Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Back From IIM B

Was at IIM B for vista - Their B School competition. It was ossum fun, especially with the free booze and weather. Weather and IIM B campus -both are really good. Their's is def more laid back and "jovial" campus when compared to IIM A. And food is definitely better !!
Maybe it is the amazing weather which adds that touch of "fun & frolic". Add to that the umpteen number of great pubs. This time I went to two of them which I had not visited before - Enigma at Koramangala and Angrezi pani . Forum has changed so much that one can't believe what one sees if one had seen it in the early stages. Did a bit of shopping at Megamart too.

All my software (and other) friends at Bangalore have become amazingly good cooks !! Maybe one of those things which we should start giving the IT revolution credit for !! I just can't believe that people who would not know where their kitchen is back home, is now cooking Beef and Dosas and various intricately "manufactured" curries !!(Cuisines in some cases being "designed" extempore!!). Living away from mummydear has made lot of these guys take to cooking - initially out of force but slowly becoming a hobby!! My major project post-IIM A is to learn cooking for one whole month before starting with my job. It was really awe inspiring stuff from lots of my friends - both guys and girls !!
Infrastructure in Bangalore is going from bad to worse. All the media bashing apart I thought it would be the usual media exaggerations unless I went and saw it for myself. I went immediately after a bad, rain fed flood with roads full of gutters and tar topping going offf in many places. It ofcourse doesnt look like what the Silicon Valley of India should look like.
At the fest though IIM A had an ossum time winning almost everything worth winning !! We won the two main events - an international case contest and business plan competition, worth Rs 60,000 and Rs 55,000, apart from paper presentation in one vertical and a private equity game for total prize money in excess of 1.3 Lakhs !! (Yours truly can lay claim to only 5000 of them for paper presentation prize!!!).
It was a well organised event with last night of L-Square party (very similar to IIM A's own Ramp parties - the critical difference being "legal" booze!!) marking the end of some really nice experience.
Coming back I missed my Kingfisher flight since the idiots in Indiatimes auctions forgot to generate my PNR number. I had stay back to party for 1 more day and then catch a spice jet. (Not that I am complaining!!). But I just cannot fathom the unprofessionalism of Indiatimes - their work culture is as sleazy as their newspapers. Downright unprofessional - they don't pick phones at help desk, noone is around to clear doubts, they dont reply to e-mails !!!And worse of all they dont pay you back after cutting the amount from credit card even after not delivery the promised service !! I mean what the fuck are you running in the name of one of the largest online trading portals ?!! Even the sleaziest of dance bars in Mumbai suburbs like Dahisar are run more professionally !! We are planning to take legal action against these asses. Let us see how it goes !
By the by, belated Diwali greetings for all !! :)