Possibilities..

It was a historic moment yesterday to see a part-Kenyan become the first citizen of the U.S of A - rightly called the land of possibilities. The race that lasted almost 2 years is probably diminutive compared to the centuries long struggle of the colored - still livid in many parts of the world (at this point I am reminded of the best poem of 2006). But whether this is more than an emotional win for these guys is a question that I couldn't find an answer for.  What does Obama mean to a boy in Tanzania who works for less than a dollar per day mining saphires that a capitalist can market as a luxury for several thousand dollars?

There were at least 10,000 people gathered at Capitol Hill to witness the swearing in ceremony - were they just seeking hope from a man who has broken several obstacles to reach where he is today? Did they elect him to perform miracle that will repair the stumbling economy? If they did, Senator Obama has made it very clear about what lies ahead. He made no false promises and said this is war what American is facing. 

May be he truly meant what he said for his jaws were clenched during invocation as if he was willing God helped his country and his people. Partly, that could be a reason why he stumbled with the oath itself - may be he just then realized what he signed up for! Jokes apart, it only remains to be seen what good this ray of hope could bring to the world. If the Senator puts fairness before war and humanity before Americans, he has my vote too!

A day in life...

Prof. Mudit Kapoor once said in class that a B-School is nothing but a glorified placement agency. And it truly is! Last weekend was probably the most exhausting weekend I ever had - it was the first day of on-campus placements and boy was I wrong when I thought it is gonna be ok. I had 4 interviews lined up on the same day (some guys had 7.. I cant imagine how they managed to attend all) and was totally psyched out the night before. Couldn't get a minute's sleep - my whole career was melting down in my dreams and I woke up at 5 a.m. - something that I could never do at ISB till that day... the weather is so pleasant in the mornings that all I could think of doing when alarm goes off is to snuggle even more comfortably inside the rug and sleep. I am drifting off from the main topic here... yes.. Day 1 of placements...

The madness started around 7:30 a.m. and I didnt know when I stepped outta home that I am gonna return after 12 hrs thoroughly famished, hungry and with swollen feet due to the damn heeled shoe that I bought for the interviews! There were excited chats and nervous laughs throughout the academic centres - people wishing each other good luck as they ran past for the next interviews, temporary eat-outs arranged by the cafeteria guys for us to grab a bite now n then, student volunteers who were doing everything from calling ppl to come for interviews to bringing out food/water for the exhausted souls.

I remember feeling nervous just before the first GD for a conglomerate because it was going to be the second interview of my life and the first one ever for a job. After that it was all a blur. I didnt remember what I said in any of the interviews - in fact at one point I felt so frustrated n tired that when the recruiter asked me "Who would you put as brand ambassador for our insurance product?", I answered "P.Chidambaram". I think he was so taken aback that he ended the interview within the next 30 seconds. Now I feel like laughing but it could have had disastrous results :D. Anyways.. all is well that ends well.. I managed to bag a good offer. Now all that remains to be seen is how am I gonna spend the next two and a half months at ISB.

I mentioned placement volunteers somewhere - just wanted to add a note on them. These ppl were not attending interviews on Day-1 but they were so willing to assist those who did! In my mind, that meant some character... what it takes to sweat for others to bag great offers when your own future is still uncertain. My respect for the ISB community as a whole grew multiple folds because of this one day's experience - there are some real good leaders in the making at this place. Probably, this is what Drucker meant when he said "Management is about doing things right but leadership is about doing the right things"...

Some of the exchange students who came here mentioned that they do not have a placement process per se back at their schools. That made me appreciate what ISB's placement cell (aka CAS) is doing for us. Yea.. it could also mean brand building, strengthening the alumni network etc etc but it works well for us who are forced to compete in a market where thousands of better managers are unemployed. 

On the flipside, many students are yet to be placed but we still have time before graduation and sincerely hope that all of us have the best job in hand on the day of graduation. This wasn't the mood on the day of orientation - each one of us was picturing him/herself as the one who is gonna make it big.. really big... as it had been in the previous years. No one would have believed that future held such a disastrous chain of events in store that basically shook the roots of our confidence. Well.. life is a box of chocolates and you never know what u r gonna get :).  I guess it will definitely turn out well for everyone at the end..

5-Squared

There is a Friends episode (more about Friends later) where everyone turns thirty. Rachel breaks up with Tag on her birthday bcuz she thinks he is too young for her and that she needed someone to settle with. It was funny to see how women got crazy when they realize they are getting old. It isn't funny any more when I myself completed quarter of a century on this planet couple of months back.

Turning 25 wasn't a big deal.. I think it was the easiest thing I ever had to do. But being 25 is really tough.. for one I dont want to hear my mom say "u r 25 and u still can't cook for yourself??" It is a  part of the growing-up process - whenever u reach an age that is a multiple of 5, people around u think u have more responsibility. Hey.. give it a break.. 26 or 27 is bigger than 25 any day!

Personally, I feel proud that I managed to survive through several things all these years. By Darwin's standards, I am fit. This one year, I want to do a recap of my life and see what more I can do. I dont remember my 5th, 10th and 15th birthdays. On my 20th birthday, I was very happy - because Satish gifted me a watch that I always wanted and I wear it every day even now. I was so happy that I forgot to brood over my teenage getting over. I think I should do something this year to remember this remarkable milestone.

And I think I know what I am going to do.. I am gonna live my life. I am gonna do things that I always wanted to do - watching movies whole day ("Am I wasting my time?"), eating 10 ice creams at a single go ("No I'll start sneezing"), buying new shoes ("I have a good one already.. why blow money?"), owning a car ("Do I need one?"), learning keyboard ("Don't have time"), restarting dance classes ("Am very busy...") - things that I kept postponing thinking this is not the right time. I have come to realize that if this isnt the right time nothing else would be. 

So that's the deal - I am gonna behave my age.. and that means I will 'never be sorry that it is over.. but be happy that it happened'

First Blog..

Everyone has one.. so will I. That is a plausible reason but I didnt have one thus far cuz I am lazy to write. Probably that explains why my many childhood attempts to maintain a diary failed miserably (not to mention the fact that my sister always found a way to read my diaries which made me give up on my privacy). But I love to sit n think about things... never cared so much to log them somewhere so that I can review the things that I think about at a later point in time. 

I contemplated for long on what my first blog should be about and decided at the end that nothing is better than writing about myself :). So there you go.. an elevator pitch on myself. 

I am a computer engineer turned soon-to-be b-school grad. The MBA bug bit me sometime around my teenage when I did not even know what it stood for. All I cared about were the blazers and stilleto heels and meetings about god-knows-what in big airconditioned rooms. So, the journey started with me being a skinny 17-yr old battling to get into one of the oldest and most reputed engineering colleges. In hindsight, I don't remember planning to get into Anna University ever. It was a given according to me... I always pointed to the red building as my college everytime we crossed it on our way to Shakes and Creams. And so it became. Four years - lotta learning. For the first time in my life I saw people bettering me. There was one time in my third semester when I actually had tears that I will never be able to make it through the competition. But somehow I scrambled my way through and landed at Microsoft. About three years later I started to plan for the biggest milestone of my life and in April '09 I will have the MBA degree under my belt. 

So that is my short life history. I will tell more about the different things I have come across in these 25 yrs (Damn.. I am getting old) later on. For starters I just wanna say one thing.. "Life is beautiful..."