Procrastinator

Over and out !

2010-07-03T00:39:00.000+05:30

The last nail has been hit in the coffin. Tepper said sorry. So, no mba from me this fall.
Good luck to all the others.

The wait continues..

2010-05-07T17:18:00.000+05:30

As you all know that I have been waitlisted at Tepper, I was very much hoping to get a decision last Monday (which happens to be the decision date for R3 apps). Alas, it didnt happen.

As time passes by, I am becoming more and more skeptical about the decision. June 26 is supposedly the last date for waitlist decisions but even if I get in on that day, I'm not sure if I will have the time to have everything in place in a month (assuming classes start in Aug 1st week). This include wrapping up here, loan, visa, settling down -in that order.

Firstly, as an entrepreneur, I am not sure if that 1 month is sufficient for me to wrap up things at my company. Though I have been planning for this since Dec, a series of rejects have forced me back into the work-mode and I have been making changes, signing new contracts and aggressively pushing for new things. I havent properly planned for any of these 'new ones' in a subsequent role-transfer. Secondly, Tepper does not provide non-US cosigner loans for an international applicant like me. Though I do have a US cosigner, I am not sure of the time it takes to go through the loan approval . Thirdly, the F1 visa - getting an i20, applying for the visa, showing required docs for finances etc is going to take time. Then, the issue of settling down in Pittsburgh (if and only if I get an admit :), but I guess this is important too. It's not like I can take a plane, visit Pitt over the weekend and find a home. And then all the other things that occupy an international student.

Thinking through the inherent immigration issues, I wonder if Tepper admits intl students in late June. So, I hope I get the decision before end of this month or a folder on my laptop would be renamed to apping_fall2011

Long lost updates

2010-04-21T22:17:00.000+05:30

There's a significant update I haven't mentioned in my blog for a long time. I dont know what stopped me from doing so, I guess some kind of hysteria for not getting into even one of the six schools I applied to.

But once I became a nominee for ClearAdmit's BoB, I felt I should let it out in the blogosphere. So, here it is. I was waitlisted at two schools - Ross and Tepper (both my R2 apps) Ross - without an interview and Tepper - with an interview. My initial reaction - "Hey..atleast, I wasn't pushed from a cliff right away but kept dangling by a thread to climb back". And I said "was" because I got a reject from Ross already (they cut loose that thread !). But I'm still on the waitlist at Tepper, my last chance for joining the party like the others - him, her, her and him who are already there.

Being on the waitlist has been a really good learning process into each of these schools. I'm not trying to judge a school but here are my observations. Except for one, none of my emails to Ross students went unanswered. Ross' students really seemed to be down-to-earth (you might come across jerks too..but it's probably like 10/500!). But that was not the case at Tepper. MBA students can be really busy and I'm not being rude or anything, just saying what I experienced. But again it was a different thing at Tepper, my contacts actually went ahead and put me in touch with other students who had similar interests as mine. Now, that could be difficult at a school with a large no. of students, but this is the advantage at Tepper, which comes with its class-size. For example, there are just about 25 students in the Entrepreneurship track and everyone gets to know everyone, so it isn't hard to connect with others when you know one, and the whole entrepreneur/vc community in Pittsburgh is linked to Tepper and CMU. It's actually very exciting to think that you can actually get mentored by a successful entrepreneur. And the best part, the Tepper Adcom who interviewed me - he's awesome ! Frankly, I don't think you see such enthusiastic people in Admissions Committees very often :P

Inspite of a lot of interactions with students/alumni/adcomms in events/visits, what I realized was that these subtle differences can let you know the culture of the school very well - what the school is about and how the students are. Being waitlisted has helped me understand my fit even better with these two schools. And if some one asks me if I'd apply again to Ross and Tepper (if Tepper feels otherwise), it's a resounding YES!

Let me wear a suit, please !

2010-03-29T01:00:00.001+05:30

Yes, please someone let me wear a suit. Throughout the application process of 2009-10, I haven't had a chance to wear a suit that I bought specifically for bschool interviews I expected I would have to appear for :) Alas, that didn't happen. The only interviews I had (Kellogg and Tepper) were both telephonic and I took them at home in casual wear (it was as casual as it can get).

So, I guess I need to save that suit and dust it, if required, next year and this blog too !
Adios till then (unless I have some really exciting news to talk about) !

A ray of hope !

2010-02-23T17:53:00.000+05:30

Finally, something's happening on my application. At the very end of the season, I get an interview invite from Tepper! Ah, it feels so good after all these months of writing and re-writing the essays. But I guess, it's just half-done.

Interestingly, Tepper is the only school where I didn't "fall in love" instantly. The more I learnt, the more I realized that Tepper and I make a rather good fit than most of my other choices. The opportunities that Tepper (and CMU) provide in technology entrepreneurship are much better than what some of the very top schools provide. I could actually write down my whole "why Tepper" essay on this subject, as that's I'm focused on.

Anyways, I'm going to the interview without any expectations and have to see what happens on March 15.

Just a short poem about what I went through -
(disclaimer: I'm no poet !)

I take my notebook
And give it a tense look

Oh, I wait and wait
Feeling my pulse rate

"where art thou", I shout in a archaic tone
"Don't give up" says a deep voice, I realize as my own

Tired as hell, I go to bed
Waiting to discover what lay ahead

Finally, there I see a ray of hope
Excited I am like I'm on dope!

Microsoft has heard it !

2010-02-17T15:39:00.002+05:30

As I was talking about the plight of MS in the mobile market, it seems to have taken the necessary steps forward in the right direction with Windows Mobile 7!

The number 7 seems lucky (though just a bit) for Microsoft, with Windows 7 quickly overshadowing the Vista disaster and now Windows Mobile 7 trying to find its rightful place in the market.

Not sure if this is just a demo or we'll be seeing a lot of it in the coming months, but here it is

The power of Google :P

2010-02-10T13:19:00.007+05:30

Well, what can I say !

Article about Microsoft - NY Times

2010-02-08T14:58:00.001+05:30

I just happened to read the following article in NY times - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/opinion/04brass.html and I'm certainly appalled by their division culture.

I'm certainly not a fan of Microsoft, but I respect it for setting some standards in the industry. And it surely hurts a bit seeing a company like that succumbing to internal politics. I see a lot of new technology demos from Microsoft, but never the real product. Not even a buzz in magazines that rave about Google n Apple. With Microsoft failing in every other product (remember Vista?), I dont know what Ballmer is planning other than ridiculing other companies. There's an intense war on the mobile front, and Microsoft seems to be trying to outbeat Google with Bing and relish on Windows and Office. More recently, Motorola Droid was hailed not as an iPhone-killer, but as a Windows Mobile killer. Is any one even buying a Windows Mobile these days? When was the last time Microsoft created a killer app?

With these kind of setbacks, I wonder where Microsoft sees itself in the next 10years. If the kind of innovation-killing mentioned in the article keeps happening, MS could become a "company that is too big to fail". And as the author rightly noted, it could eventually become a GM or Chrysler.

What do you think?

Help Haiti victims

2010-01-16T13:35:00.000+05:30

Hi everyone

I just donated $20 for helping Haiti victims through UNICEF (thanks to DreamChaser and Hari)

Let's do our bit to help these victims. I hope you'll also donate to help Haitians who cannot hope to resume their lives, perhaps for years, without external aid.

In the new year, I hope..

2009-12-31T01:55:00.000+05:30

As the year comes to an end, I couldn't resist posting these dialogues from my favorite movie - Shawshank Redemption. To those who have been already rejected, or those who're waiting for their decisions, or those who're applying in R2/R3, all I ask is to hope. Hope that you'll crawl through your river of shit and come out clean on the other side.

Andy: Dear Red. If you're reading this, you've gotten out. And if you've come this far, maybe you're willing to come a little further. You remember the name of the town, don't you? I could use a good man to help me get my project on wheels. I'll keep an eye out for you and the chessboard ready. Remember, Red. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. I will be hoping that this letter finds you, and finds you well. Your friend. Andy.

Red: I find I am so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it is the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain... I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.

Wishing you all a successful new year 2010 !

The expected...

2009-12-19T08:51:00.000+05:30

...ding from MIT. No surprises here. After all these I dont expect anything from Darden as well.
I'm just wondering now if it is worthwhile applying to another set of schools in R2.

Rejected at Kellogg

2009-12-17T22:36:00.000+05:30

My biggest hopes crashed now. I am rejected at Kellogg

My Kellogg Interview

2009-12-11T08:36:00.003+05:30

Yesterday evening (IST) or today morning (CST), I had my Kellogg interview with an AdCom. She called me just about at the scheduled time. After some small talk and confusion with pronouncing my name, we started with the interview. She explained about the format (blind, 30mins).

First, the discussion revolved aroung my entrepreneurial experience - the challenges, lessons, results etc. Then the interviewer asked the following questions:

Why MBA?
Why Kellogg?
What would you contribute to the Kellogg team culture?
Describe your leadership style
What would your friends describe you as?
How do you interact in a team?
What are your interests outside of work?
Is there anything else you would like to talk about?
Do you have any questions for me

Surprisingly, the interviewer did not ask me about my goals, so I fit them partially into Why Kellogg and Why MBA.

I cannot comment on whether the interview was awesome or really bad, but it seemed very casual and I just answered all the questions. It was OK. On the flip side, I talk a bit fast and as I said earlier, the phone interview wasnt the best way to start off.

And now, the waiting begins !

Fuqua says I'm not invited

2009-12-08T14:25:00.004+05:30

Surprise ! Surprise ! I'm not invited for an interview at Fuqua. This is what my application status says :( . I guess this means a nice reject email at the end of the season

I had lot of hope on my Fuqua application as I've written some of the best essays for it. It really doesnt make any sense to me of how I could have been rejected without interview. I atleast hoped for an interview. Alas, my efforts and hope seem to have gone down the drain.

But can't do anything but buckle up for R2

And Kellogg invites..

2009-12-03T16:44:00.004+05:30

I received a telephone interview request from Kellogg yesterday. I was apparently both excited and nervous. I called them up and scheduled it for next week. I was earlier apprehensive about the interview waiver. But this could be good chance to strengthen my candidacy to Kellogg. One takeway from the short conversation is that the AdComm who answered me was a very nice person. He explained the format of the interview (max 30 mins) and said that it would be a normal conversation and I dont need to worry about it much. My anxiety is lot lesser after those soothing words :)

However, I am not a good interviewee and it has been years since I actually attended an interview. And a telephonic interview is not the best way to start my b-school interviews. So, you could imagine my feeling now.

The only thing going through my mind right now are the lyrics from Eminem's Lose Yourself

Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?
...
...
...
You better lose yourself in the music
The moment you own it you better never let it go, go, oh
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
Coz opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo

I can't give excuses nor be negligent but give my very best shot at this. Wishing me luck :)

Kellogg Interview Waiver

2009-11-24T18:03:00.003+05:30

Kellogg has waived my interview. Although they've explained in the letter that interview waiver does not affect the application, I'm still anxious about that. I sent emails to a couple of Kellogg alumni I knew. Waiting for their reply.

But I'm unclear about the criteria they use for waiving interviews. Is it FCFS (first-come-first-serve)? If that is the case, then it seems fit as I applied just a couple of hours before the deadline, so my request should, by all means, be at the very end of the queue.

That's still fine but I only dread the thought of waiving interviews for applicants who are not competitive enough :(. I fervently hope that is not the case.

More updates to come ?!?!

Duke and the end of R1 apps

2009-11-13T11:41:00.002+05:30

I've finally submitted my Duke app yesterday. The good thing about Duke was there was no word limit. So, I had ample space to write what I wanted to, without checking the word limit. And interestingly, my recommenders submitted before me for this one. Guess, they got used to the process more than I did :)

And so with Duke, my R1 apps are behind me. I'd like to take a couple of days break from this routine and get back to my R2 apps. R2 apps are evenly spaced with 2 in Dec and 2 in Jan, so I guess I wouldnt have to rush through anything. But I've got to talk to my recommenders on those yet as I've told that I was applying only to 4 schools and now the list just doubled !

I hope everyone's anxious for the interviews now and a lucky few waiting for the decision after their inteviews. Let's hope for the best !

The "Proc" way of life

2009-11-01T16:37:00.007+05:30

This is the perfect flow chart for the daily routine of a procrastinating person like me. Thanks to whoever created it.

Darden app

2009-10-31T12:07:00.004+05:30

Finally, Darden app's done too ! One more to go for my R1 apps..and I'll take a few days rest from this madness

I'm not going to dwell into the details of Darden application process, but it was a crazy day right from the start. I was up for 28 hours straight, not just because of the app though. Work tends to strain you the most and it doesnt help if you're running a company like me. I'd advice future applicants to take a break or keep key things on hold at work during the apps.

But I guess "In the End, it doesn't matter". All that matters is if my app was good enough. I'm confident about my essays, so hoping for the best.

And Sloan's done !

2009-10-28T09:40:00.003+05:30

MIT Sloan app submission was a breeze, unlike Kellogg. My recommenders submitted a day before the deadline, and I did it with ample time left. I didn't feel the kind of anxiety double-checking everything like I did for K. I guess you get used to it after you've done it once :)

Anyways, apart from that, I feel I did submit a very good app to Sloan. The cover letter was a hitch coz I'm not used to writing one. But I believe I managed to come up with a good one.MIT Sloan essays were the simplest I've written in all my apps. They are not the kind of abstract questions we have in certain applications. Straighforward questions to what you thought, knew and did in a situation. In fact, I just went through just 3 edits for them. For the first time, I guess I was very much satisfied with my 2nd draft itself, even my reviewer felt good about them after making changes for the 3rd time.

I fervently hope I atleast make the 18% cut - check here for what I mean :)

Fingers crossed !
And on the next one !!

Kellogg Submitted !

2009-10-17T19:55:00.002+05:30

And finally, after struggling for a month (read my earlier post to know what I mean), I submitted my Kellogg app just a couple of hours before the deadline of 11:50pm CDT. There was a minor hiccup with my recommenders who actually submitted after me ! I was so anxious that I called one of them like 5 times within those 2 hours to get him hit Submit.

Anyways, I'm relieved now. Kellogg has been one of my dream schools and I'm happy to have applied it in R1. I hope it makes my chances better. Now have to wait and see what the Kellogg AdComm has to say :)
I wish all the best for the others who've submitted their K App

And, after a couple of days of procrastinating, I'm on to my other R1 apps.

A 4-hour trek seems better !

2009-10-09T15:57:00.003+05:30

You might be wondering better than what. Yea, if you guessed it right, writing b-schools essays.
I went on treks for hours and hours and climbed hills , but there seemed to be an end to it. Not in the case of a bschool app. The struggle doesn't end in hours, not even days. It weeks and weeks.

I never knew writing essays would drive me insane. I almost became a recluse writing them. And the worst part, it just doesnt end. You got to write them, re-write them , and edit them. And after that, enter your hostile friend - the reviewer. He/She would see your essays like a piece of sh&t and throw in comments that make you furious but then again, you dont know whether you're angry at them or yourself. And again, the vicious cycle of editing, reviewing happens, and sometimes even worse - you have to scrap the whole essay and start from scratch. I sincerely pity those(incl. myself) who had to do that.

After all that, your essays you feel awesome, not because you did something but just because you read them again and again, and thought yourself to be unique/interesting/accomplished. Now, you dont know whether the AdCom is going to feel the same, so hit Submit and get sloshed.

Take it easy guys, just being me !
Wish all you the best !

Falling behind

2009-08-27T20:35:00.002+05:30

I seem to be falling behind on my application process. I've got the stories lined up for almost all my essays for the schools I'm applying to but I'm not able to find the time to pen them down.

Work's literally killing me, with more and more projects coming our way (which is actually a good thing) but that's not helping me in my app-ing. I'm staying up till 1AM working and talking to clients and the mornings are jam packed. Least I could do was write a "significant accomplishment" essay. I feel these kind of essays are a lot easier to write as they pretty much have a pre-defined structure, or they say CAR(cause-action-result) structure, of what is asked rather than those abstract ones where we would have to struggle as much for getting the structure right as for writing the content.

I initially planned for 5 schools in R1, I guess I have to cut that list short to 4 and focus on them and apply for the other one in R2. But I already have 2 more schools in R2. Seems like a wild-ride for me, this fall&winter.

I guess I never posted my list of schools on the blog. I'll do that very soon - positively by 2nd Sept. But again, I procrastinate :)

Recommenders Confirmed

2009-08-11T16:11:00.003+05:30

I guess I've been pretty lazy in posting about my updates, but you got to see the title of my blog before asking about it.

Anyways, the thing is that I talked to my potential recommenders and all 3 of them confirmed their willingness to write a reco for me. No, I am not applying to HBS but I just asked 3 people wondering if one of them may not be so favorable, but luckily none did so.

So, with that done I can turn my attention to a bit more research on my list of schools and start off with the essays in a couple of weeks.

Nevertheless, work's killing me and after adding 2 more customers, it has been quite hectic. So, I need to balance between the two to start very soon

About MIT Sloan

2009-07-30T17:15:00.005+05:30

I've been rummaging through various blogs and websites about MIT Sloan and these are my 2 cents about the school.

Arguably MIT is among the best engineering schools in the US and anyone looking for an MBA with a concentration in technology is bound to look at it.
Sloan has an advantage of being in the hotbed of technology innovation and with an alumni network that runs really high. But because of it's distance from the Valley, it might not provide as many opportunities as Stanford or Haas would provide.

But the advantage and also a disadvantage at MIT Sloan seems to be that Sloan is very much integrated into the MIT community. That's the reason MIT Sloan is not called just "Sloan". Being so tightly knit into MIT, people do get a feeling that it's more of graduate degree in technology than a degree in management . Likewise, there are people who feel that it's an added advantage for networking with the whole MIT community.

Another general perspective about MIT's student community is that it's not as colloquial as other schools. There' s much more competition among peers than say Kellogg or Ross. And more over , there are visitors who feel that Sloan students are not "touchy-feely" and doubt the camaraderie among fellow students.

And finally the weather, Boston's freaking-cold and anyone not used to those sub-zero temperatures (like me) might feel really irritated with the climate.

I'd like to know opinions of others too as I'm planning to apply to MIT Sloan for fall 2010.

An Idea for a change

2009-06-24T13:08:00.003+05:30

An idea, that I wanted to spread in the blogosphere. Let me know if you like it and see if you can implement it

If all popular bloggers who don't really rely on blogging for paychecks, sign up for Google Ads and lend all that money through Kiva (www.kiva.org), it would be a great service. On one hand, you'll not loose any money as that would come back 80% of the cases, and on the other, you'll be doing a great service to the struggling entrepreneurs and micro businesses in the third world countries.

So, all the wannabe-MBA bloggers who get thousands of hits every day, just think about this. Maybe, we could ask ClearAdmit and Kiva to give "Best-of-lending-blog" awards too :)

A thing about GMAT

2009-06-24T00:56:00.003+05:30

I've been advising a few people about how to prepare for GMAT and lately, there have been a few more asking the same questions - How to tackle GMAT? How to get a score above 700? How should I start my preparation? What should I focus on first, Quant or Verbal etc etc.
The questions range from too generic to too specific. I thought may be a few others too could get my gyan on GMAT, if it sounds convincing enough !

My answer to all the questions begins with - know the GMAT, know yourself and have a strategy.
I believe that rather than preparing for GMAT (unless you're an awesome test taker and score at least a 700 in your first mock test , unprepared !), it's always better to learn how to prepare for GMAT. It's more of unlearning what you think you know and actually learn and know what's exactly in it. Know more about the areas GMAT tests you in. Quant and Verbal are too broad too classify for the not-so good of us.

Next, knowing your weaknesses and strengths in all aspects of the GMAT lets you prepare better. For example, if you're an Indian from a good engineering school, you're already pretty good at math to score at least a 49 in GMAT Quant but Verbal section may be a big weakness. But if you consider Verbal as a whole, it is sure to give you goosebumps. So learn what you are good at. May be you're good at grammar (SC) but not at reasoning(CR) or you're good at reading (RC) but not at grammar(SC). It helps to know your pain-points so that you can tackle them more aggessively and tread more cautiously.
Let's take my case as an example. I was good at math and never faced a question that I couldn't answer given the generous time in GMAT, but I did it too fast, fast enough to ignore those finer details in Data Sufficiency and used to make atleat 5-6 mistakes in DS not that I didn't know how to but because I wasn't patient enough. So, I made it a point to go slow at the DS questions and double-check that I was right. It helped..it helped to the fact that I got a 50 in Quant away from the 47-48 I used to get earlier.

But again, it's always better to stress on the specifics - like if you're doing a mistake only in say, idiom-related questions in SC, it doesn't make sense to go through all of SC again and again and not focusing on the issue at hand. So get to the specifics and note them down

So know your weaknesses but how do you tackle them?
That's where planning and strategy comes in. Having a strategy doesn't mean how many hours a day, or how much study material you covered. It's about how you're doing to overcome your specific weakness - what are the steps you need to take to actually overcome them. For example, I knew that inference questions in RC was a weak point of mine, which ask us for an answer based on an excerpt in the essay. So I made of note like this - "Process of Elimination may not work for Inference Qs. Don’t just read the paragraph again from where the inference is drawn from. Read all information related to that subject (might be in different paragraphs and with different names) make points and check with answers." or something like this in CR - "Correct Answers do not deviate from conclusion - Eliminate anything that deviates from conclusion. This made it easier for me to tackle the specifics and not beat around the bush wondering why Iam not good at RC or CR.

So, follow these,make note of your progress, and you won't need to add a mystifying aura to GMAT :) Hope this long long post helps !

Essays and Deadlines are out

2009-06-22T00:35:00.004+05:30

I guess Iam probably late in announcing this in the blogosphere but still here I go - essays and deadlines are out for Kellogg, MIT Sloan, Wharton, HBS and Stanford.

I may not be applying to any of the above except Kellogg, my dream school, only next to INSEAD. I went through the essays a few days back and also prepared outlines for them, it's all about giving them a shape now(which, of course, is the difficult part and will take me atleast a month to do so).

You could check some detailed analysis about the essays here. I you ask me, there isn't anything surprising about Kellogg's essays. They're the same as the essays of earlier years but as always they do reflect upon Kellogg's reputation for looking at leadership and collaboration, both inside and outside of your professional life.

So good luck and god speed !

Kellogg Information Session - Chennai

2009-06-11T23:17:00.004+05:30

UPDATE : The date has been confirmed as 11th July between 6-8 pm . Please refer to the following link for more information reg the event - http://www.kellogg. northwestern. edu/Programs/ FullTimeMBA/ Admissions_ Events/Off_ Campus_Events. aspx

If there are any Indian MBA aspirants around and luckily land on my blog, please do note that there's a Kellogg Information Session in Chennai on July 04 (tentative date). If you're interested, send a mail across to Karthik Raman (ramankarthik@gmail.com) , Kellogg '09, with your confirmation.

Good luck !!

PS : Pls leave a comment on my blog if you're attending too, we could meet up during the session

Should I or shouldn't I

2009-05-21T16:23:00.003+05:30

As is my habit, I've been procrastinating after I dumped the idea of applying to bschool last year and lo ! , this year's application process in on the cards already. The only thought that shot through all my nerves was - "God damn it, will I ever apply to b-school?" and still I can't decide if I want to.

On one hand, it seems to be the right time, and on the other, it doesn't seem to be.
I am the co-founder and a CTO of a tech startup, which is sustaining itself, although I can't say it's profitable. I am in a position where I know that an MBA would definitely take me to the next level, but I am worried about the business at hand. Will I be able to concentrate as much once I start the apping process? Will I be able to contribute if at all I go into a b-school? What if it's a 2-yr MBA, do I have to leave MY company?

I don't know how entrepreneurs decide when it's time for an MBA. Do I need to find a replacement for myself (I mean, can I trust someone to be my replacement, do the things I do the same way I wanted them to be done). Aah.. I definitely need some counselling here.

Ghost Twitterers

2009-04-03T09:12:00.003+05:30

I was always skeptical about the use of Twitter by celebrities. Countless blogs and news articles opined about the use of twitter as a tool to bring people more closer than any other social networking site., how you can follow famous people without intruding space and get insights into their ideas and philosophy

But wait a minute, are you really following the celebrity you thought you were following. Chances are that you might not. Apparently, celebrities are employing people for tweeting on their behalf, a third-person to keep their Twitter page live(just like they did with the other social networkig sites) in a new marketing job position that sprung up, what is being termed as a "Ghost Twitterer". Check the article in NYTimes here that dwelves into the issue.

Now this is fine for getting updates about a celebrity's schedules and latest news. But definitely NOT for getting an insight into their thoughts and ideas because they aren't the real person's but a third-person's who tweets just what she interprets and not what she thinks.
I don't see a point in following such ghost twitterers who just tweets continuosly. All she would want is post interesting articles that get re-tweeted and thus increase the followers' numbers and consequently, the popularity.
Twitter has been very careful about spammers and fakes and has been deleting their profiles quite often but can they do anything about this. Definitely not I guess.

So, it's upto you to follow the "celebrity" whose tweets arent always his/her own thoughts

Seeing an Opportunity

2009-03-06T13:41:00.004+05:30

I always think how only a few people see an opportunity and succeed when there are potentially millions trying for the same elsewhere, how only a few people are meticulous enough to notice all things around them while others simply run behind one another

An interesting anecdote that made me realize this.

I regularly visit a friend of mine a few miles away. On way to his home, there's a turning where the road is terrible with a huge pothole right at the crossing. I was wary of the road condition and used to slow down at that point and tried to squeeze my bike towards the narrow end of the road where there was little asphalt. I used to feel elated at times when I carefully managed to traverse it.

Little did I knew(atleast for 2-3 weeks) that the other half of the road was clean without any major crack. I always took this half as it reduced my distance(barely by a few meters) and I actually violated the rule by doing so - driving on the wrong side. Suddenly , when I noticed the lane I was supposed to take, I was surprised that I didn't need to slow down , worry of any damage to my bike or worry about any traffic in the opposite direction.

I wondered whether that's how we see opportunities in life too, trying to squeeze past the mundane ones and neglecting the really good ones. Always stuck in a disinterested job and unaware of the interesting ones. Worrying about the obstacle ahead rather than trying to find a solution.
I guess that's why only few people reach the top and others are left behind wondering why they couldn't.

Why you should have a corporate blog?

2009-02-26T01:24:00.003+05:30

I guess this is one of the most blogged about topic. But I guess, I'll post my comments too here which I incidentally sent to my colleagues urging them to blog on our corporate blog

Now why blog and what you can blog.

First, the Whys

1. A blog is our company profile out in the world-wide-web, not the lengthy text we write in the content.

2. A blog reflects our company’s attitude and work-culture.

3. A blog creates a better first impression with prospective clients.

4. Blogging compels you to be more creative, at all times.

5. Blogging changes you. It changes you by letting you introspect when you look at your own posts.

6. Blogging makes you a better communicator . It forces you to be clear. If you write something that's confusing, you failed to communicate to your visitors.

7. Blogging is documenting your ideas and opinions. In other words, blogs give rise to new ideas that can be built as products !

8. A blog is a better tool to find customers and employees.

9. Blogging lets you be more open , so it lets you collaborate better with your team.

Then, the Whats

If the above reasons are compelling enough, blog about the following

1. New technology or new development in the technology you work on.

2. Limitations and issues in any tool/framework/language you use.

3. Tips and tricks in any tool/framework/language.

4. How to improve Design and Application Usability

5. Customer Behaviour.

6. Day-to-day issues and how to solve them

7. Learnings from different aspects(anecdotes, project implementations, client interactions etc)

8. New ideas

9. Everything else not listed above

Policies and Guidelines

2009-02-18T11:56:00.003+05:30

I have come across various establishments that drive a customer crazy(me being one of them) by uttering the words "it's not our policy to.."

Policies are created to guide any action taken by an organization and avert any outcomes not in favor of the company. They are essential too. But there's the catch. Policies look good when you are aiding the customer or for a better example, protecting a customer's information like the privacy policies of websites that ask for your personal info. But they are dreadful when policies rather than helping a customer , irritate him.

I remember when I had an issue with customer care for my cell phone. It suddenly stopped functioning and as it was under warranty I gave it for repair at the service center. They said it was a bit complex and sent my phone to their head office in another city. Even after 3 weeks, I got nothing, not even a response after continuously calling the service center. Irritated, I took my case with the cell phone company's customer care. They escalated it 6 times but nothing happened. Finally, I asked the cust care lady to let me talk to some senior personnel to enquire what's wrong. But she wouldn't let me. ,All she said was that it's not their policy to provide contact information of required personnel and gave the same recorded reply that my cell was not working(which as if I didn't know).
She didn't know the root cause nor she let me know it. Whoaa! If you don't know the issue and you can't let me deal with it, who is going to solve it??
As a last resort, I had to threaten to sue them to get a new phone as they couldn't repair it.

I guess some policies are meant to be more of a guideline rather than a strict adherence to the book. One cannot have irate customers and think of doing good business.

Partners and Associates

2009-02-09T17:27:00.003+05:30

When it comes to startups, your partners shouldn't your subordinates or your superiors. There is bound be an unknown , unacknowledged gap that neither can fill in. It again may boil to a situation similar to your old office where one passes the decisions and the other does it without question.

But startups need conflicts. Conflicting ideas, conflicting ways of implementation but the same principles and passion and urge to be successful. Conflicts that will weed out the unwanted stuff and let only the most wanted and most useful things remain.
And those conflicts will be less discomforting when the people involved have a camaraderie and less ego over those conflicts like friends, colleagues, classmates or even a mentor-mentee but if you've shared a boss-assisstant relation, it could get pretty difficult.

Frustration

2009-01-19T18:08:00.003+05:30

A piece of advice about frustration

"Frustration is ambivalent.It can be good and bad at the same time. It is good in letting you find new ways out provided you channel it effectively and it is bad when you take too much of it to your mind and allow yourself to be stressed adversely affecting your physical and mental health.There are numerous cases where frustration has led to devastating results in peoples' lives.

Frustration is caused by many things, frustation on your boss, your wife, the government , in fact everything that can be named on the planet.People try to find ways not to fight the things that cause frustration but to escape from them, but the key to letting it out is to use the energy wasted in the frequent fearful thoughts caused by frustration to do something useful for your own personal good."

So , Confront and Fight, don't escape or oblige !!

Customer Hype

2009-01-07T19:52:00.003+05:30

I guess I need to introduce the background before I start this post. I work for a start-up and am trying to generate some for my company through a few projects.

Lately, I've been noticing a trend in customers' behavior(at least among those I meet). Most of the customers that I reach out to for a project proposal ,presentation or initial discussions, seems to create a lot of hype about his knowledge of the internet and web and the technologies involved to develop a web application. He/She boasts about their knowledge of web much before Google started or how they've learnt using email much before I knew it or how even with a lack of programming skills or experience with a technology firm , they understand the intricacies involved in developing a functionality. Then there's another kind that simply thinks software isn't real estate or a factory, so it should be pretty cheap. As cheap as his monthly electricity bill.

All they want to say is - "We've seen it all"

All this seems to me as a ploy to indirectly tell me that - "Hey, I know what the hell you are trying to do and I very well know how much time it takes and how much it costs. So , beware, don't fool around with me".

Now, how do I get a customer out of this mindset and tell him that I'm there to help him and not milk him? Iam struggling at that.
Tough thing aye !!

Over to LinkedIn Apps

2009-01-03T18:31:00.008+05:30

Though Iam posting this a bit late, but LinkedIn Apps have arrived and How..
It did stand up to it's need - professional networking.

As the LinkedIn blog says - "The nine applications that you see live today on LinkedIn include productivity enhancing applications from Amazon, Box.net, Google, Huddle, Six Apart, SlideShare, Tripit, and WordPress as well a Company Buzz application developed by LinkedIn"

As you might get from the list of applications and their apparent use , LinkedIn does not look like it gave in to the pressure it feels from Facebook. Contrary to the apps on Facebook(a wild guess of about 20K+), Twitter and other social networks, I dont think LinkedIn is giving access to anyone for adding any application into it. It needs the developer to explain what his or her application is going to do and how it will help users on LinkedIn to accomplish a task. So no silly, funny apps, or games. LinkedIn means Business.
Just 100% useful applications that we could use on a professional level.

Checkout what mashable has to say about new apps that would enrich a users experience on LinkedIn . Looks like we could get updates and work done on LinkedIn itself without the need to open 10 different websites.
Let's see how users will react. Needless to say, Iam thrilled !!

Pricing does change things

2009-01-02T18:07:00.010+05:30

These are my musings on the post by Seth Godin on his blog.

I guess change in pricing really changes everything. A friend of mine running a entertainment/gaming lounge has a multitude of games(along with food n drinks) to play but few customers chose to play for longer hours as it was priced on an hourly basis. Interestingly, his earnings were divided almost equally between the games and food because the longer time a customer stayed, the more he ordered. So, he offered a monthly&yearly membership to recurring customers and there were quite a no. of people who signed up.

Coming back to the post by Seth, he suggests a ticket auctioning system by airlines so that people can trade tickets, which to me, seems to be more of an eBay kind of system with all the features of time constraint, minimum consecutive bid, have-to-buy on winning bid etc etc.
But there's more to airline tickets than simply item auctioning. The products that you sell on eBay might not be available after a period of time but they aren't perishable or rendered useless.The seller can again put it up for sale with a renewed price structure. Tickets aren't that way.

It may seem plausible to auction Cricket or Football world cup tickets or Superbowl tickets(for Americans) on eBay, but to have a site just to auction travel tickets is going to be disruptive and destructive.
Imagine spammers buying tickets from LA to NY during Thanksgiving in multiples of 10s and just trying to sell it at double the regular price. You wouldn't have an option of buying one a bit later on at a seemingly affordable price if you are not an early bird. You could say there's a downside of doing so - if the tickets aren't sold, the auctioner will lose.At the price ratio I mentioned, he would break even if half are sold and sell the other at a lower price at the end. But I don't know who would want to fly to meet his family on the other coast and wait till the last day looking at a auction-site to get a cheaper price.

Instead, customers should be able to trade tickets online. Someone who wants to cancel his trip shouldn't end up losing his money when there are a lot others looking for a ticket. He can put his ticket for sale (at the same price he bought or at the current price) and let others buy it. The airlines can charge a nominal transaction fee from the seller and make it up. That way I guess there would be no need to put up unnecessary rules and regulations(that users wont even read completely) and put up an auction site

It's 'SNO'ing

2009-01-02T16:42:00.005+05:30

I just came up with an useless acronym for this post. That's SNO for Social Network Overloading.
I recently happened to visit a social network related site when I saw this. My instant reaction was(and still is) "how many more ??".

OK, so I Stumbled Upon it , Reddit, found it Delicious , now should I Digg it, Tweet it, Furl it, add to Newsvine, put up on my wall, make it Live and share on Google ?!!!

Among people I know , some use Digg, some Delicious, some Stumble Upon, a few Reddit, others Tweet (re-tweet) to share information. Again , some of them use Facebook, some Orkut and a few Myspace.
Add to that your daily office e-mail, your Yahoo! e-mail, your Google e-mail, your MSN e-mail(if you are a MS aficionado/employee) , your instant messengers - Sametime at office, Google Talk, Yahoo! messenger, MSN Messenger, Jabber, AOL..phew !!
All this just for a couple of words and links, think about photos,videos,presentations,reminders etc...
And RSS/Atom feeds to finally seal the deal.,
I say "Just Imagine" .

So if you are hooked to the internet, here's what you'd do
1) Log in to your email - Thankfully, atleast you can choose to see your emails under one umbrella.
2) Log in to your instant messengers
3) Open Facebook/Myspace/Orkut/Twitter/Friendfeed. Now whatever be the mode you still open it right !
4) Check your RSS/Atom feeds for some wisdom/current affairs/entertainment.
5) Use the plethora of bookmarking sites to bookmark a few of them.
6) In between , read about an obscure, unknown thing on Wikipedia !!!

And among all these do some meaningful work too (dont you ????)

So, if I want to save my time and share information among all my contacts, I need something to consolidate all of these.
Now there's the catch and the never ending story - first some guy would come up with a tool/website to consolidate all social networking sites (which has already started with Flock Browser and People Browsr), and then the second, then a third(all these with active VC funding), and it continues...

Really, I wonder how many more social networking sites are going to come up in the following years. Next time, when I visit the very same site, I'll not be surprised if I see a scrollbar or pagination to checkout all kinds of options for "sharing information".

Russian predicts end of US

2008-12-29T13:54:00.004+05:30

To add to all the exisiting chaos, a Russian professor, a former KGB analyst, predicted the end of US. He predicted the disintegration of US similar to the division of the erstwhile Soviet Union.
He predicted the division of into 4 different countries with Alaska going to Russia and Hawaii to China/Japan

Ok, let's assume that US did disintegrate into multiple countries, but I really don't understand the rationality behind this "scholar's" logic.For example , he predicts that the southern states(would-be Texan republic) would be under Mexican influence or control. Now, how could the southern states, with Texas , Georgia and Florida go under Mexico. That's utterly ridiculous. The singlemost important point he might have to reconsider is that the southern states aren't the Balkan nations, Georgia or Azerbaijan to have nothing and be in an impoverished condition that Mexico could take control of. The US isnt the Soviet Union to have sucked up all the resources from these states into Washington or NewYork.
And was there any instance in history where an economically dependant country exerted influence on the host country and possibly took control of it. Did Bulgaria or Romania take control of Ukrain..hell no !!
And there are more.. just Read it here - End of US prediction
And just for the sake of the stats, check this GDP of US states

Look at the division of US, it looks to me like the division that news channels make during elections for the sake of projections and opinion-poll, hope he didn't pick up on CNN :)

Baby Sitting the Economy by Paul Krugman

2008-12-24T18:35:00.006+05:30

I guess would-be and wannabe MBAs could learn some valuable lessons from 2008's Nobel Prize in Economics winner, Paul Krugman.

Go ahead, read the following article, I bet you wouldn't be awed if you haven't heard of economics

Baby-Sitting the Economy

More about him and his articles on his site at MIT
http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/

to all MIT Sloan aspirants... bad news!! Krugman is moving to Princeton

Great Example of Customer Service !!

2008-12-20T13:21:00.003+05:30

Have to check this out... a bit funny and awesome. This is a classic example of the adage - Customer is God

Read more about this

Problem with Twitter

2008-12-19T12:09:00.005+05:30

Disclaimer : This post reverberates only my opinions and doesn't refer to or mean anything offensive to Twitter or the people cited below.

I believe Twitter has been astoundingly successful, and it marked the coming of social networking x.0 (I frankly don't know what the version is, and I rather not mess with that).
It exactly does what it is says - What're you doing? 140 characters of your status - that's all is required to let your friends/family/fans/followers know.

It certainly has attracted a lot of biggies into the game (read : timOreilly, sethgodin, d2h guykawasaki etc.), and lets people keep themselves updated on what these guys are upto. But I guess, it didn't take care of a few things here. Take my case, I have very few friends(or in Twitterminology - followers) and I started following timoreilly on Twitter. As soons as I started following him, my page was exploded with posts from Tim that I lost the posts from my friends in the rubble. Imagine if I had subscribed to all the guys I have cited as examples. Phew !!

The updates from Tim very so frequent and so many that I didn't opt for the device setup. And embarrasingly, I removed the updates on my email that I got from Twitter, which is the sole purpose of registering on Twitter. Finally I had to unfollow Tim (No , I mean not even a bit of, offence meant to Tim. Period. He's a great guy, and has lots of things going on. I or anyone can't blame him for anything!!)

What I meant to say is, Twitter does gives you the privilege to follow influential people and get a piece of their ideas/style/philosophy without interfering their privacy and that's awesome. Probably that's why you don't see most of these guys on Facebook,Orkut, or other Social Apps where you get friend requests, wall posts, birthday reminders, photos, videos blah..blah..blah. But with so many posts coming from these guys, I feel the purpose of Twitter is losing somewhere.
I do want to follow these guys and at the same time, dont want to lose updates from my friends and I dont want a rush of updates. After all, who needs a Tweet every minute that's not personally important.
The only way that could be handled is to have the ability to group people you follow under categories like Friends, Colleagues, Influential people, Marketers etc. so that you can check what you need the most at the hour

Can something be done about this.
Twitter, are you listening ?

PS: I love the updates from Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos. Succinct, to-the-point and every tweet's worth reading

Thy name Seth

2008-12-16T12:06:00.004+05:30

Last week, I was contemplating over the list of famous or not-so-famous(if you'd like to say so after I give the names) people I admire and coincidentally, I observer that there were three Seths in the list - Seth Godin, Seth Macfarlane and Seth Rogen.

Just an small intro about each of these guys, if you don't know

1.Seth Godin - marketing guru. Great guy, you have to read his blogs or his books. It's on my fav list if you want instant access. He simply shows what exactly "out-of-the-box" means. Not just talk, but in action

2. Seth Macfarlane - See it to believe it. If you ever watched the comedy "Family Guy", you should know him. He is the creator and writer for the show and the way he manages all three charcaters - Peter, Stewie and Bryan is amazing.

3. Seth Rogen - The lesser famous guy of the three, perhaps. But if you are a hollywood fanatic, you would know him. His acting/writing skills are awesome. Watch Knocked Up(in the leading role) or Superbad(he is the f***ing writer ,a supporting actor and the exec producer) or the latest Zack and Mirni make a porno to know what I'm saying.

Hats off , guys !!

Bottleneck CEOs

2008-12-15T19:12:00.012+05:30

I was reading about some(successful and failed) start-ups when this phrase hit me. Bottleneck CEOs - CEOs who become the bottleneck and stifle the growth of a company when it has a greater scope to make a mark in the industry and go beyond. And this is especially true in the case of start-ups. There are companies whose growth is hampered because the founder-CEOs wouldn't , and couldn't, let someone else take the role and responsibility of a few critical areas in the company even when they themselves cannot do it. They want to do it themselves, even though they have to re-invent the wheel to learn the whole process.

For example, these founder(s) CEOs wouldn't let a professional(say, an MBA) take care of the finances or a new area of business or a new product. We can't completely argue against it as the founder(s) have a greater sense of ownership and responisiblity towards the company than any employee. But, if ones wishes for the good of the company, one has to let go. If he is the person who took the path less-travelled, then he has to do that again and again.

Take the example of Google, Larry Page and Sergei Brin let Eric Schmidt be the CEO and take the company ahead - this has been argued that Eric really doesn't have a say but is just the spokesperson. Now whatever be the case, Eric Schmidt has been entrusted to run the company while Page&Brin are taking care of the technology to take Google ahead, and the triumvirate has been astoudingly successful.

Why can't all founder(s) let go of a few things when it is absolutely required to?
Agreed that you are the owner, but you wouldn't know how high it can fly until you let go. Don't just be a founder, be a leader too.

End of Investment Banking ??!!

2008-09-29T16:41:00.004+05:30

Bankers,Economists and Financiers, pardon me for my lack of knowledge of finance if I said something weird !!

With the last two giants in IB, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, foraying into retail banking and said that investment banking is no longer viable for them, I started to wonder what might happen to the scores of Investment Bankers, wannabe-IBs - all who spent a good time of their life with the sole aim of becoming one. What's going to happen to all the top tier schools (even worse for the middle-tier bschools) that were/are known as "IB Strong schools". What's going to happen to all those 2nd year MBA students(a few who I know) with offers from the bankrupt Lehman Brothers and the sold-out Merrill Lynch and even worse, with the collapse rate of a bank/day(including the bailed out AIG, Fannie Freddie and the cheaply sold out WaMu) what's going to happen to all the Wall Street aspirants and the most dreaded thing, what's going to happen to Wall Street ITSELF !!

Are we going to see the US become a 90's Japan(with the whole financial market crumbling down) or even worse, are we going to see Great Depression II !!! So much for subprime mortgage ?? I know that recovery measures are underway in Main Street with the plan to use $700 billion for controlling the market but is that going to help? I am not going to delve into this matter, as I dont know the outcome nor the subtleties involved.

I think , if this is the status in the US , what's happening in the controlled environments of EU. I dont read a lot of this stuff, but I guess there are serious repurcussions in the EU too. We'll have to wait and see how the mystery unfolds.

But , Every cloud has a silver lining . These are indeed turbulent times but at the same time interesting too. The whole of finance industry will no doubt undergo a complete transformation. Ten years from now, banking will never be the same again, veterans wont be able to recognize the state of the industry and future generations might not know what it was like in the 00's.

I hope, there's some learning from these disasters. People studied the Great Depression and came up with laws and policies, they studied Japan's financial markets and came up with models, Five years down the line, I think professors, financial planners and experts are going to come up with models ,formulations and analyses of what went wrong now and teach the same to wannabe-(what would they be called??).

Oops I did it again!!

2008-09-15T19:38:00.002+05:30

First of all , I'd like to thank the very first visitors to my blog. You guys made my day, as I nver thought someone would visit my blog which hasnt got anything worthwhile and I need to apologize to those very few visitors to my blog for my absence.
I've been going through a storm raging in my head regarding my bschool application, and as the topic of this blog suggests, I , once again, have decided on not applying this time. This is my second time when I have shortlisted my schools, talked to alumni, spoke to my recommenders, started off with the goals/why mba essays and then decided on not applying.

Well , atleast this time, I guess there is a strong reason to support my decision as I was made to think about my application by a bschool alumni and my decision was backed up by a few other current bschool students too , so I dont regret doing so.
And my dear readers, the very few precious people who voluntarily or involuntarily, have visited my blog, I will explain my reason in its fully glory within a few weeks as the reason is not fully ready yet.

I'd just like to wish the very best to all the current bschool applicants with whom I couldnt share my application follies and joys. But may be as a junior to you in bschool, I could take your advice in the following years :)

Coach K at Olympics !!!!

2008-08-24T20:16:00.003+05:30

Wow...this is awesome, I have seen Coach K in action at the NCAA games but never knew that he also coached the US "Dream team" and got it the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. Iam amazed at the big brain in his little head, that goes on forming strategies after strategies. When I started watching the NCAA games(out of boredom), especially the rivalry between UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University(which seems as intense as a cricket match between India and Pakistan), it was Coach K who drew my attention. Undisturbed by all the brouhaha in the court, he stands there calm and attentive watching the players and suddenly calls for a timeout and changes strategies. He might as well become a management guru, teaching how to tackle pressure and formulate strategies :)

For people who dont know Coach K , a little bit of a background here. Coach K aka Mike Krzyzewski is the head coach of the Duke University men's basketball team - aka the Blue Devils. He became the coach of the Blue Devils back in the 80's and has been there ever since. He transformed the team from a moderate college team to one that has won championships and that is considered a strong contender in the NCAA.
The best thing about him,that I like, is his humility and loyalty. He was pursued and offered millions by top NBA teams like the LA Lakers and Boston Celtics, yet he chose to stay with Duke coaching it's college team for the NCAA.

As far as I know(which is of course very little, with just 8 months of watching basketball),I guess no living basketball coach has been honored the way Coach K has been. Duke has named it's basketball stadium as Coach K Court and it's new training facility , Michael Krzyzewski Center.
Simply put, Coach K has gained eternal fame and is living through it.

Final List

2008-08-22T00:07:00.005+05:30

Now I think I have an apt title for my blog - the one that exactly suits me, for I've been delaying things on and on and on... But Soni has sent a shiver down my spine. He has submitted the Kellogg application !!!!!!!! Good god, I just started writing the first draft of my K-essays and he's already done with it.
Now I think I need to buckle up and start seriously. For an international aspirant like me, I guess UK too gives the same opportunities as the US does and what more, the worker-visa laws are quite simple for an MBA grad while in the US...well , who hasnt heard the visa troubles last year. My final list goes something like this, divided equally(well not mathematically) between US and UK. I believe Iam not app-ing too high given my profile with K and L being the "top-tier" and F,R and O being the "middle-tier"

Kellogg
Fuqua
Ross
LBS
Oxford

Wish me luck

My list

2008-04-28T07:28:00.003+05:30

Doesnt it seem my blog is flooding today? Three blogs in an hour, with three different topics .I'll try to be as regular as possible now, no spurts of posts and then dead for a long time. Come on guys, consistency is the key !
This is the list of the schools I came up with after my initial round of research. Need to cut down the list to 5-6 or may be 7. So which are the unlucky ones(or may be lucky) not to have my precious application submitted :) ? Soon, very soon

INSEAD
LBS
Tuck,Dartmouth
Chicago GSB
Kellogg , Northwestern
UCLA Anderson
ISB
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
Darden,Univeristy of Virginia
Oxford
Michigan, Ross
UNC Chapel Hill
McCombs, UT Austin
Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon

Let Down

2008-04-28T06:48:00.004+05:30

Ok..Enough of bulls***ing.
The name of my blog seems weird, but I just came up with something that has M.B.A in it
Maybe I'll change it over a period of time but I'll still have the same acronym

So my MBA, I let down myself applying for it. I chalked out plans for applying to INSEAD Jan 09 R2, had everything in place except for the essays. I gave myself a full month to write the essays and started off with the easiest ones. I regarded myself as a good essay-writer, not someone who could weave a web with words, but someone who can create genuine interest. But I failed !

The first essay that I wrote received feedback saying it wasnt INSEAD material. After modifications and re-modifications, it still looked naive. It didnt fit the bill to get me into a top-notch bschool. I did a bit of soul-searching, came up with the drafts of the other essays, checked my work-schedule(which is killing me!), read them again and again, changed them and I gave up.

Now, when I think over it, two things cross my mind. One, Iam either a feeble-minded who changes decision in split seconds or two, I deliberated over the pros and cons of app-ing now and took a rightful decision. So my INSEAD application for January 09 R2 is down the drain. I am looking forward to Sept 09 R1. Then , only then will I know what Iam
I need to gear up, hone my essay-writing skills and crack the pot. I better start looking into the essays right now. But I've learnt that work pressure plays a vital role in the application process and everyone needs to create some space for apping.

Stats make me sick!

2008-02-10T22:51:00.003+05:30

Why-o-why in the world did I land in the IT industry.

Ever since I seriously started thinking of my MBA , I've constantly been bugged by this question. Every year the number of Indian IT male applicants(of course the females too, but there is a gender bias on the school's part) to an international b-school has been steadily increasing and it comes to no surprise that, the AdComs have realized our potential and have made it a point to cut down on us.

It seems as if an AdCom saw a profile stating - 26-27/M/Indian/IT industry, without a second's thought they would say - oh, not another one- and off you go into the trashcan.

Need to prove myself different - ya I did community service, I have some accomplishments outside work, yada yada yada !!. Now who doesn't do that and applies for an MBA. So what else makes us different from each other. One goes to the US, the other to Europe , someone to China and someone to Australia... does it really make a different what country you worked in when you do the samething ...I dont think so

Let's figure out who's accepted and who's dinged!

God bless y'all (of course, me included) Indian IT MBA aspirants

My Emotions and My Thoughts

2007-10-25T09:51:00.000+05:30

I wrote this long back, about 2.5 years back. I think I need to put it down here so that I can see this quite often

I am writing this down so that I could see for myself the developments in my life.There's no source,other than my mind, from where I could gather my days of yore and think what was life before and obviously the mind can't remember such important details as it is jammed with a plethora of useless things. I hope this would improve my instincts and develop in me a sense of....something I can't describe now.While Iam wondering what to pen down,thinking of a more artistic way to make this interesting,my emotions , the same emotions everyone has , are making the words flow.I am still unable to set a goal for myself in life.Lots and lots of opportunites,dont know which one to prioritize and which one to dump along the way.

I wonder why I follow the mob everytime,why not something of my own.If one could create opportunites from whatever he has,why can't I, am I a dummy, I believe not.Then why..thats the question that has been pricking me like a thorn from the day I graduated.I dream myself of being an entreprenuer(Iam not joking) .I wonder, if I cant decide a way out of the rat-race, what kind of entreprenuer am I? Every night I try to chalk out my plans, but could never decide on anything.Often I say to myself "From what you are now,You are better than many people in this world,then why are you unhappy and why do u stress yourself so much,take your time to think"..but I long ago left the philosophies of life...which I followed hoping to become a better person and realize my dreams but the very rules left me berserk with painful memories moving like pictures in my head. Now Iam on my way to ruling out emotions from my mind...but the human tendency never lets them out...so thats what prompts me to scribble something meaningless here.

I believe in Karma that 'I make my own destiny'..so i need not fear what lies ahead because it's what I do now makes me what I will be.But still something lurks inside that makes me uneasy( Reminds me of lyrics from 'Linkin Park', the band which I hated for disturbing my sleep during my under-graduation and the same band which brings out the thoughts that I have now). Irony of Human Nature!!

My First

2007-10-25T08:11:00.000+05:30

I never thought I'd start blogging, actually I never wanted to blog. I always wondered why people wrote loads and loads of all kinds of , could I say, crap !! Then, I saw some really useful blogs, some which gave me a lot of exposure and some which opened up new avenues for me and I just wanted to say one thing - "You guys are amazing", awed by their determination and patience to write something that's really useful.

Even then, I didn't have the tiniest bit of interest to blog. It's kinda weird, being a techie who's hooked up to his laptop 12/7/365 and not being a blogger. May be I didn't feel the need to do so, or may be I just curbed the minute interest I had or may be I didn't have anything to write about. Ok, whatever, but here Iam today adding my bit of crap to all the crap that's existing over the internet. So why Iam blogging now? Good question.. Thats what this post is all about...let me think !!

The first and foremost reason, ok , to be frank there's only one reason, Iam BORED, UTTERLY BITTERLY BORED !! Iam the typical-undistinguished-unexceptional yet quintessential Indian software engineer who survives not on food and water but on e-mails, e-nteratinment..actually anything on the planet that starts with "e-". Lately, I've become so averse to all the e-things that I don't find anything interesting in the e-world and tried to find something to do in the real world and owing to my professional nature, couldn't find anything and had to revert back to the same thing again.

But doing the same stuff over and over again bored me, so I thought of things that I haven't done before and blogging was the first that hit me..so here Iam writing this blog , hoping that there would be something new to do and new to look out for, pen down my thoughts as randomly as they occur, and read them to amuse myself (and may be even few others, if I can)

And with that hope, I rest my case !!