ITA Awards - another pic

One more pic - the changing background colors looked cool :)

ITA Awards - Nov 25th 2006

I managed to get an entry to the ITA Awards 2006 event that took place in our college grounds on Nov 25th. I did get to see a number of soap stars, Asha Parekh, Jeetendra, Rakesh Roshan, Smriti Irani and Shilpa Shetty. Also saw Mr Vineet Jain ( MD, Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd)take the prize for the 'Times Now' channel.

FYI, the stage set-up started exactly two weeks before the event.

View of SP Jain from Gilbert Hill

View of SP Jain from Gilbert Hill
Originally uploaded by VinayakR.

The light brown color building right in the middle of this pic is SP Jain Institute of Management & Research. My hostel is seen right opposite SPJIMR and is of the same color. SPJIMR is in a 40-acre Bhavan's Campus right in the heart of Andheri West!! Amazing locale I say:)

Gilbert Hill

Gilbert Hill
Originally uploaded by VinayakR.

Gilbert Hill - The 65million year old monolithic rock right in the heart of Andheri Suburb, Mumbai. Its been declared 'protected' and the Govt has promised(at last) to keep it from perishing due to the heavy construction around this rock(TOI dated 27th Nov ’06). U can see a tall apartment building hiding next to this brown beauty.


(photography - Vinaya)

Even if you dont like the party, U shud wear the make-up!

I just happened to say this(without realising it could be a quote:)) to my wife abt a week back when she said she wasnt too interested in filling up some official form. I think this quote applies to every instance when someone doesnt personally prefer doing something, but they do it just to avoid fingers pointing at them or being left out.As far as i see it,almost all dipomats live by this. In the much larger scheme of things, all people who do not like the system they are in, but live by it just 'coz they do not want the 'rebel' tag come under the message this quote implies!

Gateway of India close-up

DSCN1067
Originally uploaded by VinayakR.

Another Close-up of the GoI:)

Gateway of India

DSCN1070
Originally uploaded by VinayakR.

The Gateway of India, Mumbai - in all its glory:)

DHOOM - 2 Review

Dhoom-2 is a super-duper style show! This time round, the famous cop-thief story continues with scintillating stunts coupled with sizzling hot babes like Bipasha and Aishwarya Rai. However, Dhoom-2 lacks the smooth sequence and seems way too unbelievable at times. Its definitely a thin-miss from the standards of Dhoom-1 which looked believable inspite of all the amazing stunts. All the stars have delivered their best, but i still cant find a good reason for the role Bips played. There's not too much to talk abt her role in the film. Abhishek and Hrithik just ROCK! Uday has all the reason to keep smiling :). For the rest of the action, catch Dhoom-2 LIVE on the big screen!

My rating: ***

The SUN up close

Sunrise in Nov - 3
Originally uploaded by VinayakR.

The close-up view of the BIG Orange:)

Full View of the Sunrise

Sunrise in Nov - 2
Originally uploaded by VinayakR.

This is another full view of the rising SUN:)

Sunrise in November

Sunrise in November
Originally uploaded by VinayakR.

This is the view of the beautiful 'November Sunrise' from my room @ SPJIMR hostel

What was my first take-home?

I was just pondering over something and I thought of blogging this – I have acted in a DoorDarshan Public Awareness Ad! Yes, this was in my 3rd standard, hehe. My dialogue was ‘Amma Hasivu’ ( meaning ‘Mama, am hungry’).

The Ad scene was like this: I had to tell my mom (screen mom) that am hungry. Immediately my mom would heat some milk and pour it into a cup to give it to me. Almost around the same time, my sis (screen sis) would come and say that she is hungry too. But unfortunately, my mom would discriminate between us and go on to explain my sis that as a boy, I needed more energy and better physique as I would later have to work harder. So my sis would have to starve. At the end, some kind soul would come and explain my parents that both a girl and a boy needed to be taken care well and neither should be neglected.

Sadly, even to this day in some parts of our country, we still find people neglecting the girl child; we still find several cases of female feticides. Hope all of us realize that afterall where would all of us be without our mothers?

Hey, by the way, I got a payment of Rs 75/- for about an hour of the acting effort :)

Some of my gyan for the MBA aspirants

This is not a gospel to get a B-school admit. I just realized that the CAT is belled and hence thought of putting down some of my gyan here.

If any of you are considering joining a B-school, essays form an integral part of the selection process. Without being a cliché, let me just tell you what is it that the admission committees look at in your essays.

The folks in the Admission Committee (we call it AdCOM @ SPJIMR) normally design questions to know you as a person, as a professional and as a student. The questions will address your reason for getting into an MBA programme, your career goals, your experience, the challenges/adversities you faced and how you overcame those, your most satisfying achievements, your strengths and weakness, et al.

In general, the AdCOM wants to know whether you have done a good bit of soul-searching as to your present self, your future goals and how do you think an MBA can help you reach your goals. This brings us to my golden rule for essays – All your essays need to be in sync with 3 basic aspects:

• What are you?


• What you want to be/do?


• How do you think the MBA can help you enroute the “answer to the 2nd aspect”?

This is what I call a ‘connect’!

So guys n gals, men n women; please think, introspect and retrospect as to why do u want to be an MBA? This is the most important question. The answer to this will solve half the problems right from whether or not to pursue an MBA programme to choosing the B-school and more importantly the specific programme you want to enroll for. Some of you might want to enroll for the 2 year fulltime MBA programme, some for the 1 year fulltime MBA programme and yet some more for the Distance Learning or Executive MBA programme.

Lets address the next topic – 2 yr MBA or 1 yr MBA?
To tell you the truth, there’s no thumb rule to this. I will highlight only abt the 1 year programme here as most people would know better than me abt the 2 yr programme.

The advantages of the 1 year programme are:

• You are not too long away from the industry(your work I mean)


• You are not too long away from your family (to be away for a year itself is difficult I know)


• You get to interact and network with people with diverse experience and skills


• You get to resonate better with the concepts under discussion due to your own experience (1 year MBA programmes are NOT for the ‘uninitiated’. I would deem any 1 year programme that defies this as only a ‘money-swindler’)


• You will most definitely be able to switch roles laterally across business functions at the end of the programme


• You get almost the same amount of gyan or even more than the 2 year programme in double quick time!

** For the right gyan, you need to join the right B-school**

So what’s the flip side?

• You will have to face a very hectic, rigorous schedule


• You will find it very difficult to make time to participate in B-school contests


• You will find it indefinitely impossible to pursue your interests and hobbies


• You will have to face/hear a disgruntled wife/gf /child most of the time


• You will realize that falling ill is a crime


• You will have to miss your weekend parties (you can work around this sometimes with ‘smart’ work though, hehe)

Hey, are you game for the 1 year programme? Well, believe me, it isn’t all that scary. The 8 months that I have already spent here at SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai have been enriching. The significant take-away for me has been ‘time management’. I really adore my mom for this – when I think back, I realize how difficult it might have been for her to manage her time between hectic work and home, but she never complained and was always on time to work and did most of the work at home.

For the moment, I just have to say this – Think well before you leap into an MBA programme. Don’t just follow the herd!

All The Best!

Mumbai gets cooler – yeaaaaah!

Since the last one week, the weather God seems to have shown mercy. YES, ITS BECOME COOLER HERE:). The evenings are pleasant, there’s cool breeze during the nite and the morning sun shines bright only after about 8. However the afternoons are still humid. Nevertheless, it’s such a relief from the pinching heat that we faced before.

My room faces the East and I can clearly make out the shift in the Earth’s axis. From the time I came here (April) till November, the early Sun’s rays used to grace Anand’s (my roomy) bed first. I remember how he would hurriedly pull the curtains as he is used to feel uncomfortable while studying early in the morning. These days, the Sun’s rays have changed direction and help me wake up! – Amazing Nature, isn’t it? I remember my mother telling me stories from the Mahabharata (ancient Hindu epic) and one of the instances in which Bhishma (Ganga’s son and Uncle of the Pandavas) waited for the right time to breathe his last on a bed of arrows for the Uttarayana Punya Kala (starts in March-April) when the Sun’s rays change their direction (or should I say the Earth shifts in its axis?)

So what’s the forecast like? At 9.45AM today, the forecast was a High of 35 Deg C and a low of 21 Deg C (source: ndtv.com), very unlike of the usually Hot, Hotter, Hottest Mumbai right?

Casino Royale – the New Bond has arrived!

Hi folks,

Had been to the Premier show of Casino Royale – the new 007 movie y’day nite <16-Nov-06, 10.45 pm show @ Fun Republic, Andheri>. It is the first premier that I have ever watched and I am really pleased to say that Casino Royale is worth every penny. The new agent 007 – Daniel Craig seems to have delivered his best, but lacks the Brosnan or Connery charisma. Although the title track ‘You know my name’ isn’t all that appealing, right from the thrilling opening scene, the script is fast paced, races with your pulse and grips you to the core! There are a lot of trips, twists and stunts from the Bond, James Bond. But unlike the usual Bond movies, Casino Royale doesn’t have the rush of concupiscence . All in all, another truly classic James Bond flick – U will love it!

Cheers

High Performance Entrepreneur

Hey folks,

Returned in the middle of sunday nite [29th Oct]. Was pleased to meet a gud friend from PESIT at the Blore airport. I guess am having a home-hangover mode still - not been able to start serious studies yet. Have been reading a book "High Performance Entrepreneur" by Subroto Bagchi, COO MindTree Consulting [the company i worked with before SAP Labs]. The book is absolutely amazing. Its all about entrepreneurship - choosing ur start-up team, knowing when u r ready to start a business n all the nuances of business plan, raising money, growing the company, so on and so forth. The details are explained with the experience of the MindTree start-up team. Subroto, as usual, pours his heart out in this book. I would say its a must-read for all those interested in entrepreneurship.

Cheers!

Home in 2 days :) - Deepavali Greetings

Our Deepavali vacation just around the corner – yes folks, SPJIMR is gonna be quiet without the usual hustle - bustle of students between 15th and 29th October. I will be off to my hometown ‘Namma Bengaluru’ – the best city known to me in India :) Hoping to spend quality time with family, meet a lot of friends, spread the awareness of PGDM programme to atleast some people who matter ;), celebrate Deepavali in grandiose and have home-cooked meals almost everyday!:)

BTW, am not really sure if I will be able to blog while in Bangalore, so you will mostly see/hear more from me in November. So wish u all a very Happy & Safe Deepavali :)

Woodlands Hotel in Juhu, Mumbai

Y’day, Vinaya, Darshan n I decided to dine out after a heavy day. We thought of going to Utsav on Juhu road. The autowala just stopped abt 100m further away from where we asked him to stop. As soon as we got out, I was pleasantly surprised to read ‘Woodlands’ infront of me. I wondered if this belonged to the famous south-indian Woodlands chain. We decided to check out and were sure that it belonged to the same chain as we found a typical ‘south-indian brahmin’ drawing near the reception!

We had south-indian economical thali – 3 big pooris < or chapathis> two sabjis, a cup of hot thili saaru , sambar, plain rice, curd rice, hapla and gulab jamun!
It was yummmmy although it didn’t exactly taste like that you will find in the Woodlands, Bangalore. It was definitely a welcome-break from the usual north-indian style of food that we get to eat here.

For those who want to check this place out – it’s a lil further ahead from ‘On Toes’ pub towards the petrol bunk on the same side of Juhu road.

WWW and Flavors!

Over the last few days, have watched ‘What Women Want’(WWW) and ‘Flavors’ on my lappy. Am sure most ppl wd have watched ‘What Women Want’. It’s a funny movie in which a guy can read women’s thoughts/mind n what he gains by it – obviously a quick fling with a hot chick, entry into a woman’s heart, his daughter starts liking him and he even rescues a loner gal.

‘Flavors’ is all about desis abroad – their behavior, typical pink-slip woes, few trying to ‘patao’ someone, etc all rolled into a hilarious comedy. I watched it in the middle of the nite <2 am – 3.30 am>, alone on my lappy n still found myself somewhat amused laughing aloud! This one's a must-watch.

Geeta Shibir - enriching eh?:)

Writing after a long time…..life has been very hectic, caught up between project works, assignment submissions, end term and the dreaded comprehensive exam nicknamed ‘compre’! Its such a relief to be done with all this and now we are in the middle of the ‘specialisation’ module.

Have watched quite a few movies since the last time I blogged – Naksha < timepass, remake of ‘Welcome to the Jungle’>, Pyaar Ke Side Effects , Shiva .

We had been to something called ‘Geeta Shibir’ for a couple of days n returned y’day morning. Sadly, it was not a good experience. Leave alone the unkept guest rooms, toilets, the ghee-some food, and only-dhokla breakfast, the sessions were unimpressive too. After attending a couple of sessions, Vinaya n I were happy to stay off and instead relax – we slept n slept n slept for abt 9 hrs extra over the two days, something that was a luxury with our hectic schedules!

Some swamy gyan:
The swamy < I wd have used a capital S if I really appreciated him> spoke a lot abt ‘happiness, unhappiness’, ‘all of us are selfish’, ‘realistic n unrealistic expectations’,‘the tea was drinking the swamy, so he left drinking it’..< the gist of the tea stuff -> the swamy never used to drink tea in his childhood. When he started working, he fell into the habit of drinking tea 4 or 5 times a day. Once, while working on a weekend, he did not drink tea at the usual time…so he developed a bad headache, nausea, stomach ache n even vomited – u get that???? So after becoming a swamy, by chance he did not have tea at the usual time due to a logistics problem and it seems he did not get the much-awaited headache….so he realized that he had won over his habitual tea-drinking sickness! Lol> and some supposed joke of counting 1 thru 10!
It seems that the swamy doesn’t like the life in East – he said that its only here that we find a servile environment, In the West, ppl are independent. But I guess he forgets to correct this when his staff hold an umbrella everytime he walks out, show him the way by holding a torch at nite and even fan him while he happily lunches! The swamy doesn’t seem to understand animals too. He said that animals act on their basic instinct alone and never think….At another instance, when some of our folks were thoroughly bugged and were whispering something, the swamy lost his cool and told them not to ‘chit-chat’ atleast when he could see them….hmmmm, I agree that the boyz should not have done the supposed chit-chat, but the so-called swamy could have been calmer or maybe the ‘anger is still drinking him’. Reportedly < I was absent> at another instance, while explaining abt ‘satisfaction, dissatisfaction n related anger’, the swamy visibly was unimpressed with his diminishing audience and cleverly put the blame on the profs by saying ‘many chairs are empty, but I should not be dissatisfied. It was the duty of the faculty to take care of this’ Our profs would have felt bad for sure , but I hope they realize the reason for the diminishing audience.


I remember that the swamy said that we should tell the truth in a pleasing manner, sadly I cant be diplomatic. Maybe there were a few good things the swamy talked of too like women should more economically independent. If anyone else has anything to share, plz feel free to comment. Geeta Shibir – wat an enriching experience:)