Believe In Yourself

Return Of The Rajma...

2006-05-15T16:15:00.000+05:30

Nothing can be more torturous for a true-blue hardcore Punjabi than a dish of ill-cooked Rajma shoved down his throat. And that is exactly what has been happening since I joined MDI. To put it in Gordon's words, 20 kilos of Rajma in 10 mths!

Make no mistake, I am a Rajma freak. So much so that when at home Rajma was my agony aunt. If nothing at home is worth my while, ask mom to warm the Rajma stock in the freezer.
But 10 mths of mess Rajma shook my belief in it. Did not even have them when I came home for 8 days in December end.

Finally gave in and had it for dinner a few days back. In one word- AWESOME. Brought back old memories...of ghar ka khaana, the lil timepass fights wid mom and the constant bickerings wid dad. But like all good things come to an end, so is this too...in 25 days. And then back to the same old bland, tasteless boiled Rajma-10 kilos of it :)

A Strike...Finally!

2006-05-12T06:51:00.000+05:30

Okies...

Finally managed to strike a deal. Talking about my summer project here!

It involves meeting the heads of the Centres for Innovation in various companies or the CEO's/CIO's etc..basically anyone who is in sync with the conditions existing in the industry he is operating in and plans for the future. The aim is to see how scientific is the process of Innovation and whether my organization has a role to play with respect to the tools and methodologies developed by them.

Got this after a lotta hassles...first had to fight with the HR who
gave me a googling project. Tried explaining how it was a waste of my time and their money. Not that they cared about either of them! And then, when I got this, had a tougher time convincing them why I need to shift to Mumbai and how Mumbai would be better simply because my guide is based outta Mumbai. Oh and by the way-the dame who approved my shift to Mumbai resigned the very next day :D GOD bless her!

Coming back to the project, I had to get appointments...though the one in TCS was arranged, I was asked to rough it out and get the rest on my own. 'Use the phone, send e-mail do whatever...' The condescending look on my face (well, I am an MBA, my assistants would be gettin me appointments, why the heck should I get em on my own) enticed this response from my guide : " Ronnie, if ever you happen to start your own consultancy, this is what you would be doing. It would do you a world of good if you can shrug off your attitude and come of the high horse you are riding on since your claim to fame is zilch."

This of course invoked the choicest English/Hindi/Punjabi/MDI expletives targetted at him and muttered under breath.

So there I was- all of 23 years and a few months making frantic calls to people of the level of CEO's, CIO's etc trying to explain who I am, what am I doing and what do I need from them...a few million calls later and trillions of e-mails, finally I have it...my first own appointment with a Director of an Innovation cell. Me superstitious so won't reveal the name of the firm till i meet em :)

Don't know whether I will be able to do justice to these guys-after all their claim to film aint zilch :D But as of now, euphoria has taken over...2 confirmed and a few more scheduled for late next week that need to be reconfirmed.

Finally I have got a taste of what business is and what selling
yourself is all about. Have managed to come down a bit from the "high horse" that I was riding :D Not completely cos then that would make me a completely different person :)

Lack of ideas

2006-05-09T11:08:00.000+05:30

As I write this post, I am sincerely out of ideas. Have no clue as to what am I gonna write here. Maybe it has to do with the general lack of enthusiasm around me.

Been almost a year since I left home. And stepped into hostel life for the first time. The 10 odd months I have spent in a hostel have been great to say the least. Probably thats what has spoilt me.

The absolute freedom-sleepin at odd hours, boozing whenever the mood is in...spending time doing absolutely nothin in a sprawling 40 acre campus...all of it has taken a toll on my pshyche.
Not used to discipline anymore-detest rules all the more. And of course, the vocabulary enrichment that is a part of the process :)

More than all this prolly what is pulling me down even more is the fact that another 10 months and thats it. No more of student life, back to the corporate world and dog-eat-dog mentality. Not that it doesn't exist here, but heck, at least my circa of friends isn't like that. Come to think of it, actually missing their weirdness...some of em esp Cheetah and Monty are downright funny. The tussle between me and Monts is silly most of the times but then its times like these that I guess I am gonna cherish all life long...

Moombhaii

2006-05-02T17:05:00.000+05:30

Me back! Home.

Been away for 10 months-not counting the 8 day long stupid little thing in late December. This time it is for a good month and a half.

What's changed? Nothing. Just my perspective. Having lived in Delhi, I suddenly find this city much much better. Better people, better transport, better freak-out joints...most importantly, a city with a heart.

Oh yeah, talking about change-finally got a summer project a monthy into summers. "Change Management and Innovation" is the name. Sounds like loads and loads of gyaan even though my mentor promises me otherwise. Let's hope he is right.

And the other major change- Oven Fresh has gone pure veg! Discovered this yesterday when I decided to be generous and take Mom out to lunch. Mom loved it-hardcore veggie-pure me survived on an itsy-bitsy sandwich. But looking at the positive side-someone had promised me a treat there: now that aint gonna happen!

Really excited about being here...and lets hope I have a great time. Need it after the month long stint in Delhi

What should a Manager NOT do

2006-04-24T14:34:00.000+05:30

Dear Patrons (if any),

This post has no gyaan. As usual . All this has are some randomn musings that I decided to pen down.

My net work-experience now stands at 22 months 3 weeks. 22 months as a techie@Syntel and 3 weeks as a summer trainee.

If you ask me take-aways from the corporate life, all i know is this: ass-licking, back-biting, manipulations and smart work rather than hard work.

I worked closely with 3 managers at Syntel, interacted big time with the HR(quit twice before I officially quit) and am into 3 weeks of my summer training wherein I apparently have 3 reporting managers.

Having observed all of them and now armed with a wee bit of Management gyaan, I can relate their behaviour and mannerisms to all that a good Manager should never ever do.

Not in a particular order, some of them go like:

Cutting yourself off from employees
Taking your employee for granted
Mistaking someone's politeness for his/her weakness
Giving an already overburdened guy more work thinking he is anyways addicted to work.
False promises
Keeping an employee idle for lengths of time
Shitty work
Involving HR (this won't go down well with you hottie, but pardon me )
Blatant favouritism

The more I interact with my engineering buddies and with other summer interns, I see their Managers posessing all these characteristics. It's funny how we spend a year trying to make it to the best b-schools, spend quite a bit of time studying hard there and when it comes to implementation; we forget the basic management principles.

I have always believed that text books should be banned literally at the MBA level. We learn much more by getting our hands dirty. Looks like thats what happens: all we fresh MBA's, armed with jargon and our "skill set" hit the corporate world hard-just to learn from the people around us and unlearn our 2 years. And we end up inspiring posts like these on what all should a Manager not do.

I am still waiting to find out the traits of a good manager. Looks like will have to wait till eternity...

Back Again!

2006-04-20T14:16:00.000+05:30

Me back!

Don't ask me what kept me away. It's not b-school pressure(nothing of that sort exists by the way) nor is it laziness. Just circumstances which forced me to concentrate on relationships rather than penning down my thoughts in a virtual scenario.

What has got me back? Stupid as it may seem, Chetan, a batchmate at Somaiya posted about Gordon's blog on the MDI thread on PG. Gordon's thread shows my blog link as the 2nd most popular outgoing link. Thought I might as well live up to it!

What am I upto? Summer training. Yes, the wonderful 'corporate' experience and the 'must be experienced' phenomenon for b-schoolers. My comment-stop bullshitting.

For someone like me who has work experience, exposure to 'corporate' culture is a waste of my time and their money. For a fresher, it is useful-but honestly the attitude displayed by all those around me, be it from my college or from other good b-schools is appaling to say the least. Reaching work late, bunking office etc is something that we Engineers never ever imagined. And now that we are more 'mature' and amongst the certified 'top brains' of the country all this is least expected.

But then again, to be a little less self-critical, I don't know why the hell do companies dish out summer projects when they don't have an asses clue about what is needed. Relationship building,yes...but heck it would be much easier giving out projects throughout the year to b-schools.

Before people plan to lynch me, all of this is true in 94.5% of the cases...so the other 5.5% can relax!

Coming to my summer experience-all I can say is I am grateful for it cos as Prof Dhruv Nath pointed out (a man I respect greatly btw for his help academic wise and otherwise) IT sales is intellectual googling to begin with! Go for consulting, go for CRM, SAP etc. Thanks Sir and thanks to my summer project which has convinced me that as usual Prof Dhruv Nath is extremely practical in his advice. And that the few people I respect deserve it!

ronnie

After a looong hiatus...

2006-02-11T20:03:00.000+05:30

Its been over a month since my last post...had almost forgotten I "own" a blog.

So what has kept me away...if I say lack of time, I am damn right. The late night TT sessions and general hanging out and having fun with my pals definitely has taken a toll on my blogging. Though a coupla peeps mite wanna say Placecom and dry runs, its a whole lot of BS! They haven't kept us busy for more than 15 days in all in the last month and a bit more...

A lot has happened since I came back here...and it concerns my life in MDI and otherwise too. Old contacts re-established, coming across Profs who can finally teach and seeing right now for myself the absence of any link whatsoever between marks, grades, academic performance etc etc etc and getting the right break.

Oh yeah, Mom had come to campus; and it went off well. She failed to see Monty with a cigarette, realised Mayur and co were simply pulling my leg when they were talking about my marriage (!!!) and met a 'prof' who actually thinks I am a good student :) Its been ages since Mom attended any parent-teacher meet so this was fun for her-interacting with coupla my profs and trying to decipher how bad a student I am...

Exams start in a few days...have written 28 exams in the last 7 months, so have obviously lost any kinda respect for them. Study somewhat, do ur best, but dont fret over em is my mantra. Have pledged that its gonna be different from next term when I finally get to choose my subjects rather than some arbit bullshit concerning Hamada and Modgiliani Miller for which I don't give a squat :) IT ROCKS !!!!

Bye Bye 2005

2005-12-31T11:56:00.000+05:30

Another year goes whizzing by.I look back at the year and the same thought comes to me again and again,of how time just flies by.

2005 was a little different from the rest of the years, I could very well term it special. For starters, I got into a b-school of my choice.The entire gamut involving CAT finally ended.No more mock-CAT's, leaving work early, filling up of forms,reading about b-schools in awe and most of all, shedding the 'aspiring b-schooler' tag.

2005 has been special,it's been a year that has kept me on my toes. The 1st 2 months were all about reading up on topics all and sundry in a bid to ace the GD/PI's of the various institutes. Getting a call from MDI early in March meant I spend my last 3 months at work on yahoo messenger. And 23rd June onwards its been a helluva different experience. No unsolicited gyaan about b-school life here, but just the experience of living away from home and having to fend for yourself.

There are people,lots of em, who've made my stay there special. No need to name any, if they happen to read this they will understand :)

More than b-school and stuff, I guess I have come closer to certain people here home in Mumbai. And yep, all this after being miles apart. People who I knew would always be there for me and a few others who have kinda popped out of nowhere...too bad I didn't make use of the time we guys spent in physical proximity.

As 2006 approaches, I am tempted to make resolutions by the gallons, but guess will just stick to the same one-try and be a better friend,a better brother and a better son. And yup, a better student too if time permits :)

ronnie

Me Back!

2005-12-27T16:24:00.000+05:30

It's been a long time since my last post-15 days to be precise. Could come up with loadsa reasons-exams,projects,presentations etc etc...but the bottomline is its plain laziness!

So what's been up with moi life in the past 15 days...nothin much really. Finished off with my exams, which have almost become like second nature now. Had it not been for a certain Mr. Dahiya, me and my gang would well nigh been partying the day before the exams.

Done with Term 2 and the macroeconomic fart, twas time to head home on friday. But fog had other plans. A cancelled Spicejet flight and an Indian Airlines ticket that has left me poorer by a coupla grand ensured I reach Mumbai, albeit a day late. It's been almost 3 days here and everything seems so different.

The city seems to have changed,people seem to belong to a different culture altogether. I've been meeting people by the dozen and all they wanna know is MDI and the works. And I don't really know what to say. To me, MDI has been an indispensable part of my life for the past 6 mths...how da heck am I supposed to give em dope on it??? Plus with talks veering towards the budding MBA's of today and how smart we managers-in-the-making are gives me an almost surreal feeling.Just appears as that wherever I go, people are expecting pearls of wisdom...and dunno how to react to that.

but heck, guess I am gonna enjoy it while it lasts..which aint much considering I fly back on Monday after piling on a coupla kilos and drowning a dozen drinks this New Year's !

ronnie

Projects, Presentations et all

2005-12-12T23:16:00.000+05:30

With a week left for my end-term exams, I should be studying. This is the time when my Macroeconomic fundas should be up to date with all the currency appreciations,depreciations, IS-LM curves firmly in place. This is when the budding marketeer in me should be thinking on an intense level about the advertising objectives of Calvin Klein when they used semi-nude models way back in the 1980's.

But as every b-school student will know, this is when all projects are hurled at you. You complete PPT's at breakneck speed with just one thought-why the heck am I doing all this?

And this is exactly what I am thinking right now. 14 subjects till date GOD alone knows how many PPT's. Have I gained anything? I would tend to say at 1st shot that naa, not really. But when I sit back and reflect I realise that all the gains have been intangible.

The 1st project I picked up needed me to go and talk to the local chemists. It was difficult to overcome the initial apprehension, but heck, once I did that, was smooth sailing. In the process I learned to fake the local dialect to an extent :)

Over the past few weeks we have been working madly on our MSM project. And nopes, its not cos I am crazy abt the subject, but only cos this is something that is kinda gonna give me sadistic pleasure- an unbiased rank of b-schools with NIL emphasis on brand equity. It's been an uphill task getting the data and confidentiality clauses mean I will have the data but not the name of the b-school :) But an amazing opportunity to see how modification of various parameters can alter rankings.

A minor argument on PG had someone levelling allegations about my institute fudging the rankings. This has aroused my curiousity even more. Depending on the methodology you adopt, you get various ranks. So I guess it all depends on that.

I remember people were enraged when MDI was ranked 24th or something. Sure it is absurd and sure it's cos the parameters that were majorly adopted were kinda absurd...but heck, would be gr8 if the magazines/authorities concerned divulge the importance they have attached to the various parameters. Will save students all the time that they spend criticising things left,right and centre post the rankings :)

Challenges

2005-12-05T23:42:00.000+05:30

Life and b-school throw up new challenges everyday. For starters, reaching for the lectures @ 8:30 in the morning espescially in delhi winters is a challenge in itself.

But more than this are the challenges thrown by individuals and taken on by individuals themselves. Not always is it wise to pick up every challenge thrown at you, but once you do, stick to it is the motto! As Jason Steltham says in Transporter 2- " Never make a promise which you can't keep"

In some ways, all this is remniscent of Steve Waugh-a character I really really admire simply for the fact that whenever a challenge was thrown at him, he picked the gauntlet. An excellent example for all of us on how to work within your limitations and challenge the limits. And this is precisely what as an individual each one of us should aim for- supreme confidence and belief in your abilities coupled with the tenacity to take on all odds.

Can't help but remember Steven Waugh again: his quote in the World Cup semi-finals against South Africa when Gibbs spilled a sitter. " You just dropped the cup son" And this when Australia was miles away from victory.

Arrogance you might say- I call it confidence. Confidence to accept the challenges inspite of all odds stacked against you and then having the guts to complete it.

ronnie

RG

2005-12-01T17:45:00.000+05:30

Relative Grading for the uninitiated. A term that every normal b-schooler dreads.

It simply means that the grade you get in a course is relative to the performance of the people who have scored more than you (rather than getting a grade in absolute terms). 20 out of 30 is 67% ( or say a B grade) for most of the peeps, but in RG when the highest is say a 20.5, a 20 fetches you an A+.

Having been part of the "percentage" system all my life, RG was a relatively new concept for me 5 months back. I never really denounce something without trying it and was kinda excited about this. Always felt that Mumbai University doesn't do justice to the lads. A 65% in MU is pretty fundoo espescially in Engineering, but contrast it to the south where every tom and harry get 75.

5 months down the line I am pretty clear on what my stand regarding RG is. In one word, it SUCKS. For starters, it takes away the joy from the exams. Come to think of it, I actually enjoyed all those moments waiting for my result, espescially when there were subjects wherein I barely knew 25 marks in the paper while we needed 40 to pass. Here, even if the paper is Hell Revisited, an inner voice keeps on reminding me that dude, it's all RG!

RG brings with it RG champs. People who would go to any lengths to ensure that you get less marks so that they gain a comparitive advantage. Asking stupid questions in a presentation, hiding information, licking ass etc etc etc....you name it and it's there.

An MBA is all about team-work and that's exactly what RG discourages. True, it's a dog-eat-dog mentality out there in the corporate world, but heck, shouldn't the aim of a b-school be to groom Managers who have some semblance of ethics and values? I am not questioning the concept of RG, but just feel that its implementation and the repercussions have left a lot to be desired.

Another thing I have always wanted to ask the RG champs, but have never been able to overcome the disgust to do so: in the larger context of your life, what difference will that extra mark make? Will a grade less sabotage your career? Or make you change your goals?

Could go on and on with this...but its 6 pm and I think I need to study a bit. After all, these 8 minutes have ensured that I get RG'ed by 0.125 marks :)

ronnie

B-school Pressure!

2005-11-26T20:10:00.000+05:30

This is one of my favourites.

Any b-school aspirant or somebody who is on the threshold of joining one is always daunted by the "pressure" that exists there. And surprisingly the amount of rigour is directly proportional to the rank of the school which is inversely proportional to the hours that you get to sleep.

After 5 months in a b-school I am still unable to chaff the hype from the reality. We have a lot of events going on here and surely have irregular sleeping hours coupled with the fact that the amount of diverse stuff that we do in a day or a week is much more than an ordinary mortal. But does all this qualify as pressure? I don't think so.

For me, pressure is when you have a lot at stake, when you know the repercussions are gonna hit you hard. Pressure is when somebody spends 3 hours a day travelling to work and is on his toes for at least 5 outta 8 hours.

Projects, presentations, quizzes,grades etc are touted as pressure...agreed, but then, would I prefer being grilled over a presentation by a prof ( which 126 others go through) or getting a firing from my boss for a job wrong done? What hits anyone harder- lil less marks (and probably a grade less) or a chance for a promotion squandered away?

My basic contention is that though there is a lot of aura around the rigour in a b-school, hang on for a second and think of a normal office going guy who literally fights for his survival every day. The pressure we face is kid stuff compared to the working class. And that's precisely why i feel that if a b-school wants to select students who can handle pressure, you don't really need 98-99 %ilers...you need guys who have it in them to smile through all odds and emerge victorious. That's where EQ comes into play.

ronnie

P.S : kooldude, waiting for your comments on this one :)

Deja Vu !

2005-11-23T20:11:00.000+05:30

This sunday was CAT.

Nopes you freaks, I didn't appear for it :) But trying to rack my brains over mindless graphs in an effort to make it to a top-notch b-school and get a 'career' on the 2nd last Sunday of November for the past 3 years was big time into my system. Felt hollow when it didn't happen this year.

Not that I regret it...with kids becoming increasingly smart and CAT becoming more and more unpredictable these days, veterans like me are happy to have hung up our boots. Though with 3 really close friends having given CAT this sunday, and loads of other so-so ones having appeared for it too, I find myself in the cut-off ---percentile--calls conundrum again.

Now that I am on the other side of the fence I probably can give a better perspective to this madness called CAT. People say it tests aptitude-humbug. It tests pressure handling skills-bullshit. It's nothing more than a test of whether or not you are able to spot enough questions that you can answer in a limited time span. 5 months in a b-school and I can safely say that a 97 is not different from a 99 or a 95. You get a 99 not because you are than damn good, its cos you had a 4 letter word going for you - LUCK.

The two people with the lowest CAT percentiles here are good friends...and they are kickin ass biig time when it comes to acads, extra-currics and whatever else you wanna judge a student on. And oh yeah, they are not social recluses, can vouch for that :)

All the institutes who consider CAT,XAT and God alone knows what all scores and take them to be a be all and end all of a student need to get a grip on themselves. If you really wanna judge a candidate, judge something called EQ and not IQ. The guy who makes it big is seldom the most intelligent-generally he is the smartest around. And thats what the corporates want-peeps with a decent level of intelligence but amazingly good when it comes to positively influencing anyone. Case in point- summer placements in any b-school

Till institutes in our country don't accept this, students will continue to spend loads of dough over endless forms and temples/churches/mosques will witness a deluge of devotees on the 2nd last Saturday of November. The debate over cut-offs,percentiles and rankings is gonna continue endlessly... and coaching classes are gonna have a field day as usual.

Btw its been 3 days since CAT - and I hear that the coaching classe are still debating over the Verbal key :)

ronnie

Fickle Relationships!

2005-11-21T21:48:00.000+05:30

Why are all relationships,including something as universal as friendship, so demanding?
What is it about relationships that the individuals concerned tend to overlook the simple things and instead start to critically dissect every casual action?

These are ramblings of a confused mind, but at the same time something that almost everybody has gone through.

People meet each other,strike a chord and then carry their relation to a new level. And that's precisely when things start going awry. Demands increase, expectations increase, jealousy sets in. Why does this happen? Why do we ever have expectations from anybody?

Two people enjoy each other's company, have fun together, help each other when the need arises.....what else is needed to be friends? Why should we demand complete transparency in a relation? As long as we know we can count on the other person, why should we ask for more?

Diffrent people think differently on these issues....as for me I guess having fun with someone, respecting the other person's views and trust is enough...wouldn't really care for the nitty gritties

Rohin Gets Through Placecom!

2005-11-19T22:52:00.000+05:30

This is big news!

Rohin Pinto creates history. He is the only guy in MDI to have worked on loads of committees and then joining the Placement cell in the same year!!! You rock dude-the stud when it came to Imperium,Delphique, the hero of week zero and now in the all important placement cell.

Yup, this does mean a schedule that would be very constrained and not much time to socialize...but heck, as long as one of us is in Placecom, we don't need to bother about fines and BTL's, what say Pintooo?

And Kooldude, in case you don't like this post, take a hike u freak :)

ronnie

Gutless Creatures

2005-11-16T17:07:00.000+05:30

Something that really irritates me is when people start taking things for granted. They accept that what's happening is wrong yet don't have any inclination to raise their voice against it.

Of course, the reasons might be different, the perceptions might be different-but if at the age of 23 and with the backing of many you don't have the guts to stand up and fight for your right, in my opinion it speaks volumes about your self respect or rather the lack of it...

On the other side we have people who are ready to speak up for anything and everything that is not happening in the right manner. In Mumbaiyya parlance, they suffer from 'Sulemani Keeda' ... a derogatory term but one which highlights the image people who are ready to speak up actually invite from the rest..

Add to this the tendency to link every effort to a favourable outcome and you know that philantrophy is a word that should be limited to dictionaries alone....the mentality of 'yaar, isme mujhe kya faayda hoga' is disgusting to say the least. Agreed that none of us are here to become martyr's but then there is something called conscience and inner satisfaction...

Looks like people who think differently from the mob mentality belong to another planet...bahhh

rgds
ronnie

Perceptions Again!

2005-11-15T20:27:00.000+05:30

Never judge a book by its cover...or so they say.

This is something we all know by rote, yet we fall into the same trap everytime. On every occasion, I promise myself to be careful and more open the next time around, but I end up making the same mistakes. Learnt yesterday about a huge mistake that I have been making in my 5 months in MDI, let's see if this can make a difference.

What bothers me most is that I was screwing up in an area closest to my heart- FOOD. For the last 5 months we have been visiting all kinda places and have been spending an obnoxious amount of money, while we should have been going to Pind Baluchi and having a great time with great food instead.

Thanks to the Imperium party and Ila, Rohin, Sreshta and Rai being unavailable, we non-imperium dudes and dudettes- me, Nayyar,Natasha,Nitika and Mayur with Nitika being the chief initiator decided to go out for dinner. At the dinner table too she took charge and ordered the best food I have had in a long long time. The veggie for the day-Natasha and the 'perrenial veggie (???)' Nayyar missed out on some great stuff there. Nayyar at least tasted stuff....but Natasha has absolutely no clue what she missed out on. Succulent chicken kababs, amazing chicken parantha and mind-blowing fish...

All in all, a good outing, with the chief learnings :

Always trust Nitika's judgement when it comes to food ...as Nayyar said later on: mushkil se toh yeh bandi koi kaam dhang se karti hai :)
Never judge a book by it's cover

rgds

ronnie

The Enigma Called Friendship

2005-11-14T18:42:00.000+05:30

This is something I have been grappling with for aeons. And a long talk with Rai today and his analysis of me as a person, has set me thinking.

Why is it that I tend to like someone instantaneoulsy, while at the same time tend to view everybody else negatively? There have been loads of instances when people have been nice to me but I have never wanted to be friends with them. At times people have been rude to me, or have not replied properly....but I have still gone ahead and taken steps to ensure that our acquaintance crystallizes into friendship.

People from my engineering college, the ones I spent the entire day with- I have no clue where they are today. And yup, i did consider them to be good friends. But others, my classmate whom I hardly went out with, my junior who I interacted with mainly during the bus journey....today they are close friends. And all this when I am miles away in Gurgaon.

Why did this happen? Did I never like those people in the first place? Or have I ceased to like them as time went by? And what about the others.....is it that subconscioulsy I did care a lot about them, and just that its now that I am actually expressing it?

Loads of questions,but no answers....Rai lays it down to the fact that at times I go the extra mile to forge a relationship. The key here is - at times

rgds
ronnie

A Confusing Day

2005-11-13T02:11:00.000+05:30

Well well well...

I thought that today would be perfect-attend the Strategy panel discussion till 11, watch India kick Sri Lanka's ass till 4, and then go out and 'attend' to myself.

But I find the discussion extending till 1.15, a Placecom seminar till 5.45 and then some serious discussion (for a change) between me,Pathak and Nayyar to begin with, and with Rai and Nitika later on.

just when I thought the day would end on a screwed note, Monty and Nayyar come to the rescue with a brilliant idea-a drive to the Delhi border and dinner along with booze in any local dhaba. This really made my day-though many were busy, it was fun in a small group -Nayyar,Monty, Pathak and me.

lil bit of bad news from back home in Mumbai. Nimisha is down with chicken pox with just a week left for CAT. Don't worry Nimi, you are gonna rock next week. Take care and atb to you :)

hmmm got two discussions tomorrow. thankfully the first one is at 2 in the afternoon-so its gonna be a sunday morning in the true sense after a loooooong time.....so ciao all

rgds
ronnie

A Humble Beginning

2005-11-12T07:15:00.000+05:30

Hey All,

I start off today...taking inspiration from Pathak and Rai.
Looking forward to all your criticisms to get me going.

rgds
ronnie