Tidbits for the summer

Use your sunglasses and umbrellas without hesitation this blazing summer. To heck with those who stare at you. I have had a 100% eye infection-free rate for the past 2 years.

Don't eat chats from roadside thela. Gastroenteritis is on its way otherwise.

Drink plenty of water. Go easy on that oily greasy food. Decrease intake of coffee/tea and enjoy a glass of nimboo paani or fresh fruit juice. Eat lite, feel lite.

Use cotton dresses/tops/shirts and a pleasant scented  perfume please. Most people use one strong perfume all round the year, make life difficult for those sitting near them(in bus, especially).

Keep a sunscreen at hand all times, and apply it on face too.

Spend your free time with your loved ones, family and friends. Maybe read a book or simply use the time to sleep :-)

Windsor Castle

I visited Windsor castle on an afternoon. In winter, England gets engulfed by dark by 4pm. By the time I reached there, it was 3:15pm.


There is a also boating facility that takes you on a river cruise of Thames from this place.

Entrance to the castle was closed by that time and could only talk to the guards and click few flicks.

It is one of the principal official residences of the British monarch. Queen Elizabeth II spends many weekends of the year at the castle, using it for both state and private entertaining.

Queen was in residence and hence you can see the flag hoisted on the Round Tower.

Above is the entrance to Windsor castle

The castle is surrounded by road housing shops selling souvenirs, restaurants housed in beautiful ancient buildings preserved even today. A walk to around the castle was pleasant. Since I had time to kill, I crossed Windsor bridge and walked till Eton college. Eton reminded me of a sleepy little town with its hundreds of years of history, housed quite charming shops, each of which had a different story to tell.

Avalanche.. Is it really how it feels?

Heard a song written by Leonard Cohen. Very deep, meaningful, moving...

Well I stepped into an avalanche,
it covered up my soul;
when I am not this hunchback that you see,
I sleep beneath the golden hill.
You who wish to conquer pain,
you must learn, learn to serve me well.

You strike my side by accident
as you go down for your gold.
The cripple here that you clothe and feed
is neither starved nor cold;
he does not ask for your company,
not at the centre, the centre of the world.

When I am on a pedestal,
you did not raise me there.
Your laws do not compel me
to kneel grotesque and bare.
I myself am the pedestal
for this ugly hump at which you stare.

You who wish to conquer pain,
you must learn what makes me kind;
the crumbs of love that you offer me,
they're the crumbs I've left behind.
Your pain is no credential here,
it's just the shadow, shadow of my wound.

I have begun to long for you,
I who have no greed;
I have begun to ask for you,
I who have no need.
You say you've gone away from me,
but I can feel you when you breathe.

Do not dress in those rags for me,
I know you are not poor;
you don't love me quite so fiercely now
when you know that you are not sure,
it is your turn, beloved,
it is your flesh that I wear.

I'd give my right arm to know what he was feeling when he wrote this composition. You can listen to this song here.

30% and counting...

When I came back from my vacation in Dec, I thought I would have to write so many posts to share my experience of England, even though it was a very short stay. It was my first foreign vacation, after all. But as days passed, I got so involved in my work and study that I lost count of time. When you are studying at a place like IIMB, that too along with your work, a week's lag will take you down if you are not careful.

Finished my 3rd term and realised that I hadn't posted anything for 3 whole months! By the time I could relax some, 4th term had already begun...(Yeah, that's why the title, I am a 30% MBA! ;-) ). I am 2 weeks into my 4th term now and am already buried under books.. Operations Management, Corporate Finance and Organisational Behaviour are the 3 subjects this time. All seem very interesting and have big fat books to be studied. As mentioned in the post here, delving into human psychology, studying human behaviour has started giving me a deep insight into personality types, attittudes, perceptions etc and has started making me more tolerant. If I used to be irritated with people earlier, today I have become more analytic. Prof. C M Reddy is a good prof and keeps the entire class engaged and has lively discussion contrary to my expectations that the classes would be boring.

Operations Management under the famous Prof. L S Murty is making me look for all aspects of operations in management, utilisation of resources, efficiency. I have started reading 'The Goal' by Eliyahu M Goldratt& Jeff Cox. Would recommend this book to everyone involved with operations or any aspect of management.

Corporate Finance is another subject I am following very keenly. Looks at time value of money, stock and bond evaluation, risk and returns, financial markets, cost of capital, capital structure and so on and so forth. Prof. Sabarinathan G. is an IIMB alumni and a former director of a private equity firm. It is truly a privilege to be in such great company.

UK Trip via Dubai

I landed in Dubai airport on an early 1st December morning. I had idiotically declined the air hostess' inquiry for breakfast and had used that time to sleep and by the time I reached Dubai I was starving and cursing myself for my foolishness. Since I had another 3 hours to kill at the Dubai airport before hopping onto my flight to London, I purposefully strode near my check-in gate and filled my belly with a stupid dry sandwich from Cosi and hot sugarless coffee which burnt my tongue.

Slightly deviating from the topic, the early morning view of Dubai from above was simply breathtaking! Vast expanse of desert, divided into grids of roads, orange halogen lights dotting both sides of roads, looked heavenly.. Traffic movement was heavy at most places even at 5am in the morning.

Dubai airport is in 3 levels, each level spanning for miles.. I did not explore much on my way and was happy clicking photos on the level where my next check-in was scheduled.
On the way back, I had 7 hours to myself. Went to each and every duty-free shop on all the levels. Bought Gold (yessss!!!!!!), loaded my already exploding hand luggage with heaps of chocolates, and digged into a veg Mac, hoping that it was actually Vegetarian, unlike the Hindu "veg" meal which turned out to be Hindu non-veg meal served to me on the Emirates flight!

When I was returning from my vacation, I already had had my fill of great European architecture, expensive sports cars, and loads of photos(on all you are going to hear a lot I am afraid) that I did not bother with photographs...
View of level 3 from inside
Dubai airport looks like a narrow tube on a deserted patch of land, looks magnificent from the inside.
Above is the view of the airport from the runway. Gave me an impression that I was moving inside the stomach of a snake all along!

Plate Change or Cognitive Dissonance?

We all have experienced irritation when someone has commented that our way of doing certain things are wrong and that what they do is right; suddenly when the same people have to do things our way they come up lame excuses to justify that they are right (without acknowledging the fact that what we were originally doing was not wrong either?). We call it "plate change" ("usne plate change kar diya!" rings a bell?). Well, my Organisational Behaviour textbook tells me that it is called cognitive dissonance.

Example 1: A friend has consistently argued that the quality of Indian cars isn't up to that of imports and that he'd never own anything but a Japanese or German car. B his dad gives him an Indica and suddenly Indian cars are not that bad anymore.

Example 2: A relative who always argued that flat can not be considered a house, has to buy a flat in Bangalore for investment(houses in Bangalore are a dream now, of course) and now says that house or flat, what is the difference, everything is crowded here anyways!

When people experience conflict between attitude and behaviour, they try to find a middle ground to reduce the discomfort caused by dissonance. Next time you do a plate change, I will tell you that your congnitive dissonance can't fool me! ;-)

Couldn't help writing about it. OB as a subject seems fascinating. It approaches human behaviour in a scientific way to analyse why we do/feel/act the way we do in different situations. It also explains methodically at one point why(we all know why!)/how an employee feels disgruntled when he doesn't get promotion that he feels he deserves, especially when it went to a coworker who deserves it less and starts looking for a change in job. If managers started responding to employees, rewarding those who do good work rather than turning a blind eye, so much attrition wouldn't happen. Mangers often "don't get it" and they assume that all is going well is what the writers of the book say. Is any manager listening?

रुकावट के लिए खेद है

Haven't been able to update my blog since my return from vacation. I have been immersed in studies. Watch out for interesting updates next week.

Oh, what a day!

"It is snowing, it is snowing!", Maya's delighted screams woke me up. I peeped out of the window to find the green grass looking strangely grayish white and the bare trees appearing as if they have got a whiff of powder on them. It was Wednesday and my last day in England.

Couple of hours later, I was in Tesco doing last minute shopping when Emma pointed out, "Look, it is snowing". Little flecks of snow were falling down. The entire surrounding looked as if skies were pouring down little pearls on earth. I gladly walked around in the parking lot immersing myself in gleeful joy, appreciating the nature's wonder.

On the way back, Chess valley had already started becoming white. The snowfall was harder now and the entire valley which was green moments earlier was shrouded in white. The roofs of houses were white and so were the roads, with track marks clearly appearing. There I was, drinking in the beauty of nature and getting ready to bid adieu to a beautiful countryside. What a perfect way to end a great vacation!

P.S. The moment I landed in Bangalore I saw a perfect rainbow and a beautiful sunset on the way back to town. Guess Bangalore was welcoming me back, trying to make me forget the perfect English winter... At that moment, I fell in love with my land. Again.

Shakespeare County - Stratford

Shakespeare's county is situated in Stratford, which is built on Avon river and hence called Stratford-upon-Avon. Shakespeare's house has been preserved till date and is open to visitors. Shakespeare Center hosts a gallery which gives a detailed account of Shkespaere's life and works. The gallery opens to a garden which leads you to Shakespeare's house.

The house has 3 bed rooms, living room, work shop and an extension to the house. The guide explains the origins of phrases like 'Good night sleep tight' and 'I had a ropey night'. In the 16th century, the cot had wooden famework and had a base of ropes, which would be tightened every night by the servent. And so comes the phrase "Good night, sleep 'tight'". If not tied properly, it would stick to one's back and make one uncomfortable. And hence the phrase, 'I had a ropey night'.

The exit leads to the Gift shop. The shop has a range of souveniers to choose from.

It is really amazing to know that almost every phrase you use in English was written by this one man. A man, whose writings inspire millions every day and are showcased by plays, drama, movie, songs and what not.

Stratford-upon-Avon has canal built on river Avon and makes for a beautiful sight. Small boats travel through these canals all the way upto Paris on one side and to London on the other. Water levels at each stage of the canal are different. A boatsman will open up the lock at one level, which causes the water in the next stage to rush in and raise the water level of your location. This helps you move on further. Once you reach the end of that level, you would open the lock of the next level. This story continues until you reach the destination. Amazing! The streets are dotted with ultra posh shops like Austin Reed, Marks and Spencer, Debenhams, Goldsmith so on and so forth. All the buildings are from the 17th Century and have been preserved in their original form.

The way to Stratford has breathtaking scenaries which makes this trip worthwhile and very satisfying. One can spot many castles along the way which have been turned into Hotels and Spas.

Cold start, sunny spells

Cold start, sunny spells. That's what the BBC predicts of the weather today here in Birmingham. Poised to be at 6 degrees, I am about to set off for an exploration of the city of Birmingham.

Yesterday's shopping at BullRing shopping center went well. To be frank, I found stuff cheaper here than in Bangalore. Maybe the X'mas season has got to do something about it. And getting good deals on GAP, H&M, CK feels good( :-) ). All the 'super brands' that we always long for have 'Made in India', 'Made in Bangladesh' 'Made in China', 'Made in Vietnam', 'Made in Turkey' tags on them. Now I know why we Indians get a raw deal back home. All the good stuff gets exported and we get the second rated stuff which is overpriced... Just as I had always suspected! X-(

Did I tell you about my first flight experience? Well, that's a story for another day..

Peace, finally!

As this post comes to you, I am sitting on a cozy couch in a beautiful home just off Birmingham. I am here in England enjoying my well deserved vacation(that's what I tell myself anyway). I have the entire day for myself and I am here watchng BBC Breakfast and blogging away. The curse of being a software engineer!

The temperature is 2 degrees today. Its windy and is raining outside. I don't envy those who have to be outside in this weather :-). All those instructions I got back home are coming handy. Though I haven't been out in the open much, I haven't had to use my gloves so far, and that's an achievement for me. For a first timer, I am doing all right here (I guess). I have people asking me if the train stops in certain stations, and I am answering their queries... ;-). I am a natural!

I am being pampered by my hosts, being taken care of in a manner fit for a queen. And then there are two very good kids at home, especially a cute cuddly, very talkative 4 year old, who has been teaching me to count to ten in French. (Oh Yes!!). Today I am just relaxing at home and then off for shopping in the evening. Tomorrow, I plan to set on foot for some exploration on my own. So far, so good.

Stuck between rock and ....

The worst of situations bring out the best in me. Bulb jal gaya...!!

Being the lazy bone that I am, I usually go about doing my chores just about right. Nothing extra ordinary. I have realised that the more pressurised I am(until handle-able situation), I come out with flying colours.

I was tensed with work and studies, and a project ppt and presentation coming up, I stressed out. When friends and family support you, tell you not to worry and that you can do it, becomes music to one's ears.

Could catch Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahaani earlier this week. A refreshing movie I must say. Watching it in movie theater after 2 long years was a double whammy.

With two more quizzes and one final exam in each of the subjects, I have lot of stuff to complete. Work pressure is not helping either. Looking forward to a vacation now. Wonder how UK would be!

Work, study et al

I had totally forgotten that I have a blog. The pressures of life are about to get to me, but I am safe so far.

Studywise: Macroeconomics has interesting concepts, but the oh-so-complex graphs have my head spinning. Managing Organisations has those surprise(our confidence intervals on estimation are getting better and better!!) quizzes for which I am never prepared. QM1. Do you need to ask anymore?

Workwise: Hectic hectic hectic.

Lifewise: :) Am I still alive??

Well, it wont be so bad in a week I guess. Might be able to post something better. Well, hopefully..

Where is the world going?

One question I am frequently asked now-a-days is ‘are you not on facebook’? When I say no, the sense of incredulity that grips the other person is quite perplexing to me. I have stayed away from all of the social networking sites, but for one. That itself seems redundant to me. But for the sake of keeping in touch with some near and dear ones, I have maintained that account. Now that the entire world is moving towards Facebook, I think I will be forced to use Facebook very soon. Today, I read Ramayana, the Facebook way! And I even got a BnCC invite to join Facebook!!

With all the frenzy of announcing to the world that 'you are sitting' and that 'you are standing' and that you hate pasta and then putting up your entire life on display through your albums, is very scary and a big no no to a private person like me. I wouldn't do it for the world. So, when one doesn't upload any photos and doesn't share anything personal, it is no fun, ain't it?

The amount of time I will have to spend on logging in to these networking sites and checking the statuses, I will prefer to use for other activities which will benefit me in some way. As it is, deleting the invites to umpteen useless sites is becoming a big task for me.

Well, even Mr US President Obama has cautioned youngsters to be cautious while posting every aspect of life online, maybe people will sit up and notice. Not only that, when everything is online, the world is losing touch of itself. It has already reached a point where people talk to others sitting next to them online than personally waving and saying a hi, where is the world going?

Random thoughts:
A piece of article recently caught my attention. It was regarding facebook’s search being powered by bing. Now a days, seeing ‘powered by bing’ statement takes my mind back to my strategy classes and makes me wonder the implications of MS’s takeover of Yahoo’s search engine.

Life is like that

Oh, it is good to be back! With Swine flu scaring the hell out of everybody, and exam fever running high in my own class, everything has been a commotion this past month. With one assignment submission done and two more to go this week, 'hectic' has taken a new meaning in my life.

Also, I am entrusted with work in Branding and Communication Cell and Career Management Cell, of which I am a member.

With quarter 1 out of the way, I am looking forward to quarter 2. And I have resolved not to repeat the mistakes I did in qtr 1 and manage my time better and get the best out of the course. In the meantime, I am enjoying peace and tranquility till Sept 10.

The time table for qtr 2 has already been put up and I will be studying Macroeconomics, Managing Organisations and Quantitative Methods - 1.

All said and done, life is interesting and I wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world.

My MBA - one month and counting

It has been exactly a month since I started my MBA and my world has turned upside down. I have been studying Microeconomics, Financial Accounting and Strategic Management. As I write this, I am done with the midterm exams for the first two and gearing up to take SM midterm this weekend.

The chilly breeze and slight drizzle on my face while riding to IIMB every week is the one thing I cherish the most. The ambiance and the stone structures of IIM are awe inspiring; I remember the day I went for interview and sat in the auditorium for Convergenz and wishfully thought it would be a dream come true to study at this wonderful place. The professors are great and very knowledgeable. Phrases like 'competitive advantage', 'leveraging strengths','economies of scope' have started making sense(finally!!) and have become a part of my lingo. To think of it, when people used to effortlessly drop these phrases, I used to wonder how smart they were and what those words possibly meant :-D

Wonderful it surely is, but I must also mention the other side of the story, which relates to life being 'upside down'. Since we don't stay in hostel, has contributed to hilarious incidents. The first week itself, my group members-me included, thinking that we need to make presentation in strategy class, struggled to find time to prepare the case study, met on yahoo messenger and gtalk to discuss the case and then connected to each other through conference calls, only to find out on Thursday night that we should have analysed the case from Porter's five forces angle and then stayed awake till late into the night and got to the class next day half awake. To top it all, we found out on Friday morning that we were not required to do any presentation, but we had to prepare accounting cases, not strategy!! If this was the case with strategy, midterms were all googlies and bouncers. And now, I am sitting on 3 assignments to be submitted in a month's time. Reminds me of my JNV days!!

My life has changed drastically and I guess it will be the norm for the next 2.5 years. I decline all invites for shopping(!!), have been deferring going to all my friends' places, my family considers me absent for all important chores. I do all transactions only online and my nap time while traveling to office has turned into my study time(which I regret the most)...

In the mean time, class of 2009 arranged Pehel on 12th July 2009 and had a blast arranging and participating in it. The journey so far has been amazing. So much of knowledge packed sessions every week, interacting with classmates twice a week and so many seminars on various topics, involving the industry experts and IIMB faculties, make all the efforts worthwhile. I now vouch for the fact - 'No pain, no gain'!

The five competitive forces that shape strategy

The five competitive forces that shape strategy by Michael Porter forms the basis of Strategic Management, one of the subjects I am studying for 1st quarter in MBA. The following video illustrates what these forces are and how they interact with each other and shape the strategy of a company and an industry all together.

What I like about this is, coupled with the case studies that we do in class, it makes perfect sense!



Alternatively, this video can be viewed here

ಬೆಟ್ಟದ ಜೀವ

ಶಿವರಾಮ ಕಾರಂತರ ಬೆಟ್ಟದ ಜೀವ ಓದುವ ಅವಕಾಶ ಕೆಲವು ದಿನಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ಒದಗಿತು. ಇದೇ ಮೊದಲ ಬಾರಿಗೆ ಕಾರಂತರ ಕೃತಿ ಓದಿದ್ದು. ಓದುತ್ತಿದ್ದಂತೆಯೇ ಊರಿನ ನೆನಪು ಉಮ್ಮಳಿಸಿ ಬಂತು. ಎಷ್ಟು ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ಸುಳ್ಯ, ಪಂಜ ಸೀಮೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ವರ್ಣಿಸಿ ಬರೆದಿದ್ದಾರೆಂದರೆ ಮರಳಿ ಮಣ್ಣಿಗೆ ಹೋಗಿಬಿಡುವ ಆಸೆಯಾಯಿತು. ಮಧ್ಯೆ ವಿಟ್ಲ, ಪುತ್ತೂರು ಸೀಮೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆಯೂ ಉಲ್ಲೇಖಿಸಿದ್ದು ಓದಿ ಸಂತೋಷವಾಯಿತು. ಗುತ್ತಿಗಾರು ಬೆಳ್ಳಾರೆಯ ನಡುವೆ ಹಾದಿ ತಪ್ಪಿ ಗೋಪಾಲ ಭಟ್ಟರ ಮನೆ ತಲುಪುವ ಲೇಖಕ ಶಿವರಾಮ, ಭಟ್ಟರು ಹಾಗೂ ಮಡದಿ ಶಂಕರಿಯ ಆತಿಥ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಮನಸೋತು ಅವರ ಪ್ರೀತಿಯ ಕೋರಿಕೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ಕೆಲವು ದಿನಗಳನ್ನು ಅಲ್ಲೇ ಕಳೆಯುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಅಲ್ಲಿನ ಅವರ ದೈನಂದಿನ ಜೀವನ, ಏಕತಾನತೆ, ಕೃಷಿಕ ಜೀವನ, ಕಾಡಿನ ಮಧ್ಯದ ಬದುಕಿನ ಹಲವು ಮುಖಗಳನ್ನು ಲೇಖಕ ಕೆಲವೇ ದಿನಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಣುತ್ತಾನೆ. ತಾಯಿ ಶಂಕರಿ ಮನೆ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಹೋದ ಮಗನಿಗಾಗಿ ಹಾತೊರೆಯುವುದು, ಭಟ್ಟರು ದುಃಖವನ್ನು ಮರೆಯಲು ಕೆಲಸಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತೊಡಗುವುದು, ಸಾಕು ಮಗ ನಾರಾಯಣ ಅವನ ಹೆಂಡತಿಯ ತೊಳಲಾಟ, ಆದರೂ ಕಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನಾಡು ಕಟ್ಟಿ ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಜೀವನದ ಸಾರ್ಥಕತೆ ಕಾಣುವುದು ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ಮನಸ್ಸಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಬೆಚ್ಚಗೆ ಕುಳಿತು ಬಿಟ್ಟವು.

ಕಾರಂತರ ಬರವಣಿಗೆ ಎಷ್ಟು ಸುಲಲಿತವೋ, ಅವರು ಬರೆದಿರುವುದು ಅಷ್ಟೇ ಸತ್ಯ. ನನಗೆ ಆಶ್ಚರ್ಯವನ್ನುಂಟು ಮಾಡಿದ ಸಂಗತಿ ಎಂದರೆ ಇತ್ತೀಚಿಗೆ ಚರ್ಚೆಗೆ ಬಂದಂತಹ ವಿಷಯಗಳನ್ನೆಲ್ಲ ಆಗಿನ ಕಾಲದಲ್ಲೇ ಅವರು ಬರೆದಿದ್ದುದು. ಪೂರ್ವಿಕರ ಕಾಲದಿಂದ ಬಂದಂತಹ ಆಸ್ತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅಡಿಕೆ, ತೆಂಗು, ಬಾಳೆ, ಭತ್ತ ಬೆಳೆಯುವುದು ನಮ್ಮಲ್ಲಿ ಈವರೆಗೂ ನಡೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಬಂದಿದೆ. ಆದರೆ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ವಿದ್ಯಾವಂತರಾಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದಂತೆ ಊರು ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಪಟ್ಟಣಕ್ಕೆ ವಲಸೆ ಹೋಗುವುದು, ಕೆಲಸಕ್ಕೆ ಆಳುಗಳು ಸಿಗದಿರುವುದು, ಬಂದ ಘಟ್ಟದ ಮೇಲಿನ ಜನ ಮಧ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಹೋಗುವುದು, ಇವೆಲ್ಲ ದೇಶದ ಬೆನ್ನೆಲುಬು ಅನಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ರೈತರಿಗೆ ಎಲ್ಲಿಲ್ಲದ ತೊಂದರೆಯನ್ನುಂಟು ಮಾಡಿವೆ. ಗೋಪಾಲ ಭಟ್ಟರು ಮಗನಿಗೆ ಇಂಗ್ಲೀಷ್ ಕಲಿಸಿದ್ದೆ ತಮಗೆ ಮುಳುವಾಯಿತೇ ಎಂದು ಚಿಂತಿಸಿದಾಗ ನಾನೂ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದು ಅದೇ ಅಲ್ಲವೇ ಎಂಬ ಅಪರಾಧಿ ಭಾವ ಬಂದಿದ್ದು ನಿಜ.

ಭಟ್ಟರು ಕಾಟುಮೂಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಡು ಕಡಿದು ತೋಟ ಮಾಡಿದ ಸಾಹಸ, ಚಿಕ್ಕಂದಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನಾವು ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಬೇಸಿಗೆ ರಜೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಟುಮೂಲೆಗೆ ಹೋಗಿ ಲಾಗ ಹಾಕಿ, ಮಾವಿನ ಕಾಯಿ/ಹಣ್ಣು ತಿಂದು ಊಟ ಬೇಡ ಅನ್ನುತ್ತಿದ್ದುದನ್ನು ನೆನಪಿಗೆ ತಂದಿತು. ಗುಡ್ಡ ಹತ್ತಲು ಸುಲಭ ದಾರಿ ಇದ್ದರೂ ಸಾಹಸ ಎಂಬ ಹುಂಬ ಧೈರ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಎಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲೋ ಹೋಗಿ ಜಾರಿ, ಬಿದ್ದು, ಎದ್ದು, ದಿನವೆಲ್ಲ ಕಾಡು ಸುತ್ತಿದ ನೆನಪು ಇನ್ನೂ ಹಸಿಯಾಗಿ ಉಳಿದಿದೆ. ದೇರಣ್ಣ ಗೌಡನು 'ಮಂಗಗಳ ಕಾಟ ಅತಿಯಾಗಿದೆ, ಈ ಬ್ರಾಹ್ಮಣರು ಮಂಗಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊಡೆಯಲೂ ಹಿಂದೆ ಮುಂದೆ ನೋಡುತ್ತಾರೆ' ಎಂದಿದ್ದು, ನನ್ನ ಅಜ್ಜ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಕೋವಿಗೆ ಗುಂಡು ಹಾಕಿ ಗಾಳಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಗುಂಡು ಹಾರಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದದು ನೆನಪಾಯಿತು. ಭೂತದ ಕೋಲ ಮಾಡಿಸಬೇಕು ಅಯ್ಯ ಎಂದು ಬಟ್ಯ, ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಖರ್ಚಿಗೆ ಹಣ ಎಲ್ಲಿಂದ ತರಲಿ ಎನ್ನುವ ದೇರಣ್ಣ ಗೌಡ, ನೀವು ಹಣ್ಣು ಕಾಯಿ ಕೊಡಿ ಎಂದು ಭಟ್ಟರು ಎಂದಿದಕ್ಕೆ, ಬಟ್ಯನ 'ನೀವು ಜಪ ತಪ ಮಾಡಿ ವಿಭೂತಿ ಹಚ್ಚುತ್ತೀರಿ, ನಾನು ಕೋಳಿಯ ಬದಲು ತೆಂಗಿನ ಕಾಯಿ ಕೊಟ್ಟರೆ ಕಲ್ಕುಡ ನನ್ನ ರುಂಡವನ್ನೇ ಹಾರಿಸೀತು' ಎಂಬ ಉತ್ತರ ತಮಾಷೆ ಎನಿಸಿತು.

ತೋಟ,ಗದ್ದೆ, ಗುಡ್ಡ, ಅದರ ಪಕ್ಕದಲ್ಲೇ ಹರಿಯುವ ನದಿ, ನದಿಯ ನಂತರ ಕಳನ್ಜಿಮಲೆ ಕಾಡು. ಕಾರಂತರು ಮಾವೆಗೆ ಬಂದಿದ್ದರೂ ಇದೇ ರೀತಿ ಬರೆಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೋ ಏನೋ... ಅಥವಾ ನಮ್ಮ ಸುಳ್ಯ, ಪುತ್ತೂರು,ವಿಟ್ಲ ಸೀಮೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇಂಥ ಎಷ್ಟು ಗೋಪಾಲ ಭಟ್ಟರೂ, ಅವರ ಕಥೆಗಳೂ ಕಳೆದು ಹೋಗಿವೆಯೋ ಏನೋ... ಗೋಪಾಲ ಭಟ್ಟರು ಶ್ರಮ ಜೀವಿಯಾಗಿ, ಹಟ ಕಟ್ಟಿ ಸಾಹಸಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾ, ಮಗನ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ನೊಂದಿದ್ದರೂ ತಾತ್ವಿಕರಂತೆ ಮಾತಾಡಿ ತನಗೆ ತಾನೇ ಸಾಂತ್ವನ ಹೇಳುವ ಪರಿ, ನಾರಾಯಣನ ಜೀವನಕ್ಕೆ ದಾರಿ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಟ್ಟು ಅದರಲ್ಲೇ ಸಂತೋಷ ಕಾಣುವ ತ್ಯಾಗಮಯಿ ಜೀವ, ತನ್ನ ಅರ್ಧಾಂಗಿ ಶಂಕರಿಯ ಮೇಲಿನ ಪ್ರೀತಿ, ಮಮಕಾರ - ಇವುಗಳು ಮನದಾಳಕ್ಕೆ ಇಳಿದು ಉಳಿದು ಬಿಟ್ಟವು.

Orientation 2009 at IIMB - the full story

It was a very very very hectic weekend at Orientation at IIMB(seniors say - "Get used to it!"), but also fun filled. Orientation, along with L-CUBE activities, not only showed us how physically unfit we are(from all the running around in campus for all the activities) but also got the grey matters working with the case studies...

L-CUBE event kicked in with a debate from the industry experts, PGSEM alumnus and Prof DVR of IIMB on 'Executive MBA - A faster way to the top?' and gave way for interesting view points. After dinner we were asked to participate in cultural events(regarding which I wont divulge anything) which went on till 11:30PM. This was followed by a shocking news that we need to submit a case study before 8AM next day and we got the PGSEM motto - "SomeHow, In Time!" :) Wow! Did life seem really interesting at that moment...

After catching a wink, the formal IIMB PGSEM orientation began and we were addressed by Prof Venkatagiri and Prof Aggarwal. As a part of icebreaker session, we participated in a mystery murder game. Then began the case study by Prof L S Murthy. We all had spent a sleepless night, analysing the case and were very confident that we were prepared and all set for our first case study of our MBA. As Prof Murthy took us through the case, prodding us for points, facts, data and then flipped the case study in such a way that our whole analysis and the sleepless night we had spent analysing, discussing, rearranging the points of the case seemed just ridiculous. Our minds opened up to a new insight of our own 'unconscious incompetence' and came out the auditorium with a wow! moment of my life :)

This followed with more surprise activities had us all running in the campus at night competing with other teams for points and getting stuck in the rain. Boy, is IIMB campus huge or what!

The final day of the orientation had a student profiling activity and also a talk by Sanjay Anandaram on entrepreneurship, the conclusion of orientation program with address by Prof. Pankaj Chandra, Director, IIMB and ended up in Prof. Venkatagiri handling the PGSEM mantle over to Prof Aggarwal. The entire afternoon was then a plethora of quiz, cultural and sports activities. I went back home, with the satisfaction of a weekend well spent and with an enthusiasm to return to the campus at the earliest for classes.

I thoroughly enjoyed all the activities, even though I was exhausted at the end of it. There were many a wow moments(case study, Prof. Venkatagiri speak), many groans(when we were asked to get ourselves in motion), some jubilation(on winning events), some disappointments(on not winning the House Cup). I am not yet ready to go semi-philosophical(Hope you know what I mean ;)), so let us just leave it at that.

Send a mail without forgetting the Subject

I was looking for a way to make sure that whenever I sent a mail from Outlook, I should not be able to send without a subject line. Finally got a way to do it and here it is:

1. Open your outlook.
2.Press Alt+F11. This opens the Visual Basic editor.
3.On the Left Pane, one can see “Microsoft Outlook Objects”, expand this. Now one can see the “ThisOutLookSession.”
4.Click on “ThisOutLookSession”.
5.Copy and Paste the following code in the right pane.(Code Pane)

Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean)
Dim strSubject As String
strSubject = Item.Subject
If Len(strSubject) = 0 Then
Prompt$ = "Subject is Empty. Are you sure you want to send the Mail?"
If MsgBox(Prompt$, vbYesNo + vbQuestion + vbMsgBoxSetForeground, "Check for Subject") = vbNo Then
Cancel = True
End If
End If
End Sub

6. Save this and now close the VB Code editor

This macro makes sure I don't send a mail without subject.