just like that

If there was one thing that was not part of my activities planned for the second year, it was writing B-plans. But tuning myself in with the flavor of the season, I have also taken part in a couple of them. And actually it was fun - Thinking carefully about concepts learnt, how practical/impractical they are in the current market scenario and finally selling your plan despite all this. There was also this paper on World trade we did and sent in for another competition. So why am I suddenly doing all this? I guess its partly due to the inspiration from a few of my fellow batchmates here. Just giving you a glimpse of it,

1) Sandeep kumar wins the Tata 'Smart Manager' award beating competition from all other B-schools

2) Hushi,Joseph and Sanika win the national level contest of L'oreal Brandstorm and are among the elite 32 teams in the world to take part in the finals in Paris.

3) Sandeep(again) was selected for St Gallen's Symposium; held annually at the University of St Gallens, Switzerland, it is the world’s leading neutral platform for critical and constructive debate on the issues of global concern.

4) And just yesterday, Sanika and Mrunalini won in the 'Cherry Blossom' case contest held in MDI, Gurgaon. The grand prize included not only cash but also an PPI from Reckitt & Colman.


My congratulations to all you people!

As you can clearly see, there is enough motivation for all of us to keep emulating these people and bring in more laurels for ourselves and the institute. These things definitely go a long way in conveying to the corporate world about the potential of the students here. Being the youngest of the IIM's hasn't prevented us from taking rapid strides over few of the others, but as we look ahead, we would like everyone to view IIM-Indore more for the 'Indore' part and less for the 'IIM' part. It isn't something that happens overnight. Everyone here realizes that and we all want to contribute our little bit while we are here.

Moving on to other news,

1) The juniors have gone on their first term break. The first term break is usually the most awaited one and everyone has gone home.
2) The classes are running pretty light - Finally some time off to catch up on movies, jogging and going to the city (incidentally, none of which I do regularly)
3) On Super Sunday, Arsenal bt ManU and Chelsea(my team) bt Liverpool. This is very much a campus news due to the huge number of fans for the various teams and the fights that happen in the newsgroups.

Thats it for now! See u soon on the next update.

Update - Sep 24,2006

I never thought I will be updating this so soon but Sandeep Kumar and Vivek Chopra just won the second place in the Banker's Day finals held at FMS,Delhi. Congrats guys!
The way things are going, I guess I will have to keep updating this post every now and then :)

Update - Dec 20, 2006

Prashanth, kaushal, Ashik and Parry have been winning left,right and center with their incredible business plan. They finished second in the Pan-IIM business plan contest held in Singapore. They have also been selected for one of the best business plan contests in the world, the name of which I seem to forget. They also won the first place in the FMS business plan contest. All in all, a rocking year for them and IIM Indore.

Anoop, Bhajanka and Banka won the first place in the JP Morgan case study contest and won themselves a PPI along with 2 lak cash prize. The win was even more significant as they competed and won against some of the best teams from the other IIM's.

Great work guys! keep it going!

Was chatting with one of my friends today and after a long discussion on this topic, I thought I might as well write about it.

To begin with, a typical Indian love marriage happens post one of the following scenarios:

1) Parents from both sides don't agree. The lovers run-away and marry (no movie stuff - still widely prevalent in many villages and even cities)
2) Parents from one side agree. Marriage either occurs immediately or after waiting successfully/unsuccessfully for other side to agree.
3) Parents from both sides agree (becoming more common these days in the big cities)

So, why don’t parents agree to the choice made by their son/daughter? I guess it’s got to do with a couple of things – our caste system and societal pressures. In a way, they are inter-related. India’s caste system has always prohibited people from marrying into another caste and this has been followed down the centuries. Whether they see any logic or not, parents are adamant about not letting their children marry anyone from other caste. And ours is a social system where people pay too much importance about the way the relatives see/talk about you. So no parent wants to hear things like ‘Oh! Ramesh – His daughter ran off with that Christian, didn’t she?’ or ‘u know, Mahesh’s son married some Punjabi girl; My God! and this man shamelessly tells me that he accepted them’. Hence every parent wants to marry off their children into a family chosen by them which, of course has the ‘appropriate’ caste and class. I have seen many a family where the parents actually keep driving this fact time and again to the children. There is also the additional aspect of marriage being a spectacle of showing off in many communities. A friend of mine once remarked how people in his community actually save a lot and lot of money throughout their life only to burn them all during the 5 or 6 days of their daughter’s marriage. The marriage being such a status symbol also sometimes contributes to the mad and unreasonable rejection of love by parents.
(There is also this huge stupidity of matching horoscopes to check compatibility - Since it is not such a great factor as far as love marriages are concerned, we will not go into the details)

There are also a few things which explain why love marriages are always not as successful as arranged marriages are in the Indian context. First of all, unlike the west, an Indian marriage is the coming together of two families and not just of two individuals. So when the girl coming into the groom’s family is from a similar family background and upbringing, she is able to fit in that much more easily into her role as a daughter-in-law of the family. Not only is a girl coming from some other community viewed with a lot of prejudice, she is also that much less readily accepted in to the family. Compare this with a scenario in the west, where the couples live alone and the girl just needs to tackle the guy (I wonder how they manage without saas-bahu serials). On the other hand, things become difficult for couples living alone in India (say after love marriage without the support of parents). The neighbors view them with suspicion, they are isolated by all relatives and don’t get invited to any family function. In fact, it becomes difficult to raise the kids in case both of them are working. Hence, it is very essential that the couples earn the support of their families before marriage. It solves a lot of unforeseen problems later on. Things which might seem relatively unimportant now become critical later on. So all couples who are in love and are planning to marry - let the marriage happen with the acceptance and blessings of both the families. If you have to wait for it, so be it; if you have to fight for it, so be it.

Of late, though, there are encouraging signs. There are quite a few cases where I have seen/heard parents accepting wholeheartedly the choice of their son/daughter. Even a lot of my friends here acknowledged the changing scenario. I guess, after all, those hundreds of romantic movies are finally having their effect. Of course, Iam very sure that this is a trend limited to the big cities. We still have some way to go before we can even talk of a developed society where the individual married into a family is viewed for what he/she is rather than for what his/her family is.

Finally, if there is one characteristic of the Indian parent that needs to be admired, then that is the way they accept their son/daughter back into the family after the initial period of isolation post the marriage. The period of isolation may vary from parent to parent, but ultimately they do accept. A salute to that quality! As for all the lovebirds out there, all the best – hope there isn’t a necessity to experience that quality of your parents.

Starting with this post, I plan to begin a new series of 'campus updates'. This I decided based on two things - one based on a scolding from one of my seniors with regards to the lack of updates and two I need to know whether I really write anything of substance apart from campus happenings. So hereafter the 'campus' series will cover campus events only. Lets get started.

Well, one of the most striking things as far as the last term went was the arrival of our junior batch. Ever since our seniors left in March beginning, the campus was ours to rule. So when the juniors arrived in the last week of June, suddenly it felt a bit odd. They were also the first batch of 180, so for the first few days any place you turned in campus, it was swarming with them. I once remember a particular lunch time when I was the only PGP2 in the mess and believe me, for a moment, I didn't know where to go. Of course, once the initial ice was broken I was as good a friend with lots of them as Iam with my own batchmates.

As a part of the tradition here at Planet-I, we also had the inter-section cultural stand-off popularly known as the 'Talent night'. Aimed at building section and batch unity, the performances are typically from the PGP1 side. And boy were we in for a surprise this time around! The performances put up by them was simply mind-blowing both in terms of variety and quality. Fashion shows, skits and videos were only a teaser for the big things to follow. The light music (I wasn't sure what to call it) performances really stole the thunder. The singers, the guitarists and drummer really made us feel that we were witnessing a professional show by experts. There was also this great dancer(Vivek Johar, if Iam right) who did a Hrithik performance. At the end of it all, we were pleasantly shocked, surprised and in awe of what we had just witnessed. Seriously, this batch can go on to do bigger things.

( For the record, Section B won the competition :) )

Moving on, the PGP1 had their elections about a month or so after they landed here. The elections for the various student body committees were well contested and certain committees like hostelcom and messcom which have rarely witnessed competition in yesteryears had many nominees. Overall, I got the feeling that the batch was a bit too political with all those manifesto presentations :) Anyways, in most of the initial elections like these, it is the more popular guys/gals who get elected(Nothing wrong here - it is completely natural). My best wishes for the elected representatives - u have an important role to fulfill for your batch.

Apart from these, the term in general was a very hectic one for most of us. Came as a real shock to many who were expecting a far lighter second year after all the slogging in the first year. It could probably be attributed to a relatively shorter term and the fact there were three compulsory courses in addition to the electives. Infact, during a particular stretch of fifty days during the term, a sizeable number of people in the batch didn't have a single holiday. Of course, the academic load did not in anyway affect the other life at I . Be it quizzes, club events or full-night parties - it was as always at full flow.

Now as we begin a new term, there are a few important things that lie ahead of us. Apart from the studies, there are

1) The exchange students from France and China (Our guys have gone to USA and Newzealand in addition to these two countries)

2) The Business plans and paper presentations

3) The summer placements for the junior batch.

4) The mother of all events, Iris (this November, experience 'larger than life')

And of course, lots of birthdays, lots of parties and loads and loads of fun :)

Ever since I came back for the second year, I have been a confused guy (Not that I wasn’t confused before, it’s just that it has gotten worse). The basic reason behind this might be the fact that I have started thinking about where Iam actually headed in life. First year was all fine when you just had to study the subjects that were there. Second year is different – you need to decide which subjects you will study and which you won’t. All I know right now is what stream I don’t want to get into.

It is not just a question of the subjects or the stream alone – I don’t see where Iam headed in life. All right, I will finish my MBA; get a good job (hopefully) and then what? I don’t have any sense of direction of where this is all leading to. When I was young (say ninth or tenth standard), I dreamt big. I wanted to be the next Tata or Ambani. I wanted to do something that will make India proud. I wanted to provide employment to thousands of people. I never knew how I was going to do it but I always knew I should.

Strangely, somewhere along the line, I have lost it. I just did what everyone else did. I tried for IIT and BITS and didn’t make it to either. Got into a decent engineering college, got one of those good software jobs at the end of it and was very happy about it. A year later, Iam in an IIM dreaming of those big bucks. I still sometimes think about my big dream but the fact that I don’t know how Iam going to get there worries me a lot. I recently read about an IIM-A grad, Sharath (http://www.hindu.com/2006/04/02/stories/2006040215261000.htm) who started a restaurant after finishing his MBA. He had struggled financially right through his life. He had an ageing mother who had fought all her life to ensure the rise of her children. He had brothers and sisters to take care of. He could have easily taken one of the many on-campus offers he had and lived happily ever after. Rather, he chose the untested, riskier path of going on his own. This guy Sharath suddenly became a hero for me. I got motivated by what he had done.

As in most cases, reality struck me hard a few days later. Once I was out of that emotional cloud, I evaluated what were my realistic chances of doing something similar. To begin with, my parents have high expectations from me. Though they never convey it to me, I can see it in their eyes. Tomorrow, if I go and tell them that I want to start my own company, they won’t say no but they would be very disappointed. They don’t want a model son for the society; they would rather be happy with a normal MBA grad leading a good life. I wouldn’t blame them – it is the typical mentality of any middle class family.

This apart, on a personal front, the fact that I don’t have that bright idea yet worries me as well. I have always been confident of myself, but all I have is just that. Iam beginning to wonder whether I will really make it and when you start thinking like that, you are as good as finished. However, there is also this last glimmer of hope inside me which says I might just make it. Whether that glimmer burns out or glows brighter remains to be seen.

To begin with, I was never a great fan of football. Only after landing in Planet-I last year, I have begun to follow it (though the word 'follow' might be a bit disrespectful to the true fans). Nevertheless, over the last one month, I was surprised to see the amount of support and passion that some of my friends had for their teams and for the game. Many discussions in the mess and hostels revolved around football. I was really wondering whether India had suddenly made football their popular sport. Anyways, in terms of watching the games, it was great fun as all the important matches were shown in the auditorium big screen. It is a great experience when 100 people around you 'ooh' and 'aah' the hits and misses.

Getting down to the tournament itself, I had pledged my support to France long back. It goes back to 1998(when I started watching football for the first time) when they won the cup with a splendid Zidane show in the final. Anyways, coming into this World cup, few supporters would have expected them to make it big. And the initial signs were disappointing. The way they were playing, it seemed that they wouldn't even make it to the second round. Anyways, the match against Spain turned the World cup upside down. Suddenly, I got all interested in the World cup although Brazil was up next. And when they actually stopped the South American team's brilliant run in the competition, I was almost sure it was time for 1998 again. The final was always going to be difficult despite a below-par performance being enough against Portugal.

And what a final it was...A sixth minute penalty and time for Zidane to show his genius. To have the audacity to take such a shot in an World cup final - too good (Though my football guru, Shameel, believes he was plain lucky). The powerful header from the Italian in the nineteenth minute set up things nicely. Italy dominated till half-time but France came back brilliantly in the second half and looked all set to take the Cup. But the fact that they couldn't convert their dominance in to goals meant the inevitable - extra time. and boy, did it have some drama! Ribery and Henry get substituted. Zidane's brilliant header saved by an equally brilliant Buffon was easily the defining moment of the match. That save stood between Zinedine Zidane and a fairy-tale farewell for one of the greatest players. Minutes later, Zidane head-butts Materazzi and promptly gets what he deserves - A red card. Whatever the reason, whatever Materazzi might have said or done (http://antithesis98.blogspot.com/2006/07/why-did-zidane-to-it-because-materazzi.html) that was unacceptable. As far as Iam concerned, you don't become a great player by your on-field play alone; it is as much, if not more important to have proper on-field behavior and be a role model for others (Shameel still says ' He is Zzzzzzzidane, he is allowed to do it').

Getting back to the game, France still played well with ten men in the dying minutes although it was all but heading for the penalties. The very look on Barthez's face before the penalties didn't inspire me. He strangely didn't seem very confident to me. Buffon, on the other hand, was all charged up and motivating. Whether it made a difference in the end, we would never know. At least, Trezeguet didn't give us an chance.

Italy won the world cup and France my heart (unfortunately, people seem to pay more attention to the former :) ). Congrats Italy! Well played France! I will be rooting for you next time around as well.