Up All Night...

I cannot fathom this...Actually I am astonished at myself...It's precisely 5.32 am on a Monday morning and I haven't slept a wink the whole night.

I guess this is one of the lowest points in my life as in I have never ever compromised my sleep so much for the sake of studies but the circumstances leading to Sunday night have led me to do this godforsaken sin of not sleeping at all.

I wasted the entire Saturday and 2/3rd of Sunday before actually kick starting my chores of assignments which are due in exactly 2.5 hrs.

Hence after spending a good part of 3 hrs doing MCP, and then giving equal amount of time for the OM assignment and wasting my afternoon doing an MM case for which I still haven't found a solution, I find myself in front of my laptop screen blogging at an hour when the whole of Philippines is sleeping or just about waking up from a good night's sleep...:(

On top of that, this was the first weekend when I haven't had a single drop of alcohol go into my system. All this because I wanted to test my self restrain...What a moron I am...

Plus the fact that I have played this up so much compels me to abstain or try to abstain from touching alcohol till Aug 15th...i.e. a good 19 days away...

How the hell am I gonna survive, god only knows...

The only good thing about this weekend has been playing cricket for a good 2 hours on Saturday afternoon (Aseem also had a good day with the bat...surprise surprise...:)) and enjoying myself and then spending quality time with close friends on the beer pub chatting the time away.

Our plan was to end by 2 am but as is the case with me and Chai in particular, we ended up sitting and chatting with Nishant n all till 5 am in the morning.

Thus, because of these small atrocities which I committed during the weekend, the end result has been that I had to compensate the time spend with my precious Sunday night sleep.

I have no idea how I am going to survive the 3 hard core lectures tomorrow.
I just hope I retain my sanity till 12.20 pm...

Good morning people...:)

Btw this Day 46 @ AIM main...and day 56 in total...

Cheers...

QA exam # 3 in less than 8 hrs...

Can't believe how lethargic and irresponsible I have become.I have started taking this MBA course very lightly...

I have an exam in less than 8hrs and instead of sitting and solving I am right now blogging this shit...

On top of that though I started in earnest at 7 pm but till 10 pm, I had no idea that I can't creata an ANNOVA table on my excel sheet on my comp...

Then started the process of getting hold of another laptop where I could use Excel 07 to get the desired software and hence the desired table...

Thanks to Harsh I at least now know what I have to do tomorrow for the problems which are to come in the exam, but this would be like the first Math or Quant exam where I will be going without having practiced even one sum or problem on my own.

Plus for the last one hour I have been listening to Indian Ocean and downloaded "n" no. of gadgets from Windows live to use on my comp.Talk about wasting time and I think I am the king today.

Hopefully with God's grace I'll clear tomorrow and get the much needed exemption and hope I don't make such a mistake again...

Anyways fingers crossed and back to problem no. 4 of group problem set for me...

Yellow!!

Why is that I am seeing yellow everywhere today...
First for breakfast I got a really yellow colored scramble egg...:)
Then I saw Cherry in a nice yellow tee and then a female who was smoking near the pool side was wearing this really nice full on yellow high heels and to top that even Cathy has a yellow top today.

I know this sounds really girlie but then what is it with yellow today.
Plus right now I am listening to yellow- coldplay...

One more observation...The Juventus jersey I am wearing today has the name of its sponsor " New Holland" also in yellow...

Plus in QA class today there was a yellow colored Wendy's cold drink container...Talk about yellow...

I feel so yellow already...

Haha...

9.5 hr struggle...

Date: 21st July'09
Venue: SGV case-room
Occasion: LOB final exam...

The mother of all final exams...
I can easily say that without any second thoughts...

The pain started at 8.30 am in the morning and finished at precisely 6.10 pm for me...Can you beat that...
I have never even stayed in office for so long...:)

It was one harrowing experience which I actually enjoyed...well most parts of it...

After a while I had sat down trying to solve something from scratch on my own and that felt good...However the lack of knowledge with ratios and the lack of financial insights were enough to put me off the entire thing within the starting few hrs.

In the end I finished off with 4 pages of excel sheet full of ratios, balance sheets, income statements and numbers and 8 pages of analysis and recommendation for which I myself will not give a dime to anyone...

It was an experience I'll never forget and also the people with whom I was subjected to this torture...

So to all who were present with me for the god forsaken exam....Cheers...

(Maxi,Bea,Mac,Veron,Aina,Preeti,Mary,Sups,Mukul,Manish,Saurabh,
Anton,James,Jimmy,Preetesh,Saumya,Vivek Golhar & yours truly)

ps:- the guys of our batch are a really sweethearts..actually everyone is...They got us Pizza for lunch from Yellow Cab...Actually there are the ones also to be blamed for my reduced efficiency since after lunch I was so full with pizza that I wanted to doze off on Mr. Porter Lumber Company Inc* ratios...

Dead End

I have no idea how, why and when but I kind of find myself in situations where I have to decide on a issue from either point of view.

It's been a trait since I have been in college that I find friends on opposite sides with different agendas and I am the one knowing what each one is thinking about the other but powerless to intervene because at the end of the day it's not my prerogative nor issue to barge into someone else's life.

However knowing myself I can't just stand aside and see people self destruct or in most cases make a bad decision they might regret later.

All said and done, I am not saying that I am always right and that my word is the final word but then sometimes the things are so visible but still difficult to figure.

Anyways the way I look at it, it's been like this with since I was a kid, I get really frustrated when I know I don't have a control over the situation when I very well know that where is the problem...Weird isn't it?

Well now lets get to the nice part. Yesterday after struggling the whole evening to get my system to respond to FM 1, I finally gave at 12 midnight and headed to Malate with Saurabh in tow to join Aseem, Akshel and Kosy (Akshel's friend).

The place :- "Penguin" was full of energy with a live band churning out jazzy version of some nice songs all through the night.

Their cover of Enter Sandman blew my mind away and then the covers of Flintstone & Pink Panther were sweet. All in all the place was high on energy and very much like Leopold's back home though the atmosphere here was 1000 notches up than the one back in Leo's.

After the place shut down at 2 am we headed back to the campus and to Kosy's condo where we planned to drink up on screw-drivers and have some mcdonald's breakfast...Nash & Hesh also joined us there and as the night grew longer the house party grew wilder...:)

Anyways I had to retire out by 4.30 am since I have a LOB exam on Tuesday where as the rest of the fuckers have a holiday...

Curse myself for playing the nice guy again...When will I understand that "Last guys always finish last".

Well I'll still try proving the above sentence wrong.For the time being for sure...

Cheers...

A WAC on Economics...Beat that...

WAC- acronym for Written analysis of Cases.


After a week which started with the disastrous macro-economics exams which I am so gonna flunk the institute comes up another ace up their sleeve on a Friday with a WAC on Economics...*$&$%$#...

3 hrs in the afternoon from 1.30 to 4.30 pm for a case which was 10 page long with more than 10 exhibits was not a way to start a weekend or end a school week.

Anyways after crapping for 1200 words of which not even 10 made sense I finished the WAC well before time thanks to my state of mind which is really messed up.

On top of that, the impending LOB main exam which is slated for the whole of Tuesday is freezing my brain to death. 5 more quiz marks and I would have been one my way to a trip this weekend with Harsh and Akshel. Instead I'll have to struggle with LOB for today and QA and FM and MCP for the rest of the weekend before another gruesome week starts at AIM.

Man am I fed up with this life already? No time to breathe or contemplate for even a moment what am I doing, why am I doing it and for whom am I doing it?

I really hope I get through the next whole week somehow the other.
Life is turning out not the way I envisioned and I guess it's time to take stringent measures before some thing gives way.

Well for now I can feel happy that I did well in the first WAC and also our Learning team stood for each other during the meeting with prof Larry Tan...

Time to unwind and recharge the batteries for another week in AIM... :)

Walk in the rain!!!

Since the past 2 days I was having this insatiable urge of going for a jog in the rain. Today finally I was able to exercise my wish.

After the OM lecture got concluded at 11 a.m in the morning, I had a quick breakfast and then hit the road in my jogging track to enjoy the mid day heavy rain which was so similar to the one encountered back home in Mumbai.

The jog cum walk was a blissful experience with music in tow.I have no idea where I went I just followed the my mind and just started running where ever the road lead me.

This used to be my favorite past time back home. However due to the lack of physical activity as a part of my curriculum in AIM, I have been feeling a bit low for the past few days. There is nothing interesting to do here at the institute and to roam around the city I need company which is difficult because people have their own priorities plus there are the cases to be done too...

However back to jogging.I saw so many streets and their names but now when I try to recollect I can't even remember one...:)
But yeah it was fun finally venturing out near the institute and seeing first hand what all is there around AIM.

So now I know that I have a flower shop around the corner, a coffee shop which is open till late night, a pub which gives 3 beer for 100 pesos till 12 in the night and there is a pawn shop just behind the park where we plan frees-bee in the evenings.

All in all a perfect way to spend a lazy rainy day.Now I need to get ready for my HBO lecture which is scheduled in the next 35 mins. A hot shower ought to be great...

Game on...

Let the games begin...It's been two weeks since I have done anything constructive and it seems this whole week is going to be like this too.

I am so missing people back home...

Why is it that a person is never happy with his present, always aspiring for his future to come to reality today or go back to the past and redo most things.

I have been aspiring to do my MBA ever since I got out of engineering and now when I am finally doing one, it seems as if I am not making the most out of it.

Life has become so monotonous now that I don't even feel like going to classes now a days.
It's the same old voices doing cp in class and a few helpless souls like me wandering around hoping to get a hint of things from somewhere or the other so as to improve our own cp grade.

I have never been a firm believer of grade based learning and more so in an MBA where every person is inherently different with different perspectives and experiences. How can one be judged by how one does in a particular subject.What if a person doesn't know accounting or is not good with numbers or flowcharts , but is very good with people skills and leadership.
Do you just flunk a person because he can't balance an account sheet....

I agree you need minimum skills in every subject but to procrastinate someone for a single failure is unfair in my opinion.

However right now I can't be angry at the situation.
I just need to find the inspiration to get myself by the next few weeks and hope that I get my mojo back, so that I can survive the next few weeks before the most awaited break comes knocking on the door.

:) :) :)

Rambling...

She will be loved-Maroon 5...
That's what I am listening to right now...

What a beautiful song...
I know people perceive me as an extrovert, aggressive, happy go lucky guy and I am not denying that...
However there is another part of me which even I really don't know about...??? (To be discussed later...)

Btw I saw Ice Age again yesterday...And this time I memorized the 3 rules.So here it goes...

Rule no 1:- Always listen to Buck.

Rule no 2:- Always walk in the middle of the trail.

Rule no 3:- The one who leaks gas walks last... :)

Well I feel like just going to Goa right now.Just walk around on the beach of Candolim...enjoying the serene beauty the place has to offer and enjoy the sea...

I remember when back in Mumbai, I used have theses phases when I used to wake up at 5 am in the morning and drive my car all around south Mumbai and then head to Juhu beach or Rock beach around 6.30 am to enjoy the sea breeze and the energy the place provided.

those were the days when there was no responsibility on my shoulders, when all I had to worry about was when is the next match scheduled and whom I am playing...

Fast forward to the present and now I am really wondering if this is what I want. Is it all worth it...?

Separation from friends back home...? Family...?

p.s:- I really need to start controlling my anger.Went off twice yesterday...I think I should go back to my resolution...
Starts from right now...Lets see how long can I go this time...

I really don't know why I am even putting this up, but I have this urge now to just write so here it is...:)

Proactive or Reactive...

Yesterday I wrote about trade-offs and compromises.
Now I am thinking about "is it worth it?"...
Should I think like an economist and plan to save for tomorrow and consume less today (read consume for me is to have more recreation and fun)...

Should I study more, socialize less, reduce sleeping time and enjoy the MBA experience as a vagabond or should I stress myself and study as hard as I can, ace the classes and quizzes and trade-off on my personal "me" time i.e. sports, fun and friends.

Or should I take the middle path and be smart about my work as our mentor advised us during our session with him.Prioritize your work follow a schedule and come prepared to class as well as allow yourself enough free time to enjoy the MBA experience as well as the sights n beauties of this country.

Now prioritize is another new concept which is alien to me unless and until it is applied to sports...:)

For the past few days I have been in this conundrum of whether I should exert more of myself in studies and gain the most out of this classroom teaching or should I continue as always and just stay above the bell curve.

I spent 4 years of engineering telling myself that I was good enough for the course and I don't need to prove myself to anyone...I used to tell myself that I have the capability as well as the will power and intellect to beat the best when I wanted.

But that was then and I don't see myself coming out of that wave of thought even now. I am doing the same damn mistake which I did during my engineering of giving up even before trying.

So where is the dilemma?

Is it that I should work n study at my full potential or should I just rest back and wait for a shock to hit be before I react to it...

Well as of now, as I get ready to take another exam in this roller coaster of a ride called MBA in AIM ( I have my macro-Eco main paper is precisely 45 mins), I guess I'll leave the decision to react or to be pro reactive to a later date/time.

However I plan to solve this puzzle in my head with in the next few days and then not look back at it for a very long time.

I just hope I come to a decision very soon, because I don't like to be indecisive...Period...

Childhood Memories...

Just a short list of things I loved when I was a kid...

1.] The wonder years...

2.] Playing cricket all by myself in the bedroom bouncing the ball off the wall along with scoreboards and stuff...( Full 50 over matches at that)...

3.] Playing chess alone...(That's the reason I got better at the game although I still don't have the patience to play chess with someone who ponders on his/her every move)...Rapid chess rocks...

4.] Spending time on my terrace, looking at the high rises of Lokandwala every morning and evening...

5.] I loved cycling...Used to cycle during the summer vacation to the rock beaches in Versova...Bliss...

6.] Dekh Bhai Dekh...Another killer show I loved...

7.] I loved doing math when I was a kid...The reason being it was the only subject for which I was allowed to listen to music while studying.

8.] I was & am a very huge Asterix & Obelix fan.I used to take a new book from the library every week to read.Ditto with the Tintin collection.

9.] Boyzone was my favorite band while at school...

10.] I used to love walking on the streets of Lokandwala with my friends.There were so many occasions during the rainy season when I would trot off alone.

11.] Playing cricket in the colony every Sunday afternoon was a ritual which I followed till like last year.(I guess since most of my building folks are already married this recreation was bound to end).

12.] I used to love roaming around Christmas and Diwali in Lokandwala because the streets would be lighted up and decorated and there used be a buzz around the place.

13.] I regret the fact that I didn't start playing football serious when I was still at school.

14.] The highlight of my school life was when I became the house captain for my house.(It was completely unexpected since I was pitted against some very well known scholars but my little cousin sis did the publicity for me and asked the juniors to vote for me, and so I was the captain for the last yr of my school) :)...Thanks a lot Neha...

15.] I used to love watching Fun time from 12 pm to 1pm everyday during the summer vacations.

16.] I enjoyed watching Telematches on T.V and thought one day I would too compete in it...

17.] The small wonder...Viki Lawson et all...

18.] GI-Joe, tom & Jerry and He-man...Favorite animation series...

19.] I used to love watching "Lassie..." the series as well as "The Black Stallion".

20.] Loved reading the "Hardy Boys". Had a whole collection of it...

Compromises...

Trade-off...That's a new word which has enriched my vocabulary in these past few months.

The concept of trade-off has become the integral part of my life here at AIM...Not that I still give overdue importance to the concept yet but looking around me, people are trading off sleep,recreation,fun & friends for the sake of surviving the rigors of the MBA.

I have heard from various people and on numerous occasions that the first 4 months of the term are the most taxing and after that it's bliss and feeling of living in paradise.

Well my point of argument is that life can't be that bad, that we can't find a few hours everyday to invest in ourselves, in building new relationships, in keeping old relationships intact and in general unwinding.

It's been so long since I had a nice conversation with anyone.The last time I remember it was with Divya at the Dadar barista where we spent 2 hrs just talking about life in general.And how can I forget the overwhelming bakaar sessions which I used to have at E-17, Chaitraban with my roomies (Saurabh,Namit n Annshul).

Yesterday I was talking about how friendships fade away and loses significance as time passes by.How different priorities of people change their mindset ,their tastes and their behavior.

I still wonder, when I was back in Mumbai, I used to pass back my engineering college at least twice a week and every time I came across it I used to wonder what has changed around it... n the answer was /is nothing except the people around it.

The xerox shop is still there, the best bus stop, jhunkabakar, the pan shop...Everything is still there as was when I was in college.The only variable that has changed are the people...

Compromises:- "Life's full of compromises" is a very popular saying...

My take is that "life is full of compromises only if you bow to life and are dictated by it...Just do what you feel like doing, when you feel like doing and how you feel like doing"...In the end of the day, at the end of the road you are answerable to only one person...YOURSELF...

Random...

Top 3 things to do of the top of my mind...

1.] Start working out again.Have to exert myself more...
2.] Cut down on my drinking...(Yeah as if that is possible, yet will try).
3.] Have to get serious about life now.This is the last bastion.I have no excuses after MBA to not succeed.

Well there r a few more but at least I have 2 short term and 1 long term goal in mind...

With this thought in mind I go back to gearing up for my game in an hour.

LOB Quiz V...Day 35 @ AIM

I just came back after submitting the quiz paper for the 5th and the final LOB quiz and I have this unyielding urge to just pour my mind out here on this forum...

So here it goes...

Have you ever thought how a rat who is used as a lab experiment or a honey bee which has accidentally got lost with in your apartment...Well I had this uneasy feeling during the quiz today...
40 questions in 2hrs sounds relatively easy that too with the assurance of having a cheat sheet in which you can write whatever you feel like putting...(formulas, definitions,ratios,rules and whatever you feel like putting on the god damn sheet of paper so as to at least appease yourself that you are fully prepared for the battle of wits)...

Well for the first time in many years I felt helpless while solving a paper with problems on it.I used to pride myself at been good with numbers and problem questions but today's quiz has brought me face to face with another reality...

I know I'll scrap through the quiz as well as LOB, but the helplessness which I experienced during these torturous last 2 hrs have really let in lot of steam into my head and I am raring to go at anyone and everyone at the moment.

Thank god this nightmare is over, though there lot many frightening and more challenging subjects on it's way...

I guess I am happy that with the amount of preparation and effort that I put into these past few quizzes the returns have not really disappointed me yet...

Time to play frees bee and enjoy the evening sun...

Ice Age III- Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Saturday, 5th July'09

show time:- 3.45 pm...

I am not really good at being a critic for any movie review, neither have I ever done this before.
However after having watched the movie (my first in the Philippines) over the weekend I couldn't hold myself back from documenting my views on the same.

Well for the movie as a whole...Incredible...I thought Ice Age II was fantabulous but boy oh boy was I wrong...

"Scrat" the squirrel who for me was the star in the 2nd Ice Age movie was joined by his better half "Scratte" and the two were hilarious throughout the movie.

Sid is at his best looking for trouble and after seeing Manny & Ellie having a baby of their own, Sid goes and get's himself 3 dinosaur eggs and actually mothers the three dinosaur kids for precisely one day before mommy dinosaur comes looking for her kids.

What ensues after this is just about one character...a weasel named Buckminster, or Buck...He seems to be direct replica of Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and really breathe a new life into the movie.

The 3-D graphics are amazing and contrary to many critics I think the movie is a must watch for any one who likes animated movies.

The rivalry between Buck & Rudy (a huge white Suchomimus) is another nice facet of the movie and the way Buck describes his tryst or battle with Rudy is really a gem part of the movie.

All in all the movie which runs for just over 1 and a 1/2 hrs is worth the money spent.

As for my me I am just bowled over by the song in the credit which goes something like this in chorus...

Open the door, Get on the floor
Everybody walk the dinosaur...


My classmates are already fed up because I have been singing that non stop...

Cheers...

Just Thoughts

I always give importance to friends in most aspects of my life and have been blessed with some great friends back home in India.
However I never imagined I'll be bestowed with the same kind of gems here in the Philippines.

Life has been great since the time I have come here.I have enjoyed every moment here till now.

Today was a new high for me since we played Frisbee at the park.After having been introduced to the game over the last weekend, a few of us decided to try our luck with the game at the nearby park.It was an awesome experience and the 1 hr we spent diving around, jumping around just like the show dogs who compete in the Frisbee competitions shown on t.v.

Well as for friends the group of Indian and Filipino friends which I have made since I have come here are a gem...

I wish I could write more about it right now,but thought my mind wants to write more my body is striving for some much needed sleep...