Memories from the golden years of my life (11)

It was day 2 of our classes. The first day had been good. We had studied MANAC, BIO and COM which stand for Management Accounting, Behaviour in Organizations and Communication in Management respectively. We had Rashmi mam as our MANAC teacher. She appeared to be extremely strict. Deb Chat (Debashish Chatterjee), who is apparently amongst top 15 thinkers of Harvard University took BIO. He was an extremely “Global” person. Said anything and everything most of which meant nothing to me. But I liked using his language … and many a times Manish had to bear the brunt of this :) Raina, who took COM, was really a character. My seniors had advised us (and no, I did not believe that) that we should never go to his class after shaving our beard (and being a so called chickna) and all as he was thought to make unwanted advances towards some …. Anyways, that apart, he was an extremely boring teacher. Communication is a very practical subject and he had made it completely theoretical by drawing those charts in which words which mean nothing emerge as stems from other words which also meant nothing. Those trees, stems 7 Cs and 5 Ss were his favourite. God! Once I had slept in his class. I just could not help it. He was going on explaining those 7Cs and I had had very little sleep the night before due to some assignment. And the he caught me! Immediately I started looking busy ……but he said “You are not quite there with us”. And I was so embarrassed that I had to go out to wash my face!!!

Anyways back to day 2. Rashmi madam announced that we will have a quiz today! On second day of the college … a quiz! And that too of accounts. She had even made different sets for people sitting adjacent to others!. That was my first quiz at IIML. And the next day I was a proud owner of 4 marks out of a quiz of 5 marks. Clearly this was not the best but I had done a lot better than many others. CAs had outperformed and Anil Agarwal ( a dark fellow from Calcutta) was being hailed as the topper already !!!

Memories from the golden years of my life (10)

From now on my blogs are going to be about one off incidents @ helL. Basically I realized that if I continue giving a day to day account, I will die before I complete the story … and this is a story that needs to be told … maybe to myself … when the days would no longer be so good. I would need something to remind me then … that once I had the time of my life … I would need to be reminded of the memories from the golden years of my life ….

The inductions were over … all that presentation and that paper were a hoax! A small prank played by our seniors on us. We were supposed to start classes tomorrow. And the books were supposed to be given to us today. I carried the flimsy bag to the section from where we were supposed to get books. I had got two of these flimsy bags that mummy had given me. They were very cool looking. One was green and the other was blue. To my horror I found out that we were being given a huge pile of books. I was cursing them that why are they giving us books for the entire year. Can't they give it termwise? But to my utter surprise, I found that these 15-16 books that we were being given were only for term one. Some of them were as heavy as 2 kgs (Remember book on LP Manish?) The books were of two types: textbooks and compilation of notes, cases and other material called polycopies. Somehow I pushed all polycopies in my bag and then carried all the text books in my hand. I bet the weight was more than 15 kgs! And then the inevitable happened. Midway that bag was no more!. How I managed to carry those books to my hostel, only I know. :-)

I am missing hostel terribly today. Why are some things like ... gone forever?

This is how I rate a movie ...

Ok! I have had many discussions (and I truly enjoyed all of them) on how do I rate a movie. How do I say that a movie is good, bad or ugly (it fails !). Here it goes my marking scheme.

1. Content (50 marks)
This one area can make or break a movie. Now, people might have different expectations on what exactly the content means. Content is based on the following 4 sub-parameters:
- The Story - 25 marks (and yes ... it includes a proper ending)
- Justice to the movie's Genre - 10 marks (I don't want to see a horror movie when the expectation set by promos is that of a comedy)
- The Basics - 10 marks (For heaven's sake, we are in the 21st century ... let the past go ... I simple won't appreciate movies that don't live up to the times that we are living in)
- The Songs - 5 marks (Wondering why such less weightage to this one? ... Don't want to be unfair to English movies)

2. The Presentation (30 marks)
I have always maintained (unlike people who say that content is what that matters) that it takes a good presentation to take you to the content. If your presentation is not good, no one will bother to see the content. Here is what will go into the presentation.
- The pace of the movie (has to be right) - 5 marks
- The set design - 5 marks
- The costumes - 5 marks
- The packaging - 5 marks (Yes ... promos do make an impression)
- The look and the feel of the movie - 10 marks (I am allowed to be arbit at times :) )

3. The Actors - 20 marks
Need I say more !

Ok ... All this is fine .. but how would i describe a movie .. depending on the marks ...

<33 - Well ... this is fail even in board examinations .. do I have a choice
33-50 - Below Expectations
51-75 - Met Expecatations
>75 - Exceeds Expecatations
Yes! Accenture has a huge rub off on me .... Lets start rating movies now !

The three biggest gifts of my life ...

Our life is a mix of a few good things ... and the other bad ones that happen to us. This particular blog is just to thank God and acknowledge the presence / happening of these few good things, which are also the biggest gifts given to me by God ....

1. 22nd November, 1986
This was the day when God gifted me my baby brother. Till that time I was so dependent on others, for playing, for emotional support. Papa mummy tell me that there were two twins called Sonu Monu who were my life (kind of). Even if they were back home at 11 in the evening I had to visit them before I went of to sleep. And then Dhiraj came ...

I remember ... Dhiraj had jaundice when he was born .. and hence he was kept in an incubator. I used to visit mummy and Dhiraj in hospital. But since I could not visit Dhiraj, I used to play with another new born kid (somehow he was within my reach, as he was on one of the lower cradles) and come back home .. happy and contented. Since that day .. Sonu and Monu lost their importance in my life ... and Dhiraj took it all. When Dhiraj was finally brought home .. I was the first one to take him in my lap ....

21 years later, he is still my best friend ... Of course we fight .. there is a difference of opinion many of times ... but I dont think that underlying emotions have changed ... hope it will always remain the same ....

2. June, 2001 (Don't remember exact dates)
This was the day when DCE's result was out. I knew I was going to DCE that day ..... Somehow, I can't say that I had a great time at DCE. May be i was too tight assed at that time (and I have no qualms in accepting that). But it was a life changing good thing that happened to me. I knew I had a secure job at the end of four years ... Yes, many a times those four years seemed like a torture. Dhiraj will vouch how much I used to crib about DCE. But I still say that it was a good thing that happened to me for two reasons. DCE was a stepping stone for another great event in my life and of course I owe to DCE friends like Shounak, Yuvraj, Harman and Devender ..... Four years ... Four friends ... does it seem like a raw deal? You bet not ...

3. April, 2005
When we are young ... a small incident can change our life ... however as we grow older .. it takes a lot (of good things at least) to make even a small change to the kind of person you are. But this particular incident .. changed my life ... completely. Remember those mixers used for mixing cement... out side buildings where construction is taking place? It was like I was taken suddenly in one of those mixers ... and what came out was that ready to serve... cement. IIM Lucknow happened to me ..

I have changed ... I believe for the good. IIML does that to you. I have become more assertive, more progressive but maybe somewhere I have also lost something .... it is very difficult to express that in words .. so let it be .. and anyways this blog is about good things ... like Manish Peter ..... two years .... one friend .... (ok .. I can count Avichal also) ... I would still say I couldn't get a better deal ....

Memories from the golden years of my life (9)

Yes Manish, I do remember the look on your face after the finance papers … and I will devote once complete blog to that look … but for the time being my heart is beating fast because I have no clue what is Weighted Average Cost of Capital … and I have no sense what happens in textile and refining … and I don’t seem to recognize even a single name on that board from the people I met … and my head is spinning like never before … and I write my mobile number against my name on the list so that others can contact me … and the alarm is now ringing … its time already for me to go to next day’s lectures…

Somehow we tolerated next day’s lectures … it was day 2 at IIML and I am already using tolerated … for one, I was still to get over previous day’s tiredness and two … some of the lectures like that on IT infrastructure and library management ... well I thought were delivered by absolutely incompetent personalities … and well could be definitely left for later. To top it all there was presentation in the evening …

In the break I contacted the others in my group (only a few of them) … I don’t remember all but one was Himanshu Jain (an absolutely unclean guy … quite literally so … but I struck a cord with him …somehow) .. and Manish Kumar Jain (this guy seemed to know what is Weighted Average Cost of Capital … man …wasn’t I relieved to know that). He explained the concept to us … it dint seem that difficult but at the same time I could not understated it fully … somehow we managed to crap together a few slides… it was decided that Manish will present since the rest of us hardly knew what was on the slide… A few students escaped from the hall CR203 … which clearly showed the level of enthusiasm shown by the batch. This was not appreciated by the faculty and a severe reprimanding was given by the Chairperson, PGP. But all was fine till the evening.

And then began that signature IIML presentation … the conversations went something like this:

S – Senior
J - Junior

S – You yellow shirt, you start the presentation
Pointing towards a guy hiding behind others
S – Man, who wears green to a presentation?
There is another dude who wore a green formal shirt to presentation
S – Why aren’t you dressed in formals? Is there a party going on
The guy was not wearing a tie.
J – (Mumbles something which is hardly audible)
S – Okay start now. We don’t have all the time in the world
3 or 4 seniors are shouting from the back
S – What ghastly slides have you made?
Disgust is written all over their face
S – How much time did you take?
Inevitably the first person was asked this question followed by the entire class of seniors laughing at the presenters
J – 2 hours
Man.. I just put in 45 mins .. am saying 2 hours .. and the look on their face .. well I feel like running away
S – That’s it! So you think you will put in 2 hours of effort and you will pass!

Followed by more laughs ... need I mention this?


Ill post on my specific experience next time ….

Memories from the golden years of my life (8)

I had initially thought of attending that guest lecture .. but dropped it just to prepare for an exam at 9:30 in the night. This was just the beginning. Beginning of sacrifices. Beginning of deciding what my priorities are. Beginning of what was going to be a long journey of trying to get a bite of everything … everything literally. I reached the examination hall at 9:20. I was made to sit in CR101 which was also my classroom for first year. There were some strict looking seniors with papers. Finally, after the room got full, they distributed the papers.

I was shocked to see the paper. It has been almost 3 years now and I don’t remember too much but I think the paper had broadly 3 sections – Finance, Marketing and Management GK. Of the three … just imagine I thought Management GK was the best! … I who had never been good at GK! The reason being I could hardly understand what the questions said in other two sections. Marketing was full of jargon though still we could understand English. It was Finance that sent a shiver down my spine. I knew nothing!

Dreading awful things, I turned my face around. Believe me it was such a relief to see blank faces all around me. Anyways, for one hour I broke my head on that paper. One of the guys who had completed all that he knew (and I am guessing it was as good a nil) wanted to leave the room in half an hour only. But the seniors did not allow that! They said we have to be there for complete three hours! So after I was done, tried going off to sleep on the chair only, though could not manage to catch any sleep at all. I was surprised to find some guys sleeping so well. I distinctly remember the senior having to shake Helly up, to wake her when they finally decided to let all of us go. As we came out of the hall, I was glad to find that like me .. the others also knew nothing. And I learnt my first lesson at HelL .. without anyone even mentioning it to me.. “What others are doing and how well are they doing it will be equally important to me if not more, than what I ought to be doing”

All was not well … As we came out, there was another notice on the same notice board. We had been divided into groups of five and had to make a presentation on the topic assigned to us, the very next evening after the induction lectures. The topic assigned to my group was something like this :

“Comparison of Weighted average Cost of Capital for refining and textile sectors”

Memories from the Golden Years of my life (7)

I got up next morning at around 7. No ragging had happened in the night. Maybe these MBA institutes had finally realized that ragging was such a futile exercise. Wasn’t I pleased to know that? We had our orientation at 8 AM. We were all supposed to reach the academic block with the particulars (which included a few photographs, letter of acceptance of advance fees and all the original mark sheets and certificates). I had a quick bath and got ready. I went to mess first to catch some breakfast. As usual, I had sufficient time on hand (I always had this habit of reaching any place before time) so had a full breakfast of cornflakes with milk, bread pakora and tea. There was omlette also, but as I believed that one should not have omlette and leave for any exam (this was my first day in the institute and hence equivalent to an exam), I skipped it.

I reached the academic block five minutes before eight and was surprised to find that I was not the only one who had arrived before time! Just to give a flavour about the academic block to those who haven’t been there, the block is made of red bricks and has five entrances, two of which are opened only during the time of placements. One of the three open entrances which is open faces the library (which is called as Gyanodaya) and the Computer Center (fondly called by everyone as CC) has a figure of Maa Saraswati sculpted on its top. The second entrance from the same side is closed. The other two entrances (which are the main ones) face the path leading to Samadhan (the administrative block) and Chintan (the faculty block). The fifth entrance leads to the green ground behind the block where temporary mess is set up during placements. As we enter the academic block from the main entrance (which is nearer to the library), on both sides are placed notice boards. The right side contained notice boards for our batch, which was PGP 21 (the 21st batch of post graduate programme in management) and the left side contained the notice boards for our seniors’ batch, PGP 20 (which was later replaced with PGP 22, once they left at the end of our first year). On the notice board, we saw, that the entire batch had been divided into 5 sections, for the purpose of induction. We were all supposed to gather in one of the big halls on the second floor, i.e. CR 203. I climbed up the stairs and reached the hall, to finds that already quite a few students had been occupying it. It was a large hall, with seating capacity of nearly 200 students. How 300 of us were to be accommodated there, nobody knew. The infrastructure has been generally good in IIMl.. The hall was equipped with a slide projector and a screen, was fully air conditioned and had good lighting for all purposes that it was supposed to be used. I found myself a seat, in the middle of the hall, to be seated for the rest of the day.

And, I introduced myself to the beautiful girl seated beside me, Helly Ajmera. She had a pleasant personality and seemed confident of what she spoke. We anyways did not have much to speak with anyone. So, the usual round of conversation was like … Where are you from? Which college? Any workex? Helly was from Bombay. It was later only, that I came to know that she had already completed first year of her MBA from another university in Bombay itself but had dropped the college to pursue MBA at IIML. I realized two things in this conversation. One, the IIM brand is really powerful. Powerful enough to make you drop one year. And secondly, that a part of my competition would be guys and gals who have already done first year of MBA once!

Soon, the hall was fully occupied. The first person to address us was Mr. M. Ravi Sunder (fondly known as MRS by everyone). He was the then Chairman of the PGP (Post Graduate Programmes). He welcomed us into the hallowed portals of IIML. He was generally not a great orator, but we were instantly able to connect to him because of his down to earth nature and simple speaking. At the very beginning, he warned us that the next two years are not going to be easy. We will need to put in our best efforts, although there is not reason to be scared of anything and we would manage well if we follow a daily routine of studies. (I guess the last comment was to dispel the apprehension which the batch had towards studies at IIML as last year, in our senior batch some 50-60 students had been asked to leave as they could not fulfill the minimum criteria for grades!)

This was followed by a couple of more lectures. Once that is clearly etched in memory is by our Dean, Academic Affairs - Mr. R. K. Srivastava, very commonly known as Rocky. The man is a complete riot in himself. Thankfully .... unlike others ... he was not preaching in his lecture. His welcome was really warm and it really showed on his face how happy he was. He showed us some past pictures of IIML .. some 15-20 years ago when we used to operate from the building now known as city office ... located in Aliganj, the early pictures of campus, the histroy of IIM Lucknow .... How they wanted to have an IIT at Lucknow .. and then the question was raised that there is already an IIT at Kanpur ... so the minister in concern (I wouldn't name him or her of course!) asked .. if not an IIT .. what else can we have at Lucknow? ... and the result was IIM Lucknow !!!

The lectures ended by the evening. There was a notice on the notice board which said that there was a lecture by some guest who had arrived (I don't remember specifically but I think he was some alumni). There was also another notice on the test that was supposed to be held tonight at 9:30 PM!!! Apparently it was a very very important test, as on that basis we would be divided into sections. We had anyways been anticipating this as IIML had sent a book on accounting for us to study with their letter of confirmation of receival of fees. This came as a real shock to all of us. Althought I had read the book ... completed it thoroughly ... yet I was not sure if I remembered everything. (I had done it long time back). Some of the guys were least bothered about it while others were simply aghast to see it as they had not even opened the book.