Oh man I messed up my Business Assimilation Paper. I hope I pass. I have to! I did well in my seminar and now I have my Quarter book which I have to submit on Monday. My Quarter book will have to save me. I have been counting how many I would get and it turns to be 5/25 at this moment! I had taken a business quiz earlier and fell in the category that though I do know what’s happening in the Business World, I don’t pay attention to details: names, places, dates etc. Now I can see why you have to know this. What is the new product in the market, watch movies just to know which brands sponsored them…

I think from next trim onwards I am going to start the quarter book from day one. At least on a weekly basis write 5 articles on what’s the latest buzz in the market. The thing is a lot of research has to go in before you can write anything. Like to make a write up on MITTAL ARCELOR I spent 2 hours reading at least five articles from different magazines to get all the view points.

Yesterday night, I watched Legally Blonde, the first part and I must say I enjoyed it very much. It’s peppy and funny and in lot’s of ways motivating. People will stereotype you based on your hair, looks, language or religion but at the end, you will win against all odds if you believe in yourself.

And that I do.

Back from Chennai. The US visa interview was simple and short. I suppose since 10 students had already been interviewed so by the time our turn came the officers were quite friendly and chit chatted with us. We will be going on a B1 visa. For my Indian friends the issuance visa was $50 but its valid for 10 years! That's so cool and for me, being a Kenyan it turned out to be $20 however, validity is just a year. In future, when I have to go again, I will have to go through the reapplication once more... quite a hassle, but let's see when and if I get to go again.

The itinerary has been finalized. We will be leaving from New Delhi on the 29th of September. It will be a non-stop 18 hours flight to Newark International Airport. Our accommodation has been arranged at the Holiday Inn International Airport, Newark. Thank God it’s quite near to EWR as we would be frazzled out. 1st of October would be free so I suppose we would settle in, do some sight seeing. I am already checking out the tourist attractions and museumsJ. Call me an oldie, but I believe Museums call tell you a lot about a place and it’s people.

We get down to business from 2nd. The companies we will be going to are NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange), UGA Global, Dow Company, Sanofi Aventis, Citigroup and the UN. These are in New York. In Washington DC we will be visiting the World Bank, IMF and IFC. A good mix of commercial and financial institutions. A lot of foreground work will have to be done on each company, the history, business practices etc before leaving for USA. I will begin once I’m done with my trim exams on the 20th September.

Alright then let me go and prepare for my Micro Economics paper. It’s at 10.00 am and I have 3 hours to go. Take care... Till next time.

I was blessed today because I went to the Management Accounting examination quite disheartened. I wasn't confident about the Cash Flow, Fund Flow, Inventory and Budget chapters and was really sure I won't do well. I was relying on Ratio Analysis. The paper turned out to be quite a surprise where all my previous work on accounts helped me. Alhamdullilah I could answer almost all... Apart from break even point. I forgot the formula is Fixed costs/contribution and was taking it to be sales/contribution. No complains though, at least I could answer the rest.

Tomorrow is Marketing Research paper... I pray it goes well. Dev and I studied the question paper... We had to use our heads to find out which marketing research technique would be the best and why. I must say I love the course once again. I like the team work and applying our thoughts. InshaAllah I will keep on rebrushing my knowledge till I am quite confident. For now, let me understand the errors that can happen in sampling. Ciao!

Well the previous post was written days ago before the exams. So what’s up?

a) I am going to USA
b) I got through AIESEC. The call was all mine. AIESEC scholarship for two months in any country or GOTA programme to USA. Now that I write it, AIESEC makes more sense, but hey since I have been selected, I become a member of AIESEC and I can try for the internship as well. Why let go of USA. As of now, that’s my plan. Let’s see what happens. I already have an internship awaiting so either ways, I’m set.
c) Exams have begun and as usual my ‘4 hours before the exam’ strategy continues to work. Tomorrow is a paper I don’t ‘fear’ but not particularly found of it either..
d) Going to Chennai on the 9th. The Visa interview is scheduled for 11th. I will miss the Marketing Management and Calculus papers… in other words, while everyone celebrates on the 18th (Last exam), I will still be writing till the 20th. It can be taken as a blessing in disguise for God knows how much time I need for MM.
e) My sis got 1290 in GRE and she is still not happy! By I don’t think I told you guys that she topped TOEFL. She got somewhere 96% if I am not wrong with a real good grade point in essay. I hope she gets her MS seat in whichever university she wants. Ask me which uni won’t want her! J

Conclusion: I am going to peek in the financial management books and find out what accounts is. Tc..N catch u soon!

I am not really up and out. Exams start from monday and so far, books have not been touched. What am I going to do? My whole self - body, mind and soul refuses to come out of this lethargy. For sometime, it's as though I am in this dark hole with no inclination to come out.

Alright, now that i have put that depressing picture in your mind, My case study was appreciated and in Prof.Sayan's words "There are few times in my life that I have been left speechless, and this is one of them" now Prof.Sayan is tough to please and coming that from him is wow! So that was the high point last week.

I got to the final round of AIESEC and feel that my interview went really good. Ofcourse. you never know the result becuase we were nine of us and all of them good. LOL Priyanko was real down. It seems they gave him some puzzels and he told them "What is this all that you've given me to do" Have to admit, he is nuts. Sharay as usual was sarcastic at my confidence, that's his style. Anyways, so it's either USA or AIESEC wherever they may post me and after talking to few of my family members and professors, I have with great difficulty let go of AIESEC option. Ha ha, this is before I even know whether I am selected or not.. but now it doesn't matter and I do hope Harsha get's it. He has the charm and personality to represent our college anywhere in the world.

I am off to make the DD for the Visa appointments tomorrow morning. Sir still hasn't let me know what is the outcome of AIESEC and really I am done waiting. (Little cranky today) Will be going once again to Chennai for the day to attend the interview and come back the next day for my exam. Gosh this is crazy! and I love it!

I have made a resolution to write down at least something everyday no matter how little. so here goes. The Micro test was a comedy! The Xerox department lost the question sheet and maam read out the Quiz for us. We selected was seemed closestly the not so confusing answer and the probable answer only to find out that I got all of them wrong! HAHA apart from two ofcourse. Shame on me! :) but can't help but laugh at the hilarious situation because I was not alone. The rest of the class was in the same boat.

We had management auditing class as our final class for management accounting. Most of the class I was not concentrating and neither was Dev. Both of us had just met Rahman's family and his mother was crying uncontrollably. Seeing her suffering I lost my cool. It was just heart breaking. Thankfully, Prof.Jagdish understood our emotional stance. He also was also shocked when he heard about Rahman. Rahman was one of his good students. Loosing a good student, Loosing a best friend, Loosing a son, somehow the loss has no end.

I decided to study in the library till 9.00 p.m and I must admit that I have fallen in love with my library. I simply adore it. It's relatively small than that of Christ College..way smaller but there is coziness which is smoothing. Group of students discussing their assignments and projects and suddenly they will crack a joke and laugh out. Maam will scold them like a loving mother to keep quite but the students will end up making her join in their fun. I like sitting at the far end among the shelves of books... and yeah, you guessed it, I sit near all the philosophical, motivational books. haha.. I can't help it guys. Philosophy and I are ... (I'm working on my vocabulary ;) )

We have the AISEC prelims tomorrow and let's see what it holds. I have made my resume but my SOP still needs to be done. As far as the case study goes... 4.00 am I start. This is what I really hate about myself. Last minute or Just in time management. I hate it like anything and I am still to break the habit. Tips! Anyone please!

As of now : Kwaheri, Lala salama {Goodbye, sleep well :) }

Life became a roller coaster ride for me the next two weeks. I won the Best Manager 2006 title in my college, and competitions like debate, flip back, creative writing etc.

I completed the Art of Living course, learnt a few useful breathing techniques and useful gyan. It was a fun-filled course where I got to interact with my seniors and other section students.

I went to Chennai and represented my college for the ICFAI Coliseum 2006 B-school fest. It was a wonderful exposure and will remain the two most wonderful days of my life.

I lost my best friend in a bike accident, a loss which will be felt all throughout my life. You may have noticed that I am become rather silent lately, All I can say is that I have become a new person today thanks, to my dear friend. He left me with a valuable lesson - Don't take life for granted. Each day, each hour, each min, each second counts.

My trimester ends on 25th August. I must have a year loads to study in 5 days before the exams and I really don't know how I'm going to manage. We are talking 16 subjects! Of which only 4 are ones I can manage with the skills picked up in class. Rest 12 need to be studied from foundation. My first trim has always been an experimental one where I learn 'what not to do' in order to survive and 2nd SEM I do 'what I need to do'. This is from my BCA experience because learning from my mistakes in 1st sem, in 2nd sem I topped the college wit 93.29% I still have a few days left so let's see. With all the assignments, sems, extra curriculums, studies have not been the top priority and that is lesson no 1. Fundamentals are most essentials. From today onwards I have no plans to ignore this golden rule.

I got selected to go to USA for my G.O.T.A (Global Opportunities and Threat Analysis) programme. This is the first year that IIPM has got the approval from USA. I am happy that I am getting this chance and I am sad because I will be the only one from my class, five from my center, rest all India and I might miss the Europe G.O.T.A programme which my classmates will undertake next year. They will be visiting Switzerland, Belgium or France.

I got reports from my friends that I topped the Ex-Com debate with 46/50 which according to me is less. I would have been happy on a 48 or 49. Otherwise, I messed up my CESD presentation on Kenya and the Microeconomics test after Rahman's demise. That day, the paper seemed nothing less than an alien. I have another major EX-COM presentation, a case study write-up, the financial analysis on Wipro, and 3 business plans. Not forgetting my 16 subjects.

And now enough of paragraphs starting with ‘I’s. Although starting with 'And' itself is incorrect, it sounds much better. Having updated all that has happened at a micro level, I will take leave now with a simple message.

"Take this day, as your last day".

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT seminar.
By Mrs. Sona Banerjee, Project Manager, SIEMENS. 8th July, 2006.

This was an interesting seminar! I could easily comprehend it due to my previous knowledge from System design and Analysis (2nd SEM BCA) and Software Engineering (5th SEM BCA). Mrs. Sona Banerjee gave us a comprehensive talk on how information systems are used in the industry and their importance. She also covered up the main syllabus on what MIS (Management Information System) is all about.

The Seminar covered:

Information Systems

The need for its development Alternatives to establishing information systems

System development controls Models of system development: Water fall, Prototype, Iterative, Spiral and V model.

Software Testing Tools and techniques for system development

Software quality assurance: ISO 9000 and SEI CMM levels and certifications

Our discussion and questions were based on the correct ERP packages available. Tally is supposed to be coming up with one soon and the difference between SAP (Simplified Access Protocol), Oracle and People soft. All in all, a very informative session.

The Art of Living Youth Empowerment Programme.

I will be starting off this programme soon in the coming week. I can't talk much on the programme as I am yet to start. I hope to benefit from it like the millions of other people have. For more information regarding what the course is all about do log on to http://www.artofliving.org/

Apart from the above programme, I have to coordinate the cartooning competition and it isn't as simple as it sounds. I just got to know that cartooning is a field on its own and it’s not how well an artist draws that matters but the idea behind his cartoons. Tomorrow I have the meet with our professors who are in charge of the talent hunt and lay out our execution plan. I have a Marketing Info seminar on GM's Hummer case, a comparative economic seminar on Kenya, The MR test that got postponed to this Thursday, my EX-COM talk which got cancelled last Monday and my studies for which I have to 'make' time. Writing all this I realize that I just don't have the time! If only I could buy it and make it more than 24 hrs. Now this is another thing MBA teaches you.. Time management and at the moment I am just a 7/10 for I get the work done but I still feel I can manage my time better. As for my Quantitative Technique survey, Prof. Dinesh was very happy with it. He volunteered to teach me how to use stats techniques in my analysis (Beyond what he is teaching in class) and even suggested me to go ahead and show my survey to the management. Now ain't that cool or what!

Already, I am now off to work away my Sunday so you guys take care and have a great week ahead!

Wow! 4 hrs of sleep and I ain’t complaining. Life sure seems to have changed for me. I have done night outs on computer projects though they were not as much fun as MBA projects. Now I actually enjoy it. Time is the greatest enemy I have to fight. I have so much to do and so little time.

My day started at 4.00 am. I revised my Marketing research notes and left for college at 7.00 am. At 8.30 am Prof. Tiwari came and gave us the choice of writing a 10 marks internal paper today or 25 marks next week. Those who were not confident of writing the test today opted for next week. What was the question for this week? Just your name! We will get 5 points extra and the test will be next week. I had heard of honesty and hard work pays but encountering it in real life is a little strange. I also realize I didn’t like not getting a test. Not being given the challenge of using my head. MR is a great subject. It is through research you can find out so many things. Long time back someone said,” Knowledge is power”, I object. It is in the APPLICATION of knowledge that POWER lays otherwise its just information. Information is your weapon. Use it wisely and you will win the war.

Linear programming was tricky! I can’t believe I didn’t trust myself enough. I knew there were 3 variables in LPP but I goofed up in more than 2 and more than 3. For both Qs I marked false while only more than 3 was false. I assume that is the only mistake I made but let’s see.At 4.00 pm we had our “30 best” event’s coordinators meet. I have been selected to coordinate the cartooning event and therefore have to come up with creative themes for the teams. At the same time prepare a judge sheet, select judges, organize the event and market the event! I have to make sure that I find every creative artist among the 180 students. Tough job? I don’t think so… I am getting a feeling on how HR planning works, searching for the right skills and recruiting them ;). Speaking of HR, My team was the only one who was close to the answer in today’s HR case study.

I am currently doing data entry for Prof. Dinesh’s probability class. I love his style of teaching. He tells you to forget the made up figures in the text book and collect live data. Live data which is relevant to our lives which we will have fun analyzing. Now that’s what I call a purple cow. Learning couldn’t have been anymore pleasurable.

I am off to enter my 100 samples. You take care and hey if anyone has cartooning ideas, themes, suggestions, please do let me know!

Ciao!

Branding Seminar by Mr.Kalyan Kumar,Area Marketing Manager (VAS), Hutch
Presented by 4p’s club in association with Hutch.


Today was an interesting day. We started off with a branding seminar by Mr.Kalyan Kumar where he specifically dealt in boarding advertisements. The thumb rule being keep them short and sweet. I had no idea hutch had gone from Orange to Pink. In fact as I was informed today, Orange collaboration with hutch is over and so Hutch has changed to pink and diesel color. Mr.Kalyan showed how a perfectly fine idea can get messed up with different people wanting different things. He showed Mona Lisa in various definitions and she ended up being uhhh.LOL.

As for Micro Economics quiz, Well I have to admit that quizzes do make you study and when you study your next class becomes much easier. Understanding supply elasticity was a piece of cake after demand elasticity. The paper was quite simple but tricky too. I assume that I have lost around 1 1/2 mark :( and well let's see. All in all, I learnt a lot. In a subjective test, you can blab away nonsense on your paper and get good marks. But in an objective test, if your concepts ain't clear, you’re down the confusion lane. As one of my English professors said "If you think, you're lost, if you're lost, you're wrong". You should be able to spot the answer right away.

Tonight I have two case studies to do. On Dear Mr.Vora and Company and 'The purple cow’. I must admit that though the purple cow theory is new and exciting, it really won't work in Kenya, or would it? In my country, People have all the time to listen to what you are selling, but they don't have the purchasing power. So what can we do? And to answer my questions I plan to do a case study of my CESD on Kenya. So far our group is made and this time we are going to do our ultimate best.

Oh by the way, due to a bandh, our school was closed down and so my EX-COM seminar will be next week. I have got 7 days to master my dialogues but have to say, acting isn't as simple as it looks. Not only do you have a set of dialogues (you can't speak what comes to your mind) but you have to say it so naturally! Ok ok... I know you're confused but I will let you in my secret only after my presentation ;)

Till next time, au revior.

Hey!! Oh my God I am really bad at this blogging stuff. In 2 years I have only said hi. Well this post will definitely be posted! Hehe

So what's up? Oh loads and loads and loads. As I have been able to email only a few of you, guys I started my MBA!! Finally. And what do I feel? It’s FANTASTIC! AWESOME! EXCELLENT! This is my calling. I love the subjects; I love the challenge, the projects and the seminars. I love the industry interface and the clubs. I love my classmates and professors.

Currently I have 16 subjects which keep me busy all throughout the day. And every other day we have a guest at college and these lectures are enlightening. Remember Art of living and how much I wanted to do it. Well guess what!! They came down to college and conducted a seminar which was real good. However, having attended Landmark's Programme I liked LP better. Though each offer a different set of tools. Art of living foundation concentrates on your breathing techniques to maximize your productivity (Spoken like a true MBA :)). InshaAllah, I plan to do the course too.

Today I have my EX-COM seminar and my topic is "Black is black and white is white" and I stand against it. Hopefully it should go great guys! My colleagues think I will bang 50/50 and that adds up the pressure.

All in all, MBA is great. After studying computers and banging my left side of the brain, I am glad I am getting to exercise my right side too. My college is ... I just don't have words for it. For the first time in my life I ask myself why the class ended! It’s the whole combination of my kind of subjects, excellent professors and the wonderful environment.

so I am off to another great day and wish you the same! :-)