Mindtree Consulting !!

Today, I went for an extremely interesting talk by Anjan Lahiri, Executive VP of MindTree Consulting. The topic of discussion was 'Managing Business in a Crisis'. He delivered a 'straight from the heart' presentation about his experience with MindTree, and how they faced the dotcom bust years very early in the company's history, and yet never slipped on their quarterly improvements.

He shared some interesting mantras for survival during the tough times. He also talked about his learnings from Ashok Soota, the Co-founder of MindTree. One of his quotes, which I can recall:

''Dont say ...... If tomorrow comes ...... tomorrow will come !!''

The only bad feature of the evening was the dismal attendance for his talk. I can oly say that those that did not come, missed a great speaker.

The 22%ers

It took my brain cells a while to figure that out ...... our MBA class has 22% females ... and they call themselves the 22%ers. I thought we guys had done something nice by giving them a rose and chocolates on valentine's day .... the girls made our effort look pretty ordinary with a great feast that they prepared for us yesterday.

They really went all out, and it was a reaaaaly nice effort ... Thanks a lot girls. You just might have started another tradition ..... a tough one to keep up tough !!

Phew !!

After four trips to the Indian High Commission in London, I finally got my passport renewed today. The question is why did it take so long when it should be done within 24 hours ? Well, the biggest reason is that I belong to this beautiful place called Kashmir, which gets a special treatment at most places. They had sent a special enquiry for me to confirm that I am a good boy, and that oxford has not made a mistake in giving me admission.

The Indian High Commission seems to be very particular. They also dont trust the American and British High Commissions as I have valid visas for both these countries......... there's much more I can write here, coz its pretty frustrating. I feel sorry for other people, for some of whom it has taken close to 4 years to get the name changed on their passport. I am lucky that ways.

Anyways, I am not done with the High Commission yet. My new passport is only valid for one year. I am travelling to USA next month, and once I come back from there, I will have to reapply for a renewel, and this time they will give me a 10 year validity. Lets hope so!!

St. Hugh's Formal Dinner

I had a great evening at St. Hugh's last evening. We had a formal dinner at the college, and the principal and our tutors had invited us as guests on the high table. This was the right opportunity for me to don my newly acquired tuxedo.

The evening started with champagne in the common room. Both Chris and myself were amongst the first to reach. After a bit of socializing and usual photos, we were led by the principal to the dining room.

I was fortunate to sit beside my 'Strategy Guru' - Thomas Powell ..... so we had a great conversation about his recent trip to India, his interests in Rishikesh and its ashrams, his tryst with authentic Indian food, and interviewing Indian students applying for the next MBA batch.

After the three course dinner, we moved to the 'dessert table' where I was sandwiched between two Oxford philosophers. Now back in India we dont have such formal dinners, and I learnt a lot about the customs about high dining in Britain. I learnt that these dinners followed by the dessert table was very much an Oxford and Cambridge thing, and also followed by the very upwardly Londoners. Over an interesting conversation about artificial intelligence and the confluence between philosophy and psychology, we had fruits, cheese & crackers and chocolates .... one of the chocolates even had the college crest on it. I also got to taste 'sweet white wine' and 'port'. In the old days, after dinner, the men would retire to have cigars and port... and crack dirty jokes (as I was told), while the women went to 'gossip' in another room...... And I did not make any of this up.

We moved back to the common room for some coffee, and then I walked back home coz I had to leave for London early next morning.

A great experience overall !!

Electives in Trinity Term

I finally have a list of electives that I will be taking in Trinity Term (that is term # 3 at Oxford) :

• Corporate Valuation
• Restructuring & Implementation
• Branding & Communication
• Customer Insights
• Strategic Decision Making under Dynamic Environment
• Business in China

I did not get Real Estate ... as my highest bid was not high enough. But I will try and 'audit' the course, which is attend the class but not write any assignments or exams. Who would mind that ! I wish I could do that for all papers :)

Time to take a break

Maybe it was a Wednesday (with not so interesting classes) ..... or maybe I took Valentines Day more seriously than before ......... I took this day as a perfect opportunity to head off to London with my wife. We had a nice time roaming around town, ate yummy Indian food ... at a Pakistani joint ..... and also did some shopping (got some great bargains at Zara for myself). We finally got back around 10:30 pm ........ had another yummy Indian meal at a restaurant in Oxford (which was doing it own bit of 'lovey-doveyness' by giving complimentary roses and chocolates).

At the school front, the guys from our batch gave roses and chocolates to the girls in our batch. Seems to be some tradition at Oxford (Said Business School)

Trip to Cambridge

Went to Cambridge today for the oxbridge Fair ... which is essentially a joint job fair for the Said Business School and Judge Busness School (Univ. of Cambridge).

We left Oxford around 9:00 am for the 3 hour journey to Cambridge. The Fair did not begin till almost 11:30 .. so we just idled around, admiring (?????) the architecture of the business school. I have to admit that it did remind me of my kiddo days !! I was very disappointed not to see any 'swings and slides' in their lawns. If you don't get what I am talking about, then make a trip and find out for yourself.

The Fair was ok. Met with some company representatives. How helpful it was, I can only tell if any of the companies present there gives me a job :)

Once I was done with meeting the company folk and collecting 'goodies', I along with a few others left to explore Cambridge. We saw Kings College, which I found extremely beautiful. There was a reception afterwards, which I skipped, as I was getting a hitch to Oxford.

After visiting Cambridge, I am glad of choosing to come to Oxford .... Its anyday better ! .... much better !!

Phone - Lost and found !!

2007 isn't turning out to be the best for me so far ...... that is electronically speaking. Firstly, it was my laptop, which is still in hibernation and refuses to boot-up. And then it was my mobile phone. The snowfall in Oxford, and the ensuing snowball fights left me without a mobile phone ... as I dropped it somewhere in the snow.

As much as I was looking forward to the snow earlier, after this incident, I could only wish for it to melt, giving me a more realistic chance to find my phone, and as luck would have it ... I did find it this morning :)

Hopefully the phone will work once its dried up !

Cultural Night

Last evening we organised a 'Cultural Night' at SBS. With acts from China, Bulgaria, Germany, America, and many acts from India, it was an evening to remember. The performances ranged from poetry recitation to classical Indian dance, singing, belly dancing, salsa, and bollywood dance sequences. Not to forget the wonderful violin performance by Gulnaz (8 year old daughter of one of the MBA students).

The cultural evening was followed by a party at ESCAPE on High Street, where our 'In-house' DJ Dheerin belted out some great dance numbers. Although I left the party around 1 am ......... the party animals were grooving to the beats till almost 3:30 am.

Kudos to all the organisers ! It was a great evening !

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 !