Strategic Infl… Wat? Gimme a BrEaK!!!

As I was crossing the Sharma Dhaba to take the elective-Marketing Research Final Test, a thought struck my mind. The MR Final Test was supposed to be held in soft form (so the answers were supposed to be typed on a computer and then the file was supposed to be transferred to a pen drive; nothing on paper). Hitherto, except some one-day competitive tests, all the tests I’ve taken were on paper and not on computer. During my stay at Delhi in the years 2005-06, I happened to go through the book ‘Only the Paranoids Survive’ by Andrew S. Grove. He coined a term ‘Strategic Inflection Point’ which he explained as a time

in the life of a business when its fundamentals are about to change. I was wondering if this Final MR test is actually such a point (in the examination system) when the mode of taking test slowly transubstantiates from pen to keyboard. The last time I wrote a personal letter and sent it through good old India Post was in 2005. The telecommunication system had slowly superseded the personal letter. And similarly the computer is slowly creeping into the examination system (from just putting the schedules on computer to this point when the answers are typed and not written).

Pen-power cannot be substituted by key-tapping,

De feeling simply comes that something is lacking;

Aha, here comes de i-Pad with virtual keyboard,

But I doubt if even that can undermine de pen-sword.

My last blog was about the Public Systems Project. The 4^th semester followed. In the third semester I opted for eight electives (in a nutshell I went for each and every elective except the two HR electives). That semester was kind-of exhausting one. Now, I haven’t ever taken a New Year resolution. I actually wonder at the logic behind waiting for Jan 1 to venture a good habit or to leave a bad one. So, having experienced the hectic schedule in semester 3, I took a semester-resolution to take bare-minimum electives and I did that. But on the first day itself, the Marketing Research elective was there and I having no other work thought to explore the session.

I took the permission from Mr. Harish to attend the sessions. Now he was a bit different (I’m not sure how to explain in what sense) while explaining concepts, giving live examples, citing his experiences (directly imported from Canada & places around there), making us do group-tasks etc. Impressed and having the minimum credits for the semester 4 I thought to audit the elective. Overall, the 24 sessions (some of my elective-mates said that technically it was a one day course) of MR Elective were like a cool breeze acting as a warm-up activity for the 4^th semester.

It’d been 8 years since I attended any marriage in my relations. And during the break between semester 3 & semester 4 (in Dec), I wasn’t able to visit my home. My parents were coming to attend a marriage at Jamshedpur, so I thought it’d be a good break to attend a marriage and to meet my family at the same time. So, I took the train to Jamshedpur (the train journey from Trivandrum to Jamshedpur takes around 55 hours). When the train reached Rourkela at 0500 hrs. on Monday Morning (I left Trivandrum on Friday at 2330 hrs), it was continually being announced at the platform “No train will proceed to Jamshedpur before 0900 hrs”.

Some of my co-passengers expressed their doubts that Maoists had declared ‘bandh’ for 3 days starting from Monday and this halt of train is somehow related to that. Tired and a bit frustrated (3^rd day of my journey and the destination still seemed to be far off), I talked to the people at the platform when I got to know that Maoists had blown off a part of the only rail-track between Rourkela and

Jamshedpur. After the rail-tracks had been restored, the train restarted and on the way a vendor showed us the actual place where the rail-tracks were blown off. 5-6 RPF Commandos were there in my coach to tackle any untoward situation and butterflies were there in my stomach… The forest around the area was very dense (which would have acted as a haven for Maoists) of which I took the picture on the left.

I don’t know if I’ve observed it correctly but with the dominance of networking websites, I wonder if people have started criticizing more about things like ‘Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’, ‘iPad’ or ‘Buzz’. I don’t know which one is new? My observation of people criticizing more or people have actually started criticizing more! I learnt ‘Consumer’s Sovereignty’ concept in B.Com, but it seems that this case pertains to somewhat a ‘Networker’s Sovereignty of Criticizm With a Narrow-Mindset’. Google’s Buzz has been criticized by many people on the ground that Google is trying to compete with Twitter. But how do people forget that when they think of Google Account, they’ve to just worry about one username and one password. Everything else (be it contacts, online documents, selective news etc.) is integrated!

So if you manage to read till this point, I hope you won’t mind going through some rhyming lines J

Dis world, its each element is an illusion,

i better be not trapped in dis confusion;

yes! I mean what i just wrote,

it's not simply taken by some quote.

Y m i so cheerful today,

Is dere a bad news on its way?

Ah! Here aligns de rhythm,

after a hiatus, comes de poem.

Poetry doesnt seem 2 b a cup of my tea,

Whatever i write turns out to be silly;

But this hasnt deterred me enuf to stop dis 'silsila',

For i remember a line in malyalam 'njan niruthilla'.

Silsila (Hindi) means series, and Njan niruthilla (Malyalam) means I won’t stop.

On PSP Report submission-

Submitted de PSP report,

Felt like conquered a fort;

Not sure it'll make any sense,

but m ready 4 de CII project coming hence.

The night before the MR End-term-

Difficult 2 believe dat tomoro is de end-term,

Lets c wat marks m goin 2 earn;

I introduced myself 2 de book saying hi,

But 11th hour mein kuch bhi samajh mein na aaye :(

The night before the International Finance Mid-term-

In a least mood to study i'national finance,

But it being a mid-term... Cant take a chance;

It’s a bit boring to study by ppt,

But have got no other option, u c.

On the train to Jamshedpur…

Nature’s beauty is being adored by me,

Wondering if any other job is better than dis;

So many colorful aspects to see,

Esp. when the dawn & the dark kiss.

Poetry has to be natural, it can’t come by force,

Some event, some reaction & it automatically soars;

Wow! I wrote it as I had no other subject in mind

Was wondering if by not writing can I be a bit kind (to de readers) :D

On the Crisis (still in the train!)-

Investors across de world had perfect confidence in the US sphere,

Despite the int rates being less than 1, they invested in govt. securities dere;

Investment Bankers thot dis is de correct time to sell wat dey may not later refund,

Very innocently, dey named it High Grade Structured Credit Enhanced Leverage Fund.