MBA and War on Mumbai

The world changed over the past few days. 

The Mumbai attacks have had a great impact on me and I am forced to think why it happened. While the answers may be straight forward, I am in no position to offer my views on it presently. My current workload requires me to concentrate fully on the task at hand, but following the attacks took lot of time. Presently I have my Organizational Behavior presentation scheduled for in the morning, I had my Operations Management exam on Monday.

I have observed that since the blasts, my energies are devoted in search of the above answers looking/searching for a solution. For all my course cases and exams, I have no energies to concentrate. Globally, terrorism has risen as a multi-headed hydra and I am looking for ways to counter the same in my personal capacity. It is a quest that I wish to take. The answers/success reasons may be apparent to some, but I strongly believe that terrorism can be quelled. 

I want to make my country very strong, economically, and that to certain extent will help in achieving strength. It is a very long ardous route, but history is a testimony that we received freedom from the colonial rule after more than 200 years. So, to put it subtly, winning the war should be like a one day cricket match, but if it is supposed to be a test match, then come on Mr. Terrorist, we will defeat you in that version of the game also.

On a second note, I am looking forward to my first London visit next weekend. If you are there in London over the next weekend and would like to meet me for a cup of coffee or so, send me an email. From London I am looking forward to my trip back home where I tend to spend a great time with family (I have lot of assignments to take care of then also)  before embarking on another journey of completing my MBA.

Very late in posting.. Apologies

Apologies to all who visited me over the past few days and did not find anything new. I have hardly had time in past few days and I think few of you might relate to me. I am quite of sync with the body and the course demands. I think some of the demands are simply outrageous. Body demands rest and course demands attention, I am thinking of various means to put an end to this misery of mine. Someone said the solution is simple - Sleep. The question is - When?

Well, I think my absence from the blog world helped me a bit. I have finished my accounting assignment and various other things seem to be on track. That as of now is current update.

Now, some history. 

Barcamp went really well. I had never planned for the structure that eventually took shape, but that is the beauty of barcamps. They have no structure and they are all very fluid. No one, outside the course attended but whoever came in appreciated the concepts and some were demanding it to be a weekly or a fortnightly affiar. Sorry folks, next one will be there but it will be some time in the summer time. Need support and logistics for that. MBA foyer will not do as a venue.

Thanks to all who made that happen. Participants, Jeet in particular, MBA office staff for the supplies and venue and all others who helped in whatever way. Thank you once again.

The other important news of this week is the visit of the class to Airbus (Wings) factory here at Chester and to United Biscuits factory at Charlisle. I went to Airbus factory and saw something which was amazing. Entire world has seen the Airbus A380 on TV or pictures, I saw the real wings, wings getting manufactured, shipped over sea and air to Toulouse in France. The factory was a massive place and it is definitely an experience that I will cherish for a long time.

Right now, I have Operations Management to read, submit Accounting assignment, read for Finance exam next week and also think about other assignments which I have not so far.

3 more weeks before I head back home for a short break. Don't know if that will be a break with various assignments submissions looming large as soon as school reopens, but will try to have some good fun and homely food.

Birthday surprise

What an epiphany in just 5 hours after posting the last post. There were bunch of blokes (17+1) banging on my door in the middle of night (12.25). While some were expected, my expectations were surely "outnumbered". Altogether, it was a pleasant experience. It is not daily that I see people in such a large strength on my door to wish me on my b'day and splatter my face with chocolate cake after it had been ceremoniously cut.


It was fun. It was surely a great feeling. After a long time, I got some birthday bumps. It is originally a UK tradition and the guys followed it in spirit.


Just wanted to thank who all wished me on my day and made it a memorable day. It surely is a day worth remembering away from family with new friends. Will cherish for a very long time.

Titleless post.. THIS is NOT the title of this post<@?

What a depressing day!! Right now I am in no mood to work and for past 1 hour or so I am feeling like a spent force. This weather, absence of people to talk to (how many times can you talk to same set of people daily?) and I don't know what else (can't think of more things).

I am really getting bored sitting on the same chair, same laptop, same room, same books, same chores in life, even my online radio station doesn't changes the songs, man!.. have I paid for all this, no. Definitely NOT. I deserve better.

If you think, I am depressed then yes I am depressed and right now I am heading out. I hope to be back soon but don't know when (minimum is 30 minutes). If you can pull me out of my depression which settled in an hour back, call me or email me or better leave a comment and let's talk.

Update: It even snowed 5 minutes back.

Lessons from Jeff Immelt, CEO GE

Just finished watching a great video, courtsey a colleague in the MBA class, Imad.

The video was about Jeff Immelt's visit to NYU Stern School of Business, participated live by 6 other business schools from around the world. Here is the link to the video -

The session was mindblowing. What was impressive were the lessons for an MBA student. He was asked various question but the common theme centered around

1. Learn to "LEARN".
2. Learn to "MEET PEOPLE"
3. Be "COOL".

Other important things I could draw from the lecture were about the sectors that would be important and the areas where an MBA student should and could focus on

1. Infrastructure
2. Technology
3. Energy
4. Education

Last thing to draw from the lecture was - "Believe in a cause and live for the cause like your life is dependent on it. Do NOT delegate. "

I am impressed. Now it is the practice time, let me see how far can I go with these learnings. It is 'Miles to go Before I sleep'.

MBA is not everyone's cup of tea.

Please raise your hands who agree with me.

Surely it requires a lot of Commitment. The commitment with a big 'C' and not small 'c'.

Networking, thinking and giving shapes to new ideas, selling those ideas to people and then trying to start something new takes lot of energy. I believe there are many superstars in the class and everyone is as good as it gets. With too many things happening around, I really admire the small size of the class otherwise a large number would surely be a big distraction.

Recently there was IBM HR director who came and spoke with the class. It was quite an interesting session, but I think I would have derived much value out of it if he would have given more information about the trends in the industry and how to approach IBM and how IBM would help the students from this school. I am slightly selfish, but I think once companies start visiting my school with recruitment, like they do for LBS where they have to sift through 400+ resumes, the small size would be a great advantage to them.

But, that is long term. Right now there are lot of other things that need to be sorted out. Right now I am working on my CV (for a very long time) and looking for opportunities in Business Development / Management Consulting areas but it is a real hard work without a proper network to wade through plethora of companies around the world. It is very easy to get distracted and lose focus but sometimes posting here helps as a reflection. Don't really know, but if you guys know anything that comes up in my "desired" area do let me know. Is that a pitch? May be yes. But the prospects of not doing what I want to do post MBA is terrifying.

I think an entreprenuerial mindset has its own disadvantage. You get excited about the prospects very easily but to really pursue the same is really a hard work. MBA is also an entreprenuerial journey where you invest and take risk. But, I like that. I am also planning to go for the Rice Business Plan competition. Anyone willing to join? There are two more vacancies in the team. Ha ha.. that's funny, the hunted becomes the hunter. I am looking for opportunities and I am offering here one. Do contact me (you know where and how).

Will post soon with the results of job takers. Meanwhile I finished selling Barcamp here at Lancaster and the initial response seems to be quite good. I hope all goes well on Nov. 15. There is lot of work to complete before that happens. Let me go back to the drawing board now. See u soon.

Happy Diwali

Happy Diwali to you.

Tomorrow is the first time when I am away from my family on the Diwali day. Being away from family on such a day brings in all kind of emotions. It is the first big festival for my son and I am unable to spend my time with him. It is really tough to be away and try to celebrate a festival like Diwali. But that's where MBA class kicks in.

For tomorrow the Indians in the class have planned a cultural evening with traditional Indian food, dance, music and masti. I just came back some time back after a 15 hour long day. The entire day was spent discussing and brainstorming variety of cases and after that a dance practice was scheduled. Can you imagine, dance practice at 11 in the evening? Well, I realised that I am not a very good dancer but I am enjoying it and will still participate whole-heartedly.

It is amazing what a student life can do to you. To me, it is kind of transforming where time management is becoming critical and multi-tasking an art. In next two - three weeks I am planning another event on Barcamp lines but not really sure if that should be called a Barcamp. I would really be willing to organise one, time permitting. Right now I have to sell the idea to many in the class so that a good participation is ensured. Selling it in the class will be a test of my marketing skills ;) .

Right now, I want to talk to my family but distances do matter in this part of the world and it won't be before tomorrow. I intend to take part in the 'puja' and join them virtually.

In the meantime will keep you posted with the cultural party events taking place here.

Accounting..Operations..OB..NVC..Cases

If you are unable to understand anything from the title, don't worry, you have my company. The week and the classes fly off so fast that it becomes very difficult to cope. I think I am paying for this and it is my choice. I am happy about it and gradually becoming better at organising myself. I think this the first lesson from MBA. Getting organized is the key to ______ (it starts with S).

For past many days my routine sounds like a movie that is very predictable. From morning till evening (until I sleep) it is same. Quite a few classes are interesting and few not so. Accounting is quite interesting as the teacher introduces elements of wit and humor in his lecture. Organizational Behavior (OB) is thought provoking. It forces me to think. It is more of a mental challenge where you have to challenge your learning. Operations.. well.. it is mixed. I have to really get used to the terms and given my background it is really difficult to get around to the terms. Anyway let me see how I go about it.

A good news. I have allocated a project working in a team of four, a consultancy project to plan and prepare for a new venture (a real venture) locally. Sounds exciting, but will have to pull rabbits out of the hat to make that going. The bad news is the scope of the project is very small, but given the time that can be devoted for the project during the term I think it is reasonable.

Next week is BIG. Finance course starts on Monday and the outline requires to read through the chapters carefully. Now, reading is fine. Reading carefully is a problem. But that again goes in the To-Do List.

One thing is for sure, there is a never a dull moment in the life of a MBA grad. One year is even more rigourous.,

Trail.

What a waste of time.!!

Seriously, I am joking. Don't consume that statement at its face value and Lancaster trail was time spent well.

The trail was a team event and the person behind the scene who created and planned did an excellent job and needs to be complemented. Seriously it was a trail that required good knowledge about the city and its historical importance, which I did.

The trail led us to many different parts of the city and get all answers correct, an excellent team coordination was required (it was evident in our scores). All of us spreaded out in different directions and I was myself in the museum and learnt quite a lot about the city and its historical importance. The thing that I noticed in the museum was that the army regiment from Lancaster was deployed in India, during 3 wars that Britishers fought in India among many, the most famous being the "Sepoy Mutiny" of 1857.

Here is a picture of what I did at the museum. I colored two sheets of pre-drawn sketches and I was coloring a picture for the first time after passing from the school.

Another interesting artifact in the museum was the Roman Tombstone. It was a very large tombstone and was quite intriguing. There were many other items that may fascinate history buffs, but I was impressed.

I have to narrate this, later when I went for the lunch with the team. In Britain is that I don't get the food that I want and the vegetarian food is not always the one that I expect. Sometimes, I think, I waste a lot of money on food outside. It is better to cook or eat bread with some sides. Why can't English food be a bit palatable? I am still looking for a place that serves good palatable vegetarian food. The place we went in had a great ambience. It was a wine cellar during the old days which is now converted into a good restaurant.

The best part of the day was the creation of Scrap book. It was required to log our findings of the city during the day. It came out really well and the creativity was at its best.

The thing that remains is to maintain the momentum that this trail generated. I am sure we can maintain it.

Settled in ?

Everyone back home seems to be asking this. Friends, family, not so friendly and almost everyone whom I can think of.

Well yes. I have settled in. Got few new friends. Getting well in the class. Getting to know new people, new cultures everyday. I have started to greet new ideas with respect. Have got a genuine feedback (I hope it is genuine) and started to work on that. Eating Indian food and by the time I reach back home, I should have earned one more degree, qualified chef.

What else? The class schedule is tight and packed with events, lectures, guest lectures, cultural lectures, discussions about microfinance, global economic outlook and everything that I think can be discussed in the MBA class.

Apart from this, I have lots to write about the last week, when we were outward bound doing crazy stuff by hanging ourselves with safety gears in the air after climbing on the pole, creating a stack of crates, running blindly for clues.. gosh it was crazy but fun.

The last discussion is always about the INR-£ conversion. This country is so damn expensive that every money spent needs to be watched. God, I pray that I atleast earn twice the amount in 1 year after MBA that I would have spent on it (request my readers to please pray for me).

Right now, I have to read two chapters from Operations Management book for tomorrow's class.

Moral of Week 1

Work hard, party harder.

I mean it literally. That's what has happened in the first week. Even before Week 2 has started and mind you it is only induction (orientation) week where things are kept deliberately loosely coupled I get the feel that the year is going to be hectic.

We have got lot of assignments which wont be evaluated (for God's sake) but require lot of introspection to be done before we fill in. Mindful Manager module started on a very high note and I felt somewhat dis-oriented but got on track towards the later half. This is one module which is going to last for nearly 9 months.

Career development cell started its work, arranged workshops for the class by leading consultants and gave us two week timeline to fill in the details. Just 2 weeks, to introspect, to identify with oneself (I feel why I left India for this, could have joined a Buddhist medidation class there itself), and then the regular SWOT analysis. In the meantime, I hope to search for internships elsewhere in UK and if you have details you can help me with (my mail box is waiting to hear from you) do let me know.

Lastly the party. What a blast to end the week and begin the course. Had everything from skit to quiz, to dancing, to great food (though being a vegeterian, my options are limited) and a great bar and of course desserts from all parts of the world (Denmark, New Zealand, India, UK, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Africa). Everything went as it should. Let's see the rest of the year.

School.. ahem

I am back to school.

Before I write about my first two days at school let me speak something about my travel experience. It was good, it was bad and in the end it was a mixed. I started from my home on Saturday morning 8 a.m. India time and reached Lancaster on Sunday 9 p.m. UK time. I spent 10 hours in the train while I reached Delhi (I was scheduled to spend only 8 but the train was delayed by 2 hours and my palpitation increased every minute until I deboarded and reached the airport), another 10 at Helsinki airport and all put togather I was in air and on land for more than 37 hours. Phew.. what a journey.

The arrival was good but reaching so late meant that I missed the Sunday's party that was planned for future classmates and I had to rely on the free food (comprising of boiled meshed vegetable that tasted awful and a small piece of bread) and the beer that I bought. I met one of my future classmate from Nigeria who also landed the same day and relied on the same food but I really had a very good conversation to set the tone for rest of the year. I ended up spending 2.5 hours late that evening with him and I enjoyed every bit of it.

Now the school.

It is impressive. Had to hunt a little before I got to meet many of the students. Facilities seem impressive. The director of the program and the staff seem friendly. Moreover the fellow classmates are interesting with backgrounds as diverse as Marine Engineering to Finance to Manufacturing to IT. The nationalities are 22 in number.

I am impressed by the program conducted so far and the interesting discussion on credit crunch situation in the world economy by Prof. Balasubramaniam provided an interesting insight into the problem and the role India and China are playing in it. Overall, till now it has seemed that the year will be exciting and at the same it will be stressful.

Stay tuned for more information. Will post as soon as I get my laptop from the university on Thursday.

Fatherhood and MBA

September 16, 2008, I am blessed with my second child, a baby boy.

It has been a hectic fortnight after my departure from Bangalore. I visited quite a few relatives, spend days without Internet connection apart from spending some quality time with the family. Days of planning went in for the D-day and when the day arrived lot of anxiety prevailed before the nurse broke the news. I was hoping since very long time that before I depart to Lancaster, I should be able to spend some moments with the new one. I thank God for listening my prayers and granting me my wish.

Right now I am very busy and I have not yet started planning for the departure (a basic preparation was done long ago). Right now trips between the hospital and home and also managing my elder one are sapping up all my energy. I was planning to read through the pre-reading material before starting for the class but never found some free time (classical excuse), now I think I will read in the room at the Graduate College in the University before the classes actually begin.

In the meantime lot of activity is going on among future classmates and all seem to be worried about the placements. I am also worried but haven't really thought about it yet. I am impressed by the ideas floating around and would like to contribute actively to make placements a success at Lancaster. This will happen only when I reach there and till then I wish to enjoy some blissfull moments with my kids.

I am very busy these days..

I am going to be very busy over next couple of days and I just can't imagine how will my life be without Internet and Phone.

I left my employment last Friday and since then busy packing and doing various household errands.

I am relocating from Bangalore to Bhopal on Sunday (Aug-31) before I move to Lancaster in late September and I will not have internet connectivity from Wednesday, phone from Friday, car (hopefully) from Saturday and my accommodation from Sunday. Post Sunday, I have to look for a good hospital for new arrival in the family. I hope the baby doesn't play a prank with me by arriving after I depart. I wish he/she comes before I leave. How wishful ;) I am.

I am just hopeful if everything sticks to the plan and goes accordingly. Presently keeping my fingers crossed about my life without Internet.

Lights, camera... ACTION

The picture is very clear now.

Rather, the picture is transparent. My new classmates are fun loving, are from as diverse background as they can be, have varied experience (highest age being 46 and lowest being 23), have visited world over, play variety of sports and are game for almost anything. Barring few, who are local to a city or town none have met each other but all have begun cracking jokes and pulling each other's leg. I can just imagine how the orientation is going to be and how the rest of the year would be.

My classmates will be from

1. Australia
2. China
3. Denmark
4. Egypt
5. Estonia
6. Germany
7. HongKong
8. India
9. Iran
10. Japan
11. Korea
12. Namibia
13. Qatar
14. Russia
15. Syria
16. Taiwan
17. Uganda
18. UK
19. UnitedStates
20. Venezuela

On a serious note, pre-reading for the classes has begun. It is definitely not fun all the way through as one may think. The pre-reading's suggested material itself is an indicator. This is a two year program crammed into one year timeframe and hence it is not going to be rosy all the way through but it is designed with the needs of business world. New electives have been designed for this year's class that talks about making the manager not only a number wizard but a manager with a practical skills that stay right throughout one's career.

The experience so far has provided everything (excitement, satisfaction, networking potential, etc.) that a top-ranked MBA should.

It is definitely exciting.

Post MBA strategy

What should be the post MBA strategy?

I have been thinking a lot, about the fields that I should focus on while doing MBA. I have always wanted to do MBA as it will equip me with knowledge about general management tools and strategy, but the reason to do MBA is different.

I think every ambitious individual aspires to make big on the global arena or locally where he is known, respected and admired for the achievements. In this regard I am no different. If I were to talk to my friends and other knowledgeable friends in the Bangalore's entrepreneurial ecosystem, many may dis-approve the need for an MBA to be successful as detailed above, but I see that as a stepping stone in my career. My previous experience with entrepreneurship was not great. But it was an experience altogether. I have no regrets about the failure because then only I realised that I need to do something different to become just another guy.

Having said so, the big question is how to leverage the MBA that I will earn towards later part of next year. What should be the game plan post MBA. Get a job and reunite with family and kids or become an entreprenuer and explore something new. In either case, the need to specialize in a particular field is of paramount importance. What should that field be? I think of strategy and finance and leverage them with the technology background to enter into consulting. This is just a thought process that I am undertaking.

Any inputs?

VISA...................... Done

I got my VISA today to fly to UK. My wife broke the news for me.

I feel so relieved with the last hurdle getting knocked off in time. Now that I have the VISA, I have lot of things to plan. Have to relocate my family to my parents house in another city (Bhopal), transfer/dispose my stuff, sell my car, plan for my kid's admission. There are just too many things that I have to do and the time on my hand is not just sufficient. Let's see how I cram everything in such a short span.

I will be leaving Bangalore to my home town on Aug 31, and take off from India on Sep 27 reaching Lancaster on Sep 28. And then, a new chapter starts in my life and the journey begins.

visa application experience

Atlast my application is submitted. Quite an eventful submission though.

I had earlier decided to submit my application on July 29 and could not submit then as I fell ill and had to cancel my appointment. Then I re-scheduled my appointment and got a confirmed slot for Aug 01, 2008, 9:00 AM. So far so good.

One of the future batchmate who had already got a visa had prepared a checklist and running against that, I realized, I was missing on few points. A resume, a bank statement for a particular account and my TOEFL scorecard were missing from the original pack I had prepared.

On July 31, I went to the bank for the statement and their printer was not working. No problem. Went again in the evening and collected the statement. Needed a VISA fee draft, went to StandardChartered (UK VISA recommends them) at Cunnigham Road and they were closed. Then I went to their M.G.Road branch and the guy at the counter needed my passport (in original) to issue a banker's cheque. Since I did not had that I went to HDFC bank and they were more than happy to meet my requirement (no fuss and no questions asked).

By the time I hit home, I had everything required but going against the checklist, I realized that a copy of my resume was missing (the realization dawned at 11:30 PM). With less than 10 hrs to go to VFS, I decided to check if any cybercafe were open at 8 in the morning. Luckily I found one open and took a print to attach with the application.

Next was VFS personnel's turn to surprise me. After 45 min of waiting, when my turn came in the lady said my photograph did not meet specification of 80% facial features visibility. She then asked me to click a snap and fix on the form. Now, I never expected this. I was dressed as shabbily as possible with a not-so-good-looking T-shirt and a cargo. Had no choice and the guy behind the lens did a good job of my face.

Once done, I collected my 3.5 x 4.5 photograph, fixed it and submitted it. The lady gave me a token for biometric call and within 10 minutes I was done. Reached home at 11:00 AM. Now, I am waiting for the courier guy to come and deliver the passport with the VISA.

Here is a checklist I included in the cover lette for student visa application.

1. Passport
2. VAF3 with photograph
3. IT Return (self and sponsor) for last 3 years
4. Demand draft for Rs. 8415/- towards Visa application fee
5. Bank statements (self and sponsor) for last 6 months
6. Fixed deposits (self and sponsor)
7. Property valuation documents certificates by govt. approved evaluator (self and sponsor)
8. Chartered Accountant’s Net Worth certificate (self and sponsor)
9. Employment certificate (self and sponsor)
10. Provident Fund and Public Provident Fund statement (sponsor)
11. 6 months pay slips (self and sponsor)
12. Shares and stocks statement
13. Loan sanction letter from the bank.
14. Unconditional offer letter from Lancaster University (self)
15. Letter from the university showing living expenses cost (self)
16. Sponsorship letter from sponsor (self)
17. Investments (debt+mutual funds) (self and sponsor)
18. Employment proofs from all companies worked for (self)
19. Education certificates (self)
20. Resume (self)
21. TOEFL certificate for English language ability (self)
22. Copy of interview appointment schedule conducted by university (self)
23. Transaction statement of initial deposit of 1500 GBP submitted to the university (self)

MBA meet and the Bomb Blast.

Planned. Cancelled. Re-planned. Re-cancelled.

This is the current status of a proposed meeting among prospective students from Bangalore. After re-planning few (about 8) of us were scheduled to meet on Sunday, July 27 but because of the bomb blasts that created terror in the city, we were forced to cancel the same. Now, we are again re-planning it and hope to meet soon, but the count of people attending that meet may change. Probably all of us will meet not before September 28 and that too at the university housing center.

This is the first time I have been directly impacted by a bomb blast. I sympathise with those who are directly affected by this dastardly act. I am safe, sound and unhealthy (I am feeling sick and down with fever since Saturday evening), but I believe that sooner all who have been impacted by the blast will be able to overcome the fear.

BTW, I am attending office today and have to go for the VISA appointment tomorrow (which I am going to cancel because of my ill-health) and was in hospital for the better part of my not so cherished Sunday.

New way to click photos

I was weaving through the information and few profiles on linkedin today and came across this interesting site. Now, I haven't navigated through the site (www.photojojo.com) but found their newsletter content to be pretty interesting. The man behind newsletter is an Indian and shares the same name as one of my good old friends (both are completely unrelated).

The newsletter talks about mounting your good old/new digital camera on your bicycle handlebar (my contribution - it can be done on your motorbike or car rooftop even) and shoot as you go. The result, you get good action photographs or video and you don't have to stop at any place to click the action.

Here's the URL to the newsletter - http://photojojo.com/content/diy/attach-a-camera-to-your-bike/

I am going to try it at Lancaster and not on Bangalore roads.

Disclosure - I do not have a bicycle and the only possession in relation to this post is a SONY cybershot.

functional web board, class composition

Now, this is a news.

University's MBA web board (aka message board) is functional. I got my details yesterday and bang bang I find everyone on the board. In all there are 73 future classmates who will study along with me so including me 74. The nationality varies but I presume they are from following countries on the globe.

• India
• Japan
• UK
• Nigeria
• Russia
• Taiwan
• China
• Germany

Other nationalities may be there but I am not yet aware of. Probably when all classmates publish there profiles by July 31, a better picture will emerge. But there is no doubt that Indians will be a major force in the class. So, much for diversity. My only other hope is people from India are from as diverse backgrounds as possible (sales, advertising, IT, telecom, finance, etc.) and I have firm belief that adcom would have duly thought about it.

Next step for me will to publish my profile (a brief biography) before 31.

On a side note, I am not yet done with my VISA.

finished applying and a great video.

Last week nothing much happened but I had certain personal committments to cater to. Other than personal stuff, the accommodation link was made available by the university and after much deliberations I applied yesterday for the en-suite accommodation. Alums said go for a 40 week let and later extend the contract if need be. This comes from the presumption that you will be working far away or closer home on your project/internship for the last three months and hence why pay extra. Sound advice indeed. So, last night I finished applying.

Someone from 07-08 batch created a cool photo video about their experiences and posted on YouTube. Here is the video.



I hope 08-09 batch will be equally good or even better.

Booked my flight tickets.

I am flying FinnAir. I confirmed and booked my flight tickets with them today. I had blocked them on Wednesday and had planned to book on Thursday, but it was late evening when I called them up yesterday and the lady over phone said she could hold the booking for me until Friday. She held me in surprise when she said that the student ticket prices have been reduced today. From Rs. 18,157 I got my ticket for Rs. 15,911.

The price was fair and today I made the payment.

The only hitch is the baggage allowance. FinnAir only gives 30 kg as a baggage allowance, so I am now stuck with the choices I will have to make. 30 kg will be exhausted in just one luggage, nothing extra allowed. Shucks.. that sucks, but low fare price and the a good baggage allowance, it seems I can't have both. I had the option to fly Jet Airways with the baggage allowance of upto 50 kg, but overall, that was more expensive.

Anyway I am happy. I am flying this September.

waiting for the mail man

I am waiting for the mail man. Got information from the university that documents required for VISA application are on the way via standard mail. I am asked to give close to 3 weeks for it to arrive, and it left pg-admissions office early this week. So, I have time to prepare my VISA app that I intend to do this weekend.

Additionally I have to arrange for the funding also, as I did not received any scholarship from the school. But considering the fact that I need an MBA to boost up my career and switch from technology to business, the investment is worth it. I sincerely believe so and hope for the best.

Right now I am waiting.

visit to the VISA seminar

The bad things first:

It was crowded. There was no space to stand. There were far too many people standing than those sitting on chairs. Apart from this, the other solitary nagging issues was the barely audible audio.

Now the good things:

The session was informative, not a drab. It was well coordinated by the officer from Chennai office via video conference. The most important take away for me was the knowledge that there is no need to visit the counsel for a personal interview. You need to go to the local VFS office to submit your biometric information, along with the required documents. Once you submit, it should take 4-6 weeks. I intend to submit my application once I receive the documentation from the university. The address for the Bangalore office is - Scotts Annexe, No. 30, Infantry Road Bangalore - 560 001.

More details about the application process are detailed here - http://www.vfs-uk-in.com/applying.aspx. Towards the end of the session, few links were made available to learn more about UK and application process. The most important one I felt is - www.vfs-uk-in.com.

When I walked out, I flashed my offer letter and got a windcheater with a hood with embroidered British Council logo.

where am I heading to

Few have complained that I have not detailed the course that I am planning to undertake and where am I heading to. Here are the details

Course - MBA
University - Lancaster University, UK
Ranking - Globally it is ranked 22, according to FT.com (http://rankings.ft.com/global-mba-rankings)
Duration - One year
Timeline - Oct 1, 2008 to Sep 30, 2009

I started preparing for the rigor of admission in June of 2007, took GMAT in Decemeber and it took more than 9 months to secure two offers of admissions. This university suited my goals and I opted for it.

VISA seminar

I will be attending a seminar organized by British Council today at Kasturba Road, Bangalore at 4.30 pm. The seminar will be conducted via video conference from Chennai and I am under the impression that there will be a question and answer session. I have quite a few to ask.

On a side note, I received my confirmation from the university that confirmed my place in the program. So, it is official now, I have been offered a place and will be graduating in the fall of 2009.

MBA.. just got a day closer

This is going to be a new blog.

How am I going to prepare for my MBA, pre-departure and also the MBA application preparation. I will reveal all; in bits and pieces.

It is those few agonizing months, where I am thinking daily about my MBA. I have been planning a lot now and nothing seems to be moving forward. I am waiting for my papers from the university, so that I can apply for VISA. Gosh.. UK VISA document is a lenghty one. I don't know how much time it will take. US counterparts are better. Atleast they send the information pack much earlier. As soon as I secured the admission, within 7-8 days I got the information pack. Here at Lancaster, I will be getting the same only by August, a month before I will be leaving.

Right getting the cheap air-tickets to Manchester with maximum luggage allowance is the priority. Hopefully it will be sorted out in a day or two. Will keep posted.