Arrey huzoor... Wah Taj boliye!

There are some childhood dreams which are wacky. I had one such dream as a kid when I used to see the ad of a brand of tea which featured a tabla playing uncle with a weird hairstyle.

We used to get the same brand of tea at home and most of the times free gifts like sketch pens, crayons, funky pencils accompanied the pack of tea. The free gifts were of much more interest to me than the tea itself as well as the uncle playing tabla or the beautiful building featured in the ad & on the tea packet.

I came up with a logical deduction that the building is the home of the uncle who likes playing tabla and just like mummy he doesn't want kid like me to drink tea. So instead of scolding me he sends sketch pens, crayons etc as gifts. No wonder I soon developed a secret desire to meet this sweet uncle and so I decided when I grow up I will visit him at his home and thank him :)

It was only later when I grew up that I realised the uncle was none other than famous tabla player Ustad Zakir Hussain and his home was one of the seven wonders of the world "The Taj Mahal". Also the free gifts had soon stopped as the brand of tea we drank at home had been changed.

Anyways my fascination for the Taj grew stronger once I read the history associated with it and it became one of the must see places in life. 28th Dec was the day when I realised this long cherished dream on a visit to Mathura and Agra with fellow ManDevIans.

After the visit I strongly feel the beauty of Taj cannot be described in words as all the adjectives put together will not be able to do justice to it. I was left speechless when I got the first glimpse of it through the magnificent arched entrance. The hour and a half which I spent there will forever remain etched in my memory.

The fact that in fading light I couldnt appreciate the grandeur of the entire Taj complex and the finer details of Taj itself has strengthened my resolve to go back again and again to this temple of love.

Perhaps on one of the visits I will also meet the tabla playing uncle with the weird hairstyle. :)

Until then enjoy the pics of the visit to Taj and Mathura with my friends at MDI.

P.S: Click here for the Facebook album link or check the slide show embedded here...

Time to get my act together...

Times are tough right now for anyone on the verge of stepping out of a b-school. And its amazing how the age old Darwins principle of "survival of the fittest" fits so very aptly to the current situation.

So guess it high time to get my act together and ensure that I am fit enough to survive the upcoming placements test. :)

All this fitness related stuff also reminds me of the urgent need to hit the gym soon. And let me tell you this is not the after effect of watching Amir Khans well toned body in Ghajini (just came back from the "paid preview" of this latest Amir flick! )

It was one of my resolutions for the year 2008 and with just a week left let me try and do some justice to it before I renew it on the first day of 2009 ;)

Till next time... Merry X'mas!!

...better sense prevails!!

Unforeseen events
Tough times
Uncertain outcomes

Favorable possibilities
Unfavorable possibilities
Tempting possibilities
Unforeseen possibilities

Anxiety
Fear
Stress

Confused mind
Reactive mind

Divine intervention
Words of wisdom

Deep breath
Clarity of thought
Clarity of purpose

Cool head
Clear mind

Well thought out decision
Gutsy decision
Difficult decision

Dreams
Hopes
Prayers

Belief in "Self"
Belief in "The Supreme Being"

In the end
...better sense prevails!!

PS: I sincerely hope so... time will tell! :)

M back!! :)

Its been over 2 months now since my last post here. Had so much to post in this period but my writing skills were getting overused somewhere else.

Few moments back the thought flashed that I will at least start the process of reviving this blog. And I guess by now it must be pretty clear to you that I've got nothing concrete in my mind for this post.

Hence let me stop right here before this post further degrades the quality of this blog which has so far seen highly thought provoking and intellectually stimulating stuff! ;)

More coming very soon...

Courses and Courses...

Into my 5th trimester at MDI and have already gone through 29 courses in the first 4 trimesters but this trimester is slightly different. There are two courses which have really captured my imagination.

One is a course called "Behavioral Finance & Business Valuation" (BFBV) taken by our very own "fundoo professor" Sanjay Bakshi.

And the other one is "Leadership & Managerial Effectiveness" (LME) taken by Prof. Asha Bhandarker who is a renowned expert in this area.

BFBV is a course in which Prof. Bakshi challenges the way we think about the world in general and field of investments/business valuation in particular. He introduces brilliant mental models which have been used by the likes of Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger to reap rich rewards. If properly internalised and then practised these models have the potential of completely redefining the way we approach life not just the field of financial management.

While BFBV focusses more towards the way we deal with the outside world LME shifts the focus to self. A course which forces you to think and think about your real self. Understanding your own self is the first step of leadership and its been a privilege to get invaluable insights on this from maestros like Dr. Pritam Singh and Asha ma'am.

Yesterday went through a unique exercise called "Directed Day Dream" about which I was initially a bit skeptical but by the end of the 3 hour session I was astounded as to how accurately that exercise had revealed my inner self some aspects of which only I am aware of. It was an absolutely brilliant experience!

MBA is making sense in an altogether different way now & needless to say "I'm Loving it!" :)