First trip to IIMA

Finally the day to leave for IIMA arrived. I boarded the Ashram express at 1500 hours from Old Delhi railway station on 18th June'09. I was travelling in a first class compartment for the first time. I had a notion that since a 3rd class compartment has 6 seats and a 2nd class has 4 seats, a first AC will have two seats. With me being a lone traveller, i was expecting the goddess of fate to smile at me and bless me with a female companion.

First look at the compartment and the truth dawned upon me. First AC also has 4 seats, only difference being that it is closed compartment with a few improvements in aesthetics over a 2nd AC. But then i guess even fate gets bored by screwing the same person over and over again. A german couple were my occupants of same compartment. That german chic was easily one of the most beautiful girls that i had ever seen. We talked a lot about India and Rajasthan in particular. I have only been to Jaipur in rajasthan. With this bit info and a few other crumbs earned from Bollywood movies i talked like an expert on rajasthan culture. I also didnt mind throwing in the fact that i was going to join IIMA - toughest B-school in this world in terms of applicants to final offers ratio. Luckily that girl knew about IIMA as she was studying in a German B-school with which IIMA has an exchange program. I could see why alumni say that this course changes your life and earns you respect... though I was hardly eager for respect. :)

After realising, actually finally admitting in my heart that she wasn't single, i sat on the top berth. This was the only place where i could sit and stare at her without being stared back by her male companion. Around 8 PM a girl entered and occupied the fourth seat in our compartment. From where i was sitting and the slight glimpse i got of her, she looked good. She was wearing a pink shirt and a trouser. Very formal and smart attire. I waited till dinner arrived and then came down from my berth and had my dinner. I sat there for around half an hour but could not talk to her. When i was about to get up on my berth the german female asked me a question about IIMA. It was then that the girl sitting next to me started smiling. I looked at her curiously, trying to come up with a one liner when she extended her hand and introduced herself. Rest of the night was spent talking to her...And guess why?

She was also a IIMA PGP 2009-2011. She was gonna be my batch mate for the next 2 years. :)

I have read many times,"Nobody dies a virgin. Life screws all". I guess my days of getting screwed are finally gonna end. :) Looking forward to adventerous next 2 years.

We reached ahmedabad station at 7:50 AM next morning. She had a few relatives to pick her up. We parted ways and i boarded an auto. Within 30 minutes i reached the campus. The enrollment process was very streamlined. By 9:30 AM i was in my room with laptop configured to access net using LAN cable. I was allotted Dorm 9 Room 9. This is where i will be spending the next 2 years of my life.

First walk through campus, seeing its red-brick designed with geometric shapes (circles, rectangles, squares, semi-circles), was a dream come true. I had seen this building in magazines and articles a million times and had always wondered what it would be like to be a part of these hallowed portals. And here i was, witnessing the same location with my own eyes. Heart was filled with pride and a sense of satisfaction. This is what it feels like when dreams come true.

Awkwardness of it all

Neha and I - We were both Gupta's and were called the "Gupta twins". Though i must specify that we were the kind of twins that Barney and his brother are in "How I Met Your Mother" - If fairness is defined on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being charcoal and 10 being Nicole Kidman, then i was a 4 and she was an 8.5.

We were best friends in school. I was number one in class (academically) and she was third. She had the best hand writing in the class and i had and still continue to have the worst, almost illegible. We would always sit and study together. Ours wasn't the most liberal of the schools and one of our teacher would often comment to us,"Tum dono jud kyun nahin jaate? Besharam kahin ke. (Why dont you two join together? Shameless creatures.". We would do all the leg-pulling together. I had this habit of never bringing a pen to the class and for almost 2 years she carried a spare one for me. She would whisper the answers sitting next to me when i was in the firing line of teacher's questions, often getting caught in the process. She knew about my crush in the class and would always tease me. We had a great time together.

After class 10 we went to separate colleges (In Amritsar and few other cities in Punjab, you have on option of going to a college or continue in a school for 11th and 12th standard). We never met for the next 8 years or so. Then we met on Orkut and finally after 8 years we met at Brijwasi - an awesome chat papdi and kinda stuff place very close to my place.

It was interesting meeting. On the day of our meeting i didnt want to be the first one to arrive so i was wandering in the park close to our rendezvous point, always keeping an eye at the entrance. I saw a good looking 8.5 (on a 10 point scale of hotness) arriving in a car. She was wearing a red sweater and was looking really good. I was wondering what she was doing at that place. It was not the best of places for a chic of her standards. Anyways, she didnt enter the place. She had one eye on the watch and the other sweeping the area looking for someone. I kept waiting for Neha for about 10-15 minutes but when she didnt show up i decided to go in and see if i had missed her. The moment i passed by that good looking chic, from the side of my eye i saw her staring at me.

Now i am not someone who is usually, rather ever, stared at by good looking 8.5's. Usually i get a 90 degrre head movement i.e. they look away and try hard not to even give a second look - a very potent and effective weapon used by them to keep guys like me at bay. Now since she was staring i thought of talking to her. The moment i turned, she smiled and said "Anurag Gupta, ab to tu pehchanega bhi nahin (Anurag Gupta, now you wont even recognise me)". It was Neha. I must mention here that Neha used to be quite overweight in school days and must have lost a lot in the last 8 years. I smiled, shook hands and we went in. While walking in, i took a second look at the place and then at her and was embarassed at the thought,"What the hell was i thinking inviting her to place like this". We had a good talk, shared memories of past and what we have been upto in last 8 years and then left. I never met her again till yesterday.

I was at Amritsar railway station, claiming the motor cycle that i had sent from Gurgaon after before leaving that place. I saw her passing by me and must mention that she was looking even better than the last time we had met. Now she was definitely a 9. I poked her with my finger as she passed by. She turned, smiled and shook hands with me. I started asking what she was doing, how things were and how it has been almost 2 years since we last met. She was feeling very uncomfortable. Fake smile on face, nervous demeanor and clutching of hands. And then i realized why.

While checking her out i had not realized that she was not alone. Then she introduced me to others," Anurag, this is my mother-in-law; he is my husband and she is my mother". I had not clue what to say next. And then a hand grabbed me by my arm and hugged me,"Anurag bhaiyya, mujhe pehchana?(Anurag, do you recognise me?) I am Neha's younger brother. Used to be your junior in school." He then faced me with his back towards others, stared at me with anger, his crazy eyes clearing saying,"FUCK OFF". Next moment i saw myself saying good bye to them all.

It was all so weird. In my usual disregard for circumstances and people, i had once again made a fool of myself. Anyways, lessons learnt:

1.) Dont ever poke a married women in public.

2.) If you do end up doing that, then make sure that you dont make her and others accompanying her uncomfortable with your friendliness.

And the most important one...

3.) Stay off a married female friend's brother. They are liable to get very angry.

I, Me, Myself

The following article has been written after "getting into our beloved Bhatti's shoes". For those who dont know him, Bhatti is - the centre of fun-poking of every group; falling in love like pat-jhad leaves, they just keep on falling endlessly every season; rising like a phoenix and again falling for next girl that he sees; never listening to Anurag, the wise one - kinda guy.

So when i say "getting into his shoes", i mean to imply that i have interpreted his today's status message keeping his above mentioned image in my mind.

So, Bhatti's today's status message read:

"Three main ingredients of happiness are; something to do, someone to love and something to hope for".

1.) Something to do: Bhatti is vehla these days. Absolutely no work. And sure as hell this time around he is not devoting his time (for the first time) running errands for his lady love. Some of the earlier errands being getting up at 6 in the morning to help her catch a bus - what the hell was that.

2.) Someone to love: I presume here that someone is just "one" and not "many". But in Bhatti's case we all know that this number can never be 1. It has and will always be more than 1.

3.) Something to hope for: For me Bhatti's hopes are - A tear shed for him in loneliness; a thought devoted to him and his loyalty :) ; a smile appropriated to his supposed sense of humour; a look at his orkut or facebook profile to get rid of that gut-wrenching pain of wanting to know what he is up to; a scan through good old happy-couple pictures to get a glimpse of him; assuming the roles of protagonists while watching a movie and savouring the voyeuristic pleasure of being with him; undertaking a journey back in time or in future with bhatti holding her head in her lap and gently caressing her, his minto-fresh breath wandering in her hair like a humming morning breeze...etc etc

So going by above three parameters, Bhatti should not be happy; but he is, he definitely is. And as Bhatti's best friend (Yes Bhatti I am your best friend. Though you will always say it is Nandu), I am hereby taking liberty to divulge and dawn upon him and any other senti souls like him the reasons for his happiness:

1.) Something to do: He is preparing for his upcoming stay in US, going for his MS.

2.) Someone to love: For the first time in his life he is loving himself ahead of any other damn soul on this earth.

3.) Something to hope for: He is hoping to do well for himself and his family after completion of his studies. He is hoping to get ahead in the race to be AOL's chief-of-staff. He has already assumed the role of AOL's face i.e. their marketing guy. (This is in reference to his very honest and convincing mail about joining AOL a few days back. Some of us had the divine fortune of being the recepients of his first ever marketing initiative.)

So to sum it all up, as per my theory, three main ingredients of happiness are - I, Me, Myself. Screw everyone else.

Dancing jodi of the day

Date: 24th May

Venue: Siri Fort Auditorium, New Delhi

Event: Shiamak Davar Summer Funk dance performance

"Short skirts, pretty legs...pretty legs..pretty legs"..this statement aptly describes the day (atleast for me). Never in my life had i seen so many AWESOME girls at one place. And the best part was that i could go and talk to just about anyone and say,"Hi, which song are you performing on?"...and the conversation started ranging from discussing the instructors, upcoming batches, etc.

Bd and I were part of DLF Gurgaon adult beginners batch. We were performing Shahrukh Khan starrer Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi medley. Around 30 people in the batch. We reached the audi at 8:30 AM. Atmosphere there was absolutely amazing. One could feel the energy in the air. Everyone ranging from 3-4 year kids to an 80 year old (yeah, you read that right) was excited to the core. Group leaders were holding placards for their respective groups. The rehearsals started around 9:30. There were 30 odd different songs on which students performed. Apart from regular students there were few special children (disabled) which were part of many performances. Their enthusiasm, smile on their faces when they performed, clapping of hands, etc. was really touching.

Our rehearsal came around 11. We had a total of 3 minutes of stage time. I had missed a class during the course and was a little shaky when it came to the part of song taught in that class. This was rather strange because i had practiced it like 10-15 times in the class. Despite that i was at ease during the entire song except for that 15 second sequence.

We all screwed up big time the moment we got on the stage. We had both sides entry i.e we entered both from left and right. The class room in which we practiced was a 10 by 20 room. Stage was a 15 by 35. We just didn't adjust to the bigger stage area and ended up crashing into each other. The show co-ordinator kept shouting from the front of the stage to "space out" but we kept on performing. From being in the 3rd line at the start, i used to move to front line for the second half and the part which i used to forget was in this second half only. The moment i came to front i forgot everything. From there on it was looking at left, right and on the floor for me. Overall we did ok types as a group and i was a -1 on a scale of 10.

After the rehearsal we re-grouped, discussed what had gone wrong and had a good laugh over it.

We were to perform twice on the stage. Show 1 was at 12:30 and show 2 at 5:30. We went to perform at around 3:30. This time everything went well. We spaced out from start, i didn't forget anything and after the performance our instructors Janaki and Neumen told us that we had done really well. We just had to smile a little more.

Second performance took place at 7. This was our final performance. Everyone was pumped up and it went very very well. We all came out screaming and giving high-5s to each other.

This was about our show. Now about the performers. The stars of our batch were my beloved BD and a Mrs. X (Name not disclosed). X was nearly 50 years old with a daughter of our age. BD and X were dance partners. Everytime before going on stage, BD and X could be seen rehearsing their steps. Actually there was a 10-15 second spot where everyone else apart from BD and X were sitting down. Bd and X performed a solo at that point. So they would rehearse endlessly during practice classes and before going on the stage.

One couldn't help but feel the romance in the air. One could clearly see a gentle caressing of hands when they would hold hands, looking into each other's eyes, gently re-assuring each other that are doing fine, occasional laughs exchanged when X would get tired due to her age and BD due to immense energy spent trying to control himself. BD was beaming with joy all along with his partner-of-choice and no wonder was always commented by our instructor,"Ajay is the one who is always smiling. Very good ajay".

Though i have at times wondered whether BD was thinking about junior X all this while. If so then i feel sorry for X; for while X was putting her best efforts trying to get BD's attention, BD haramkhor was looking at X with lecherous eyes looking for X's daughter's shadow in her eyes. In that case though i must appreciate the way BD handled this sensitive situation without ever offending X and savouring the voyeuristic pleasure all along.

As for me, i had the cherry of the class with me as partner. I had decided that i would ask her out on the last day but eventually decided to continue my 25-year no-girlfriend fast.

While driving back, i got a taste of BD's driving skills. A couple of times, we had to take a left turn. BD would keep on driving in the middle of the road, thinking that he will turn left when it is required, only to be honked out of way by a speeding cab from left and we would miss the turn. What would follow was a swearing at Delhi's traffic and never ending wait for a u-turn. Bd did eventually succeed in getting us back to Gurgaon. Journey back took us around 90 minutes, something that required only 45-50 minutes.

Dance at Shiamak's

First things first, I KNOW I SUCK AT DANCING..

Since IIMA results have came out, i've been literally free. There is nothing to do at all. No work (fortunately or unfortunately this time has coincided with my leisure days at office...thanks to ongoing recession), no study, no gym, no kids around...

Then started the google group of IIMA. Amidst lots of replies and threads flying around, one that caught my eye was the "those interested in dance" thread and replies therein. Our IIMA 2009-2011 batch has almost 15% girls. There were lots of queries from these kanyaein as to whether there is any dance club, are there dance performances held, any dance classes, etc etc. Going by the tuchhas (term for seniors at IIMA) replies, dance was a famous activity there.

Now my social life hasn't been a particularly successful one in terms of girlsssss...

This picture is the right depiction

.......................Mutually exclusive and exhaustive sets........

These two years of life at IIMA, probably my last as a student, were the last remaining hope of any social diffusion. So i was determined to use the dance forum at IIMA as a means to end my 25 years of vanvaas..

Hence the dance classes at Shiamak's. My beloved BD accompanies me to these classes. Somehow i can make BD accept anything and everything that i say. Bhulli and Mohan will remember the Rs.3000/- track-suit incident :) . I am writing this after having attended 3 classes and as i have already mentioned, i suck. And i am ok with it.

Lemme recall an episode from FRIENDS.."TOW all football"...All friends are playing american football. A Dutch girl is watching them. Joey and Chandler both eye her and their male hormones start going crazy. Chanlder tells Joey that he has just had a broken relationship and this girl might help him with getting over that. Joey replies,"Ohh..in that case you can have her". Chandler says,"I can have her..as if, if you don't allow me then i don't stand a chance". Joey replies," Yeahhhhhhh. But don't feel bad man. We all have our strengths. You are good with numbers and stuff"...

I know dancing is not my strength. I am ok with numbers and stuff. But that 5-foot 50 kg emaciated prick instructor of ours at the class was one son-of-a-bi***. Everytime he would look at me with a smile imprinted on his face saying,"Forget it pal." Add to that his usual comment,"Dude, bring some funk into you steps. It's looking more like aerobics and less like a dance".

Boy this was annoying. But in the FRIENDS episode, Chandler gives Joey the challenge as to who will get the girl. And guess what, Chandler wins and utters these immemorable words," Holland loves Chandler. Thank you Amsterdam. Good Night."

We still have 12 more classes. I am gonna get better and break the battisi of that prick instructor. Saala bahut hasta hai...

Entrepreneurship @ Prof. Sunil Handa

This is a blog entry of an IIMI guy about an entrepreneurship lecture delivered by prof. Sunil Handa, a very respected IIMA prof. I have copied it verbatim here..

How often have you been mesmerized by a speaker? How often have you wished that a seminar would never end? I'm sure it's not too many times...
But with Prof. Sunil Handa, that is exactly what happened. He has an ability to make you think and rethink. When he speaks about entrepreneurship, he can bring even a snail out of it's shell, to challenge the world.

I remember his words - "Be aggressive, Be assertive... Do not ask, Take it! The worst that could happen is that you will be told no." It would be IMPOSSIBLE to bring out the atmosphere of that session through this blog-post, but I'm just gonna let my thoughts flow...

Prof. Handa started off by asking people what stops them from venturing on their own.When he asked why many of us would want to work for a couple of years before starting a venture. Some of the replies which came out were:

1. I'd work for a couple of years to earn some capital (seed money) for my business.
2. I'd work for a few years to increase contacts and create a network.
3. I'd work some time to gain experience.
4. I have to pay back my educational loan.

How many of us give the exact same answers? Who are we kidding?

As Prof. Handa said, the only reason is - "Tumhari phat ti hai!" With his extremely frank style, he dismissed each of those bluffs one by one:

1. Seed Money

Two Years - How Much??!!On evaluating his earnings over 2 years, one of the participants here, "Nemo", said that he'd probably save about 2-3 Lakhs (he undervalued himself TOO much, the downturn has really psyched people out...). Isn't that a bit too little for capital money? Guess what the Prof had to say.... I'll give you a loan for 3 lakhs (zero interest) when you finish your studies. Work on your venture... If it clicks, you can pay me back the principle, otherwise forget about it. He had just one condition... Immediately write a letter to the Placement Cell telling them that you're opting out of Final Placements!! Did he accept the offer? Well, would you have? Let's face it - many out there are just too unsure about how much risk they can take.

2. Work to increase contacts

Prof Handa drew this diagram on the board and told us,
"During the next 2 years, you will be that small white dot in the huge organization.Do you think you're gonna build contacts with the boss of another company?".

Let's face it, he was right again. Kutte ki dosti Kutte se hi hoti hai.

lol ... I guess that rules out number 2 also. Prof. Handa gave the example of one incident when one of his students got an appointment with Mr. Dayanidhi Maran for half an hour which ended up getting cropped to 5 min. A small window of opportunity opened during that brief visit and Prof Handa said he slid through in that one-millionth of a second. Essentially, he wanted to prove how you must be aggressive, and the fact that you don't need work experience to create contacts. You might just see a vacant seat at a table of esteemed personalities. Go grab the chair!

3. To gain experience
According the Prof, you don't gain any experience at your 2 year job. Even if you do, you'd learn far more working on your own venture. So this reason is again pointless and just a myth.

4. To pay back educational loan
This is where Prof Handa spoke about "The Circle of screwed Indebtedness". What's that?? Well, it's essentially a vicious circle of loans... You know, loans taken to pay off previous loans. And the saga continues.... The prof was ready to give an offer here as well - To pay off our loan till we can pay him back, if we'd agree to start our own venture.Why exactly are people afraid??

When someone told the Prof that jobs were safe and comfortable whereas entrepreneurship was risky, he made a complete mockery out of him. He told us that it was the over-protective behaviour of many parents and at times their non-terminating government jobs which gave us such perceptions. For him, it was obvious... Venturing out on your own was the absolutely safer bet, and then again, he asked..."Don't you guys want to be rich?"

Oh that qs. triggered another drama when one of us said, "Money isn't that important, I just wana chill out and enjoy life."

Bad thing to say to Prof Handa. Another person got sent to the crusher.

Let me tell you a bit about "The Sunil Handa":
Born in a simple family, Prof Handa and his brother jumped into entrepreneurship early and with just Rs. 15,000. They soon owned over half a dozen pharma factories and had to their names a whooping 1200 Crores (1995). However, that was when life took a turn for him. A dispute and business split with his brother left him devastated. It took him numerous months and visits to all the saadhus (pendulum babas, magneto-therapists etc.) whom relatives referred him to, before he could come out of the depression. When he finally did, he kind of retired from his busy entrepreneur life, and started Eklavya School in Ahmedabad.

For the past 17 years, Mr. Sunil Handa has been teaching a course called "LEM" (Labrotary in Entrepreneurial Motivation), at IIM Ahmedabad, a course which he says has no book, no notes, no quizzes/exams, practically no pedagogy. Just a few lectures and a whole load of one-to-one sessions. And his students he calls LEMmers. Prof Handa said that around 200 of his students are entrepreneurs today; people who interact with him very regularly and seek guidance on numerous issues.

There were two main entrepreneurial examples which the Professor gave:

The first one was of Mr. K R Rao, one of Prof. Handa's own batchmates at IIM Ahmedabad. (1977-1979) This lad was a true social butterfly at that time; someone who many didn't even remember during their silver jubilee reunion (2004). But with "Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals" under his sleeve, Rao's net worth is over Rs. 3000 crore today. Though Mr. Rao was a B.Com-MBA grad, he was a true visionary.

Moving on to the next example, Prof. Handa spoke about his teaching career's first entrepreneurial student, Mr. Narendra Murkumbi. This lad's first idea was that of manufacturing a Neem Insecticide in Belgaum. Though Prof. Handa was apprehensive about the idea initially, he was assured of its success after speaking to an international neem expert, Dr. Gupta at ICRISAT. Though the product turned out to be a great success, the customers were farmers and hence the Receivables on his balance sheets were huge. It was in 1995 that Narendra came up with the idea of buying old sugar mills and starting production of sugar. Prof Handa told him that he was crazy and that sugar was meant for people in the upper echelons of politics. But like many entrepreneurs, Mr. Murkumbi was willing to risk it. He went on with his plan and today he is the owner of one of the world's most scientific state-of-the-art sugar mills, Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd. Not only that, he was also featured as one of India's new bilionaires by Business World.

One interesting thing about Renuka Sugars is that they use co-generation to produce their own energy (using the waste, bagasse which comes from sugarcane). No electricity is purchased from outside. When Murkumbi explained the idea to Prof Handa, he said, "When god created sugarcane, he put enough energy in it to bring the sugar out of it."

Flirting with Ideas
After numerous success stories, Prof Handa told us that we must face reality, and it's not necessary that your first venture becomes a million dollar lottery. You have to experiment..."Flirt with different ideas" and eventually one of your plans will click. For some it's the first... for Prof Handa it was the 7th.

One on One Interaction
It was after the first session that Prof Handa decided to interact with a few participants who were interested in entrepreneurship. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity as well. (Thanks Jalan...). It was nice speaking to Prof Handa for about 25 min where we discussed certain patchy ideas that I had in my mind. He had so much to share and I could've sat there forever. But time is one thing you don't get when you need it the most. Anyways, I guess we all hope to interact with him again in the future. Let's see how much effect such talks have on IIM Indore's participants, and how many of us venture out on our own some day....

IIM A or B or C...Part 3

Here is another reply that we were given on the debate on whether to join IIM A or B or C...

Copied verbatim....
I think its a very valid concern which most of us also faced is last year.. further, this is probably the best forum get opinion on the impending decision as most of us left B and C to come here (while a very few people at B and C would have left A).. while that itself says a lot about the institutes, i will share with you guys how i made up my mind last year and how does it now seem in retrospect.

Standard personal-opinion disclaimer applies.

Placements:In terms of the number and type of companies, i think A, B or C are all more or less the same.

Alumni network: I was not sure of this, but my seniors at B only told me that A has by far the strongest alumni network. This i believe has a more long term impact on your professional growth.

Learning: IIMA is by far the most rigorous of the three. that was a natural deterrent for me, particularly after the laziest year of my life (DD at IITB). but one gradually gets used to the hectic schedule and the vertical learning curve. I wouldn't have said this a year back, but most of the courses indeed add a lot of value to you

Peer group: As mentioned above, A attracts the best talent pool. call it herd mentality, but its a herd of the most brilliant people. joining it will only make your experience more enriching
punctuality, discipline, sincerity etc are some unsolicited virtues one inevitably acquires here.. but yeah, you wouldn't care about them right now :p

Itna load mat lo.. there is no clear-cut right choice here.. the difference if any, is only marginal..

To sign off, i will just copy my super-tuccha's statement here.. when I was trying to resolve my doubts -

"Unless you have extremely strong reasons to go for B or C, just take A. Its a lifetime superstamp on your sleeve."

IIM A or B or C...Part 2

Part 2 of the series about whether to join IIM A or B or C. This was a reply sent to my immediate seniors by their senior.

Copied verbatim....
I joined in late and was just browsing through the group when I came across this. A lot has been said about the subject in the numerous mails before this. I really wonder why!

Is it that the multiple call getters want to act pricey and boast of having got through ABC when they already know where they will join? Now come on guys, we do not need managers to be so indecisive. Please do not compare IIM X with A. They are great institutions in their own right, but on par with A? Excuse me! Kindly wash your face and get a reality check. At the end of the day, person with 6 calls is equivalent to a person with an exclusive A call.

Or are these future leaders so immature that they want to relax for 2 years in a Bangalore pub or play on a Calcutta football ground? Come on guys, you gave CAT to do an MBA for god-damn-sake. If you are scared enough to think twice before joining A due to the academic rigour here (which I hope is not the case), then please go elsewhere. IIM Ahmedabad does not need chickens. We take a lot of pride in the premier status of our institute.

Anyways, since people asked for it, I thought I'd dole out my two pence.

Better late than never. For the record, I'm FoojZi - a PGP 3. I just thought I'd share my point of view on this ever raging debate that goes on in the mind of an ABC guy/girl. Let's take it case by case.

*Academic Rigour*

A popular joke among the IIMs is that the A in IIMA stands for Academics, not Ahmedabad. True, very true. We study the hardest, we come out the best. The first year in IIMA is said to be one of the toughest experiences one might have in an entire lifetime. It prepares you for all circumstances ahead. B and C are also tough, but no where close to A. Scared? Better be. It is true. Muggo Fachchon Muggo is not said for nothing! :-)

*Placements*

There is an old saying - Make hay while the sun shines! It is believed that there is little difference between the placements of A/B/C, except may be for 10 odd additional Day0s for A each year. Or is it?

The 3 were never really tested in the last few years when the recruiters came down for final placements. Leave aside C, they do not stand in the picture. The last 2 years had been bumper years for placements and hence little difference between A and B, though A maintained its lead quite clearly. However the scenario changed from this March when the situation normalised and the requirements were low. Some 'trusted' recruiters (names withheld for obvious reasons) took much lower numbers from B and did not even go to C. On the other side, at A, it was normal business as usual.

*Faculty*

A/B/C all three have quality faculty. Little difference there. Any place you go, you are sure that the best in the country would be teaching you. But then again, you have more than one teacher in a classroom. You actually have around 70 at a time.

*Students*

The students (YOU!) are the other 70 teachers in a classroom. Each year the best of the best come to IIMA. Almost everyone in IIMA also has a B/C call. On the other hand, there would be hardly 5-6 each in B/C who opted for those institutes over A.

*Courses*

All IIMs offer excellent courses. But where IIMA scores over others in the first year is with Written Analysis & Communication, Managerial Computing and Spoken Business Communication among others. These courses really help you in your summer internships and are a differentiating factor between an IIMA guy and an IIMX guy.

*Parties*

There are monthly Ramp parties in IIMA. The Cultural Committe takes care of that. B has it's own variant - LSquare and so does C. But no ways does A lag behind on this front. And contrary to popular perception, Gujarat might be dry but IIM Ahmedabad isn't. Ask me! ;-)

*Extra-Curricular Activities*

Leave aside academics, and we have an annual itenary of extra- currics. Yes the academic rigour might prevent some from participation, but then it's your choice. No one stops you from anything. T-Nites, Chaos, Diwali, Holi, etc etc etc. We have our own package here. B and C might score a tad above A in this regard. But there are plenty of student clubs at IIMA to take care of that.

*Sports*

Everyday you will see WIMWIans playing football/basketball /badminton/ cricket/other games on campus. IIMA defeated IIMB 7-4 in last year's sports meet called Sangharsh. The meet as held after nearly 20 years. See, we are not just better at business. :-)

*Business Meets*

Confluence is the name of the annual business summit of IIMA. Year after year the prize money, the number of participants (both domestic + international) , the moolah and the rest is much higher and much better at IIM Ahmedabad than any other institute on the continent. A participation certificate at Confluence is a big CV point for other institutes' students.
Confluence >> Vista (B)
Confluence >> Intaglio (C)
Also, there are other events like Amaethon, Insight, International Marketing Conferences, Venture Capitalist Conclaves, Avtaran and the likes happening around the year at A. You'll know more about them on campus.

*Business Networking*

Some say that networking with alumni is the one of the most important parts in an MBA. True to some extent. And understandably, the IIMA Alumni network is the best of the lot. IIMC comes close. IIMB lags behind at No 3 in this.

*Exchange Programme*

IIMA has, by far, the best exchange programme among all IIMs. It has the most number of exchange seats and the best diversity among all institutes with seats available in even South America apart from the regulars of North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. This year a dual degree programme with ESSEC has been initiated.

*Culture*

Each institute has its own. B and C are also fantastic at this. But the dorm culture at IIMA is like none other. Come to the fachcha meets and you will know the tempo shouts. Come to IIMA and you will be rechristened with a dorm name. Come to a dorm and you will celebrate your Birthday like never before. Unlike hostels of 200 students, we have smaller dorms of sizes 20- 40. This facilitates greater interaction and bonding at the dorm level. You make friends for life. And the student mix in a dorm has a great variety as well. So you not only learn in the class, but also outside as well.

*The Brand*

You all must have seen the B-School rankings. A ranks Numero Uno by a long margin!

In a lighter vein, just imagine this scenario -- Year 2010. It's been one year since your MBA and an old family friend comes and visits you after 5 years. Your father introduces you to him, "Mera beta MBA hai. Pichhle saal hi graduate kiya hai IIM se."

The visitor says, "Arre waah bete! Yeh to bahut achchhi baat hai. Kaun se IIM se MBA kiya tumne?"Very proudly you say, "IIM B/C se uncle". And casually he replies, "Bahut badiya bete, bahut badiya. Lekin kya hua tha, A nahi mila tha kya?"

Period.

My own personal story in May-June 2005. I was also faced with this decision then. C seemed to be the chillest of the lot and a lot of my college friends were there. B, my then girlfriend lived there and I loved the city. And A of course was A. But then I thought that this MBA I will do only once in my life. Why shall I look for small advantages now! I want to go to the best and be one of the best. For help, I called up my NSIT/DCE friends in B and C who had gone there before me. I asked them A/B/C. They plainly said to me, "Yaar, we came to B/C because we did not get the chance to go to A. If you were an outsider, we would have pitched and told you to join our institute. But since you are our friend, we will tell you the reality. Whatever the reasons may or may not be, GO TO A."

Right then, my choice was clear.

I ask all you incoming fachchas to travel back to November 2006. Think about the day you wrote CAT. Think about your dream institution then which you wanted to join. You will have your answer.

If anyone of you has any queries, feel free to mail me. I will be happy to help you out.

IIM A or B or C...Part 1

Cleared CAT. Got multiple calls. Partied. Now a decision to be made, which IIM should i join. For me the answer was simple. I had to join IIMA. It was dream since my second last year of college. And today, 4 years later when i have a chance to join it, i am not gonna let any reason like back-breaking academic rigour or anything else deter me from joining A. But for many others choice is not that simple. Hence a lot of debate around which IIM to join.

Here is the first part of series involving which IIM to go. These are replies that i got from my seniors at IIMA.

Copied verbatim.....

Meant only for an adult and mature audience. Parental guidance advised.

An MBA is like a marriage. You're happy and excited when you're getting married, but it doesn't take much time to realize you were better off as a bachelor.So in that sense the institute is like your wife. You are stuck with it once you're married.In this case... your spouse is always going to be more famous than you and as much as I hate to say this "you shall be using your wife to further your career!"

Continuing this analogy a little further... since most of you have met your wives not more than once or twice, this essentially is an arranged marriage for you (the smart ones ofcourse believe in love at first sight)

So the people in this group are lucky enough to have the option of marrying A or B or C. My friend from IIMC compared these to Aishwarya Rai (A), Bipasha Basu (B) and Celina Jaitley(C). The choice is yours whom you want to marry.

However there are a couple of small little issues:
1.) You have to share your wife with 300 other people.
2.) You can't marry all three of them,
But that essentially is the choice between A, B or C. You could marry Ms. A and introduce your wife as being world famous in India. One who is undoubtedly "the most beautiful woman in the world". One whose face is recognised throughout the world. Essentially she represents the Indian woman to the world. Or... you could marry a certain Ms. Basu with whom you could have a lot of fun! But you'd often end up saying "Well.. she's beautiful in her own way." Or... you could marry Ms. Celina. No doubt she's beautiful but one for whom you would have to say "So what if she can't act. She has the potential!"

If you were hoping for a serious answer to the A Vs. B Vs. C query... please ignore what I've written before this, but do read on.

Frankly... I really do not see how anyone on this group is capable of answering this question. None of the members of the groups has had the good fortune to experience more than one of these institutes. If anyone answers it, its only based on what we "hear".In my personal opinion there is almost no difference between A or B or C. They area all good and bad in their own ways. Most people get almost the same jobs across these three campuses. You essentially put the same total effort across the two years (IIMA sends GPAs of 1st eyar to companies during pacements. C sends for 4 terms and B for 5 terms. So the others work for a longer time). So the crap that we hear that we work really hard at A and don't at B or C is just that..."crap". Yes, we do work very very hard in the 1st year. But then we don't HAVE to work hard in the second year.

Going back to my analogy: The choice is essentially "Do you like to do it fast and aggressive and heated." or "Do you like to do it simple and sober and slow... at your own pace" (pun unintended). Anyway... 2 months into marriage most people like their neighbours' wife more :)

On a serious note...An MBA is much more than just classroom studies or projects. unfortunately many of us do not realize this. Irrespective of whether you join A or B or C, you would get infinite opportunities to explore things. Most fail to pick them. An MBA gives you a different perspective to look at things. When someone said "An MBA is just common sense thrown in with a lot of jargon", she couldn't ave been more correct. Only that we generally do not use common sense. MBA teaches you how to use common sense logically and consciously.

Please think for yourself why you want to do an MBA. You answer could be "to get a high paying job" or it could be "I want to listen to some great people talk" (yeah.. Lalu Yadav is not the only one who came to our campus) or it could be "My girlfriend's dad is an MBA and I need to do it for her" or anything more weird like "personality development", etc etc. But you should know WHY you are doing an MBA. It'll help you take much more from an MBA. Do NOT enter a B-school the way we enter engineering schools or any other bachelor's degree course. You would do yourself and your batchmates a favour if you are mature enough to know why you are doing an MBA and what you want at the end of the course. A certain level of maturity is expected for the post graduate course.

Remember "Child marriage is illegal and doesn't do no good to anyone" :)

Aaah.. and incase you happen to find out which one of A, or B or C is better (mature answers only please) do mail me and I will arrange a nobel prize for you.

Ignorance is bliss

I never believed in the statement,"Ignorance is bliss." For me it was a statement composed by some loser to get away from reality; for if you close your eyes, world doesn't cease to exist.

Then there is another statement,"Everything is fair in love and war". These days i guess i am moving away from love to war.

So here's how these two statements come together. There is only one way i can move away from love and that way is ignorance.

The reason love had blossomed was because i knew almost everything (atleast that is what i used to think) about her in terms of what she is doing, how her people are, what she is going through, problems in her life, what she likes, what she dislikes, what suites her, what not, who her friends are, her past relationships, her current relationships, her other personal problems, etc etc. I guess the list will never end.

And the reason now it had become a pain, forcing me to move away from it, was because there was no more sharing - the quintessential component of a healthy relationship. And it was decreasing by the day to the point where it became a complete blackout. What was circumstantial initially has now become deliberate. Now i try not to know anything about her and hence an effort to go into a state of ignorance. And the best way to do it is by not looking at her at all. I will not know if there is cut on her lip, what colour her hair is, whether she has grown them or trimmed them, whether she has put on or lost,whether her glasses suit her or not, and most important of all...is she looking happy or sad.


Any particular reason for this ignorance? In my case, well, lemme try and put it this way..for every thing i will get to know about her either through herself or others, i know there will be "others" who will know a lot more..and i cant bear this. Hence ignorance.

And is it a bliss?

To some extent, yes. Pain is a lot less. For all this while, I felt more pain when she had a problem. I dont know what she is going through, so I seek solace in the fact that she is good enough to take care of herself.


But to a great extent, an emphatic NO. Simply because i dont want this ignorance. I want to know what she is going through; i want to reach out; i wanna be there for her. It hurts to be in a state where i dont revel in her laughter; i dont get to know of all the small/silly/stupid but amazingly mine things happening in her life. It might comfort me for most part of the day that i dont know anything about her and i can be happy for myself, but those few minutes when you get the feeling that she might not be alright, that there might be something wrong, make all the happiness a little shallow.

I once heard this saying in hindi," Har kisi ko azbe-aarzo(deepest desire) na mila.... kisi ko hum na mile, koi hume na mila"... After a certain point, i guess you just have to let go..

So is ignorance a bliss? I think i still hold on to my belief," It is a statement composed by some loser to get away from reality"..

May GOD bless her....and may i suffer from permanent amnesia about all of this :)

18th Floor theory

There are two kind of people. One who are ready to open their heart and regret it all their life when fun is poked at them regarding that emotional catharsis session. The other type never open to anyone, keep their emotions bottled up and probably suffer and regret this all their life.

Two different life philosophies; hard to say which one is the right one to follow. Anyways, this story involves a character from each category mentioned above.



Our beloved Kunal aka bhatti is the emotional romantic open-your-heart-to-your-friends type. Here's a sneak peak at this dude with a sprouting in-your-face kinda moustache. Also noticeable is a gazillion years old cap, probably the one wore by Adam, to hide his baldness, when he was "doing" Eve.






I on the other hand am the fun poking, bottled-up emotions type. I am sure bhatti would have loved to add some other picture of mine, probbaly the one where i am sleeping holding cell phone in my hand. :) kyun bhatti..hai ki nahin.















Incident took place on a rainy day in july of 2007.



But first some background......


Bhatti worked for Comverse for a couple of years before he moved to Oracle. He had a friend over there who lived in a multi-storey building on 18th floor.

And as has been Bhatti's speciality since the dawn of humanity, he was senti about this girl but would not agree. As usual i would prod him to go ahead and tell her and he continued with his we-r-just-friends crap.

But then this is bhatti..sooner or later he will spill the beans.



Let's come back to July'07. Me and bhatti were sitting in our flat balcony in the rain. It is one of those open-your-heart-to-your-mate sessions. Bhatti is telling me all about the girls in his office. Who she likes, what about them, etc. I am, as usual, all ears..waiting for my moment. Bhatti generally opens up after a while and then information flows out like boundaries from Sehwag's bat.

And then my moment arrived. Probably one of the raindrops trickled down into the sea of bhatti's emotions, stirred them and made him utter this gem of a dialogue..

Next thing i know is that i am rolling on the floor with laughter, holding my stomach. Bhatti realised his mistake and tried his level best to diffuse the situation , but then bullets once out of a gun don't return.

This dialogue is gonna haunt bhatti for a long time. Gosh i love screwing this guy...meri jaan bhatti, aise hi hame teri lene ke mauke deta reh. We need them.

In the company of kids...

Last 10 days were one of the most fun filled days i have had in a very long time. I went to spend a few days at Kolkatta with my nephew and nieces.

Their brief intro by descending age :

Mayank aka DUDE - The smart one. Hit with girls, rowing champ, (gold medal winner in many competitions) this model dude knows every nook and crany of kolkatta. Introduced me to doodh-pepsi.

Khushboo aka PETALEATER - The shy one. Going into first year of college. Swim, jog and dance( I dont believe it though) enthusiast.

Ishu aka JAILER - The fun-loving one. Can make deafs hear with her loud and deliberate shrieks.

Megha aka CHINI KAM - The cleverest of the lot. Always looking for ways to poke fun at me. This loser miserably failed at beating me (though i am sure she will never accept this)

Reached kolkatta on 27th March morning and had booked two return tickets - one for 1 April and second for 5 April - depending on how soon either party gets bored.

First day Khushboo was busy preparing for last board exam the next day. So i went out with Ishu and Megha for bowling and other games. i was undisputed champ in all games. Bowling scores were Ishu - 20 odd, Megha - 20 odd and me -101. Almost 5 times their individual scores.
Then we palyed air-hockey, losers lost once again. Though Megha will claim that she won the second game. Actually the game ends when either side reaches 9. I was 6-0 up against Megha. Since we had enough time left and i didnt want game to end, so i switched sides with Megha. Final scores were 8-6 with Megha up. But clearly i was the winner.

Next few days were spent playing an array of games like Uno, Ludo, Scrabble, Word-building, Bluff, cow-bull, bollywood, dumb charades, and the mother of all games..Judgement.

There were fights, tempter tantrums, shouting, chuntis (Mayank and Ishu), showing of Loser sign, late night card competition, etc. Positions were changed in every game, with me occupying first spot in each game atleast once. The only constant theme amidst all this was the consistent performance of Khushboo...she was invariably the last position holder in every game, except a couple of rounds. Every time i played, i had only one aim..not to come last. And Khushboo helped me with that every single time. Thank you sweety....

Snapshot of performance in each game:

Uno - Megha and Ishu were the undisputed champs of this game. I got a hang of this game only after 2-3 days. Till then i was assisted by whosoever came first. Still i ended up last in almost every game, except ones in which khushboo played.

Bluff - It's a boys game, because we only can lie. Me and Mayank topped this game with Khushboo holding her position of honour every time. In fact she got into a habit of collecting cards in this game. She would stack up a thick bunch of cards and by this time me or Mayank would have finished ours. One of us would then take over her cards and she would go to her beloved cell phone and SMSing. We would then play for her and still end up in 3rd or 4th position. A game khushboo never lost- thanks to Mayank and me. And loser was ISHU. I am sure every one would remember Mayank's song and dance sequence after defeating Ishu for second last place. What was the song yaar....?

Scrabble - Megha rulz. This 7th passout had everyone at her mercy in this game. Would end up with max marks with the shortest words, thanks to judicious use of double and tripple word marks. No guesses for the last position holder......every time.

Word Building - Nobody can beat khushboo in this. Megha held khusboo's customary position in this game. In one of the games, she was made "DONKEY" while Khushboo and Ishu were yet to open their accounts. Megha sucks at this game. Thanks largely to a stupid lingo and vocab. So LS :)

Ludo - We played as partners. Me and khushboo in one team and Ishu and Megha in the other team. Me and Khushboo won every time. This was the game where losers showed their true colors. There was bending of rules, shouting, temper tantrums and infighting. Megha was determined to piss-off Ishu big time and would end up getting inverse of what Ishu would ask for. If ishu would ask megha, "get 1", Megha would get a six. If she asked for a 6, Megha got 1. Me and khushboo were in splits...boy, we should have taped ishu's temper here.

Cow-Bull - Played only one day between me, khushboo and megha. Me and Megha were a team. In this game you give the opponent a four syllable word to guess and they get 10 chances to guess. khushboo gave us a four letter word woth no vowels and we were having an impossible time guessing it. And then having a cell phone finally paid off.. I called up my friend BD and asked him to google such words and SMS them to me. He mailed back hymn, myth and lynx. Khushboo had given us hymn. Next we set her myth but she guessed it in 4 chances. Khsuhboo won. We lost, despite all cheating :(

Bollywood - Played only one day between me, khushboo and megha. Me and Megha were team. We won hands down. Khsuhboo had her beloved position.

Dumb-charades - Khushboo and Mayank were one team and me, Ishu and Megha in other team. Game ended in a draw, thanks largely to khushboo's ultra-poor memory. Mayank broke the film in four parts, made her guess each part individually and when the time came for combining them, Khushboo forgot what she had guessed. :) ...bummer. ...But Khushboo and Mayank made an awesome team. I gave them all sort of imaginary films to guess, Dhindora gali mohalle mein, din-e-elahi, etc and they still guessed them.

And finally the game of the trip - Judgement. Kids' bua nd my didi came over and taught us this gripping, addictive, interesting game. Can be played by any number of players. Each player is given cards and then every one has to guess how many hands they can make. Each one then has to make exactly the same number of hands as guessed. Not one more, not one less. We would play this game for hours at a stretch with only a-very-late-night-and-time-to-sleep routine stopping us. Fortunes were changed in this game every time. Me, Khushboo, Ishu, Megha, Masi, Didi all stood first one time or other. Khushboo was last most of the times.

Two movies were seen- one seriously pathetic(aa dekhe zaraa) and one seriously awesome (curious case of Benjamin Button). I could see why girls love Brad Pitt. I dont know why, but i could see why even guys like him ... :)

Old pictures were seen - with ishu's boy-cut teeth-showing pic taking the cake, friends was watched, Roadies, Splitsvilla and numerous other dance shows were seen - and curiously enough in their company i enjoyed all this.

I even had nail-polish applied to a thumb and a finger to stop me from biting my nails. It's been almost 6 days now and i have not bitten them. So it's working, but am not gonna continue with this practice.

Khishboo for some reason found "cookbabu", "cooknirmal" and "cookgovind" entries in my cell phone very funny. She gave her biggest and continuous smiles when she read these entries. She just wouldn't stop laughing after reading them. Felt really good to see her laughing.

Megha and Ishu found my hair and language funny. Some of the nick names that i received from them -
Punju - (derived from Punjabi - my mother tongue and roots)
Pinki - (due to unfortunate use of pink bowling equipment, pink pencil won as a gift and use of pink sheet while sleeping)
Loser - due to a losing streak initially
Tubelight - due to a few dumb answers and game performances
Fool n Final - carry over from our last meeting. Name of a film that we watched together
..a couple of more which i cant remember...

Then there was that strange haircut dude in the serial bhakti mein shakti. Kids found his hairstyle similar to mine. Boy that was a bad hair cut. I seriously hope mine isn't like his.

All in all a fun trip. Had never thought that would enjoy so much in the company of kids. No wonder that 1 April ticket was cancelled without a second thought. If only they had a few more holidays, i sure as hell would have cancelled the 5th one too....for they are gonna be adults soon.

So company of kids..........rocks :)

IIML Interview

Date: 8th Mar'08

Venue: IIML Campus, Noida

Pre-Interview Details: For me interviews were virtually over after IIMB interview on 6th March , Friday. I enjoyed all day on Saturday. Was lazing around at BD's place. Then my mom announced that she is coming to visit my place in Gurgaon. She was visiting Jaipur and other places in Rajasthan. She said she will drop at my place on return. In the last 2.5 years that i have stayed in Gurgaon, i have managed to keep her off my place somehow. But now she said she is coming, argument being that she might not get a chance to see my place (my getting selected :) ).
So a good day of lazing around was suddenly turned into a cleaning frenzy. Called up my Flat-mate Mohan to clean up the mess. Showed mom around. Took her to my office.

Now the fun part.... My interview originally was scheduled on 6th March 2 P.M. Since it was clashing woth IIMB interview so i got it shifted. They gave me a date on 8th. I for some reason presumed that it is at 2 P.M only. So i had planned that i will leave my place at Gurgaon at around 11 A.M on 8th, get a printout of interview shift mail from office and then go for interview. But since i had come to office with Mom, i decided to take the printout then only and then i read..."10 A.M. IIML Noida Campus on 8th March"... mom got a feeling of her real son..irresponsible and careless.. anyways mini-tragedy avoided.

Left Gurgaon in hurry for Noida Saturday might only. Reached a friend Setia's place at around 11. He also had interview next day. Told me that printouts of first and last salary slips were needed. Thought of getting them next morning. Couldnt get them. All shops were closed. So reached venue without required documents.

Group Discussion: Topic given was "Start of journey should not be mistaken for success". First 20 minutes for writing a 300 word essay and next 20 minutes for discussion. I was bored writing the essay. Didnt write much. Wrote example of IPL and US Presidential elections. That success should not be decided at start, it's always in long term that success should be decided. It was the first discussion that started as a fish market. After 2-3 minuted they stopped us and asked to not shout. There on it was a little peaceful. I made some good points.

Interview: I was called in 5th. Two intervieweres. One old lady(P1) and a middle-aged male prof (P2).

P2 starts looking at my certs and P1 starts

P1: Anurag tell me what you do
ME: Dunnhumby..retail analytics.. Work for BBY

P1; What is BBY
ME: Best Buy. We work on their emerging-market entry strategy. I am solutions lead for Non-US markets. Work for Turkey, Uk and Mexico

P1: You are clubbing UK with Turkey as an emerging market
ME: Mam i meant new market entry strategy

P1: But you said emerging.
ME: Mam i meant new. Sorry for that.

P1: Describe the nature of your responsibilities.
ME: Blah Blah

P2: Anurag i am seeing a very strange thing on your 10th certificate. There are two rows for Punjabi..one for Punjabi subject and one for Punjabi culture and History.. You have a 134/150 and 1/150 in them.
ME: Looked at my mark-sheet. There were two rows. Scratched my head..yeh kya ho raha hai..Told him ki sir ek hi subject tha. Total of 150 marks. koi sub-section hoga..Probably 5 marks of hand writing honge. Vahan i must have got a 1/5.

P2: Smiling..No explain it.
ME: Dont know sir. But i am sure it's not that i have 135/300 . Used my topper card. Sir i had a total of 610/650 in 10th class. Was first in AMritsar and 8th in Punjab.

P1: Irritated... But you should be able to explain it
ME: Mam never noticed it....

P1 looking at P2: He has this certificate with him for last 8 years. I am sure even his parents must have noticed this.
ME: Thinking..parents kahan se aa gaye yaar..jo baat karni hai mujhse karo....mere parents ko beech mein mat lao..Sorry mam. Just dont know

P1: There are two more rows that have you getting one mark out of 50. Thay dont even mention the subjects that you got tehse marks in
ME: What? I looked at my certificate and there were infact two more columns which had 1 out of 50 each. What the f** is going on. Told them ki sir its some gardes i guess. SUPW ya Physical education ka hoga. Cant remember....yeh mein kya bol raha hun...man i am on fire today

"Explanation for above events. This is decoded after i reached home. Actually that was not 1. It was just a vertical line. Whosoever prepared the mark-sheet used vertical instead of horizontal lines for showcasing not applicable ( - ). That is where there were no subjects mentioned, there was a vertical bar..meaning not applicable. Similarly in front of Punjabi History and Culture there was a vertical bar..because i had not taken that subject"...How dumb can i be. SUPW aur Physical education kahan se aa gaye the yaar.. :)

P2: Ok Anurag leave it. Tell me what you do.
ME: Expalined it. Told him statistical analysis

Next few minutes were spent on cluster analysis and factor analysis
Then next few minutes on logistic regression. Then he asked me about probit model. Told him what it does and that i have never used it.
They asked me how i knew about stats, being an engineer. Told him that we are given a training. Then an internal project.

P1: Tell me what tools do you use.
ME: SAS, Knowledge Studio, CART, Excel for data manipulation

P1: Manipulation..you do data manipulation
ME: Smiling..mam i meant analysis

P1: No you said maipulation
ME: Thinking..bachhe ki jaan loge kya..analysis mam
P1: Anurag what are EVMs
ME: Electronic voting machines.

P1: Tell me about their use
ME: They are being used for elections in India.

P1:Irritated..Anurag i meant you being an electronics engineer, do you know how they work
ME: remembering i was an elec engg at some point...mam har ek party ke saath associated ek counter hoga. Every time you press one, it is incremented.

P1: How are they tempered.
ME: Mam they must have reset it. Not at the end of the day..but in between. Kyunki nahin to din ke end mein zero hoga to fight ho jayegi. Mechancial counter hota to they can take it to any value. Kyunki electronic hai, you cant get into teh code. Voh to chip mein embedded hai..you can only reset it to 0. Isiliye will not be done at day end..will be done some point in between.

P1: Sure or are you just guessing
ME: Not sure mam..but should be this way only

P2 looking at P1: I think we are done
ME: Getting up. Sir the students are waiting outside since you have not asked for any certificates copies to be deposited and it was mentioned in the form that they are to be submitted.

P1: irritated..No they can go. We did not ask them to stay
ME: I jsut asked mam

P1: More irritated...they can ask themselves..
ME: Ok..Good afternoon mam. And left the room..

Worst interview ever....Worst interview ever

I would be shocked if i get elected here. That old lady was hell bent on screwing me. Anyways, i guess i was too informal for this interview. Should have taken it more seriously.

Good thing though, interviews are over..yippie...it's party time now.

Results on 10 April....Fingers crossed.. and as one friend commented...legs crossed too :) ....

P.S: I got through. Wonder how!!!! :)

IIMA Interview

Date: 5th Mar'09

Venue: IIFT, New Delhi

Pre-Interview Details: Interview was at 2. I reached at 1:30. They took roll call. Divided into 3 panels. Motioned us to our halls. To everyone' surprise they started at 1:45.

A little heads up here. I was at my goofiest best.

They ushered us in a room for essay writing. I took the form where essay was to be written and went inside. I didnt carry my certificate file with me inside. Now there was a round table around which we were all seated. Round table had no section from where you could enter the well of round table.

And it was IIMA. Things had to happen. I placed my form on the table. The moment i sat on my seat and laid my heavy arms on the table, a gust of wind blew and carried my form into the well. Now i was looking around..hoping that no one had seen it. But everyone was staring at me and laughing. One of the prof(P1) said, "Anurag i have already deducted 1 mark for this. So how do you intend to retrieve it"

I sat on the table on my ass, spun around, picked the form, sat on the table on my ass, spun around again and the task was done. Everyone was laughing.

It doesnt end here

Prof gave instructions that we had to submit our certificates with the essay form at end of scheduled time. My head went for a toss. Hadn't brought my certs. I got up, told the prof(P2) that i had left my file outside. Prof said,"So Anurag i have deducted another mark, go get your file"...everyone was laughing. I got my file and essay started.

Essay - "Recession is the mother of all innovation"
Wrote some good points. We got 10 minutes for this.

Interview: I was fifth in line. Average interview duration for candidates before me was 20-25 minutes and general reaction after the interview was," Accha nahin hua. Bahut maar rahe hain".

After long wait P1 came out. Looked at me, smiled and said," So Mr. negative 2, why dont you come in for interview"...
I was thinking," I am so gonna pay for my little spinning adventure exhibited earlier"

P2 took my file and started going through it. After around 30-40 seconds
P2: Anurag tell em your work profile
ME: BBY, data analysis, segmentation, factor analysis, etc etc. I packed in a lot of detail as he was not interrupting or asking any question.

P2: Anurag go step by step from start and go a little slow
ME: survey, data to us, value segmentation, need segmentation, cluster analysis, etc

P2: Explain cluster analysis
ME: fastclus procedure. Seed selection, observation addition, iteration, minimization of euclidean distances.

P2: What is euclidean distance. Say a point on this table in front of us and one on the ceiling, then what is euclidean distance?
ME: Take a ruler, measure the distance. That's the euclidean distance.

P2: point X1, Y1 and X2, Y2 then euclidean distance
ME: Explained..

P2: Any other distances you know of?
ME: Mahalanobis distance, but sir dont know how it's calculated

P2: Why do we use euclidean distance?
ME: clusters should be close, minimize the intra cluster distance, etc

P2 hands over to P1. P1 was the one who had given me negative 2.

P1: Smiling....Anurag, i was going through your certs. You have almost all A's in first 5-6 semesters except one C. Can you tell me which subject?
Me: Smiling...Sir Human values and professional ethics

P1: Smiling....Anurag what is the explanation?
ME: Sir theory subject. No numerical. Cut-offs very close. I got C at 72. People had A at 78.

P1: Smiling... But for a C-grade professional ethics guy your company pays you pretty well.
Me: Smiling...Sir C is not a reflective of my ethics. I am a very ethical person.

P1: Smiling..So Anurag you seem a guy who is more interested in quantitative side.
At this point i realised he might move to maths..So i cut him while he has talking

ME: Yes sir, we use a lot of statistics at work

P1: Smiling..what statistics
ME: Logistic regression

P1: Why is it called Logistic regression
ME:Because of use of logistic function.

P2: Why logistic. Why not linear..
ME: Explained

P2: What is intercept?
ME: Indicative of probability even when all independent variables are 0.

P2: What does it mean?
ME: Explains the variation that is not accounted for by independent variables

P2: No Anurag, that is something else. Can you tell me what stat measures the explained variation of target variable
ME: Sir coefficient of determination

P2: So intercept term? Can it be the effect of variables not present as input?
ME: Immediately picking his point...Yes sir, it captures the effect of variables that are not included in the model and that effect the target variable.

P2: Anurag, can we use any other function instead of logistic function
ME: Yes sir, we can

P2: Do you know any function
ME: No sir, but we can use the logistic function by changing x to 2x or something. It will still give between 0 and 1.

P2: Anurag have you of probit, tobit?
ME: Yes sir, have heard but never used them.

P2 looks at P1. Both say that they are done. Offer me a candy. Return my file. I wished good afternoon. Came out.

Total of around 8-10 minutes. Dont know what to make outta this. Was very brief and cool interview. No stress.

This was IIMA. Hoping that dream comes true when the results are declared. Till then fingers crossed.

Next stop IIMB...

P.S: Two good looking chicks were there for interview. Ray of hope........ :)

Results: IIMA here i come......

IIMB Interview

Date: 6 Mar'09

Venue: India Habitat Centre

Pre-Interview Details: Interview was scheduled at 2 P.M. I reached at 1:30. Met a few familiar faces. Refrained from addressing anyone by name, fully aware that i might screw up with names. Three panels. 7 students each batch. 2 Profs in each panel.

Case Study: Working professional who stays in out-skirts of the city with his parents. He is facing a bitch of a commute. Was missing out on post office fun. Also was tired after he came back and was not doing anything productive. On the other hand wanted to be with his parents to take care of them. Also wanted to keep a look on his sister to prevent her from doing any "mischief"....This really got me interested in the case :) ....His sister asks him to move to city but he doesnt want to because he will miss home cooked food. Sister offers to come with him and stay with him. So should he move to city or not...

10 minutes were given for thinking but got extended because one of the professors took some time attending a call. Everyone was looking at each other after 5-6 minutes. Nothingmuch to think in this case. I started the discussion. Very peaceful discussion. Lots of different points made. I talked about 3 days in city 2 with his family kinda thing, getting a help from his town in city for food issue, flat sharing to reduce the cost of living in city, seeing if its feasible for hsi family to move with him, etc... Well received points.

During discussion one of the guys started talking about the "mischief" thing and that he needs to keep an eye on his sister as she is young. Another guy topped that with "she will acquire certain traits even if he is watching her".. I was hearing laughing in my head. Girl sitting across me was actually feeling a little uncomfortable with this point. I shifted the discussion. Rest was good.

Last 10 minutes were given for writing summary.

Interview: I was called in 3rd. Profs P1, P2 and ME.

P1: So Anurag, 9.5 CPI. You topped your batch kya?
ME: No sir. Was DR 3. Batch rank around 7-8.

P1: For me still a topper.
ME: Smiling ....

P2: So tell me Anurag what do you in your job.
ME: Work for BBY..market study.. recommendations for store assortment, taget customer group, segmentation, etc.

P1: So retail person.. Tell me the retail situation in US. Tell about your client
ME: Sir January sales are 7 Bn $. 7% growth compared to same month last year. But like for like store sales are -6%. Indicates that they are facing serious challenges. Growth in sales has been due to new stores. Also they have benefited from Circuit City's bankruptcy.

P1: Why didnt BBY buy Circuit City
ME: Circuit City was is too big and almost identical to BBY. BBY has a good distribution n/w. Problems are not internal. Customers are just not spending.

P1: So you do statistical analysis. Can i ask you a question on stats.
ME: Sure sir.

P1: Draw normal distribution curve.
ME: drew it.

P1: WHat does it represent.
ME: Probability distribution function..area under curve..etc etc

P1: So the value on y-axis is probability.
ME: yes sir

P1: Can it be greater than 1
ME:No sir

P1: How many values within +/- 3 stdev
ME: 99%

P1: So lets say std dev is .1 . Draw a rectangle around curve with 6 stddev as base (+/- 3 on both sides of mean) just touching the curve at its top. Since you are saying that value on Y-axis cannot be greater than 1, lets say it is .9 . Whats the area under curve
ME: .9*.6=.54

P1: Less than 1. But you said area under curve is 1.
ME: Thinking... haila, yeh kya ho raha hai...

P1: So Anurag can value on Y-axis be greater tahn 1.
ME: A little confused, No sir, it is probability. Has to be less than 1.

P1: Ok Anurag, what is the probablity of occurence of mean.
ME: Sir 0.. ( Phir mujhe chamka..Its a continuous probability distribution function. Gives probablity of occurence of a range of values..Discrete probability distribution functions have individual probabilities for events which are less than 1)...I said sir it can be greater than 1.

P1: Ok.

P1: So Anurag you worked at Inductis for 2 years. Is into financial services.
ME: Yes sir, primarily financial analytics.

P2: Where are you based
ME: Gurgaon, New York, New Jersey

P1: So after Inductis you joined Dunnhumby. Was finding it hard to pronounce
ME: Told him that its from Edwind Dunn and Clive Humby

P1: So you got a pretty decent jump after Inductis
ME: Yes sir

P1: Anurag in current scenario, you know its highly likely you might end up getting less than what you get currently.
ME: Sir, not about money..value addition...will help in long term

P1: Where do you see yourselves 5 years from now
ME: Leading a team of 25-30 analysts

P1: In financial domain, you will not get to do it for along time. Life will be on a spreadsheet.Only after becoming VP will you get a chance to lead that many people.
ME: Dependent on industry and organization you enter. My current manager graduated in 2001. Currently leads a team of 30 analysts.

P1: So you wont mind coming back to your existing firm
ME: Yes sir, i wont mind that

P2: Anurag what do you want to specialise in?
ME: Sir marketing (CFA L2 ki aatma andar se ro rahi thi...)

P2: Makes sense. You have worked in that domain.
ME: Yes sir

P1: So Anurag what do you read
Me: Latest was White Tiger by Arvind Adiga.

P1: Tell me about serious literature if you ahve read any
ME: Sir i read classics in college. A tale of two cities, Jane Eyre.. (and then problem started. I couldn't recall any other. I had read a lot of classics. Just couldnt remember any)... Sir one by Fyodor Dostovosky. Cant remember the name..(amidst this confusion i did the next blunder)..sir read a lot of sidney sheldon

P1: That is titillating fiction. Am talking serious literature.
ME: A little confused. Sir dont read much books (Pichle 6 saal ki saari reading ko maine 1 minute mein bhula diya :( Yeh maine acchha nahin kiya )

P1: Anurag we are talking of 100' s of pages of reading to be done everyday in courses and cases.
ME: Sir i can do that. academic record is a proof of that

P1: Academic record is indicative of marks. Tell me what you read?
ME: Newspaper

P1: Just front and last page
ME: No sir. Editorials also

P1: Which newspaper. What columnists
ME: TOI, jug suraiya, bachi karkaria, Swaminathan ankaleshwar aiyar, Bobili Vijay Kumar, Shashi Tharoor

P2: Ok. So Anurag what are the latest inflation figures.
ME: Sir for week ending Feb 21 its 3.02%

P2: Effect of low inflation on firms
ME: Sir they can reduce the increment offered to employees. Raw material costs will stay stable.

P2: Any change in their borrowing costs
ME: Will come down due to loe interest rates that will be there because of low inflation

P1 looking at P2: Done
P2: Yes

P1: Thanks Anurag. Best of Luck. Any questions for us
Me: Yes sir. Has there a change in profile offered by companies on campus this year

P1 answered.

Me: Thanks sir..

Good afternoon...Good afternoon...

Overall just an ok type interview. P2 will select me. I have doubts about P1.
Could definitely have done better, especially about reading question.. I have read a lot. Had i racked by brain a little there, i would have been able to mention a lot of books..(btw dostovosky's book was Brother Karamzov)

Next stop IIML on Sunday. Last interview :)

Results: I got through :) . 4th result that i checked after having cleared L,K and I

IIMK Interview

Date: 25 Feb'09

Venue: IMI, New Delhi

Pre-Interview details: Taking lesson from the folder debacle last time, a new strategy for arranging the folder was devised..strategy being, there should be no strategy. Just put them in order. Form was completed well before time. Reached venue 90 minutes early. Talked to guys over there. Mostly IIT under-grads.

Group Discussion: Batches of 10-11 were made. Topic given was around genetic engineering and its use to improve the human breed and tackle diseases. 5 minutes were given to think and then 12 minutes for discussion.

Considering that there were 11 students and just 12 minutes, i was expecting a fish-market right from start. After 5 minutes one of the profs gave the green light. To my utter surprise no one started. Everyone was looking around like me, waiting for someone else to start. Finally i started. Introduced genetic engineering. Said that lest discuss its pros and cons. General gyaan

GD was pretty peaceful. No fish market through out. Some good points raised. I added a couple of scenarios that might happen if genetic engineering is allowed to select the characteristics in an individual. Points were accepted well. Overall a healthy discussion. We were stopped after 14 minutes and told that interviews would take place in the order of sitting arrangement. So my number was third.

As usual hunger was killing me. I had 2 paranthas just before leaving my place for interview and there i was, standing and staring at the cafeteria. I went in and had a quick bite of 2 sandwiches and a coke. Now i was ready.

Discussions with guys who arrived after interviews before me had given a hint of academic grilling. I went in hoping they would spare me.

Interview: 2 profs (P1 and P2) and ME.

ME: May i come in Sir.
P1: Boy you are already in.

ME: Thinking... ha ha.... not funny...come up with new line guys..anyways i smiled and took a seat

P2: So Anurag what do you do.
ME: Dunnhumby..retail data analytics

P2: Tesco guy..right
ME: yup...We have a JV with Tesco.

P2: So Anurag, retail is almost wiped out
ME: No sir. They are facing problems but definitely not over..

P2: So Anurag tell me what has gone wrong.
ME: Told them that sir people have cut down on spending, especially in credit-driven markets like US.

P2: How did current recession start?
ME: Sub-prime crisis.

P2: Explain how it happened?
ME: Voh maara papad waale ko...aaj wikipedia bolega..
Explained with a diagram. How cycle of credit started and then busted with housing bubble bust. Crux being that housing was used as an investment instrument. People were spending way too much. hardly any saving. So now credit has stopped, saving is not there.fear of recession and job losses...so no spending

Now today was one of those days my ears were performing below acceptable levels. So i was asking them to repeat and was concentrating a lot.

Also it was very hot in there. And me, someone who always leaves top two buttons of his shirt open, was wearing a tie and coat. And top that with my intensive sweating gift. It was a furnace in there. I wiped my sweat a couple of times. One of the profs sensed it that i was feeling hot. He got up and turned on a fan. Bhagwaan tera bhala kare baba

P1: Anurag, your company is paying you this much. Don't you see it as another housing bubble building.
ME: No sir. I spend judiciously. I save too.

P2:Going by your salary figure i am sure you save a decent amount. Don't you?
ME: Yes sir..

Smiles all around...

P1: So, What does your father do?
ME: Marketing officer with FCI

P1: Revenues of FCI?
ME: Dont know sir.. Then made a rough guess as a multiple of Dunnhumby revenues (was asked to do that)

P2: So Anurag, How much does your father get?
ME: xxx amount sir..

P2: It's a ratio of almost 1:3. Does that mean you are 3 times more productive?
ME: No sir. Salary function of industry, joining time, organizational performance...etc..

P1: Do you think its justified your firm paying you your current salary..
ME: Thinking... interesting question... first it's a decent salary and not a great one..second who cares....i cleared the interview and got the job..i dont care if it's justified or not..
Told that i am paid well because we produce that much value for our firm.

Smiles all around...i don't know why.. :)

P2: Anurag, do you want to start an industry some time later?
ME: No sir. But i do have something very close to my heart.

Enter the Gyaan session

I had actually stated that i want to work in the field of education. Bring about a system where by students get a chance to make informed decision after class 10th. Throw in my small city roots, lack of proper mentoring and humble background, and we have an interesting debate.

Next 5 minutes were spent discussing my future plans. How much feasible...etc etc.. i answered confidently. They seemed interested. Agreed that idea is good. Will be tough. I stood my ground. Said i know it is required in our society.

This discussion was happening mostly between P2 and me.

P1 started looking at my certificates.

First semester..6 subjects.. All A's
Second semester..6 subjects.. All A's
Third semester..6 subjects.. All A's
Fourth semester.. 6 subjects..5 A's..he probably missed a B.
Fifth semester.. 6 subjects... All A's
Sixth semester.. training semester.. A

He looked up and asked me..I have looked at 6 mark sheets. Anurag have you ever got a B?

ME: Smiling...sir then you don't wanna have a look at seventh?

P1: Why?
ME:Smiling, I am afraid you wont like it sir...

Smiles all around... Ok, i wont look..(I had got 4 B's and 2 C's in seventh semester. :) )

P2: Good Anurag. Thanks.
Me: Thank you Sir..

Overall i think it went well.

Next stop IIMA...plsssssssss yaar GOD, help me... i dream of IIMA more than i dream of na*** chicks. I am dying to play dandia. plssssssss

Results: Got through :)