RIP Prof. Bala

Its quite sad that I had to even choose this day to restart a blog that I had long forgotten.

Last year lost my aunt and uncle both of whom stood for humility and someone who served the society taking on huge institutions in the run of his life. A life well spent in serving others. Tutoring folks who were/ are transformational leaders in the spheres of their influence and beyond.

The year itself has been quite a bad one as many of the stalwarts who had taught us in schools left us into the ever beyond. A few weeks ago most of us were shocked with the demise of Prof. Swaminathan – an ex IIM-C, HUL alumnus turned Marketing guru.

Yesterday morning, the buzz on the phone brought another news that Padmashree Prof. Bala (BVB – fondly called by his ex-colleagues), a pioneer of activity based costing, the idea of a balanced scorecard and a founding member of many premier educational institutions in India was no more! Shocking it was as at 85, he was hale and hearty and even used to communicate frequently with the people who were in touch with him and his beloved student community.

He helped many aspiring management graduates in India find their path to success and mentored them in his own arena or beyond.

Studying in his school was a different experience. The energy he brought about to the entire community was beyond our thoughts. Sitting through his classes in Managerial Accounting and Strategic Cost and Profitability Management was an experience of a lifetime. Fond memories.

Probably the year spent in the B school under I his guidance, I rubbed shoulders with who’s who of the industry and even stalwarts like T N Seshan – the former election commissioner, Mr. Murthy, Shiv Shivakumar (who now heads Aditya Birla strategy), Mr. Premji and a host of others.

Anyway as I look back, still remember the lighter moments from his class the movement from customer satisfaction to customer nirvana – where he used to quip that Topline has become a vanity, the bottomline has no sanity, the only reality is a customer… so strive for customer satisfaction!

A poor score in accounting – he used to quip – a phenomenal accountant, not only manages accounts receivable but also manages account deceivables… Got it!!

Not only figures can lie, but liars can figure! (What??)

Sell it, or smell it

Those Colin Powell mailers (yeah!)

I doubt if the student community will ever hear these now!

He always suggested on taking the path of opportunity with careful experimentation. There, take the right path, taking the unethical path, at the end of your life – you will always regret and wish you had done differently.

His approach to life, with a positive attitude and lots of humility – with the stress that worrying is optional and planning is of paramount importance is a lesson to carry for life!

Anyway wish all these folks’ enthusiasm and exuberance in life rubs on at least for a short while in our lives and gets us to achieve something great for the larger good!

Are B Schools Serious?

Every time I hear someone is doing an MBA, I am just frightened to give any advice. In fact I did dissuade a few people over the past few weeks given that they were in a better position and well just wanted to do an MBA for the heck of it. Same way, I did guide a couple who were fixed on what to do and where to go post MBA, but just needed a jolt of confidence.

I am scared to suggest someone to do an MBA or rather PGPM as some B schools call it just because of two reasons 1) The aspirant is unplanned 2) The schools are just mushrooming everywhere and have everything to offer which might not be trustworthy.

The former case is just out of frustration, people are frustrated with the monotonousness in their current role and want to do something big. They just thing they can do big by doing an MBA. It does take a lot of patience and time to convince them that its no use doing an MBA for the heck of a degree in any Tom Dick and Harry B school. No school can be an IIM, XL or an ISB whatever the founder(s) claim(s)! But well, many fall into the trap and hardly get any improvement over their previous jobs or realize later that they would have grown way higher had they put up or been patient with their current jobs.

The second, except the top B schools, read the IIMs, XL and ISB, I am losing trust in the rest. Neither do they have proper industry backing that they claim nor they stick to their promise (Of course there are a few like one of them in Mysore, which openly quote that we are not a job factory, join for learning). Quote Unquote “I will increase the seats in this school over my dead body!”, said a dean of one of India’s still upcoming B Schools, but of late, I saw the same school increase its intake a couple of batches later and well above all change its offering. The school was known for its one year program, but looked like it decided to ditch its own premier offering for a 2 year program. Do understand this might be considering the market dynamics, but well the way it was branded and communicated, it looked like we are ditching our premier offering, which was a key differentiation. So the initial offering seemed like just a platform to build the brand and then….

The B schools go a long way promising placements, hiding the real facts on placements and falsely boost students’ confidence, but well the truth will be a lot different. In fact I know a dean who has claimed for three consecutive years (I did speak to ppl form three consecutive batches), that Mc Kinsey, BCG, Tata Administrative Services and Meryll Lynch would come to the campus for recruitment, but well except for a guest lecture from one of them, the statement has been a damp squib. In fact when I did my Masters as well, I was promised a certificate which authorizes me to do a 6 month Masters in US in a B school, haven’t seen the certificate till now! Glad that I got my degree certificate :).

My word to those who are aspiring any of the B School set up in the past decade or so – Don’t trust the advise given in Meet The Deans/ Admin Directors or any B School Show offs! Visit the school first and get first hand information. Then speak to the alums – who were there 2-3 years back preferably one from each batch and compare the information you have on hand. If you are studying in India, check the placement stats, very much in person. And yes, please do not take decisions in a haste – Not all B Schools are serious.

PS: Some opinions are personal, some shared within a group, expect the reader to visit the schools and take a call. I am still trying to understand why people want to do a Fast-Track MBA (I did as well) or rather an MBA without plans. The article has been written after my interactions with a few aspirants over the couple of months, who just wanted an MBA and probably will get one too…

Kataariveera Surasundaraangi!???

After a long long long time, I am writing. But after a long time went to a Kannada movie with my wife. Plagued last week with no tickets to Anna Bond, did not want to miss Kataariveera Surasundaraangi starring Uppi, Ambi and Ramya in 3D. Touted to be the first 3D movie in Kannada the story seemed not so interesting but just wanted to have some brainless fun from the Real Star and that was it.

After going to Cinepolis, BG Road and returning in vain, found the tickets for the 3D movie in Gopalan Cinemas on BG Road. For unknown reasons felt that place is overpriced, but after seeing that Fun charges 230 for a Kannada movie, decided this was better on my pockets. So there we were, me and Sups picking up our 3D glasses waiting for the show to start.

Plotted in heaven and earth, the movie has no semblance to real life. The story disappointment both of us a lot. Given the publicity, we did expect a lot out of the movie with veterans like Ambarish and Doddanna in lead roles. But except for a new-look pretty looking Ramya (a.k.a DivyaSpandana), our expectations were went down the drain, just like the water from the heavy rains outside :). The movie was supposed to do the same to sandalwood what Avatar did to Hollywood.

The better part of the day probably was the time we spent in SFO restaurant themed on San Fransisco Cable cars, and of course the ride back in near torrential rains. The weather has been a welcome change over the past week. Hope the rains are here to stay. Just before I close, the Cable Car restaurant served great food, probably worth another try. And yes, I did not get tickets to Anna Bond again, probably next week, or with another Upendra release that is expected soon.

And Back…

For almost four months, I was out of action from blogging. Some attributed it to my marriage, some to my new job and rest were not just caring about it! Anyway I am back here on WordPress. Long time since I posted anything – probably had devoted enough time to Sups and her college life! Yeah, my wife’s doing her M.Tech ad yes I had to run around to do her assignments ;).. Joking! Anyway, had to get adjusted to the new work life. Yet to get into the groove. Still settling at work. Not back at full pace and would definitely change soon, Need M for Motivation ;).

There has been another problem that’s stopped me from getting back to work, its the lunches and dinners at the houses of a plethora of relatives. As of now, the count stands at some 30 odd and still have not covered even 25% of the list of invites. This might go on for another couple of years!

While I was off, many things happened. Anna’s innumerable fast. Kapil Sibals attempts to gag Internet. BSYs on and off mode in hitting out at BJP leaders in Karnataka! Wow, all for power. Little do people know how to manage with power. Congress has gone on a huge campaign in UP and has forgotten all the issues dogging this nation, soon wish there is a change of power into good hands! Anyway all this will come up soon with much details!

Have had a few road trips across the state. Bangalore-Mysore-Shimoga-Hassan and now planning one this week to Kukke Subhramanya-Coorg-Dubare and then the week after to Mangalore for Prasanna’s wedding and then to Sagara for Srini’s wedding! Had stayed at Infy Mysore campus as well last week post-work. Now that was a treatment meted out to a king! Was sad that I stayed back at campus being hardly a kilometer or two away from home, but still for the sheer greatness of that place, it was worth being put up for one night! Was a wonderful stay and yes hoping to work from there some day!

Three Movies and a Changing Life!

Firstly apologies for not posting for long. Its been a while, but I still see consistent traffic to my blog. Thanks for the patronage. Life over the past three months have been a roller coaster and seriously have had very little space to both breathe and write. Today finally I am writing after commiting myself to ensure that I pen down my thoughts over a few happenings. I can attribute the delay in posting to date my ISP who still has not provided Internet service to my house! After one month of appliying. Talk of economic freedom, privatization etc…??? Once a govt. agency always a govt. agency. On the other hand, I am extremely impressed by the way our Energy Minister Shoba Karandlaje has gone about cleaning up the LPG mess in the state. Hats off to her, for taking action on illegal customers.

Firstly, life has been very dynamic. This might be too Siva-istic a dialogue from me. Quite a few from Great Lakes would agree, but yes it has been very dynamic over the past few months. Trying to find your dream job/ firm, not happenining in your city, make choices, meet someone, get things moving, the inherent delays everywhere including someone – whew! Life is full of stress. Meanwhile has been good to see Pavan and HM settle as Srichand, Tanny, Abhi in that same order are bound for the knot.

The past two plus months have also contributed my chunk to the kitty of the transport coporations and the oil corporations. With ever-increasing oil rates, not stopping me from traveling within Karnataka between the three cities of Shimoga, Mysore and Bangalore. Yeah, the only effect the hike has had on my options is now to check and wait for Etios Diesel which if they do not release by November, and would be going for a Beat Diesel. Trust me from my journeys i admire the beauty of the green forests of interior Karnataka and nature at its best. Damn the mining that was done in kemmangundi, Jairam Ramesh must have been made the environment minister long ago to get it stopped. Meanwhile the journeys are pleasent as well and I am shocked at the way Shimoga has been developed by Yedyurappa, whatever others claim he has done.

Out of boredom I have probably seen the most crappy movies of the recent times. Did not even stop at Salman Khan’s Ready. The last three weeks though have seen what I can claim as three solid ones for the year until Don 2 or another AK flick releases. And here are the three movies the latter two which I went in after declining an offer to watch Singham for free :).

– Delhi Belly – My thoughts – Utterly Vulgar and times disgusting. Still enjoyable. Thoughts wander why you need to pay money to hear someone using gaalis. Still it was fun, youth oriented and yes truly what happens in the modern world. Would probably rate each actor to have given a 100% performance, but the best performance of the three movies are in this one. Note it. Its Bold and its Funtastic.

– Zindagi Na Milegi Dobaara – Kaash yeh movie na dekhne pade mujhe dobaara :(. The movie by the end of three hours was almost as long as its name is. For Gods sake I do not understand why all movies nowadays have three heroes or three characters. Even Delhi Belly had. Now even ZNMD??!!!*&*&* Well could not help on one more thing, the whole world ranted about Katrina Kaif and watch this movie for her! I would rather watch it for her Spanish friend ;). Well she was good looking in all her movies and in this as well. Well in all it was a light movie, but just too slow. If they tried to make a modern Dil Chahta Hai, this was not it. Good one, but not the best.

Harry Potter 7 Part II – And now the movie for which I had no one for company for 3 weeks!!!! Yeah, god knows if Lord Voldemort had eaten them all so that I could not watch HP7b in company of people who could understand the movie. People including Pri declined to watch the movie for the sole reason of not understanding it!!! My god, people read, read the books, stop watching the idiot box for sometime and then watch the movies. Things will fall into piece. And yes coming back to the movie, I finally got Tanny for company, poor chap had not seen even one HP movie and ended up seeing this without understanding it. The movie began where it left in 7a, with LV claiming the Elder Wand and ended as depicted in the book at Platform 9 3/4 in the majestic Kings Cross Station. Trust me this has been the best Harry Potter movie, but still did not feel great or on the top after seeing this. The effects were too good and it was nice to see the cast put up a great show for the last epic release of the series. Was fun to see the curses being stung across the screens, dementors being chased away, Gringotts being robbed, aah… Still I long for it, wish it was a 10 hour run :(.

Food

The next best thing after movies is food 🙂 Have shifted to my new house in JP Nagar and yes have had an amazing experience ever since. After Basavanagudi, was skeptical about food elsewhere, but Prasiddhi Hotel in JP Nagara is an awesome joint to eat. The food is extremely tasty and healty and well if I can quote, Oil less Dosa here tastes much better than Dwaraka or Vidyarthi Bahavana. So well Prasiddhi you get a 3.5* on a 5 from me.

Well alls not the same and I visited another hotel called Madras Cafe. Well food there sucked big time and probably that explains the rush in Prasiddhi and the emptyness here. Trust me the pongal/ Pulyogre that was being given as prasada in the temple opposite Madras Cafe was tastier than the food there.

Looking for a bright day tomorrow. No new movies slated for this week though Tanny invited me for some Tom Hanks flick at the Infy Mulitplex! No way for now…. May be next week or sometime mid week. Cheers.

You can take a Mysorean out of Mysore… But… You cannot take Mysore out of a Mysorean!

The last week, given that I now travel to Electronics City for work daily, probably for the first time in six years I had to stay in Bangalore on a Friday evening and Saturday morning and experience the traffic! Though I had decided to stay back in my lovely lazy house in a green locality, a wake up call at 9AM (Yeah!) made me wonder what to do over the weekend. Took the normal 60 route and went to Basavanagudi, had amazing dosas at Vidyarthi Bhavana, a recollection of my stay there two years back and then…. headed to Mysore. As I just wondered why I was heading to Mysore for hardly a day left, thoughts came back on an old post which said, You can take a Mysorean out of Mysore… But you cannot take Mysore out of a Mysorean.

As I got into the bus, still wondered why I was going back to this old statement, a bus probably full of IT professionals heading for their home for the weekend (Yeah I can probably claim that I am not one now ;)). Each of those people had the essence of Mysore sunk in their hearts and well would probably live Mysore and breathe Mysore as many do worldwide! As a matter of fact, the past few weeks I have had quite a few people call me and ask how is life in Mysore and how is it as a destination to setlle! Though I had good words to say, I had to tell them that they cannot love Mysore by force, they probably need to go through an experiential phase and then decide on their investments! A lovely lazy city, I can claim, but still not a hot investment destination and I hope it never will be one.

What probably makes a Mysorean is the culture of the cultural capital of the state. The early morning walks on the lake bunds of the city (there are some 7-8 big ones), the walking tour of the palaces, the visits to the Chamundi Hills at the center of the city, a near-perfect zoo with great walks, the heritage buildings in every nook and corner – including the DC office, the Oriental Research Institute, the Palaces, the University, the colleges which are centuries old, my alma-mater Marimallappa’s, the spice markets in SriramPets and the ShivaramPets, the large markets of the city, wide roads and add to this an inclination towards preserving the culture, traditions, languages (yeah the city also houses separate Universities for Music and Sanskrit along with the Central Institute of Indian Languages) with a touch of modernity in the Urs Road, the KD Road and as my friend Raghu says you cannot miss the Purple Haze in Vijayanagar. So much in a city that still is green and decently planned around 10 miles away on both sides with huge riverbanks, cool evenings ranging from 17-23 degrees across the year!

Coming back to the primary discussion, the people in the bus, would probabaly have spent their younger days enjoying the city as it grew, with weekend trips to Betta or Chamundi Hills, savouring the dosas at GTR, the great dishes of Nalpak (which at that time was housed in Urs Road), VB Bakery on the Chamraja Double Road, the churumuri stalls near the town hall, the roadside stalls of VV Mohalla, the Chaupati point near Eshwara Temple, enjoying the delicacies of Annapurna Sweets and Mahalakshmi Sweets, visits to the huge markets with parents and relatives to breathe in the aroma of the city! More to add would have had the weekends spent in Ranganathittu or Talkad/ Gopalswamy Hills or BR Hills and of course the never ending Blue Lagoons near KRS. The rains of the city makes it more beautiful as people head to the Sangam’s, Sterlings and the Skylines of the city.  A visit to the city, without probably visiting the KD Road (Kalidasa Road), KD Cirlce juction Vijaynagar (though useless) (KrishnaDevaraya Circle) or the bylanes of Saraswathipuram would be meaningless for some window shopping or fun destinations. And yes the latest fun destination – the Planet X!

The view of the sprawling race course and golf course from the top of Ch Hills brings back the sweet green memories as one falls into a well of the childhood spent in the city. You must have had a great past life to have enjoyed this city and its colors with the Royal Aura. Wherever you go, you get back to the past and drool over the sweet memories of the city! And yes to be honest, no place other than Basavanagudi even has a scent which can resemble the aura of Mysore. For reasons unknown of my 4 years of stay in Bangalore (Keeping in mind, a year in Bristol and another in Chennai), I have probably visited every weekend to Mysore without fail (though the actual reason may be that I did not invest in a washing machine for some time ;)). But well this time, I honestly tried to stay back in Bangalore over the weekend and well, god knows what pulled me back here – Just as they say You can take a Mysorean out of Mysore, but you cannot take Mysore out of a Mysorean.

As my tribute to the city, I plan to cover one epic building/ downtown monument/ roads etc.. as I visit every alternate weekends hence forth! So, Read On!

Aare Yoouuu Readyyy???

All through the IPL, the stadiums used to reverberate with noises and the PA system announcing to the ever waiting audience – Aare youuu readdyyyy??? followed by a loud cheer! Today I decided to experience another encounter – watching the movie Ready starring Salman Khan and Asin. Wondered if I was really ready to bear such a movie on a weekend! Good Laugh, but little sense as I had seen the Kannada movie Raam starring Puneet Rajkumar which had the same storyline! My take on the movie – if you have had a bad day, just go sit in the movie and enjoy, otherwise, forget the movie, just stay home or go elsewhere and enjoy!

While I would say that watching Ready is not completely worthless, I would also like to mention that the movie has no takeaways apart from a break to the daily grind! Sallu and Asin are at their usual best. After Debaang, though much cannot be expected from this role Salman Khan, he has tried his best to make the role as lively as possible.

Paresh Rawal on the other hand, has done a decent job, but cannot stop going back to the Kananda version where Rangayana Raghu did great justice to the job. All said, still Paresh is the king of Hindi comedy after those Kader Khan days! Well if you intend to take a compelte break from your brain tomorrow, ready is a good movie to spend your money on, with you thinking of only three things – I, me and myself!!!

Blaming Political Instability

Sunday’s Economic Time’s carries an article on the downard trend of the Karnataka State’s GDP. What leaves me wondering is, the GDP of the state has grown up from the figure’s they themselves have shown in the exhibits, it looks like the economy has actually taken a U turn. Agree that from a 10+ GDP it came down to six, but over the last two years, it has again gone up to 8.6. And, yes ET calls it due to political instability. What about the financial crisis in between?

May be a part of it is due to the political instability, but however conducive the government is trying to make the atmosphere why are the opposition ruining the chances of the state. The flowers of Karnataka’s success bloomed during SM Krishna’s tenure, however while the Governemnt had planned to target other grown Tier-2 cities as the next IT/ Bio destinations, the father-son duo in between changed the landscape.

I remember having read an article which promoted Ram Nagar near Bangalore as an Investment destination. With almost zero infrastructure, who would go there? Was this done to serve the political ambitions of a few? If it is so, the state’s loss has been other states’ gains. If someone has blocked a pre-planned agenda, to get their plans actioned, probably that cannot be termed as political instability.

Mohandas Pai has rightly quoted that “There is a big disconnect between potential and actual action… this gap has only widened.” So how can someone blame political instability as the reason for this GDP fall and how can one ignore the now rising GDP again?

101st!

Well, just did not realize that I had completed 100 posts on my blog :), so randomly posting this.

The Two States

It has been really interesting to follow the news channels over the past week. While AFAQs quoted dipping figures on the News channels due to the Breaking News not being so well accepted by audience and what I would call as the local channel menace (I still think TV9/ Suvarna should change their style of reporting than sensationalization), the same report would probably have changed given the US Army’s capturing of the most dreaded man in the world.

While his capture may have made many feel happy, the location might have come as a surprise for many. India for instance has been stressing that the neighboring country has been harboring the most wanted men for long. But probably the statements were not deemed trustworthy and here it is! How he found his abode there and why it always happens in that country, I would probably cite the reason of the country being a failed state.

Historically, Pakistan was created to satisfy the ego of Jinnah, who proclaimed himself to be their sole leader, whereas India elected Nehru rather democratically (Hmm…. ). The intention of the two nations two has been different. While Indias focus has been on growth and good external relations, for Pakistan it has been just the mud slinging with India or just proving its military might over Kashmir. The focus of the leadership of the two nations have been different as well. The same can be observed if you just browse through the history of the leaders and their action within and beyon the two countries. A larger debate on this needs much more introspection and I am actually working towards collecting some literature on this stuff.

So I leave this post with this question. Is it the quality of the leaders who have ruled the two states that have created such a difference in the nations that were created out of the undivided India? My take – Yes.

Btw, Thanks to Sameer, my post on Great Lakes got published in MBA Crystal Ball, the link to the post is as below.

Great Lakes Chennai 1 year MBA (PGPM): Amar gets nostalgic