comments on... so I just decided to go ahead n drink....

After this point it was pretty monotonous... we drink... then we drink... then we drink more... people left for home by 1.30am... then 3 V's .... Vik, Varun and Vin decided that they shall drink more... so we head back to Vik's place and do exactly that... After all this, Vik suddenly starts shouting like Dr. Dang... "I want food... I am hungry guys... Dude I think I am going to die if I don't get food right now!"....

So we go to Pandara and hog like maniacs... talk non-sense... and come out at 4am all drunk, sleepy, dazed! Outing ends around at that time and the meet is officially closed for the night!

A few personal abuses/derogatory/lewd comments follow.
Please read and get anoid and post comments... As always I don't give a FCUK (not a typo, it is to pass through the moderator's filter.. Piyush: FYI, FCUK is a brand of animal biscuits which I can't afford)

Vikas: He has already been mentioned, you don't get more airtime until Vik and I get Rs575.

Varun: I don't understand this guy, he seems to have no problems in life. He drinks, he smokes, he shags, he smiles and his dad tells him to do all this or else he is a disgrace upon their family! I thought only my dad preached such 'abonrmal' stuff.. Anyhow, the guy is always smiling
(I tried to figure out if he had hands in his jeans pockets playing carrom and hence was happy...but then as it turns out... he is genuinely a happy soul... shit shit shit! there goes my scoop for the post)

Deepika: Came early ...Left early... Made some plan to meet the next day for brunch....Didn't get up... nor did anyone else
Ok, my take on the girl... She is an anti-thesis for an Indian girl....As cool as they come. Very nice natured (so far so good)... Doesn't want to get married at ISB but doesn't mind being asked questions along these lines... Long-legged and tall but doesn't do the fake (horrendous) catwalk while walking on a normal day.... Most importantly, got us a 15% discount at Stone! :) :)

Juhi: Someday I will write a separate post on her... Not here...Not now!

Sarab: Duniya firangi saapa hai...fikar hee gham ka papa hai... apna to bass yeh hai jaapa hai... fikar karein fukre... HADIPPA!
translation: World is full of strange people... Worry is the underlying cause for all pain n sorrow... My motto is have and let fools worry! HADIPPA (yes 'hadippa' is 'hadippa' in English too)

He is my senior from college so he can make me strip and make me dance with a peacock feather stuck up my a$$ so I am not going to write anything about him.
(Ok fine... I will write...)

He is another anti-thesis(for a sardar). Just when you think all sardars are size of a bombay flat (6ft by 8ft) and drive a huge SUV... here is one who is normal size, drives a normal car and guess what he doesn't even talk like he is speaking to a deaf old woman... Not loud, hasn't got weird stickers on his car and isn't dating a very hot sardarni who looks half-israeli, half-afghani and completely hot!

Vik: He is the second biggest moron amongst the admits (we all know the biggest, don't we?).. He keeps drinking and somehow derives pleasure out of getting people around him also drunk..
And then came the statement of the evening at 2.45am.... We were going to pandara to graba quick and critical bite so I just asked Vik if he can drive...
The reply: "DON'T WORRY DUDE! I AM A GOOD DRUNK DRIVER"
My thoughts: Shit shit shit! He will drive fast, won't apply brakes on intersections, would accelerate the tachometer into the red zone 4 out 3 times (yes 4 out of 3 times)...
As one moron knows the other well, he did exactly all this... and kept repeating...
"DON'T WORRY DUDE! I AM A GOOD DRUNK DRIVER"

Kriti: Poor 0.5 girl. She came to just meet us for a while and had plans to go with her friends for clubbing later on. We, the stalkers, went to the same club (where Vikas, the pimp, got us entry).. @Kriti: Remember what I told you about going out next time which I was instructed to tell you!

Who else was there guys?! I know I have missed people but then you people have to come up and create some ruckus to be mentioned here!

Delhi Admits:
The idea is simple....there are a bunch of thorough bred anarchists who have done nothing in their life to deserve ISB, the most undeserving being me closely followed by Vik. So we are like those impoverished monkeys who were supposed to be on road stealing bananas (read stupid jobs) but someone just picked us up and put us in a circus (ISB) where we get food, water, shelter and most importantly, uncalled for attention!

Therfore, we, the lucky monkeys, shall do our ape dance till april and as Dr. Dang shouted....next meet is going to happen in Gurgaon!

Cheers!!!