My Random Thoughts

I am tagged.

2006-07-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

I have been tagged by two of my close friends – Arun Dhar and Yashovardhan Gupta. Apparently I need to complete these sentences.

I am thinking - What does tagging mean? I don’t know. Neither the people who tagged me know it properly.

I said – I can do it. So far so good!

I want – to spend time with my sweetheart.

I wish – I have 30 hours in a day.

I miss – all my old friends.

I hear – myself – questioning and answering to myself.

I wonder – what will I do post ISB

I regret – nothing. Absolutely nothing

I am - ambitious.

I sing – “Masti ki paathshala”

I dance – with passion

I am not – good in time management

I write – very little. Must get time to work on this

I hate - hypocrites

I confuse – happiness with achievement.

I should – work harder

I finish – by tagging Archana Rao, Chiranth Channappa, Kishore Kotturu, Nikhil Kaushik, Pratima Jayaram

TiE-ISB Connect 2006

2006-07-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

The dates for the Tie-ISB connect has been announced. Please find a write-up for the same. People who need any more information (not available on website), please feel free to contact me.

The TiE-ISB Connect is a joint initiative of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), Hyderabad Chapter and the Centre for Entrepreneurship at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. It is a forum that brings together early stage venture capitalists, start up and growth stage entrepreneurs and academicians, on a common platform to interact and help build successful enterprises. The first TiE-ISB Connect held in July last year was a resounding success with over 300 delegates attending the full-day event. Over 100 business ideas were presented of which about 15 are in different stages of development/ discussion with investors.

The TiE – ISB Connect 06 is scheduled at the ISB during September 20-22, 2006. This year we have significantly up-scaled the scope and magnitude of the event, with discussion tracks on diverse sectors including Internet & IT Services, Bio-Pharma, Media and entertainment, Infrastructure/ Real Estate, Telecom/ Wireless, Semiconductor, and Retail. Each track will have a keynote address by a successful entrepreneur, a review of global trends in the sector by an analyst, and a panel discussion by venture capitalists and successful entrepreneurs on sector opportunities. Entrepreneurs seeking opportunities in these sectors may attend the event as delegates.

The entrepreneur community can also benefit from three specific opportunities: Investor Pitch (Presenting plans to potential investors); Venture Showcase (Exhibiting product/ service) ; Jumpstart your venture (Workshop preparing the aspiring entrepreneur for an exciting journey)
For further details, please visit www.tie-isbconnect.com

How different is ISB?

2006-07-03T04:28:00.000-07:00

Almost everyone whave heard of ISB has this question. Read this article to find an answer - http://in.rediff.com/getahead/2006/jul/03isb.htm

Please Buy Our Vodites

2006-06-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

A friend forwarded this to me. People familiar with the Markstrat world will find it interesting.

Am I busy?

2006-06-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

Some of friends who read my blog regularly have been complaining that I was not updating it. They asked – “Are you busy studying?”
The short answer is – yes I am busy – but not really studying.
Here is my schedule for last 48 hours

22nd June

Watched Brazil vs. Argentina football match
Quickly browsed through Eli Lilly case in Corporate Strategy
Slept at 3
Got up to attend classes starting at 8.15
Lunch
Met with group for MarkStrat Decision 3 – finished in 3 hours (and that’s quick compared to time other groups take)
Came back to room – gossip with quadies for some time
Talked to my sweetheart for an hour
Went out for dinner with friends
Met family friends and an old friend – had a nice time.

23rd June

Came back to ISB at 1 AM
Checked mails, chat with a couple of friends
Reviewed a close friend’s 10 page proposal he is sending to a client
Slept at 3
Got up at 10
Read newspaper
General discussion with Partha (my quadi) about DMOP (a subject) and then about comparing developed and developing economies on various factors and their growth rates etc – I guess macro economics effect.
Lunch
Sat in magazine section of library and read some magazines
Went to Microsoft, met friends/colleagues
Microsoft vs. ISB football match in Microsoft Campus
Came back to ISB and attended Entrepreneurship club meeting
Dinner
Came back to room
A few friends planned for movie – MI3. Went out
On way back to ISB – stopped at ohri’s to eat
Back at 2 AM

The plan for 24th is also similar

A guest lecture by Mumbai Dabbawalas
Spanish Class (Started a week back)
First try with Golf
A party in evening

Am I doing right? This is why I cam to ISB?
Anyways – need to sleep now. Good night friends!

Back from Shanghai

2006-06-13T10:34:00.000-07:00

I am back to ISB after a short trip to Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai. Reached here on 12th. I will try to post the details of the visit soon. Second term has started.
I will try to be a bit more frequent in blogging.

First Exam in ISB

2006-05-20T03:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had our first exams in ISB – mid-term exams for two subjects. I think I did okay. Relative to my situation 4 days before the exam – I think I did well.

Most of the people were very disappointed with Managerial Eco paper – I don’t understand why. Everyone knows that the grading is relative – then why are people cribbing? Some (including myself) have committed mistake of attempting both the questions from a set of two optional questions. Some people have crossed all the limits and sent mails to professor – requesting him to consider the silly mistakes they have made. Come on guys - you can’t be so childish. It is just a mid-term exam of 1 of the 32 subjects. And then you have the end-term for the same subject. And then there is so much more in the world then grades.

There was a big party in Rock Garden in SV1 organized by the spouses. Food from Hyderabad House. Big turnout. Had a wonderful time.

Invitation From Shanghai

2006-05-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

Good news to share – I have been selected to participate in “Being Globally Responsible Conference” organized by China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Madhuri and Megh are the other two students selected for the same from ISB.

Here are some details about the conference –

China Europe International Business School (CEIBS; www.ceibs.edu) will launch its first ever student led conference on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) named BGRC (Being Globally Responsible Conference) from 9 June to 11 June of 2006.

Around 250 MBA students from top Asia Pacific MBA programmes and leading experts in the global CSR field will gather at CEIBS campus for the 3 day conference. The key objective of the conference is to enable students to properly understand CSR and to impress upon them the importance of it for their future career in the business world.

All expenses, including airlines, accommodation and meals will be covered by CEIBS, through the generous sponsorship of Degussa China.

Check the link - http://www.ceibs.edu/today/events/11574.shtml for more details.

Updates From ISB

2006-05-14T02:49:00.000-07:00

A lot is happening in ISB.
Thursday May 11th –A party was organized – it was shorts and skirt party – with people dancing in some 1.5 feet deep pool. An innovative idea! I partied till 3 AM in the morning. Had a great time.

Friday May 12th – There have been some 3-4 confirmed cases of Chicken Pox in ISB Campus. (Some people say they are 7-8). Some people arranged for a vaccination for those who never had Chicken Pox. I got myself vaccinated.
Later went out to Srinagar Colony. Came back in night after dinner.

I realized – “I have studied for a total of 3 hours after coming to ISB. I need to study. I have two assignments to be submitted on Monday. Two midterm examinations next week!” I went to LRC (Learning Resource Centre or Library) for the first time to study the course books. Earlier I had been there only to read magazines.

Elections for GSB President are approaching. People are talking about who are the candidates – who should be elected – how should an ideal candidate be – etc. etc.

Hitting a quarter century

2006-05-05T14:55:00.000-07:00

I will be 25 tomorrow on 7th May. At this time I am thinking of what all I have achieved in all these 25 years and what I would have achieved in next 25 years. 25 years is a very long time. But the past 25 years passed very soon – most of it in education – building the foundation for the stuff to be in done in next 25 years. Planning for next 25 years would be a very difficult thing. Here is an effort to list 10 things which I want to do in next 10 years.

To be CEO of my own company.
To make my company one of the best and biggest in its field/industry.
To float a successful IPO.
To own a Mercedes Benz.
To visit to at least 5 countries for holiday with my wife.
To learn golf.
To learn one foreign language – French/Spanish/some-other - be fluent in it.
To learn to play bridge and poker - win some big casino games.
To learn Salsa.
To start horse riding again and improve in that.

These are the things which I have in mind and this is certainly not exhaustive.

Water Polo

2006-05-03T10:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first time I went for swimming in ISB pool. We had an interesting game of water polo. The rules were of ultimate Frisbee - applied to the game with a ball in a pool. Water polo is not probably the right name - but I need to continue with this till we coin a new name.

There were some 15-20 people in the pool. 10 of us playing and other were doing their laps. From what seniors told - the number of people going to swimming pool or rec center (recreation center) will soon decrease when the load of studies/assignments etc. builds up.

Wanted to play today as well - but couldn't since the pool was closed for cleaning. Hope to be there tomorrow if I don't go to the city. (City - it's the word used in ISB for going towards any of the densely populated areas of Hyderabad - I find it pretty odd to use but most of the people here won't understand if I tell them I am going to Srinagar Colony.)

Address Change Notification

2006-04-28T06:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I notified Stanford GSB about the change of my address and email address.
I was wondering if I should tell them about my move to ISB – but then finally decided not to take the extra efforts.
May 15th is the D-day when they will release the results for candidates on waitlist. Btw I am no longer waiting.

Branding

2006-04-27T13:37:00.000-07:00

What is Kingfisher?
Harish Bijoor asked this question when he was present in ISB for Career Perspective Forum.
Guess the answer?
Beer..
Airline..
Yeah thats right but Kingfisher is a bird as well.
The message - Power of Brand!

This inspires me with the idea to make a brand for marble (the natural stone).
No one has done it till now. I need to evaluate if I can do it.
This adds to my long list of To-Dos.
Hope the MBA from ISB helps for this.

My First Class

2006-04-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

I attended the first class today in ISB today - but this was a pre-term class for Introductory Accounting. It was an interesting class with a lot of class participation - CP as they call it here in ISB. CP is supposed to have significant share in grades.
Waiting for the core term classes....

I am in ISB

2006-04-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

I am in ISB now. Reached ISB on 18th. I was expected to reach on 18th morning to Hyderabad but Thanks to Air Deccan which made it almost evening.
I joined a little late. Most of the other people joined on 15th. I was really worried if I missed something really important.
Here are the things which I missed -

Lots of gyan sessions by alums
An important session about Honour Code
Lots of fun/games/parties
Presentation of a few clubs by alums - most important of them - Bhakti Club :D

I didn't join ISB on 15th because I was attending a very important event at my home town Kuchaman City. It was "Pravasi Sammelan".

What I gained by attending the event -

Met many people who belong to Kuchaman but are staying at other places. Most of them are doing very well in their respective fields - I mean professionally. It was a great experience meeting them and talking with them.
Some notable personalities with whom I met are Kamal Barjatiya of RajShree Productions, Usha Punia - Tourism Minister of Rajasthan, Yunus Khan - Transport Minister of Rajasthan.
The most important thing happened was - the event was successful and all the projects planned got the required funding.

Will get back with ISB life later.

ISB vs IIMs

2006-04-13T12:38:00.000-07:00

Read this blog - Why ISB Might Beat The IIMs.
Though I am not really interested in comparing two really great institutes - atleast not before experiencing one of them - I didn't personally liked the title. Its a good read anyways.

The Path Less Traveled

2006-04-12T02:19:00.000-07:00

I mean the path of entrepreneurship. It is indeed less traveled. Read this article Jumping into the unknown in HT which drew my attention because I met one of the personalities mentioned - Nitin Vyakaranam - before making my decision to join ISB. He is having a tough time getting the funding from VC’s for his company Spirit Networks even though he has excellent experience, a fantastic business plan which had helped him win a couple of B-Plan competitions and some management gurus on his board of directors. This sounds disappointing. But what inspires me is what Nitin says – “"Spirit is the third start-up I created. If this fails too, I will have a better chance of succeeding the next time round, because, in the business world, there's always a next time…."

I hope I make it in the first time itself.

Escape the room games

2006-04-02T23:00:00.000-07:00

I found an interesting blog which has many "Escape the room" games.
Good time-passs.
Check out - http://escapetheroom.blogspot.com/

Questionnaire for Introductory Accounting

2006-03-30T08:25:00.000-08:00

When the schedule for pre-terms in ISB was announced, I had the question – Do I take the accounting pre-term?

The general trend for the “Introductory Accounting” pre-term in ISB is that all non CA’s or non-commerce grads need to attend this. ISB helps one decide whether he/she needs to attend the accounting pre-term by giving a “Questionnaire for Introductory Accounting”. But unfortunately test does no help for me. Though I never took any formal education for accounting, I know a bit of accounting because of my involvement in my father’s marble business. I wasn’t sure about the need of the accounting pre-term for me. I thought the test should help me decide. Here is the message I got after the test –

“You have a fair understanding of Accounting Concepts and do not necessarily have to do the pre-term course.
You have the option of deciding to enroll for the pre-term course.”

What does that mean? I have the option! I thought everyone has the option. In short the test did nothing for me to make a decision. I still have the question - Do I take the accounting pre-term?

BSchool Networking

2006-03-18T20:59:00.000-08:00

Everyone values network and BSchool grads value it more than everyone else. Opportunity to network is one of the important reasons for people to do an MBA. Guys go to a BSchool, network with diverse people, make wonderful friends. ISB class of 2007 admits are a step ahead. They are arranging meets in almost all the metros and knowing the faces they would be working with. A close friend – Siddhant Bhansali – has even organized a party at his home in Delhi.

So much happening but I am nowhere in the game. I cherish strong and close relationships instead of simply knowing hazzaar people. But is this excuse good enough for me not to initiate contact with ISB 07 admits? Certainly not. I am very busy meeting with my old friends, relatives, cousins. Maintaining relationship is definitely very important but should it stop me from attending any of the 07 admit meets? Nope.

I need to kick start. Meet some people. Talk to them. Make new friends. I am coming guys.

Government of India Public Grievance forum

2006-03-12T11:11:00.000-08:00

Government of India has a online Grievance forum at http://darpg-grievance.nic.in/ The government wants people to use this tool to highlight the problems they faced while dealing with Government officials or departments like Passport Office, Electricity board, BSNL/MTNL, Railways etc etc.

Looks like a good step for solving the problems faster - if it indeed works.

Stanford vs. ISB

2006-03-04T11:23:00.000-08:00

Does it sound like the most stupid title for a blog post? Or, does it sound like apple vs. orange or even a more stupid comparison?

Perhaps it is not all that stupid in the context I am talking about. A person is waitlisted in Stanford MBA program. For some stupid reason – he is fairly confident of converting the waitlist into admit. But he also has an admit from ISB. What does he do? He has done the comparison of Stanford with ISB for himself hazzar times. The most of the points of comparing the two are the same which everyone knows and are very general. A couple of points are specific to his position. But he is not able to reach a conclusion. Does it sound stupid again? It indeed is to most of the people. Also there is significant risk involved in rejecting ISB and waiting for Stanford. Will Dubya’s visit to ISB make him slightly more inclined to ISB?

Is the choice really difficult or is there no choice at all? Is the person stupid to do a stupid comparison with a lot of probability involved? Is the word “stupid” being used too many times? Has the whole post become stupid? Am I stupid? Am I that stupid?

Freedom of wireless internet

2006-02-28T03:58:00.000-08:00

I am right now in Hyderabad airport, waiting for S2-146 to Delhi. I got a tata indicom v data card to recently but never tried this. This post is dedicated to my first use of wireless internet (apart from my office's wireless network). This experience is great - because of the power it gives. Not that I am doing some damn serious or critical work. But it atleast gave me power to post a blog while at airport:-).
Btw an interesting thing that I observed today is huge crowd at the Hyd airport - not able to figure out the reason - but looks like some noon flights are delayed and this has made this already crowded hour worse.
Hey I need to move now - since there is an announcement for the boarding.
See ya.

V7ndotcom Elursrebmem

2006-02-24T11:07:00.000-08:00

Does the phrase "V7ndotcom Elursrebmem" make sense to you?
Google search engine shows 3,280,000 references for this phrase.
Does this make sense now? This is all because of a 4000$ SEO (Search Engine Optimization) competetion. Definitely a cool competetion!

Origami Project

2006-02-24T10:40:00.000-08:00

Check this - www.origamiproject.com.
What is this any guesses?

Search Censorship

2006-02-21T09:42:00.000-08:00

An interesting example of google search results censorship - Check image search results for tiananmen square by Google India - http://images.google.cn/images?hl=zh-CN&q=tiananmen%20square&btnG=Google+%E6%90%9C%E7%B4%A2&sa=N&tab=wi
and by Google China - http://images.google.co.in/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2006-03,GGLG:en&q=tiananmen%20square&sa=N&tab=wi

The idea of search censorship is not very new. Search for "jew" in google india and google canada. Google Canada would not show a link to http://www.jewwatch.com/ in their search results which will appear at number 2 or 3 in Google India. Btw another interesting thing is the very first sponsored link at the top of page when one search for "jew". The link points to - http://www.google.com/explanation.html.

The Moving Train

2006-02-18T09:57:00.000-08:00

Found this interesting link at a friend's yahoo messenger status.
http://www.webchutney.net/mmtdaku/index.html

An innovative stuff by webchutney and makemytrip.

Business Ideas

2006-02-11T23:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday night when I was talking to my friend Rajib Ranjan Borah (IIMC) , he reminded me about updating my blog.

Why the title "Business Ideas"?Because significant part of our talk (me and Rajib) was about business or being an enterprenuer.

I told him about my latest idea in the field of education in India. I am confident that I can make the project decently successful. But is only decent success enough? The point Rajib mentioned was - "Whatever you do - it has to be world class. If you start an institution - you need to make it world leader".

Is it realistic to start something with an almost impossible dream of making it world leader? Did Bill Gates start Microsoft with that dream or did Dhirubhai started Reliance with that dream? Was google started with that vision of being the number one in search for that matter? I do not think so. But then shouldn't one keep this aim of being world leader in the back of the mind?

Going back to the phrase "latest idea". I used the word latest because I have been thinking on average 4-5 business ideas a week from last 2 weeks. No, none of them is one of those great innovative ideas but then none of them is bad either. What does this signal? Am I jobless? No not really. It probably signals that I want to do something now - its high time. But what is that something? Still don't know. Like minded folks wanna join? Most welcome.

Last wednesday, I visited a small scale biscuit factory and after doing some calculations and some extrapolations - this idea also looked intersting. I spoke to my friend Sumervant Singh Sankohli who is handling a 100 crore project in ITC Food Business. He highlighted some of the negative aspects of the project. Most important being - low margins - opposite to what I thought. But then, I guess, he was comparing it with ITC's highly profitable cig biz. Anyways idea dropped :).

Then there has been a couple of more. One is something like opening a pub ( Sounds exiting right) which I discussed with Nitish Khadiya ( from Microsoft) , another friend of mine. Another is related with extension of my family business of marble.

Whatever!Just the ideas - the thoughts.Lots of thoughts and thoughts.. and just thoughts. Is it getting pointless or have the thoughts really become random?

Hello BlogWorld!

2006-02-06T04:55:00.000-08:00

#include
main()
{
printf ("Hello BlogWorld!\n");
}

Here is my second effort to say Hello to the Blog World. The last one was 8 months back which stopped after a couple of postings.
I hope to keep this blog alive and kicking with my disordered thoughts.