The Power of Media
Friday, March 31, 2006
“Media” has more power than any institution in the country. This is one industry which has mastered the art of conquering human psychology and we humans never fail to fall into the trap!! Non compliance leads to doom because of the ignorance of the mass, exploited by the “news” hungry press.
May be there should be a course in the high school level for “Understanding Media”. The abuse of the words “could” and “may” in a way they get hidden among the “hot” words around… and the reaction to the same and the excitement that it builds up… have seen it before, have experienced it now… is there any hope for a 1 billion population to learn?
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Happenings in the last few days!
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Dinner at the Pizza hut, the Bombay Blues and the Touch… with different people. Dunking dude and dudette of the year – dunked afresh!
An inter-section dunking competition – victorious section B!
An inter-section cricket competition – an ever victorious n rocking section B!
A framed section photograph – to treasure for lifetime.
A 3 hour cruise along the hussain sagar lake – drinks + dance + dinner – a party with a difference – thanks to the admissions team!
Pizzas + Songs + A tam get-together – a gang that made a difference!
The last GSB party with DJ199 – the night of the dehydrating dam trip
The last two Quizzing club events – one of the most active clubs, just with an incentive of chocolates
Awarded as one of the top 5 experts at ResolveQuery.com!
Gave my last in class final exam on Friday – Negotiation Analysis
And attended my last MBA class on Tuesday – Advanced Corporate Finance
Started and ended my classes at AC4!
Have just one more take home to go… and there are a few who have completed all course requirements!!
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A weekend trip
After a term of effort, I managed to convince a few for a one-day trip to Nagarjuna Sagar Dam and the Ethipothala waterfalls – a plan agreed to by the gang for a weekend a fortnight ago… a last minute car hiccup caused another postponement and free beer on the hussain sagar cruise on Friday night also gave enough disincentives to sleep through the 6.30 am planned departure on Saturday!
Still, the guys were up and ready on time on Saturday morning… now, this has never happened in any of my trips and so I need to give them all due credit!
It’s a nice drive to the dam, about 150 Kms… the weather was pleasant in the morning and the camera was functioning non-stop and the chats died down after a couple of hours… Vikas’ is the trip man and so we had a full breakfast kit in the car which Jasvir volunteered to help us out with.
By the time we reached the dam, the sun was bright and shining and the first priority was quenching the thirst! We had to wait for a politician to clear the place before we could get in and he left us waiting in the scorching sun. Four wheelers weren’t allowed on top of the dam and hence we hopped in the three wheelers that were parked out there… someone told me they are actually 15 seaters!
The next one hour was spent here, my first live look at a dam and understanding what was for what… some dumb questions always had to be there for a first timer ;-) Unfortunately, the water levels are so low this season that the dam gates were being painted without any use… heard that it’s a good place to visit in the sep-oct times... may be we should have thought of it in the initial term breaks.
It was lunch time already and I was so hungry that I mistook plain dal for sambhar rice (after finishing one full helping of the same… anything to beat that?!)… It had become too too hot by then and another 2 hours wait for the boat ride wasn’t any incentive for the gang L
We went to the waterfalls – another 14 kms from here – and after the water levels in the dam, we weren’t expecting too much out here… but for our surprise there was enough water to make it a beautiful view and we could only think of how this place would be in September. Another photo session out here was followed by some games to remind us of childhood days J
None of us could bear the heat and we couldn’t think of going back from a waterfall without touching the water! A walk down to the crocodile breeding place wasn’t acceptable to all, so we ventured into the illegal territories for some adventure… had to find some paths behind the trees and among the rocks… and we reached a dead end pretty soon as it was slippery and dangerous beyond the place… walked across the water from the top of the hill of the waterfall!! And then discovered the breathtaking view… standing next to the rocks from where it was pouring down!
The Boating and the waterfall base were left for the next expedition and we started our return much earlier than planned – in dehydrated states! A search for cold water, a meet with supposed naxalities (well, the plain clothed men with huge machine guns who stopped us in the middle of nowhere were called so by the gang… all I knew was that they disturbed my sleep!), a fine for ‘anything under the sun’ and a car that refused to switch off its back lights were the events to remember of the journey back.
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Nagarjuna Sagar - Snapshots 1
Fuel for the drive
On the way...
Thirst above the rest
Water levels
Uneventful gates
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Nagarjuna Sagar - Snapshots 2
Power Stations
Ethipothala Falls
Childhood games
The Women
Near the Rocks
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Possible, Impossible & Meaningless
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
There are always those simple meaningless things that I just don’t do and there is always another bunch of those meaningless things that I dream I would do. Just one thing in common – I don’t put in efforts for both :-)
Possible but seems Impossible!
- Swim in a pool deeper than 5 feet
- Play the game I watch the most
- Drive the Safari
- Crack the ‘Evil’ Sudoku
- Master the Calculus
- A snap with the bow-wow animal
- Meeting that significant other
Impossible but seems Possible!
- Sky Dive near the Niagara Falls
- A one-hour drive with Schumi in a Ferrari designed for two
- A one-day drive with Sachin
- A doctorate degree within the next decade
- Decorate my own home in the countryside
- A one week holiday to an exotic location every year
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Sunrise in Term 8!
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Dinner with professor… a late and lazy start to a submission… half way through… lightning strikes, excitement begins… sunrise and a cool morning walk to the drop box :-)
Its still fun even in the 8th term ;-)
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Moments of Reflections
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
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Dog and the Bone
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Four Corners
Yellow Corner
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At the Swimming pool
Three legged race
Kho-Kho
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Painting their hearts
Portrait Painting
Nirja with the kids
Vicky as usual
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Monday, March 20, 2006
Penalty Shootout
Kabadi
Kids on song
Kids having fun
At the Khemka!
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Food on the house
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A day to remember… forever
Sunday, March 19, 2006
How does it feel to be surrounded by 50 kids whose smiles cannot be forgotten for lifetime? It was a mix of emotions…
An obedient bunch of 50 from ZPHS Beerumguda and another 50 from Bibi Ka Cheshma landed in ISB today morning for their sports day celebrations plus other events. They played many games including Kho-Kho, Dog & the Bone, Penalty Shootouts, Four Corners etc. Enthusiasm levels peaked during dances to popular numbers and the Four Corners needed to be reduced to three corners because the charm exhibited by Yellow corner left the other three corners devoid of children!! The Tom & Jerry show at Khemka was a grand event, not just for the kids but for many of us too :-)
The first school is a telugu medium one and the second one is an urdu medium one… My telugu speaking skills were better than many of today’s volunteers and my hindi speaking skills are much worse than my telugu!... That left me interacting all the while with the Beerumguda school children… these were one bubbly lot – got them out of their shells by playing games with them, taking them on a big tour of ISB and conducting music performances in front of their own friends :-) danced for the same song thrice with all the kids – amazing how each one of them want to dance with you at least for 10 seconds and what difference it makes to their smile!
I organized the Drawing & Painting competition for the kids… earlier in the day we were discussing if we need to give them some pictures to draw from… we decided to let them have fun their own way… but these kids who don’t have any kinda painting material in their schools, used the sketch pens, water colors and color pencils to create some of the best portraits and flowers I have seen! Every kid who painted today got a painting material as a gift to take home.
From making sure no kid is left standing in a corner and getting everyone involved in all activities to teaching the kids how to use the WC, it was a different experience all together… I know I made a difference to the smiles of many a kid today but they wouldn’t realize what difference they made to my day! May be I would never again meet Renuka in my life, but she is one quiet damsel I would never forget.
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Take a break... just when you dont have the time for it!
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Blogging is fun when you don’t have the time to do it... there were so many days when I penned something just before hitting the bed in the early hours of the day… now when I have the world of time to write, I seem to be clueless!! And even more, I used to read at least 10 – 12 blogs everyday and many more once in a while and now many of the links in my blog haven’t been clicked by me for long!
This reminds me of BB in Infy, B’lore… Its always the same story out there… South India vs North India… Dravid vs Sachin vs Saurav (with Infy BB copyrighted names for each of them)… needle in the food… traffic in Hosur road and many more… Still its fun when you get those 20 minutes to browse the same stories after lunch, if you don’t have an early deadline in the evening. Give me half day free and I wouldn’t look into the BB even once!!
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The last one...
Friday, March 17, 2006
The last mid-term exam of my MBA – IT Services & Project Management – 1.5 hours of preparation for 5 lectures! A professor who is in love with ERP & Infosys!
A cheat sheet* that circulated around the masses… at least one answer would be easy to correct for the TAs :-)
In need of a break after a 20 minute exam, PVR welcomes us for Taxi No 9 2 11!
*An A4 sheet that’s legally allowed inside the exam hall!
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One Day Cricket Redefined!
Sunday, March 12, 2006
No Words, Absolutely No Words would justify what kept me glued to my seats today… No Cricket fan should have missed the most wonderful ODI Cricket ever played… 872 runs scored on a single day!! Many Many records broken… Which captain would have dreamt of losing after scoring 165 of 105 balls in his team’s total of 434?
South Africa and Australia showed what separates the champions from mortals… excelling under pressure… couldn’t have imagined any team which started the chase with a positive attitude when the opponents have put in a world record total… all credits to Gibbs, Smith, Boucher and every other member in the SA team who thrived hard to show that Australia can be beaten even in the most trying of circumstances!
Credits to Lee and Bracken’s composure too for the fight… The memories of 1999 world cup semifinals were fresh when I watched today and was hoping it wasn’t the same result and phew what a match!
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HOLI @ ISB
What if classes cannot be rescheduled for HOLI? The festival can be rescheduled for the students of ISB :-)
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A small note of Thanks
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Some people look the same 10 years after you have seen them last… Some are unrecognizable!
I studied in the same school (AV Meiyappan Matriculation Higher Secondary School) from kindergarten until I completed my higher secondary board exams – 14 years! The school was a year old when I joined and I grew up with it… Many things changed over the years I was there – the school got bigger and bigger! My sis too completed her 14 years there and my youngest sis has 2 more years to complete her stint! She keeps me up to date on all the sophistications that keep getting added on!
I visited my school about a year back… true as she said, it has got even bigger… but one thing that I still love about that school is the teachers who taught me, especially when I was in my primary classes… I met a few old friends at a wedding recently and they took some time to recognize me (everyone who knows me long enough would know the reasons J)…but when I stepped into my school, my teachers spent no time in welcoming me with my name!! Still makes me wonder how they remember for years, the names of students from every batch that they teach! Though most of them aren’t around in the same place, there are a few who would always make a difference to every student’s life out there!
This is for all those wonderful selfless people…
- Who taught me how to spell and count… Thanks to my kindergarten teacher Mrs Prabha
- Who taught me words and sentences in English for 5 years and is responsible for my cursive handwriting today… Thanks to Mrs Kalpana
- Who taught me how to add, subtract, multiply and divide and many other amazing mathematical intricacies… Thanks to Mrs Vijaya
- Who taught me my second language Tamil and managed to make me score high even in the subject which bamboozled me all through!... Thanks to Mrs. Lakshmi & Mrs. Anantha Lakshmi
- Who gave me the inspiration to write those flawless language papers… Thanks to Mrs. Sri Padma
- Who made me unravel the infinite language of science… Thanks to Mr. Iyengaran, Mr. Ramesh, Mrs. Vijaya Lakshmi & Mrs. Meenakshi
And for many others who made a difference to how I am today…
Thanks.
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Weather @ Hyderabad
Did someone say the weather is discussed when there is nothing else to talk about? But then exceptions have to be made to appreciate something of the city I have lived in for the past one year… Many of my batch mates have been surprised by how the weather has turned out to be during our stay… May be a city as hot as Chennai was not expected, but some thing similar minus the humidity was anticipated. To the surprise of many of us, it has been contrary… It hasn’t been hot for more than a week at a stretch and even in those times the drizzles always manage to cool it off!
There was a time when it poured continuously for a couple of days… it was sickening… but then most of the time its like how it has been for the past few days… chill breeze, lovely wind with a slight drizzle during the day and rains during the night!
This has definitely added along with other incentives – cheaper cost of living and better roads – for many to stay back in Hyderabad for work!
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B-2-B Movies
Friday, March 10, 2006
An H Block movie screening… back to back… Cellular and Cliffhangar… chips and snacks… a weird bunch of 8… awesome entertainment!!
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Anonymous = Coward
I can never understand the rationale behind leaving anonymous comments in the blogs… I generally ignore them though some manage to instigate anger in me! I don’t know how some of my fellow bloggers put up numerous anonymous comments on their blog!
The most frequent ones make unsubstantial statements – just for the sake of saying something! Some are totally unrelated to the post… The best are the ones who ask questions without even leaving a name!
Am tempted to take away the option of anonymous comments here… but some of my friends who don’t have blogger ids leave their names in anonymous comments… don’t want to deprive that.
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Life is ironic
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Its wonderful when small things in life make me smile much more than the big events… :-)
Its scary when small things in life terrify me much more than the big challenges!!!
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Wednesday, March 08, 2006
To all those women who feel proud of being the special creation with multitude of ingredients… Happy Women’s Day!!
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The new class
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Have been reading a few 2007 Class blogs… have been talking to a few of them… have been mailing a few of them… so at that lil time between waking up and brushing the teeth today afternoon (!), me and my quadie were talking of this new bunch who would take over this place from us in a month from now…
How they would have fun all through pre-term and suddenly something called Term-1 would hit them hard… how they would have their first group meeting on Thursday evening for the Gillette case and go mad reading the exhibits… how they would do this case for 4 days non-stop and then think they have achieved something great in life… and before someone appreciates them for it, Rohm & Haas would be on its way along with those ruthless eco problem sets ;-)
Stats midterm would be an exam for many after umpteen years and before you know the first term would have begun and ended… Markstrat would be the hero of second term as the study group that slowly started knowing each other starts running after each other’s throats again!!
Every term someone would remind that this is the last toughest term (according to some alum) – no one really knows that each of the alums have a different term as a tough term ;-)
As the terms fly and core terms end, placement reality would slowly start seeping in, half the batch would know what they want to do, the rest would decide after a few electives!!
Paper presentations, case presentations and business plans would rule the world for a few terms all for those bullet points that should add glamour to the resumes.
Assignments, deadlines, competitions, mid-terms, exams, night-outs, grades would happen whether you like it or not… make sure there is time to live and think too!!
Can imagine how excited the new batch is! As I laze around in this place, waiting for reality to hit me soon, the good year is still fresh and blooming. Hope its great for each one of them who is gonna be here soon :-)
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The queen of desserts
Monday, March 06, 2006
My quadie’s culinary skills are back in action – She used to make breakfast for me in those days when we used to wake up for 8.30 am class and be awake in class!! Now after a long hiatus, she is excelling at dessert making skills… just for a sample… ‘red sweet strawberries dipped in melted brown chocolat’… looked awesome and tasted even more awesome…
For all those who get bored after dinner, you know where to head for the additional dish… :-)
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Melting Moments
Among the empty dining hall… a small group… an 8th term love find of heated dinner discussions… a bigger group… 10 people, 5 bikes… a long ride but an unconventional slow one… enter the long awaited melting moments… a small place for a big group… closing time… roadside mosquito bites!! Still good chickoo temptations! A supposed scenic drive back… the world of literature conquers.
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Friday, March 03, 2006
Sudoku… sleep… Movies… sleep… volleyball… sleep in class… cards… haven’t been doing anything else the past few days! It does feel good to do this even in ISB ;-) but then some things are yet to be done and I need to find time for them in between this relaxed schedule :-)
Even after sleeping half the day, I was in awe of the professor’s insights in the Behavioral Finance class that I dozed off without my realization! For all the hype that was created, this has been the biggest letdown, all credits to the man in front.
Mr. President of the USA is visiting ISB tomorrow… Hyderabad’s police and fire service department seem to have shifted base to ISB! It doesn’t feel like the usual place any more :-( Too many people… Security everywhere… classes have been rescheduled… recreation centre has become the dining hall… atrium has been converted into a conference hall… special id cards have been issued… seating has been arranged for us… hopefully waiting idle for a couple of hours before the event is the last inconvenience.
Hoping to have fun hearing the big man’s speech ;-)
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