Back in bangalore after just about a year

Well....its back to fun, crowded and young bangalore. This time to work in an indian company. Will be sharing an apartment with another ISB friend who works at Amazon. I basically wasted time over the last two days as I had closed my deal very early in the piece.

I start work on Wednesday and in a wait and watch mode to see how it goes rite now.

On an aside, I consider this blog like dumbledore's Pensieve and when i upload my thoughts on it i feel greatly relieved. One such thing has troubled me over the past two days....after reading V.S Naipaul's work on india....He may be a booker prize winner, but i feel he has over represented the downsides, which are out in the open unlike some other countries in the world. His work is so depressing, that anyone who wants to come back to india, would drop thier ideas.

Naipaul's critique on gandhi however, was very interesting and his observation of the short term memory of the people of india over the centuries is indeed inspiring. But what he fails to realize is that he judjes the level of development as compared to western countries, which have a much shorter civilized history as compared to this country......He talks of the failure of the hindu Religion, but fails to realize that Hinduism is a way of life rather than a religion.

His point of view is rather short sighted and I do not understand the reason behind such a critical work on india...maybe he was in denial that he also was part indian!!!

Anyways....I feel lighter now!

Laterz

Floating books in a Dirty Port!

A bunch of us visited a floating book fair on board a ship which was docked in the chennai port.....
Even though it was an utter dissapointment, at least we did something new.

However, I was dissappointed at all the attention that was given to this boat. It was nothing but a floating christian evangelistic mission. Most of the books were on Christianity and there were free books being given away promoting the religion. So many innocent kids took these books and will most probably get influenced by it. This is what infuriates me about these missions, even though I personally have nothing against the religion.

SO many such missionaries have tried to convince me when i was in the US and I sometimes wonder if they will ever stop. I agree that the religion initially grew through such evangelism, but the context then was totally different. Then, the positions of power were held by religious leaders but now wealth is the universal oppressor and religious oppression is not really widespread anymore. I believe that Now, Religion exists merely as a spiritual support mechanism and also to provide a sense of belonging.

Now that I have bashed them up, the one positive take away is....How well they market thier religion. All aspectsof association, aggressive salesmanship, customization to local conditions, promotional incentives to convert (Education, food at the church etc.), extreme opportunism when it comes to prospecting for new markets for growth, excellent top down communication of targets....this religion runs more like a very well structured business!!

Anyways....I think the heat has finally gotten to my head now!!!

More later!

Simple pleasures in life.... :)

Now that Iam totally relaxing, I have started rediscovering some simple pleasures in life. Yesterday, I went to the gym and wanted to take swim later on...as it turned out, it rained cats and dogs (!!!!!...in chennai) and the plan got shelved. However, I just winged it and drove out into the rain on my motorbike.

the extent of my joy was indescribable....On an open road , on my favorite bike driving through Ice cold rain. Then I followed it up with a hot cup of tea in a local shop and had a nice little conversation about the weather with some random guy in the tea shop.......

I dont think I have felt happier, even when achieved something great in the past. This is the second instance in past year that I have felt inordinately happy for such simple things, last time around it was because I interacted with a large group of prospective students at ISB.

At the end of the day, hopefully all of us just want happiness...it is upto us to discover what makes us happy and go towards it. For me, the formula is rather simple..Independence, friends and casual interactions.....

What makes you happy??????

Laterz

Main aisa kyon hoon???

Before I came back home, I promised my self that i would return to normal 11PM to 6 AM sleeping hrs......no use....Iam still sleeping at 3 and getting up at 10......I cant understand why I refuse to let go if ISB life and get organized!!!

I have even postponed my trip to bangalore till 28th...hopefully I will get a house then!! The days arer now just floating by, without any real purpose, without any assignments or homeworks, without the anticipation of the end terms exams and the term breaks afterwards.......Gosh, how I miss the rush and the relaxation afterwards.

I have been catching with some friends and relatives and its been a lot of fun. But only one gripe....Everyone keeps talking of mairrage. I have now come to agree that I will get married eventually, but NOT right now.......Hopefully, nothing will come up before 2007! But dont take me wrong, I really do appreciate the concern that near and dear express.....I guess its the growing pains that every guy/gal goes thro in this period.

I have been seeing all kinds of movies recently and I have become even closer to my laptop than earlier :).....I really cannot exist without a broadband connection and a laptop!

Well enough rubbish for today.....more later :)

Jobless Post ISB!!!!

Well....thats because I have another 15 days to go before I go to bangalore......and after the hectic year, normal life seems very pedestrian. The year gone by was like extreme sports compared to normal life, which is like a slow game of golf. Iam not ready for Golf YET!!!!

Anyways, a few of us have been meeting regularly (We actually dont know what else to do with our excess time now :) ). We all met up with a few students from next years batch to impart some gyan....this has noe become a Chennai-ISB meet tradition and hopefully it will continue for years to come!

Now its time to move this blog away from ISB topics onto more generic topics of interest (Namely Marketing in my case). Since Iam moving a work profile in that general area, I will keep trying to add some insights.....hopefully some of which i will try to look into at a later stage in my career......

Pssst.....hopefully there wont be anymore confused posting written under duress(like last year).

Sanity shall prevail!!!!

Laterz

Good Bye ISB

Well...its farewell to ISB and the by far the best year of my life. The campus is strangely silent, and all I have to look forward to is Graduation day (8th April). The next phase of life commences at Bangalore...lets see where it leads to next.

Class of 2007 students located at chennai....Let me know when you want to meet the alums in chennai (Preferably 11th April).

I will try and gather a crowd of guys to meet up and share any info you need. Last year we met at the coffee shop "Amethyst".

My email ID: karthik70@yahoo.com

Next post from chennai!!!!

Well...Its all over now, but everything else is just getting started :)

I just submitted my last assignment last night. With that I complete all the requirements for the course and will officialy graduate by the 8th of april. Quite a few of my near and dear ones will come for the graduation ceremony and it will be a very emotional time for all of us (Even for a person like me :) !!).

To capture the experience in a nutshell, the year at ISB is like self inflicted torturous change that a choice concious individual experiences after admission to the school. Then you get here and think that you can tackle it with ease...then you realize that it s an entirely new ball game with the rules of the game being totally flipped.

Then the happy part sets in, for you feel part of something BIG and thru all the struggles, you make some great friends, a lot of contacts and definitely get transformed in some sense. ISB preaches Trauma Transformation. Frankly, It really works. A meek person goes out feeling more confident than ever, Some one who cannot handle stress will definitely handle it better now.

Then come placements season....some people happy, some people sad...Some people Overjoyed at the results!!! If anyone tries to measure the entire year on a monetary ROI metric, then sadly you are making a mistake. All that i can say is, Wait a while to see success of all the ISB grads in the next few years and you will know what Iam talking about now.

ISB is a one of its kind instituion in india with a lot of people wanting to see it become successful in the years to come. Every new student who enters next needs to keep the following in mind:

• Do whatever you are best at at full throttle.....academics is not the only thing to do in this 1 year
• Maximize your learning through interactions with your peer group for academic learnings are very pedagogic and will only take you so far.
• Make a lot of friends and have a lot of parties.......it helps you feel more refreshed for the next challenge.
• ALWAYS be honest to yourself....even if you make mistakes and are caught in the act...accept and move on......under all the stress, there will be all kinds of opportunities to go astray
• Be a real brand ambassador for you institution, for it furthers your career at every stage. Remember, your reputation from this point on is closely linked with ISB's now!
• Finally, Have fun but never drop your gaurd completely...always be alert and attentive.

Have a great year guys.....and I wish you all the very best in life.

Karthik