Coin-Box initiative on ISB website

“There is so much to talk about, but so little time…..” standard cliché it is but absolutely true for any student of ISB, especially for me. I keep thinking that I will write about a particular thing on the blog. However, by the time I find time, the issue gets stale and I end up not writing anything at all.

I wanted to write a post on the ‘coin-box’ (Yes, another post on it. If you have heard the word ‘coin-box’ for the first time on my blog, read the link posted in the end) but conveniently forgot about it. Nevertheless, here it is.

The ‘coin-box’ has become quite famous and quite a star. The initiative was carried as a news item on the ISB website and was widely appreciated by all the students and also by many eminent people in corporate and academic field. Some of the mails that I got appreciating the initiative were really heartening. The best was perhaps by Dr. Krishna Tanuku who saw this simple initiative going way forward.

Read the story at http://www.isb.edu/media/UsrSiteNewsMgmt.aspx?menuid=733

P.S. Yeah! Finally I managed to post another post fast and also keep it short! Hope I’m able to do that more often.

Secret Behind India’s Twenty20 World Cup Win – Me!

Outrageous! Is that what you said on reading the title of the post? I can give you statistical proof that it is me who is really behind the Indian victory. Don’t believe me? Read on.

I found perfect ‘statistical correlation’ between me not watching the match and the Indian cricket team doing well. I ran a regression analysis on several data points, with each point recording my watching the Indian team play and the actual happenings in the match. Believe it or not R² came out to be 99 % (For those with no stats background it means that my not watching the cricket match and Indian team doing well are closely related to each other).

I did not watch the first match between India and Pakistan and India won. All excited about the prospects of our team, I watched the next match with New Zealand and India Lost. I didn’t see the next match with England and again, India won. My friends somehow noticed this ‘correlation’ and didn’t allow me to come near the television set in any of the matches. Result? India won all its matches to reach the finals.

I believed that it was a case of statistical correlation and not of a causal relationship. Hence, I dared to watch the finals. But guess what? The moment I entered the hall in which the match was being screened live in ISB, India lost its first wicket. A couple of my friends saw me come and banished me from the hall. I somehow, slowly managed to again sneak into the dark of the hall and gosh, India lost its second wicket! I could not understand why this was happening. I was again blamed for the loss of second wicket and now no one would allow me to set foot in the hall.

I desperately wanted India to win, so I went back to my apartment and kept myself away form the live telecast. On and off, I kept following the score on the news channels. In the last couple of overs of the Pakistani Innings, believing that Pakistan had no chance, I dared to switch on to the live telecast and saw four sixes being hit by Pakistan. My heart sunk. Was my watching the match really so bad for the Indian team? It could not be. I convinced myself and stayed put to watch the last over. First ball bowled: a huge wide. “Switch off the TV, switch it off,” my heart told me, but my mind wouldn’t listen. Next ball: a huge Six hit by Misbah! I was aghast! “Shucks, I thought, I actually bring bad luck to Indian team,” and immediately switched off the TV. Dejected that I had put India in a losing position, I move out of my room. But the moment I moved out, I heard huge roars of victory all over the campus. I came running back to switch on the TV and to my great joy, found that India had won the match.

"Yippppeeeeee," I screamed! My sacrifice and efforts had finally born the fruit. “My sacrifice?” Is that what you are asking? Hey, who do you think won the match for India? Jogi, by bowling that silly ball which even Boycott's mom could have hit for a six? Man, it was not Jogi but me who won the match for India by switching off the TV at all the right moments, the most important of all being the last ball of the match!

P.S. If you are convinced and would like to thank me for my 'efforts' then you can send some of the prize money being given to the team members to me also or you could also just thank me by leaving a comment on the blog (Well, I’m quite considerate you see). And if you don’t believe me, you could mail me and I can send you data of my regression analysis....:-)

Manthan at Tata Institute of Social Sciences

This post is to raise a toast in honour of all the students of the TATA Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in general and the organizers of ‘Manthan,’ the flagship event of TISS, in particular. Man, some hosts the students of TISS are! The warmth and hospitality they exhibited during our stay in their beautiful campus is truly remarkable.

I and other friends of mine went to the TISS campus in Mumbai to participate in the finals of an event called ‘Anveshan – The Assessment Centre,” designed to select the “Best Managers of India,” and were floored by the royal treatment meted out to us and the other participants. We always had someone escorting us to wherever we wanted to go or needed to go. We just had to ask and there was a volunteer to help us out – actually we didn’t even need to ask! In fact, we felt a little embarrassed by the importance being given and asked the organizers not to bother much. However, for them it was not a bother at all but in fact a great pleasure to help us out and ensure that we had a great time.

The event (Anveshan) itself was really enjoyable and well designed – except for the results. I didn’t win, so I can’t obviously say that the judges were right, can I? ;-) Nevertheless, the event was won by my other friends from ISB so I didn’t have any real reason to complain. ISB actually made a clean sweep at Manthan, also winning Udghosh, their B-Plan competition.

I, personally, had a really great time at TISS and this has a lot to do with the great company I had of the student organizers of Manthan. Renjeni, Shamil, Vaibhav, Shibashish, Yuvaraagi, Mandip (hope I got your spellings right. Do mail me if that's not the case) and several others. A big thank you to you all guys for making our stay at your campus so memorable. You can count us to make your visit to Hyderabad and ISB as enjoyable, whenever you choose to visit us. I am not sure if we can match your hospitality but nevertheless we would try. We would love to have you all as our guests at ISB and have a chance to express our gratitude.