Calvin on DMOP

Woof! Two exams of the term 2 are done with and two more to go but it already feels like the exams are really over. Marketing and Economics are left and neither seems to be much of a problem. The only problem that most us faced was DMOP (Decision Models and Optimisation) and that is now behind us.

No amount of problem, however, it seems can stifle the creative juices of some of the students in our batch. Find posted below, a Calvin comic strip sent to the batch yesterday. I don’t know whose creation it is – but it is a really great one. If you know who created this ‘piece of art,’(or if you yourself are the ‘creator’) do send me a mail or leave a comment so that we can recognize this ‘creator.’ Here is the comic strip: Calvin & DMOP

(Apologies for the low resolution. Hope you all will be able to read!)

Meanings change at ISB

ISB it is said changes the way you look at things. Words and concepts acquire and different meaning after the great ‘gyaan’ you gain here. On the verge of completing two semesters, I could not agree more. Please find below some of the meanings I find changed after coming to ISB

MODEL

Before ISB: A beautiful creation with long legs and ……. ;-)

After ISB : An ugly creation with long rows and columns of data (Spreadsheets)

DOG

Before ISB: Dog

After ISB : A brand on your portfolio that you can divest/harvest (BCG Matrix)

T-SHAPE & I-SHAPE

Before ISB: Some ‘things’ possibly in the shape of a 'T' or an 'I'

After ISB: Shapes of ‘consultants’ working at McKinsey (T-Shape=Generalist, I-Shape=Specialist)

SLEEP

Before ISB: Necessity of Life to be indulged in for minimum 8-10 hours a day

After ISB : ?????!!! What’s that?

Well guys, I have to stop now. Have two exams tomorrow and two more the day after. Got a lot of syllabus to catch up with. Will catch up with you all after the exams.

Wish me luck!

Yahaan Itna sannata kyon hai bhai?

The classes of term 2 are over and the entire student community is in a studying frenzy right now for the exams beginning the day after. If you venture out in any of the Student villages you could easily get an impression that ISB is closed for holidays or something. Fed up with studies, I moved out and sat in the lawns of my student Village (SV) for about half an hour, sipping one cup of coffee after another but did not see a single soul except for the Security guard. Man, some studious batch this is. Come on, guys get a life! Don’t study so hard! The grades are all comparative. So if we all decide not to study we will still have the same grades. Don’t make life difficult for all.

P.S. I just realised this post would be the shortest post yet on the Blog. Feels nice to be so brief. Let's see how brief or vest I can be in the posts to come. (Excuse the PJ guys! It is just the effect of the PJ club here! I'll write about this club sometime later, otherwise the post will no longer be brief).

More witty one-liners

Term 2 is supposed to be the most hectic of all terms at ISB and aren’t I glad that it will soon be a thing of the past. There is so much to write about but so much more to study. So, I won’t write much but will leave you with some more of my status messages on G-Talk (You didn’t read my previous post on Status messages? Find it here: http://nirvanatisb.blogspot.com/2007/06/status-messages-on-g-talk-and-lull-in.html)

Here are some of the taglines that I remember

Some on Markstrat ( Markstrat is a Marketing Simulation game played in Term 2. It accounts for 50 % of our marketing marks. And it gives me great pleasure to let you all know that we rocked MarkStrat (literally too!). I’ll write more on this later)

Mark Strat is real bad – All are going Mad

MarkStrat is great Fun – We found our Big Gun

MarkStrat mein hum – Phode sab par Bum

MarkStrat mein abke – Hathyar nikle Sabke

In MarkStrat abode – V cracked its Code!

Markstrat khatam – term ka maza khatam

Tere Bin, Markstrat – Kaise jiye tere Bin!

Some on the Gtalk - Taglines

Tagline: ka maza le – serious na le

Tagline: ka maza lo – Dil pe mat lo ;-)

Some on Studies and Exams

Sab ko mile A – Hamaari dua hai ye.

Phir chale Padne – apne dimaag se ladne

Exam wala bhoot – Phir hua mazboot

Koi upaay mazboot – batao hey avdhoot

Tidbits from Actual ISB Application Essays

If I could list one ‘mantra’ that I followed for my essays then it would be – “Be yourself, be truthful” – and I must say it paid rich dividends (Should you be truthful only if it pays some dividends or should you be honest no matter what? This is a topic very dear to my heart but not a topic that I started out to cover for this post. So, I’ll probably deal with it as a separate topic sometime later). Now, being yourself could be dangerous for some as indeed it was supposed to be for me. Nevertheless, I stuck to my guns of reflecting my true self and today, here I am as a successful applicant to ISB, doling out advice on essays to others.

Let me cut the faff and get to the actual topics and the actual ‘stuff’ I wrote in the essays. That by itself should make it clear why others thought that being myself could be dangerous for me and why I think that giving out my actual essays could be dangerous for the potential applicants.

One of the topics for the Essays:

“Three things that I’d like to change about myself, and why?”

I devoted around 60-70 words to the first change and used up 210 of the remaining 230 words for the second change. The second change that I want to bring about in myself, moreover, was highly philosophical in nature and half of my friends who read the essay (before submission) could not make much sense of it. Added to this, as if I had no word limit assigned, I used an Urdu couplet (or ‘Sher’ as it is generally known) and even gave its English translation in the essay. Sample it:

“Shaayad main zindagi ki sehar, leke aa gaya,
Qatil ko aaj apne hi ghar leke aa gaya!”

(May be I bring with me the dawn of my life, But sadly it seems to be the end of my life!”)

“What the hell is a ‘sher’ doing in a B-School application essay?” asked my friends. Some of them even begged me to remove it. I, however, did not budge from my position and let both the ‘sher’ and the second desired change (which this ‘sher’ tried to explain) remain.

My reviewers made another vain attempt by asking, “Ok! Do as you wish but please tell us what now about the third change? What change are you going to write in the remaining twenty five words?”

This is what I wrote:

“The last thing that I would like to change about myself is my receding Hair Line – this for the sake of my loving wife!”

(Guru, ise kehte hai Bijness! Poora ek word abhi baaki hai!!!)
The reviewer in question laughed on reading the third change and said similar would be the reaction of the ad-com. The ad-com would send the essay to a creative writing contest but would in no way send it to the section of short listed applicants.

When so many people were advising me against the existing essay, I finally decided to change the essay and readied an alternative one. However, I was not satisfied and in the end submitted my original essay with all its idiosyncrasies and with all of it reflecting the real me. “The rest,” can I say, “is history?”

The above tidbits about my essays are in now way given to suggest that you (if you are an applicant) should tailor your essays according to what I did i.e. to include ‘sher-o-shaayari’ or poetry in your essays, or deliberately make an effort to make an essay humorous. However, this is definitely to suggest that you be yourself irrespective of what others may think about you or about what you write.

Then again, “being yourself & being honest” may or may not work. The question is that are you truthful and honest because being so promises you some dividends in life? Or is it that you are actually honest and would like to remain so – no matter what?

My turn to live the tradition

Around 30 of our section ‘dunkards’ got together to dunk me on July 2^nd (my birthday). The Cake was cut and smeared all over my face and then as per the commands of ISB tradition, I too was dunked (thrown) in the pool. Now, Cake was being smeared on my face in public, but I was loving every moment of it – that is the power of this wonderful tradition of dunking.

Many a times previously I had escaped dunking using my camera as my shield. However, this day there was no escaping and in fact I was warned before hand by our ‘dunkards’ against getting my camera. There was no dearth of photographs though as there were many who had brought their cameras. We had some strict deadlines to meet the next day and most of the ISBians were busy breaking their heads with Markstrat. Yet, a huge number of my section mates turned out for the dunking and I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by the big turnout. Thank you guys for all your love and affection.

The day was made even more special by my family who joined me on that day in fact joined the other ‘dunkards’ in dunking me. My three year old son was also there to witness it all and he still laughs recollecting that night of dunking.

I am still not very clear about my exact goals at ISB. My son, however is absolutely clear about his one goal at ISB – that goal is to dunk me again in the pool – and this time all by himself!

P.S. The second part of my previous post on Admission Essays is due. I shall post that part in the next few days.