Want to share 75cl bottle of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Brut Champagne..

..then help me out.

Financial Times has a quiz which asks to identify 100 past and present leaders. While I have been able to identify many (truth be told - few) but need help to find the rest. I am going all out to try and answer. The last date is May 20th.

Please help me by emailing me the names.

Best wishes to the South African contingent

I wish all my colleagues who are visiting South Africa on a study tour. 

Learn well, visit well and in the end enjoy the safari. And please, don't forget to bring the photographs to share with rest of us.

Good luck to you all.

Recent diary

Last few days have been interesting and disappointing at the same time.

First of all I would like to thank to a special reader/visitor to blog. She is the mother of my colleague in the class and I recently learnt that she has been a regular visitor. Many thanks to her for visiting me and reading into my thoughts. It has been quite an inspirational learning and I wish that my writing invites more such visitors. My friends have off-late complemented me by saying that my thoughts enable them to reflect on their own thoughts. Many thanks to you guys. You all have been a valuable pillar of strength and I am sure I will miss these cherishable moments once the MBA comes to an end.

'MBA comes to an end'. This thought has been exciting and dreadful at the same time. Exciting because it will allow me to head back home, reunite with the family and join the workforce again. India is a happening place and I am certain that there are many opportunities that will materialise in the near future. The thought is dreadful because of uncertainities that surround the economy. Uncertainities are clouding my vision and it appears hazy. I have been trying hard to get an internship in India but the opportunity seems to be slipping away with every new day passing by. I have to submit my partner name (I haven't selected one yet), earn a project (if I don't get anything back home) and then select a title for dissertation and the days are moving by very fast. I just hope that I hear something positive sooner rather than later. An internship in India will enable my transition in the industry easily (that's what I hope).

In the meanwhile, I have created a group on www.linkedin.com for 2009 MBA graduates to top b-schools from UK, US and India looking for opportunities in India and elsewhere to network and identify opportunities to help themselves. I think it will gather steam and become self-sustaining in days to come.

The last piece of information is that Lancaster MBAs have won a gold medal at MBAT, the MBA olympics organised at HEC Paris. It is a tremendous achievement given the fact that we lost other tournaments/matches by a very close margin. It was the first outing of Lancaster at MBAT and though we did not storm the tournament with our superlative performances, we did well enough to come at the 13th position in the overall medals tally. Well done Lancaster MBA.

A state of uncertainity

Ask any MBA student - where do you see yourself in next six months?. The answers most likely will not vary among majority of students. The most common response will be - 'I don't know'. 

This answer stems from the uncertainity that has plagued the job market. What seemed earlier to be a good investment in oneself (it still is), in the short term appears to be one of the not-so-wise decisions. Worldwide collapse of the markets, the recession (Umar Haque calls it a state of compression) and the loss of confidence have taken its own toll on the prospects of finding a job. Students are now dwindling between finding nothing to finding anything so as to pay back the huge loan they have taken. Internships have dried up and the summer projects are not so easy to find. Overall the state of the MBA economy looks not so pleasant. Afterall no one left their cushy jobs to land themselves in this state of uncertainity.

While many will resonate with my claim, I do not claim to represent the entire MBA student fraternity, I for certain falls in the category of uncertain people. Even though all is not lost and there are opportunities to look for, this experience, has certainly allowed me to think out-of-the-box. I do not simply think about the regular profile that I would have got for myself after MBA, nor do I fancy my chances in UK, which I surely considered before joining the course. Now I am thinking more than ever about opportunities in India. Now I am no more looking for a stereotype role in the IT industry (though I may still end up there) but I am considering all types of industries. This will enable me to 

• experience different industry, and
• enhance my profile

I am not so sure if I will be successful in what I am thinking but slowly and surely I am looking forward to apply wherever opportunities arise. If you think you might have something in store for me drop me an email. 

Who said recession was bad, MBA in a recession has definitely made me resilient.  

A brief reflection :)

I have been wondering of late about the frequency of my post on this place. Not that I am too busy, the thought of communicating through this channel has been overbearing. The sense of guilt and the thought that I should be communicating more often has often kept me away from writing here. Today, I take a pledge to write on a regular basis. I hope to honor that commitment.

The past few weeks have been a good experience. I visited home during the Easter vacation and there I was trying to network among older contacts for opportunities. After coming back to Lancaster, the case exam and the assignment submission of the last term consumed entire energy.

Spring has gradually settled in here and as spring sets in I have moved into the electives term. The year so far has moved so quickly that it is unfathomable that MBA started in Sept/Oct last year. It has been an intense journey so far and has thrown open many new options for me. I have decided to concentrate on Strategy and International Business to major in. I never thought strategy would be an option for me before MBA but now I am very confident that strategy is the 'the' thing for me. I am quite hopeful to get an opportunity in that area.  As of now I am looking for projects/internship for the last term, which is due in another 2 months.

As of now, wish me luck.