The sun having abandoned us for the week, it has been a pretty cool morning for most of the days this week. The weekend however was splendid with the sun being out, clear skies and overall a great weather accompanied by the relief of having finished off with the exams. Last Friday was when the exams got over. The afternoon was spent lazing about in the sun at Hyde park. A clear sky with wisps of cloud floating about it was an ideal day to soak in the sun. The evening was spent in revelry, the events of which I’m sure, are more apt for a private memoir than a blog. The weekend was spent in catching up on the sleep that one was deprived off due to the exams. However, Sunday was pretty inviting enough for the shoes to be slipped on an venturing out in the city.

A long walk around Piccadilly, Soho Fitzrovia, Trafalgar Square and finally Covent Garden ensured an afternoon that was spent walking about and observing people in general. In fact, it was a wonderful day for one to step out and enjoy with the family or maybe even with friends. But for most, I believe it was about family. Going by the tube map and estimating the distances based on what gathers from the tube stations in central London, one would be surprised to know that the entire distance is very much walkable, and if one is willing to leg it most parts of it are within walking distance of each other. Its the sight on streets which can slow you down, make you stop and stare.

A new week started, at business school. Some resumed their classes, while at the management course we started with Business Simulation Exercise. As the name suggests, the entire batch goes through an exercise were an entire business situation has been simulated for them. The groups, as formed since the beginning of the academic year, are assigned a firm and compete with other firms (computer generated). The challenge is to take decisions which would help generate maximum profit, share price etc. in short, take decisions and make the firm do well over a period of time. With decisions being taken for each financial year (rounds), fortunes swing about a lot, with teams who were doing well, suddenly lose it all in an unfortunate speculation and face “liquidity crisis” (bankruptcy) while some keep going from strength to strength. Somehow, this simulation allows us to try out out understandings and knowledge gained over the period of the past few months, where the repurcussions of the mistakes (wrong decisions) are limited to only a few digits on screen and not much of an impact on the real life, and certainly not being expensive. With the exercise coming to an end today, it would be interesting it note where each team leaves the firm. This certainly is a heads up for most of the future managers on how to manage finance, marketing, production, research and development, and overall business strategy. The learnings are immense. The key is to apply what one learns. Till then, adios

The Last Stretch.

The past week, adrenaline has been high. Have had 5 papers on the trot, no breaks. In fact, as you read this one, am probably preparing for the 5th one or appearing for it, or maybe even dealt with. This is the last stretch. Strangely am reminded of the theme song for Chariots of Fire, the closing sequence where it shows the athletes running on the beach. The week has been good, and hopefully the last one would be the best (best way to sign out, I say). Sadly, the end of the term exams, also reminds me that time at Imperial is drawing to a close with only a few more months left which would be primarily spent working on dissertation.

Murphy Strikes

Murphy’s law they say, strikes at the most inopportune moment.  While I might have had a taste of it in the past, there was apparently no recollection from recent archives. So for me the import of the very true essence of Murphy’s Law struck on Tuesday morning.  The exasperation that one can feel in such moments can only be experienced. Words can never do justice!!

Tuesday, we had International Business from 10:00 am. After having scheduled the travel time and unforseen delays, starting off by 8:45 am seemed to be a safe bet. However, things started going wrong from morning. Having set the alarm for 6:30 (2 separate alarms, 1 of them actually could be set to go off at 3 different times), I overslept. I did open my eyes around 8:15, at which point I realised I had my phone in my hand ( Wonder when I picked it up!!). Still feeling a bit whoozy and not able to comprehend the circumstances properly, I was galvanised into action as the dreadful message came in from a batchmate, “Piccadilly suspended”. Having dashed out in about 15 minutes, I did a mental math on the time efficiency probability of all available routes at my disposal. Much to my disappointment, the first plan of boarding the district line from Ealing Broadway was dashed, as the first available bus for us for at 9:10 am. That would have been cutting too fine. Cabs had mysteriously disappeared from action too. Finally we did board a train to Hammersmith from where we changed over to district and finally made it to the examination hall 10 minutes late. And now I must emphasize the importance of good preparations, as it was that and a sound understanding of the concepts which saved the day for me, with 5 minutes to spare. I was happy.

I blog, therefore I am!!

This was the tagline on the t-shirt that I got from Indiblogger a couple of summers ago when I attended one of their bloggers meet in Pune, India. The reason I am reminded of the phrase is the blatant increase in my blog patrolling over the past few days. Honestly, revising cannot be a pleasant activity (the studious may differ though). And somehow, time seems to fly rather fast. Especially when I start reading blogs. That’s right!! I haven’t been blogging, I have been reading (read patrolling). A lot!!

The past week found me frantically trying to make sense of the stuff I was reading and am almost through with 2 modules, while 3 more are to be dealt with yet and exams are just about 10 days off. So, while I have been really close to pressing the panice button, I observed a few funny traits about me. I barely get any study done during daytime, and that’s when I panic or something of the sort. It seems am a total nocturnal creature. I study all night. Fortifying myself with caffeine at regular intervals, I end up making significant leaps in my preparation. And then there is the daily venture into the world of blogs, which would invariably last a couple of hours.

Though socialising has hit an all time low (quite expected one would say), yesterday was an exception as I had to step out to mark the occasion of Bengali New Year. (Cultural trivia: Bengalis are an ethnic group from the eastern part of India and are the majority of population of Bangladesh.) This was a much needed break perhaps, as at least for a few hours I really did not think about any of my modules for a change. The result a much refreshed and mroe vigorous approach towards revision. May be in one of my following posts I would discuss about the subcontinental fare available in London, which I believe is quite a hit in the city given the revenue they generate and the popularity  they have garnered. Focus would obviously be on student budget.

Now, back to the books.

PS: I just found this out. Incidentally, the New year is based as per the Hindu solar calendar. The first day of this calendar is celebrated as the traditional New Year in various parts of South Asia, including Assam, Bengal, Kerala, Manipur, Nepal, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Tripura. It is also celebrated as the traditional New Year across Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand (see Songkran). (sourced from Wikipedia). It certainly, is amusing for me as it shows the cultural similarity that apparently exists.

Over the weekend in all the merriment at Glasgow, I somehow forgot the impending doom awaiting me. It wasn’t until I was on the tube from Victoria for South Ealing, that I realised the enormity of the tasks awaiting me. To start with, there was the draft proposal for the research to be submitted by Friday. And then, there is revision. Frankly, I have never been really good with my efforts at revision, often doing the bulk of my studies the day before exams. The difference between prior exams and the ones here is that there isn’t a gap in between. So, waiting for the day before exams is an absolute prescription for academic suicide, which frankly I have no intention of committing.

So, it was with a heavy heart that I let myself into my room. After roaming about the apartment being absolutely useless, I came to the conclusion that fretting wouldn’t really get me anywhere and set about the daily chores. Probably, a subconscious effort to calm the nerves. Anyhow, pretty soon it was lunch time. Really, all I was doing, I suppose, was to keep the inevitability of hitting the books at bay for as long as possible. So, after lunch, without much ado, I set about the task of drafting a research proposal, at which point I realised though I might have given a passing thought or a moment’s attention over the past few months on this aspect of my degree, I have never really given it the due consideration it deserved. The resulting situation had me scouting the net, wracking my brains and having a few lengthy chats with certain relatives on the most desirable subject for dissertation. And that’s a day flew by and nearly another one did too, before I found a little text file saved in a corner of my lappie. What it contained was something I had jot down in one of my more thoughtful and sincere moments. Thankfully, it led to the drafting of my research proposal.

Lesson learnt: Be organised. And plan a little ahead of time if you can…

Meanwhile, thanks to rains up at Glasgow I really couldn’t step out, but a few of the snaps I managed there.

I haven’t the faintest remembrance of when I heard the above mentioned phrase the first time, or probably read but it has been lodged in the deepest corners of my memory for a frightfully long time. In fact, I have always wondered when and where I could use it, until today. And there is a good reason for that, or so I shall have you believe. Right now, I am in fact in Scotland. Glasgow to be precise. Not really on sightseeing, which I daresay I would have loved to. It’s a visit to catch up with a school chum of mine. Met the bugger the first time at the school bus stop about 12-13 years ago, having just moved into that area. And since then we have been the best of buddies, except that he has been here at UK for about 7 years now. Training to be a medic a charming fellow to begin with. Enough of my friend.

Glasgow, was at one point of time one of the largest cities of Europe. I suppose if you care to look up wikipedia you shall find loads of information there. My first sight of the city turned out to be quite rainy, what with the weather being true to Scottish form, or so I have been told. Luckily for me, by the time my friend came around to pick me up it had stopped raining, so we took a pretty long walk from Buchanan Bus Station, past Kelvingrove Musuem and the University of Glasgow to finally arrive at Maryhill, where the university accommodations were. While it was a pretty damp walk through the park and streets, I must say the architecture of the land certainly did impress me. After nice little rest, we went out for a walk again through the city, spent some time at the Gilmore hill campus of the university which I must say was pretty old and beautiful. Will post snaps once am back in London. After that it was lunch and siesta!! Evening saw us head out to Hillhead, for a pub where I met up with some other medics in training and their friends and ended up having a wonderful till a wonderful time. Sadly, the party broke up at midnight and we headed back to quarters with a dinner of battered haggis with gravy to go. For the uninitiated, haggis is a traditional Scottish dish which should be very much part of the diet while on a trip to the land. More on the history of this dish over here.

How to get there:

getting to Glasgow is not really rocket science. So, hop on to any train from King’s Cross/Euston for Glasgow. A standard one way ticket should cost you about £35-40 min. on the National Rail. Or maybe a coach from the Victoria Coach station, which is is definitely for the one worried about how deep his/her pocket runs and one way should cost about £25/28 with the National Express. The other option is of course by air.

So long, cheerio and have a nice time!!

It sure isn’t and please have no one else convince you otherwise. Oh!! I’m sorry. Let me tell you what it is that I’m talking about. It’s a Video. And a Poster. All this time till this point in the course, we have been writing reports, making powerpoint presentations. But, towards the end of this term all that we are required to do is to make a video presentation for one paper and a poster presentation for the other. Easier said than done, eh?

Well, since our coursework score depended on the Video, we really had to do things good and not really in a hotch-potch manner. What started off was a hunt for information of the firm that we were covering, and possible videos too. What we ended up with was an overload and jotting them all down within the 7 min time limit was an impossible task. So, what you do now is make a story board. Heaven knows what it really means in the professional world, we went ahead with our own understanding and came up with a flow. Now it was last week that we were supposed to record, when just around St. Patrick’s Day, I ended up with a sore throat. Brushing it aside as a minor thing, I went out in full spirits on the afore-mentioned day. The result shouldn’t be hard to guess. So, there I was more or less ruled out for the recording with about half the show yet to be done. But, then gallant knights always await to save the day, as did one of group member, who volunteered to do all the talking. And, so the day was saved and we made it in time.

It was time for Poster. What began was a hunt for a software to do the same. In retrospect, I wonder why we had brushed off MS Powerpoint in the first place? Never mind. We found one and work began. Now, my tide of misfortune wasn’t over yet. After a wonderful Saturday, with some friends visiting London, I realised I was down with flu. Made my working on the proceedings a fair bit difficult. But perseverance pays, and the job is done. In fact, as we speak, the poster is getting printed for the presentation tomorrow. Till then, Adios!!

Oh btw, here is the video that we did for our coursework, the one I was talking about. Far from a professional one though!!

Coursework Video

“Guys, a few more days. Lets kill this!!”

“Have you got the research done?”

“Hang on!! I got something here.”

“Meeting tommorrow at 4.”

Its 2:00 am, and the old self is sifting through lecture notes, reading up articles on the web and generally hearing statements like the above for the past few days in the Forum Cafe (that would be the Business School Cafe), the discussion rooms, the computer room and of course within my own group. We just got over with a bout of submissions which required us to do certain case studies, write our reports. And now we are at it again.  With about two weeks to go for term to be over, submissions aren’t far off. These would be the last ones for this term and then its spring break and term exams beyond that. Not much of a cooling off period I suppose. But that’s what we signed up for, ain’t it?

One thing that I learnt during the making of all the reports till date, and all that goes into the making of the same is the very importance of group work. It is quite humbling for many to realise that success or failure comes to the group as a whole and every member is an important cog in the wheel. There are no free rides.  Each member is valuable in one way or the other, there is always a way in which each one could be useful to the overall functioning of the group. If one has the ability to take the lead, the other could be doing the follow up tying up loose ends, one could be good at research and actually dig out things which one didn’t expect to be out there, while there could be one who can lend support to each and every member as per need and requirement.

At the end of it all, apart from learning the nuances of a professional report, going through the paces of analysis and reasoning as expected to be done in the world of business, I also learned the importance of group work, something which I had picked earlier but somehow it got fine tuned here. Maybe, the sheer number of tasks that we went through over the past few months.

Anyhow, the heat is on and I gotta video to work on. So, while I leave you to ponder about what it could be I take your leave. And should you be part of the course I am in, or end up being a part in the coming years, you would surely know first hand…

Cheerio

Isn’t that a call one usually associates with sailors. Well last Saturday, i.e. 28th February, 2009, there was a trip to the Historical Dockyards at Portsmouth. Portsmouth happens to be a quaint port city, in fact UK’s only island city and still is a major dockyard and base for the Royal Navy and Marine Commandos. For more look up Portsmouth on wikipedia or their official website.

So, what’s really historical about the Historical Dockyards, one might wonder. Well, here’s the trivia. It is the home of the HMS Victory, oldest naval ship still in commission. It was on this ship that Lord Nelson, breathed his last while commanding the Royal Navy in the Battle of Trafalgar, on 21st October, 1805. Nearby is the last of the remains of the ship Mary Rose. Its the oldest of its kind surviving till date. Preserved in a constant flow of molten wax, it does make you marvel at how well such artifacts are preserved today.

Following are a few snaps from that trip.

It’s been ages literally since something scribbled in this corner and with activities moving at a break neck speed in class, I daresay there were very few moments of calm solitude to actually sit down and doodle about!! But still, the mind does need some rest. And so, came along a day when one got the chance to try and slide on ice (or is it glide?), in process bruising the old resting spot with the repeated falls.

The day was a Monday, and it was the 16th day of the second month of the Georgian calendar in the year 2009. An ice skating evening was planned for the residents of Clayponds Village at the Queensway Rink. Now Mondays are off for me this term, so true to form I was lazing about all day… and honestly was in half a mind to skip it. But what with the day coinciding with a friend’s birthday it was quite impossible to stay indoors unless the desire to be manhandled ruled prime in the psyche.

So there I was ambling along the road to Queensway, weaving my way through the crowd, then the queue to finally arrive at the skate corner. Boots strapped, the horrors (rather pains) of the last such act flooded the memort, and the frankly, the old hat here really did have half a mind of unstrapping the boots and return to flatter grounding. But, surge ahead whispered the lil chap in red in my left ear and so off I went!!

1… 2… 3… ah three good steps, may be I can do it… THUD!!!

Honestly, the process was repeated so many times, I could actually write a C program to simulate it (maybe). To my utter dismay, I was the only jelly legged chappie there, the rest were doing quite fine. Took a few snaps and a video, take a look

Ice Skating at Queensway

Yup!! You got that right, it bites, robs you off a good night’s sleep and leaves you feeling a touch whoozy or may be light headed by the time its effect wears off.

Now in case you are wondering what Procrastination really means, well as per the wikipedia: “Procrastination is a type of behavior which is characterized by deferment of actions or tasks to a later time.” In short it is about being lazy to the extent of being counterproductive. I suppose the point about how does it relate to me does arise, and please do not judge me on this but I have been absolutely lazy about a certain coursework. While the group meets up in about 6 hours from now, yours truly is far from done with his part and thus realises the flipside of his laziness. Frankly, I had loads of time to get my task done but then I chose to be lazy and do other stuff which never really contributed much except perhaps satisfying the momentary cravings of pleasure.

To be honest, if you are in the b-school, you have to be on your toes. The past year has been too volatile and dynamic for one to put up the feet and just read up all that has been written in hand-down notes. It’s all about staying upto date. I thought, I was done with that sort of thing when I quit the world of software, but then….

Anyhow, coming back to the act that has been all fidgety now, I must say it made me ponder on the kind of effect it is now going to have on my teammates, how it affects the team, the efficiency. The answer is negative. Its not good at all. This is something I learnt ages ago, something I had to follow everyday, everyhour for 3 long years but looks like I had taken certain liberties after quitting my job and packed away certain valuable traits.

So, I tell this from experience and having committed the mistake; should you procrastinate you show serious disrespect to your teammates who have put in their due share of hard work, you raise a question on your sincerity and dedication. These are situations one should never get into. Between friends and classmates, you might get away with a sheepish grin and a last minute turn around. But in the professional world, it might amount to the termination of a good career. A full stop!!

To round it up, there is no business in this world which would tolerate procrastination, not even the business of being a student!!

Condition of my study at 5:30 am!!