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Went to attend Sanjay Subrahmanyam's carnatic vocal concert at Keyes High School, Secunderabad. The concert was organized by Kalasagaram as a part of its 38th Annual Cultural Festival of Music, Dance and Drama. Details of the concert are as follows: Accompaniment: Violin: M.R. Gopinath Mridangam: Neyveli B. Venkatesh Ghatam: Trichy K. Murali List of songs: 1) varnam (vanajAkshA) - rItigowla - kanda ata - veena kuppaiyer 2) nenaruncharA - simhavAhini - Adi - thyAgarAja 3) siva siva - pantuvarAli - Adi - thyAgarAja 4) mallAri - gambhiranAttai - kanda triputa 5) mAmavasadA - kAnadA - rUpakam - swAti tirunAl 6) shankarAchAryam - shankarAbharanam - Adi - subbarAma dIkshitar Had to leave at this point of time to get back to ISB. Sanjay was singing rAga varAli when I was coming out. I think he was planning to sing a "rAgam tAnam pallavi" in that rAga. Sanjay, as usual, sang well though I felt he had a real sore throat today and looked struggling with his voice at times. The concert was organized in a "pandal" (big tent) in the school grounds. I was sitting in one of the last few rows and the audio system used was so bad that whenever Sanjay tried to do voice modulation and lowered the volume of his voice, people lost him completely. The worst part was when the mridangist tried to just play the left side of his instrument for some time and the mic was not picking up anything at all. Only the people in the first few rows could hear what was being played. For about 30-40 seconds, all we could see (and hear) was just the mridangist shaking his head as though he was playing something really good without the audio part coming through. It was like watching a bollywood song on TV with mute on. Suddenly the people in few of the front rows started clapping and all the people at the back also chipped in without the slightest idea as to what was going on. It would have been really helpful had the organizers kept at least one speaker near one of the rows at the back. The festival continues till 4th Dec 2005. Apart from schedule for music concerts that I mentioned in my last post, there are two dramas scheduled on the 3rd and 4th of Dec. posted by Ram at 12:17 AM 0 comments  
FYI .... Kalasagaram, Hyderabad is organizing a music festival this week at the Keyes High School for Girls, Secunderabad. The following are the concerts scheduled for the rest of this week: 29/11/2005 - Vocal Concert By Sanjay Subrahmanyam 30/11/2005 - Flute Concert By Jayaprada Rama Murthy 01/12/2005 - Vocal Concert By Priya Sisters - Shanmukha Priya And Hari Priya 02/12/2005 - Vocal Concert By T V Sankaranarayanan I think all concerts start at 6:30PM. Haven't been able to go to the concerts that happened till now due to classes. Will try my best to attend Sanjay's concert today as I am a big fan of his. Will also try to attend the TVS one, if all goes as planned. posted by Ram at 11:30 AM 11 comments
One of the disadvantages of not getting sufficient number of elective courses in the initial round of bidding is that you have to sample many courses to decide upon what you will bid for in the next and final round. Thats precisely what I was doing today resulting in the whole day being spent in the classroom right from morning till 9PM in the night. Will sample one or two more courses tomorrow to finalize what I am going to bid for in the next round. Find of the day was Prof George Geis who will be teaching us "Outsourcing and IT Based Businesses". Looks like we have one real good IT prof in him. I had thought it was really impossible to get a good IT prof after attending two IT courses here and after hearing the opinions of a few alums and some of my friends in US B-schools. posted by Ram at 11:14 PM 0 comments
Term 6 begins tomorrow. Term 5 was probably the longest term till now. There were no days off even after the exams with many assignments to be submitted. Finished all of my term 5 assignments today. Some people have an assignment to be submitted even tomorrow i.e., even after the next term has begun !! Have got only 2 courses after the initial round of bidding. Need to get at least one more so as to satisfy the minimum requirement of 3 courses. Plan to take 2 more somehow to take the tally up to 4. All this essentially means that since I do not know what courses I will eventually end up getting, I will have to sit through many lectures tomorrow. Based on my experience, the courses available this year and the professors who taught them, the courses in marketing for Term 5 I would recommend people take if they come here are: 1) Marketing Implementation - a must take 2) Consumer Behavior - a good course with some good learnings especially through the assignments/project done. 3) Marketing Research posted by Ram at 11:25 PM 0 comments
You land up in a B-school. Do hi cheezen ho sakti hain (One of two things can happen) ... You either decide what to specialize in before coming or keep your options open. If you have already come with a motive, then do hi cheezen ho sakti hain .... you either work hard, specialize and get a job in the area of your choice or you end up deciding that it is not your cup of tea and decide to specialize in something else. You keep your options open ... then do hi cheezen ho sakti hain .... you decide what to specialize in by the time you start taking your electives or you choose subjects that interest you and decide to see which concentration area's "minimum subjects to be taken criterion" you are able to meet. Now if you thought that deciding everything was in your hands, wait ..... the system has a very important role to play too. The bidding system, if in place, finally decides what courses you get, so much so that in some cases, you may end up getting subjects that result in a change in your area of specialization itself !! So people who are not decided on what to do their MBA in need not worry. There are many options open. Whatever I am trying to write isn't kind of making sense to me at this time of the night .. or is it day... I think its better I go off to sleep ... good nite ..... posted by Ram at 3:58 AM 5 comments
They say that managing time in CAT (IIM entrance test) is very difficult. Today's marketing implementation paper went many steps ahead. Time management was taken for a toss. Every exam here is a revelation (of many things) !! One more to go .... and then what .... exams in the next term in a couple of weeks time?? :-) posted by Ram at 5:50 PM 3 comments
First two exams of Term 5 over. I really liked the marketing research paper a lot (irrespective of how I performed in the exam). It was so much application oriented and involved more of interpreting results of marketing research, making conclusions etc - things that a MBA in marketing is more likely to do in the real world. The consumer behavior paper in the afternoon was more of a pain in the anatomy that got translated into a pain in the head after the exam ... and I mean that literally. Almost everyone in my exam hall was sitting in his place for the entire three hours searching for some theory or the other in the textbook or in the notes. I am having a real headache now after surviving through the mental torture searching for theories related to memory and what not. But then exams in some subjects are like that. Though I enjoyed the consumer behavior course a lot - the surveys, the project, the findings, the night-outs etc , there was just too much to remember, which along with the exam being an open book one added to the pain. In my opinion, we had already done a lot of work through the other assignments/project etc and there was no need for this exam. But then opinions are opinions and may be I am wrong. Marketing implementation exam is scheduled for tomorrow. This will probably be one subject that will stay in my memory for a long time .... of course I will never be able to forget Prof. Nirmal Gupta and the way he taught this course. Whatever be my performance tomorrow, I am surely going to enjoy reading through the notes taken in his class and the slides he sent out on the topics he taught us. posted by Ram at 5:15 PM 2 comments
If there is anything that happens quite frequently here, its exams. End term exams of Term 5 start tomorrow. The first question which most students ask when they meet their batchmates during this time of the year is "how many exams have you got?". With different people choosing different electives this term and with many electives having take-home or other type exams, some fortunate souls do not have to write even a single exam !! One such individual is blogging king Bharani. But he does have to work his way through his take-home exams which he has kind of got sick of. Given a choice today, I would prefer take home exams :-) I have got 5 exams this time - 4 of the usual kind and 1 take-home. With the level of preparation that I am at right now, the profs are surely in for a shock when they see my answer sheets. Hope they have ample marks in their kitty for cleanliness/neatness. posted by Ram at 7:11 PM 3 comments
Have added a few more blogs by ISBians to the list on the right. Listing them below too ... check these out ..... Money Talks & Bullshit Walks - Pokhi's blog Calling Betelgeuse - Ford Perfect has cautioned against mentioning his real name in public Life at the ISB - Strongest man of ISB ?? Intellectual Honesty - Fin is my life posted by Ram at 6:53 PM 3 comments
Please click here to read a post with this title. Came to know about it today when talking to my quaddie Alok*. He has posted it in his blog. Alok is one of the most intelligent and really down to earth guys I have ever met in my life. He has a special way of approaching issues and thinking through problems which I have not found with many people I have had a chance to interact with. He is one of those silent types whom you would easily dismiss as just another guy out there but whose brilliance would radiate when you involve him in conversations. Its really an honour to be his quaddie and get opportunities to learn so many things from him. (* 4 people share an apartment in the shared- type of accomodations here. Students call such apartments "quads" and the members of one such quad are refered to as quaddies). posted by Ram at 10:57 PM 1 comments
Results of bidding for electives of next term came in yesterday. I got kundooed (in case you want to know what that means in detail, click here to read an old post of mine). Basically what that means is that I didn't get any subject when the results were announced (have now got one ... a subject on outsourcing) . I am also quite far behind in the waiting list for other subjects. Does that mean that I may get the chance to pack my stuff, go home and take rest for 1 term :-) .... I hope not ..... I am planning to take counseling from the guy with whom such a thing happened in the fifth term, the guy after whom the term "kundooed" was coined. Hope to get some insights on how to stay calm and find a way out of such a situation :-) Ever since the consumer behavior prof announced that the final exam will be an open book one, the ISB book store has been facing a very high demand for the consumer behavior textbook. Latest reports are that the stack of books in the store (which anyone would have thought might never sell) has been sold off and there have been requests to order many more copies of the book. They say that there is a lesson to be learnt from every story. The only thing that I can make out from all of this is that in case you write a book and want to get very good sales of it, you should make sure your book is so good that many profs recommend it to their students and also make sure that all such profs hold open book exams in their schools. Due to all the assignments that have been thrust upon me and my different study groups for different subjects, I have not slept for more than 2-3 hours during any of the days of the past week and a half. Haven't slept a wink since yesterday. I better get some good sleep today so that I don't sleep during the exams that are just 2-3 days away. It is really strange how much one's life can change in a matter of days .... I have always been sleeping a minimum of 6-7 hours everyday in all the terms till this one and all of a sudden now ..... posted by Ram at 11:01 PM 3 comments
Sabhas have started announcing their concert schedules for this year's music season in Chennai. In case you are a fan of carnatic music and would like to know more about this year's season, click here. posted by Ram at 10:53 PM 0 comments
The Healthcare Club, ISB is organizing "Healthcare & Pharma Summit 2005" on November 26, 2005 at the Indian School of Business (ISB) campus in Hyderabad. This one day conference is open to all top & middle level managers from Pharma & biotech, IT analysts, IT consultants, software developers, business School Students, researchers, cross functional managers and professionals connected with the Healthcare & Pharma industry. People who wish to attend need to register online at www.isb.edu/healthcaresummit ; its FREE. Check out the above link for more details on the largest healthcare event by any B-school in South Asia. posted by Ram at 10:04 AM 8 comments
The Spouses & Family Association (SFA) celebrated Children's Day yesterday. Main events scheduled were a fancy dress competition, talent show and a few exciting games. Not many of us (except those whose kids were participating) could go to see the action as we were all buried under loads of assignments. Here are a few snaps from the fancy dress competition .....        
posted by Ram at 6:27 PM 0 comments
4:30PM - Consumer Behaviour individual assignment far from over. Cricket match ends and there is a general feeling of happiness as India won. Then there is a realization that the assignment submission deadline is 5PM. Franctic efforts get underway and I somehow manage to complete whatever I can by 4:53PM. I hit File > Print and then sprint to the printer room just to find at least 10 more people looking anxiously at whatever is coming out of machine. As always all of them are engineers. I join the crowd. Suddenly the sound of printing stops and doesn't restart for a long time. Panic strikes everyone and the printer says "paper jam. open front cover ... blah .. blah ... blah". I open the front cover, close it again without doing anything and it starts working !! (So much so for messages given to the user). Wonder if the little pat given to the printer in appreciation of its efforts did the trick !! 4:56PM - Still no sign of my printouts ..... and wait ... the next sheet seems to be mine. But the assignment submission cover page hasn't come out yet. 4:57PM - All pages seem to have got printed. I collect everything and start my sprint to the acad center. 4:59PM - Wow !! I am in front of the assignment submission box in record time and submit mine. Turn back and see at least 6 more engineers rushing towards the box. Feel proud to be an engineer ..... completing stuff at the last minute is a trait. Assignment submitted "Just in Time" (Toyota guys must be proud of me). A feeling of having accomplished something big sinks in. A pat on the back reminds that there is a lot more to be submitted in the coming days. Suddenly my mobile phone starts ringing ... "Where the hell are you? Where is our group meeting for the ##### assignment?" .... Oh shit ... where did this come from? ..... "OK ... I am on my way there". ..... and life goes on ...... posted by Ram at 11:33 PM 11 comments
Poseidon 2005 web site will be inaugurated at 10PM today. Check out http://www.isb.edu/poseidon for the launch, the fireworks and to know more about Poseidon. posted by Ram at 6:21 PM 2 comments
With Placements season just few days away, Business Technology Club other clubs in ISB are busy organizing various placement related activities. The clubs are inviting alums of ISB to come and share their placement experiences with us. Who better than our own ISB community to show us the guidance (tips on interviews, resume-building, focus group formations etc). ISB Alums are simply superb! In line with this, the Business Technology Club is organizing an informal knowledge sharing session on November 13th at 5 PM in ISB. Quite a few alums are coming down for the event. If any of the alums are working in Hyderabad and haven’t received our messages, kindly drop in for the event. Please contact Amit Mullerpattan (Amit_mullerpattan@pgp2006.isb.edu) for any further information. posted by Ram at 11:30 PM 0 comments
Deutsche Bank (DB) shortlist for students just came in. Know almost everyone on the list. Wishing all of them the very best. My quaddie "A" also got shortlisted. He is one of the most intelligent people I have ever met in my life. All of us in our quad are really happy for him and sincerely hope he is among the people who ace the interviews tomorrow and make it to DB. He can then sit back, relax and help us out with our preparations :-) Meanwhile, assignments continue to torture us. There are so many assignments to be submitted this week that all the time will be just spent in study group meetings and in moving from one meeting to the other. For the first time since coming to ISB, I have slept just 2 hours in 48 hours (Thu & Fri). I usually sleep a minimum of 6-7 hours daily. The only time I stayed awake till late night before this was when we had Markstrat sessions (marketing simulation game) as a part of our core courses. Because of all the assignments, I am not able to devote much time to my project (ELP) since the past week. The main torture this term is the Logistics and Supply Chain Management course. Though the course is a very interesting one, especially for people with operations background, the fact that I have taken 5 subjects and the project work is making it really hard to devote time. A lot of stuff is covered in one class. To add to the woes, the lectures aren't of much help as well and there are assignments to be submitted in almost every class. Each of the assignments requires a lot of time commitment. The consumer behaviour (COBE) course has some assignments that give a good idea as to how things would be done in actual practice. These assignments are very useful in understanding the stuff that is being taught in the class. I sincerely feel the profs/authorities here can scrap the mid-term/end-term exams in many of the elective courses and concentrate on giving such assignments which will help students a lot, especially those who want to pursue a career in fields related to these courses. In my opinion, the final exams, though helpful in testing what students have been taught over the term, do not add much value. They only act as fuel to intensify the rat race for grades. The one thing I hate the most these days is the importance given to class participation (CP) and the arbit CP that is done just for the sake of getting marks. Will reserve my views on the same for a future post. posted by Ram at 1:30 PM 8 comments
Placement season for our batch is supposed to start in February but a lot of people can be already seen preparing really hard for their dream jobs. Deutsche Bank is the first company that will be on campus for recruitment. They came for their pre-placement talk a few days back and interested students have already posted their resumes. The list of students selected for the next round (interviews) is expected to come tomorrow. They will have their interviews soon afterwards. My quadmates and so many other friends have applied to Deutsche Bank. Wishing all of them lotsa luck for the shortlist and interviews. posted by Ram at 8:48 PM 0 comments
Wishing all readers of this small blog of mine a HAPPY DIWALI !!!!
posted by Ram at 11:56 PM 0 comments
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Name: RamView My Profile Orkut me !! Previous Posts
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