Log out: Calcutta

Today has been the last day of my current innings at my office. Union Budget on 28th Feb has a big impact on our business and hence expectedly, the day was hectic with what if scenarios and options getting built & analysed as the FM spoke in parliament. Amidst all the action, I was busy wrapping up appraisals, five in all including mine. Like all the time, there were of course the last minute surprises and I had to contend with them. So it was one helluva day !

As I drove back home from office, it dawned on me that from tomorrow onwards I am not going to follow the routine of office for an year. I am also reminded of the 17 hour battles I am going to fight each day in the coming months, thanks to my senior batch's feedback on life at IIMA. The transition from being a manager to a student has begun !

It's raining jobs at IIMA !

Trickles of placement information from IIMA about PGPX placements is catching every one's attention. I have received numerous calls since morning from friends and well wishers, either wanting to understand the full story behind placements and some inside information. This is after some media reports claiming a PGPX student getting a US$ 300K job offer. I wish I had the inside information.

PGPX follows rolling placements and hence it would be juvenile to expect full blooded stats on placements before the roll stops. I am not expecting answers to queries about placements that we have and slicing and dicing of information before we go to AHD. There is a view point within some of us in our class that IIMA should publish (once the placements are over) data on placements with median, jobs classified on Finance/Consult/Industry type, geo based classification etc just as foreign B schools (INSEAD / IMD / LBS) do. Because averages and highest salary figures do not tell the full story !

1.http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Now_IIM-A_grad_becomes_a_crorepati_/articleshow/1647387.cms

2.http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14393604

3.http://70.87.69.50/DNAMoney/artMailDisp.aspx?article=16_02_2007_001_012&typ=1&pub=704

4.http://70.87.69.50/DNAMoney/artMailDisp.aspx?article=21_02_2007_001_022&typ=1&pub=704

Bangkoked

The first experience I had at Bangkok city was mixed. While the pleasurable Thai massages soothed the nerves and muscle tissues, loosing my personal baggage was not funny! To cut the story short, my bag was stolen outside the airport by the cab driver. As I was getting down the cab, he sped away. I attempted a James Bond type chase but ended up like the protagonist in the recent Saffola Ad. The thief was too swift for my chase. Police complaints and FIR were formalities I had to undergo. Since the value of money & valuables lost is vulgar and not backed with adequate insurance, I am not putting the sum here. Not wanting to see the damn figure again. For some time now, you folks will also not see any new pics on this blog, as my nice 8 mega pix Sony was also stolen !

I went on with my trip to Manila on business, believing the show must go on. I have still not got over it actually from the shock of loosing data, pictures and money ! It was a confidence shatter er to say the least.

So, folks while on international travel,

1. Please be careful about your baggage
2. Note down the taxi numbers as you get into it, asking for the driver unique ID is not a bad idea in some countries
3. Save your passport on the net (I mean keep it scanned & stored). Had I lost my passport I would have been in deeper shit though !
4. Split your currency into different bags and pockets. Minimises the risk. Mine was kept all at one place
5. Keep tickets and sufficient money along with the passport, always with you ( meaning body hugging pouches/wallets etc)

The incident is a further drain on my already stretched resources. I need a break over this weekend to recoup.

Pack up !

Seven weeks to go before I join IIMA and I am lost in the myriad set of things to be tied up. Be finalising deals with movers and packers or negotiating with banks on housing / personal load moratoriums / finding alternatives etc. Add to this frequent business travel, makes things more complex, leaving hardly any time to attend to my chores. I will be back from Manila only by mid Feb and I am really scared looking at the things to do list. My peer group, the second PGPX class, on top of it is extremely active and energetic. Thanks to the senior class we had a decent measure of things to wrap up before reaching IIMA and there are systematic action plans cast to actualise the intent. Frankly, I am feeling the peer pressure already to contribute to the action, but not finding time to catch up.

One thing I got right was the one month break I planned before I join. Hopefully I leverage this time to tie all loose ends and to also catch up with prep materials. I really wish to make this time count.

Rhapsody 2007

Last week, we had a long weekend at hinterlands of Bihar in Munger , spending three days as part of sports and cultural meet. Well that's the official line. The real line is to have fun ! Well, it has been several years after Spring Spree at REC Warangal, that I had fun like this. Simply amazing. From sports such as Cricket, Football to fun games such as tug of war to ofcourse partying till 5 am in the morning. The result ofcourse was tired & fatigued bodies - took about a week to get back to normalcy.