Assignments & Exam Results !!

Just an update on the heavy weekend that I survived. I managed to submit all assignments on time (we get a zero if we are a second late, so that was given). With the exception of Finance, the others were solid submissions. Experience tells me that marks are normally not a function of how we perceive we have done. I hope that holds true for Finance this time.

My marks for Michaelmas term were pretty decent. I got a distinction in Strategy. If wish Consulting firms would give me a job looking at that :) ..... Narrowly missed (by 1-2 marks) distinctions in DEM and Decision Science. Micro was a bit disappointing considering the amount of effort I put in .... But this was well compensated by Finance and Financial Reporting, where I did decently well with minimal effort.

Now to focus on Hilary term ... have to get on the Dean's list this time ....... I did not know you are invited to free lunches and dinners if u are on that list !!

Shower blues !!

This term is somehow not as interesting as the first term from the point of view of class lectures. The exception is Marketing which I find extremely informative and engaging. One factor maybe my interest (and this is from the heart). A more important factor is the professor - David Arnold. If Thomas Powell, with his unique style and indepth knowledge of strategy was my favourite last term, its David and his Marketing fundas this term. I wont talk more about him ... just google for him if u want.

Yesterday, for our marketing class, David invited Harry Rawlinson, Managing Director of Aqualisa to be a part of the class, give us insights into their marketing decision making process. We recently submitted an assignment analysing the marking strategies for the launch of an innovative shower of Aqualisa - The Aqualisa Quartz.

Yesterday's class proved to be a crash course in marketing innovation; it was facinating how Aqualisa is marketing its products, and taking out the most from their innovative products. He gace us a glimse of what the future looks like in the bathroom world, and without disclosing any more, we should start budgeting more time for our bath in the future.

What was really interesting was the way he pitched for a leveraged buyout of the firm from its owners. I wont tell you the secret, coz to get that kind of information, you need to be here at Oxford.

Phew !!

The results for exams held in Michaelmas term were declared today. I PASSED all subjects. Don't know the marks for individual papers yet.... Will know by tomorrow.

Back to assignments .......

Status check .....
- Ops Mgmt - done & uploaded
- Marketing & IBGG - in progress
- Macro & Finance - yet to start

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.

Fog everywhere

We got our share of fog on our way to India ... first it was the chaos at Heathrow, and then more for at Delhi. We finally reached Delhi after more then three hours of delay 'onflight'

India Calling !

I am finally going home today. Its only for ten days and I know they'll be gone in a jiffy. Will be in Delhi for most of the time. The only other place I am visiting is Kashmir (to meet my folks).

I am glad to be going for more than just the charm of going home. If yesterday's weather was any indications of the times to come, I wanna be out of here for as long as possible. It was 1 degree (celsius) during the day ...... and the prediction for Friday is "minus 1" ... again during the day. Not that Kashmir is a sunny beach resort. But this place is crazy !!!

Anyways .. wishing everybody a Merry Christmas !

Respite from Exams

If I tell my classmates that I woke up at 4:00 am on the morning after exams, they'll freak out. But I did wake up at that crazy hour (Its not crazy during exams though). I had to go to London to get my passport renewed, and wanted to reach the Indian High Commission before it opens at 9:30 am. Pre-empting your next question - "Then why at 4:00 am ?" , for anbody who has had experience with the Indian Embassy would know better about the long queues outside the Indian Embassy.

I reached London at 7:00 am and then took a pleasant walk to my destination, past Trafalgar Square and the Big Ben. When I reached the Embassy at 8:00 am, there were already more than 350 people lined up ........... I hope that is evidence enough !! .... After spending another 5 hours there, my work was only 10% done, and I will be going there again sometime in March now. :) ... I have a passport that was issued in kashmir, and now these guys have to do some extra verification. I think I look Indian enough to be treated like a normal citizen ! So far people have taken me to be a German, Afghani and Swedish...... Crazy I tell ya !!

Spent some more time roaming around London .. went to Piccadilly Circus & China Town .... met Sudheer (who had come for an interview with Diamond) and his wife Sushma (who had come for Chicken Biryani) ...... a simple illustration to show how much fun the spouses are having vis-a-vis the students.

Finally got back to Oxford, had a nice dinner out with wifee dear ... and then slept for 15 hours :)

The return to Normalcy

The exams are finally over. All but the last one (Finance) went off well. I have slept for barely 2-3 hours in the last 2 days and I am dying.

The end of exam celebrations started right after the exam ended. Some of us had wine outside the examination hall to celebrate the end of torture. (ha ha)

I came home biefly to discard my sub fusc and formals, and join the other MBAs for a "Pub Crawl"tha started around noon at Oxford Retreat.

I though I will take a well deserved nap before heading out to the 'G-bar' where fllow MBA student Dheerin will be the DJ

Looking forward to the evening !

Drama on Day 1

That's how I would like to summarize my first day of exams at Oxford.

Four of us had decided to take a taxi to the exam school, and inspite of proactively reminding the taxi guy on the eveof the exam and early in the morning, he ditched us. We waited till about 8:45 am (exam was to start at 9:00 am), and then started walking towards the train station for another cab.

The rain gods decided to add to our woes and it starting pouring (i haven't seen such a heavy downpour in my last three month here). Add to that the wind factor, and we were pretty much drenched (considering the four of us had two umbrellas to share amongst us).

As in a crisis situation, we formulated a strategy and spread in different directions looking for cabs. Finally our 'booked' taxi nly picked us. It was 9:25 am then.

We were fortunate that it was the first day, and the exam started a bit late. I sat for both my exams in a wet suit. I discarded my 'sub-fusc' as it was drenched.

The silver lining of the day - the papers were 'passable' ..... Just in cae ou did not know, I belong to the "Get 50 Club".

Now lemme get back to my Org. Behaviour Models .... This subject puts me off to sleep in an instant...... Here's hoping that the exam paper is more engrossing :)

Last Minute King !

Ya that's me ...... Yet again I have proved it that I will make sure there is a bit of an adrenalin rush in everything I do. There is no fun in studying religiously everyday of the term ..... that ways one misses the excitement & anxiety that comes with exams. Given that I have a lot of ground to cover in terms of completing my syllabus, I would have surely amplified the feelings associated with examinations that I mentioned earlier.

I am an optimistic to the core, and firmly believe that 30,000 pounds is a lot of money, and SBS would not fail us after we have paid them so much. And I don't mean we have bribed them to give us the degree. :) Having said that, people do fail, and that scares me, especially in Financial Reporting and Finance ........ Just in case I ever mentioned in this blog or elsewhere that I had come to SBS to major in Finance, I take my words back.

Exams start tomorrow....... and guess what ? My first paper is Financial Reporting, and Decision Science in the second half ...... What a start !!

Now before I make my exams more compelling, I better get back to my books. Wish me luck !!!!

X-Mas Dinner At St Hugh's

Last Sunday ...... some of us got together at "The Comfy Room" at St Hugh's for my first Turkey Dinner ..... Thanks Hiro, Madhu & Saheel for your enthusiasm in organizing the dinner. Special mention for Hiro, who froze his back off carrying the turkey from Sainsbury to the college.

We had a great time together .... all of us pitched n with some food or drinks or snaks, and by the end of it there was enough remaining to ensure that the chief organizers could go without cooking (that is if they chose to) for a week.... slight exaggeration here :)

Some learnings/observations:

• Stick to chicken ........ cooking turkey is not for the impatient


• Madhu's obsession with chips


• Jeane's ability to shrink peas


• Brian's culinary skills ... and his obsessions with certain parts of the anatomy :)


• Chris North's determination to eat good food (he cycled to St Hugh's braving heavy rains)

Snaps from the evening ...

Dinner at Templeton

I am a week late on reporting this one ..... The whole of last week was spent submitting the 'biggie' assignments: An industry report on eBay for Managerial Economics, and a Financial Analysis of Vodafone for .... Financial Reporting obviously.

Going back to last friday, I made a trip outside Oxford (literally) to eat the famous Templeton dinner. The food was nice (my kind), there was lots of wine, champagne ...... and surprisingly lots of 'Vodka' for people like me :)

We had a nice three course dinner, after which we walked through the lovely campus to their GCR for (more) drinks and dance. The pampering went on with chocolates fruits, cheese, crackers ..... I am told these are like 'given' at Templeton. Lucky fellas !!!

Got back home at 2:00 am ... probably the longest I have stayed out this term.