Sweet melancholy and desperate happiness

We breathe deeper and our pulse recedes

Our body lightens to see the possibilities

Are we consciously dreaming or are we sub consciously reasoning?

If the melancholy seems so sweet why do people avoid it so much?

We see the relativity of time

It moves but that doesn’t matter

For us everything’s still and drifts forever

There is satisfaction in the sadness and pain in the joy!

 

Drifting consciously, not realizing what we see and what we don’t

Reality seems more like a dream

If dreaming reality is what’s demanded of us

Is it really dreaming or is our reality invading our subconscious

If receding from that should be, is not recommended

Can we see the spiral into which our life’s descended?

Will we not indulge in the desperate happiness everyone’s in?

 

The normal rules don’t apply

When I stretch the boundaries to wonder why

As I indulge myself in floating my mind

Music of Pink Floyd begins to unwind

As my body feels a slow, slow shiver

I consider not making an endeavor

For the desperate happiness everyone desires

And catch a fleeting glimpse of a dream that still exists

The dream is to drift, drift endlessly

Like a coffin in the ocean and not a log in the river

Stay afloat please, the hunger’s still unsatisfied

 

- Anand 

Chasing the tail?

This post is in response to post on the UVA blog referring to the NY times article Is it time to retrain B-schools?

The article starts out by pointing at some leaders that have not come out in the best light in the current crisis and highlighting that they had MBA degrees. What's not pointed out is that these are executives who probably got their business degree several years, maybe a couple of decades back. I would assume its not just the B-school experience that has shaped their recent decision making. Another point to keep in mind is that till about recently most business schools were teaching the Milton Friedman's version of business i.e. business exists to maximise shareholder value i.e. maximise profits. While this perspective was popular in the 70s and 80s, chinks began to emerge since and new theories have been developed. I can say that at least at Darden, while we are taught about Milton Friedman's theories, the more prevailing thought is 'Managing for Stakeholders' not just maximising profit. 

On the other hand what is the guarantee that what we are being taught would be relevant several years from now when we have executive decision making responsibilities. Most likely several things will change. Fundamentals of business are more likely to remain the same though. Again I really value the case based education provided by Darden that drive homes the basics and asks us to think and examine the data, evidence and theories that we use to make our decisions. There is a strong emphasis on ethical decision making. Since the emphasis is on process, one step of which is what framework best fits the problems, we are less likely to hold on to a particular theory and more likely to examine the context in which the decision needs to be made. Hopefully this would help us make better decisions. 

Its interesting to see that though many schools across the spectrum were mentioned, Darden was not. While I cannot speak for other business schools I can highlight, and have above, on the things Darden stands for. Darden in my view would stand out amongst that group as school that values and teaches responsible and ethical decision making from General managers perspective over specialisation that some of the other schools do. There will always be a place for niche schools that specialise in certain areas that have a spurt in growth i.e. the finance and marketing schools. The  consistent ones will need to have a more general management perspective. The problems in the real world are not isolated by function. Though you may be aligned to a function you have to understand multi-dimensional nature of the problem before you take decisions. 

The recession is being studied and examined thoroughly in every business school. It makes for interesting discussion. On one end there are new elective courses such as "Hot topics in Finance" and at the other end all courses give emphasis to understanding the latest events. In addition there are many events such as speaker series and forums that expand and explain the concepts and lessons. While all these are good and must, one must not forget the overarching lessons for B-school. What are b-schools and MBA degrees for?

Hence, I was most intrigued by the section of the article that seemed to suggest that B-schools should alter the way they teach as a result of the current crisis. If this means that B-schools who were teaching theory-x and and placed many graduates in Finance industry should no start theories-y and z, then I disagree. This is akin to chasing the tail. I disagree not because change is not required. Change is most definitely required. However, B-schools must always teach ethical decision making. They should also teach the current theories, tools and techniques for decision making and what the  pros-cons and risks of those tools are. They should teach about risk-reward and the consequences associated with it. And they should teach about responsibility of a manager and a leader. The content in terms of theories will always change and evolve in the light of new evidence and research. If, however, author is suggesting that b-schools should alter themselves so that they produce responsible managers and leaders rather than a graduate with technical know-how, big ego and fat paycheck, I completely agree.  As a Second year student at Darden about to graduate I can confidently say that I am learning to be a responsible leader. 

Home Strech

I can't beleive that its the last quarter already. Tommorow I start the final quarter of my 2 year MBA program. Its incredible how quickly time has passed by. Someone told me once that a good test of whether you are having fun is how quickly things passes you by. This method would indicate that I'm having the time of my life. 

Its been a great experience and I have done many more things that expected. Firstly, the inclass experience at Darden is great. By now we have almost done around 450-500 cases and I am still excited about the last quarter courses. I never dozed off in any of the classes which is not what I can say for my undergraduate years. Catching 40 winks in class is what I did back in the days. Outside the classroom, the darden community has been great. I have made some incredible friends and enjoyed all the groups activities, events and fun stuff I got to do with them. Charlottesville is not the most happening place but I did enjoy going out as well. I did my fare share of that! Last year I got to travel 3 continents. I went to Europe on 1-week program, then traveled again later on a backpacking trip for 2 weeks. I spent a couple of months in Australia for my internship and end of the year I visited home on vacation.

As I head into the last quarter, I fluctuate between elation and gloominess.  I am looking forward to graduating and moving on do some exiciting things, and the pay check of course. However, that won't be till November. Mostly though I am looking forward to the 3-month backpacking trip I plan to take soon after graduating. At the same time I know we'll all be moving away and I'll miss the close relationships I developed here. I, for one, am going to move pretty far away to Australia and am unsure how and when I'll connect with others again. That's life though, for many the meaning is in the flow.

For now I look forward to making the best of the last quarter and having a great time with my classmates. 

Philadelphia

I visited Philadelphia over the weekend and I was pleasantly surprised by this cultural and historical city.  Its also one of the few US cities one can explore by walking around.  It seemed very culturally diverse with plenty of things to do as a tourist and a resident. Here are some pictures from my trip.

View of the independence hall where the declaration of Independence and US constitution were signed. 

Looking back at downtown from the park

View of the museum from the park. 

Elfreths avenue - some of the oldest houses in Philadelphia. Where the original settler stayed.

Found an interesting mural as I was walking in the streets

View from Downtown looking towards the Philadelphia Museum of Arts. The street is lined with flags from every country. Its the only city I know that has such a things.

A new war is emerging

Looks like a new war is brewing up and this time its not between religious groups but between Atheist and the religious. Most religions have been spending a lot of money of late on new media and have setup YouTube videos and channels. However, in the the past 3-4 years there Atheists have started their own campaign. To me its not clear as to what created this new Atheist counter campaign. Obviously personal initiatives of Christopher Hitchens (Author of best seller - God is not Great), Richard Dawkins (Author of best seller - The God Delusion) and Sam Harris (Author of End of faith and Letter to the Christian Nation). The fact that these books have sold as many copies(God Delusion - 1.5 M, #2 on amazon bestseller in 2006, God is not great reached #2 on amazon bestseller in 2007)  as they did is surprising to me as Atheist account for 3% of world population with other non-believers accounting for about 10-12%. 

Added later: Dawkins Interview

There have been atleast 2-3 books countering each one of these books but have not been as popular as the originals. However, many say that the fact that these books are selling does not indicate or prove anything. Atheist counter that if people are examining their beliefs and not taking them on faith is exactly what they want to see happen.

Several campaigns such as the Atheist Bus campaign, which was launched in response to the Christian organisation Jesussaid.org bus advert (which said all non-Christians will burn in hell for eternity) have taken off. It was originally launched to raise GBP 5,500 to run on 30 buses in London but has now raised GBP 140,000 and running on 800 buses. Similar campaigns have started in Spain, Italy, Canada, US in a total of 17 cities. There have been counter responses from Christian organisations in most of these locations. However, when it comes to financial resources the Atheist campaign is no match for the billions of dollars that the religious institutions command. 

I was going to touch on YouTube campaigns next and looking back the last sentence from previous para it doesn't surprise me that battle has moved to the Internet. being the great leveler that it is. What's interesting is that on YouTube the battle's not amongst institutions but individuals who have setup channels campaigning their cause. Again, Atheist channels and blogs are fairly new, last 2-3 years, as compared to religious ones. I assume these are probably inspired by the three authors I mentioned above.

What the result will be no one knows but looking at the trends I feel that the next 20-30 years of public debate is less and less going to be between religions and more between the believers and non-believers. The next generation, i mean the teens who were born in the 90s or others in early 2000s, are going to grow up in the midst of this debate. This will be a fairly new concept as in the past people were brought up with a certain view. We all know that once we are grown up its next to impossible for anyone to change their mind on core beliefs. So it would be interesting to see what the next generation ends up believing. 

To sign off I found some YouTube videos from channels with purpose to promote their view point. The war rages on.

Rampant consumerism needs a cutback

Couple of posts earlier I wrote about how increasing leverage and spending was risky. 

http://anandologue.blogspot.com/2009/01/no-lesson-learnt.html

At least someone agrees with me. The savings rate in the US is on the increase from -6% to 3.4%. 

Its interesting to note that most economists and government still think that increasing spending is the answer. What matters is how the increase spending is used. As an individual if you are under financial stress you curtail your expenditure and save a little to get out of strife. So why is it so different for the country as a whole. Well if you can borrow some money and invest in improvement in productivity etc that gives you a higher return than what you borrowed at, well then you are creating value. However, if you  borrow to spend, that's digging a deeper hole. I guess what matters more is not whether you have big bailouts but how you use the money to get higher returns than what you borrowed it for.

Happy Birthday Darwin! - May your theory rest in Peace

If after 200 years of your birth people still on a daily basis debate what you said, you have had an impact on society. Today is the 200th Birth Anniversary of Charles Darwin and many people all over are recognising his great achievement. While there is widespread debate and awareness of his theory, the understanding however is lacking. I think many people are either misinformed or misinterpret what he said over 150 years ago. 

The biggest misconception is that Darwin proposed the entire theory of evolution and either you believe it or you don't. While this is somewhat right, it is not accurate. Darwin proposed, in his book 'on the Origin of Species' in 1859 the Theory of Natural Selection. "He introduced the theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. Darwin's book contains a wealth of evidence that the diversity of life arose through a branching pattern of evolution and common descent – evidence which he had accumulated on the voyage of the Beagle in the 1830s and expanded through research, correspondence, and experiments after his return."

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species

Darwin proposed an overall mechanism but did not propose the exact mechanism on species arise. However, Gregor Mendel's work on the Laws of Inheritance provided the exact mechanism of how mutations are passed on through chromosomes. I can never forgot his great experiment regarding the common fruit fly I learnt in 11th grade. 

Source; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendelian_inheritance

Since then several works have further refined the the Theory of evolution and established the link between genetics, natural selection and evolution of species. In particular was the work of Theodosius Dobzhansky in 1937. Many other works, experiments and evidence has led to what is called the 'Modern evolutionary synthesis'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_evolutionary_synthesis

No matter how much work is done or evidence provided, it is not sufficient for many. Here is an excellent poll on evolution that reveals that Majority of Americans don't believe in it. 

Source:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/114544/Darwin-Birthday-Believe-Evolution.aspx

As per the Gallup the implications of the survey are

"As Darwin is being lauded as one of the most important scientists in history on the 200th anniversary of his birth (on Feb. 12, 1809), it is perhaps dismaying to scientists who study and respect his work to see that well less than half of Americans today say they believe in the theory of evolution, and that just 55% can associate the man with his theory. 

Naturally, some of this is because of educational differences. Americans who have lower levels of formal education are significantly less likely than others to be able to identity Darwin with his theory, and to have an opinion on it either way. Still, the evidence is clear that even to this day, Americans' religious beliefs are a significant predictor of their attitudes toward Darwin's theory. Those who attend church most often are the least likely to believe in evolution, and most likely to say they do not believe in it."

What's most disappointing are the reasons cited for not believing. While some say that "it doesn't explain everything" others say "even scientist debate it" and still others that "there isn't enough evidence". Of course everything in Science is open for debate. That's how scientific theories progress. Each theory builds upon prior work and sometimes theories are overturned. We generally accept scientific theories that are discussed, debated and published as the best explanations given our current knowledge. No doubt that more work will be done and theory modified to adapt to the new evidence. However, it is unlikely that it would change the basic premise of the theory. 

It appears then that most people who do not believe in the theory do so because of religious convictions. They then find reasons or rationalisation to support their point of view rather than it being the other way around. Among the scientific community there is overwhelming agreement that the Modern Evolutionary synthesis is correct. The question is, what would it take to convince the rest. 

P.S> Just stumbled upon this immediately after posting this blog  http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090212/sc_afp/scienceusgermanygenomeanthropology

This is exactly what I was talking about when I mean future discoveries and progress.

Movie Recommendations

I have seen some interesting movies of late so I thought I would put togather a post.  I have also put a score on a 5.0 scale. I hope to follow this post with a post on Book recommendations as I have read some interesting books of late and I know that atleast a couple of people follow my book reding list.

Hollywood

Couple of movies that I found funny and entertaining were 'How to lose friends and alienate people' (3.5) and 'Madagascar:Escape to Africa'(4.0), though the latter was not as good as the first part. I also caught up on a couple of crafty Christopher Nolan movies, 'Following'(4.0) and 'Insomnia'(4.0).  'Following' was Nolan's first movie that he wrote, directed and produced on a budget of just $6000. Amazing story teller this fellow.

I saw a couple of interesting movies on relationships with 'Revolutionary road'(4.5) talking about very real issues and rather depressing state of social structure. However 'Vicky Cristina barcelona'(4.0) which I never thought I'd see has a totally different take on possibilities which I found very interesting and entertaining. 

'A good year'(3.5) featuring rusell crowe raises interesting questions on work life balance that would be very relevant for a graduating MBA. My favorite however was 'Choke'(4.5) based on a Chuck Palahnuik novel. Though the story deviated from the book it is thought provoking and revolts against existing social norms.

Indian

I was pleasantly suprised by some excellent Indian productions. While 'Slumdog millionaire'(4.0) has been making headlines, I found 'Aamir'(5.0) to the best movie I have seen recently. It is about a muslim middle class guy trapped by a terrorist to execute a fatal planning have to make some real life choices. Excellent acting and direction. 'A Wednesday'(4.0) is another terrorism related plot which is quite interesting. 'Khosla ka Ghonsla' was another very entertaining movie with interesting storyline about getting even with a real-estate baron.

European

I have also been trying to catch up on artistic European movies. My favorite has to be 'Il Postino'(5.0), A story about a ordinary postman who is influences by his contact with a poet and a communist. 

'Delicatessen'(3.5) is a pretty weird artsy and entertaining movie about a household that has fallen to cannibalism to sustain themselves during the world war. Its a different take on what would be a depressing setting. 'Manon des source'(3.0) a suposedly great french classic form the 60s didn't out to be that impressive. However'Belle de jour' (4.0) turned out to be a great movie very much ahead of its times. If you like Paris you will definetly enjoy 'Paris je T'aime'(4.0). Finally if you can watch slow and sad movies you will be moved by 'Il y a longtemps que Je T'aime'(I loved you so long) (4.5). A story about a mother released from jail on charges of killing her son and trying to get back into society. The acting in this movie is very impressive.

I hope you get to see some of these and I really enjoyed most of them. 

No Lesson learnt

As I see it, the current US&World financial crisis was a result of greed. If we dig deeper we can also say that it was due to improper valuation of risk. Now that US economy is in a big hole what's the solution - borrow some more? I am not sure if anyone else sees the problem as one of living beyond the means requiring to curtail expenditure and increase savings rather than borrowing some more.

The current US federal debt is around $10.6 trillion-1. With the proposed second bailout this might well inflate to $12 trillion by the end of year. Every penny US borrows it has to pay interest on. As of now US and Federal reserve has the luxury of keeping interest rates low while still having people interested in funding US debt. This keep the interest payments down to very low. Since the world considers US dollar as a reserve currency, in the time of crisis such as this, they are happy to transfer their assets to US dollar. Hence US dollar is also very strong at the moment. However, things are bound to change sooner or later.

Emerging economies are posting relatively strong growth and sooner or later people will start to look for alternative investments that they do not consider to be much riskier. It would then be harder for US to raise money at very low interest rates, they might have to raise them a notch. The interest payments will at the same time start to balloon. Of course US has nothing to worry about as it can print more money as and when it wishes. However, the inflationary effect of such an action might result in US dollar falling sharply. This in turn would require Fed to raise interest rates to prop up US dollar. 

In past several countries have faced these economic and financial crises and as far as I can tell IMF always advocates tightening on spending. I understand why spending is required to stimulate the economy but feel that we must consider the additional risk that comes along with it. So the question is whether government should in turn be advising citizens to save, live within the means and forgo certain pleasures at present to ensure a safe and secure future. Or is the American lifestyle uncompromisable at all cost. Is US willing to take a risk of deeper collapse to ensure a quicker recover? Appears we have not learnt anything from the current debacle.

-1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt

Tips for First Year recruiting

First Year internship recruiting is in full-swing and I thought it would the right time to share some wisdom from my experiences. Instead of providing 'abc' of what you need to do, which I am sure you all are quite familiar with by now, I will highlight some areas where I think students falter.

Focus: Though this such an obvious first step, I find that its not followed as religiously as it should be. If you are feeling lethargic and lack motivation to get everything done, its time to get your act together. A dream or aspiration is something you have to pursue, it doesn't not fall on your lap. It's time to ask the hard question of how much it really matters to you. Figure out all the things you need to do, make a plan and get going.

Preparation: By now you should have clear idea of what you need to do well to be successful in your chosen recruiting area. Quite likely there are several things. Often, many consider preparation as getting familiar with this areas or somewhat competent. The bar is high fellows, target should be perfection. What would it take to get close to perfect in each area? You are bound to make mistakes when it comes  the final interviews. Prepare and practice everything you can - cases, subject areas, behavioral, situational. If you perform great in practice chances are you can at least be good in the final interviews.

Externalities: How many times have you asked the questions How will the economy hold? How many students will so and so company recruit? Well, the question really is - Does the answer to these questions affect what you are doing? or Do you have any control on the economy or the numbers anyway? Forget what you can't control and worry about things you can. It might however be useful to stay informed on these issues. Sometimes opportunities arise if you informed and observant.

Attitude: What behavioral aspects would you look for in an employee? Enthusiasm, curiosity, confidence, positive outlook are some traits that definitely impress recruiters. Bring the same to the table. I'ts not all about going to the interview, solving the puzzles and answering questions with the straight face. Your attitude is not something you can switch on and off.  So examine yourself and see if you need a change. Investigate the culture of companies you are interviewing with to figure out qualities important to them. If there is something that you rather not adopt then think twice about interviewing with the firm.

Perspective: If the process is stressing you a lot, keep things in perspective. This is not your life. There are many things to it. Anyone who has made it thus far will do just fine. You define your choices, don't let your choices define you. 

No Deal? Think long and hard

On many occasions in Business or life one might encounter a deal where the counterparty is very unreasonable. Entire deal might be unfair and the whole transaction is filled with mistrust. How does one then consider the offer or negotiate a deal?

Well! I took a course last quarter called ‘Bargaining and Negotiations’ where we were paired up every class and had to negotiate a deal. Most counterparts were very reasonable but some were aggressive.  On some occasions the transaction was setup as easy deals with overlap in interests, in others the parties were far apart. In almost all occasions we had opportunities to create value and win-win scenarios for both parties.

I will not go into further details of the course but mention that one of the takeaways was thinking about “BATFA” - Best Alternative To Negotiated Agreement. In most cases, especially complex ones, BAFTA is not clear. However, in many cases we choose to walk away from a deal without having thought about alternatives. We get emotional and angry at perceived unfairness and decide based on our impression of our counterparty. It’s good to be passionate and emotional about your stand and fight hard for fair deal but equally important for it not to cloud judgment.

Below are four images that show a deal in the making which parties walked away from. We all know the consequences quite clearly both parties are worse off now.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Mandate_of_Palestine

Demographic data on UN Partition Plan (1947)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_UN_Partition_Plan

Current Scenario

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_palestine_conflict

The year that was

I expected the start of the year to be rough and it was. Recruiting for Summer Internship positions in a top Business school like Darden is very competitive and challenging. I came back from vacation early and put in a great deal of effort in preparing for interviews. As expected, I did not get many interview calls but was happy on getting couple of my top choices. Though I felt I was doing my best and interviewing well, I did not have much luck early on. However, things changed for the better in February when I made through to my top choice. Life changed dramatically. I was done interviewing and could relax and enjoy myself. Making a transition to a top consulting firm was one of my top priorities and I was pleased to have achieved it. Rest of Q3 at Darden went by in a flash.

‘Traveling’ was one the key ‘things to do’ that I had indentified earlier and Europe one of the primary destinations. The Barcelona GBE during spring break was my first opportunity to travel to a European city and it was even better to have done it with good friends. It was a great experience and set me up for the backpacking trip later in the year. My two week backpacking trip in May has to be the highlight of the year. I meant this to be a teaser to prepare for bigger and longer backpacking trips in the coming years. I was totally fascinated by the things I saw, people I met, and the freedom and excitement you experience while backpacking.

Quarter 4, for me, was the time between my two European trips. I played some tennis, soccer, partied a lot and did a little bit of studying. It was enjoyable time, Darden and academics were not high on my agenda. I was more interested in preparing for my upcoming trip to Sydney, Australia where I would be doing my Internship. I had never been to Australia before and was naturally very excited for both work and travel reasons. When I finally made it there, I absolutely enjoyed the work and culture at the consulting firm. Better still, I managed to find time to explore Sydney, Melbourne and surrounding areas and was thrilled by the quality of life in Australia. Not surprisingly I signed my full-offer soon after I received it. I felt extremely fortunate to have secured a full-time job in such a tumultuous economic environment.

I was back in Charlottesville in early August for the second year at Darden. First quarter turned out to be little harder than expected. In hindsight, I should have been better prepared knowing fully-well that I had front loaded my class and was also taken a couple of really tough courses. I was also really excited to meet the incoming class and be of any help in anyway. First quarter was pretty uneventful as I didn’t do much other than what was required. I spent more time hanging-out, playing video games with my roommate and partying, but having worked pretty hard earlier on I felt I deserved to take it easy. The exceptions to the rule were academic tutoring and career coaching for the First years.

Mid October I managed to take a few days of for a trip to Minneapolis. It was a wonderful trip as I got to hang out with the usual suspects, few of my closest and favorite friends, at the places we frequented so often when I lived there. We re-visited the good old times. Sometimes I wish I was still back there but then again, I guess you got to move on. For thanksgiving weekend I headed down to Atlantic City with another group of friends from Darden. Though the place was unusually quite we had our fun playing poker and blackjack. Trip was enjoyable and full of friendly banter, mainly attributable to the company rather than the location. Q4 like Q3 was more about outside Darden activities than inside. This included lot of going-out, a hiking trip, Wednesday & Sunday Salsa dancing, and little soccer and basketball.

Couple of years back I abandoned my yearly goals in favor of a continuing ‘things I want to do list’. I’ll write more about the list sometime later. Nevertheless, Year end is still a good time to reflect on things I and examine whether I spent my time on things most important to me. Traveling was key item for me and I especially wanted to travel to Europe. Having been on 4 continents during the year, including Europe, and having traveled to East coast, Mid-west and West coast in the US, I have a lot to be happy about. I am also quite pleased with my efforts at Darden both academic and career related. When I could I did help out others with preparation on recruiting and tutoring first years on academic. Overall pretty satisfied on this front too. On the personal side, I improved tremendously on my Salsa dancing skills and picked up little bit of other ‘Ballroom Dances’ too.

Even though I had plenty of free time, I did not pick up anything specific i.e. entrepreneurial, innovative or community oriented activity during regular academic session. This time could have been better used. I read a couple of interesting books but lesser than in any of the last few years. I planned to learn speaking Spanish but did not make much progress. Something I hope to correct soon. I am still not sure if I should have done something different day to day or it was just fine enjoying life. “Things I want to do’ list provides me more clarity on what’s important long term but as far as the short term goes I am happy to let things drift. I will have to think about that sometimes soon.

Looking back, it was pretty eventful and exciting year and I am quite pleased with how things went. I hope 2009 will be as exciting as this year was. Do let me know on exciting things you have been up to this year and plans for the coming year. Wish you all a Happy New Year!

The real deal on Darden's rigor

I have fielded a lot of questions of late on the Rigor of the Darden program. Before I go into detail on our schedule and try to assess how rigorous it really is, I must state that it’s different for different people. Also, we are talking about being in Business school so I assume whenever someone says ‘rigorous’ it is in comparison to a Business School rather than a 9 to 5 job.

In my view I will divide Darden experience in 3 very different sections

The Choke: The day starts early and it never seems to end. Three back to back classes are followed on by company briefings, case preparations and learning team meetings. Most are busy from dawn till late i.e. 11-12 PM and still have things pending. Feeling of being choked is one of the drastic explicates used to describe this. The section typically covers your first 2 quarters at Darden from August end to the first week of December.

Easier said than done: Word’s that can best describe the period through Q3 and Q4 of first year. By now you have figured out how things work and what you need to do. However, it’s easier said than done. Though you are up to speed on academics, this is the time for recruiting. Balancing preparation, interview schedule and travel and can be a bit tricky. Start of Q3 can be very busy time but tapers off towards the end. If you get an offer early, your life transforms. If you don’t, though your schedule frees up you still live with anxiety and uneasiness.

The Cruise: Second year at Darden, as you would expect, is very manageable as far as schedule is concerned. Life couldn’t be better for those who have an offer from their summer and have decided to take it. For those who have an offer and are still recruiting, its little more work. It’s not so merry for those who are doing full time recruiting and do not manage to get an offer early. The curriculum is entirely elective and courses are by no means easy. However, the overall schedule is not that packed. For the overwhelming majority second year is enjoyable and relaxed time, though anxiety may be little higher for those without a full-time offer.

So this is my take on the Darden rigor. To summarize I would say Darden is rigorous, probably more so that other Business schools, but it is manageable. The subject perhaps is little over-hyped. Also, I think it’s great how Darden prepares you well for the Business world. All the effort we put in has great rewards as most of us learnt during our internship. I felt, and heard from all my Darden colleagues, that we were very well equipped and attributed it to Darden curriculum and teaching method.  Anyway, on the topic of Darden’s rigor, I have collected some other posts for you to refer to get a broader perspective. I would encourage you to check out similar sources from other schools for a realistic comparison.

The Darden Rigor (A graphic representation)

I Survived the first 2 months – Irene Mastelli

Typical day at Darden – Bill Gray

SY, it’s different… - Vika Osipenko

This too, Shall pass.. – Sania Chaudhry

Hope this gives you a better picture of the rigor and schedule of Darden life. Make your own judgment.

India and how we stopped worrying about terror attacks

Terrorist attacks have become so common place in India it is surprising we haven’t done much about it. Why one wonders? Here’s my take on the possible reasons and why we have become so complacent.

Identity and tolerance: To understand the first cause, you have to go all the way back and look at the India’s History. India is an amalgamation of cultures formed over thousands of years. There were many kingdoms which rose and fell over this period. Many conquerors who came from all over the world and settled here, bringing along their customs. Many great kings that integrated these small kingdoms to somewhat close to the size India is today. Indians are known for their hospitality and they are very welcoming. Apart from its natural wonders, many say this is the reason why so many came and settled. Thus many Indians believe that the core to India’s identity is acceptance and tolerance. That’s what has made us what we are today. So if someone expresses a need to be different, it’s accepted. I am not saying that violence and terrorism are accepted. Hugely different thoughts, philosophies and cultures are acknowledged without any attempt to figure out how they would integrate together. When views are conflicting, it causes some tension. It’s true that diversity is what makes India so great. At the same time some legal and social framework is required to make everything compatible. 

Public Apathy: When there is some great tragedy Indians tend to react with fury and passion. However, this withers away fairly quickly. Of ten people reason that as long it doesn’t affect them directly, they needn’t act. “What can we do”, “what we do doesn’t matter”, “we can’t make a difference”, are all pretty common attitudes. The most typical of all is “Chalta hai” a Hindi term which means “it’s ok”. While Indians are known for their laid back, forgiving attitude, in some cases, like the one we are witnessing today, it’s not okay. We need to take it upon ourselves to raise our voice, take action and bring change. 

Hopelessness: though some people want to act, sometimes they are deterred by a sense of hopelessness. “It’s all because of things across the border”, “these guys are just fanatics, and how can we stop them”, “Nothing will change till, our politicians are all corrupt” typify this feeling. Well, not every problem is created across the border. Issue of marginalization, poverty and desperation is very real in India. There is a reason and motive behind every action. Politicians are elected by us and accountable to us. Let’s give it a try first and then judge if it made a difference. We have to find the root causes and make an honest attempt at fixing it. 

Lack of leadership: I saved the best one for the last. Whenever there is a terrorist attack on Indian soil the first thing we hear our leaders say “It originated from Pakistan”. Even if every claim was true, I am not saying that it isn’t, what are you doing about it? Protect our borders better. Raise awareness international through a systematic process. Address security gaps. The problem in reality is a complete lack of leadership up top. I am not referring to any particular party. All of them have always tried to use events to gain political mileage. Apathy of the general public lets them get away with it.

Will things change?

I believe they will. For some reasons things are different this time around. Terrorist made a huge mistake. While they carried out attacks in Mumbai they targeted westerners, particularly Americans, Britishers and Israelis. These three players have a huge say in International affairs. In fact they get to decide who is ‘good’ and who is ‘bad’. So for once, India has the world’s sympathy and backing. So this time when India says that Pakistan is harboring terrorists, World listens. In Pakistan’s defense, they have long abandoned direct support for these militant groups and just about turn a blind eye now. With International pressure mounting they will no longer be able to do so. In all fairness their current President, Zardari, is trying his best to manage the situation and not let things go out of hand. It is a very complicated situation after all. 

However, that alone will not solve the problems in India. With the brutality of the attacks and targeting of International citizens, the visibility on India has increased tremendously. While politicians, for once, have begun to look at the security situation and scamper for solutions, the public too are voicing their concern on the sorry state of affairs. Hopefully this results in real changes on the ground and improved security and Intelligence going forward. 

The final issue, however, is the grass root problem of marginalization. The economic boom in India does solve many problems but it will still take a while to alleviate poverty. The issue of is a difficult one but there doesn’t seem to be any talk about that yet. Last but not least, there is the Kashmir issue. Ultimately people’s whishes have to be respected. That’s how things work in democracy. 

Question remains on whether this is a sign of a turnaround. This is probably not the last big attack we will see in India but hopefully the real issues will be addressed and things will get better in future. Let’s do our part and hope for the best.

India’s nemesis

India has been facing terrorism for over 30 years now, perhaps lot longer. I am not even sure when it started but it has existed as long back as I remember. Two Indian Prime ministers (head of state in India) have been amongst the 40,000 or so killed in terrorist attacks over the past 20-30 years. Not everything relates to Islamic fundamentalist. Fe w attacks were in retaliation of India’s peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka, Sikh extremism in Punjab, Naxalite (Communist revolutionaries) insurgencies among others. Majority however are related to Islamic fundamentalist fighting supposedly for rights of ‘Kashmiris’

Kashmir, a beautiful state in northern India, has quite often been called “Paradise on earth”. I lived in the southern part of Kashmir and from what I saw I can easily say it was amongst the most beautiful places I have seen. Kashmir presents an interesting quagmire for anyone to resolve. To be perfectly accurate in the sequence of events I will quote verbatim from Wikipedia

The Kashmir issue
“Ranbir Singh's grandson Hari Singh, who had ascended the throne of Kashmir in 1925, was the reigning monarch in 1947 at the conclusion of British rule of the subcontinent and the subsequent partition of the British Indian Empire into the newly independent Union of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. As parties to the partition process, both countries had agreed that the rulers of princely states would be given the right to opt for either Pakistan or India. In 1947, Kashmir's population "was 77 per cent Muslim and it shared a boundary with Pakistan. Hence, it was anticipated that the Maharaja would accede to Pakistan, when the British paramountcy ended on 14-15 August. When he hesitated to do this, Pakistan launched a guerilla onslaught meant to frighten its ruler into submission. Instead the Maharaja appealed to Mountbatten[9] for assistance, and the Governor-General agreed on the condition that the ruler accede to India."[10] Once the Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession, which included a clause added by Mountbatten asking that the wishes of the Kashmiri people be taken into account, "Indian soldiers entered Kashmir and drove the Pakistani-sponsored irregulars from all but a small section of the state. The United Nations was then invited to mediate the quarrel. The UN mission insisted that the opinion of Kashmiris must be ascertained, while India insisted that no referendum could occur until all of the state had been cleared of irregulars”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Kashmir_conflict#Rise_of_militancy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurgency_in_Jammu_and_Kashmir

Terrorists groups fighting for Kashmir and based Pakistan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lashkar-e-Toiba
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaish_e_Mohammed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hizbul_Mujahideen
These organizations are banned by India, US and European Union

Others forms of Islamic extremism has emerged
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Mujahedeen
Objective: “Demolish the faith (Hinduism) of India”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_Islamic_Movement_of_India
Objective: “Liberation of India’ from western materialistic cultural influence and to convert it into an Islamic society.”

For a full list of terrorist organizations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_designated_terrorist_organizations

Interesting articale in NY times on the origin on terrorist groups in Pakistan

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/weekinreview/07weiner.html

Obviously the situation is grim, attacks have mounted. This year India faced 7-8 major attacks in several big cities. 4000 innocent civilians have died since 2004. A British report put in India amongst the 20 most dangerous countries to live in the world amongst countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Israel, etc. How did we get here? How does one cope?

This brings to the real topic I wanted to write about. However you will have to wait until my next post.

“India and how we stopped worrying about terror attacks”

The real game theory

The first year Darden curriculum covers basic concepts of strategy, what it is and how to come up with one and how to leverage your strength and position yourself in a competitive environment. We also learnt a little bit about game theory in Decision analysis. Strategy doesn’t make much sense without execution and we got insight into operations and execution. I am a big fan of hands on learning and I put my learning to great use.

Through the 3rd and 4th quarter of last year and the beginning of the Second year my roommate and me spend a lot of time playing video games. This is probably one of the rare times in our lives where we can spend significant portion of time on what majority in the society consider “not so valuable activities”. Our favorite game is “Age of empires” which is essentially a strategy game where you build a civilization and armies to attempt to defeat and conquer your opponents. The game has multiple dimensions on which you must do well to succeed. You need to be faster, have better economic power, more equipped troop’s and better battle strategies than your competitor to win. We modified rules so as to make this a more strategic game that heavily favored the “defender”. The defender basically amasses huge defenses at a predetermined location that attacker must penetrate. Essentially to win as aggressor you needed a superior economic and military strategy and excellent execution.

My roommate also happens to be an excellent video game player which makes the task of winning extremely difficult for me. We were at a point when we both agreed that it was almost impossible to win this game as the “attacking” team. However, I decided to give it one last shot. At this point you might have guessed that I won the game otherwise I never would have written this post. Other than bragging about how I won and why I won, I wanted to compare this to everything I have learnt about strategy at Darden.

I took some time just before the game to reflect on a strategy. I recalled a case in the First year decision analysis about one party having additional information and thus a huge advantage. We had applied game theory principles and concluded that the best option for the other party was to randomize its strategy. I picked a nontraditional team with strengths such that it was not apparent how I would attack. This prevented my opponent investing in particular capabilities that could counter me as he could not zero in on those I would leverage. Secondly I thought about my core capabilities and how they were different from my competitor. I invested my resource in developing my core capabilities. In terms of the actual battle I need a sustained attack to penetrate opponent’s defense and given the limitations of my resources, I had to think about what I produce to enable sustained production of key defense troops. Another execution and operational element was assembly and deliver of key units to particular location. In past we have several times done this akin to a batch which I endeavored to change to a more continuous flow process. In our post game conversation my roommate conceded that he did not expect the attacks to last as long. As he saw the first attack and looking back at our experience he assumed that it could not be executed in a sustained way. End of the day a lot of different initiatives and actions were aligned towards a single goal which helped achieve the objective.

So, what does this mean? Maybe it proves business school students are geeks. It definitely conveys that we have plenty of free time and not much use for it. Other than all the entertainment value, at least for me to some extent it brought together different elements of strategy and execution. We do have some simulations for marketing and operations, maybe strategy games could be included as well.

Drunken poetry

I remember I used to write poems as a kid. I considered it the best way to communicate thoughts and feelings as well as an underlying deeper meaning. I haven't written anything for about 9-10 years. But today, a little drunk, I felt like writing something. So here it is

Nomad

I move again
Running from myself
Out to explore
Seeking something more

What is it I want to find
Something that I already left behind
More I want, more I lose
Future or past I have to choose

Interesting thoughts
endless desires
Not materialistic but living
Experience's the strife

Is it enough to exist
Or more important to live
If former its easy
But if its latter
What does it mean?

A Meaningless conversation

Poor Guy: My situation’s bad. I feel deprived, cheated!

Uncommon man: Really?

Poor Guy: I am robbed of my wealth. Maybe I cannot get the things that I have wanted, in fact deserved, for so long.

Uncommon man: Why? Because you couldn’t get the most expensive furniture you wanted?

You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you're satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you've got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you're trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you.
Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need

Poor Guy: How can you say that I don’t need it? What do I need, what don’t I need?

Uncommon man:
If you don’t know what you want, you end up with a lot you don’t
It's because we're so trapped in our culture, in the being of being human on this planet with the brains we have, and the same two arms and legs everybody has. We're so trapped that any way we could imagine to escape would be just another part of the trap. Anything we want, we're trained to want

Poor Guy: It’s not all about what I own. My life is more than that. I am a fun and interesting person. I can tell you about one time when…..

Uncommon man:
People are all over the world telling their one dramatic story and how their life has turned into getting over this one event. Now their lives are more about the past than their future

The best way to waste your life, is by taking notes. The easiest way to avoid living is to just watch. Look for the details. Report. Don't participate

Poor Guy: Well I do participate. I am smart, well-educated, fun and outgoing

Uncommon man: Labels!
I want out of the labels. I don't want my whole life crammed into a single word. A story. I want to find something else, unknowable, some place to be that's not on the map. A real adventure

Poor Guy: We are seeing a real adventure. Look at the events that are going on. Life is going to change forever.

Uncommon man:
The moment when your addictions no longer hide the truth from you. When your whole life breaks down. That's the moment when you have to somehow choose what your life is going to be about

Look hard at yourself. Are you near it or far from it?
______________________________________
What this means:
This post is about materialism in today's Life. It intrigues me that so many people directly measure their happiness from material possessions they can obtain and/or the overall wealth as opposed to actions or feelings. The post and the thoughts are inspired by writings of the author Chuck Palanuik. All words in italics are direct quotes from the author. While the above conversation might strike as meaningless to many, I sincerely hope that it does instigate some to look for meaning rather than material.

Disclaimer:
The above post is an imaginary conversation that uses quotes from author Chuck palanuik to convey a message. The post does not claim that the author would respond similarly in this situation and should be interpreted as such.

Reaching for the moon

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Famous words of Neil Armstrong when he first stepped on the moon in 1969. Moon has always draw our attention. From ancient mythology to scientific research we cannot get enough of it. Soviet Union were the first to reach the moon with Luna-1 in 1959. USA the first to accomplish a manned mission in 1969. From mid 1960s to mid 1970s there were 65 instances of artificial objects landing on the moon.Only 5 countries have manned to send satellites to the moon. Now its India's turn. On October 22nd India would launch its first moon mission Chandrayaan I. In past India has successfully developed SLV,ASLV, PSLV, GSLV launch capabilities and has launched numerous satellites many countries. This moon mission would be Indian Space research Organisation's first attempt at sending a satellite outside the earth's orbit.

Chandrayaan I mission includes a lunar orbiter as well as an impactor. Over a two-year period, it is intended to survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography. The mission includes five ISRO payloads and six payloads from other international space agencies such as NASA and ESA. It is carrying these payloads for free. If successful this would pave way for a new era in space exploration. ISRO already has plans for a second mission Chandrayaan II and is considering building reusable space aircraft and future manned mission.

Wish us good luck in scaling the final frontier.

More Info:

All about India's Moon Mission

Narnia Revelations

I am just back from a talk by Rev. Dr. Michael Ward , a Cambridge scholar, on what C.S. Lewis is up to in The Chronicles of Narnia – and why it matters. The event was organised by the Darden Christian fellowship. Well! before I go further and comment on the talk I have 3 disclaimers to make

1. I have not read any of the Narnia books, I did read up the history of Chronicles and Narnia, the story behind the first book on wikipedia before I went to the talk.

2. I am an atheist and have been for a while

3. I know little bit about C.S. Lewis and I did attempt to read "mere Christianity" but could not complete it

OK, having read the disclosure if you are still reading this post you are probably an Atheist, agnostic looking for a conforming point of view or a Christian hoping that I was finally enlightened and have turned around in my ways. Well at least at this point I am going to please neither. I am just writing some observations, thoughts and raising some questions based on my observations.

Firstly let me recap what the talk was about i.e. from what I understood. Rev. Dr. Michael Ward conjectured that C.S. Lewis's had a central theme behind The Chronicles of Narnia that related to the planets and deeper all encompassing divinity. That C.S. Lewis believed that planets and heavenly bodies are not mere matter but more and divine presence is everywhere and all encompassing and hence hard for us to notice. The reason he left it secretive was that he believed in "kappa element of romance" i.e. the meaning/motive behind writing stories that does not immediately present itself. Hence we wanted to leave things to reader's imagination and hoped that they would connect the dots. This is probably not a very accurate description of what he said but what I understood and truly hope its close to what he was trying to convey. In either case its not very relevaant to what I am about to discuss.

Whats interesting to me is that while the "Chronicles of Narnia" is considered fantasy/fairy tales by many, others associate it with theology and mythology. Most people, especially people of faith, I found are trying to find a deeper meaning or association with theological concepts from some other text. Why? that's an interesting question. Why does it matter if there are connections or not? Maybe people are curious, they want to understand the intent of the reader. If we talk about intent there has to be some speculation on the conclusion. Maybe C.S. Lewis drew ideas from his belief and modelled each story on different planets and their mythological characters. Maybe this was just a way think about new concepts or stories. Or maybe he did intend to bring out certain subtle relations and connections to make a deeper point about "more than just matter" and "divine all-encompassing presence". Why is it so important for people to draw meaning from a primarily fantasy series? Maybe association is another validation to a belief derived from something stated elsewhere?

While I was listening to this eloquent speaker who really retained audience attention so well, I jotted down some notes. Key theme that reappeared were analogies. If something represents something in one context, it can help infer a similar meaning in another context. Example here was that of light illuminating series of dust particles and being very evident when we were besides it. However if we were in the path of light beam we could not see the light beam but only what it illuminated. I guess the point was not everything meets the eye. I think that's a good example to convey that point. However, I am sceptic. I believe in frame of reference so I see analogies skeptically. In sharp contrast I found that these were very reassuring to the audience. One of the reasons I went to this talk was to observe. I assumed that most people in this audience if not all would be devout Christians and I was curious to find what is convincing to someone with faith. I definitely need to research this more thoroughly but it seemed to me that associations and analogies were very important.

As an Atheist I totally understand and agree in finding meaning in everything. That's been the crux of my existence. Ask questions, find out how? why? what it means? So the question that is on my mind is why do people looking for associations when they try to find meaning in something? I don't know why yet but I hope someone can enlighten me.