Getting in the Groove

I have started on my work full time here. The life has been pretty busy. I am putting up with a friend for now till I get an apartment of my own. I enrolled into a Gym membership that gives me access to the lockers/showers and more importantly the basketball court. It has been long and I played a 2 on 2 match last week. It was tough. I was panting in just 10 minutes. I really need to get in shape and I have decided that I will play everyday now.

In another update, I participated in MOSS (Microsoft office sharepoint server) Champion content at my company and surprise surprise...., I stood first from Pune. It felt so nice to see my name in the emailer from our Education dept addressed to the entire Pune team (about 10,000 people). But at the same time it raised expectations from people. I received about 5 queries from people about MOSS in the next couple of hours. I hope that I was able to provide good assistance to those folks.

Thu was the finals. We got a case study about a supply chain company and we had to make a presentation about our solution to that company's problems. I think I did a good job at it; however, probably not so good with the final objective exam. The result is due Mon/Tue and I am looking forward to it.

I got the XLRI email about completing some essays, which are on a link in the email. However, the email mentions that I should do that in one login, preferably. Now what is that? Do they expect me to write those essays in one sitting? And is that counted in the final shortlisting? I am confused. I think it is possible, but why would you put a restriction around the number of logins. Also, not very clear was what was the program? I applied for BM, PM &IR and GMP. From the pagalguy.com threads I am able to make out that this was probably for GMP, but the email should state it clearly.

I am finding my work exciting - I have moved to a different group and an opportunity to learn something new almost everyday. Let us see how it goes.

And yes - the food is awesome!!

Ola!

I am back in India! It is a period of excitement as well as some tough adjustments. I landed on Saturday morning last week and went to work on Monday. No leaves. Saving them for the IIM interviews, if and when they happen.

Days go by in travelling to office on the busy Pune roads. The traffic is never-seen-before bad. Though couple of flyovers have been built, they are just not enough in managing the Pune traffic. I am riding my friends bike right now. The initial 2 days, it was difficult for me. I was following my US driving instincts. I just would not get anywhere. The last couple of days has been a revelation - its like things are getting back to me in flashes. My driving is more "Indian" now.

I have dropped the idea of NUS because I just dont find the time or appropriate location to sit down and write my essays. Life has just got too busy all of a sudden. Leave for office at 7.30 in the morning and back by 8 pm. Have dinner, talk at home and with wife and go to sleep. Not much time left. Also, returning to India entails looking for place to rent/stay. I spend the entire Sunday looking for some new flats in Pune. Interested in a 2 or 2.5 BHK I looked at Baner, Balewadi, Pashan and Sus area. No flat is less than 40 L. Everything is just so expensive! I am trying to work out my probability of getting through an MBA program this year - which will ultimately affect my decision.

Being at offshore has its own merits. The foremost being the food choices you get. I have 40 different Indian food choices everyday. I am loving it! I joined Abhivyakti - the Company Music Club - the day I landed. I am looking to get Gym Membership and looking for people to start playing basketball again. Sat in some classroom training and felt great to be in a class again. Met some old friends and shared some laughs remembering old stories. I feel so much more energized to do more, to be more - just by being here - my country.

Emory update

I am one day away from my return to India and I just logged in OPUS to check my Emory status. To be very frank I have been thinking about this for the last couple of weeks and I was not sure how would I react on getting the decision. The fact that Emory would make sense only if I get a scholarship, and the fact that very few "desi IIMs" are getting admits this season, I was not too excited about this.

I find out that I am waitlisted today. This is my first waitlist of the season and I will await the final decision, but if I am not getting any schol, I might as well tell them that I want to withdraw my application. But the thought that what if I dont get in anywhere else, what if in the future circumstance, an admit in Emory is the best thing for me. Don't get me wrong - I have visited Emory and really did like it. But I do not intend to stay in US for long and that is why, I need a schol if I go to Emory.

I am excited to go back to India. A different kind of role in delivery instead of client facing. Leading a team from the ground excites me. Although there are some newly developed company policies which I am not too excited about. I am flying British Airways and I heard there was a snowstorm in London. Hopefully, Heathrow will be clearer tomorrow. Apart from some essential stuff, I have done my packing. Next update from India.

Two more ready to go and an update

I have two more applications ready in the stable to ship. The only thing missing is the 11th marks!! I didnt know that it is needed and I called my family back home and they are also unable to locate it. Since it is not a board exam we never thought it was that important. We have requested the school to issue another marksheet, but they need my section, roll number etc. I dont remember any!

My father is orchestrating the retreival of a replacement with the help of a local person from Udhampur since thats where I completed my 12th. I dont see any bright chances but lets see. I talked to IIM Kozhikode -
Me - "Are the 11th Marks necessary?"
A - "Its upto the panel who shortlists candidates."
Me - "Should I send the application if I dont get the 11th marks"
A - "Yes, send it. But mention a note in the beginning that you have lost your marksheet"

He was very cordial in answering my queries. The thing is that I topped my 11th and had pretty good marks - so not having that in my app will just work against me.

Another update - I am moving back to India. Yes! Not on a vacation - but on a permanent basis. This happened after a 5 week engagement that was planned to last till mid/end feb didn't come through for me, as they wanted a long term person. Also, I didnt wanted to relocate to any other location within US. So, suddenly I am without a project. I will be travelling to India on Thu, reaching Pune on Saturday. What this has done is put my NUS plans on hold, since I have to wrap up so many things, sell furniture, electronics, guitar, close credit cards, notify electric provider, my apartments company, insurance provider. My wife has also communicated her managers, but her transition plan will take time. I am assuming she will not be able to come to Pune before March. I got some packing to do...

Two more down

I submitted my IIM Indore and IIM Bangalore apps yesterday. The IIM Bangalore app is pretty straightforward with 2 essays. The Indore app took me a long time since it had about 4-5 essays. Finally, I am happy with the way the apps turned out and posted them yesterday.

Couple of things to be careful about when posting your IIM Indore app. First, they ask for an attested photocopy of your passport with travel dates. This is not mentioned in the application, but mentioned on the website. The second point is that the IIM Indore pin code could not be found on the Fedex system. So, he had to choose all other option and then proceed normally. He then mentioned the zip code on the bar code label that goes with the package. As long as the package as the right address, it should be delivered irrespective of the zip code.

Now on to my K and L apps. K is almost complete and L is pretty straightforward. I probably need 4-5 hours of dedicated effort to finish these. Plan to do that today if possible.

Christmas Vacation

With the flight costs going up and living in Houston, it becomes very dfficult to plan your vacation. Why? Because you can drive 8 hours from Houston in any direction and still see no difference in the terrain. Its miles and miles of plain flat land. So, we had to undertake a long road trip, 15 hour one way, to Santa Fe, NM.

It was a beautiful place and we had more fun because it had dropped about 2 feet of snow in the 2 days before we reached there. It was chilly with temp reaching negative Fahrenheit but we were well prepped up. The first day we did the famous Canyon Walk. It was very cold, but the hot apple cider and bon fires kept us running.

The second day was dedicated to skiing. Though we spent more time getting into the ski gear and reaching the slope and falling down than actually on our feet! We had lodz of fun enroute with an impromptu snowball fight. I was the victim with low quality supplies. The snow around me was all powdery. I had to take cover. While returning we were treated to some beautiful warm sunset colors. It was so serene.

The third day was reserved for horse riding. We reached a place called Cerrillos about 40 miles south of Santa Fe and had an awesome 1.5 hour ride around the hills of New Mexico. Harold and Adel, the owners of broken saddle, were very accomodating and professional. It was the first time I was on a canter on a horse.

IIM Indore application

I have been able to draft out the application writing all the essays that are required. The fact that these essays are quite different than what I have done till now, it required quite a bit of effort. I still have to refine them though. I am hoping that my IIMC and XLRI applications made it to the respective institutes without issues.

On another note, we are planning to go back to India this year and for the last 2-3 days we are having a discussion about settling down there and where will we live, what car will we buy. It has been real fun because I get excited thinking about getting back to my country. I was distant from the Indian auto scene for the last 4 years, but now when I researched there are so many options to choose from. Earlier, it was 800, alto , santro or indica. Now i10, i20, Grand Punto, Jazz, Manza, Linea, Fabia and new cars like ford figo and vw polo coming in. This competition is going to work for the indian consumer. The car market is really going to explode in the next 10 years. I just hope that we have enough infrastructure to run those cars on.