NY #3 : Why don't you go jump off a..

Finally, a Saturday with great weather. We rented a convertible and took a road trip to Delaware Water Gap. Gorgeous drives in an open car with the wind in our hair! We spent the better part of the day driving around and then in the evening, we went.. (pa pa ra rum pum...) Sky Diving.

Which is basically getting on a plane, flying to 13000 ft and then jumping off. Free fall lasts for a minute and then parachutes open and you float down to earth. It was amazing! Just Amazing - to just fall out of a plane and fly :)

It been an amazing day, and now I must sleep (@ 5 am).

Take the A train

Today, I left work and took the A train downtown to Fulton Street. I then took another train to Lexington avenue and walked along 23rd St until I found a grocery store. I came home and cooked Rava Upma and Mango pickle. My first proper Indian meal since getting here weeks ago. What drove me crazy was not just the endless parade of cold meat, bread and cold salad. It was the hyper expensive Indian meal I ordered of Biryani, which turned out to be plain rice with a sidebowl of an oily meat curry. (I think the idea was to mix the two together to create biryani!)

Eeeyuck!

But now I'm finally happy and full! Yay!

Ps : The title is one of the first jazz songs I heard. Got hooked onto the Duke since then.

The ABC of Choices

This is inspired by a few people discussing which b-school to pick or whether to pick b-school at all. I went through something similar last year. And here's what I think :

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Eventually, before you decide which school to go to - take five minutes and think about Why.

Why did you write the CAT/GMAT
Why did you want to go to business school

If you don't know what you're looking for in graduate school, you damn well won't find it.

It could be a higher paying job, challenging acquaintances, knowledge, fun, a chance to get away from it all for two years, or just some
additional letters after your name.

However, if you don't have some semblance of clarity as to why you are doing this, more often than not you're likely to be disappointed. If you want b-school to make you smarter, brighter, polish you, give you a large friends network and a job in Europe.. trading bonds - wake up and smell reality. B-school simply gives you a shot at all of these. Eventually what you make of it is just that.. what YOU make of it.

That said, I've been asked to rank A against B, C, X, Stern, Rutgers, Blah blah. I won't. Simply because I am not an educationist. I don't know anything about schools abroad and very little about Indian schools too.

I do know some things however :

I am not the type of person who chooses a place of study because it has nice weather, free flowing alcohol or is closer to home. I'm sure there are people who do make those choices, however i can't shed any light on the subject. Remember of course that to compensate for Ahmedabad's fiery summers, our classrooms and library are airconditioned. And where there is a will, there is a way. (I'm talking about going home.. what did you think? ;) )

Think about the worst thing that can happen after you leave IIMA, and see if you can live with that. More often than not, you usually can. And remember, life here is tough. So's life at Harvard, Wharton or Stanford.

BSchool is not really a place to relax and 'chill'. Anyone who tells you that, has probably learned to 'play' the system or has given up (I have too on occasion) - But school itself is designed to be tough. Atleast in the first year. So?

Really, what makes it tough is not the program alone. Its the peers with a keen competitive edge, your personal goals that push you to achieve something, all the movies you watch, the things you do, the partying, the sports, the hanging out with friends. (yes we do have lives!).

The years you spend at B-School will be hard. Atleast the first year at a good b-school will challenge you, and push you to some extent. It won't kill you however, and in the long run, you're unlikely to regret two years invested here. It won't be a cakewalk, but its not insurmountable horror either.

Before I picked A for example I was told I wouldn't have a life, I'd become a geek, I'd be sidelined and overwhelmed in a school filled with IIT 'studs' and I'd be too far away from home.

I've done two plays, gotten up on stage more than I did in four years of college, taken 6 trips back home, seen more movies than I probably did in the previous two years, made great friends, and far from being sidelined - have learnt a lot from both the IIT 'studs' and my peers from a variety of different backgrounds.

In the end, make the choice - and think about how you would describe your choice. Are you going to spend your life defining yourself as someone who went to school X? Or as someone who went to Y, followed by a few short sentences on why you picked Y even though you got X?

And eventually, whatever choice you make, b-school is a passport to something - a better life, a better job, a better career or simply a different one. But as with any other traveller, you have to book your own tickets.

Good luck!

Earlier Today

Me : What's the point of that kind of charade? I know I'm lying, they know I'm lying, I know they know I'm lying.. you get the idea..

Friend : That sounds exactly like an HR interview..

;)

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Update : Maybe the above post required a little context. I and a friend were discussing parents and how its pointless to lie to them.

Interviews may be typically classified into two types (If you've ever tried getting into a b-school or a job, you'd know) - Technical and HR.

The technical interview is a rude awakening for both you and the interviewer. You realize that you in fact know nothing. Unfortunately so does the interviewer.

In a HR interview, your attitude and softer skills are tested. Here you eagerly convince b-school G (for want of a better letter) that even though you have calls from IIM A B C you're still seriously considering G and want v badly to get in there. (This is usually done to hedge, just in case you have non-HR interviews at A B C and don't make it through)

So there we go, this became a nice long post now :)

And Two

This blog is now two years old. Through two cities and two schools, this space has been a neat companion and chronicle.

Here's to my dear blog! Hic! Hic! Hurrah!

:-)

NY #2 : You could always talk about the weather

Unfortunately, its been raining all morning. So I've been snoozing on the couch. Here's hoping the weather clears up.

NY #1 : At midnight in the Village, there are no hardware stores open..

What is open though, is Cafe Wha?. 115 MacDougal St is the home to many a musical/comedy talent in NYC. Heavyweights like Bill Cosby and Jimi Hendrix started their careers here.

We went there on a Friday night to listen to the live band belt out rock, soul, 80s hits and Beatle's numbers. New York so far, is mindblowing.

Lists and Lipgloss

Packing is an exercise in optimism which eventually, ends in futility.

You never really pack.
You get boxes and tape and make lists and start to pack.
And then you start to pray.

Eventually, you get a big plastic bag for all the little stuff that couldn't be categorized and you can't bring yourself to throw away because 'what if you need it at 3 am on a tuesday' and you rue this moment when you chucked it out.

Lipgloss that a relative brought from abroad that I saved for special occasions, and has now turned rancid, old nailpolish that is perfectly preserved but totally not my color, a magazine I wanted to read last fall that is still lying under my bed are the latest casualties in my war against 'stuff'.