I am a firm believer that nothing is impossible; it’s just a matter of setting priorities. That I am updating this blog after 4-5 months is sheer indication that I was overly lazy (lazy is my de facto state). In fact, it surprises me that a few months back when nothing interesting was happening in my life except time crunch and extreme frustration, I still managed to write a few lines every now and then. Whereas now when my life is taking new shapes and I have enough time, it’s sad that I am not penning down these interesting changes.

So to my future 80 year old self and a handful bored souls who may stumble across this blog, here are some memories to share.

First off, I got a job. OK, I remarked that in my last post also. But then it deserves a mention again because honestly that was a turning point in my life. It’s only been a few months since I landed a job but I am truly enjoying the team, the work and everything else. Texas seems to be a fun place to live in as well – lots of desis to hang around with (definitely more than what I had in RI). I also attended a couple of exciting Aligarh meet with a few more in pipeline to wrap this year up, including a Mushaira with renowned Nida Fazli marking the SS day. The AR Rahman Concert was also amazing, though on the flip side the dance performance by the troupe made me realize that we really didn’t deserve the applause we received for our 2-minute bollywood dance performance at MSB few months back. Bottomline: choreographed group dancing is not easy!

Last weekend was extra special. I went to Dallas to attend a friend’s wedding ceremony (my first in the US). Had loads of fun, recollected old memories and made new friends.

All in all, for the first time in my life I can positively say that I am here to stay; at least for a few years. For those who know me, this is a huge deal. I have never called any place ‘home’ since Aligarh. Now that’s about to change‼

If there is one thing I am struggling of late, it is keeping this blog up-to-date. It's not even writer's block (I never understood what it actually means) but sheer laziness despite the fact that my life has endured amazing ups and downs since my last post several aeons back. Although the laziness is still kicking in, I better write something today or else the month will be over and I will slack for another couple of weeks.

Certain things have happened in the last couple of months that I will always cherish and others that will remind me of the dire times of my life. The good thing is that those dreaded days of hopelessness are over. No, it’s not about coursework. On the contrary, I had only two simple courses this mod – Economics of Strategic Behavior by the very awesome professor Dong and the boring Leadership and Business Ethics II. No, I am talking about the horrifying job market of 2009-2010 (for some reason it aptly sounds like a movie title‼) Yes, the frustration, especially among the international students had hit the roof and there was no hope at all. Nada. In terms of Kübler-Ross model, our situation progressed from denial to anger to depression and lastly, to acceptance. To put things into perspective, at one point I even applied to a couple of analyst level positions paying much lower salary‼ Luckily for me, the pain stopped there. I got a job with a big oil company in my area of interest, thus becoming the first and only international student to get a job in the US at that time. Fortunately, the job market has improved at an unprecedented speed since then. If only the situation had improved a few months earlier, we could have enjoyed our MBA days even more. For me it meant taking other interesting courses and learning Spanish besides attending the numerous social and cultural events that take place in the university every so often. But this fact did not deter me from making the best use of the two weeks between my job acceptance and graduation: I did skydiving, motorbike trip from DC to RI/Boston, paintball, etc etc… I also attended the amazing speaker series of the university that included, inter-alia, Muhammad Yunus (Nobel laureate), APJ Abdul Kalam, Hank Paulson, and Richard Branson. Finally the day arrived, May 21st 2010, when I was officially conferred the MBA degree.

The days after MBA and before my move to Texas have slowed down a bit though, mostly because of relocation activities – the selling of stuff at craigslist, finalizing plans, completing paperwork for the job, etc. Lastly, to celebrate the employment of all the roommates and before we part our ways across different parts of the country, we threw a party last night that featured a good mix of Indian and American food. My personal achievement: I finally learned to make amazing chicken korma and tandoori chicken :)

The capstone Global Residency program came to an end last week. To make the best of the three week break (I am missing the first week of classes), I visited Beijing before the Shanghai residency, and my folks back home in India after that. Here are a few highlights that I noted during my stay in the middle kingdom.

• There is an amazing willingness among local folks to speak English. Since Chinese people are still very shy about speaking English in public, they seek every moment to practice with foreigners. To give some perspective, I was stopped by a woman at a giant metro station (people’s square) in Shanghai for a quick chat. Accompanied by her husband, she started some small talk but when I replied that I am in a hurry, she said in a very cute and innocent manner that she just wanted to practice her English! Similarly, another student started talking random stuff with me outside the Shanghai Museum. Later she acknowledged that she was simply practicing her English.
• Shanghai is a very modern and developed city comparable to the likes of Atlanta, SLC, or even NYC, with lots of skyscrapers and overpasses. Shanghai is divided into two parts by the Huangpu river (often shortened to Pu) – Pudong and Puxi (dong means east and xi means west; of the river ‘Pu’).
• Beijing is more traditional. It has more historical relevance and one can still spot hundreds of historical relics and structures around the city. It is relatively inexpensive compared to Shanghai (e.g. a subway from any station to any costs 2RMB vs 3 in Shanghai).
• Beijing also houses Forbidden City, Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, South of Tiananmen (old city), Temple of Heavens, etc. However, I did not like Temple of Heavens that much, and frankly, you will get bored with the same architecture after a while too. The Wall of Echo in the Temple of Heavens was a complete bummer. It was supposed to guide the echo around a curved wall to any other spot in the structure. Unfortunately, there was no trace of mine’s or anybody else’s echo (or for that matter even voice). As for Great Wall, an old saying says it all: you haven’t been to China if you haven’t been to Great Wall.
• Spitting is still common on Chinese streets.
• Despite great roads and well marked lanes, Chinese have yet to learn the proper way to drive. They still honk for no reason and patience seems to be the least of their concerns. Surprisingly, it still baffles me that I did not see any scratch in the cars or accident on the streets.
• Tipping is verboten in China. Everyone returns the exact change and does not expect you to leave any tip either. There is some solicitation at some places, but I realized that none of them were too pestering. Once you say no, you can get rid of them pretty easily. Although I have heard stories of people getting ripped off at some shady massage parlors, I did not have any such experience. At least not in China.
• Usually, you can bargain at some shops but not to the extent I was initially expecting. Neither do the shopkeepers (or their minions) come running after you even after you have left the shop offering your ‘last final price’. Even the Cheap Street (called Cheapu in Shanghai) or the HiTech electronic market was easy to shop. More importantly, it was fun negotiating with sign languages or by entering your wish price in the calculator. If the other party likes it then ok else he will either enter another number or simply turn the calculator off (signaling no further interest in bargaining with that price!)
• A couple of my friends even bought fabrics and got some suits tailored at ridiculously cheap prices.
• Peking Duck is one of the famous dishes of Beijing. It is supposedly cooked overnight that gives its almost butter-like melting taste while being crispy on the outside. Sea Cucumber is also huge but it was a little bland to my taste.
• Hunan dish is another famous Chinese cuisine. It comes from the Hunan province in China. One word to describe this cuisine would be spicy. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that its dishes contain 50% chili/peppers.
• You need addresses written in Chinese no matter where you are going. Do not try to remember the names of the places because trust me, it is not easy to master the pronunciation that they can understand. Since Chinese people “chinesize” all English words, it is futile saying the name of a famous hotels either (e.g. mei jiu dian for Meridien hotel)
• You can exchange US dollars at amazingly good rates at any bank. The banks don’t charge any commission fee either unlike the folks at the airport who can charge upto 50 RMB per transaction.
• One particular thing that struck me is that when it rains (and it rained almost half the time I was there), umbrella vendors could be spotted at each and every subway entrance and exits, street corners, and everywhere else. They sold umbrellas at a fixed price of 10RMB. However, one of my classmates managed to buy one for 5 RMB too!
• For the upcoming Expo 2010, Shanghai is being prepared the way Beijing was prepared for the Olympics. We met with the president of the Expo organizing committee in Shanghai and were marveled by all the detailed preparation that is going on to make it the most lavish of all expos. Almost all the nations in the world will take part in this expo and ca 70 million visitors are expected for the fair opening in May 2010. We were told that they relocated a huge number of people and industry at the heart of Shanghai to make way for this mega event. In a city where any empty space is a luxury, let alone a green area, this expo has lots of greenery that will remain there even after the end of expo. Visit http://en.expo2010.cn/sr/video/index.htm for more info.
• We also went to the new Shanghai port. Although a little disappointing because of the initial low traffic right now, the highlight of the port is the 32 km (20 mi) long bridge that connects mainland to the port. This was second longest bridge until another one was built very close to Shanghai only. The reason for this bridge is that the water is quite shallow near the mainland (only 7m). So to reach a depth of 13 m they had to build a port 32 away.
• The Bund is the western bank of the Huangpu River and is the most recognized areas in many of the Shanghai photographs. Surprisingly, the word Bund is derived from the Urdu word band, which means embankment, levee or dam. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bund

I leave this post with an incident that brings smile and surprise to me every time I read it. Picture yourself standing in the middle of a big metropolitan city. You are told that there is a performance starting in 30 minutes somewhere within a 2 mile radius. Oh, and yes, you do not speak the local language and have no idea where it could be happening. The chances of you making it to the performance is zilch, right? Well, it worked out well for me in Shanghai when I was separated from my group in the subway station. With no clue, I took a random train and got off after two stops (I knew it was not far away from where I was). Since I had given almost all hopes of making it to the performance (a Chinese acrobatic troupe), I started taking random pictures and walked in a direction that I assumed would lead me back to our hotel. After about 20 minutes I spotted a building that got my attention for no particular reason. I took a couple of steps and noticed that a lady was beckoning at me. When I approached her she asked if I were Mark. I shook my head but instead of returning, I asked her if she represented Georgetown (again for no particular reason). To my utter shock, she nodded YES. Soon I was the last one to be escorted by her to the brilliant performance by Chinese acrobats.

PS: since Chinglish is so popular, here a brief look at some of the funny ones I captured

I am furious... No, I am not talking about Superbowl or even Sarah Palin writing cues on her palm. I am talking about the ridiculous amount of snow that is covering DC like a shroud. Whereas Boston and NY are dry, DC is breaking records.

Usually, I am not the kind of guy who makes a fuss about snow and weather in general. But the recent events are indeed unique. It started off when Friday classes were called off. It made sense, and so did the cancellation of our international day, which was supposed to feature me in the Bollywood dance, and a few other key events scheduled for the weekend. But calling off classes on Monday... and then Tuesday!! That is f'ing retarded (Source: Rahm Emanuel) because it was warm and cozy the last two days. Sure, the sidewalks were all snowy and dangerous, but seriously, is that the best excuse you can come up with? With that mentality and given the snow preparedness of DC, I doubt we can open the university even after a week. Don't believe me. Well, let's see. For the moment, the school has been closed for tomorrow also. In GU's defense, it is expected to snow 10-20 inches again tonight. If the classes remained canceled Thursday, it will mark a one week closure because of snow. Not that I hate the makeup classes on weekends, it's just that I do not want to have my maiden visit to China disrupted. Oh, yes! the awesome trip to Beijing and Shanghai is only a few weeks away. Adios amigos.

PS: to put things into perspective, here's a youtube sample

The phone call took me off guard. I juggled my expression from delight to disbelief and apprehension to understanding as the lady explained to me in detail what just happened. Apparently, someone tried to use my credit card data to book a flight in one of the Scandinavian airlines, but the super, ever-vigilant MasterCard preemptively blocked the transaction after noticing the unusual activity. Time to rejoice, right? Well, no. Call me a diehard cynic or a crazy skeptic but I have reasons to suspect that this foul play was MasterCard’s brainchild itself.

First, at the very least, I am a sensible and disciplined credit card user who has never used the card at any unsecure point of purchase (PoP). Given the fact that I have traveled a lot recently in Europe and paid for my trips using the same credit card, it is surprising that the Mastercard sensed this “fraud” that was similar to my past purchasing patterns. After all, doesn’t a credit card transaction mean just using the card details? Or do they somehow sense who exactly is using the card too? If that were the case, they should have caught my brother first who also uses my card occasionally. And finally, even if I agree that someone hacked my credit card details and that MasterCard somehow figured out the abnormal purchasing pattern, why would the hackers, who are usually a bunch of smart geeks, use it at the stupidest place where they are most likely to get caught? I mean transaction is not everything; you need to get some benefit out of it also, right? It is easier to get some material benefit out of a grocery store than getting on and off of a flight that was booked using a stolen credit card. And yes, mine is a low limit card too. Didn’t the hackers figure that out and instead tried someone else’s before mine? Chances are I will notice a few grand missing from my statement before Paris Hilton would.

Bottom line, I suspect anything happened other than MasterCard trying to create a halo image for itself OR there was a glitch in the system or something. I remain suspicious.

I have always loathed, despised, and swore at the very thought of this post-9/11 born federal agency called TSA. Yet after some eight years, I am seeing a volte-face - in TSA's behaviour and their efficiency in handling passengers/their belongings.

Case in point, my recent trip to New Orleans. No, those days with regular vacation are over for me. This trip concerned a career fair (though fun at Bourbon street was a no brainer!!). Anyhow, from greeting and thanking everyone at every instance, the TSA personnel were extremely courteous. When my friend incidentally forgot to collect his laptop after the security checkpoint, the TSA kept it in a safe and handed him graciously with a nice smile when he returned to collect it. They also seemed to crack jokes with the passengers and indulged in a few small talks, which, imho, didn't seem affected in any way. Wonder if this metamorphosis is here to remain or will it worsen come any new "security threat"!

Apropos New Orleans, the best part of my trip was, inter-alia, the sampling of traditional New Orleans cuisine - Jambalaya, rice and beans, and xxx (something I don't remember anymore). But the feather in the cap were the Alligator nuggets I had for appetizer (though, in retrospect, I regret eating it)...

Summary:

Obviously a lot has happened in the last one month. First off, my friend Anas paid me a visit and we had a nice time together in Bonn and Cologne. I also visited Paris for two days. I have also moved to a new hotel where everyone else is in: G-Hotel. Since Germans pronounce ‘G’ as ‘Gay’, the name itself has become a subject of laughter. Last but certainly not the least, last week was phenomenal. Here the details.

Paris:

The two day trip to Paris was action packed and quite memorable. It started with the onward journey. To save some bucks I planned the trip with a Depeche Mode bus concert. The bus was supposed to leave from Cologne at 8:00 am Saturday. I took the tram from Bonn to reach Cologne at 7:45. As luck would have it, of all days, the ever punctual German trains got delayed because of a defective train ahead on the tracks. I had to jump off at one of the stations, run toward another, and finally hop on another train. Finally I made it to the rendezvous at 8:05 just before we left.

The journey was quite relaxed though… well too relaxed for my taste. It took 6 hours to reach Paris – an hour too late. We decided to leave an hour earlier the next day because a couple of us had to catch the last train from Cologne to Bonn at 00:15 hours. I bade goodbye to the concert fans and headed towards the metro station and bought a carnet (a set of ten metro tickets that cost €11.40 instead of €1.60*10 – quite a bargain, that is). I should stop at this point and say that Metro is THE best way to go about in Paris. The tickets are generally valid in zones 1-3, which basically covers all the tourist spots of Paris. Plus you can travel in almost all the trains – RER or Metro. The transfers, etc are well marked and unless you are an idiot you will find your way to the appropriate platform with ease. Interestingly, at most stations there are separate platforms for each train going in any direction.

Eiffel and Louvre being on the top of my list, I immediately went to Louvre. But realizing that they close it at 1730 or 1800, I decided to hit it next morning and spend some quality time there. After taking some snaps of the pyramid I went to see the Eiffel Tower. I debated for a while whether to climb the tower then or after sunset. After some deliberation I finally purchased the ticket up to the 2nd level (stairs cost €3.50 for students; I got one without even showing my student id. Apropos, no id-check I got a student’s account opened with Deutsche Bank without showing any proof of my student status.) Anyway, the line for the third level elevator car was huge. I let go of my urge to go to the third level and came down instead.

On the way to Notre Dame I stopped at a couple of places and savored the local cuisine and exquisite French café. Interestingly Paris has something to offer at every corner. At around 2330 I again went to Eiffel to take a glimpse of its night-life before checking in at the hostel. But thanks to the ridiculous French system of putting the street names at weirdest places, it took me a while to find my hostel. Since this was supposed to be my first hostel experience, I was a bit nervous. But then it was just one night. I wanted to sleep immediately but remembered to charge the dead digicam battery. Unfortunately the French have a silly plug with a pointing ground pin in the middle that doesn’t let my adapter fit the bill. Moreover, since the French are worse than Germans as far as understanding of English is concerned (but still better than Italians,) I didn’t bother to ask around for an adapter even though the battery was completely out of juice. Instead I took one of the six beds in that room and slept like a log for the next 7 hours. Except for a few faint noises from guests – usually backpackers and students – coming and leaving, the night was peaceful. In the morning I met an American student in the room who offered me his adapter, and with that, life to my camera. Later, after having a typical French breakfast with baguette etc, I went straight to the largest museum of the world – Louvre.

After a solid three hour of brisk walking across one room to another inside Louvre, I had checked out almost everything worth seeing (although the tiny Monalisa was quite a disappointment amidst huge lively paintings and statues). With long walks a day earlier and a lot more to go, I realized that my dogs were barking. I took some rest at Notre Dame – only a couple of blocks from Louvre before my next destination - La Defense, a classy and interesting assortment of modern architecture. An hour later I left Defense for Arc de Triumphe, George V, and a few other buildings and stuff like that. With two more tickets from the carnet left, I went to Sacre-Coeur in Montmarte, Paris’s kinda downtown looking area with lots of café and shops at the foothill and uphill alike. After having a filling late lunch there I left for the Stade de Paris to catch our bus back to Cologne.

We were already twenty minutes late from our scheduled departure. Since one of the guests was still missing, I took the opportunity to strike a nice conversation with the bus driver. I told him that a few of us have to catch the last train at 00:15, otherwise we would have to spend 5 hours at the station. He acknowledged my concerns by telling how mad he was when he had to spend a couple of nights at railway station just because he had missed the last train. Having made sure that the driver understood our situation, I relaxed once the bus started to roll some 5 minutes later. The driver said that catching the last train might be a close call but I was surprised to see that he didn’t make any effort to make that happen. I mean speed limit was 100 but even if he had set the cruise to 102 instead of 98, we could have gained a few precious moments! I took solace in the fact that perhaps he will cut short his planned 45 minute break by a few minutes. It turns out he didn’t care. He took an exact 48 minute break. Seeing no amount of remorse or effort on the driver’s face, I wondered if the German way of going exactly by the books is really all that helpful. Won’t a little bit of flexibility added to their perfectionist and disciplined stance only add value and make everyone’s life more easy and…well humane? Almost shouting at the driver for keeping a pessimist attitude of not making it on time I asked him to take the exit toward the station even though the clock had just ticked 00:15. Now I could see the train almost leaving the station. Quite sure of not making it to that station, I asked the driver to take a right turn toward the next station. Luckily the lights were all green and we reached the second station just moments before the train arrived. I thought of showing the finger at the driver but the action packed thrill of making it to the train and the exciting Paris experience made me forget all his stupidity and coldness.


The Awesomest Trip:

There are a few things I reeeallly like about Germany –Broetchen, ice cream, chocolates, etc. But one thing that I really adore is the Autobahn. This was the only reason I planned what I call THE TRIP: Bonn→ Ulm → Konstanz → Schaffhausen → Zurich → Schaan, Liechtenstein → Vadus, Liechtenstein → Innsbruck → Oberperfuss, Austria → Neuschwanstein → Munich → Ulm → Bonn. An 1850 Km adventure spanning four countries and 12 cities. A few key facts:

* Bonn is the old capital of Germany. There are still few embassies, mostly of poor African countries to be seen. The headquarters of DHL is here. Deutsche Telecom, T-Mobile, DeutscheWelle, UN are a few other key employers.
* Ulm has the tallest cathedral in the world. Also happens to be the place where one of my best friends lives.
* Schaffhausen is famous for Rheinfalls: the largest waterfall in Europe.
* Zurich is crap…. nothing to see but a dull lake. The rest of Switzerland is paradise. The Alps is the feather in the cap.
* I was nervous about Liechtenstein, one of the smallest countries of the world. I was told that the schengen has not been fully implemented yet. Turns out the border with Switzerland couldn’t be more open. Though it’s easy to miss this small country. Just as Swiss write CH to their country, so does Liechtenstein write FL in front of their cities to identify themselves.
* Schaan is the largest city of Liechtenstein; Vadus is its capital.
* Zugspitze, the highest peak in Germany is visible from Oberperfuss in Austria; the place we spent a night.
* Neuschwanstein castle is the most photographed place in Germany.
* Munich is awesome!
* The route we took is here: http://tr.im/sf6K
* Check out my facebook or orkut profile for photos.


Miscellaneous:

A few words about my internship and further plans before I put down. The first part of my internship is almost over. Hopefully I will get my ideas implemented before I leave, which btw is a great feat in such a highly complex organization that is also quite bureaucratic. The second part of the project has just started and I am still figuring out the best way to deal with the problem.

My American friends threw the July 04th party, the day there was a concert going on in Bonn. It was a nightmare seeing German teenagers already getting wasted by 3-4 pm. They had created a mess in the train and empty/broken bottles were to be seen on the sidewalk and streets (photo). Bonn, already a dirty city compared to the rest of Germany, was a complete mess. The ruckus left the trams running late and at times even cancelled. I had to walk a couple of miles to get the train and scramble myself into a packed train that can be challenged only by Mumbai local trains. Anyway, we had a very memorable party that whole day. The weather played along too and everyone had fun until we started to return at midnight. While over a bridge that saw a packed crowd of wasted teenagers coming from the concert, one huge guy came towards me and suddenly blew a kick at my chest and face. I barely managed to avoid the complete impact that left me with a slight bruise on the forehead and my glasses on the autobahn alongside. It took me a while to understand the whole situation. The guy was not drunk for his blow was definitely not inebriated. I reckon drugs or simply a racial act. Anyway, the guy got lost in the crowd before I could even react while someone jumped over the autobahn and fetched my glasses. It was quite a bizarre experience.

That’s it for today. In the coming weeks I plan to go to Luxembourg and Brussels. Quite excited about all the fun that is in stores before we leave Deutschland!

PS:
(1) The French are not as fastidious as Germans as far as recycling and environment is concerned. Saw plastic bags used casually in supermarket and don’t think that they use Pfand (deposit) on beverage bottles either (in Germany you will hardly find any bottle less than 2 litres not having Pfand amounting to as much as 25¢, including coke cans and other such bottles).

(3) Saw this Hunde Bier (Dog beer) at July 04th party :)

(2) The Cologne-Bonn subway system (KVB and VRS) is badly planned. Undoubtedly they run on time, etc but their fare system and the way it is organized is horrible. Hardly anybody knows what a Kurzstrecke is, when and where a zone ends, which ticket to take, how to validate, and so on. Since there is hardly any control, there aren’t many people who buy tickets either (most have so called job tickets that are ridiculously cheap).

Prelude:
Visa: As told before, I had completed and sent all the necessary paperwork for internship with DHL way back early in April. Since then I waited for a month to receive the work permit/authorization from DAAD. Upon receiving, I immediately tried to make an online appointment with the Germany Embassy, which thankfully is a walking distance from my home. But surprisingly, in this land of technology online appointment is unheard of in the German Embassy. Bad enough, one MUST call a number and pay $2.49/min to make an appointment. Worse still, you may end up waiting endlessly for the agent to be free and serve you. And yes, no word on how long it may take while they suck the money out of your card! In all, I paid like $36 to get two appointments. Absolutely ridiculous! Though the visa itself was easy to get except that I had no medical insurance for the last 15 days of my visit. The consulate promised to process the visa while I got the insurance.

Ticket: That the air prices fluctuate is no wonder; a one-way ticket being more expensive than a return ticket is surprising; but the prices range from $500-$3000 for similar flights is simply stupefying. Just for the stupid reason that I can’t take a one-stop cheap flight via Toronto without a transit visa to Canada, I was left with booking a flight that cost $1844. Fortunately, DHL is paying for the flight.

The Journey:
I must admit I have experienced a lot more Germany this time around than ever before. The reason is that during all my previous trips I lived in the same hotel, had a car on weekends, and pretty much most of the things were taken care of. In contrast, this time I am in a different city – Bonn – and have to take care of myself in every way. Certainly getting used to public transportation was one thing but there were a few other stuff that were different. It started with Lufthansa-Deutsche Bahn partnership. After an awesome business class travel from DC to Frankfurt (Lufthansa upgraded me for free once again!), I was in for a surprise. My boarding card for the “flight” from Frankfurt to Cologne/Bonn, LH-XXXX, turned out to be for a train journey where I had to transfer and carry the luggage myself. Not that big a deal, especially after Lufthansa greeted all international arrivals at their new Welcome Lounge with shower, breakfast, etc. Anyway, the frustration started at Cologne station. With only a couple of Euros with me I looked for banks to exchange the dollars. Apparently, only Reise Bank exchange currencies but at exorbitant rates (and charges: €2 + 2% up to €10). Then the fun started. I had to schlep my baggage all across the station to different platforms in search of a train #16 that goes to my destination. Finally someone told me that the train I am looking for is a subway-train and is stationed at the other side of the station. Ironically, just before I boarded the subway I saw the majestic Koelner Dom standing right outside the window bringing back the wonderful old memories from my trip of 2002. Too bad I had to leave.

The Internship to date:
I started the internship – at least officially – on May25, 2009. Project seems to be going smooth and easy. My manager is not very demanding and gives me enough space for myself – just like I had wished. There was already a laptop ready for me. Turns out it was IBM T41 – predecessor to the today’s much popular T61. Regrettably I didn’t like it a bit. The worst being the absence of windows and right-click buttons. Even the placement of home/end/pgup/pg dn/delete is absolutely non-ergonomic. Ideally, delete should be placed near to arrow buttons and home/end buttons. For certain reason there are forward/back buttons that no one needs. Not to mention, I never understood the need of track pad AND point mouse in one. Anyway, I am not complaining for the three months that I am here. Apparently IT, together with many other integration issues among Detutsche Post, DHL and Exel, is still in its infancy in this organization. Perhaps that’s the reason even DHL employees have to pay the same market rate for couriering official documents anywhere! Although, I believe the CEO (Frank Appel) is doing a great job.

In and around Bonn:
Even before we started our internship, DHL had warned us that we need to register ourselves at Bundesamt (federal office). Since I never did that in any of my previous stints, I took it easy and only after a week did I complete the one-minute registration process. Apparently, one must do that every time the residence location has been changed. In any case, the good thing is that they gave me a booklet full of coupons to different museums and other niceties. Last to last weekend against the drizzling rain, I went to the Beethoven Haus – the birthplace of the legend. It was a nice tour, except that most of the descriptions etc was in German. The last part of the trip was a 3-D video rendition. What’s interesting is that you could actually move the mosaics floating and dancing to the tune of the Beethoven’s composition using joysticks – an awesome experience. Apropos 3-D, heard that UP is awesome in 3-D. I can’t wait to see that… am in no mood to watch that in German, though.

Coming back to the story, subsequent to B-haus I visited City Museum, Egyptian Museum, and Arithmeum. Unfortunately, all except Arithmeum were predominantly for German speaking people. Arithmeum was awesome. It depicted the evolution of numerical computation since the pre-historic ages. Old mechanical calculators based on cams and mechanical levers were simply worthwhile. Even better, people were allowed to try their hands on them. There were also some displays related to microprocessor and its evolution.

Last week we had a small nice party at the other hotel where most of the MBA interns are living. It was nice to meet them. I was glad though that I am in a better hotel sans Internet. I mean, even the other hotel had no Internet, as is usual in Germany even in this age, but they provided a few netbooks with internet connection upon zillion complains. Not sure who came up with this brilliant idea to provide a couple of netbooks for us to surf the internet instead of just installing a cheap wireless router!

Currency Exchange:
Frankly I had not exchanged any currency in Europe (except for unusually tiny amounts). I had assumed that Europe being a melting pot of so many tourists must have had fair exchange rates. Since DHL will be paying directly in dollars, I brought dollars with me to exchange it here. After the initial shock in Cologne, I thought it might be different in Bonn. But I was wrong. Apparently I have to have an account with most of the banks if I want to exchange currency. Where would you suggest I go? Reise Bank at the central station was the unequivocal answer. But my ever-critical mind told me that there must be a way. And so I found a lead at Sparkasse Bonn, a bank that had absolutely fabulous base fee and exchange rate – e.g. 1.4 as against 1.55 at Reise Bank. Alas, they don’t take $100 bills unless you have an account with them. I enquired to open a Giro account but left the thought when they needed residence proof and €3.5/month fee for the cheapest account. Just as I was about to give up, I saw a sign – Deutsche Bank. Well, that looks familiar! And voila, they have good exchange rate, accept $100 bills and even low base fee. Can’t believe no one of over 20 people that I asked would refer me to Deutsche Bank instead of other Sharks.

Finally, I am half-way through with MBA. This means I have time for activities I had been procrastinating for so long – nap, glancing thorough the last week’s journal, three business weeks, purging e-mails, designing finance club website from scratch, salvaging data from my defunct external HD, hitting gym/swimming pool, playing ping pong…

Not to say, I was neck-deep into salvaging the data from my hard disk, which had succumbed to my exploits some two years back. Windows, Dos, and Mac had already thrown in the towel. This left me eyeing on Linux. I found Knoppix that neatly installs and boots from USB. Once into Linux, it was a piece of cake to not only read, but also transfer data at a blazing speed to the other HD (had a little trouble writing to the other HD since Linux, by default, mounts FAT HD as readable only; on the same note, it is dangerous to write to NTFS through Linux). I am in love with Linux. If only there were no compatibility issues (I couldn’t get a driver for wireless card). Finally, I also managed to format the HD from scratch and voila – even the windows can read/write to the HD without any problem!

Redesigning the website took some time and I am still on it. Although programmers have made tremendous progress in developing tools that make web designing swifter and extremely flexible, it amazes me how little has been done to create a good editor. We are using Drupal platform, but the editors available are as awful as the ones I used to design my personal page some four years back. Anyway, here is the link.

It is worth mentioning that Georgetown University’s MBA is completely rebranding itself in the next session with new logo, new wordmark, absolutely fantastic new building, and new faculty. I am excited to be a part of this transition.


PS: Indian celebrities inadvertently shooting the bird at journalists trying to prove that they did cast their vote. Hilarious!

Got the happy news the other day from DHL; I will be interning with them in Bonn, Germany. Surprisingly, I didn't even apply to this position. I had applied to one of their projects in Bahrain, which apparently got canceled. Instead they offered me this position in Germany. Although I would have loved to go to Bahrain, the prospect of working on an interesting project at DHL's headquarters was simply irresistable. Plus, it has been almost three years since I have been to Germany and almost a year since I have spoken any German. Can't wait to be there and even get in touch with my old colleagues and friends. Also looking forward to some interesting roadtrips on weekends. Ironically, when I had job, money, and paid opportunities to travel, I wasn't so enthused to satisfy my wanderlust. Hopefully, things will be more memorable and exciting this time around.

On a side note, US news undid the horrible mistake that BW had committed last year. US news ranked Georgetown's MBA 19th, up from 22nd last year.

We are quite excited to be in the new building next mod.
here a glimpse:

More pics here: http://technology.msb.edu/album/new%20building/March%202009/

PS: the fourth mod has been quite interesting. My fav being Macroeconomics: an awesome and extremely interesting subject. Also had great corp fin reporting and Ethics/Leadership professors.

Wow! It has been almost two months since I last posted something. Seems I am having a hard time maintaining a blog-a-month status. This economy has really taken a toll in all aspects of my life. I was busy with exams, but more so with the internship search. Boy! I completed my undergrad in 2002 (just after dot-com bubble) but luckily that wasn’t as bad as it is right now. Not a single day passes by without charts/graphs pointing south in WSJ. Guess the economists have even stopped looking at the data before plotting the chart… the only question they discuss is perhaps how much slope should the graph have.

Anyway, the worst blow came about when I heard that the company of my choice finally decided to forgo the internship this year after me having in their final round. Ironically, the fact that the situation is grim all across the board somehow makes me forget the pain. I guess, like most of my colleagues I am getting used to accepting the situation.

By the way, I got some good grades (As) in the last mod. So much so that I scored the highest of all the students in one of the courses! If only grades mattered in b-school to get a job :(

Certainly not the chilliest moments of my life... nonetheless, worth mentioning... was worse this morning...

The second mod (or one sem) is finally over. The holiday season meant two-week break before the third mod starts. Naturally, for a movie buff like me it was a bliss.

Slumdog millionaire: Awesome movie. Some flaws, but all in all a very decent film to watch.
Rab ne bana di Jodi: DON'T DARE TO WATCH IT. One of the worst movies of SRK. I am not a critique of acting et al, but he seemed so bad....
A Wednesday: Awesome. Quite a break from the run-of-the-mill films we were forced for a little while
Ghajini: Bogus. Even if you do come under peer pressure to watch this crap, close your eyes and ear for the first half hour and eventually the last fifteen minutes as well. You will cry in disbelief.
House: Technically not a movie, but I managed to watch the entire five seasons of this 'series of the century'.
Dark Knight (repeat): Awesome. Got to know that it was Heath Ledger's last movie. He died at the age of 28. Scary.
Quantum of Solace (repeat): can live without this one.
Madagascar2 (repeat): Awesome

btw, happy new year.... don't know why everyone is excited when they know the economy and job prospect will most probably be worse than it was last year!

To all who died in the Mumbai blasts. I am filled with rage; not only against those bloody perpetrators, but also our third class political and defense system that despite having prior info didn't bother to move their asses and save lives.

1. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6368013&page=1

2.

We are already mid way through Mod2 (each semester is divided into two mods; a sort of norm these days in all the B-schools). Some mid-terms are already over, some had only cases due and for some we are waiting for the final exams.

The courses this mod are:
1. Financial Markets: all about time-value, risk and return, CAPM, WACC... those sorts of stuff... also called Finc-I
2. Managerial Accounting: basically covering all the flaws presented by financial accounting. In essence, thinking beyond just the financial numbers.
3. Marketing: OK, but more excited to attend Prof. Homa's classes in Mod4
4. Strategy: subtle but interesting concepts... models that make analysis easier...
5. Management Communication: we are schlepping it from last mod. quite a BS - more so because I am already aware of most of the rules of effective communication/writing...

I realized that I haven't posted anything for almost a month. So here are some of my thoughts.
Undoubtedly, we are all suffering from this financial crisis. In a way it shouldn't have surprised me. S&L crisis broke when I was born, dot com bubble burst when I completed my undergrad, and now once again when I am unemployed, the job prospects can't be any worse. Add to that the coveted BW got crazier and placed some of the most unknown universities above Georgetown. Can't believe we slid into second tier. But as they say, be wary of statistics. There is always some scope of picking selective data and skewing the results.

By the way, I got to represent Georgetown in the 13th international case competition, Tepper school of Business, PA last month. It was a good break from studies and a great experience. We couldn't make it to the finals but solaced ourselves with the fact that we were beaten by the champions ;)
That's it for today. Have a nice thanksgiving weekend ahead.

I am in NY, attending Wall Street Week. I know wall street hardly exists anymore but still wanted to see the collapse before it turns into oblivion. Last two days have been both exciting and frustrating. Meeting people and going into buildings that you will otherwise never get a chance to go in was exciting, whereas learning about the crisis and increased competition in financial sector was depressing. Therefore, for now I am shifting my focus off of finance to operations - something I can relate to better with my background.

Aligarian spirit: I had mentioned it zillion times but here is another proof of why I speak glowingly about AMU. A week ago after I realized that I had no place to stay in NY, I scrambled for options. Since hotel was too dear to me, I mailed one of my old alig acquaintances in NY through a common friend of ours and guess what... he not only offered me to stay at his place, he has been an amazing host... I mean you talk about NYers being rude, while he is one of the nicest and caring persons I have ever known. I thought people may be taking undue advantage of his nicety. But then I realized that he is quite successful in corporate America too! I guess it's his good deeds (... and Aligarian spirit) that is being rewarded.

had an awesome b'day party... and this time I made really AWESOME steaks..... boy! was that delicious.... damn, we had to cut it short coz we have financial accounting and stats to cover.....

Yesterday I got a chance to attend a short ppt + q/a session from four of our (Georgetown) professors. And boy, were they impressive. I thought I have become smart after duly flipping the wsj every morning, but gosh! they had some insights. I think they just proved my point - once again - that there is always a better and easy way to explain stuff. I would have loved to share the slides with the world but since it is copyright protected.... you see, Georgetown takes integrity and ethics very seriously.

excited for consulting + net impact day tomorrow.

no points for guessing... we are facing recession (whatever the hell wall st and main st might be saying). This means job prospect, esp. for finance sector is bleak. This means people who were kinda thinking of finance will stick to their alternate sectors thereby increasing competition elsewhere ;( ... To give a hint I attended the NBMBA conference in DC last week. As one colleague commented it was a swarm of black suited MBAs. Since this was practically my first visit to a career fair (and a first real attempt at job hunting), I was overwhelmed. For at least one hour I wondered if I am ready for my target companies (which, btw, still remains undecided) and start reciting my stupid pitch all the while the employers gave silly grin. But after a while and tons of motivation from my classmates and career management alike, I approached some of the companies. It felt stupid to go there and basically tell what everyone else was also saying. But I somehow managed to do that. Unfortunately, after a while I realized that I had no more resumes left with me (I had brought only 7-8) and so thought of calling the day... but before that I thought of having some fun. I chatted with several companies who I hardly knew and students from other schools and know their experience. It turns out that at some of the hot companies even second years are applying for summer internship. This was enough for me to stick with my background in operations.

All in all, I understood what career fair is all about. I also learned to have more than 20-30 resumes during fair. But most importantly, my fear of delivering pitch has faded.

To sum up, I had few grudges:
1. For a career switcher, it was a challenge trying to explain how your past experience fits their needs, when in fact there are a bunch of people with suitable skills... yes, I know the crap that you have to differentiate etc but the point is it is extremely difficult to explain that in two minutes... For me it was more about knowing their requirement and making connection (which I hardly did).
2. Some employers were really uninformed. Some of them were not sure if they hired international students or not and half were plain dumb in explaining what they were there for.
3. It feels embarrassing when they are not interested in you and they take your resume and toss it to trash once you are gone. For a stupid guy like me who had only few resumes in hand, it hurts!

BTW, did I tell you that you had several goodies to collect once you are finished with your career quest? My personal favorite - $10 debit card from Citi.

Q: How bad can first mod at Georgetown get?
A: Depends (fav. answer for an MBA)... but really it's when you think that your time will be wasted if you take a piss.

Ok.. I have decided to shift this blog's theme from 'anything under the sun' to 'my days at Georgetown'. For the start, I will try to pen down my day-to-day (or at least weekly) happenings.

Anyway, coming to the point, here is what has happened since beginning July(from what I remember):
- Even long before official admission we were supposed to complete MBAmath.com assignments. It was cool and gave a glimpse of what was to be expected out of the coursework. Spent all in all almost 20 hours on this.
- Arrived Phily on Aug04; went to Edison, NJ for two days. For those who don't know anything about Indian community in the US, this place is like mini Gujrat.
- Came to DC, started furnishing the apartment etc.. of course, life was never more miserable than setting up a new home without a car or a cell phone (and worse of all, no income)....
- Completed opening orientation and mandatory residency BEFORE the official start of the class - Aug25. Was fun and TOO MUCH learning.
- Understood the ONLY reason to come to an MBA school - to get a job, rest is BS.
- Understood that getting a job in the US is a pain in the butt. You gotta make connections / networking / pitching / informationals .... gosh, I had never used these types of words in my previous life....
- Aug25: beginning of the classes - 9 classes; Mon-Thur of 1.5 hrs each... sounds easy, right. NO. Absolute NO.
Core classes are: Microeconomics (E-con), Statistics (Stats), Organizational Behavior (OB), Management communication, Financial Accounting.
- Today was yet another torturous day... had speaker panel from several big companies plus interaction with 2nd years who just completed their internship from these companies. wonder how they get it in the first place.... the worst part is that you have to be in business formal to attend these....

Ciao for now.

Ok... a lot has happened in the last few days (will ruminate and write about the whole process later in detail)... for the time being it suffice to say that I left my job, went to meet my parents and most of my relatives (was an awesome feeling), and am back to join the MBA program of Georgetown university... very excited!!!

Here is a post that will be best appreciated by Hindi speaking folks. Here goes the story:
I had an interview scheduled for the McCombs MBA program in Austin, Texas. The day before my interview/class visit, I was flipping through their brochure when I came across this photograph of a professor.

Noticing the two protruding molar teeth in the photograph, my friend exclaimed 'Dracula!'

We laughed while I continued flipping the pages. A moment later I found this photograph of a student named 'Bhoot Singh' ('Bhoot' means 'Ghost' in Hindi). I showed it to my friend and we laughed our hearts out.

Now comes the best part: the tryst of the apparitions - Dracula and Bhoot!
On the day of my interview cum class visit, I was amazed to find that I had been escorted to the class of Mr. Mahajan itself. But before I could take my seat, I couldn't believe my luck when I saw Mr. Singh sitting right next to me! I couldn't help but stifle my laugh all through the class.

It was quite a funny day. But jokes apart, Mr. Mahajan was quite a professor. Mr. Singh, on the other hand, had a M.S.Dhoni look from the side (with a cap, that is).

PS: M.S. Dhoni was my batchmate during school days. People say we even might have played cricket together (I don't remember a thing). Alas, he is still playing cricket, while I grew up!
PPS: Mr Mahajan/Mr Singh, if you ever see this blog please take it in a buoyant mood. It was just another funny moment in my life and you happened to be the source.

Still a bad IQ. Gotta try harder. Try traveler IQ.

This blog is dedicated to my mom and her amazing culinary skills. I love you mom.

PS: I will be joining Georgetown MBA program in two months. Gotta thank JB, VT, SZ, and HK for being so supportive in this decision. AS and AR deserve special mention. You guys rock.

We went to NYC this weekend (yes, only after one year living a stone's throw away from it did I get to do so.) And what an amazing experience it was. Definitely worth while. One tip for those who are driving down from north: park and ride at Stamford, CT.

Anyway, in the evening among all the lights and razzmatazz we decided to have our dinner at Times Sq itself. Although I wanted to munch on the street side foods - Knish, Kebap, Gyro, etc - sometimes I do yield to friend's requests. Finally, we decided on Bubba Gump. And boy I had one of the best foods of my life! But there was more to it. Now that I knew the reason behind Bubba Gump, I couldn't resist watching the great film. Next day I watched the film and enjoyed every moment of it. I feel ashamed to have not seen this film all these years. Hope I don't have any more surprises in life like this. But then again, C'est la vie!!!!

I was surprised to learn that the popular ABCD (american born confused desi) has been aptly extended to include the complete alphabet... check out these two variations:
(1) "American Born Confused Desi, Emigrated From Gujarat, House in Jersey, Kids Learning Medicine, Now Owning Property, Quite Reasonable Salary, Two Uncles Visiting, White Xenophobia Yet Zestful"
(2) "American Born Confused Desi, Emigrated From Gujarat, Housed In Jersey, Keeping Lotsa Motels, Named Omkarnath Patel, Quickly Reached Success Through Underhanded Vicious Ways, Xenophobic Yet Zestful"

Apropos ABCD, I was in the middle of nowhere in Arkansas last week. There I met one of the nicest persons in my life - Hirendra Bhai. He was, as expected, part owner of the hotel I was residing in. Anyway he was extremely kind and helpful during the whole five days I was there. And yes, I had some very good Gujarati style food in the most typical environment you will expect of any middle class Gujarati family - sitting on the floor, eating with your hands while religious figurines ornament the walls. The rest of the family was flipping channels between a cricket match and a Saas-Bahoo saga. Awesome.

Watched 'College Road-Trip' and '10,000 BC' back-to-back this sunday. Not to mention, the latter was simply awesome.

PS: going to Texas for some fun time this weekend

some notes for my future self....

Dec 19, 07: Company’s Christmas party; won third prize in a quiz competition with only three participants…
Dec 30, 07: Visited Salt Lake City, UT. Resolved to learn to ski…
Dec 31, 07: Slept like a log while the world was enjoying the evening…
Feb xx, 08: Ajay realized that he has left his car keys in the Hertz rental car that he had already returned. We went to the store to find that the store is closed. Ajay called the emergency number only to be presented with some silly alternatives. We then tried to open the door using some of our spare keys but in vain. Finally, just for the heck of it, Ajay tried to open the door of the car and surprisingly it opened…
Feb xx, 08: Went to Mohegan Suns and Hartford in CT. Had one of the best Indian dinners at ‘Kashmir’ restaurant…
Mar xx, 08: Accepted the harsh truth that I am weird. Some examples:
- I can drink coffee/tea all day long except in the morning.
- My taste-buds are underdeveloped (an awesome steak is simply tasty; a terrible soup is just another not-so-good one).
- Inasmuch as I am an outgoing person when in a group, I am extremely lazy and lethargic with absolutely no drive to do anything when alone.
- I can’t smoke. I have tried my best to at least be able to smoke even a cigarette a week but I simply can’t. Although there is a cool factor associated with it, I think it’s not my cup of tea and thus won’t even bother trying it either. It will remain a mystery how one gets hooked to this, let alone starting it in the first place.
- I am hardly emotional, or that's what I think. I do care, empathize and sympathize, but I am more loyal to my brain than to my heart. To give and example (not something I should be proud of), I didn't shed a single drop of tear when my old grandma passed away in front of me. Although I felt bad, I knew it was imminent.
Mar xx, 08: I became a millionaire… in my dreams ;)
Apr 30, 08: contemplated on going back to India, citing lack of the type of social circle and close friends I wish.

To be continued…

Somewhat unexpected, I received an admit from ISB the other day. Ironically, after much consideration I am not joining it :(

PS: ISB did schedule another interview after I had it messed up initially.

As if the myriad of dings was not enough, here is an example of my latest stupidity *&^%$#@
------------------------------
Dear **ME**,

Unfortunately our schedule in cycle-2 is very cramped. We will see what best we can do in this regard.

Regards,
V. Srinath
Manager - Admissions & Financial Aid
Indian School of Business

------------------------------
From: **ME** [mailto:**ME**@**ME**.com]
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 10:13 AM
To: Admissions
Subject: Re: ISB Interview Schedule

Dear Sir,

I deeply apologize for not turning up for the telephonic interview yesterday morning. Due to the time and/or date difference between India and USA, I called the admission's office today (24th January in USA; 25th in India) and much to my disappointment I realised that I was late by a day.

Although it was my fault, I would still request you to accommodate me to any other available interview slot. I would really appreciate that.

Thanks and regards,
**ME**
------------------------------
On Dec 19, 2007 1:16 AM, wrote:

Dear **ME**,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been short listed for an interview for admission to the Post Graduate Programme in Management at the ISB. We have scheduled your telephone interview and the schedule is outlined below:

As per India Time ---- Date 24/01/2008; Time 10:00 Hours
As per Your Present Location* ---- Date 23/01/2008; Time 10:30 PM

* While we have tried to ensure that the dates & times as per India & your current location match, some discrepancy might exist between these times. Please note that we follow the schedules as per India time . Therefore please calculate your local time accordingly.
In case the error in calculating your local time is significant, please write to us immediately so that the same can be rectified.

You need to call this number +91 40 23187176 at the scheduled time for your interview.

Regards,
I V Ranga Rao
Director - Admissions & Financial Aid
Indian School of Business

I read this piece of humor a little while back... found interesting to post here too...

"An Israeli and a Palestinian are watching a Western. In the movie, a cowboy is riding bareback on a particularly wild horse. The Israeli, being aggressive, says to the Palestinian, "I'll bet you 10 shekels he falls." The Palestinian, being impulsive, replies immediately, "I'll bet you he doesn't."
The cowboy falls, and the Palestinian forks over 10 shekels. The Israeli, feeling that famous Israeli guilt, refuses them. Then he admits, "I've seen this movie before."
The Palestinian replies, "So have I. But I thought he would learn from his mistake."

PS: got interview call from Yale the other day ;)

Dear xxxxxxx xxxxxxxx,

I have the pleasure of informing you that your application has been processed for the Class of July 2009, starting in September 2008, and I am happy to let you know that you have been pre-selected for interview.

I ask for your continued patience, while we organise your interview(s) in your country of residence. Once we select your Alumni, you will receive the contact details via email.

If you are not currently living at your mailing address mentioned on your profile, please tell us immediately, so that we can organise your interviews in the correct country/town.

In the meantime, I thank you for your understanding while waiting for our next communication.

Kind regards,
Carol

PS: Insead, Tuck, Kellogg, and Stanford are submitted. Kellogg i'view this Thursday ;-)

I can't help but share this stuff with you!! Your life is incomplete (as of now) if you haven't seet it yet.

Yesterday I was in Boston to attend a lecture by Stanford's assistant dean of admission, Mr. Derrick Bolton. The two-hour informal event took place at the American Express auditorium in downtown Boston. During the lecture Mr Bolton informed that Stanford is the only university in the world with so many (read 6 or 7) faculties in one campus. I didn't believe that he made such an overt statement and that most people believed him!
I wanted to object him at that time but felt awkward to start an argument when, in fact, everyone was there to hear what Mr Bolton had to say about Stanford rather than some jerk lecturing on some supposedly better university in a developing country.

For the uninitiated, I am referring to the great AMU. This university has more faculties than Stanford can ever think of. It has a more prominent and diverse alum list than the total number of Stan Alumni. Even then, unfortunately, Stanford is STANFORD whereas people hardly know AMU! We all know the reasons for this but one reason that came to my mind yesterday is that unlike most educational institutes of the world (including Stanford) that are commercial institutes seeking the best students (and their money), AMU's ideology is/was simply.... different. It’s no big deal to make the best out of best; making the best out of the rest is a challenge. I won't go into further detail but I wonder if Stanford can churn an electronics engineer out of a run-of-the-mill nerd who shelled perhaps no more than 1200 dollars to cover all the cost incurred in those four years... Yes, ALL the cost. It’s not an out of the world example of a super intelligent dude receiving all types of financial aid, but rather my own most amazing four years at AMU.

Anyway, after a very enriching experience with Mr. Bolton and some Stanford alumni, I was in for a big surprise. As soon as I inserted my parking stub into the machine I was dumbstruck to see the number flashing on the screen - $36 - for a little over two hours. I thought about the lessons about being frugal even before entering the school and here I am flunking the test before it started. But I guess I had no choice. I paid the fee (and a two dollar tip for that special valet parking) and thought of forgoing today’s 'World MBA Fair.' But then my colleague came to the rescue and advised to try the train service to Boston. I thought about that and now here I am, writing this blog using my PDA in this $14.5 round-trip train journey.


World MBA Fair.

I was surprised to see several universities from Cairo to Malaysia at the fair but none from India. I remembered Mr. Bolton alluding to IIM(B) at least thrice during his lecture and yet I see no campaign for IIM. Hmm… probably the dudes back home seem to be overwhelmed by the humungous number of applications from every Tom, Dick, and Harry of Indian engineering colleges and don’t want to entertain anyone else.

Anyway, coming to the point, I attended, albeit for a short period of time, a short class by one of the finance professors of Tuck, Prof. Kent L. Womack. And what a class it was – mind-boggling!! I must say I was a little intimidated when one guy gave the complete gist of the happenings in the financial market including their implications in response to Prof’s question. He must have been one of those oddballs cramming WSJ every single day. Thankfully he doesn’t reflect the image of a typical business student – or at least that’s what I think. Meanwhile though, I am happy I didn’t get a ticket for parking at a tow-away zone. Smile.

Check out these Dilbert's prophesies. I wonder if that's what MBA all about!

Every night I decide on a topic to scribble on this blogspot and every time the needs of my temporal existence take the better of me. The subjects that I have zeroed in until now have been as weird as enumerating my embarrassments (which by the way, will itself top the list) to reviewing 'live free or die hard' to as bland a thought as introspecting myself. Inasmuch as I contemplated to write down my sweet childhood and college-days memories and anecdotes, I have thought of starting a thread dedicated solely to my indolent yet motivated attempt to get into the school of my choice. But then I realize that I am not the best blogger in the world (damn, I lost my chance for that coveted place!!!) and hence my blogsphere maintains a status quo for a long time.
Anyway, today is one of those days when I get bit by the blogging bug. However the purpose of today’s blog, as is apparent from my prolixity until now, is simple: to write – any darn thing to at least maintain a post-a-month status. Despite the fact that I always wished to pen down something interesting, I wonder – as I write – at the bulk of worthless ideas crystallizing in my mind. For the start though, as the deadlines for my applications are nearing, my involvement in essay drafting is taking a back seat. Actually it’s not that my interest is dwindling, but the long waiting time before matriculation that is making me restless. I can’t wait to graduate from, let alone enroll in, one of my dream schools – Stanford, Michigan, Insead, Kellogg, and Duke (in that order). In fact, instead of planning for my neo-student reincarnation, I am loving my current job more than ever; part in response to completing my first five years job experience this June and part because unlike my last job, here I DO something and SEE things happen – a wysiwyg paradigm in manufacturing business!!!
And yes, ironically the more I miss my friends and family back home; I am awed by the ease and abundance in this ‘land of opportunity’ called USA.

Adios amigos!
PS: GMAT and MBA prep rock. I feel the difference.

Did you know: The word 'pound' is abbreviated 'lb.' after the constellation 'libra' because it means 'pound' in Latin, and also 'scales'. The abbreviation for the British ‘Pound Sterling’ comes from the same source: it is an 'L' for Libra/Lb. with a stroke through it to indicate abbreviation. Same goes for the Italian ‘lira’ which uses the same abbreviation ('lira' coming from 'libra'). So British currency (before it went metric) was always quoted as "pounds/shillings/pence", abbreviated "L/s/d" (libra/solidus/denarius).

730: 49/41
not pleased with 49 though

Last week I went to the DMV (Dept. of motor vehicles) for a driving license. After preliminary procedures they asked me to wait for the written test. I must say I started to have butterfly in my belly at that time because this was basically my first tryst with a US Govt. department (except of course their revered immigration and customs aka TSA). Anyway, I tried to mug up as many facts as possible from the small rules booklet. Then the moment came. I was escorted to a small cubicle by a stout invigilator. He handed over the question paper (called ‘exam’ in the US) and believe me, it was a damp squib. I think pathetic would be an understatement, but when I saw two Hispanics flunking that test I thought otherwise. Anyway the surprise came after I cleared the written test. I was asked to appear for a driving test on 27th August!! Almost three months waiting time. Crazy, isn’t it? But who cares? I have my Indian driving license to my rescue too, which by the way, I bought (literally) for maybe 250 bucks (ca. $5) way back in 2002 :-)

Today morning I was musing over this 'April fool' thing. No, I am not going into its history or origin, but what could possibly be the best prank played this day? And I didn'd have to wait long; google didn't let me down. Although may not be the best but still good enough to have fooled over few million people around the world.
Now, in case they remove the pages tomorrow, here are the screenshots to give you the glimpse. Njoy

I reckon this post will be my most cherished one. This is because in the last couple of weeks certain events took place that, even if slightly, will certainly change the course of my life. And not surprisingly, fun and enjoyment with a slight pinch of fate made these events even more memorable.
The fun started (rather continued…. even more wildly) when subsequent to much deliberation I was all set to go to the US after my company decided to get rid of me transferring to their sister company over there. Actually I am not the one going gung-ho about moving there lock, stock and barrel (unlike many weirdo sapiens from NW to W region of my country) but the prospect of making few extra bucks took the better of me. My merriment got crazier by the day until I thought it’s time to get serious for the big move. I quickly packed my bags and headed off to my parents home to bid them good bye. A week later on my way back I was standing at the platform searching for my name in the reservation list but in vain. The TTE then told me that I have been upgraded to First Class. I was astonished and happy at the same time but thanked Laloo from the bottom of my heart for giving me this maiden first class experience (no pun intended!!).
After my return to the office, I had only a little over a day to run the errands which means only one thing when I am concerned and time is at stake – It won’t get done. But somehow I managed it to some extent. Anyhow, before I headed off to the states (it’s somehow cooler than to say “USA”!!!!!), my colleagues did arrange a small but truly heartfelt farewell ceremony.
The next morning at wee hours, I boarded the flight to Boston and I was all set to start a new chapter in my life.
By the way, Blogger has been a real pain in the neck of late. Probably their server is overloaded.

Indians, they say, are capable of making worst out of the best and also best out of the worst.

My Laptop is behaving erratically the last few days. Specifically, it heats up very quickly courtesy its defective CPU fan. Now in order to move my humungous data on to the new promised laptop using an external disk without heating up the thing was a big problem. The solution: I put it inside the refrigerator and that’s it. I was able to not only copy my stuff but also play some games albeit atop a small dilapidated stool with the refrigerator door open (would be embarrassing to post a pic with my fullview bum).

It was certainly my second coolest (no pun intended) act after my engineering project fiasco, of which only few of my friends have some idea.

These days I have become a spoilt child – well…. once more. With more than a fair share of leisure activities, I wonder if anything went productive the last few weeks. Throwing darts seems to be the new bug to have hit me recently. Whenever we get a chance we keep slaughtering the door and the dart board hung on the door peg (mostly in that order). The fun part is that no game ever starts or ends without somebody shouting or yelling at someone else. Actually it’s the dart board to blame. It’s not a standard one (nor the electronic one) with wire mesh as demarcation line, which basically means your dart will land on either or none of the sectors but never on the “no man’s land”. In our case, we have to average out the points if we all agree to do so. Quite a fun, that is. It goes without saying that tea is the only thing that keeps us going…. er….. darting!!

Now when I am not darting, I watch movies like nobody’s business. I must have watched over a dozen of them in the last few days. I don’t know when will I be normal again. God, please help me!!!!!

It’s almost one month here in Brazil and hence time to go back home. I bid goodbye to Lages, unfortunately at 5:00 in the morning, for I had my flight to Sao Paolo at 11:45 from Curitiba – almost five hours drive from Lages. Although, I had only a glimpse of Curitiba while traveling but it seemed to be somewhat more urban and bigger than Lages. Anyway, I boarded the plane headed for SaoPaolo, albeit one hour late. After landing at SaoPaolo I went to IBIS Hotel, Guarulhos and got myself a room for one night. Since I was extremely tired (I wonder if I could ever make it even near to the ‘early riser’ clique), I immediately hit the sack. I woke up in the evening and went for a stroll. Next morning after having breakfast I again went to the local central market nearby. It was full with people but the sun’s wrath was too much for me to bear and I returned to the hotel. At around 4:30 I was back at the airport for my next leg of journey to Bombay via Johannesburg.

The flight from SaoPaolo to Johannesburg was almost eight and half hours long. Since I was not so sleepy, I watched two movies – ‘Golmaal’ and ‘Beat the Drum’. The former was neither particularly humorous nor interesting. It was actually the latter that caught my attention. This film has received 27 film festival awards and paeans from critics and audience around the world alike. The film is based on a small boy named Musa, who is a Zulu boy in a small village of South Africa. All his relatives sans his grandmother and some cousins have died of Aids, which unfortunately, is thought to be some ancestral curse by the villagers and so entails some sacrifice on Musa’s grandmother. Musa, unable to bear the sacrifice of his favorite cow, went to Johannesburg to work and find his uncle. The journey and life in Johannesburg were very difficult for this young boy and at times even deadly. But his indomitable spirit never wavered and he came back home with truth and wisdom his fellow villagers back home were unknown of. The story then goes on depicting the life in the streets of Johannesburg – far from the surging economy inside the closed doors of skyscrapers and the spread of AIDS. A wonderful film with a wonderful ending just leaves you contemplating on several issues at the same time.

After I was finished with the film I tried to catch some forty winks. The fully-flat bed from South African Airlines (SAA) and their fluffy blankets and pillow were the perfect paraphernalia for that. Unfortunately, I thought the beds were too big for a short and thin person like me. Moreover, score of vacant seats left me wonder as to why should one suffer in cramped economy class seats when in that very plane you have fully-flat beds with large leg space not used at all? Couldn’t airlines come up with a better idea of boarding the travelers giving priority to passenger’s convenience? Why couldn’t they simply let – even by a draw of lot – to move some maybe elderly passengers or women to the vacant business class seats just for sleeping? I don’t think people will even mind paying some small amount for this ‘upgrade’.

The flight landed in Johannesburg almost in time. After landing I proceeded towards the transit area but right at the entrance one little black fellow with safety vest came to me and asked for my boarding card. After giving it a cursory look he asked me to follow him. Since he seemed very much either an SAA employee or an airport staff, I followed him. He went past the queues at the security/frisking zone and asked me to go through. He gave a furtive glance at the security personnel and let me put my bag without taking out the laptop. Quickly he took my laptop and asked me to follow again. I was surprised at the gesture. I was sure he was doing this because he saw the ‘Business Class’ tag on my boarding card. No, I was wrong. No sooner we left the security area I asked him to take me to the SAA lounge. He asked if I was flying economy or business. Wait a minute….. what was then this all about and what did you look at my barding card. He finally uttered – “Sir, mind you. I am not helping you for nothing” stressing on the latter part of the statement – clearly indicating his motive!!!! I said well I didn’t ask for your help. Furthermore I have all the time in the earth for my next flight to help myself pretty easily. He understood my intention too and quickly gave me my bag and left looking for the next soft target. I then thought of the film I saw and tried to figure out the purpose of his move and how he had his connection with the security personnel et al. Correct me if I am wrong but I think no matter how much SA has developed over the years, the corruption and fraud still looms large in this country – from streets to the airport.

Anyway, I forgot the incident and headed to the SAA lounge and I must say I was impressed. It's not very congested like Lufthansa lounge in Frankfurt or Munich nor is it short of… well.. basic facilities like Varig lounge in SaoPaolo. There was even a sports area for those sport freaks. There were also cricket bats hung on the wall with signature of team members from almost all the cricketing nations of the world. Internet, apparently, is not that easy to get access though.

After being in the lounge for some two hours I went to complete my last leg of the journey till Bombay. The flight to Bombay was full. So much so that even some overbooked passengers – with their – baggage were off boarded. This chaos went on for one hour after which the plane took off for another eight hours of long yet comfortable journey……….