Wednesday, July 29, 2009

David vs Goliath??

Have you ever been in a situation where you follow your instincts and end up against a Goliath? A situation where you know that most likely things wont work out but even then you want to give it a shot?

Well I am in such a situation right now. I know its a fight which most likely I will lose but I dont want to give up till am defeated. I firmly believe in what I am doing and if I fail it would only be because I was pitched against a very tough opposition.

Aarrgghh...its driving me nuts. I kind of fucked up 30 mins ago but so far I have not been kicked out of the game. And that is good news.

No, this is not about a job interview.

I will reveal all once this is over. If I fail, then this could be over anytime from now and if I succeed then it should be some 6-8 months from now.

Finger's crossed.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

INSEAD & Break-ups !

Two of my good friends are on the rocks with their partners. This happens to a lot of people during their INSEAD year. On the flip side, it also means a lot of hook-ups!

Why break-ups?

Well I am not your usual agony aunt but I think I have something to say here. INSEAD is an adrenaline injected, super-charged life where you feel like the king of the world. Life here is full of excitement and possibilities. The school admin on their part tell you that the world is your oyester. You can become that snooty rich PE guy or the entrepreneur who can create the next big thing in renewables. With all this madness around, you are hard pressed for time.

And then you get a call from your partner who is miles away and is mad about the little dent on her car. She starts the story about how she left home in the morning for work, how she had tons of things on her mind and before she could finish, you interrupt, "Cut the crap, a dent is no big deal. Dont worry about it. I gotta go now".

You change as a person. Your partner not being at INSEAD means that she has no clue of whats going on in your life. You forget the person you were when you left your partner behind for this MBA. And instead of getting your head out of your ass and think about it, you complain that your partner does not understand you well, is not practical enough etc. But you dont remember that in the months preceding MBA, your partner was there with you, listening to all your gibberish about how badly you need this admit, how your job sucks and you want to do so much more in life. You were shitting yourself about this MBA, finances etc. and your partner was there supporting you all throughout. Perhaps, you are here because your partner encouraged you since that very first moment when you thought of getting an MBA.

My only advice is that dont forget who you are. Dont forget your priorities because all being great about INSEAD, sadly it has to end in 11 months. When you talk to your partner, be the same person you were before INSEAD. Invest in your relationship because that is more valuable than another weekend getting sloshed.

(I told you I suck at this agony aunt gig!!)

Signing off with one of my favourite tunes.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Temptations !

After more than a year of self restrain, today I gave in to my temptations. I know it wasnt the smartest thing to do but sometimes its good to have some fun just for the heck of it.

I bought myself an iPhone 3GS, 32 GB. And I fuckin love it. It has to be the coolest thing since Google. You can waste hours after hours on this little work of art despite knowing that you are being stupid. I think this is a serious fun phone. The apps are super cool and it delivers a serious "convenience" punch to your life. Like, I just discovered that there is a fuckin Mexican joint near my flat.

Over the years I have used all sorts of phone. I preferred the Windows mobile over Blackberry because it had pull email instead of push. You see I am a lazy person and I cant be arsed into reading emails at odd hours of the night. But despite all that I have experienced in the world of mobile phones, there remains a winner. And sadly that is a Nokia basic brick phone. You might wonder why. Well because that little pc of shit can wake me up every morning without fail. Windows phone on the other hand used to ring once and then leave a reminder. Now you tell me, what fuckin good it is to wake up at 10 and see a reminder "Alarm 7am" on your phone. The other thing which I like about the brick phone is that because it is so cheap that everything in it is basic. There is not a drop of sophistication in it. So the speakers are basic and therefore noisy. The vibrator is also basic and hence fuckin efficient. I can keep that phone under a pillow and it will still make itself audible while vibrating my whole damn bed. And thats why, despite all the iPhone, Crackberry and the flip phones, my preffered choice in times of peril will be Nokia basic brick phone.

Now phones aside, I am also doing other meaningful stuff these days. Like experiencing Parisian life, meeting new random people and also an internship.

It is hard to believe but my MBA is more than half way through. I have two more terms to go and since it will be recruitment season, it will be over before I know it.

During the next few weeks I will blog a bit more than I usually do. I want to blog about Fonty vs Sgp, the impact of INSEAD MBA and of course the fucked up job market. Today someone asked me where I want to be after MBA. And I had no answer. I have never been this lost in my life ever. I was the one who always had plans. But now I dont know squat about where I want to be.

But you know what, I am konfused and extremely excited about life at this stage !