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 !! :)

New Beginnning

It is long since I have been thinking of shifting to Blogger. Simply cuz the opportunity cost in continuing with rediff is too high now with all the tech upgrades happening. It is simple to uplink stuff from Picasa2 or wherever else I want to from. Imaging sucks at Rediff. Also feed works better. So I think I will slowly phase out my Rediff blog. I have been blogging for almost 4 years now right from the times blogging starting happening big time in India thanks mainly to Rediff. I remember the ol guys from then on like Sid, Tan, Anand, Venkat etc and then people like Sidin ofcourse !!

It has been fun at Rediff making lots of friends and having some intellectually stimulating debates though I missed out on the Bombay Bloggers meet twice that I had promised to go. Looking back I realise I missed an opportunity to make a still larger number of friends. Work at L&T, Powai kept me tied up those days but then work also gave me free internet with which I could blog. Now in second year at B School work is dead but internet is alive and kicking !! So as good a time as any to enter a new phase of blogging revolution..err...evolution !!

Thanks for reading me on at rediff and hope you folks shall keep coming here too and update your links like good blog samaritans would do !!

It is also a very interesting time for blogging in India. I copy paste my final blog at Rediff herein

"With RB and Sabnis getting PeeYemed I'm shit scared to blog anything these days ! What if some dimwit send me too an online writ or worse still curse me to be raped by lizards inhabiting his commode ? When will people grow up ?I don't see any reason why RB would cook up anything. (Bring on the kickbacks from Aaj Tak logic..or was it Amity ??!! ;)..I saw her first at our Alum Meet at Mumbai. Right from then on she came across as someone determined to do any job in the best possible manner. And she's done a jolly good job with the episode so far ! Same goes with Gaurav whose blog I have been reading from time immemorial (Yea blogging started some time after Big Bang!!)Hope I can blog again.You never know when Beelzebub come knocking at my little dorm room at Vastrapur and eviscerate my bowels & cut my testicles away. For I have sinned by supporting sinners who spoke the Truth. Bring on the hemlock. Socrates awaits !! N.B Please make it a 124.90 Crore suit. I have a cash crunch you see, after buying a couple of pairs of first hand Jockeys."

Though the issue is closed for now, I think it clearly indicates the prominence of Blogging as a pathway of information flow. Yesterday I was reading C K Prahalad's Co-creation paper wherein he speaks of consumers co creating value with producers up the value chain. Guess blogging and sites like Mouthshut.com are soon going to be a conduit for value co creation in the business world. No longer can they be construed as "mumbo jumbos" (No Pun!!) of yuppies with free internet and lavish time. They have essentially become mouthpeices for consumers and a touchstone for product quality.

See you all around !! Gud day..