Changing worlds!

Hillarious Video! Someone had sent me this earlier.. Got it again today. Few afro-thambis!

Collage on Brand Equity class

Mama's got a brilliant collage of some people in the Marketing Class on Brand Equity. We had some really big deadlines the previous night, and a lot of people's system crashed during this class as is evident from the picture.
Personally, I liked the class quite a bit. The case study was on Levi's and their 1981 fiasco of entering the pre-tailored suit market. The power and perception of Brand's was beautifully captured in the lecture.

Some questions to get you thinking about Branding power. It is somewhat easy for us to buy tickets on Kingfisher Airlines, or think about buying an Apple Ipod mp3 player (both of who's original brand name strenght was based on some other product). However, can you think of a Levi's Formal Suit? Can you think of a Toshiba Breakfast Cereal? Some brands have too strong an image that they just cannot foray into some markets.
One of a regular shopper for Business suits aptly put it when he said "I walk into my office and someone compliments me on my suit, I will definitely be happy. But if he asks me what brand it is, I probably will not be terribly excited to say that its a Levi's!"

Arbit CP Dunking

NM grabs the honours for the first guy from my class to get dunked for Arbit CP. His CP's were SO arbit, he'd leave the prof's in a daze! If you can get Frito Lays and Credit Card companies and the number 1.2million in ONE class participation monologue, then you gotta be NM.
We decided to dunk him into the pool for it. So, last evening at around 5.30 pm, an email was sent out to our section calling for celebration of PG's b'day by dunking her at the pool. Most of the class turned up. All of us (including NM) walked PG to the pool to dunk her. Before NM knew what hit him, he was picked up by about 15 people and thrown into the pool. It was hillarious. NM was a great sport though! A couple of others got thrown into the pool too.. one for scoring very well in the Eco mid-term and the other.. oh well.. to just give the other some company!
Speaking about mid-terms, the Eco grades came out. I scored more than I thought I would. I scored just above the average score. Now, I'm really looking forward to my Stats grades. I think I've done pretty well.

Some dunking pics!


NM (the guy in red) thinks that PG (the girl) is the scape goat!

Most of section A at the pool. NM still thinks that PG is the scape goat!

Until now!

1... 2....

3.. DUNK!

"No more Frito Lays for me" says NM.

NuclioManiac flying in.. just to give company to the other dunkees!!

Mandal-ized!

A student at ISB got these pictures from his/her friends at AIIMS. The students at AIIMS were protesting against the proposed increase in reservation.
Seems like a pretty brutal reaction from the government towards a non-violent strike.

I feel a little cut-off from the rest of the world these days 'cause I really am finding it difficult to set aside time to read news! Not that I am studying all the time. But somehow I just don't seem to find time to catch up on news/blogs!

Disclaimer : I have no way of verifying facts/info about these events. I heard that the press was under restraints to write about this one. Decide for yourself after looking at these pictures.

Someone has started an E-Petition here. Sign it if you feel strongly about this.













p.s. Kudos to the photographer whoever he/she is. Very powerful pictures.

End of the Mid-term Mania!

Finally! The mid-terms passed by. I did well in one and screwed up another. Well, not too shoddy a performance I would say. I still need to get used to the system. I'm sure there are a bunch of people who are already distancing themselves from the pack in terms of grades. Good luck to them!
These are typically the people with big consultation dreams. What we've heard from the previous batch is that McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group don't look anywhere beyond the Dean's List for recruiting. These are typically the most sought after companies every year. So, a lot of people sacrifice all other interests in this one year at ISB and really focus on making it to the Dean's List, which comprises of the people in the top 10% of the class.
I lazed around the whole weekend after the exams. I didn't feel like touching my books till about Sunday evening. Oh... yeah, and the inter-section football tourney was held during the weekend. We got knocked out in the second match. I played as the Goal-Keeper after a long time. Unfortunately for me, I sprained my ankle in between the first and the second matches. I mis-judged the flight of the ball and let an easy flighted ball go through in the second game. This goal could've made the difference in qualifying for the Semis. I guess we'll do better next time.

ISB Elections, Mid-terms and ofcourse the After Party!

The results are out, and the new president is the candidate I supported. I'm happy for that. Hopefully the other two candidates will contest for other posts and contribute to the student community with their enthusiasm.
I will be contesting for post of the Director of Student Life Council. It looks like the most contested position for now. I counted about 8 people who are interested. I don't know how many of them actually filed their nominations today!

In the meanwhile, the mid-terms loom large tomorrow. Two exams out of which I'm decently prepared for one and unprepared for the other at this point. I'll have to put mega-fight over the other subject tonight.

The spouses of students have taken pity on us and have organized a huge bash for the entire student community tomorrow after the mid-terms. It's going to be one hell of a stress breaker. I think there will be maximum attendance tomorrow. They have a dress code of coming in matching colours with another person (male or female). It will be fun!

Okay, back to my books. The campus looks so deserted now, it almost looks like we're in mourning!

He and She say more!

My favourite "He Says, She Says" column has a new episode on who's more funny.. men or women. Good friendly banter!

GRE scores no longer accepted at ISB

Last year, GRE scores were accepted for admissions because of the difficulty in getting GMAT dates. This year, ISB has worked out something with GMAC (people who host the GMAT) for more availability in India. So, for those who're planning to apply to ISB for the next year, start working on your GMAT.

Elections

Things are heating up for the elections (here at ISB) which are due to happen next week. The GSB President Post elections happen first. The party last night was organized by one of the aspirants. It appears to be a well thought-out campaign process. He has been mailing the entire group very often, and timed the party for the weekend just before the elections. Lets see what the votes say! He seems like a nice guy. But personally, my support is for one of the other candidates who's a little older, little more experienced and is a very charismatic person. I believe that the GSB President is the face of ISB. He/she has to have a presence. Just like Bush visited us last year, we may have other famous people visiting us over the next year. I CANNOT imagine some of the candidates being the first to welcome the celebrities. Most of them are too uni-dimensional and may not be able to even strike up a conversation with the celebs who come in from various fields.
It's funny how all the other posts for Directors of the Admission Commities, Placement Commities, Treasurer, etc come with a list of prerequisites like considerable experience in handling people, considerable experience in finance and accounting (a chartered accountant preferrably), etc. Basically, all the directors are going to be considerably experienced people because of the pre-requisites. But the GSB President's post doesn't come with any such pre-requisites. Hopefully the junta will elect someone who the elected Directors will actually look up to!

Boulder

I miss Boulder. I was going over my ex-roomie's blog and saw pictures of spring in Pearl Street. The Tulips apparantly are in full blossom.

I sit back and think about Boulder and all of a sudden it seems like it happened in another life, in another time. Hiking, skiing, snowboarding, the incredible drives in the mountains, Peak to Peak highway, the guys at CU, the people at Seagate, Akka and her family, my apartment with a view of the FlatIron Mountains. I loved my 3 years in Boulder. So many things to do all the time. However, I think I was glad to leave the place because of some turn of events. The last few months kindof left a bitter taste in the mouth. I think I have myself to blame for them. But the bonds I formed with my friends are worth a life-time. I learnt a lot from my room-mate and friends there. He must be winding up with my apartment lease this weekend.

The last month here at ISB has been so packed, it has helped me form some really good friends. It has helped me forget Boulder.

What a paradox! It's amazing how time can be your best friend as well as your worst enemy. Best friend in the sense that it helps you forget pain. I don't think I'd have been alive if I still felt the same pain that I felt when I parted with different people at different points in my life. Time has helped me forget.
On the other hand, time has also been my worst enemy. I forget close bonds :-). People I loved spending time with. People who meant a lot to me. All of them slowly fade away and we can hardly remain in touch.

Okay, snapping back to reality. I've got lots of studying to do today before I meet up with my study group at 5.00pm to discuss assignments. Last night's mirror pool party was fun. The dance floor was the pool itself. We were all jumping around in a foot and a half of water.

Jon Stewart on Bush's Trip To The Subcontinent

Hahaha.. Good stuff! Got the link from Arun.

On Wundergals and Super Models.

Wundergal decided to make a landing! And boy was it a landing. She sure made a splash in the ISB news groups! Oh.. sorry, that wasn't exactly the sound. More like CRUNCH! Ouch!

D & V (and a few others)took off as super models for the ISB Brochure!

V and his study group are in line for the next Raymond's Ad!

p.s. It was a hilarious sight to see some people turn up for the photo shoot with formal shirts, neck ties, coats, and BERMUDAS! Oh well, it's just a passport size photo!

And The Day After..

Today we discussed the Jones.Blair case in class. Prof. Ansari gave structure to our thoughts. The way he presented and classified things was amazing. It became very evident that there was only one real picture after he classified it, no matter which angle we looked at it from.

Got back our Eco assignment results. My group scored full points just like most people. However, I lost out about 4 points in my Accounts test. So, in effect I lost about 1/15th of 3%. Hmm, objectively looking, its almost a negligible amount.

But wait, that has put me at the bottom of the class almost! Do I want to be a Dean's lister? NO! Too much work! Do I want to slog it out? Hmm, maybe not that much. Do I want to have fun? Hell yeah! But, heck, I don't want to be at the bottom of the class either. Time to buck up a little!

First major assignment done!

Phew.. Just finished the Jones.Blair case study assignment for the Marketing class. My group and I just turned it in about 20 minutes ago. What a relief it is to be done with it! Ofcourse, that is not any indication of our grades. I have no clue how we've performed. It is a little unnerving for me coming from an Engineering background to attempt an assignment where there is no one right answer. I guess it will take some time!
A lot of arguing, a lot of ideas (good ones and absurd ones), many hours coming up with alternatives, a few hours trying to poke holes into the proposed ideas to make it fool proof. I got much closer to my group at the end of the assignment. It was a great learning experience!

Here's a pic of my group taken during the previous case study discussion at the Atrium..




Edit : Picture of us victoriously dropping the assignment into the drop box!

Sleeep deprived!

Partying too hard or studying too hard?

Tam Music Quiz

Here's a link I got from FSN

http://rootnode.freestarthost.com/archive_2006.html

The quiz has three sets of music clips. 2000s, 90s, and 80s. Good time pass.

I scored
> 22/25 right for the 2000's
> 23/25 right for the 90's
> 10/10 right for the 80'S

Law-breaking Officers.

Would you go up against an Assistant Commisioner of Police if he broke the law?

Swaroop Srinath actually did. Here's his account on this real life incident that happened on May 3rd in Bangalore.

Least I can do is feature him in one of my posts!

(Link got through FSN)

Sunk Costs, Marginal Analysis et all..

Yesterday's class in Managerial Economics involved some Marginal Analysis and Profit Maximization.

Definition :

Marginal Analysis is the analysis of the effect of manufacturing/producing ONE MORE piece on profits and profit margins.

In other words, it's a way to say if the "situation" can be improved by making a small change to the current activity. The professor went on to give us an example.
He took a cricketing example and proceeded to explain it to us. "Imagine if your top 3 batsmen were out for 150 runs. Then the average would be 150. If your 4th batsman came and in scored only a 40 before getting out, now your average drops. What does this mean?"

Almost instantly came an arbit CP "The batsman must be Ganguly!".

Tch tch tch. And to think it was just last year that Ganguly and the Indian team's success were part of a case study in one of the IIM's.


My managerial economics course also refers to something called as Sunk Cost.

Definition :

Sunk Cost - Common costs beyond recovery.

For all comparisons, such costs should not be considered.
So, these days people at ISB never talk about the Sunk Cost (Rs. 15,00,000). We talk about how screwed we're getting over petty stuff like lunch, dinner, breakfast, etc. Different attitudes all around. Some with the view, "I"m already sunk, so who cares if I spend 50 bucks more!". Some with the view "I shall not sink anymore, I'll just starve to death!". And some more with my view "If they give something free, I'll take Rs. 15,00,000 worth it to make up for my sunk cost". Who is the smartest kind? Well, that is all a matter of perception :-).

Work Hard.. Party Harder..

It gets more and more difficult to post on my blog as the days go by at ISB. The hectic schedule has caught up with me. Its been only a week, and so far in this week, we've read about 150-200 pages a day as PRE-READ for the next day's classes. It's been a struggle so far to keep afloat with the pre-reads. I have heard that once you let things slip, it'll be very difficult to catch up. So, for now, I'm trying my best to keep up with the prescribed reads for each day.
Weekend comes and it's party time. A big bunch of us from ISB had gone last night to this place called Aahala at Taj Krishna to party. Little did we realize that we'd end up with about 100-120 ISBians there. The party rocked! I'll flickr some photos when I find time!

Back to assignments now!

Statistical Methods & Managerial Economics

We have Prof. Robert Stine (Wharton) handling Statistical Methods and Prof. Amit Bubna (ISB) handling Managerial Economics. Both excellent teachers. Prof. Stine especially has been brilliant. Statistics can be a really dry subject, but he has attached good practical aspects to all concepts that he's been teaching us, that it has been a really interesting class.

Financial Accounting & Marketing Management

I attended my first classes in the core-terms yesterday. Financial Accounting & Marketing Management. It was interesting to see how prepared people were for the classes. People had evidently taken their pre-reads seriously and had prepared very well for the case study in Marketing Managament.
Marketing Management is being handled by Prof. Asim Ansari (Columbia Business School) and Prof. Jagmohan Raju (Wharton) both of whom are on the "who's who" list of Marketing in the world. Prof. Ansari is teaching the first half of the term and Prof. Raju handles the next half.
Financial Accounting is being handled by Prof. Mark Finn (Kellogg) and Sanjay Khallapur (ISB). Prof. Finn I heard was called to check the accounts of Enron and Worldcom when the scandals broke out. My section however is being handled by Prof. Khallapur.
Prof. Ansari was excellent. I liked the way he taught. However, I found Prof. Khallapur a little slow (not necessarily bad). I did some CP in both classes, but I heard that CP from the first 3 classes don't count for the grades. Sux.