STIFFmaester's musings

From then to now ..... the journey

2006-06-10T13:07:00.000-07:00

13th Jan 2005.
That was the date of my last post on this blog. That was a good year and a half ago. So much has happened in my life from then till now. If i remember correctly, 13th Jan 2005 was midway through my 3rd term in IIMB.
3 more terms, 1 summer internship, 1 fall internship, a final recruitment process and a dream job later, here I am!!!

So much has heppened in my life since that date.

Summers@HLL:
2.5 months trying to sell Ice Cream was a fanatastic learning experience for me. It is rather ironic that the company where i interned is now gonna be my biggest competitor, but thats the way the river flows I guess. Had a great time there with 2 awesome ppl from A and C, both of whom have done very well for themselves since then. None of the 3 of us actually joined HLL after that project. I dont know abt the other 2 but I took grt pleasure in turning down Levers in finals for my dream job with their biggest competitor. More on that later.

4th term:
Man. I was going through my earlier posts and I read the one on the 2nd term. well let me say this. term 2 was nothing compared to term 4. After a dissapointing grade in term 3 coz of a major butt raping in macro eco I put hajaar fight in term 4 to boost my CG. Man I actually went over 20 nights without sleeping this term so that I could turn in perfect reports. the term didnt quite go as well as I wanted it to but did manage to boost my CG a bit.

Term 5:
If someone tells you that he had a tough term 5 in IIMB then you should probably laugh on his face. lets face it, when the CG doesnt count, why should the term be tough? Well when you have a fall internship with DBS, india's biggest b school fest to organize, projects and assignments in virually all the 6 subjects you choose (you cant fail after all) and other personal problems, it all adds up to one fucked up term. Those 3 months was the closest I ever got to depression. As I look back, Im kinda happy that what heppened happened. Coz Im sure that life can never get as bad as it did in those 3 months ever again. As I look back at that time, I wish I had turned to my close friends for help. Heck I wish I had done a lot of other things as well. I guess hindsight is a luxury that one does not have when he is in deep shit after all.

Term 6:
The culmination of the past 2 years. Dreams are realized or shattered at this time of the year. This is what everything at a B School boils down to: placements. Let me cut a long story short. That 12th of March, 2006 was the greatest day of my life (after 7th May 2004, when I got my IIMB admit). I had 3 goals as I entered 8th standard.

1. IIT
2. IIM
3. P&G

IIT didnt happen. It only hardened my resolve to make the other 2 happen. May 7th, 2004 was the day I realized my goal of making it to IIMB. After a 99.8% I would have been fucking pissed if AB or C didnt happen. But B did and I expereiced the 2 best years of my life. And that 12th of March, 2006 , dream 3 also came true, as Proceter & Gamble made me an offer to join their Marketing function as an Asst. Brand Manager in the Singapore office.

It gave me great pleasure to walk over to the Campus Recruiting manager at HLL, with whom I had a PPI interview scheduled for later that evening, and tell him that I will not be interviewing with them. SOunds wierd aint it? After all, it was my summers company. Lets just say that it was personal ..... very personal.

Well 18 months since my last post. Lot has happened since then. Went through the toughest challenges of my life over the last 6 months. But in the end, as I sit here on my bed, and type this post out at 2 am in the morning, a small smile crosses my face. Im so fucking happy :)

The circle of life

2005-01-13T06:45:00.000-08:00

The sound of the waves gently crashing against the shore really brought back fond memories. I had gone home to Madras for 6 days for my term 2 vacation. Hit the beach as soon as i landed in Madras and went there eveyday till I left.

I dont care who you are or where you're from. You haven't lived life till uve spent a day in baywatch in Besant Nagar Beach, drinking coffee and just looking at the sea. I can do it for the rest of my life. I did it for 4 years in engineering college and I never got tired of it. Come evening time, I used to get in my car and drive off to the beach to sip coffee, look at the waves crashing on the shore and gently drawing away, and think about life an the future.

There is something incredibly soothing about the ocean. Im sure that the fishermen on the Marina coast wouldnt have thought so on the morning the tsunami wiped out half the fishermen population in TN. But i wasnt there to see that. So for me the sea will always remain the place where I used to go whenever I wanted to get away from eevrything and think. I still remember the days I spent at bessie with jsk, manan, baby, reddy, aya, harsha, neelu, et al. The beach was like our hang out. Most guys our age used to go there for sightseeing(u know what im talking about). But for us it was like our second home. College only came a distant third.
So many incidents came to my mind when I went there after such a long time. Manan walking all the way to Planet Yumm just to take a leak. Aya hiding in a small avanue and smoking his first fag coz he was scared his mom who lived some 10 kms away might see him. reddy and i getting caught by the cops for playing loud music in his car. JSK and i sitting in Baywatch for hours and talking about life, jobs, our future and the people in our lives.

I want to retire. I want to buy a house in Besant Nagar beach. I want to wake up at 5 in the morning and take my dog for a walk on the sands and look at the sun rise . I want to sit on the shore and see the water come up to my feet and then pull away. I want to play frisbee with my dog on the beach. I want to read the morning newspaper, for the first time in my life not because I want to be prepared for job interviews, but because I actually want to.

Sounds like utopia to me.

Till later
da STIFFmaester

It Begins

2004-10-09T10:17:00.000-07:00

So it begins. The much talked about term 2. What's so significant about term 2 you ask ? Well, nothing much, except that it is a glimpse straight into hell, if my seniors are to be believed. And not one of those small peeps into hell where you just survey the scene for a few seconds and then decide whether you wanna vacation there or not, but it is a long sabatical, lasting for 3 months, where you will get to dance with the devil on a daily basis.
Whats in term 2 that is making me dread it so you wanna know. Well read on.

Acads :
Nothing much, just 4 extremely miserable subjects. Operations Management where the devil pulls down your pants, Marketing where he proceeds to make you remove your underwear, Quantitative Techniques where he clasps your .... ahem ahem......"jewels" in his scaly palms, and finally Corporate Finance where he will administer the coup de grace and squeeze the living daylights outta your manhood and ensure that he leaves you impotent. Oh, I forgot to mention, there are 2 more subjects, ManComm-II and some HR course, just to ensure that you dont have any spare time at hand to nurse your wounds.

Vista:
I had blogged earlier about VISTA. it is IIMB's annual management summit that is scheduled to be held from the 5th to 7th of november. And we are dead set on outdoing last year's vista at any cost. Im in FII, the society that conduxts VISTA, along with a lot of industry lectures around the year. But VISTA is the most important thing on our radar. There's something like a silent competition b/w A,B and C. A has CONFLUENCE, B has VISTA and C has INTAGLIO. And every year the 3 do every thing they can to outdo each other. So u can imagine the amount of work we have ahead of us for the next 1 month.

Summers:
Its RG season at IIMB. Coz summer placements are around the corner. For the next month, the compus will be filled with discussions about Lehman's core competance and HLLs poor performance. This is the time when competition is at it's peak, with every one battling for the top summer jobs, hoping that they will be able to convert it into a PPO and chill in year 2. Summers is a pretty big lottery, and there are quite a few nervous breakdowns this time around. Hoping ill get something decent. only time will tell. But untill then, I got my hands full with AVB, HLL, TAS, ITC and a shit load of other forms, along with sample interview questions and practice GDs.

But this happens in all B-Schools at this time of the year. All students have to face this kinda pressure at some time. I just hope IM able to handle all this. Coz Madras university aint exactly the best training ground to handle pressure u see :-)

till later

da STIFFmaester

So whats new

2004-09-06T00:59:00.000-07:00

So whats new in the land that never sleeps.
Nothing much. Same old same old. Classes, quizzes, mid terms, assignments, projects, industry visits, blah blah blah

So let me talk abt the non acad part for a change. Im a member of the forum for industrial interaction(FII) at IIMB. Its the society that arranges all industrial interactions and guest lectures from big shot business men and hed honchos of corporate india. There was a rigorous selection procedure at the beginning of the term where nearly 100 out of the 187 PGP1s applied for selection, and only 15 were selected. And I was one of them :-)

FIIs most important task at hand is to recreate VISTAs success. VISTA, for those who dont know, is IIMBs annual management summit, which attracts some of the leading business schoools in the world and corporates from all sectors to participate in workshops, seminars, paper presentations, case studies, games and all sorts of business related competitions. Its a really pseud white coller type thing and Im proud to say that in terms of foot falls(no of participants), were clearly no.1 in India. A group of 15 junior FIIs, led by a group of 9 senior FIIs are breaking their butts, trying to ensure that we outdo last years VISTA, which saw the likes of P.Chidambaram and C.K.Prahlad enthrall the audience in the keynote and invitation addresses. VISTA is scheduled to be held from the 5th to 7th of November and we hope it will be a brilliant success.

So what else is up ? Mid terms were over and grades are out. pretty satisfied with my performance. Not class topper like I was in undergrad, but im holding my own. I seek to ratinalize my performance by telling my self - " Im not here for the learning, im here for the experience" :-)

We had another L^2 last night. It was pouring cats and dogs. But that doesnt deter us fearless :-) IIMBites from having our well deserved fun. I danced till 4 am which is kinda early for my standards.

Will be hitting Chennai end september. I just wanna go home, go to my room and crash on my bed for 2 weeks. Coz Im a growing boy/man .... and I need my SLEEP !!!!!!!!!

Till later
da STIFFmaester

Im back

2004-08-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

Well, its a long time since I updated my blog. But better late than never.

Mid-terms just got over this week. Unlike my engg papers which involved mugging a lot of worthless crap and vomitting all over the paper, exams herer are totally application oriented. Mugging the text doesn'd aamount to anything if u cant apply the fundae to real life situation.

Let me give u an example from my stats paper :

. IFF (‘Insure From FIRE’) is an insurance company that sells insurance from fire to households. The policy has an ‘upper limit’ (UL) clause, which implies that if any insured household suffers a loss amount (resulting from the covered risk) in excess of this UL (Rs. 1 lakh), then the IFF would pay back only 1 lakh (subject to IFF’s verification that the claim is genuine), not the actual loss amount. The company has kept UL at the given level ensuring that top 3% of the losses resulting from the covered risk are not eligible for full payment.

From the past data, IFF assesses that a household has 2.5% chance of reporting damages from fire in any given year. It is extremely unlikely that any house will suffer from fire damages more than once in any given year, and consequently relevant probability may be set to zero for all practical considerations. Titas, the advising actuary of IFF, who specializes on loss amounts resulting from fire damages caused in households, knows that the genuine loss amount follows a Lognormal distribution with parameters m=10 and s2, i.e. the natural (to the base e) logarithm of loss follows a Normal (m=10,s2) distribution. Titas never bothered to report the value of s2 to IFF officials, possibly because he felt that nobody in IFF would understand its significance.

The following are some properties that you may find handy: for a random variable X having a Lognormal distribution with parameters m and s2,

Where c is any positive constant and F(.) is the CDF of the Standard Normal distribution; (for example: F(1.96) = 0.975).

IFF is aware that 15% of all claims made by the insured are fake and the claimed loss amounts of these follow a Uniform distribution in the range fifty thousand to one lakh. All claims are inspected by a division of IFF, better known as INS2. INS2 is responsible for assessing whether a claim is genuine or not. It inspects only the cause and eligibility of any claim, not the amount claimed; consequently any claim is either fully settled (except when the claimed loss exceeds the UL), or not paid at all. INS2 is reasonably efficient in its role: 96% of legitimate claims are assessed correctly, while 10% of the false claims somehow manage to get payment from the company. The rumour has it that the latter is dependent on the kickback some of the INS2 officials receive; but for the lack of evidence, we would attribute it to the genuine probabilistic mistakes. 90% of all legitimate claims that do not receive the payment from the company end up appealing to the judicial system, while the corresponding probability among fake claims is only 1%. You may assume that the claim amount has no impact on whether IFF accepts a claim or not. IFF incurs an administrative cost of Rs. 100 per policy issued and Rs. 500 per claim filed. IFF claims to charge a fair premium, which naturally accounts for its administrative costs, as well.
a.) What is the expected value of the loss amount (genuine) resulting from fire attack in a household? [3]

b.) In the past two months, there are forty five incidents of (genuine) household fires among IFF policyholders. What is the probability that more than forty of them will receive payment from IFF? [3]

c.) What should the fair premium rate that IFF must be charging per policy per year? [5]

[Hint: You may need to consider five possibilities: no claim is filed and 2´2 combinations of IFF accepting/discarding fake/genuine claims]

d.) The inspection division of IFF is closely examining three claims, each reporting a loss between Rs. 90K and 1lakh; the division has come to the conclusion that the claimed loss amounts are obviously very dependent. Either they are all genuine and caused by the same fire, or they are all fake. Given the fact that a loss lies in the above range, what is the chance that it is genuine? [4]

[Bonus question: worth 2 points] IFF decided not to accept the claim, because it felt the claim was fake. The policyholder moved to court. Do you wish to modify your answer to part d)? If yes, how? If not, why?

Pretty big shit huh? What if I tell you that nearly every paper is like this? Do you still wanna come here?
Of course you do. Coz everything here is realtive. We dont have the stupid percentage system. You're grade is directly proportional to you're relative standing in the class. If eevryone screws up, then you can afford to screw up and still get a decent grade. But if you do pretty badly wrt the class, then ur screwed big time.

Life is just beginning to get back to normal. After sleepign for just a few hrs b4 and during teh mids, im finally catching up on a lot of lost sleep. Slept for like 8hrs today which is a huge luxury. And now its time for L^2. Yahooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

So im gonna get going now.
Till later
da STIFFmaester

FOOTAAAAAAAGE !!!!

2004-07-19T07:23:00.000-07:00

The single most important word in IIMB. People spend more time in the insti trying to learn the fine art of footage than o learning accounts and stats.
So what is this esoteric concept that is more imprtant than learning some gyan ?

Hehe, footage is the fine art of gaining publicity and visibility in the insti among your peers. Or more simple put ....... SHOWING OFF

This can be done in the following ways :

1. Being a STUD
     Since everyone is a stud here, you have to be a super duper stud to get footage through tis route. ie: You'll have to be a CA Ranker, or a chap who did his BTech from IITK and MS from UCAL Berkely(what the hell is this guy doing here ?? ),or an IIT ranker(like wimpy) .
HOnestly, very few ppl get footage this way,and its usually not long lasting.

2. Extra-Currics
     The best way to get footage. People know that everyone here is inteliigent, so ull have to proove yourself be being different. You'll have to be a stud sportsman(like Muthu) or a stud quizzer(like Wimpy/Kodi), or maybe a stud debater.

3. making an ass of yourself :-)
       The best way to get footage . Eassiest way to get everyone to know you. err ... since some of my batchmates may be reading this blog, I wont post any examples. But pussy .... you know Im talking about you :-)

4. Starting a club of your own
      I think ill be doing this . Me and Rohit have decided to start a club called "The Hood" . Entrance requirement - you'll have to be a good for nothing :-) (on a relative basis) . There are already several of such clubs. The Bitch club ( they're very noisy) , the orange brigade ( the president's own club) , the hoosh brigade ( Im the first member from PGP1 :-) ) and so on.

Getting footage is a fine art. You have to do it without letting ppl know that ur doing it, which is a very difficult task indeed. Im still learning :-)

da STIFFmaester

Life at IIMB

2004-07-16T03:13:00.000-07:00

If you guys wanna glimpse into what Life at IIMB is like ..... read on

Here's what my life is like :

Wednesday : 1 chapter of 40 pages + 1 40 page case in Managing Organisaions

Thursday : 1 chapter of 25 pages + 1 15 page case in managing Organisations
                     + reading for a possible surprise quiz in Economics
                     + 3hrs of chart making for C-Block party
                     + Mugging for an Accounts quiz on Friday
                     + Pre-reading for Stats

Friday : 3 hrs of Stats classes ( Oh My God !!!! )
               + Warning from Stats prof that next week's Stats Quiz will be " mothering"
               + Accounts Quiz
               + Written Analysis for Man Comm - Case analysis of 1500 words(5-6hrs)
               + C-Block Party ( Yahooooo )

Saturday : Man Comm submission
                  + Studying for Stats Quiz next week
                  + Preparing Stats submission for Monday

Sunday : Like wise

Monday : Stats submission + N-Pages of Pre-reading

And so on and so forth

Btw : This is ok if its only a 1 time thing . Unfortunately every day is like this .... if not worse . Im just happy that things aren't like week-1 yet , coz that was a glimpse straight into hell , whre I was made to sleep for only 2-3 hars a day for 6 days .
I remember what I felt like on May-7th , when the results were declared and I realised I was going to IIMB . I was so full of enthu . I had dreams of partying and dancing and Brigade road ,etc . Well , its been nearly 20 days since I got here , and Brigade is looking like a distant dream . I guess I didnt realise that this course is gonna beat the crap outta me for the next 2 years .
But things aint all bad . The ppl Ive met here are amazing . When you're away from home , your friends are like your family . Plus , Ive had 3 L-squares which were awesome . And for the first time since I left school , Im actually learning . Engg coll was so full of crap . Study 2-3 days before the eams , go puke on the paper and go home happy . But here , Im actually using my brains . And its such a beautiful feeling . You gotta be here to know what Im talking about .

till later

da STIFFmaester

Junta , fundae , fight and hooshes !!!

2004-07-08T09:15:00.000-07:00

If you wanna know what the above mean , then read on .

The cool thing abt being in a B-School is that you get to develop your own jargon that other insti ppl have no idea of . Let me familiarise you with some of the "arbit" jargon we have . Some of thses may be used in other instis as well . Usage is in braces

JUNTA : The peeps , people , fellow IIMBians
( Whats up with the junta ? Where are the junta ? )

FUNDAE : The fundamental concepts in a subject
( Whats the funda in finacc? Muthu's gonna put fundae in finacc )
ARBIT : Arbitrary ... with no relevance to ...
(Macchan ... thats totally arbit )
FIGHT : Tension
( Abey ... fight mat le )
GLOBAL : Totally without relevanvce to the issue at hand . Made for the purpose of CP and grades
( Dude ... dont put global gyan )
GYAN : Another word for global fundae
( Saala .. gyan de raha hai )
HOOSH : Another word for bumps
( Lets Hoooosh him !!!!! )

And a lot more . Im still learning . The purpose of such arbit jargon is not to show off . Its more a way of connecting with your fellow batchmates . These ppl are gonna be your friends and family for 2 yrs . The jargon is more to breaK the ice and introduce a sense of informaility among the junta :-)

And now to ppl an nick-names :-)

ME : Several nicks . Some include JJ , JC , Nerdy , MCC , Dildo , Tampon .

MUTHU : My very close friend . CA from Chennai . Nicest chap in the world . Extreme sports freak . Nick is M-square and Zeus .

GUHAN : Classmate from SVCE . No nick yet . Dont need to write abt him . Better yet . visit him at http://guha.blogspot.com

BALAJI : Baby Balaji . The baby of the batch . B.Com from Chennai . Amazing fun to be with . Nicks : Pussy , bj

RAJEEV : Aerospace engg from IITM . Short and amazingly enthu abt everything , Rajeev is a born flirt . In 2 days , he had met every girl in PGP1 .Nick is Rajeev Romeo ( aka R-square )

AVYAY : Tall , athletic handsome stud from Baroda and IITM . This guy , like Muthu , is a sports freak . Nick : Pedro and F-square .

SANJEEV : Garuda from PG . Lad from Vizag . Nice chap . But devoid of hair :-) . Always putting enthu CP in class . Nick GV

RAVI : The guy from SRM who chucked A for B . BBall freak , this guy has his sights set on one specific target ( now we know WHO that is , dont we Ravi ;-) ) . No nick yet .

KARTHIK : GOD . Nothing else . JEE rank 12 >comp sci from IITM . International Maths and Physics Olympiad . CAT percentile 100% . Chucked A for B . Gives others a complex :-( . Nick : Wimpy

Lot more ppl . Too tired to go furhter . Will be back soon . Till then .. have fun junta ;-)

da STIFFmaester

Life is Beautiful

2004-06-27T05:12:00.000-07:00

Life IS beautiful .

They say hard work pays . And Im experiencing first hand how well it actually it pays . Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined how amazing life at IIMB could have been . Ive been here just 2 days , and I already feel like Im at home .

Did u say ragged ?

Yes , I was . I was ragged BIG TIME . The reason is , my dear cousin brother Rajiv ( aka JEEVES ) passed out of IIMB this year and he left word with his juniors , ie my seniors , to ............. ahem ahem ......... "WELCOME: me to the insti . ANd his word shall be followed , coz its fair to say that he was the THE most popular guy in IIMB . Last years Gold medallist , he is almost revearde in the insti . He seems to have fruiends everywhere , and that translates to moer ragging for me . NOt ragging . They prefer to call it " healthy interaction " .Anyway , its not that bad . Mopstly verbal .They gave me a lot of "special " assignments , obviously involviing girls .And I think i did a decent job :-) . Its been amazing fun . I love it over here , and this is gonna be my home for the next 2 years .

Got settled in my room in C-007 ( Bond .. hehe ) , and coincidentally JEEVES was inb C-006 . Plus the BITCH club is in C 1st floor , and all the imporant chaps like the President of IIMb and most of the Placecom guys are in C top floor . So this is an amazingly fun hostel .

Guys , if you have to , its worth losing 1 year of your social life to make it to the insti . We had an L^2 last night and I was dancing till 2:30 . And thats early . Party ended only at 6:00 am (hehe) . Do whatever you have to , but make it to an IIM . And then you too shall see , that Lofe , is INDEED beautiful .

da STIFFmaester

Finally .... Paradise !!!!

2004-06-24T23:55:00.000-07:00

Im here . Where I always wanted to be !!

Arrived in Bangaolore this morning . Came with Guhan and Balaji . The trip from the coach to the taxi took us nearly half an hour , what with all the luggage we were carrying :-) .

Reached the cmpus at around 7:20 and had to wait for around 45 mins coz the hostel office was closed . We had breakfast in the mess and felt like fishes out of water :-) . We didnt even the know the procedure to have breakfast , lol . Finally this good samaritan senior helped us out .

Spoke to mom and dad and old them I reached safely and all . Finally the hostel office opened and we picked our rooms . I got C-007 ( Bond ... James Bond :-) ) . Guhan got F-306 and bj got J-313 . Only time will tell if I have picked a good room or not .
You see , C block is right in the thick of the action . Its away from Lincoln Square , so u got ur privacy , but its a stones throw away from every thing else , so I guess everything is accesible . F-block is probably a couple of mins from my room . And J is a little further away .

The problem is I got basement , so I hope my room doesnt get filled with insects , or with water when it rains .

Met a couple of fellow freshies . This chap Siddharth , from Presidency college Calcutta is next to bj . And Showmik , from IIT-Kgp is my neighbour .

Me , Guhan and bj are currently touring the campus . IM blogging from the Computer centre which is prety cool . Set up by IBM , NOVELL and WIPRO . Ill keep blogging on my experiences .

Take care ppl .

da SIFFmaester

2004-06-12T08:16:00.000-07:00

Im in Kodaikanal now . Have been here for the past 3 days . And its amazing .
The weather is bloody cold . And its also rainuing off and on . BUt its still great .

da STIFFmaester

FRIENDS ...... the end !!!

2004-06-06T11:55:00.000-07:00

Well ..... what can I say , except that it was classy .

Very Classy

Im not the kinda guy who gets emotional over movies and teleserials . Heck , Ive watch more than my share of Chick-flicks , and I come out feeling pretty ok . None of that sad , weepy " Oh my dear god , he died .... " kinda feelings for me .

But yet , due to some strange reason , I was very mooved today , after watching the final episode of friends . It was a marathon show on my comp . I had already seen 8 episodes of season 10 , but though I had the other 10 , my Divx Codec pack had to be updated , which I finally got around to doing today . And after that , it was 10 straight episodes . And though I didn't weep or cry or any of that shit , I must say there was a sense of emptiness after watching 10-18 . I have never felt that way after watching a movie or TV show before this .

Im sure all of you know how it ends . Ross and Rachel get back together - this time supposedly for good . Chandler and Monica get twins and move to their new home in the suburbs . Phoebe and Mike live happily ever after , and Joey is gonna go on to star in a spin-off of friends , called the Joey Show , in which joey goes on to become the President of the United States :-) . To be honest , I dont hink it would make any difference . One stupid jackass being replaced by another , thats all .

I guess I felt low , coz Friends has been around for 10 years now . And Ive seen every episode , more than 1ce (each) . And every time 1 season ended , I felt down , coz it was re-run time . But there was always light at the end of the tunnel coz I knew that its only a matter of time before the next season is out . But now , there is no such light at the end of the tunnel . There is no hope . There is nothing to wait for . Its gone . And I can live with that . Just that its gonna take some getting used to . But I can . Coz its just a show - its not life .

But I tell you what - ill miss it . Chandler's wise-cracks . Joey's stupid shenanigans . Ross and his emotional outbursts , even his stupid dino stories . Monica's attention to detail . Phoebe's hillarious one-liners . Nothing so particular about Rachel , but ill miss her too .

Adios "amigos" ( amigos,im sure u know,translates to FRIENDS :-) )

Till later

da STIFFmaester

Worst movie ever

2004-06-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

I saw , what I can confidently say is one of the worst movies I've ever seen in my life .

It's called Hum Tum . And oh man , it was two and a half hours of pure torture . There are only 2 other movies that have pained me so much , that sorry ass excude for Pass-Pass advertising called "Yaadein" and "Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega" . When I watched those 2 movies , I felt that any director must be in a whole new level to make a movie as bad as thise 2 , and Aditya Chopra has prooved that he is .

Ther is absolutely no story whatsoever . So I will not waste your time and mine giving you a glimpse of what it has to offer . Suffice to say that I think having your eye-balls extracted when you are concious would have been a less painful experience . Saif Ali Khan was really beginning to grow as an actor with DCH and KHNH , but after this he's back to square 1 .

Word of advice - DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE , not even if someone ays you to watch it .

da STIFFmaester

Yuva !

2004-05-29T02:53:00.000-07:00

Well , saw Yuva about a week ago . And contrary to waht some ppl may believe , I think it was a very good movie . I went in with huge expectations , seeing that its Mani Ratnam's first movie in more than a year , and I walked out pretty satisfied .

The story is about the lives of 3 men , AB , Ajay Devgan and Vivek Oberoi.

AB is a crook livin in one of those "jhopadpattis" in Calcutta . He's the kind of guy who'll sell his mother for the right price . Rani Mukherji plays his wife in the movie , and I must say se's put on a lot of weight . The 2 make a good pair on screen , with Rani playing the devoted wife , willing to forgive AB's mistakes at every part of the movie . I loved her last scene in the movie , where she board's her train without AB and makes her way back to her village .When the TC askes her where her husband is ... she says " Main kya jannon , hooga koi Rakheil ke pass ya Raand ke pass . Tum saale sabhi mardh aise he hain " . Fantastic dialogue . I ordinary Hindi/Tamil movies , the bad guy is all bad . There is only Black/White , no grey . But mani has been very successful in depicting both sides of AB . Brilliant is the word to be used here.

Ajay Devgan plays a student union leader , in a role that is VERY unbecoming of his age . I cant understan why Mani chose a 35yr old to lay a 23 yr old student . But I guess he vrings the right kind of intensity to the role . He's this brilliant Physics student who gives up an American scholarship to make a dfference to the Indian political system . Esha Deol plays his girlfriend , and the age diference clearly stands out . But she looks amazing in those designer salwaars . Mani has tried to address some of modern society's questions such as live in relationships , pre-marital sex , etc , through this relationship . Despite the age mismatch , Ajay has done a good job . But I wanna watcbh Surya in the tamil version , in a performance which is supposed to be fantastic , if my friens are supposed to be believed .

And now to Vivek Oberoi . THis is a role that could have been sarificed in the movie , to give the other 2 charcters more screen time . He plays this TamBram , who has just finished college , and wants to push of to the US to study management , despite the fact that his IAS dad , wants his son to study for the IAS . Spoilt brat in a way . Bimbette Kareena plays his love interest in the movie , in another performance which I cant tolerate . CAll me biased , but I just cant stand this female . Something about her is really irritating . They run a round beaches and drink coffee , before Vivek gets his calling in life and decides to join Ajay in his crusade against the political system . There is only one word to describe the Vivek-Kareena aspect of the movie - Bullshit .

BUt the movie was good , great songs and the ending , though abrupt was pretty powerfull in a way . Thw scene when Ajay pushes aside the crooked politician Om puri , just as the song says " Hat jaa , hat jaa re " was very well filmed . All in all , definately worth a watch .

da STIFFmaester

Natural Disaster !!!

2004-05-28T08:11:00.000-07:00

What Natural disaster do I most resemble . Ok - Friend , animal , famous personality ? ... that I can understand ....... but what kinda natural didaster do I resemble ??? Aint that taking things a little too far ?

But what the hell , its interesting , and I took this test at quizilla , seein that most of my blog buddies have taken it . And hre is the result , whatever its supposed to mean :

EDIT : The stupid picture was bigger than the blog width . And there aint any width adjustment provision in the html code . So Im taking the easy way out and removing the goddam pic . Suffice to say , that the test said Im like a waterfall , whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.

I also took that political compass test , but Im having problems draggin the result to my blog . Will post that in alittle whil . Till then , take care ppls .

da STIFFmaester

Chennai PG meet #4

2004-05-24T11:26:00.000-07:00

Should have blogged on this yesterday . But couldn't find time coz I got back only at 11:30pm . So , better late than never .

Attended the 4th Chennai PG meet yesterday . For the uninitiated , PG is the shortform for http://www.pagalguy.com , an online forum for the CAT/MBA junta . It was created by this guy called Allwyn , who goes under the nick Pagalguy , or PG as he is more fondly known on the forum . I heard about this forum from my classmate Deepak ( aka DK )who was a member . Was pretty sceptical about it , till Girish ( aka : oxymoron ) told me its pretty useful for those serious about prepping for CAT . I joined around August last yr , and I can confidently say its one of the best decisions I ever made .

The thing is , for those who don't have a regular CAT study group , or whose study group isn't that motivated , PG.com provides an excellent opportunity to share CAT info , and benchmark yourself against some of the best brains in the country . I still remember , after every Sim/Mock cat , I used to rush home and log on to PG.com , and see how the others had performed . After sometime , you kinda knew who the "studs" were , and I used to start benchmarking my scores with theirs . I must say , its this benchmarking that really pushed me to score higher in my sims . I used to put all my effort into trying to pip certain ppl in the forum .

Pretty soon , the forum started yielding other benifits , as I started meeting ppl on the same "intellectual wavelength" as me . This is not some eletist superiority mentality that Im trying to project , but Im saying that I met ppl who shared the same interests that I did . All of us were interested in becoming something in life , in making something of ourselves . All of us wanted to crack CAT and make into the hallowed halls of that "The Indian Institutes of Management " . All of us were willing to work hard to achieve our goals . Don't misunderstand what im saying . I love hanging out with my college buddies , who have been like my family for 4 yrs . But discussion with them usually veers around " Macchan , check out the mayo " , or "Macchan , princi is an ass da " or " Macchan , X babe is going out with Y guy , after dumping Z loser " . The PG group was more fucussed on the singular objective of achieving something in life .

Pretty soon , we started issuing feelers to ppl in the same city , suggesting a meet of some sorts . The first one happened last yr , and there were only 5 of us . I shall always remember that day , coz we were latti charged by cops at IITM , during Saarang .

After that we've had 3 more meets , the last of which was yesterday at Bessie ( as it always is ) . We keep going there under the mistaken notion that some "Mayos" may show up nd brighten our day . They usually don't . But you know what - it really doesn't matter , coz the discussion we have are incredibly " Intellectually Stimulating " , if I may use that term .

For example , yesterday arnd 9 of us showed up . We did some idle chit-chat , moved onto Planet Yumm , and then hung arnd outside for an hr . Gugs was giving some gyan to some freshers , interested in knowing some strategies for CAT . Meanwhile Girish , Prashanth , this noob Pradeep and I had this amazing discussion on " Should UG Acads be included as a selection parameter for the IIMs " . I can honestly say, , that what followed was a debate of the highest quality . There were no winners or losers in the end , but the sheer quality of ideas exchanged was so high , that it was a privilege to be a part of it . I must say , exchanging ideas with your peers , who are on the same intellectual wavelength as you are , is indeed a pleasure .

I had a blast yesterday . Idle chit-chat , MAYO gazing , intellectual debates , PG meets always have something for all senses . I shal definately miss these meets when I pack up and leave for IIMB next month . But Im sure Ill be part of 1 more before I leave . We've only had 4 meets , but we are already like bum pals . Im looking forward to the next one . All you CAT aspirants who read my blog , make sure you register urself at pagalguy.com . Its worth it . Itll definately help keep you motivated and psyched up to take CAT head on . All the best .

da STIFFmaester

My Cabinet

2004-05-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

Well , Dr.Manmohan Singh , the soft spoken Sikh who is widely regarded as India's greatest Finance minister ever will now occupy India's highest post . Im cool wwith that . Though Im dissapointed that the NDA didn't ride back to power , Im cool with anyone who is pro-reform , and none fits the bill better than Manmohan Singh .

But if by some miracle , I was suddenly bestowed with the power to appoint a cabinet of my choice this is what it would look like :

Prime Minister : Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee

Dep. Prime Minister/Home min. : Shri L.K.Advani

Finance Minister : Dr. Manmohan Singh

Defence Minister : Gen.(retd) Sunderlal Padmanabhan

Industries and Commerce Minister : Mr. P Chidambaram

Foriegn Minister : Mr. Arun Jaitley
Minister of State - Rahul Gandhi

Union HRD Minister : Priyanka Gandhi ( hey its my blog )

Labour Minister : Mr. George Fernandes

Law Minister : Mr. Kapil Sibal

Disinvestment Minister : Mr. Arun Shourie

FDI Minister : Mr. Chandrababu Naidu (Ill create this ministry)

Agricultre Minister : M.S.Swaminathan

Science and Technology Minister : Sam Pitroda

Its not like this is ever gonna happen . But I can dream can't I??

da STIFFmaester

2004-05-16T04:08:00.000-07:00

Last engg. gyam on the 18th - tuesday . Will be back to blogging full time after that .

da STIFFmaester

2004-05-14T00:54:00.000-07:00

The electorate has spoken .

No one could have predicted the results of Gen. elections 2004 . Not psephologists , not politicians , not even astrologers .

So how did this happen ? 2 months ago , the India Today opinion poll was giving the NDA a landslide 330 seats in parliament . They were riding on a wave of India Shining and the feel good factor . A lotta factors were in favour of the NDA . A good monson which had placated most farmers who constitute perhaps he largest electorate in the country . Strong performance of the country's major bourses , record foreign investment and a budgeoning forex reserve had made the industry optimistic and in a mood tto give the grand old man of Indian politics another shot at power . The service sector was growing at a pace unmatched by any other country in the world , and being the largest sector of the Indian economy , many of India's millions were direct benificiaries of this growth . So net net , the mood in the country appeared to be pretty optimistic , which is always good for the incumbent government .

And now THIS ??????

I was watching this interesting poll discussion on NDTV a few days ago , I think it was after the second phase of polling , which was predicting a hung parliament with the NDA getting about 260 seats . And this interseting graphic on screen showed that the NDA's tally according to opinion polls had taken a dramatic dip from 290+ to under 270 in a matter of just 1 DAY . This was Lalji Tandon's birth day , the day on which about 20 innocent women were crushed to death in the infamous saree distribution stampede . Ill just bet Lalji Tandon is avoiding most senior BJP functionaries for now , because he appears to be the most likely scapegoat in this fiasco for the NDA .

I feel pretty low after this result . Its not that Im a diehard BJP supporter or any thiung , but I am a huga fan of ABV . I think that he is one of the greatest PMs we have ever had , along with Indira Gandhi . Dont ask me why , but I wouldnt put Nehru up there with the two of them . ABV is a true statesman . The way he graciously accepted defeat and promised to "work with" the new congress govt. says it all . Here is a man who has given his entire life to public service . Under his leadership , India has gone from strength to strength in so many fields . I cant help but feel sorry that the electorate has rejected all his accomplishments of the past 5 years in such a manner .

But Im also looking to the future . Im not very comfortable with Sonia Gandhi as our new PM , not because she is of foreign origin , but because she is a novice and because in her early days in India , she never considered herself to be an Indian . This assumption is based on that article in the Indian Exp. abt how she had Italian security guards to protect her children , bcoz " SHE DIDNT TRUST RAW " .
But its not in my hands . Im optimistic that economic reforms will continue bcoz of the presence of Manmohan Singha and P.Chidambaram in the Congress high command , both of whom have proved to be excellent Finance Ministers in the past . Eco. reforms may slow down for a year , bcoz of teh presence of the Left in the new govt. , but Im sure it will pick up after a year , bcoz u cant keep Singh and Chidambaram , the faces of economic reform , down .

So lets wait and watch . Will reforms continue ? Will the interests of the Industry and the middle class be sacrificed to placate farmers and labour ? Will this govt. continue for more than a year ?

Only time will tell .......

da STIFFmaester

2004-05-11T07:12:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhhhhh ,

back after 3 days of wild partying and chillaxing with friends . And id now like to post my entire CAT experiences on my blog , for those interested CAT aspirants .

Ever wondered what CAT is trying to test ?????

The English in the VA+RC section is standard day to day english . You needn;t be a Shakespear to understand it . While the GRE tests you with wierd words like phlegmatic , excoriate and tepid , the CAT does not require you to read n number of word lists . You just need a knowledge of std. english , grammar and need a reasonably good reading speed for RCs .
The math in the PS section is not IITJEE or GATE level . It is standard 10th -12th math , that you would have found way too easy 4 years ago .

So why do the IIMs test you with such basic stuff ???

Because they aren'ttesting our math and english i nthe first place . Eng. and Math are just TOOLS used to test more important parameters , namely :

> Ability to handle pressure ( 1.5 L students -> 1200 seats )
> Ability to priorotise ( 150 question , 2 hrs , choose the best questions )
> Ability to manage your time ( same , 150 Qs , 2 hrs )
> Decisiveness ( "Do I attempt this ques or not ??? " , " Shall I move on to the next section or not ??? " )

Net net , CAT seeks to determine if you have the necessary qualities to become a manager like ability to handle pressure , et all . VA , RC , Math , DI , LR are just tools to test these qualities . by giving you 150 questions that will ideally take 4 hrs to ans , and giving you 2 hrs instead , they are trying to test if you can decide which qs to attempt and which to leave .

But off course , you need a sound foundation in math and eng to tackle CAT . So here is how I went abt prepping .

June 25 : I started my BRMs . I couldnt till then coz of my GRE . Adv was I already know the word lists in and out , so the sentence completion ques in SIMs were a breeze .

I finished my brms by july end . I was reasonable confident with most of the quant problems in the BRMs by then . I didnt touch the VA and RC BRMs coz I didnt feel they were good , or worth it . I was already pretty good in VA and RC , so wanted to focus more on math and DI

Aug : I started work on the Part B material of IMS , with 5 sectional tests and 5 ACTs . I finished it pretty soon , and had a lotta time on hand b4 part C , so I contacted my IMS centre manager and got the previous year's PartBmaterial , and did most of that . Took a free TIME mockcat and did very well ,got AIR 105 or something .

Sep : I got IMS part C and finished that in 2 weeks . I jhad a lotta time coz I was bunking college like mad . I knew most of my profs pretty well and so attendence wasnt a problem . So had a lotta free time at home . SIMs had started and I BOMBED in the SIM1 . Was devastated after I got my rank : 2,000 outta 50,000 . i realized it was coz I was too tense in the SIM . Decided to chill out after that and took the SIMs easy .

Oct : Had finished most of the Math BRMs and was only taking tests . Halfway through this month , I had to slow down on CAT coz univs were starting . And like every other engineer worth his salt , I hardly follow any thing during the sem and I only study in the last 15 days . So CAT prepps slowed down . Was taking like 2 tests a week at best . But I took most of the TIME tests , which I feel are the most CAT like you can get . IMS SIMs are not very CAT like , and thats why I used to look back and feel that I should have joined TIME . All; you IIM hopefulls , take lotta TIME tests , very CAT like .

Nov : Tenshun rises . Univs in full swing . Was only taking tests . Revised formulae a week before CAT . and 3 days before CAT.............I stopped everyting and chillaxed .

No use telling u guiys how I prepped for the leaked CAT , coz u probably wont have that Dec- Feb period .

But I must say , fundae must be learnt in 1st month . From August onwards , take tests like mad . ANd analyse them a lot . 2 hr test = 4 hr analysis . Do all the PS problems and see if you can find shortcuts . Screw all this speed math . I didnt use it and neither did so many ppl I know . Its not needed . And read a lotta books , itll inc ur reading speed .

For DI , do a lot of simple calculations at home . Do 4 digit multiplication and time yourself , try to inc your calc speed . It works wonders for DI . But mainly , try to evolve a strategy to attempt teh test . Order of sxns , questions , etc .

All the best for CAT-2004 guys . Hope to see a lot of you at IIMB next yr . Post if you have any doubts . Or mail me . Ill do my best to ans them .

da STIFFmaester

2004-05-08T03:26:00.000-07:00

And after a occupying the hearts of millions of fans all over the world for a decade , FRIENDS finally came to an end in the US . Ive asked Roach for the entire 10th season on CD and I will be spending the better part of next week watching them .

I took this nice quiz to see which chaaracter in friends I resemble . I was plesantly surprised with the results !!!!

I'm Chandler Bing from Friends!

Take the Friends Quiz here.

created by stomps.

So there it is . Im happy that the friends character I resemble most is also my favourite character on Friends . And come to think of it , I do resemble him in several ways . People who know me and read this blog , feel free to comment on the above observation .

da STIFFmaester

2004-05-07T12:01:00.000-07:00

Life is beautiful !!!

Success at last . The last year flashes by in my mind . All the stupid Barrons word lists , Princeton , Kaplan , Powerprep , etc tests , GRE are all a distant memory . All those BRMs , Sectional tests , SIMs , MOCKs , etc have paid off , coz .......

I AM NOW A PART OF THOSE ELITE MANAGERS IN THE MAKING !!!

I HAVE MADE IT TO IIMB

Actually , I have made it to 4 IIMs , the IIMs at Bangalore , Lucknow , Kozhikode and Indore . These are the 4 IIMs that choose to call me for the GDs and PIs . In addition , I also converted my XLRI and SPJ calls .

I applied to 8 institutes , the 6 IIMs , XLRI and SPJ . Got calls from 6 ( A and C said bugger off , Id like to take this opportunity to say the same to them :-) ) . And you know what , I converted all 6 calls . So thats a 100% call to conversion rate . Pretty good if I may say so myself . Excuse me if I sound a little cocky or smug , but I think Ive earned the right to be a little proud of my achievements . And I am . Im extremely proud . This is without a doubt , the greatest day in my life . Ive waited for this day for years - making it into one of ABC on the first attempt is a dream come true . And this summer is gonna be the PARTY summer !!!!!!

There is not a shread of doubt in my mind as to which institute I will join . Its IIMB all the way . Its my dream institute . Watch out Bangalore !!!!!! The STIFFmaester is on his way :-) .

On a more serious note , this is the culmination of a year of hard work . Im not ashamed to say I worked hard . Many guys , some in my coll. too , once they get their admits will have the gall to say " Macchan , I didnt even study da . I just went and wrote CAT for the heck of it . I just got calls " . Well , balls to you guys . I know how much you chapps prepped . Dont put scene . I prepped hard , and Im proud of it .

For all you prospective B schoolers , dont believe all the hooey that some ppl who get into IIM will tell you abt their preparation . I will be the first person to agree that there are some people who can get into IIM with minimum preppin , say a month or so . But these people are few and far apart . MOst of the junta who clear CAT are those who followed a sustained study program . You needn't even go to class . Just get some study material from your seniors , and follow a study plan . I wasnt too structured . There were days when I didnt study at all , and days when I studied 12 hrs . Set a weekly quota and strive to meet it . Dont listen to guys tell you of how they belled the CAT without prepping at all . These are usually people who feed on adulation to inflate their egos . They must have prepped as much as the other guy .

Im not saying you need to study your ass off for a year . Its an aptitude test , and given 4 hrs , any TDH can crack it . When I say studying for CAT , I mean taking tests and fine tuning your strategy . You cant walk into an exam hall without any idea as to how you will attempt the paper . here are some things you will have to focus on :

> Order of sections
> Time per section
> Maximum time per question
> Preferred order of question ( RC first -> Fill inthe blanks next -> and so on)
> Shading techniques ( one by one or block transfer , I advise one by one )
> Hail Mary - ie : ( If things go disastrously wrong , what to do without screwing the entire exam )
etc etc

I took at least 50 tests before I walked into the exam hall on DDay . Im not saying you have to do the same . I wanted to take 50 to feel confident . If 30 suits you , do so . But Prepping for CAT is more about taking tests , rather than studying fundae . Fundae must be mastered in the first month or so ,and then revised off and on . But other than that , its tests all the way .

There is only one thing more important than taking a test , and that is analysing the test . Initially , I hardly bothered analysing my test . I glanced through it for half an hour and called it an analysis . It was advise from a friend and fellow CAT boy that made me start analysing my tests . FOr every 2 hr test , I started analysing for 3-4 hrs . I worked out eery quant prob , to see if there were shorted ways . And it did wonders .I attribute my Qt and DI percentiles of 99.46 and 99.81 to this . Follow this guys , itll help you immensly .Because doing well in these 2 sections is not about whether you can solve a problem , its about how fast you can solve it .

And my last peice of advice is , chill out . Tension decreases your productivity in a test . So chill guys , in a test and in life . It works wonders . I should know .

da STIFFmaester

2004-05-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

The day of reckoning is at hand .

At this very moment , I am sitting on my bed , leaning against the wall and typing my latest musing on the Laptop , coz my PC is totally screwed up . This will be my last musing before my future is revealed to me in the morn . Got info from a very very reliable source that the IIMB results will DEFINATELY be out tomorrow . And before they do , I want to spill out all my feelings and pent up frustrations .

I worked my ass off for CAT . Getting into an IIM is not something I planned this year or last or the year before . Heck , Ive been wanting to go too an IIM(ABC off course) ever since I was in 8th std . How exactly I became interested in management is something I dont exactly remember . But one thing I am very sure of , I have never wanted any thing in my life as badly as I want this , to get into one of ABC .

These past few days I have been surrounded by conflicting emotions . Sometimes I am pretty optimistic . I tell myself " Chill out Nikhil , look at all that you have going in your favour , you have 99.78 in CAT , which IMHO is an excellent score , you have 87% acads in your Engineering program , you are 2nd in your class of 66 , you have a long list of certificates in extra currics , you have held numerous posts of responsibility in both school and college , you had a good GD and a very good PI ------ just chill out and take it cool ".

And then sometimes I become very dull and morose . I tell myself - " Yeah I have all those credentials , but that didnt get me AC calls did it ? I had 99.78 in CAT with a V/Qt/DI split of 95 , 99.5 , 99.8 and I still didnt get AC calls . One chap with 84 in Verbal ( fresher too ) got an A call . SO dont tell me that my 95 in verbal disqualified me from A and C . And what's with C ??? They are supposed to be QT/DI strong , and Ive got very high scores in those 2 sections . So if you didnt get AC with that score , you need not necessarily convert B even with so many things going in your favour " was what I used to tell myself .

But most of the time I tried to get the whole IIM thing off my mind and went out with my friends , who were a very good distraction from this whole affair . But all that is past . Tomorrow IIMB will declare their results , and I will know whether I have suceeded or failed in my endevour .

The day of reckoning is at hand . Lord only knows what the future has in store for me .

da STIFFmaester

2004-05-05T12:38:00.000-07:00

What is with MMJ and his minions ????

There are a billion zillion gajillion problems facing this country and a shit load of them pertain to the state of education . With only a little more than half the population capable of reading and writing , the state of primary and secondary education in this country is at best , laughable , at best . At worst , it is downright pathetic . The problem is not with the thousands of private schools in cities and towns . These schools provide an excellent education to urban Indians . It is these Indians who are resposible for creating the impression in international circles that India has an excellent school system that produces hardworking bright kids who have mastered Bernoulli's theorem and Schrodinger's wave equation even before they learn how to ride a bike .

If we come to the state of primary education in rural areas ............. the less said the better . The education that these people recieve is so poor that it cant even be called an education . "HOW THE F*** DO YOU KNOW , YOU HAVEN'T STUDIED IN A VILLAGE " you may ask . BUt I had a servant who studied in a village in TN . Very intelligent chap - now working as an electrician . But he's told me a shit load of stories of how teachers hardly show up in schools and in some cases the same teacher handles all subjects . And it is not an exagerration to extrapolate this to most of the thousands of primary and sec. schools in rural areas in this country .

But let me get to the point . The point is , instead of spending their precious financial resources on improving the state of edu. in rural india , these buggers in the HRD ministry are wasting the taxpayer's money on subsidising MBA students in India'a premier B-Schools . We are talking about students who will be commanding starting salaries of 6-7 lakhs p.a on an average when they graduate . After all , a measly 3 lakhs is a small investment , considering the returns you can get once you graduate .Some people have the gall to say that many deserving students are reluctant to write CAT because they think that they will not be able to afford the fee , eveb if they do get in . Helloo !!!!!! - ever heard of something called a student loan ???? If these people haven't , they can go suck crow . Some people even have the gall to say that they shouldnt even be expected to take a loan - that all forms of education must be affordable . Excuse me - but Socialism is dead . Ever heard of Capitlism and the free market ? If you are deserving and cant afford it , then you jolly well take a loan . Dont expect an MBA program to cost as much as a bar of chocolate . And the crux of the issue is , the MBA students themselves do not want the fee to be reduced , because they know what'll happen if it is . Let me illustrate a possible scenario :

> Fee is reduced
> IIMs have to depend on Govt. funding
> Govt. gets greater say in how the money is used
> Reduces faculty salary ( which is already low)
> Good faculty leave for private B schools
> Govt. asks for increased intake from 1200 to 3000 - every TDH now gets into IIM
> Brand IIM goees for a six
> Govt. increases reservation in IIMs
> Removes GD/PI as a selection tool , and all sorta people who cant communicate to save their lives get into B school and become managers .
> Corporate India , shocked by the poor qualty of students , decides to stay away from the IIMs .

And the fact of the matter is , this is a VERY LIKELY scenario .

I think this whole project has been masterminded by some IAS officers who cant stand the fact that IIM grads make 10 times the money that these guys do , and want to see the IIMs put in their place . It is also very likely , that some niece or nephew of MMJ or some senior beaurocrat may have failed to make it to an IIM , despite getting a high score in CAT , maybe because of poor GDPI .

Now this is where the IIMs must wake up and take corrective action . They already have a reputation of being elitist , which I have no problem with . But all these socialists cant stand the concept of meritocracy . The highly subjective nature of the selection procees is not doing the IIMs any good either . What they can to do to increase the transparency in the selection process , is to reveal what is the exact algorithm they use to select . Obviously , you cant scrap GDPI . But what is the harm in revealing what the weightage of each selection parameter is ?? If GDPI weightage is 30 , then tell us it is 30 . Then at least those who cant communicate effectively can try to compensate in some other parameter , like CAT score or acads or maybe extra currics .

Bottom line is , revealing weightage isnt going to bring the entire selection process crashing down on their heads . If any thing , it is going to make the job of the student easier , bcoz he will now know what are the areas he will have to focus on to get into an IIM . The IIMs calim to have a transparent selection process - About time they walk their talk . This will serve to improve their image , and reduce some of the gripes that people have against the IIMs IMHO.

da STIFFmaester

2004-05-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from the greatest book ever written - The Godfather

What manner of men are we then , if we do not have our reason ? We are all no better than beasts in a jungle if that were the case . But we have reason , we can reason with each other and we reson with ourselves . To what purpose would I start all these troubles again , the violence and the turmoil ? My son is dead , and that is a misfortune and I must bear it , not make the innocent world around me suffer with me . And so I say ,I give my honour , that I will never seek vengence , I will never seek knowledge of the deeds that have been done in the past . I will leave here with a pure heart .

Let me say that we must always look to our interests . We are all men who have refused to be fools , who have refused to be puppets dancing on a string oulled by the men on high . We have been fortunate here in this country . Already most of our children have found a better life . Some of you have sons who are professors , scientists , musicians , and you are fortunate . Perhaps your grandchildren will become the new PEZZONOVANTI . None of us here want to see our children in our footsteps , it's too hard a life . They can be as others , their position and security won by our courage . I have grandchildren now and I hope their children may someday , who knows , be a governor , a President , nothing's impossible here in America . But we have to progress with the times . The time is past for guns and killings and massacres . We have to be cunning like the business people , there's more money in it and it's better for our children and our grandchildren .

As for our own deeds , we are not responsible to the .90 calibers , the PEZZONOVANTTIS who take it upon themselves to decide what we shall do with our lives , who declare wars they wish us to fight in to protect what they own . Who is to say we should obey the laws they make for their own interest and to our hurt ? Abd who are they then to meddle when we look after our own affairs . We will manage our world for ourselves because it is our world , COSA NOSTRA . And so we have to stick together to guard against outside meddlers . Otherwise they will put the ring in the nose of all the millions of Neapolitans and other Italians in this country .

For this reason I forgo my vengence for my dead son , for the common good . I swear now that for as long as I am responsible for the actions of my Family , there will not be one finger lifted against any man here without just cause and utmost provocation . I am willing to sacrifice my commercial interests for the common good . This is my word , this is my honour , there are those of you here who know that I have never betrayed either .

But I have selfish interest . My youngest son had to flee , accused of Sollozzo's murder , and that of a police captain . I must now make arrangement so that he can come home with safety , cleared of all those falso charges . That is my affair and I will make those arrrangements . I must find the real culprits perhaps , or perhaps I must convince the the authorities of his innocence , perhaps the witnesses and informants will recant their lies . But again I say that this is my affair and I believe I will be able to bring my son home .

But let me say this . I am a superstitious man , a ridiculous failing , but I must confess it here . And so if some unlucky accident should befall my youngest son , if some police officer should accidently shoot him , if he should hang himself in his cell , if new witnesses appear to testify to his guilt , my superstition will make me feel that it was the result of the ill will still borne me by some people here . Let me go further . If my son is struck by a bolt of lightning I will blame some of the people here . If his plane should fall into the sea or his ship sink beneath the waves of he ocean , if he should catch a mortal fever , if his automible should be struck by a train , such is my superstition that I will blame the ill will felt by people here . Gentleman , that ill will , that bad luck , I could never forgive . But aside from that , lt me swear by the souls of my grandchildren that I will never break the peace we have made . After all , are we or are we not better men than those PEZZONOVANTI who have killed countless millions of men in our lifetimes ?

Thus spaketh the Don - Don Corleone .

Absolutely breathtaking .The greatest fictional speach ever made .

da STIFFmaester