The Root 3 Syndrome

    Any Indian girl would know that one of the toughest things for us to do is escape marriage. You get a certain age, and all people want to hear from you is- when are you settling down. They don’t care about how well you are doing in life or if you are doing well at all. When you try to evade the question politely then the next question you get asked is if you have someone special in tow? If you don’t have any exciting info then people think that you are being sly....its quite an ordeal believe u me.

       So I generally have been dealing with this whole gang of uncles and aunts who get all quizzical every time I visit my folks. It doesn’t matter that you are doing well for yourself (one of them was mortified to hear of my promotion last year. In her view the more i earned the more difficult it would be for my folks to find a right guy for me!). Don’t even ask me how they reacted to the news of me taking a year off for studies. All I can say is that i love my folks for understanding what I want despite the dissenters that they have to suffer back home.

        What irritates me is that these are the persona non grata, who are not even remotely connected with my life. Yet their loud and opinionated self is hard to ignore, especially for my parents who have to deal with them socially. I am so glad that i can escape the torture of their presence for months at a stretch.

       The irony is that I do want to settle down. I miss not having a company, or someone to share my thoughts and life with. But i don’t want to settle into marriage out of pressure from some rogue elements. We are each a unique person (pretty much a Square Root of 3, in our own ways). We have our weaknesses, and our imperfections.  We wish we were different, a square or an integer. But we clearly are not....just when we come to accept ourselves the way we are, the hunt to find someone like us begins (for conjugal bliss). The beauty lies in finding another Square Root of 3, who will make us a whole number. Someone who will make our rough edges smooth....someone who will accept our ‘irrationality’ and make it rational. I call it the Root 3 Syndrome...someone who will complete us(sigh).

But what if i make a wrong choice and end up with a 3 or a 9? Then i will just be longing to become an integer all my life.....scary scary thought. To say ‘yes’ or not to say ‘yes’, thats the million dollar question, my friend.

Ps: Root 3, concept is obviously not mine. Its inspired from a poem by David Feinberg, and featured in the movie Harold and Kumar-Escape from G’bay. Here’s what the poem goes like...
...........................................................................................................................................
 I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three
The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine
For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic
I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality
When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three
As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer
We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands
Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed

Dubai- So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Its been awfully long since I last blogged! one too many updates pending...

So well first things first, our Dubai stint finally came to an end on 28th Sep. 5 and a half months seemed to have passed in a jiffy. i personally hated my Dubai experience. I think International City, China Cluster had a lot to do with it....having lived in a desert for 8 years of my childhood (Ajmer), i really did not think that Dubai would be so bad for me. But i think super hot climate, hard water, lack of freedom all together dont make for a great stay. I had been waiting to get out of the place like how.

But a big thanks to the people who made my stay their tolerable, and at times fun too. My relatives (Reena di and Anil ji) were really very sweet and helpful. The SGI Gulf group was a great bunch to meet (specially Sadhvi, Anuj, Gayatri and Abhinav). And ofcourse, my MBA batchmates who wouldnt let Dxb and its sadness dampen their spirits! Thanks a ton, people.

Am i being overally critical of Dxb? Maybe, i did have some fun moments, shopping was divine,clubbing was not bad either...(but the weather was quite a killjoy-there i go again)

Well, need to update on all that has happened since i last blogged....ARP, Exams, Alumni meet, ARP presentation (not in that order)

Project-Not Bombing Again, which had been initiated with much fanfare, helped me a lot in getting my act together....waiting to see if it helped me in getting better grades. But i did feel much better prepared than I had expected for each exam (though I did not write 2 papers that well- OB and IM)...i think a great deal of my prep had something to do with Rajeev's bible/quran cheat notes. I did the whole thing of group study, discussions, paper solving and what not...(so happy with the effort :D). I just wish that i would stop ruining my good preps in the exam halls.

Exams got over on the 20th of sep, and then began our (Rajeev and mine) super quest to finish the ARP (Applied Research Project-aka acid reflux proposal). We managed to finish a write up of about 47 pages by 21st morning-(yep, that quick) and sent it for approval to our mentor. And finally a full report of 77 pages, with 1% plagiarism and an original piece of macroeconomic model was ready by 22nd night! Hows that for great writing, people. Barely caught 40 winks for those two days. Rajeev, overdosed on Red Bull, and looked like a Martian by the end of the report. He deserves a gallantry award for putting up with my obscene levels of anxiety. A noteworthy mention here wld be that of 'Daddy' (Madhusudan) who 'inspired' us to come up with an original ('legit'-mate) regression model for our report. We got by with a lot of help from our frens..

ARP presentation was good too, with a lil hiccup in the start though.  In short, all things that i had been losing sleep over, went off pretty well.

Before i realised, it was time to bid adieu to dubai....i know for sure tht i will never miss that place. having said that, i did grow fond of some people there, and will deeply miss their company.

singapore awaits us now.....eagerly eagerly looking forward to what lies ahead :D











   

ARP- Acid Reflux Proposal

 Featuring......

*** Rajeev Mundhada***


There is a new phenomenon going around here- its called fiction writing. every member in my batch is furiously typing on his/her laptop whenever there is any free time....um, its a creative bug of a different kind. so what brought about the change? its this not so innocuous reasearch project that is due for submission in, well, 12 days time. (i think)
 
ARP- Applied Reseach Project was introduced to us in our very first week of stay at Dubai (unfortunately). Since then we are reminded of it at every drop of a hat. Technically speaking, we have been working on our ARP for 5 months now....only we know the facts.

So seeing the typing-mania, my ARP partner and i have been 'talking about' gearing up too. My ARP partner is the 'droopy-eyed' Rajeev Mundhada. We zeroed upon our research topic with killer enthusiasam in April, and thought that nothing could go wrong with this one (what cld be more wrong than the two of us working on a project together!)

Since then, our research topic has changed atleast 4 times, we both have different recollection of our exact topic now.-and to date have not understood our topic in its entirety. Our objectives are tuned, fine tuned and refined everytime we meet our mentors. I dont remember working as much on my project as on the objectives and title. Till 4-5 days ago our reasearch project was just two pages long! (believe me).

Its not like Rajeev and I are not concerned about our ARP.  In fact in the last few months the most common conversation bewteen us has been something like this-
me- "hey rajeev"
RM- "Hey Priyanka"
me- "Dude we got to work on our ARP"
RM " True true. lets seriously sit down on it today"
Me - "totally"
RM- 'lets pings each other around 11 pm then"
Me- "sure thing"

Ofcourse, neither of us bother to ping eachother.
If there cld be an award for repeat conversation then we wld win it hands down. The only thing that changes in our conversation is probably the level of intensity depending upon the ARP review schedule.

So what do rajeev and i bring to our (omnious) ARP, besides our charmming pesonalities? Great fiction writing skills!! people wait till the two of us get cracking on it.

My sole regret (or not) is that our report  is going to cause great Acid Reflux to whosoever reads it.

Project- Not Bombing Again Part I

Aditi (Adi)

Shiny

Introducing- Adi & Shiny .........

      So well, a good part of yesterday was spent in coming up with a foolproof plan to 'exceed expectations' in my 2nd term exams- which incidentally are just around the corner. Project- Not Bombing Again was launched with much fanfare and high hopes (read previous post for details).    

      Still struggling to find time for Project-NBA.  Caught in the middle of assignments, project work, group presentations, simulation, and what not...and if that were not enough have to finish a short story for HarperCollins story writing competition by 14th (somebody plsss kill me). By the way, the story writing is for

romantic genre- need i say more :D. I am having a ball of a time penning this one, trying to use cliches to make up for my lack of imagination here (seriously)...so there are phrases such as - "she felt a rush of emotions as their hands met" (use sultry voice for better effect)

      ANYWAYS...coming back to the point. Our 1st term exams were quite a reality check. Some of us were left badly scalded from the experience. (must put in a word here about the scums who come out of the exam hall whinning about not having done well in the paper- and then end up scoring the highest marks or so. take your theatrics elsewhere, people! we dont need you in our group)   

This post features two special personalites of my batch - Aditi and Shiny, who I trust had a genuinely  dreadful experinece in our last exams.

     Any mention of Project-NBA is incomplete without the two of them. They are both quite a phenomenon, individually, and yet they decided to unleash their combined power on us, together. How kind! My MBA experinece wouldnt have been half as much fun without their comic presence.

      I have gotten into the habit of benchmarking my efforts against theirs- so if Adi & Shiny have finished an assignment, then you know the water level has crossed the safety mark for sure. Now that Adi & Shiny have started studying for term 2 exams, its high time i began so tooo. 

     Shiny shared the details of today's International Management  case with me in ten mins flat...that too in Arabian Nights format- goes something like this- Once upon a time there was a not-so great-company called Komatsu/Kimberly Clark etc.....that faced many troubles to survive (and the flow continues).

Its definitely an interetsing style for case studies. Adi would agree, she gets her best sleep when Shiny is reading out cases to her!

enough of goofing now...gotta hit my books....Project-NBA doesnt seem to be heading anywhere, ugh!

ps- pls dont be fooled by the calm, serene (sleepy) looks of the two in the pics above.....its the lull before the storm.

 

UGHH!- Exams Again

          Its feels like just yesterday when i was proudly back-patting myself for having survived one whole week of exams in my one year MBA course (this was in the first week of July, to be more precise). and guess what they are back, once more. In another seven days' time the torture is going to begin again...

           I have always abhored exams...not because i am academically challenegd or something (in fact i am a pretty good student- toning it down a little for the sake of being modest). But i do feel the 'performance stress'. the whole set up with invigilators & restricted environment feels extremely overwhelming. Education should be a test of learning not a test of rote. i fundamentally disagree with the concept of exams, and the way its carried every where....

           But well the sad bit is that nobody is really listening to me. and till things change, which i don't think will happen in my student life, i will have to suffer the monstrosity of it. so here i am gearing up for the D-Day. The schedule is out, my prep plan is ready- now all i need to do is execute it. Well i was supposed to excute my study plans (Project- Not Bombing Again) yesterday, but i was out with relatives, had to go for dinner and do some miscellaneous shopping etc (which is important too!)....so well project execution had to be postponed by a day.

            So i am all ready with my Corporate Finance (CF)book and notes today. have taken my proactiveness to another level and pinged a senior for sample papers (a must have for Project-Not Bombing Again to succeed!). have been toying with ideas to come up with a bang on strategy to crack CF- something which wld require minimal study from my end. Strategy planning has taken up most of my morning, no studying done yet (fret fret fret). gotta go out for lunch now (special lunch with my relatives')

              Project- Not Bombing Again should get going by today evening. It better, Mum is overly stressed at my seriousness or the complete lack of it towards my studies.....Mum, try living in the world of facebook, whatsapp, bbm, g-talk!! (i love u, Mum). But more than anybody, i have got to do this for myself. I need to overcome the fear of exams...Fists of fire.

to be continued....... 


            
  
         

Life on a shoestring budget

Its been about 2 weeks since i last posted something/anything on my blog!
here's my latest article on living life on a shoestring budget- i bet all students would agree with me on this one.

Life on a shoestring budget

               One of the worst things that you can do to yourself is come to a shopping destination to study. If that pain doesn’t kill you then living on a shoestring budget in such a place will definitely do. Actually living on a shoestring budget as a student is a test of your will power to resist the goodliness of life.  It is one of the important contributing factors towards us developing a thick skin. So to put it mildly, there is rock bottom, fifty feet of rut below it, and then us, the always-broke-students. We have absolutely no scruples especially when it comes to freebees and free food.

            Its not an easy life by any standard. Picture this, a packet of Maggie takes about 2 mins for preparation, but can finish in less than 30 secs. It is the ultimate test of the survival of the fittest. If you are not quick to move then you may get left behind, just holding a fork (pretty symbolic of life, ain’t it). Be war ready, always. You never know when a kind soul may open a packet of chips/popcorn and you may have to desperately scamper to get to it (so what if its not your favourite flavour).

            Life on a shoestring budget can teach you some interesting lessons in finance. As we become creditors to some and debtors to many, we learn to identify our bad debts and sunk costs better. So typically, our borrowers default and we default to our lenders, leading to a shortfall in the cash flow of the cohort. And yet, cash flows or the super lack of it, hardly affect our state of mind. You cannot appreciate the small wonders of life, such as tea, coffee and toasts, till you have actually lived on a budget so tight that everything aside from the small wonders seem to be out of reach.  

          So well, life on a shoestring-budget comes highly recommended. Having lived through it, you will emerge much the wiser and much the smarter.