The Inheritances of Granny 2007....

In another’s few hours time, the new baby would have been born. 2007 has been a good year with lesser natural calamities than 2006, bad year for the medical sector with major medical breakthroughs, worse year for the business sector biggies like Citigroup and Merrill Lynch. Here are the top 10 events that I consider to be significant in 2007.

1. IPhone Mania- Iphone captures the hearts of millions and redefines the mobile market. Gets credited with TIME Invention of the year award. Kudos Steve Job!!

2. Toyota overtakes GM as the largest car maker in the world – Toyota overtook GM as the largest car maker with reported sales of 2.348 billion cars. Add to that the strong growth predictions of Toyota for 2008.

3. Bye bye People’s Prez- Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam demits Rashtrapati Bhavan as a common man with just 2 suitcases. He will be remembered as the People’s President of India, the missile man who inspired millions of Children and motivated them for a better India in year 2020 and the hi-tech President whom even the Brits were agape seeing his presentation and motivational skills.

4. TATA completes acquisition of Corus- With the completion of Corus acquisition, TATA group becomes a true IMMC (Indian Made Multinational Companies). It also moved up as the 3rd world’s most transparent group.

5. The Juggernaut- Mukesh Ambani. How else can I describe him? He has tripled the mammoth Reliance in size and increased the market capitalization by 10 times ater Dhirubhai Ambani’s death. Unquestionably the best business leader of India and well deserved to be named the richest Indian with an annual package of 240 million INR!!

6. Citigroup gets it first Indian CEO- The troubled US bank major has this time turned to an Indian for help. Vikram Pandit has been appointed as the Chairman and CEO. Pandit, who is 50, is the first person of Indian origin to scale such stratospheric heights in the financial world, which has many well-regarded Indian executives.

7. Stem Cell Break through - In November, two groups of scientists in Japan and Wisconsin announced that they had found a way to reprogram human skin cells to behave like embryonic stem cells — without having to make or destroy any embryos. Embryonic stem cells are capable of turning into any of the 220 types of cell in the human body, so scientists have long touted them as a potential medicinal cure-all, from facilitating organ transplants to curing Alzheimer's. It's hoped that the new discovery could appease both sides of the stem cell war, paving the way for medical breakthroughs that do not require killing embryos.

8. Microsoft and Facebook- Here we go again in technology land. Microsoft invests $240 million for a 1.6% stake in Facebook, plus the right to broker the social networking site's international ads. The deal gives Facebook an implied value of $15 billion, for a company expected to earn just $30 million in 2007 but is nonetheless considered the model website of the future. All this just to make sure that Google doesn’t get a stake in Facebook and strengthens its social networking site presence.

9. Google and Doubleclick- When Microsoft can do it Google will definitely do it. Google Buys DoubleClick for $3.1 Billion. A huge price for a company worth just more than $1 billion a couple of years ago. But Google craved DoubleClick's capabilities: The company's specialty is placing advertisements on websites, known in the trade as "serving." Buying DoubleClick also kept it out of the hands of Microsoft. The combo makes Google a more potent player in Web advertising against rivals Microsoft and Yahoo. The European Union isn't happy, though, and is giving the deal extra scrutiny.

10. Bhutto- A Saga ends- The former and future Prime Minister of Pakistan, the Oxford and Harvard Graduate, was assassinated after departing a PPP rally in Rawalpindi in Pakistan. What is more stunning is the chain of assassinations associated with her family. Her son, Bilawal Bhutto, just 19, another Oxford student, has already named as the leader of PPP.

The journey towards my goal...

I was supposed to have started it long ago. But better now than never.

Finally I have begun my Consulting case analysis discussions for getting into my target industry-Consulting. Apart from keeping me busy for most of the time, the case analysis has served some useful purposes:

1. I have got used to the frameworks of the likes of Accenture, BCG and McKinsey-7S Matrix, BCG 2*2 matrix, GE/Mckinsey 3*3 matrix....ufffff........

2. I have got to know about differnet industries, the typical problems they would be facing and how to tide over them

I am sure that I would not have even bothered to know about these frameworks and the industrial issues-thanks to the tighter MBA schedule and my laziness. The cases have ranged from simple (??? definitely not!!) profitability analysis cases to complex cases such as decision making as the Dean of MBA school if I receive a grant of 100Million $.

All these case analysis has also helped me personally to analyse issues in a more structured way-to such an extent that I have begun framing a structure in mind even if takling/chatting with some one. :-)

Let me see where this takes me-whether this is a start of a new beginning or beginning of end!!

( And to all the beginers of case studies, I would sincerely recommend to visit this link..
http://www.bcg.com/careers/practice_revenue_growth.html

This is supposed to be a simple, straight case.. :-))

Ratatouille

Another day..Another good movie..Difference this time: my taste has been towards animated movies..

This movie is about Remy (our rat hero) who departs from the regular customs of the rats-stealing and eating food from the garbage and wants to leave his benchmark in the world. He has his interests in cooking and could make good dishes that humans can eat. Separated from his family accidentally, he lands in the Gusteau's restaurant, once known for its great food and was rated one of the best restaurants in the world.

As Rémy looks into the kitchen from a skylight a young man with no culinary talent, Linguini, arrives with a letter of introduction from his recently deceased mother, and is hired to do janitorial duties. While cleaning, Linguini spills a pot of soup and attempts to cover up his mistake by adding nearby ingredients. Horrified, Rémy drops into the kitchen and attempts to fix the ruined soup rather than trying to escape. Linguini catches Rémy in the act, just as Skinner catches Linguini. In the confusion some of the soup has been served. To everyone's surprise, the soup is a success.

Linguini notices that Remy is more human than a rat and could understand him. They both become friends and our little rat hero helps Linguini in making the best dishes. The story takes new turn when the will of Gusteau says that Linguini is his son and would be owner of the hotel. The current head chef turns into villain and how Remy rescues Linguini and the hotel back as the best restaurant is the rest of the story.

One fact is to be accepted-As the quality of acting of our real heroes worsen day by day, the animated heroes are getting better day by day. No call sheet problems, no salary to be given and above all they will do whatever you want them to do. What else do you need?

Another must watch from the portal of Walt Disney!!

The Road to Guantanamo..

The Road to Guantanamo is one of the movies which impressed me recently.

Directed by Michael Winterbottom, this docudrama is the story about 4 Pakistani Britons (Ruhal Ahmed, Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul and Monir), who travel to Pakistan for a wedding and in a urge of idealism decide to see the situation of war torn Afghanistan which is being bombed by the American forces in retaliation for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Sensing the situation in Afghan they decide to return back to Pakistan, when the situation worsens. None of them are ready to help them return to Pakistan as the entire area is getting occupied by United Front soldiers. Finally they manage to sneak into a truck, whose driver agrees them to get transported to Pakistan. During night time, their rest place gets attacked by the Northern Alliance soldiers and they get caught along with all the Talibans and militants. Monir dies in the bombing attack and the rest three are transported to prison camps.

What follows is a series of tortures, where all the army officers force them to agree that they are part of the Al-Qaeda. They are then transported to Guantanamo bay base in Cuba. What follows is three years of relentless imprisonment, interrogations and torture to make them submit to blatantly wrong confessions to being terrorists. In the midst In the midst of this abuse, the three struggle to keep their spirits up. Finally to their surprise the US/Brit Govt decides to release them. (which I think has never happened!!)The film will penetrate deep into your mind. The tortures they face, the way they are treated and the way the Army officers frame them of their charges, the camera, the pace at which the movie moves..every second of the movie impresses you.

And about Guantanamo:

Guantánamo Bay Naval Base is located at the southeastern end of Cuba and has been used by the United States Navy for more than a century. It is the oldest overseas U.S. Navy Base and the only one in a country with which the United States does not have diplomatic relations.

Since 2002, the naval base has contained a military prison, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, for persons alleged to be militant combatants captured in Afghanistan and later in Iraq. Prior to July 11, 2006, the Bush Administration maintained that these detainees are not protected under the Geneva Convention.

Beginning in 2002, a small portion of the base was used to imprison several hundred individuals — some of whom were captured by US forces in Afghanistan, though the majority were 'bought' for a substantial bounty (generally in the region of $US 5000) from various warlords and mercenaries both in Afghanistan and elsewhere — at Camp Delta, Camp Echo, Camp Iguana, and the now-closed Camp X-Ray. The US military has asserted that some, but not all, of these captives are linked to Al-Qaida or the Taliban. The military has withheld the evidence against captives asserted to be linked to terrorist organizations or enemy states. In litigation regarding the availability of fundamental rights to those imprisoned at the base, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that the captives "have been imprisoned in territory over which the United States exercises exclusive jurisdiction and control." Therefore, the captives have the fundamental right to due process of law under the Fifth Amendment. A district court has since held that the "Geneva Conventions applied to the Taliban captives, but not to members of al Qaeda terrorist organization."

The closing-down of the Guantánamo Prison has been requested by Amnesty International, the United Nations and the European Union.On 6 September 2006, President Bush announced that enemy combatants held by the CIA will be transferred to the custody of DOD, and held at Guantánamo Prison. Among approximately 500 prisoners in Guantánamo Bay, only 10 have been tried by the Guantanamo military commission, but all cases have been stayed pending the adjustments being made to comply with the Hamdi decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The so called "much deserved holidays.."

It has been not yet 24 hours yet..But I have already begun feeling “what the fcuk is happening”..

Let us rewind back 24 hours when I was expecting when my Q2 exams would get over..I was having plans to catch up with my left over sleep, see some long pending movies and catch up with the latest gossips in my friends circle..I was desperate..I was happy and elated, jumped back home..

What actually happened was different....I came back home ,called up all my friends in the evening, saw 3 movies in the night and slept till 11AM today morning..What else..all my so called long-pending wishes were satisfied in matter of hours..I was not knowing what would I be doing for the rest of the day..I desperately needed some deadlines to be met, some pressures to be encountered..all of a sudden day seemed to move slower..

I have got addicted to the fast pace in MBA and all of a sudden I realised that I need not do anything, Life began to suck..No exaggeration but truth!!

Thank God..I have some work later in the week..My case analysis discussions, negotiation skills classes, team building exercises would be beginning soon and would keep me busy..How relieved I am..First time in my life, I cud see myself happier when I get more work..

So near..Yet so far...

This is a long over due post..I was (infact we all were!! )getting screwed royally by all the Profs in the exam..While the strategy subject was a marketing case, the marketing subject had a strategic case..business finance and accounting subjects stripped everyone naked..Anyways just one more exam to go for me to finally say that I am done with my Q2 and have become a 25% MBA..

The strategy case competition is beginning tomorrow and I need to slog in entire tomorrow night..new team..new faces..new ideas..no time for settling down formally..get into the groove and start delivering immediately...the entire 1st year has been divided into 49 teams with each team comprising of 5-6 students..we would be put into 7 rooms and given 24 hours to come out with a recommendation for the case..we would then have to make a presentation to the panel of judges..one team from every room would be selected and would go to the next round when we would be given a final twist to the case..the biggies from the Bay street ( bay street is 2nd wall street of North America) are expected to be judges in the final round..the winning team would get to manage the Impact Consulting Group (the internal consulting company of Rotman) for the next one year..this is a prestigious role which means a lot in MBA world and I look forward to the competition eagerly...

the winter vacations are due to begin from wednesday and we will be having the much awaited break for 15 days..though the college would be officially closed during this period, the schedule is already filled up..negotiation lessons, case discussions, business plans, meetings and not to forget the planned Toronto tours (yup..the road Romeos and Juliets are back to rock Toronto again..;-))..I also plan to make (better to say "try" to be on the safer side) some new dishes
..above all these stuffs i need to polish my resume and cover letter and start applying to companies and start networking...the countdown has already begun..the clock has begun ticking..let me hope God bestows his blessings on me...:-)

Cerebration and Exam Celebration !!!

And it is here around the corner again. With more vigor this time. And I am preparing myself in the best possible way. But the opposition is so strong that it is very difficult to predict their strategies. Wonder what I am talking about. Yes. You guessed it right. My Q2 exams are starting in another 4 days. While the temperatures are dropping down, the exam temperatures are running high. Listening to lecture videos, going through the class notes, understanding the fundas..things are getting hectic as the benchmarks keep on raising.

Couple this with the Cerebration, the case competition @ NUS in which we (me, Kavitha and Manoj..Yes..again!!!!) are participating. The executive summary is due on Dec 8th, 2007 and we need to allocate sufficient time to this also. Desperately in need of a win, somewhere..somehow...!!

Two hot games worth waiting for the results!!

Something Statistically Technical!!

How long shall I be writing something only non-technical? MBA Grads are supposed to talk in business terms and hence this blog will be dedicated to satiate those requests/desires.

Anyone who had undergone higher Statistics course would have heard the term “Multiple regression Equations”. Simple put these equations are used to determine the weighted effect of a set of variables on our end desired variable. (Pardon me if I am wrong!!!). While the course talks about many real world examples where these regression equations are used, what came as surprise to me was that these equations are extensively used to determine the pricing strategies.

The recent issue of Harvard Business Review talks about the extensive usage of regression equation in by Motorola to determine the optimum price of MotoRAZR2. Motorola was under severe pressure to regain its lost market shares in the mobile market and set right its shrinking margins. It was a long time a Motorola phone became a big hit like Nokia’s or Samsung’s. The pressure intensified after the release of Apple’s super hit I-Phone.

Remember you cannot charge any price just like that for your new phone for it would affect your profitability. So what did Motorola do? The company plotted a regression equation between the various benefits perceived by the customers (a categorical variable) and the price charged (a quantitative variable). The regression equation thus plotted yields many interesting learning, including the strategies of competitors like Nokia, LG and Samsung. Nokia for example minimized its risk by spreading itself over the entire spectrum, while Samsung is present only in selective spectrums where competition is less.

A simple (???) example that illustrates how two courses at two different ends of the MBA spectrum come together to work wonders for the business-A very good example for “Integrative thinking” we are taught at Rotman!!

(My sincere apologies to all those who felt that this is a typical MBA boasting post :-), and the feeling if felt is definitely unintentional )

The week that was..Dodgeball and CSR Competition

Two events different from the regular studies and case analysis happened last week:

Rotman - United way week:

The Rotman - United way fund raising week kicked off with events such as Dodgeball and Silent Auctions. The proceedings from this games and auctions would go to United Way, a well known NGO helping the poor and needy children. Both Dodgeball and Auctions are worth mentioning for two reasons:

• It is a departure from the regular MBA routine and makes you feel that MBA is not only about studies. It is also about enjoyment of life.
  
• Where else would your Assistant dean and Vice Dean get to form strategies for winning a childish game?

For those of you who do not know what a Dodgeball game is? The game is for max 10 mins and comprises of two teams. Each team gets to hit the other team with a sponge ball below the waist. If you hit the opponent, you are out of the game. If the opponent catches the ball, you are out of the game. No head butts. No holding the ball for more than 10 secs. Thats dodgeball for you!!

First the game was held between the students and the winning team got a chance to play against the faculty. This year also the faculty won the Championship beating the students. Every year these profs come up with a new strategy. That is why they are profs and we are students.

The past week also kicked off the Silent Auction with items such as books autographed by our dean Roger Martin, Warren Buffet and Richard Florida, dinner with profs, game tickets etc. You name anything from cakes to students as personal assistants-u have that for auction. The highest bid was for the book autographed by our dean!!

Net Impact-CSR Competition:


5 people. 4 all nighters. A deep thought process on the role of pharma companies and patient groups. 1 solution. Win or lose. That was the CSR competition that we participated on Saturday in a jist.The judges were from RPO consulting, Ministry of Finance and Pfizer.

We lost by a narrow margin and we could not move to the next round. But the best part is that it has molded your thought process, making you aware of another industry that you might get associated in the future. I think this would help me in the case competition I am participating in NUS. It is about devising the market strategy for Brewerkz, a brewery company. I think with my past experience with the industry and having dealt with them for 4 years I am ready for this game and this is going to be interesting.

The pretty white world!!!

Imagine it was a sunny day yesterday and it was raining today and you hear a weather prediction that there would be snow tomorrow. Having experience only with the Indian weather forecast before, I was very sure that it would be a “Bright and Sunny Day”.

You go to bed at 3:30AM early morning. Things are fine and the streets look clean and tidy. Morning you wake up @ 8:30AM and the entire world looks white. Will not it be a shock for you? This was a double whammy for me for this was the first real experience with snow. Uffffff. I had a really tough time in commuting to college today. It was windy and it was snowing. You could feel the snow pricking your body.

Your winter jackets become wet, your hand gloves, your shoes are of no use, you shiver in your Jeans, ur bag become wet and you slip thru (not walk thru!!) the road. Welcome to the winter in Toronto. I am told that this is mild (@ minus 5 degC) and would go upto minus 30 degC. Compare this with the Chennai minimum climate of PLUS 20degC-my lowest temperature experience before coming here.

Two things have topped my agenda now after today’s experience:
1. To get a snow Jacket
2. To get a snow shoe

Looking forward to this Sunday for the completion of these purchases to get myself out of some big soups in future!!

News on the loose...!!

Here is the list of News I have been following this week:

1. "Merill gets its new CEO"-John Thain has formally taken over as the CEO of Merill Lynch with an astonishing package of $43.8 million dollars (I cud feel u gasping!!!!). He replaces Stanley O Neal who was asked to leave the firm after Merill Lynch reported the ever first quarterly loss in its history. A financial advisory firm like Merill cannot afford to!! Thain has a tough job ahead of him. Like other big financial firms that have also announced massive write downs, Merrill is saddled with asset-backed securities linked to troubled subprime mortgages. Determining how much these securities are worth has proved problematic, and experts say more big Wall Street writedowns are likely. All the best John!!
2. "Come on Google"-First let me make a confession. I am a Google fanatic. And I strongly believe that only Google can do it. Be it anything in technology. And they never let me down. And here they come to rock the world. Again. The much rumored “gphone” is well on track with Google announcing $10mn cash prize for developers who would make their open source software “Andriod” better. Gphone is pinned to work on Android. Google is also rumored to be in talk with AT&T and is considering foray into telecom business. This could very well signal the death bell for many existing telecom companies. Come on Google. You again did it!!
3. "You, again: Are we getting closer to cloning humans??"- Earlier this week a team in the U.S. led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov of the Oregon National Primate Research Center, announced they had created the first cloned monkey embryo and extracted stem cells from it. Extending this to humans, if successful, the following scenario could happen- Your clone can attend the class and get you the participation marks, while you can sit back and do your assignments or even date with your girl friend!!
4. "World’s 4th fastest Super Computer"- Weather forecasting, detecting tsunami, seismic analysis or even advanced financial modeling for the stock markets can now be performed by an Indian company. Computational Research Laboratory (CRL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons has built the fastest supercomputer in Asia (according to top 500.org, an industry body that ranks performance of supercomputers globally) in Pune. Christened EKA, derived from the word one in Sanskrit, the computer, which can also be used in the areas of Neural and molecular simulation and computational fluid dynamics, was built at a cost of $30 million. Another feather in the TATA group’s crown!!

Yes..I am Enjoying!!

To All my friends in India and rest of the world

Belated Diwali wishes!!. Hope you had fun, ate lots of sweets and enjoyed with crackers (including my share!!)

I celebrated the Diwali with a party organized by the Rotman-South Asian Business Association on Friday night. It was organized in a party hall in a condo and we had games, music, dance, drinks and what not!! It is always nice to get to mingle with "your" creed. We must be thankful to the Diwalis and Eid's for this.

My schedule so far since Friday has been this:

Friday-SABA party, organized the party and came home at 1:45AM, Slept at 3:15AM

Saturday: Got up at 9:45 AM in the morning, finished my Business Finance Assignment which included questions about google, gold, oil and the professor (you analyse the personal finance for the prof!!!) who teaches us the subject!! Started my "Stats" project, edited the data (uff..Next time when you see statisticians, please fall in their legs!!), Slept at 3:45AM

Sunday: Got up at 8:30AM, finished off 90% the stats project except the final predictions, then started analysing the future of Boeing for the next 5 years on how much dividends they would be paying. Slept at 3:45AM

Yesterday: Woke up at 8:30AM, had a meeting with my team mentor, did a SWOT analysis of my team's performance in Q1, attended a seminar, came home at 9PM, analysed a case for today's class, discussed with my roomies for the case assignment to be submitted, slept at 3:15AM

Today: Woke up at 9AM, did a case analysis of Walmart Inc, attended the scholar tutorial session and returned home at 8:30PM. Decided that it has been quiet a while since I updated my blog and decided to spend at least 10 mins on my blog. Still I have to prepare for my stats quiz on Thursday, for the individual case summary due on thursday and also for the make the ground work for Net Impact CSR competition.

So why did I write this.

To all my friends in India and rest of world who tell often me that "MBA load is nothing and I am always enjoying"

My answer is-
Yes. I am Enjoying!!! And read this post again from the start!!

From being God to being Human..

Imagine you are only 48 months into this world and you have to undergo a 40 hour surgery by 30 highly skilled doctors. This is what happened to Lakshmi who was born with 4arms and 4 legs fused with the spinal cord!! Thanks to the team of doctors at Sparsh hospital in Bangalore who successfully removed the child's extra limbs, salvaged her organs, and rebuilt her pelvis area,

'Lakshmi was born joined to a ''parasitic twin'' that stopped developing in the mother's womb. The surviving foetus absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the undeveloped fetus.

The doctors worked through the night to remove the extra limbs and organs, surgery that doctors say will give her a good chance to live past adolescence. The procedure included separating the fused spines along with removing the extra limbs and the rest of the ''parasite,'' said Patil, the orthopedic surgeon leading the operation.

Lakshmi is recovering at the hospital’s intensive care unit and will be under observation for a few days.

The journey from a remote village—where she was revered as a Goddess—near the Bihar-Nepal border to Bangalore was long and arduous but Lakshmi won in the challenge.

A team of paediatrics worked all night on Tuesday to separate organs from the twin body and before that neurosurgeons had separated the spinal chord. The complicated procedure involved separating the parasitic twin's tissues, giving Lakshmi one of the functional kidneys, shifting the genital system and bladder from the left side of the body to a more centred position, reconstructing the pelvic ring, plastic surgery to close her wounds and operations to correct her club feet.

Lakshmi’s parents are hopeful their daughter will be able to lead a normal life. “We are her parents and naturally get worried often. But we are praying and are hopeful,” says her father Shambhu.

It’s a medical complication seen in one among 50,000 cases and if this risky surgery is successful, it will not only be a first in India but will also be a landmark in the surgery of ischiophagus conjoined twins in India.

Planning for the surgery took a month and doctors say without it Lakshmi may not have survived beyond early adolescence.

Kudos Docs!! Where else can we see human Gods other than you people.!!

I promise I'll call you!!

Dear Best Friend in India who I haven't called since I got to Toronto,

You absolutely have no clue how much has been going on here at school. I know I havn't called you since I got here, but trust me, you are right up there on the list of people I keep thinking I should call "next sunday morning". Right after gf and before dad. It probably is more than a little annoying when I scrap you every now and then(yes, I scrap, I do NOT write on your wall) and each of those scraps has the word "busy" in it. But its all really true! And everyone says this is true about the first sem at each and every b-school. It hits you like a speeding train. I personally have been feeling like I have been hit by a tonne of bricks, heavy shapeless objectified laziness being my thing more than fast moving dynamism and all that.

To start with I am usually always clueless in the classroom. I mean, I did way cooler stuff with excel than create balance sheets, and 'security' to me brings up images of hunky rugged-but-clean-shaven beautiful men in beautiful dark blue uniforms. Something thats had nothing to do with finance. And then there's this whole thing with recruiting and learning to "tell your story" and all that. And then they bring on the midterms. AND they actually give out your results 2 days after each exam. I had just about successfully blocked out the experience and was kinda hoping I'd never have to know my grades. Like ever!

And like thats not enough I had my laptop breakdown on me 3 weeks ago. I had to spend about 2 months budget to get it repaired and walk around for 3 whole weeks wishing I could look something up now. You know how it is when someone cracks a joke about Meryll Lynch in class and you know that all the non-bankers are googling it up (the cool-dude finance types have this sick-feeling-in-the-bottom-of-my-gut look on their faces. and wait, the media/entertainment bunch is doing neither. they are snickering. those guys are really cool), and you wish you could too because in that one moment nothing is more precious to you than knowing what the hell is going on with Meryll Lynch? Or that one time when you see someone walk into class wearing red patent leather shoes and you want to find out where you could get the cheapest shiny red shoes? no? how about when you can't get the "umberella -ella -ella -ella" out of your head and want to download it, right now? That was tough.

Anyways, I have my laptop back now and I promise, promise, promise I will call you this sunday. I will try to make it at an easy time for you, but hey, I might just have that moment when I have to talk to you like right now and go for it, ok? Be prepared for a lot of ranting about the midterms gone by, and more about how its going to be even busier because recruitment has just about began full steam. Yep, the time is now!

(Adopted from the blog by Sudha "the primalbeing.blogspot.com)

Schedules!!

Only 2 days of the month have passed by and already my schedule for the month is filled up-almost some meeting or event daily. This apart from the regular classes, individual assignments and team meetings I have to attend.

1. I (and Kavitha, Manoj, Nishant, Deepika..ohh..no..not again!!) have decided to participate in the Net Impact-Corporate Social Responsibility Case competition. Apart from enabling us to propose new ideas for the case, the CSR event would also help us to interact with industry experts.

2. SABA-Diwali event is coming up on Nov 9th and I am part of the organizing committee. Expectations vs fulfilments..watch this space for updates.

3. I am part of the organizing committee of India Business Conference. The CEO of TCS-North America, Mr. Surya Kanth is delivering the key note address and there are other whole bunch of Industry heavy weights (from Scotia Bank, TD etc...). Gotta get hold of some good sponsors, arrange for logistics etc..With the event becoming bigger and bigger, so are the expectations from the event..again watch this space for expectations vs fulfilments.. :-)

Here is a snapshot of where I stand in terms of my schedule for the month as of now. I wanted to make this as “a typical day in the life as an MBA student”. But again the time factor comes into play. However, I am committing to upload the daily charter before I finish my MBA. :-)

12.5% MBA!!?

Finally its all over..The anxiety and the fear surrounding the MBA exams were finally faced..While we faced some conceptual questions in Fin. Accounting, Sstatistics was relatively easier..The toughest was Managerial Economics..Hoping (Praying would be a better word that really describes the situation!!) to get a decent score..A gud score in the Q1 wud kick off everything..internships..final placements etc...Let me hope for the best!!

Celebrated the end of Q1 yesterday with a dance party..The dance party went on from night 10PM and went on till early mornings..It was an official party organized by Rotman as a stress reliever.. :-)...Q2 starts from Monday and already my mail box is filled with mails containing the required pre class reading for Q2..gotta pull my socks faster and earlier this time to get better results..

Elected!!!

Just now received a mail that I have been elected as the First Year representative of Rotman South Asian Business Association (http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/saba/). My affliation with the regional associations continues-the earlier one being the TANSTA-Tamilnadu Student Association, the unofficial student association at Under grad level.

I plan to make SABA more accessible to South Asian Students (read Indian students ;)) and help prospective students with good amount of information.

Any comments?

Time..Time…And in No time…

I was aware that MBA student life would be a race against time. I was also warned of the rigorous academic courses comprised of team and individual assignments, I never expected me to be this hard pressed for time.

I have enrolled myself in RMCA (Rotman Management Consulting Association), RFA (Rotman Finance Association), REMA (Rotman Engineers in Management Association), RBTG (Rotman Business and Technology Group) and RSABA (Rotman South Asian Business Association). During the entire day I am attending either association meetings, scholar sessions or team meetings till late nights.

The time has fled so fast and my Q1 exams are now just 10 days away. My team assignments and individual assignments are due next week and I have to submit 2 team assignments and 2 individual assignments. While the team assignments are on target, I don’t want to leave the fate of my individual assignments solely to God without my efforts. The flop show in my stats quiz (this is what happens when you are overconfident…damn it… 5% course grade man..i didn’t want to miss this..) has left me with no other option than to perform better. With my dream to get into consulting, I need to perform exceptionally well in the main exam which accounts for the majority of the course.

All my current focus is on my FIT team assignment that calls us to come with an innovative model to make people donate more to silent tragedies. Not only come up with a method, but also analyze and calculate the results.

Oh God. Give me more time coz I am still to find out who owns my time.!!

Buildings near my house..

Living in one of the happening areas of Toronto, I decided to count the number of branded shops/companies within 500meters of my house. The list goes here:

1. Hotel Marriott – We are staying above this building on the 15th floor!!
   
2. Xerox Corporation-Opposite to our house
   
3. IBM-Building adjacent on left within 50m distance
   
4. Amdocs-adjacent on right within 50 m distance
   
5. Rolex showroom-around 200m
   
6. Swarovski-around 100m
   
7. KFC
   
8. McDonalds
   
9. Bank of Montreal
   
10. Manulife Insurance
    
11. Unilever Canada
    
12. Gucci and French Connections

Moving into new House..Long week end..4 Incidents...

The past 1 week has kept me really busy with us moving to a new house.

Of the many problems I faced is getting an internet connection. With the course materials and reading being uploaded by the profs online, I am having a tough time in managing myself. The telephone service is so pathetic here, even the worst Indian service providers can be considered far better. How else would I rank them if they take 5 business days to give me an internet connection at my home, that too with the phone jack already available?? The typical North American laziness and the effects of monopolistic market!!

Though the internet company will not have any effect on its “revenues” (MBA effect ???), the impact this delay has on me is that I had to go to the college at least twice a day even during holidays to keep myself updated.

I had three days of holidays (though namesake!!!!) coz of the Canadians celebrated “ Thanks giving “(celebration of the successful harvest season). This is what happened during those 3 days:

Incident 1:

My team scored the highest marks in the team assignment of one of the subject. We are confident of replicating this success in all other assignments also. Kudos teamies!! We decided to celebrate this success over a dinner. We went to an Indian restaurant called “The Host on Prince Arthur”. We ate, we drank, we enjoyed. The result-The bill-a whopping 180$ (7300 INR) for 4 people, including a 20$ (820INR) tip!! An amount with which I could have lived in India for 2 months, super cool. And the tip amount- an average Indian waiter’s monthly salary.

But again I pacify myself with the advise of my friends and seniors-one of the first things which we must not do here is trying to convert everything in Indian rupees and compare!! (hmmmmm…)

Incident 2:

The typical desi gang (me, Kavitha, Manoj, Nishant, Sid and Diwakar) decided to freak out over the long week end, as we felt that this was the last week we could enjoy ourselves before our exams. We went to a near by place called the “Toronto Island”. It has some parks, some artificially created beaches and the place can be reached by a ferry. After ambling for some time and spending some time swinging in julas and strolling along the greens and taking some fotos we decided to call it a day. (The place has lesser interesting things and hence this boring description..:-))

Incident 3:

I had heard people saying that there would be fantastic deals during “thanks giving” and hence I decided to buy myself a black formal blazer. Though I have 2 suites and 1 blazer, I thought of buying once more. I went to a mega mall called “Eaton Centre”. I reached the place at 5:15PM in the evening and then I came to know that the shops there close at 6PM (again monopoly and typical North laziness!!). The mall was full of shops that sell costumes for women (they are shrude..they know where they can make good margins…;-)). Finally when I found a shop that sells blazers it was almost 6PM. I rushed inside and asked the sales person for a blazer. I tried the blazer and I was about to take it, when I looked at the price. It was 485$ = 20000INR (oops..sorry for the conversion again..I am not able to leave this habit easily, though the conversion is justified in this case!!). I did the same thing you would have done. I asked him for a black blazer with less shine. (hehehe..I knew that he would not have it!! ) God Saved!!

Incident 4:

This incident is a reflection of what is happening and an indication of what will happen at a larger scale in another 10 years. I went to a nearby “Dollarshop” (where you get all items for 1$) to buy some house hold items for our new house. The shop had microphones, radios, utensils, crockery, screwdrivers and gloves. All for 1$. All “Made in China”. I am very sure that at this rate, Chinese products will eat into all other country’s products. The Chinese effect has already had its toll in the Indian market, which is supposed to be another low cost source. But let me accept that India can stand nowhere to China in costs. The ratio of costs to produce a product in China to rest of the world must be alteast 1:10 and between China and India must be atleast 1:3. Thanks to innovation and the intellectual Indian power- India still rules. When replication is China’s strength, innovation is India’s strength. And both the countries would become the superpowers by 2015 surpassing the current greats of UK and US.

"Run for the Cure"

I wanted to write this blog last Saturday itself, but was not able to write due to my busy MBA schedule.

Last Sunday, I participated in the CIBC “Run for the Cure” 5K marathon. This main objective of the run was to create awareness and raise funds for cancer research. The run started in the year of 1992 by a small group of volunteers to create the awareness of Cancer. Many big corporate houses also participate for this noble cause and the names include the biggies of CIBC, Ford, Revlon etc. We managed to raise $ 26.5 million throughout Canada in a SINGLE day. All for a noble cause!!

The run was followed by a brunch session with some consultants of McKinsey, who also participated in the run. We went to a restaurant called “Richtree” . The restaurant was simply superb and the spread was fantastic. We ate all we could. The combined effect of the run and the sumptuous food made me to sleep for the rest of the day!!

The bad part was that I had my accounting and Stats quiz the next day and I screwed up in both of them. Need to pull my socks and work really hard. Can some body help me in balancing my MBA life and non-MBA life? Please….

First few weeks of Classes and Few weeks from Q1 Exams..

It was rough. It was exciting. It was hectic. It was fun.

The first few weeks have flown by super fast and my Q1 exams are around the corner!! My two quiz exams are over and many more (!!) are in the pipe line. These weeks have kept me busy, super busy and made me understand what real pressure is and what really 24/7 means. I had to attend many info sessions, prepare my resume, attend the club meetings, prepare for the next classes, prepare for my quiz exams and also do the team work.

You need to have that extra bit of talent and put that extra bit of effort to be in the best ranks of an already best class. Now I understand why MBA's from Rotman stand out in the crowd and are able to prove themselves. They get used to the pressure situations here itself and hence the corporate pressure situations become lighter for them!!

And, my Q1 exams are slated to start from Oct 22nd. That is exactly 3 weeks from now. I am sure that the following weeks are going to be more hectic, more exciting and more fun!!

Visit to Cirque De Soleil..

For those of you who don’t know what that is or whom they are..Cirque de Soleil (Circus of the Sun) is one of the most famous circus companies in the world. They are the pioneers in modern circus art and are the people who redefined the way circus was being performed.

Their shows are not for children and hence you don’t get to see clowns running here and there cracking jokes you will not laugh at. The best part that differentiates Cirque from the others is that it is a “part theatre” and “part cinema” performance. The show moves on as a story with fantastic performances in between- that too without the lions, tigers, elephants and parrots.

Our project team (me, Jas, George and Shaun) decided to go to Cirque de Soleil, as our minor project in one of our core subjects was on Cirque de Soleil. Day before yesterday, before I went to the show, I was also thinking that it would be one of the regular shows and they became famous just by luck. And now I take back my words.

We went to a story line called “Kooza” a performance inspired by the middle eastern culture . It is a story of a small boy who wants possession of magic wand. It combines two circus traditions – acrobatic performance and the art of clowning. The show highlights the physical demands of human performance in all its splendor and fragility, presented in a colorful mélange that emphasizes bold slapstick humor. The Innocent's journey brings him into contact with panoply of comic characters such as the King, the Trickster, the Pickpocket, and the Obnoxious Tourist and his Bad Dog. The major difference I found between the Indian circus and Cirque de Soleil is the insistence on safety. All the artists here at the Cirque performed with their safety belts and other equipments, while in India if the artist mis-dives, then God save him.

Be it though. The show was amazing and given a chance I would love to go and watch the show again. Thanks Cirque for making my day memorable!!

Thrill to a Trillion!!

Mukesh Ambani's new distinction puts the world in his pocket and the moon within his grasp.

Who wants to be a millionaire' is so last season. And who wants to be a billionaire is close to being pass. A sharp surge in share prices of his group companies has earned Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani the rare distinction of being the only trillionaire in the country with over Rs 1,00,000 crore (Rs 10000000000000!!!!!!!) of wealth through his shareholdings. And that's now upped the ante for wannabe bullion-barons, propelling fortunes into figures that jam up calculators and stymie anyone trying to zero in on how many digits a trillion has! Yet, making this number meaningful to ordinary people is a major challenge. So, what does a trillion look like?

To help you along this flight of fancy money, TGIS came up with a ready reckoner of sorts, a comparative study in a lighthearted vein that disregards currency conversions, to give you an idea of what it actually means to stack up a 'trill' and break the bank in the process.

Ronald Reagan's Star Wars defence programme of the 1980s didn't come cheap. And the US government put a cap on that programme when the greenbacks were nudging a trillion in the spending mark. That’s when costs raised a few eyebrows. But it's also clear that a trillion can fund its very own Star Wars programme, albeit of a different kind. In fact, a trillionaire could probably reach for the stars, in every sense of the term. There’s a saying which goes something like 'No man is an island' and the world's most costly man-made islands, Dubai's Palm Islands ($180,000- $2,000,000 a pop) are within easy reach of a trillion. To rephrase that, a trillion could put all the properties that comprise Palm Islands within your reach, and still leave you enough to get you some property on the moon for good measure!

And, while we're talking airborne, the Airbus 380 is now the most luxurious thing in the air. And, at $296-300 million per plane, a trillion could probably buy you as many of these planes as there are days in the month.

And, when you're a trillionaire, the word 'budget' takes on a new meaning. Speaking of budget, you might have made your trillion by smart budgeting, but a trillion can put a country's defence budget within your reach. But why stop at a mere budget when you can use that money for something altogether more peaceful? Ever heard of the Savage Garden song To The Moon And Back? While lead singer Darren Hayes might never rake in that kind of moolah for a lifetime of hit singles, to a trillionaire , a flight to the Moon and back - literally - would be as commonplace, in money terms, as a long-haul flight to another continent for the regular folk.

That's right, when you're thinking in trillions, you're in another zone. A calculation on a website states that you can illustrate the scale of this number by comparing the fact that a million seconds equals 11.5 days, a billion seconds is 32 years and a trillion is 32,000 years.

So what comes after a trillion? A quadrillionaire! And that's a thousand times trillion.
Is anyone listening?

(Source:TNN)

Facts at a Glance...

Check out the Latest statistics of the Class of 2009 (entering Spetember'2007) at Rotman...

http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/mba/factsglance.htm

Change in Co-ordinates

It has been exactly 1 month and 1 day I left India.

And suddenly I began to think why I wanted to do an MBA? From leaving a job where I was earning good money to being a student- I began to wonder what this MBA brings to my life.?? Though I had definite plans in my minds and had answered a lot of “Why MBA” questions to various recruiters across the globe, I wanted to re-confirm whether my priorities have changed within this span of 30 days.

Now, I feel that, I am here to do an MBA because:

1. I want to make my career shift to Consulting.
2. My career growth would be faster if I do my MBA
3. To be a leader you need to develop additional skills and MBA will help you in learning those skills

4. And the big $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

When I compare these with my Pre-MBA mind, Little have my priorities changed. But the way my life was has changed completely. From an office goer to a Student, from eating dosas to eating pizzas, from travelling in TVS-Victor to travelling in Tubes, from Chennai average temperatures of 40deg C to Torontonian Average of 9 deg C..Everything has changed.

I have finished my First quiz exam at Rotman. And to my surprise I have fared well in the exam. The race against time to catch up with my class subjects, team deliverables and Individual asssignments is on. The Co-ordinates are changing. Changing at rapid pace than I expected!!

Live and Let Live..

Last week there was a seminar on Carbon Offsets at Rotman by Mr. Ron Dembo, the Founder of Zero Footprint, a company that is engaged in helping the world a better place to live, by helping to reducing the amount of Carbon emissions. Having come across the term "Carbon Offset" and "Carbon trading" many, many, many times in my earlier job, I thought the lecture would primarily focus on how to make money out of the current opportunity in Cabon trading. So, I didn't attend the talk. And, I was wrong. But thanks to Rotman Corporate Citizenship Institute, we were sent a video link of the talk.

With the world becoming more flatter, the awareness for making the world more livable for the future generation has also become more visible. I came across some important points, some through the lecture and some thru some further googling:

1. Just if 660 million people across the world who have computers change their Computer Screensavers to black, we can shut down 100 Nuclear Power plants or 350 Coal Plants

2. Contrary to the general perception that India and China are major Carbon (read atmosphere) pollutants, the North American Countries are the major pollutants. (Leaders in this also!!)

3. Still they insist that India and China reduce their pollution levels. (Remember "Kyoto Protocol"..But accepted when considered from a broader view)

4. Poverty is also a important factor in adding to Carbon Emissions. For example, in Congo the head of a family is left with no other option than to destroy the trees and animals in his nearby area. Why because with no work and no money to spend what else he would do when his entire family is starving for food.

5.Recycling just one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60W light bulb for six hours (Source: Recoup)

6. On average for every minute an air passenger is airbourne he is responsible for the emission of enough CO2 to fill 167 party balloons. (Source: The Daily Telegraph)

7. An area the size of Ireland would need to be planted every year to offset the emissions generated by the world’s aircraft. (Source: The Daily Telegraph)

8. One return flight from the UK to Australia is the equivalent to the climate change impacts of heating, cooking and lighting in an average house for nearly three years. (Source: The Daily Telegraph)

Interested in knowing how much carbon each of you emitting??.. Visit the webpage http://www.zerofootprint.net/ and use the Carbon Emission calculator. Set yourself some goals for Carbon Emission reduction...Lets make the Earth a better place to live.

48 Hours into MBA..

It has been only 48 hours my MBA main course has begun. And already lots of activities have happened and we got into some serious business directly!!

My classes have begun at their full swing and assignment deadlines have been splelt out!! (Yes. You guys read it right!!!). The profs were very clear in defining what is expected from us and what we can expect from them.

My Project team has already been formed and we would be working together as a Team over the next two quarters. The profile of the team members are quiet interesting. One has completed 3 levels of CFA examination (an on-line finance course), another has a psychology major and work experience while the other is a lawyer by profession. The average work experience of our group is approx 5 years and I think we must be able to contribute and add value to our works with this diverse experiences.

A lot of Pre-class reading materials were given through our internal web portal. Frankly speaking, this was the first time I went to the class “prepared” (??). Wow. The results of this are amazing. You discuss in the class regarding the topic, relate your personal experiences with the topic and within span of few minutes the entire class room becomes lively. A sharp contrast from the Under Grad education, where the poor Prof was made to stand for an hour and talk monotonously. All the profs insisted on Class participation and timely submission of team assignments. They also spelt out the grading methods for each subject, gave the assignment deadlines and asked us to study/deliver.

On the other hand, lots of activities have begun to happen to mould us professionally. A number of Case study Competitions, Asset Management competitions, Info sessions by biggies like (BCG, Merrill Lynch, P&G, Bain, Accenture…), International Study tours (This year to China and Africa) are being arranged at a fast pace.

A basket full of apples has been provided and it is now up to me to make the best use of apples.

The MBA wheel has started rolling and I think I must make my brain wheel faster to cope up with it!!

Cards, Cards and Cards...

It has been only 21 days I landed in Toronto and already my wallet in full with bunch of plastics.

Be it buying a Subway Pass, Be it accessing the college locker, be it getting inside the college during the weekends or getting into the house- without this damn plastic you are done. Consider this- even the cafeteria inside the school has pre-paid Cards which can be recharged. You pay the bucks, get the card, and swipe the card whenever you want to have a drink, recharge it once you are done. It has become more of a plastic life here. (Hehehe..Literally!!) So simple it is you think, right? Not really. You get so many cards, that you either forget which card to use where or you forget your passwords for the card.

Back home in India, try giving a credit card to the shop keeper near you. Chances are higher that he will come back to you saying that their shop accepts only cash. Or try giving your credit card to your “Chaiwala chotu”. I am sure that he will take back the chai with the glass from you and make some really nasty coments at you or he will take the card and run away (If he is an informed chotu). The vague instances I remember using my credit card are when I used to pay my utility bills, book my rail tickets and when I shop at high end places or eat at high end restaurants. We Indians love to see the cash in our hands immediately and we don’t believe in the biggies of “Visas” and “MasterCards”.

As a person who had six credit cards in India, I thought that getting a credit card would be easier abroad. But I found that to be a daunting task. And without this plastic, you cannot survive here. I had ended up asking my friend’s to pay for me (Thanks Guys!!) for getting me a Subway Ticket and to register in the College Associations. I thought I would be never having a credit card here in Toronto at least for the next few months. But thanks to our School’s excellent relationship and the efforts by our seniors, Bank of Montreal (3 Cheers to BMO) has agreed to give us students a credit card, that too with out an annual fee (3 More!!). I hope they really stick to their promise and give me a credit card.

Janmashtami and Jungle Fire

Two important events worth mentioning happened yesterday:

1. We had our MBA orientation program followed by a team exercise called “Jungle Fire”

2. We went to ISKON temple at midnight to celebrate Janmashtami .

The MBA Orientation program that kicked off the 2009 Full time MBA Program was held yesterday. The program was presided by the Dean and Assistant Dean of Rotman who gave us an insight into the current incoming class. Then we were given a brief introduction about the different cultures across the world so that we could get along with our team members with ease. There was also an introduction about the “Integrative Thinking” – a concept that Rotman specializes in. We were then divided into team members and we played the game of “Jungle Fire”.

Jungle Fire is a team experimental learning concept developed by “Eagle’s Flight”. The objective of the game is to win the maximum amount off Diamonds under the given set of rules. Given the constraints on the number of moves and time duration, surviving in the Jungle itself was deemed difficult. But we performed exceptionally well and our team came out within Top 5 teams out of the 56 teams. More than winning, the lessons learnt from Jungle Fire are important. We were told where we failed to plan, where we must have performed better and where we missed out. This was then translated into important corporate lessons. We really enjoyed the day.

At night we decided to go to ISKON temple to celebrate Janmashtami (the B’day of Lord Krishna). The Indian crowd was huge at ISKON and there was a play about circumstances under which Lord Krishna was born.

The bhajans started around 10PM with high energy levels among people and ended around 12PM with higher energy levels. When the doors were opened at midnight to signal the birth of Lord Krishna, everyone was dancing to the tune of the Bhajans. Having celebrated Janmashtami in India all these years, for me, seeing the plays in English, hearing the instructions in English was a different experience.

Kaadhal Niagara. (Love Niagara)

A day that started with anxiety, peaked into excitement and ended with satisfaction.

I was lucky enough to view the Niagara from the Canadian side, for I was told that the view from the US is not that great and it gives u only the rear view.

View of the Horseshoe falls and the American Falls from the Canadian Side, boat ride to the Maid of the Mist, Visit to the Guiness book of World records museum, Wax museum, Ripley's believe it or not-We made ourselves a tight schedule sothat we could enjoy each and every minute.

Before heading to the Maid of the Mist (where u are taken right to the middle of Horseshoe falls), we went for some shopping (Lemme rather call it ass sightseeing) in the shops surrounding the Niagara Area, grabbed some pizzas for lunch and then waited patiently for 1/2 hour in queue heading to see the beautiful maid.

The view of the falls from the Maid of the Mist was amazing. Believe me, you could feel the granduer of Niagara only if you see it right from the middle of the Horseshoe falls. What an view it was. You must see it to feel the experience.

Another major attraction at the Niagara is the Casino. We decided to try our luck at the Casino. But Alas!. The security at the entrance refused to accept our Indian Driving License as our proof of age. Simple reason being as per his records there are only 9 states in India and they are: Andaman and Nicobar (??), Mizoram, Manipur, Gujarat, Punjab, Delhi (hey!!!!), J&K, Goa and Rajasthan. And neither of us were from these states!!

After that futile attempt at the Casino, we decided to pack our bags back to Toronto after seeing the Niagara in the night. It was almost 10:30 when we left Niagara and we reached Toronto in flat 90 minutes. Distance: 117 miles!!.

Overall it was a memorable journey and I definitely enjoyed every bit of it.

I just had one wish that was not satisfied this time though- I wanted all my close friends back in India to accompany me to Niagara. Let me hope that wish gets fulfilled soon!!

Welcome to the CN Tower view @ MidNight

It was all a decision of a minute..And we decided to go to the Downtown to experience the night life of Toronto..We were 4 and it was almost 10:30 in the night when we started from our home..We went to Lake Shore, the western end point of the city of Toronto...The area is called as the Harbor Front area and the world famous CN Towers is near this area..

In the 1960s, Toronto’s growing skyline created problems for radio and television transmission because the pre-skyscraper transmission towers were simply not high enough to broadcast over the buildings.

The CN Tower was built in 1976 by Canadian National (CN) who wanted to demonstrate the strength of Canadian industry by building a tower taller than any other in the world. It was an ambitious project that involved 1,537 workers who worked 24 hours a day, five days a week for 40 months to completion.

The prime function of the Tower is a telecommunications hub and several Canadian radio and television channels broadcast from there. And over the years it has better come to be known as a tourist spot than a broadcasting spot. There is a 360Degree (The name of the restaurant) food court at the top..You can have a view of the entire Toronto while you relish your food. It takes 72 minutes for the 360 Degree restaurant to revolve once..

The view of the CN Tower from the Lake Shore area was mind blowing..The entire building was illuminated with lights and we could see high speed elevators moving up and down carrying people. But of course the main attraction started at the stroke of the midnight. There was a light show and the entire Tower wore different shades of lights..What an view it was..So tempting and attractive that I made up my mind to get into the Tower and have a view of the city of Toronto, very soon..

While at the back of my mind I was calculating the amount of energy spent on this World’s Tallest Stand Alone structure, I later came to know that the lighting system for the entire system is done thru Microprocessor controlled LEDs that are energy efficient, cost efficient and do not require maintenance for the next 10 years atleast.

Once again Welcome to the world of CN Tower at night!!

TGTs...

With the world becoming truly globalised, with people realising the theory of "Survival of fittest", nowadays people moving to other countries has become a normal phenomenon..There can be either two results of this phenomenon..
either the person travelling from the native country changes himself and gets imbibed in the other country's culture immediately.transforms himself/herself...that's when and why, you get to see Indians returning from foreign countries with their hair styles changed into spiky ones and with ear phones (now IPOD!!) in their ears..
the other lot are the ones who act as their country's cultural ambassadors and spread their country's culture..i witnessed this latter phenomenon when I went to the Downtown in Toronto to get my tickets for my planned trip to Niagara falls (details/blog on the same to follow soon!!)..There was a dance show going on at the Dundas grounds (the Downtown area..)..With no work left, we decide to pass the time by watching the dance show..there were some group of 4-6 students dancing for some hippy numbers..we watched the show for sometime and suddenly to my surprise, the speakers began to bang "Metro Channal munna paru..munna paru..Cable TV pinna paru...pinna paru.." in Tamil in the middle of english numbers..all people..Canadians, Chinese, Americans were moving their hips and were dancing to the tune of the song..

What makes this happen..If people say that music knows know boundaries and hence people would dance to any number played on the stage..i fail to disagree..., I would attribute this to the culture the Tamils have imbibed in the Canadian society..the dominational cultural change and the culture change, the effect they were able to produce on the other society...

and I was so happy and proud that we have established ourselves 15000miles away from our native..

After all I am also a fanatically Truly Global Tamilian..

Experimentation continued...

My Experiments with cooking are on and today all of a sudden, backed up by the confidence of having Mom's cookery notes, I decided to make Hyderabadi Biryani...Yes guys..u read it right..Hyderabi Biryani.(For those of who cannot get what I am talking about, please Google..).Though I was sure that I will not be able to make it upto the real Hydrabadi's expectations, I wanted to make it a decent success..The best part wen u cook for many people is that the work gets divided and the main job gets easier...Onions, Beans, Garlic, Ginger and other spices were cut into fine pieces. After the main gravy was made, the vegetables and pre-semi-fried rice were added into it..and was boiled for 10 minutes..There was a air of silence in the room as the expectations ran high...and Finally..the vessel was opened..we could smell some good aroma...It was well above the expectations except the fact that it was a bit spicy and the gravy was less compared to the quantity of rice..

So what..There is always a next chance and I am sure that all these negativities will be OKayed that time..

and Finally what marks would I give for this Biryani.??..While the expectations were to score 90 marks out of 100, this Biryani scored 75 out of 100..far above the pass marks of 40!!

Desi Classroom vs Videshi Classroom

Often we have heard people complaining about the education system in India.people often complaining about the "spoon-feeding" the Indian teacher does to the student..Spare the IIT, IIMs, NITs (Being from NIT, I had to!!), rest all fall under the same dump..

I did my entire schooling and engineering from India..One of the sharp contrasts I noticed between the Indian system of education vs the education system here is that in India the Professor/School teacher is less willing to share the old piece of papers using which he teaches in the class..You can be rest assured that you can score the full marks in the exams if you manage to get those old yellow colored papers photo-copied..

Here it happens the other way..Before you attend the class you are given the pre-course reading material...You will know that what is going to be taught in the class..and you can be ready with the questions, you have, if any...Once your lecture is over you will be sent the lecture notes via e-mail..and boy..believe me..if u miss the class, u can relax..the class discussions are recorded and sent to you..The professors here like all the works to be done through computers and are as computer-savvy as we are...Another sharp contrast from the typical Indian professor who thinks the gadget as his replacement and always criticises it..

But remember everything comes at a price..i would still bet with the Indian education system if we are considering from the "Value for Money" angle..Indian professors still are among the best lot and given the fact that the knowledge/techniques an average Indian student gains with his limited resources when compared to his/her non-Indian counterpart also justifies why Indian students always excel in their studies.!!

My Experiments with Sambar...

"Cooking..That too Sambar..me??..U must be really crazy..."

Thats what the answer you would have got from me had you asked me before 1 month ago whether I know cooking.

(For those of who don't know what Sambar is..Its a South Indian gravy item that is usually mixed with rice and eaten)

See how time changes and the wheel of fortune rolls.. Within the past 7 days I have made Sambar twice and that too for about 1o people each time (including 2 girls)...and Surprise..Both times it turned out to be very good..Was so good that people started drinking Sambar..and was in big demand!!.

Credit goes to my mom for that exceptional Sambar powder-without which this success would not have been possible. I had an intensive, step by step training from her on how to make good sambar..Her rule was very simple..Be it any work..Follow the procedures religiously, and the results will follow themselves..The result here-A good Sambar.. Thank you Mom!..U must also have done ur MBA!

Now that my confidence level has boosted, I have decided to upgrade to the next level and try other items as well!!

Settling with Rotman..

Finally, after some struggles we managed to get a good apartment, near to the subway..We had to OK ourselves with the "apartment entry date" of October 1st..Meanwhile in College, we got introduced to some 2nd year students in the "Settling with the 2nd year students" program.The conversation is more or less similar with everyone..

Me: Hi, My Name is Janakiraman.
He/She: Hi.My name is XXXX. So how is it going?
Me: Yeah..Enjoying the time out here at Rotman. So far it has been good.
He/She: Hmm..Enjoy yourself. Because once your college starts u will not find time for all these.
Me:??????

An MBA in the making..

7 days have already passed..Time flies fast..Super fast..

My First day at college started off with the Breakfast session.I could see a lot of people from all around the globe. Think of any civilized country in the world and you would find a student from that country. You could see various hair styles, hear various english accents, get to meet people with variety of experience, (This year, A Doctor from Iran has come to do his MBA!!) . We also had a brief chat with some of the current 2nd year students. And Ding!. We heard an announcement. "Guys. Good Morning!!. On behalf of the Dean and other staff members, I welcome you to Rotman and we hope you would have a great time with us in Rotman over the next 2 years. The classes wil begin in another 5 minutes and please try and finish your conversations and be in you class rooms". My "Quantitative Methods" and "Accounting" Pre-MBA classes have begun.

On my personal side, I had a lot of work pending..Had to configure my laptop for the Univ. wireless network, get the Univ. Student ID, get the Univ. Health Insurance card, get a mobile connection, find an apartment and finally(??) pay the Univ fee!!.

My Firsts..

And Finally..I have also decided to enter the blog space..I thought it would be apt to post my first blog after having made my first visit outside India- to Toronto to pursue my career goals.

After waiting for almost 2 hours to collect our baggages at the Pearson international Airport, me along with my friends headed to the main city of Toronto in a car.While the car cruised at 140Kmph, my friend (who had already been in Toronto) started explaining me about the city areas. Thanks to Sid, we settled in the city very easily. So nice of him, he had arranged accommodations for us in his friend's place. We reached the place at 11PM in the night. The next day morning we had to go the College at 8:30AM for the Intro session!!

My first impression about the city is that it has High rise buildings everywhere..Everywhere you could see!! It is also very very clean and organised. Subways are the main life lines for commutation of this city..Unlike Indian trains, here, the trains here are neat and clean..and their freqency is very good..so good that u can travel a distance of 4-5kms in 5mins. Toronto is a "Multi-Cultural" city and you could find people from all round the world!! There are also lots of Indians..especially Tamils and Punjabis..While I am told that most Tamils are of Srilankan Origin, the Punjabis come from Amristar..Oops..I could feel that when I came in the flight from India..When I boarded the Delhi-Toronto flight that flies via Amristar at Delhi the flight was half filled..When the flight stopped at Amristar, the rest of the seats were also filled with the Punjabis..so much filled was that a Sardar began asking the Air Steward "Are..U r travelling in a Punjabi (???) flight..aur Punjabi nahin aathi tumhe??".

One of the friend joked that " Every year 3 Punjabis from each family travel from India to US/Canada and only 2 of them return back to India..the other one who will be illegally staying in US/ Canada..Harpreet singh will become Harry !!!"...

I don't know how true this statement is??