This time, unlike my last few blogs, I am playing with myself and keeping politics, economy, etc away.. well, that doesn't mean that I got rid of my contentious nature.. :P...
MBA journey so far... It all started in Chennai. Yes, Chennai. I was frustrated to the core. The factors adding to the frustration was Chennai , IT, and everything else linked to me, and that was when my resolve to go for MBA became steelier. I applied for CAT and started preparation. At snail's pace. And then, I experienced one of the most happiest moments of my life. I was leaving Chennai for Pune. Redemption... back home (almost home.. just 3 hours away from home) ... and that slowed the preparation even more. Preparation was pushed into oblivion. Because of pressures from parents, I started preparing again for MBA.. this time it was GMAT and not CAT...as I had given up on CAT thinking it was too late...
and the pressure from parents that I mentioned was not the pressure of studying, it was that of 'talks of marriage'!... yes, it sounds weird, but I would say that my motivation to go for MBA was
'To not get married'.. I mean not getting married this early in my life!.. am not a misogamist! ... so all you eligible spinsters, do not lose hope ! :P
and there it was, CAT was ready to get out of the bag on 18 November, 2007 .. that same old 3rd Sunday of November.. and with it, starts the MBA season of India... I was one of those few people who went to the CAT centre with least expectations on me but contrastingly, with IQ more than anyone else in that 'least expectation' group (hope you will appreciate the sarcasm here) ... I was by this time, scoring decently on GMAT mock tests, so was all set to go for it and fly abroad... But voila!, that was not what was destined for me.. I did well in CAT (if you are not laughing here, there is something seriously wrong with your sense of humor.. this was a joke.. a real life joke) .. one important lesson here...
'IT IS NEVER TOO LATE (to start prep for CAT), YOU CAN ALWAYS RIDE ON YOUR LUCK' ;) ...
I hurriedly applied for IMT (one of the lasts in premium B schools of India :) ).. and expectantly, I got a GD/PI Call from IMT... and again, riding on my luck, I cleared GD PI ... the interviewer, poor thing, got foxed by my pseudo-innocent and pseudo-confident looks..
After coughing up dad's hard earned money on the exorbitant fees, landed in IMT, Ghaziabad,UP... UP, land of one of the behemoths of Indian politics right now, Mayawati ! ...
I was warned by myriads of people before coming here about how NCR has become National Crime Region from a National Capital Region, and how I needed to be careful when dealing with people... I really pity myself thinking I wasted my time listening to those people, as I hardly get out of campus here and deal with external world! ... the only connection to external world here is 'economic times' and Internet! ...
Its been one helluva roller coaster ride for 3 months which formed my first trimester. Ingredients of first trimester were hundreds of exams, thousands of lectures, millions of quizzes and relatively minuscule amount of sleep!
The most interesting part was though the part after the trimester. Finance world was going berserk after Freddie, Fannie, Lehman and other cartoon character like named Mortgage funds / Investment Bank firms on the verge of becoming kangaal !
MBA studs doing the coveted Finance course were all depressed. Then one of the IB firms came and recruited a couple of guys and a girl for summer intern. Though they wanted only 3 out of 120!, everyone was basking in the glory. But that did not last long as 3 days later after they appointed 3 studs, the firm went bankrupt and 3 more days later, the appointment was cancelled. The state of depression was back, aggravated!. Well, I am one of the Marketing species of MBA student and I get a feeling here that I am taking sadistic pleasure while talking about Finance guys. But then, to say, even we marketing guys are not far behind. Every company coming to recruit summer interns has an appetite of a pauper. The companies come, they shortlist 200 people, then they interview a few 10s of them. They smile all the way through the interview and you think that, 'WOW, what an interview', but the problem is that so does everyone else who gives an interview, and so your exuberance is only ephemeral. And that turns into disappointment for majority as they end up taking 1 or 2; the number may go to 5, if you are lucky!.. and the number goes to 10 if company is Unlucky ;-).
Okay, enough of my memoirs.
My opinion about current market situation:Well, this meltdown of economy triggered by US Sub prime crisis wont last long. According to me, there is always a 'slack' which comes after every 7-8 years. And there is one 'crisis' which is a bit more in magnitude after every 5-6 such 'slacks'. Many of my colleagues are a bit bogged down by this. But, if you get rid of this cynicism, and give the situation a rational thought, then you may arrive at conclusion that this is the time to give your best as the others who were claimed to be best, are in doldrums. As my friend put it 'sab kachra saaf ho jaayega'. The market will be clear for fresh, new and young minds to enter in. Competition is washed away! There isn't a better opportunity for Indians. Buck up my friends, its our Time! Lets show the world what we are made of!
To end with,
I would like to share what NRN Murthy said (2001) -
'Wake up India. It's time to NOT go to work. It's time to get people to work for you. Don't be an Engineer just because you have a degree. Do what you think you're good at. And you'll be Good at what you Think.Start something that's your own. Where you can't be Sacked. And you certainly can't Quit. Start something for as little as Ten Thousand. You don't need much more than that. You don't need references, politicians, or the police. ALL YOU NEED, IS YOU. Start. And Ten Thousand could become billions. It's true. You can do it. You, simple, regular guy. Like it happened once, to a simple, regular guy. Wake up India. And start dreaming.'
Rock On :)
