FT Rankings 2007

The FT B-School Rankings came out this week. Oxford is at 19 as per the Global MBA Rankings, a marginal improvement from last year.

What surprised me (shocked is a more apt word) is that Judge Business School at University of Cambridge jumped from a rank of 35 last year to 15 this year. CEIBS in China also jumped from 21 to 11.

Well my take is that if The Economic Intelligence Unit could rank IESE, Spain as the No 1 MBA school last year, what stops FT to flaunt their crazier side.

Here's the Link : FT Rankings 2007

No time for Love

The next seven days promise to be the most hectic so far at Oxford. With five more assignments due (submitted one a few minutes back), most of which are individual, plus classes, company presentations, and job applications, my cherished sleeping hours are very much under threat.

I better get back to work coz I forgot that I also need to take out time for going through readings and cases before lectures .... and ..... also practice some case studies for that elusive Consulting interview.

And how could I forget ...... My first anniversary happens to be this Friday !! ....... I am planning to go to Scotland for romantic weekend !!

HAH !! Wishful thinking !!!

Meeting Mr Jaswant Singh

Its always nice to meet Indians outside the country. Maybe its homesickness, or some kind of a 'national bond' that seems to be amiss when we are in India. Though I must admit that this bond is at its peak during India-Pakistan cricket matches.

Yesterday, I happened to bump into Mr Jaswant Singh, a former Indian minister. I was at one of the shopping complexes in Oxford, and could have missed him for another shopper. He was casually sitting on a bench probably waiting for his wife to finish off some shopping. I had a brief conversation with him, and he asked me about my background and what I was studying at Oxford. He told me that he is currently at Oxford to lecture at Balliol College. He was also giving a talk at the Oxford Union later that evening. I am glad to have spent some time with him, as I was denied entry to that talk by him at the Oxford Union. This fat ugly man at the reception asked us if we were students at Oxford, and confirming that we were, this is what he had to say .... "As students, you are eligible to be members of the Oxford Union, and because you chose not to be a member, we choose not to let you in" ...... I have one word for him ... "B*ST*RD".

What is the moral of the episode at Oxford Union ....... whenever you want to attend an event at Oxford Union, go with a member, and say that you are a visitor, and from Swami Dayanad college or anything else.

Its nice to see somebody used to "A class" security back in India, enjoying the pleasures of living life as an average human being.

I did some research and found that in 2000, Mr Jaswant Singh had launched the creation of Professorship of Indian History and Culture at the University of Oxford. Great idea !!

Lunch with the Dean

Today I, along with a few other students from my section had the opportunity to have lunch with the Dean of our college Colin Mayor.

Apart from hogging on nice food, we talked about our experiences (both past and at Oxford). We also gave the Dean our feedback about the course, what was going well, any opportunities (we did list a few) to further improve the school and get right up there with the rest.

We are a young b-school (in an 800 year old university), and the Dean told us about the steps he is taking to establish SBS as a leading B-school. Apart from laying emphasis on research, the school is also looking at our alumni to build better connections with the corporates.

I am confident that in the next 5 years Said Business School will break into the Top 10 league...... and we as ambassadors will all play an important role in shaping its future.

Laptop Update

MY LAPTOP IS STILL OUT OF ACTION !!

This Hi-tech town is not geared to solve my problem. Let me do some community service ....... Please do NOT buy TOSHIBA ...... it useless !! Just my tough luck .... While searching for a solution on the internet, I found that somebody had filed a lawsuit against Toshiba for some defect in the very model that I have ..... Am I not talented ?

I am thinking of placing some boxes around Oxford to collect funds under the "Gaurav Bahri Laptop Relief Fund" ....... If you are tech-savvy and want to wire transfer the money to me ... then email me ffor sure.

Snowy Oxford

I bow to BBC ...... especially the Weather folks out there. Its been getting progressively cold here in oxford. Yesterday, out of curiosity I checked their website to see the temperature. To my surprise, they were predicting snow for 3:00 am this morning (yes ... they are that precise). On my way home at 9:00 pm ...... the sky was very clear (by Oxford standards) ... so I did not expect any snow at all.

But guess what ?? The town was covered under a blanket of snow this morning. And later on I found out that it started snowing at around 2:45 am ............ Beat that !!

Why dont these guys get into predicting the business cycles ....... or better still Stock movements ?? That would help me retire sooner :)

Salsa

Ya ...... Salsa ...... and me :)

Went for my first salsa class ... or for that matter my first dancing lesson ever. Some of the salsa fanatics from our batch have offered to teach us salsa on Sundays ...... for FREE !! ... and today was the first class.

I completely enjoyed myself ...... its not that easy ..... but these guys are doing a great job of teaching us a step at a time.

Assignments permitting, I should be able to performa tiny sequence by the end of this term .... hopefully !!

As our instructor Ruzbeh would close .....

Hasta luego ...... (I dont know what that means ...... treat it as bye for the time being)

What's kept me away ??

The reason why I have been out of touch is that my laptop's hard drive has crashed, and i am completely handicapped coz more than half my life revolved around that contraption. Not only have I lost all my data, but it will take probably another 10 days to get a new hard drive installed. :( ..... and I have an assignment submission this week.

In the meantime, I have been spending time practising case studies ........ like all other Consulting aspirants. With classes starting tomorrow, it will be interesting to see how we manage the classes, assignments, case study practise sessions, and not to forget .. the job applications. Also, in case we get lucky, the interviews in London :)

Will keep you posted on my progress !

The Yo-Yo Trip

This India trip, though only for 10 days, was a mix of ups and downs ...... mostly impacted by things beyond my control .... the airlines would agree with me here.

After fog delays at Heathrow and at Delhi Airport, I ended up rupturing a tissue in my right foot, that put me on bed rest for 4 days ... that's 40% of my vacation spent in bed :(

Had to visit my folks in Kashmir, and the morning of the journey I was informed that the flight had been cancelled ....... no delays this time ........ plain simple cancellation !!. I somehow managed to get myself booked ontu another flight which got delayed by 5 hours. Having wasted one entire day in getting to my destination, I stayed in Kashmir for only another day, before heading back to Delhi for my best friend's wedding (no Julia Robert act from my side here).

The flight I took back to Delhi had a "Seat of Fortune" scheme, and for the first time in my life I won a contest ... a free return ticket to anywhere in India. Its a different thing that I will not be able to avail of it as the scheme is only valid till March 31 ..... and I will be busy dividing my time between Rhodes Lecture Theathre and Edmund Safra. :)

After an enjoyable Indian Wedding (with great food), lots of shopping, and a foggy New Year's eve, I am grappling with my packing for Oxford ......... My baggage, just like me is overweight yet again, and I am contemplating what to pack and what to leave behind.

More once I am back in Oxford.