Well I am just back from the Thursday Social, and God! What a fun it was. We drank, ate, danced, played games and had a lot of fun. When Punjabi music was played, I really missed my country. I missed my wife too; if she would have been here I would have enjoyed more. No worries. She will join me tomorrow.
Today I got to see many different types of dances and the best performances were from Marina and a couple from South America- Louis and Veronica. Marina is from Russia and she really danced very well. It was impressive. And of course I was always there with Bhangra and other dances. I enjoy dancing.J
Our Pre MBA course has come to an end as tomorrow is the last day and from Monday our main course starts. So far we were only 48 students and all international participants. I came across people from numerous countries- Peru, Argentina, Russia, Italy, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea …. and the list continues. After spending last fortnight with so many different individuals I learnt one thing that people from non Asian backgrounds are more polite, nice at heart and very open minded. Especially people from Russia, they are very sweet and cool. And I like people who are cool… as they just go with my mantra of life- Stay Cool. One of my team mates is Russian- Victor, that’s his name. He is really cool and so straight in his words. He will simply tell you where he feels you are wrong and will definitely praise you where you are good. Similarly I met another person from Russia- Natalia. She is not in my team but I got to interact with her as we were organizers of the Thursday Social. She too is again very simple and plain in words. And of course she is also very nice and extremely polite. I feel this quality is missing in people from Asia- particularly India and Pakistan. We guys tend to appear differently from what we actually feel and actually are. I think we need to learn a lot from these chaps. Even Professors at Cranfield say that Indians normally have tendency to agree when they actually don’t.
Regarding this week at Cranfield, we started with WAC- Written assessment of Cases. We were given a task to analyze the economic situation of a South East Asian nation and my team chose Malaysia. First we were asked to discuss in a team and then were asked to present a report on that. Then in rest of the week we learnt about Case Studies- how to go about them, Globalisation and about Project Management. We spent whole of Thursday on Project Management with Steve Carver and he is really a very interesting Prof. He has an excellent humour and his teaching style is very dynamic. He gave many live examples of how the projects fail. He also gave a task to each team in which every team has to choose a Project Manager. In our team I was the Project Manager. Our team did complete the task but at costs and time, both of which were very high than the stipulated ones. Of course the time and the costs are two things which are extremely critical to every project. It was another failure but then I’d many lessons to learn from this. I also had something to cheer about, that at least I started well and it was only in execution phase where I made mistakes.
With every passing day, I have a feel that there is so much to learn and there is so less time. Time Management- Is not it so important in our lives?
28 September 2007
23 September 2007
My First week of Pre MBA
It all started with a bang, and just did not stop at all. Right at 845 a.m. on Monday, our Pre MBA started and the best break which we got was only on Friday at 330 p.m. We did not expect that the first few days would be so hectic. The main thing which bothered each one of us was: when shall we get time to arrange our flats, to shop, to purchase car, mobile etc etc. I missed my wife a lot at this point. If she would have been here, she would not only had taken all the responsibility, I would also not had missed my Indian Food. Here people eat bread n only bread. I miss my Parathas n Rotis. Well the good news is that Sherry is coming on 29th Sep.
First day was spent in a business challenge called- Minimax. Tuesday n Wednesday was spent in another business stimulation challenge. We have been divided into teams of 6. One of my team mates has not yet arrived. So we are 5, out of which 3 are Indians (including myself), 1 Taiwanese- Jenny and last is Victor- from Russia. You must be smiling that what sort of MBA is this where there are 3 Indians in a team of 6. Actually as told earlier, this is just Pre MBA. When all the 150 MBAs shall arrive on 1st October, the scenario will be totally different. New teams will be formed.
The business challenges were a great fun and immense learning. The major focus of Cranfield is to make everybody a team player. I had to confront some of the very difficult guys in my team and I must say I did it well. I learnt how one should be patient and a good listener and still should make it a point that one’s arguments are heard well. Though our team lost both the challenges; infact we were ranked last in our group of 4 teams, yet I had some achievements to my name. The most important was the presentation that I gave on last day of the business challenge. We were asked to present a report to the shareholders of the company that we were asked to run for last 2 days. Everybody congratulated me after my presentation as it was real fun. I exhibited dynamism and covered the stage well. I was a bit nervous before the presentation as I had never prepared presentation in less than an hour and gave a presentation to such a diverse audience. The best part was when our instructor-‘Karen’ congratulated me for the wonderful presentation and even told our Pre MBA coordinator- ‘Graham’ about it. I felt on top of world- especially after I had 2 real bad days.
I must say that a team cannot perform well until n unless all the team members gel well. Our team was very fragmented and that’s why we failed to deliver. However, the challenges were a good tutor.
Thursday n Friday went into Introductions to various courses and mean while we squeezed time to resolve all the issues relating to accommodation etc. We also played a lot of games like Football, Basketball n Badminton. But I missed 20-20 World Cup matches, the sexy 6s of Yuvraj and semi final too. Though we have a TV room here but then you have to prioritize time as its limited. Next Thursday is our social gathering where we shall all meet with our families. I am a part of the organizing committee and everyone will be there with families. These kind of parties are common in Cranfield and are famous with the tag of ‘ Thursday Socials’.
My next blog shall be after the completion of Pre MBA. Till then Bye.
First day was spent in a business challenge called- Minimax. Tuesday n Wednesday was spent in another business stimulation challenge. We have been divided into teams of 6. One of my team mates has not yet arrived. So we are 5, out of which 3 are Indians (including myself), 1 Taiwanese- Jenny and last is Victor- from Russia. You must be smiling that what sort of MBA is this where there are 3 Indians in a team of 6. Actually as told earlier, this is just Pre MBA. When all the 150 MBAs shall arrive on 1st October, the scenario will be totally different. New teams will be formed.
The business challenges were a great fun and immense learning. The major focus of Cranfield is to make everybody a team player. I had to confront some of the very difficult guys in my team and I must say I did it well. I learnt how one should be patient and a good listener and still should make it a point that one’s arguments are heard well. Though our team lost both the challenges; infact we were ranked last in our group of 4 teams, yet I had some achievements to my name. The most important was the presentation that I gave on last day of the business challenge. We were asked to present a report to the shareholders of the company that we were asked to run for last 2 days. Everybody congratulated me after my presentation as it was real fun. I exhibited dynamism and covered the stage well. I was a bit nervous before the presentation as I had never prepared presentation in less than an hour and gave a presentation to such a diverse audience. The best part was when our instructor-‘Karen’ congratulated me for the wonderful presentation and even told our Pre MBA coordinator- ‘Graham’ about it. I felt on top of world- especially after I had 2 real bad days.
I must say that a team cannot perform well until n unless all the team members gel well. Our team was very fragmented and that’s why we failed to deliver. However, the challenges were a good tutor.
Thursday n Friday went into Introductions to various courses and mean while we squeezed time to resolve all the issues relating to accommodation etc. We also played a lot of games like Football, Basketball n Badminton. But I missed 20-20 World Cup matches, the sexy 6s of Yuvraj and semi final too. Though we have a TV room here but then you have to prioritize time as its limited. Next Thursday is our social gathering where we shall all meet with our families. I am a part of the organizing committee and everyone will be there with families. These kind of parties are common in Cranfield and are famous with the tag of ‘ Thursday Socials’.
My next blog shall be after the completion of Pre MBA. Till then Bye.
Arrival at Cranfield
15th September 2007, 6:30 p.m. local London time: My flight was right on time even though it departed from New Delhi at 1:50 p.m. IST (late by 20 mins from the scheduled time). I was accompanied by Anil n Kunal. We went to the Immigration Counter at the Heathrow Airport and were surprised to see a v long queue of people mostly Asians. It took about 2 hours to go through immigration thanks to the Chest X-rays which we carried from India; otherwise it would have taken an additional 1 hour at the airport.
It was really disgusting to wait in the queue for hours just for immigration clearance; and the immigration checking officials were interviewing as if they were yet to grant visa- why have you come, how will you finance your studies blah blah….. When we have already completed all the formalities during visa application, why the hell do they ask further questions? The explanation for long queues was that the Government has applied stricter rules and checks in the wake of recent terrorist attacks.
I was worried that the University driver, who had arrived at the Heathrow airport at 730 p.m. (LST) may have left by then. Finally we came out of the airport at about 840 and to our relief, Dave (an employee of Cranfield) was standing with the board that said- CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY. Besides him was standing a smart lady, who I later came to know was our MBA colleague- Sepideh. She is from Iran and when we all boarded the mini bus the journey of learning started. First Dave welcomed all of us to Uk and after that we all got busy sharing our profiles, experiences and cultures. Sepideh told us that Iran is not the way it is projected by the Western media. The country has developed leaps n bounds and is doing well at all the fronts.
We stopped on the way at a petrol station to get some bread, milk etc. as it was already 930 n v knew that by the time we shall reach University we shall feel hungry and we wont get anything to eat in night.
Cranfield is situated about 8 miles from Milton Keynes and at about 60 miles from London. The location is a bit remote and its not v easy to access the University through Public Transport. That’s why personal cars are a necessity here. Milton Keynes is a major shopping centre for the University inhabitants, however all the items of daily use are easily available in campus itself.
We had a nice Sunday as we met all our fellow MBAs. Only a limited no. of people were there as for the first 2 weeks we have Pre MBA course, which is not open for everybody. The Pre MBA is meant for people from countries other than UK, Us n Europe. The purpose of Pre MBA is to make the international students aware with the socio-economic picture of UK and the course is purely optional. One may opt for not attending the course as well. Normal Full Time MBA starts from 1st October 2007.
We went around the campus of the Cranfield on Sunday evening. The facilities, especially in R&D really are very impressive. The University has a big air-space and I feel a fully functional airport can be built here. A no. of different types of planes, meant for training purpose, can be seen.
Next morning, on 17th September, we were asked to report at 845 a.m. So I went to sleep in time as I did not want to get reprimanded for being late on the v first day itself ;-)
It was really disgusting to wait in the queue for hours just for immigration clearance; and the immigration checking officials were interviewing as if they were yet to grant visa- why have you come, how will you finance your studies blah blah….. When we have already completed all the formalities during visa application, why the hell do they ask further questions? The explanation for long queues was that the Government has applied stricter rules and checks in the wake of recent terrorist attacks.
I was worried that the University driver, who had arrived at the Heathrow airport at 730 p.m. (LST) may have left by then. Finally we came out of the airport at about 840 and to our relief, Dave (an employee of Cranfield) was standing with the board that said- CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY. Besides him was standing a smart lady, who I later came to know was our MBA colleague- Sepideh. She is from Iran and when we all boarded the mini bus the journey of learning started. First Dave welcomed all of us to Uk and after that we all got busy sharing our profiles, experiences and cultures. Sepideh told us that Iran is not the way it is projected by the Western media. The country has developed leaps n bounds and is doing well at all the fronts.
We stopped on the way at a petrol station to get some bread, milk etc. as it was already 930 n v knew that by the time we shall reach University we shall feel hungry and we wont get anything to eat in night.
Cranfield is situated about 8 miles from Milton Keynes and at about 60 miles from London. The location is a bit remote and its not v easy to access the University through Public Transport. That’s why personal cars are a necessity here. Milton Keynes is a major shopping centre for the University inhabitants, however all the items of daily use are easily available in campus itself.
We had a nice Sunday as we met all our fellow MBAs. Only a limited no. of people were there as for the first 2 weeks we have Pre MBA course, which is not open for everybody. The Pre MBA is meant for people from countries other than UK, Us n Europe. The purpose of Pre MBA is to make the international students aware with the socio-economic picture of UK and the course is purely optional. One may opt for not attending the course as well. Normal Full Time MBA starts from 1st October 2007.
We went around the campus of the Cranfield on Sunday evening. The facilities, especially in R&D really are very impressive. The University has a big air-space and I feel a fully functional airport can be built here. A no. of different types of planes, meant for training purpose, can be seen.
Next morning, on 17th September, we were asked to report at 845 a.m. So I went to sleep in time as I did not want to get reprimanded for being late on the v first day itself ;-)
19 September 2007
The History of Patiala Peg
Did u ever get a chance to make your drink as gigantic as a Patiala peg? Well many people must not be aware of the saga of Patiala peg which has gained popularity all over the world due to its unusual large size.
The extraordinarily large proportion of alcohol was believed to be enjoyed by the erstwhile maharajas of Patiala. The volume of Patiala peg increased the appetite of mighty kings like anything. The history of the ‘name’ is unfolded by the incident when the teams of the British and the maharaja of Patiala decided to play a match of Polo against each other. The night before the match Maharajah of Patiala organised a party for both the teams. The Players of the Patiala Team had very large pegs of whisky and that too neat (without any soda or water). The British players, in an attempt to imitate their counterparts, also drank large pegs but couldn’t digest them. Some collapsed and weren’t able to get up in the morning to play the match. The ones who made it to the battlefield could not play properly as the hangover of the alcohol was too much for them to handle. From that very day the unusual large size of the pegs came to be known as Patiala pegs.
It got wide recognition among the British, as it was considered to be a wild adventure. So GUYS n GALS try Patiala, only if you are confident that you can handle it well.
The extraordinarily large proportion of alcohol was believed to be enjoyed by the erstwhile maharajas of Patiala. The volume of Patiala peg increased the appetite of mighty kings like anything. The history of the ‘name’ is unfolded by the incident when the teams of the British and the maharaja of Patiala decided to play a match of Polo against each other. The night before the match Maharajah of Patiala organised a party for both the teams. The Players of the Patiala Team had very large pegs of whisky and that too neat (without any soda or water). The British players, in an attempt to imitate their counterparts, also drank large pegs but couldn’t digest them. Some collapsed and weren’t able to get up in the morning to play the match. The ones who made it to the battlefield could not play properly as the hangover of the alcohol was too much for them to handle. From that very day the unusual large size of the pegs came to be known as Patiala pegs.
It got wide recognition among the British, as it was considered to be a wild adventure. So GUYS n GALS try Patiala, only if you are confident that you can handle it well.
Cranfield Calling…
The time has come. Today is my last day in India and tomorrow I am flying to UK- to pursue my dream, my passion i.e. MBA at Cranfield University. What I have discovered is that the more I am learning about Cranfield the more I am falling in love with it. I wonder its just the beginning and what will happen at the end of the program. So much is lined up in this short but interesting 1 year course. On the flight I shall be accompanied by Anil n Kunal. Anil (Anil Piplani), I know him since 1996 when we joined engineering together at Thapar Institute of Engineering n Technology, Patiala. Later we were tied in a relation when Anil got married to my wife Sherry’s sister- Shelley. Sherry is the younger one and all 4 of us: I, Sherry, Shelley n Anil have been together for the last 3 years- firstly in in Bombay, then Delhi n now at Cranfield.
It will be interesting to have Anil as one of my fellow colleagues during MBA and I sincerely hope our stance of cooperation remains as such and the feel of competition does not creep in.
My wife Sherry along with her sister Shelley will accompany me n Anil at Cranfield, so I feel there won’t be much of homesickness with my near n dear ones around. I hope that this may help concentrate on MBA better. Still, nothing can stop me from missing my first love- my home town Patiala.
Today, on the eve of entering Cranfield, I have many wishes, many desires, ambitions n hopes from this great Institute. I hope next year, by the time I finish my course all my desires n wishes are fulfilled. With these words n a heavy heart I am leaving India today. C u at Cranfield.
It will be interesting to have Anil as one of my fellow colleagues during MBA and I sincerely hope our stance of cooperation remains as such and the feel of competition does not creep in.
My wife Sherry along with her sister Shelley will accompany me n Anil at Cranfield, so I feel there won’t be much of homesickness with my near n dear ones around. I hope that this may help concentrate on MBA better. Still, nothing can stop me from missing my first love- my home town Patiala.
Today, on the eve of entering Cranfield, I have many wishes, many desires, ambitions n hopes from this great Institute. I hope next year, by the time I finish my course all my desires n wishes are fulfilled. With these words n a heavy heart I am leaving India today. C u at Cranfield.
03 September 2007
Bidding farewell
Last week I bid farewell to ONGC. My colleagues (mostly my seniors) hosted a number of parties for me. These farewell parties coupled with those staged by my friends in Delhi saw me having about 5 lunches and 8 dinners in last 10 days or so. I must have put on a lot of weight and nullified all my efforts at GYM- which I had made in the last 2 months.
But no regrets. I enjoyed each party and wish I be back among my friends as soon as possible.
ONGC- Oil n Natural gas Corporation Limited. I cannot express in words how much I owe to this organisation. I have learnt a lot here: I learnt abt the Oil n Gas Exploration n Production, drilling of Wells and all those activities that go into production of oil and gas.
Above all obviously I learnt about the Materials Management- procurement, strategic sourcing, spend analysis, category management in particular. I tested my hands in all the latest tehnologies like SAP, SRM, Reverse Auctioning, eSourcing etc.
The best thing that I got from ONGC was exposure. I got a huge exposure here: exposure to the metro cities of Mumbai n Delhi, exposure to the far flung areas of North East, exposure to the corporate culture, to the best industry practices and to the brightest minds of India and the world.
Last day, during my formal farewell all my colleagues wished me all the best and the way everyone encouraged me to go ahead with MBA, reinforced my determination to advance my career through MBA.
I shall always remain indebted to this great organisation and to its great employees.
Thank you ONGC and thank you ONGICIANs.
But no regrets. I enjoyed each party and wish I be back among my friends as soon as possible.
ONGC- Oil n Natural gas Corporation Limited. I cannot express in words how much I owe to this organisation. I have learnt a lot here: I learnt abt the Oil n Gas Exploration n Production, drilling of Wells and all those activities that go into production of oil and gas.
Above all obviously I learnt about the Materials Management- procurement, strategic sourcing, spend analysis, category management in particular. I tested my hands in all the latest tehnologies like SAP, SRM, Reverse Auctioning, eSourcing etc.
The best thing that I got from ONGC was exposure. I got a huge exposure here: exposure to the metro cities of Mumbai n Delhi, exposure to the far flung areas of North East, exposure to the corporate culture, to the best industry practices and to the brightest minds of India and the world.
Last day, during my formal farewell all my colleagues wished me all the best and the way everyone encouraged me to go ahead with MBA, reinforced my determination to advance my career through MBA.
I shall always remain indebted to this great organisation and to its great employees.
Thank you ONGC and thank you ONGICIANs.
My Native Place
These days I am free from my job and preparing for my next venture: MBA at Cranfield University, UK. Am I? I think I am spending more of my time in enjoying life at my native place- Patiala, than preparing for the B-School.
Patiala- I am madly in love with my home town. Its such a cool and calm city- a true stress buster for me. Life here is slow but interesting. People are very cordial and sweet. There are so many nice eating joints which offer you a variety of goodies to eat- the best ones being Gopals, Sahni bakery, Vermas and the more traditional ones like Sadhu Ram's kachori and poori etc.
I love roaming around the city and at times for no reason at all. There s hardly any traffic jam in patiala but that should not be construed as there are less number of vehicles here. Its just that traffic management is good, roads are wide and well laid.
Patiala is an erstwhile princely state of India and is famous for 'Patiala Peg' (the history of Patiala Peg shall be covered in next blog), Punjabi Juttis, Traditional Punjabi products like prandis and patialavi salwars (salwar is a lower part of the suit worn by punjabi ladies). Once I met an entrepreneur who had been to a number of places around the world. i cannot forget his words-" Out of about 50 places I have been to around the world, I feel patiala is so far the best city to live in".
And he is certainly right. Most of the people are from middle class background. The proportion of lower class and upper class is very less. There s hardly any industry and people are dependent on the services sector or the government sector. Though, absence of industry has has its own negative effects on the city. The development projects are undertaken entirely by the Government and there s no private sector participation. There are so many educational institutes but the students have to explore other parts of the country n world for career as there s hardly any opportunities on the job front in this city.
One may summarise that its a best place to live post retirement.:-)
I wish I may spend my own life post retirement at Patiala only.
Love you loads Patiala
Patiala- I am madly in love with my home town. Its such a cool and calm city- a true stress buster for me. Life here is slow but interesting. People are very cordial and sweet. There are so many nice eating joints which offer you a variety of goodies to eat- the best ones being Gopals, Sahni bakery, Vermas and the more traditional ones like Sadhu Ram's kachori and poori etc.
I love roaming around the city and at times for no reason at all. There s hardly any traffic jam in patiala but that should not be construed as there are less number of vehicles here. Its just that traffic management is good, roads are wide and well laid.
Patiala is an erstwhile princely state of India and is famous for 'Patiala Peg' (the history of Patiala Peg shall be covered in next blog), Punjabi Juttis, Traditional Punjabi products like prandis and patialavi salwars (salwar is a lower part of the suit worn by punjabi ladies). Once I met an entrepreneur who had been to a number of places around the world. i cannot forget his words-" Out of about 50 places I have been to around the world, I feel patiala is so far the best city to live in".
And he is certainly right. Most of the people are from middle class background. The proportion of lower class and upper class is very less. There s hardly any industry and people are dependent on the services sector or the government sector. Though, absence of industry has has its own negative effects on the city. The development projects are undertaken entirely by the Government and there s no private sector participation. There are so many educational institutes but the students have to explore other parts of the country n world for career as there s hardly any opportunities on the job front in this city.
One may summarise that its a best place to live post retirement.:-)
I wish I may spend my own life post retirement at Patiala only.
Love you loads Patiala
Orkut n Adnan's Death
Few days back i came across an interesting article writen by my friend, who blamed orkut for Adnan's Death. You can have a full view of the article at:
http://merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=126031
The article gives a nice description of the events that led to Adnan's death. However, to say that Orkut is to be blamed for Adnan's death has not been supported by any facts n reasoning.
Every system on this earth- whether natural or man-made has its own pros and cons. A metal spring has so many useful applications; but the same spring is also used in guns. So, to say that orkut is all responsible for his death won't be right. It was the mis-use of a facility which brought the trouble. So there should be checks on the cyber crime. The Net Users especially the teenagers should be taught regarding the advantages/ disadvantages of the Intenret. Just as the governments and societies are planning to introduce sex education as one of the main stream courses for children, we can have education regarding the internet usage and its fall-outs for the children and adults.
The alternative solution that the article speaks of (Google should ask for documents etc) is very difficult to implement. Moreover, Crimes occur even in those nations and at those places which follow some of the most stringent identity proof systems.
Hope I am right here.
P.S. The commenst on the article are in no way related to my love for ORKUT:-)
Happy Orkuting
http://merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=126031
The article gives a nice description of the events that led to Adnan's death. However, to say that Orkut is to be blamed for Adnan's death has not been supported by any facts n reasoning.
Every system on this earth- whether natural or man-made has its own pros and cons. A metal spring has so many useful applications; but the same spring is also used in guns. So, to say that orkut is all responsible for his death won't be right. It was the mis-use of a facility which brought the trouble. So there should be checks on the cyber crime. The Net Users especially the teenagers should be taught regarding the advantages/ disadvantages of the Intenret. Just as the governments and societies are planning to introduce sex education as one of the main stream courses for children, we can have education regarding the internet usage and its fall-outs for the children and adults.
The alternative solution that the article speaks of (Google should ask for documents etc) is very difficult to implement. Moreover, Crimes occur even in those nations and at those places which follow some of the most stringent identity proof systems.
Hope I am right here.
P.S. The commenst on the article are in no way related to my love for ORKUT:-)
Happy Orkuting
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