As the year ends...

One of the memorable quotes that I read goes something like this: 'The safest place for a ship is the shores, but that is not where it is supposed to be'. True. Very true.

Every time during this period of the year - this end-December time - I try to sit back and think of what the year offered me. Every year some new things happen - some good, some bad.
In the beginning of the year I lost my dear grandmother. The year took her away from me.In the first month I went to Haridwar (of which I attached a self-made documentary in my blog) and thanked GOD for everything and seeked his blessings for the life ahead.
This year I worked in the headquarters of prestigious International Monetary Fund in Washington DC. I made some good friends during my last working days in the company. Then of course this study, something I don't want to write in this piece and bore you all.

If this year had something really special to offer me, it was to re-discover myself. The motivation to take the ship out in the ocean. The pleasure in rejecting the safety that the four walls of our room provide. The joy in the sorrow of missing your near and dear ones. Rediscovering the student in me after so many years. The list goes on...
My ship is still sailing in the ocean. The problem is as you come to know new things, you realise how much you don't know. The more you discover, you realise that there are more to be discovered. There seems to be no end to it. There is a saying that says, once a man eater tastes the blood of human beings the tiger falls in love with the taste. The problem with the ship in the sea is more than that. You know that there are so many lands that you can potentially go to, so many opportunities awaiting for you. So even when you reach that shore, you are never complacent. You stay there for some time and then start a new journey again. Once you realise the vastness of the world, you are no longer content with the small piece of land that you owned so long. Your journey never ends. You have tasted human blood and nothing sort of it will do. And each time you want to outperform yourself. The game is interesting. But the game is equally dangerous!
So my getting into the course is in no way an end; it is the beginning of a journey. And that's the most valuable thing 2007 offered me. It started a journey for me. The study is not the end of a dream; it is a platform from where I can see many other dreams. It is a stepping stone. And this is what I remind myself of each day - stepping stone.

Last year this time my ship was chained to the shores. Today my ship is out into the vast unknown ocean. I can see, for the last time in 2007, the sun set on the western horizon. Soon, from the east new rays of the sun with new hopes in a new year will bathe the world - my world, your world, everybody's world. And in the new dawn my journey will continue. And so will yours.
This is a small world, my friend. So someday in some shores we will meet and talk about our journeys. Till then, 'Adieu et bon voyage!'

The journey so far...

The actual MBA started on the 1st of October. On 20th of December Term 1 ended with the last examination of Strategic Decision Science .The next Term starts from the 7th of Jan.New set of case packs have been collected.
I thought its time I reflect what went on in the last few months. Is there really a change that took place in me? I don't want to get into any type of debate...but a thought, that, is the MBA really doing good to me. Is it worth doing, in the first place? It is very easy to say 'YES'. Because that's what you would like to believe. Because that's what the world will like to hear. But I am not doing an MBA for the world. I am doing it for myself. Its time that I look back and 'take a stock' of what went over me. The question is 'Why I want to 'take a stock' in a blog , publicly, when I could have done it in my diary?' My answer is, I might just give others an sight of what happens in an MBA school - sort of an inside story. I am not promising the moon! I am not saying this is an exhaustive piece; it may be just a glimpse; a view of how I see it. And this may differ entirely from what others think or view. And if this piece, by any chances , makes any reader at least think once that 'Shall I go for it?' , then I would consider my blog a truly successful one. Because, I have also realised in the last three months there is as much joy in getting education as much it is in inspiring others to go for it. Though out of context, yet I want to mention that I will more be more than happy to answer any question that follows the 'Shall I go for it?' one (my answer to the 'Shall I go for it?' is a big YES for everybody!).

The term had a number of subjects, none of which I studied before. Economics, accountancy, operations management, marketing and organisational behaviour. On 1st october, I knew nothing of them. Today I know something of them. I know what return on investment means and what is opportunity cost; I know how cheap airlines operate and how coke was introduced in China.Things are never the same as before. I have definitely developed a broader view of the business. I have learnt to see a holistic picture, while keeping focus on certain areas. I have learnt why GOD has given us two ears and one mouth - so that we hear much more than we speak. The learning experience goes on. What is most fascinating is that everyday, yes everyday, here I learn new things; something that has never occurred in my life before. Imbibing virtues from the professors, classmates - the learning curve never seems to dip. Sometimes there were days which were tough to pull through. Tough assignments, strict deadlines. But I made it. Today it gives me the strength to think that I was able to pull myself off from such situations. The road surely was not a smooth one. Nobody promised smooth ride! It was bumpy. But is it not the boulders and rocks that make the mountain brooks to gorgeous to look at? Is it not the test of fire that makes fine steel? Perhaps this is what an MBA is. It teaches us to cross the hurdles; it teaches us to brave the fire. It brings out the best in us. It unleashes the potential in us. In our words, its a 'risk-free zone', where we can try whatever we always wanted to do, without the fear of losing.


I have become much more matured in the last three months. Not only do I look into any business in a different point of view, but also the way I look at the world, in general. I have become a better human being.
And then I think that if in 3 months I changed, what will happen by the end the course gets over? I am myself eager and excited to find it.
While the course concerned is MBA, there are certain things that rise above the MBA. The education in a world-class university , the philosophy of the knowledgeable professors, the maturity of your friends - all rub you in the right way, day in and day out. And they all have an effect on you. The effect is clearly visible. I would say, the entire effect is called education. Its just not what you take inside you what was printed in the books. Its not about attending lectures and replicating them in the examination hall. Its about the realisation of who you are and where do you belong to. I am not saying MBA taught me this, or this was the reason that I am into an MBA. I am saying what a good education has done for me. It made me think those thoughts that I so long never felt the need to have a look into. It made me think! It made me think about the business world; it made me think about me and my strengths and weakness. And all these in only three months!
When the school reopens things will be tougher, with the the number of subjects increasing. The pressure becoming even more, with the obvious thought of hunting for a job added to the tension. Things will not be easy. And I know that. And yet, I know for sure, that I can't wait for the school to re-open and plunge myself into the 'melting pot'!

In the land of Sherlock Holmes...

Wishing all the readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
May all your dreams come true.

There was another prolonged gap in my writing. The reason being exams. We just completed the exams last week and the body is crying out for a much-needed rest.I have to oblige its demand as its revolt is no good to me. We have vacation till the 7th Jan.The university reopens on the 7th of Jan. Till then I have virtually nothing to do. That's good and that's bad. Good, because I have after a long time got a break from the hectic running-here-to-there schedule. Bad because I dont know what to do. I do have some plans, but I have a feeling that like New Year resolutions the paper on which I wrote all my plans will remain on the board - never to get turned into reality.
I will write about the university life in the last few days sometime later. Because, I feel, just a plain writing of events will make it a report, not a diary. I don't want to write reports here...I have had enough of them for the last 3 months and more to follow!
By the look of some pictures you might have already guessed the campus has a lot of greenery. In the morning, I can't say that the sun rises. because its so foggy. I can say that the day breaks at about 8 am. Pretty late. At 7:30- 7:45 am its still dark outside. You might just want to curl in your bed for some more time. When the dawn eventually breaks, you just see a thick blanket of fog surrounding all around.The distant trees , with no leaves, are hazy. The grass below have a thin layer of frost. The cars in the parking lot has also got a white shroud. The sun is yet to show up. The picture is lazy and hazy! Its whitish and greyish . There is no golden touch, otherwise provided by the sun. There is not much green as the trees are all bare. Everywhere around is quiet.

If a day starts this way surely the rest of the day will not have something dramatic to offer. The cold wind outside is the least tempting factor to inspire one to step outside the comfortable and cosy rooms.In exam time I studied, now I become bored.
In the evening, things ends in a similar way as it started. But I feel its something taken out of the leaf of some fairy tale.At 4:30 pm its dark. And then misty. A thick fog descends as the sun goes down.When I return from the university or the examination hall, I always felt that I am walking in the area which was so often described as the English countryside by Sir Aurther Conan Doyle. Yes I am talking of the stories of Sherlock Holmes. As if I can feel that I would see the man with the typical cap,pipe and coat appearing in front of me from nowhere. You may think its childishly foolish and laugh at my thought. But perhaps in my situation many would have felt that way, perhaps not.
So when the examination ended the first thing I did was to log on to youtube and see 'Sherlock Holmes and the Speckled Band'. This particular story of Sherlock Holmes was the first I read when my father bought it for me and my brother on the day my Standard 2 exams ended. After reading the story, I almost instantaneously became an admirer of the character. Two days back when I watched the Sherlock Holmes, my thrill was no less though there was a gap of about 2 decades - 20 years!
While the time changed, the place changed, some feelings never seems to change.
Like that day, today also, one of my dreams is to go to 221 B Baker Street in London(the residence of Mr. Holmes), which, today,however, does not seem as distant as it were then!