Yea Ok

I truly and deeply hate it when there are a gazillion things to do to get a useless degree and you don't want to do any of them. Not one. And the best part is, no other college is any better. Some are far worse off.

Some things I don't like and MBA has:
a) PPTs (presentations)
b) Cases
c) More or less pointless assignments (I think SMBDP assignments would be useful...but I don't understand that stuff)
d) Mandatory attendances
e) Lectures after which I know I learnt nothing
f) People who like all of the above
g) People who don't trust others
h) Closed book Exams
i) Awfully high importance to placements and grades
j) There's nothing here about anything I wanted to learn. All the good stuff, I can do only outside the course hours and stuff (brilliant talks, real projects). This course is about making money. Urm, maybe I took the wrong course and have no right to blame anyone. Whatever.
k) ...and oh, add to it frikkin' lectures at 8 frikkin' AM.

Some things I like and MBA has:
a) Urm..... DC?
b) Not opening a book and still be able to lurch along.
c) Some fun people

Some things I wish MBA had:
a) Any level of focus on real issues. So much so that a prof used to kid, "If I hear anyone tell me 'but in real life', that's all..."
b) Anything that's fun to learn. No, I am not talking about movie making and stuff. Even with interesting subjects, the academic procedures around them make them hell.
c) Want to go out there, change something and say 'See, I did this.'

So people, when you ask 'hey how's college?' and I say 'yea ok', don't push it any further :)

Phoebe: What's with all this negativity?

Nitrodamus: Oh cut the crap already.

Chandler: Can this get any more boring?

Meet Cruyell Corfin

Lights all around! This was an occasion... The Survivor Series! Thousands cheering.

TING.

Announcer: "Round 3. Survivor Series. Corfin vs Aswin."

Urm... this could get difficult now...

Corfin was the boxing champ from America, and he'd busted innumerable people before I met him for the championship. 19 people were knocked out in his last season and many others barely crawled out of the ring.

Corfin smiled, and I knew from the look in his eyes that he was just waiting for the referee to back out so that he could launch at me. This bloody round would go on for 1 hour 15 minutes!

Round 1 was pretty much one-sided. I should admit I was taken by surprise. I expected this guy to be no better than his cousin from Italy and champion there, Freaky Finac. I won against him pretty easily despite the hype, and I must thank my coach for that, and expected to break Corfin's nose in the first round. Within a minute in Round 1 this time, I knew I was lost. Had a punch on my left ear that floored me and missed a tooth soon afterwards. Managed to score 8 miserable points against his 50.

The referee backed out. As expected, he went for a right hand swing to my ear. Ha, you can't knock me cold with that every single time, Cruyell Corfin! I ducked out just in time and was looking for his next move. His defences were strong; so, I had to understand his attacks and find a weakness there...

Round 2 was slightly better, as in, I could walk at the end of it and my world wasn't spinning around me. It was still a below average performance from me, largely because my coach here was right plain dumb. With all my experience, I managed to block most of his attempts and even hit him on the face once. At the end of it, I knew I needed a different coach for runtime help and asked the awesome PCN to analyse the game so far. Got a few techniques and was running through them in my mind...

(...back to present moment.)

(SWING!) Duck, duck, duck! (WHIZZ!) Whew, that was close! (SWOOSH!) Ha ha, Corfin, you missed! That shot was waaay off target! Wait, where's your other ha... (BAM!) *Birds chirping* I think I just swallowed a tooth. Damn.

Where am I? Oh yeah, here he comes. Ha, he's going for the practice scenario repeat! This could be my lucky day! Come on, Corfin... ZAP! Got him, ha! Wait, he's got more up his sleeve. Block, (ZAP!), Block you useless hand (ZAP! WHAM! BANG! THUD!), Block (POW!) Block (WHAM!) Block (ZING!) Help (BANG! THUD! WHAM!) The round's (KERPOW!) over, darnit! (BOOM!) Hit (CRUNCH!) the (OUCH!) bell!

TING.

Phew...

Another round in his favour. I've to knock him out clean in the fourth and final round to get through...but the question remains... HOW!?

*To be continued*

The several phases of the first term...

Jun 21 to 29, 2010: The "Now is when I should start studying!" phase

Entering a college after three years, what with that being ranked as one of the best in India... The 'Cream of the country' had a rough time on an average, with people made to run around all day and night-the Orientation week. "I came here to study, I don't have time for these things", many people tell you - Awesome, you think. Real people who want to study! You wonder if you could be like that, like ever! Then, classes start on the 28th. You do the readings for the first day and walk in to the class with your head held high, thinking 'Heck, I am a padips...'

Yes, the phase lasts for a mere two days from there.

Jun 30 2010 till sometime in late July 2010: The "Tomorrow is when I'll start studying" phase

Amidst assignments, classes, cases and stuff, You forget that you have books to read. You'd always want to hit the bed or read some novel, wondering when you'll start writing your book. People study all night and you watch sitcoms all night. This is the phase you are branded as belonging to a particular set of students, some groups being DMLs (merit list fellows), studs, dark horses, cool dudes and dumbos. And oh, this is the phase when most people begin to stop attending phone calls.

Sometime in July to mid August 2010: The "... .... When will I start studying?" phase

Mid terms come running at you and you are nowhere near prepared. The guys who had put all-nighters till date continue to do so and that scares you a bit. The 'Will I Pass?' syndrome attacks you and you frantically search for your books and decide that you'll be better prepared for the end term. You realize that you do not know what day or date it is and don't know what happens outside the stone arch campus. You also remind yourself that you should buy a high-end camera within the end of the term. The mid terms come and go and you feel that you haven't done that badly. The results come and tell you that you did badly. You calculate your Return on investment to be near infinity (near zero investment) and convince yourself that you are better than the others. The branding into the dumbo group is near complete.

Mid August 2010 to  September 7 2010: The "... .... .... Will I start studying?" phase

Whatay! The term is almost over and all my resolutions to study are down the drain. You've already bunked several classes and you strategise your attendance for the rest of the term. You realize that you attended all the classes in, at max, one subject and you're not confident about that subject either. You realize that you've learnt a lot, which you'd have done anyway, even if you had not come here. In fact, you had read more about Organisations and Economics before coming here. You curse the system and say it should be more practical and more an environment for 'learning', at least at this level. Group projects, presentations,individual assignments, presentations and ta da, you are at the gate of the end term examinations. 

Oh, You should probably get back to that finacc group case. Bye bye.

September 8, 2010 - Sep 12, 2010: ??? 

*To be updated*

MBA, MBA...

This is about the course in general. Will this sad story change at least in the second year? Stay tuned for more info... like if I'll do it in the first place.

S No	What I thought it would be	What it is - at least for now
1	A series of lectures for each subject, well planned out, of which I can attend whatever I want.	Miss six classes and you are one grade down the CGPA hill.
2	Let the CGPA rot in hell. Who cares?	You don’t have an extra year’s tuition fee in hand, do you?
3	I don’t have to study, I have to learn. Exams would be just case studies and assignments, no?	True in the case of only one subject (communication!). What’s more, you ask? You have to write things exactly as they are given in the book to clear a couple of subjects allegedly.
4	This is for people who are sure about what they want to do with their life and are here to build on it. Yes, this course is for those who are in love with the World.	This is ideal for people who have no clue about what they want to be, even ten days after getting the MBA, leave alone years. And oh, it's still better if you are frustrated with the outside world as a whole.
5	Get a lot of friends	Please, God, let this be true.
6	Meet a lot of girls (after three years of not speaking to anyone)	The problem wasn’t exactly with the working environment at my MNC, I guess...
7	A plethora of lectures outside the regular classes that I can attend every day.	Yea yea, there are a lot of lectures, true, but there’ll be a catch that would prevent you from attending them. Every one of them.
8	Sleep a lot, keep in touch with world news, attend (real) quizzes – and lose, becoming a better writer...	Ha, Ha, Ha.

Moral of the story: Never go by hearsay. Do your own damn research. 

PS:  People tell me it's worse everywhere else. Darn. I've done it again.

Through to IIMB... but do I wanna do the PGP?

Like I mentioned two years ago (that I will get into an IIM in 2010) and about one month back (that God wanted me to), I got into an IIM this year. Yea, Bangalore at that. Kinda freaks me out actually that the Nitrodamus in me was fully functional way back in 2008 with extremely accurate predictions.

But do I really want to go there?

FAQs to follow. ie. Questions frequently being asked by others (urm...not just others) given my current 'dilemma'.

"How many times do people get a chance to study at IIM-B?"

I know. But looks like I should give them 15L and two years of my time to get myself confined to a single campus. Should it not be the other way around? Even if it's with some of the greatest minds of the country? I have my doubts.

"Why did you try this in the first place?"

Now that I think of it, probably because of my hate towards IT. Probably not.

I do want to start my own company sometime, though. I like reading stuff related to that, and I guess there is no better place to learn about that..but paying back 15L is going to throw this out of balance, I suspect. I can as well use it to start one now, but heck which bank's gonna give even 1L to me to start my own publishing house or NGO? And take it lightly when it goes down the drain?

"You're gonna be so good at a lot of things after 2 years. The best in the country. You'll be working on so many assignments and presentations every day for two years that things you think you can never carry off now will be a cakewalk after two years."

I don't want to be the best in anything at all. Not even the best writer of Brindavan street 4th cross.

I don't want to conquer nature. I just want to enjoy being a part of this world. You know, laze around and stuff.

"You can't earn that way"

That's why you don't see me doing it.

"You can go back to this job after two years of IIMB if you like it so much."

Why should I leave it in the first place? And go back to it with a huge loan on my shoulder?

"IIMB. Some of the best lectures in the country. From some of the best brains..."

Very interesting, but worth two years and the hard work?

"Do you want to get married at all? This is your only chance!"

Much as I know that the IIM tag is probably my last chance of impressing any girl in this century, I don't think I really want to marry anyone. Yikes, I said it out loud, didn't I?

"What about your dream NGO? You need hell a lot of money to eradicate illiteracy in this country, dude!"

I know, but is this the way? at least one of the ways? How can I be sure?

"Sports Management, Politics... You could as well change the face of Indian football! Is that not another of your dreams?" 

Yea, but all the hard-work people are 'proud' of actually puts me off. I just want to write stories, you know.

"You're not the greatest writer"

I know.

"Anyway, looking at the profiles of people coming in with you, you will lose that laziness of yours just to keep pace with them, I think. Is that not a good enough reason?"

No. No. Nooo. Laziness is all that's kept me alive through all the rat races. I refuse to cooperate.

"Then you'll end up getting the last rank"

Who cares?

"You might not get a job then."

Oh.

"Remember this is at your Bangalore?"

Don't tempt me now. This is an unwanted question irrelevant to the current situation.

"Ooooo. Bangalore. The only IIM you've always respected."

That's probably because of the quizzes and the campus.

"Bangalore... The only 'city' with such a good climate."

Ha. Will somehow take a loan and buy a farmhouse in Coonoor or Calicut soon. Beat that.

"Bangalooooore... Family... Friends..."

Ok. I give in.

"Hey, you're supposed to resist."

Come on, you know that I really don't care about anything. Thinking about this exhausts me.

"What if you can't pay the loan back later?"

I'll try to pay the poor blokes back. If I can't, let them arrest me. Who really cares?

"Do you want to do it, then?"

Even if the whole thing is just a hyped up Gold-quest-like business done legally by the Govt to put people like me in a lotta debt, Yes.

"...but why?"

I have to do something in life, I guess. Evalavo panitom. Idha pana matoma?

-The End-