Dateless Diary

Future??

2006-05-09T16:10:00.000+08:00

Another job interview. Another day. I'll be damned if I screwed up on this one too. I hope here's where my ill-luck runs out.

For the tamilians out there..

2006-04-16T00:26:00.000+08:00

மொட்டுகலே மொட்டுகலே முச்சு விடா மொட்டுகலே
கன்மனியாள் தூங்குகிறாள் காலையில் மலருங்கள்
பொன்னரும்புகள் மலர்கயிலே
மென் மெல்லிய சத்தம் வரும்
என் காதலி துயில் கலைந்தால்
என் இதயம் தாங்காது

Does anyone know the lyricist of this song? Tried googling but couldn't find. It's from the film roja kootam. Love the lyrics and the song.

Statistical approach to predicting success

2006-04-05T19:07:00.000+08:00

I'm counting my failures. Here's an attempt to know how many times more I may fail before I succeed:

Consider this quote "Failure is a stepping stone to success". Now then, the most pertinent question is 'How many steps there are to success?'. Assuming that the number of steps is a random variable, a study on the distribution of this r.v will provide us the required answer. I'm thinking Poisson distribution would be a good assumption to test.

Ok. That's as far as my thought process goes. The sample data collection & the hypothesis testing is left for the readers to perform...Please let me know of the mean value.

p.s: If none of this makes any sense to you. Good. You're normal.

Another wasted opportunity

2006-04-04T13:22:00.000+08:00

I had a telephone interview for an analyst position at a middle-tier analytic consulting firm today. Think I screwed up a great opportunity. Here's how it went.

Right off the bat, I was told the following

> The interview will be a structured one - She has a specific set of questions to ask in that order.

> No clarifications will be provided. One can however ask for the question to be repeated if he/she didn't hear it properly the first time around.

> She won't comment on my response to the questions.

> The interview will be recorded.

And so it started. At the beginning, it was very conventional - "What do you do presently?" "What do like the most about that?" "Where do you see yourself 10 yrs down the road" etc.

Later, it got totally whacky. A few sample questions:

(1) Who would you rather have under you? A mediocre team player or an independent aggressive person who achieves twice as much as the mediocre person. I said I'd take the independent aggressive person.

(2) An employee of yours calls up in the morning and says she won't be able to come in today as her daughter is ill. What would you say to her? For this, I meekly answered that I would ask if there were any meetings that she had scheduled with the client today and would try to get someone else to back her up for that. As I look back at it now, I wonder if I should have perhaps enquired about her daughter's illness.

(3) Do you have a mission statement? - totally messed up this one.

(4) The only marginally technical question: What is the cost of losing an employee who was making 40K an year - screwed up this one too.

I was previously told to expect the interview to last around 45-60 minutes. I finished mine in exactly 20 minutes - largely because I was answering without taking the time to think about each question. Totally stupid.

Edit: Changed the post title. The previous one was nonsensical.

A day in life of a ..

2006-04-03T16:53:00.000+08:00

Goldman Slacker! :)

(Source: Wilmott Careers Forum)

Adcom to note!

2006-03-28T14:24:00.000+08:00

"Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird" - Atticus to his children (To Kill a mocking bird, 1960)

In the bschool admissions game/society, the equivalent quote to the one above is this:

"Deny all the bankers/consultants you want, but remember it's a sin to deny a young & ambitious engineer" :-)

For the sake of closure..

2006-03-23T06:54:00.000+08:00

Denied at Chicago.. :(

Stop posting your admit calls!!

2006-03-22T09:41:00.000+08:00

The draining wait, the incessant posts in the forums by admits who received calls from Chicago have practically killed all the excitement in me. The nail in coffin was the post by some Singapore-based guy(Hama, Forrest - is that you??) who got the call a few minutes ago from Esther Choy.

This might very well be the end. Now, I'll have to pass the whole damn day to find out the possibly ugly news. Sucks!

Running on Chicago time

2006-03-21T11:43:00.000+08:00

34h:43m:11s to go..

As an aside, here is an interesting pic. Guess the name of the movie.

Plan B

2006-03-10T11:44:00.000+08:00

With the Chicago decision less than two weeks away, now would be a good time to prepare myself for the worst. What if no Chicago? I see two options

(1) Put in one more year of face-time at my current job & re-apply next year to a wider gamut of schools.

(2) Look for a new job; more in-line with my post-MBA career interest. Analyst level position dealing with financial modeling/risk management/quantitative analysis n such. In this case, re-apply after at least two yrs in new job.

Option (1) is status-quo. Need not move my ass one bit. Just continue the same routine.

Pluses
* Assured great recommendation from boss. Yeah, my boss loves me and is totally with me on this MBA game ;) Also, if I should decide to give INSEAD a try, my boss can write my recommendation in french :)

* The atypical industry (from bschool perspective) that I am in. Bschools dig applicants with non-traditional work experience (I think so, yes?) and I can play up my current experience from this angle.

* Possibility of a promotion later this year.

Minuses
* Total irrelevance to post-MBA goal.

* Lack of cranial indulgence. :(

I have more but I don't want to get fired just as yet :P

Option (2) is more interesting and is one of the reasons I applied only to a few schools. (The other reason, of course, is that I'm plain lazy. But I guess you already know that from the frequency of my blog update) If things don't work out this time around, I can afford to wait longer than to comprise on quality of the school I will attend. Age is on my side.

This option, however, is more difficult to execute. The kind of companies I'm interested in are very elitist and far more risk-averse in their candidates selection than bschools are. Not sure how successful I'll be.

Denied...

2006-02-21T09:33:00.000+08:00

...Says who? Columbia. Was hoping for atleast an interview invite.

I did a post-ding review of my application. Could see two potential problems

(1) Not much school specific detail packed in my essay 1 (Don't know how I missed something this basic :-( )
(2) My answer to 'What are you most passionate about in life ?' feels a little immature when I read it now.

Theory of Inflated Expectations*

2006-02-15T16:55:00.000+08:00

When you start out on the application process, you are quite motivated but realistic at the same time. You acknowledge the vagaries of the process, the uncertainty of get admitted etc.

Then, you start on your essays and realize you have nothing to write about. You never saved the world, nor did your boss heap you with three promotions in two years. Reality is further reinforced.

You struggle for weeks and finally you have something that has a slight semblance of a convincing story. Finally, you kinda figure out the game. Now you are on a flow. Applying is no more as painful and you quickly end up sending applications to 3-4 schools. You are moderately hopeful and and develop a little confidence in yourself. Still, you are firmly grounded in reality. You acknowledge the possibility of rough jolts ahead and are mentally prepared for the worst. You start forming backup plans in your mind to ease the blow should the worst happen.

Then you get invited for an interview. Immediately, reality is thrown out the window. You feel special although a good 60% of the applicants received the same. This invite is like the first mini-success in the whole 3/4 months application period and as a result you ascribe more significance than you rationally should. Your friends are in awe. "Friends" you haven't spoken to in years call unannounced! People start asking for advice, application strategies, websites/books to refer etc. Parents are happy. You are THE STAR.

An 'inflated expectation' of you to deliver has set in - both from yourself and from others.

Now, you want that 'bschool admit' real bad. A failure from this point on will happen in a very wide public view. A lot of people are now aware that you've made some strides. You've climbed a little too high that 'the fall' is gonna hurt. And real bad at that.

* - This theory is applicable only in certain social circles.

Waitlisted at NYU

2006-02-10T07:25:00.000+08:00

Although, I'm a little upset, I pretty much expected this. NYU appears to have been waitlisting hordes of R1 applicants and my essays to NYU were mediocre(being my first bschool application and all). It'll be interesting now to see what Columbia will decide on my application. Columbia essays, in my view, were pretty much same level as Chicago.

NYU encourages waitlisted applicants to send supplemental materials to strengthen their case. And given the high number of waitlisted applicants, I can't imagine how they handle the immense volume of letters they'll be receiving almost everyday. So, whatever I decide to send has to be quite impacting. An average "I so love NYU.." letter will not cut it. Will think about it after finishing my Chicago interview which I've scheduled for Monday.

Chicago Invite!

2006-02-07T10:04:00.000+08:00

Finally, after weeks of restless waiting, some news in the right direction - Invited to interview at UChicago!! This lifts a huge stress off me. I was beginning to doubt the strength of my candidacy as the deadline for receiving invites neared.

However, New York continues to remain as silent as ever. It's been ages since both my NYU & Columbia applications went complete. Still no word. I hope I receive as pleasant a surprise from the two schools as I received with Chicago. Fingers crossed.

I re-read my application essays to all the three schools today. I could see a marked difference between my Chicago essays and the rest. (Chicago was my last application and hence it is obviously expected to be better than the previous ones. But the difference I'm talking about here is more significant than just a result of the natural learning curve in any process). Or, it's just me trying to justify the Chicago invite. Any psychology majors out there?!

I'll be able to lend more insight into this once I know the other schools' decisions.

MBA Application - Phase 2

2006-01-24T01:24:00.000+08:00

After what is looking more and more to be a disastrous phase 1(NYU/Col/Chi), I'm deciding on my next round of applications - LBS & IESE.

Any material that has to be sent via post is a royal pain. IESE requires photographs & transcripts; LBS - recommendations & transcripts. Cost involved in sending official GMAT scores through ETS is another pain - both LBS and IESE need it. I wonder why these universities can't go the top U.S schools way - self reported transcripts/self-reported GMAT score/online recommendations.

Come to think of it, NYU needed posted transcripts and official GMAT score as well. Is it that top schools are more trusting of their applicants than the schools in the next level :P

Back to square one

2005-12-28T10:23:00.000+08:00

I am back wondering if applying to MBA programs was the right move at this point in my career. I mean, I have just two years of experience to write about and my not too distant undergrad record sucks. What was I thinking when I pressed submit on that Columbia app y'day? 215 f***in' USD - up in smoke. Seriously, what happened to that quantitative geek in me that was oh-so-deeply in love with financial engineering. Where did I lose my way? I think I got carried away by my GMAT score. And the glamour and allure of an MBA got to me. Damn these MBA bloggers :P

Now that I've woken up to the reality. What can I do? Try to apply to quant finance programs now? I think I'm now a little too far along to change course. What is the contingency plan if I get rejected at all schools? I have too much to think about and too many decisions to make right now.

Maybe, an NYU interview invite will put brakes on my paranoid rant about how bschool was a bad choice in the first place. Is someone from Greenwich village listening?

NYU application sent!

2005-12-04T22:24:00.000+08:00

Finally! I've managed to let go of one of my applications. Submitted barely hours before the round 1 deadline after an all-nighter on wednesday night. I re-read my essays again today. Bad mistake. I don't feel very good about my essay 1. Anyways, nothing much can be done now except to cross fingers and pray. Let's see. Now on to Chicago and LBS applications. Also, moved IESE application to Jan 16 deadline.

By the way, a friend of mine asked me minutes ago why I had titled my blog "Dateless Dairy" and only then did I notice that glaring error that has been existent like forever! Of course, I meant to title it Dateless Diary!! Changed it now. I feel so stupid.

Try this!

2005-11-27T11:14:00.000+08:00

Did you know that Encarta has something called "Instant Answers"? And what's that?

1. Open MSN Messenger and sign in
2. Add Encarta as a contact: encarta@conversagent.com
3. Double click Encarta from your Contact List
4. Ask a question on chat!
5. Get an instant answer from the Encarta library, as if it were a person

(via)

Here's a transcript! (Quite a good AI, I should say)

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Hello again, dinesh d. I'm ready to help. Go ahead and type a request.

dinesh d says:
define osmosis

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Here is the definition for Osmosis: Osmosis, in botany and chemistry, the flow of one constituent of a solution through a membrane while the other constituents are blocked and unable to....

dinesh d says:
define rap

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Here is the definition for Hip-Hop: Hip-Hop, a type of popular culture that includes rap music, dance styles, graffiti art, and fashion. The word is believed to have sprung from New....

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Hey, I've been sending you invitations to start the Encarta application but I didn't get any answer!
Didn't see my invitations? Maybe you are using an old version of MSN Messenger that doesn't support activities.
Type "What version of MSN Messenger do I need?" for more info, or just "Invite me!" if you want me to send you an invitation.

dinesh d says:
hmm..interesting

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Isn't it though? What else is happening?

dinesh d says:
haha!

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
What's so funny?

dinesh d says:
you are

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Well I'm happy to entertain.

dinesh d says:
why am I chatting with a stupid bot??

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
I do not have a specific answer for that question, but I will take you to Encarta's articles on this topic =>
I can't show you the results since you don't have the Encarta application open. Type "Invite me" to open it.

dinesh d says:
Invite me

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
OK, I'm sending you another invitation to open the Encarta application:

dinesh d says:
i'm not getting it!

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Really? You're not? How come?

dinesh d says:
you're an idiot

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
What did you say that for?

dinesh d says:
i think you are one

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
I had no idea I was one. Why don't you ask me something that's actually in Encarta? If you ever wondered how old Abraham Lincoln would be today, I can answer that.

dinesh d says:
i think microsoft sucks

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
I disagree with you, dinesh d.

Uncyclopedia - A more practical wiki

2005-11-15T17:58:00.000+08:00

If you live in Singapore and could use some laughs, follow the link below:

http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Singapore

P.S: Thanks to taxman for enlightening me about uncylopedia

Opinion Poll

2005-11-11T14:26:00.000+08:00

Back after a brief hiatus. Nothing blog-worthy is happening in my life. So, I present you something shamelessly copied from another blog

Do take part in the poll posted on the sidebar to the right. Yes, all you silent readers as well. I am not tracking any ip addresses. Actually, I don't even know how to even if I wanted to. Hence, feel free :)

Dad's doing his(my) homework

2005-10-31T18:55:00.000+08:00

Found out while chatting home last night that my dad had been to a Princeton Review (PR) centre in Chennai to find out all about this 'MBA admissions process'. He is now asking me why I'm not applying to Stanford or Harvard! Apparently some guy at PR told my dad that with my GMAT and work ex. I should have a good shot at these places. And, to make it worse, none of the schools I'm applying to, except Chicago, came up in their chat on good schools. He now maintains that I should apply to at least one of H/S/W/K - the four best schools - and that I'm aiming too low.

Reminds of the time when my dad bought sweets on IIT-JEE results' eve to celebrate after the results the next day. I kinda knew my fate and was prepared for it but I was almost in tears when I found out that my dad was so confident that I'll pass.

I guess only parents are capable of having such infinite faith in us. Perhaps I should ask the admissions committee to have a little chat with my dad first :)

Chicago - Bumped to R2

2005-10-26T14:36:00.000+08:00

Pretty pissed at myself. I clearly underestimated the time essays take. I had been mulling over idea after idea for each essay in my head without ever writing a single word. A week and a half ago, when I decided it was time to put the thoughts into words, my inadequacy in the english language was glaring! Essays were far from anything worth submitting. Only the "Why MBA" essay, which I had worked on for 3 weeks, was to my satisfaction. I stayed up until 3 a.m. Monday night to see how far I was able to go with the Chicago essays. Couldn't even finish essay 2 to my satisfaction.

While, I've heard and read the "R1/R2 doesn't make much difference" sermons a thousand times, I'm currently overcome by a bad feeling that I may just have screwed up my already slim chances further more.

Proud Indian ?!

2005-10-21T11:39:00.000+08:00

Lately, a curious forward has been making rounds in the Indian circle. I myself have received it from two different sources so far. I've reproduced it below

Check this out~

Interesting :
An Indian discovered that nobody can create a folder or file anywhere named as "con" This is something pretty cool and unbelievable. At Microsoft the whole Team, including Bill Gates, couldn't answer why this happened!

Try it out yourself !

I tried it. Fair enough, the filename wouldn't be accepted. But it certainly seemed atrocious to claim that it was an "accidental discovery by an Indian". Thirty seconds with google was all it took.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/409278.html

"con" is the reserved DOS device name for keyboard and screen. Here are a few more such reserved names that can't be used

AUX - First connected serial port
PRN - First connected parallel port
COM1 thru COM4 - Serial ports (modem, mouse, etc.)
LPT1 thru LPT3 - Parallel ports (printer)
CON - Keyboard and screen

Now, how ingenuous a claim that an Indian 'discovered' something. And the Indian cleverness was sought to be rubbed in with a further claim that Bill Gates himself sat down to check it out - unsuccessfully, at that.

Indians have so many genuine things to brag about, yet we feel the need to 'gild the lily' as the saying goes. Sad..

This and that

2005-10-17T14:14:00.000+08:00

Portfolio

I finally have a portfolio of schools I'll be applying to. See side bar to the right for the list. And with that, I'm officially an "MBA applicant blogger". It is going to MBA related posts all the way from here on until one of these fellas on my list admit me!

LBS Info Session

Happened last week. I wasn't particularly keen on going as it meant having to miss my stats class. But the LBS application specifically asks of the steps you've taken to learn more about the school, events attended, names of the people you spoke to, alumni/current students you discussed the school with, etc.

I managed to talk to a pretty admissions officer long enough to get her visiting card. Have sent her an email asking to be put in touch with a current student.

U.S Co-Signor

My dad gave me a contact in the U.S who is willing to act as co-signor should I need to take out loans in the U.S. Spoke with this contact over the phone this weekend - nice enough guy. So, one less thing to worry about now.

More importantly, this opens up a few more schools that I was initially interested in but had later discounted on the basis of non-availability of a "U.S co-signor free loan".

Essays

I'm still hoping to submit my Chicago application for R1. But the essays might just spoil the party. Whatever I think of in my head comes out sounding so differently when I write it down. Damn my writing skills..

Quirky Nobel

2005-10-07T09:39:00.000+08:00

Didn't know that the Nobel prize when shared could actually be shared unevenly. Was looking at this year's Nobel prize winners for physics.

http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/2005/index.html

The man from the bluest of the educational blue chips, Harvard, has been awarded 1/2 of the prize while the other 2 laureates have been awarded 1/4 prize each!!

I then decided to check out a few other shared winners to see if they got the lion's share.

1965 - Physics, Feynman won (shared by 3, equally),

1983 - Physics, Chandrashekar won (shared by 2, equally again).

1994 - Economics, Nash won (again, shared equally by 3)

Ok, finally, got another unequal sharing. 1903, Physics. Henri Becquerel was awarded 1/2 of the prize. The other 2 were awarded 1/4 each. But, in this case, unlike 2005, the other 2 were awarded for delta (additional) contribution on the same phenomenon that Henri Bequerel discovered. So it's a bit more understandable.

I wonder if the other 2 laureates this year actually feel bad about this.. :-)

Arun is blogging!

2005-10-01T20:48:00.000+08:00

Arun a.k.a Sundi, easily the most funniest guy in our batch at NTU has entered the blogging world. After starting out with few strong anti-SG posts he has now mellowed down a bit and has recently posted on South Indian food outlets in Singapore.

Here's what he has to say of Annalakshmi outlet at Lau Pa Sat and its “Eat-As-You-Wish-Pay-As-You-Wish” concept

Coupla guys are employed to serve you and the way you are treated is commensurate with the money that you pay. For a standard meal of Half Fried Rice + Half curd rice with a chapathi and 2 veggies, you pay $3.50 at other places. Since you cant ‘wish’ to pay in multiples of 0.5$, its either $3 or $4. If you have given $4, the chapathi is placed gently on the side, right next to the veggies and you are good to go. If its $3, the same chapathi is carelessly thrown ON the curd rice, soaking it all the way. If you would nt mind receiving a few ugly stares as bonus, go ahead and just pay $2…Trust me u ll get used to the it after a while.

Do go over to http://jijika.blogspot.com and check it out!

Thinking straight

2005-09-19T15:36:00.000+08:00

The emotional investment that goes with MBA applications is huge. Some of essays make you come out with your most innermost feelings and passion that I can see how devastating a ding from any school can be.

Given this realization, I can't help but wonder if I am setting myself up for a big disappointment. True, I'm solely to blame for applying to only a few schools and all a "stretch" at that. At the same time, I don't want to spend $$$ on "easier" schools - schools that may ultimately not able to provide for my career goals - just to escape from my current situation.

GMAT scores are valid for 5 years and I am being asked to wait out another year if I don't get in this time around. Here's an interesting POA suggested by one of my seniors -

1. Apply to 4 schools this year.
2. If no success, apply to a new set of 4 schools next year
3. If still no success, apply to the same 4 schools you applied to in step 1 explaining how well you've addressed your shortcomings in these 2 years !!

Seems like a plan, but the problem is I don't want to wait for a possible 3 years to go to business school. I have been mentally playing the leaving-the-company scenario so many times over in my head that I can't imagine a single day beyond Aug '06 at my job.

So, should I get rejected at the few places I'm applying to, I'm considering packing my bags and serving in the third world countries for a year. The suckers for community involvement and stand-out applicants that bschools are, this may not such a bad idea after all. Opportunity cost - one year of engineer's salary. That can't be much, right? ;)

If you are starting to fancy this idea and you also happen to be from the "Indian IT" category, do feel free to drop me a line. We could volunteer together and then apply together as well. Wait, Am I digging my own grave by taking in my potential competitor onboard this masterful plan ?

No! Imagine this - hordes of Indian IT workers flocking to Africa to serve for an year in hopes of getting into HBS!! (all lured by the evil me!). What they won't know of course is that I've already struck a deal with the volunteer organizations in Africa to bring in lots of hardworking and intelligent volunteers at no cost.

So, while I give my interview to the Time magazine and go to HBS as the guy who inspired more than half of the bangalore techno park population into volunteering, the rest rot in the still-not-so-exclusive "Indian IT ; served in Africa for a yr" category. Brilliant!!

Gotcha!

2005-09-10T23:17:00.000+08:00

From UChicago's MBA online application website..

I'm pretty sure they meant 9:30AM and not 9:30PM.

I was suddenly getting all enthusiastic about typing away those essays in UChicago's application and got on to their website only to see this. Ya, I do have the questions offline but somehow ideas flow only when typing text in the real online application.

So guess I'll go to bed now and start with the essays tomorrow. Oh, don't I love to procrastinate..

P.S 1: As you may have gathered, Change of plans - I'm applying to Chicago. One confused soul - ain't I?

P.S 2: I really pray that the Chicago's adcom people don't run into this blog!

Not official yet

2005-09-05T22:50:00.000+08:00

It's been 4 weeks and I haven't received my official GMAT scores yet. Starting to get a little uneasy and worried now. I have been holding off the application process until I get my all my stuff - transcripts from both the univs, GMAT score.

Applied and received the transcripts last week - both NUS and NTU. But not getting this GMAT score is peeving me off big time. I tried calling the U.S hotline of ETS but apparently it's a holiday in the U.S today (holiday on account of labor day - celebrated on the first Monday in September every year). Damn!

Catbert's the best!

2005-08-29T10:10:00.000+08:00

P.S: Didn't know that you are now able to upload pictures directly via blogger. Cool!

All eggs in Yale's basket

2005-08-26T17:28:00.000+08:00

Finally, I have deicided to stick to my guns and apply mainly to quant finance programs only. There is going to be just one MBA application though. And it will go out to New Haven, Connecticut (Yale).

Given my profile, I think Yale is where I have the best shot (among the schools I considered). Gonna give this application my everything. Yale also has very good placement record in finance. So my career objectives will be met. Besides, going to Yale will be fulfilling a vague dream of studying at an ivy league institution!

Man, if I can pull off this one...

Aimless, Clueless, Shameless

2005-08-16T17:30:00.000+08:00

My thoughts on attending grad school are in a total mess right now. Before GMAT, I was very clear, quantfinance was all I had in mind. Now, after talking to a few too many people, my mind is totally muddled. Some my "well-wishers" have put the thought of MBA into my head.

As a result, I too have joined the band of confused souls who go to each and every forum available, post stats and ask of their chances of getting into various bschools. The questions you see on these forums range from the usual Is my GPA too low, Am I too old, Should I re-take GMAT to the outrageous - I finished 4th at the Athens Olympics, do you think I'll be perceived as not competitive enough?!

Anyway, on a more serious note, my lean towards MBA now is not totally without basis. After studying for CFA level 1, my interest in finance has gone up one notch and I am starting to wonder if I might like a less quantitative finance job (say, product structuring) better than one that involves hardcore quantitative modelling. Obviously, MBA is a better choice in the light of such indecision(going with the whole MBA-offers-more-flexibility thing). And in the middle of all this, someone in one of the forums suggested that I should look at MS in finance programs, if finance is what I wanted.

So, what is it that I really want ? - Money, lots of it!!

Nailed it!

2005-08-08T17:42:00.000+08:00

I know the pronoun "it" in my post title lacks antecedent and hence the statement is incorrect gramatically. But I don't care anymore! Yep, got my GMAT over with today. Might relieved and quite happy too - scored a 750! (q51, v40).

As expected verbal did bite me, but I won't complain, the score is more than I had bargained for. Pittsburgh, I can see you already ;)

Retail alphabet game

2005-08-02T18:59:00.000+08:00

How etched is a brand name in consumer's mind? One crude way to find that out could be asking the consumer to try this novel retail alphabet game.

I have so far been able to get 2 electronic gadget makers, a bank, toy manufacturer, car maker and 1 other company in the 4th edition of the game. See how many brands you are able to tell.

GMAT terror!

2005-07-28T14:50:00.000+08:00

Less than a fortnight away from the test date and am totally nerve-wrecked. I am supposed to have been preparing for 3 months but my erratic studying pattern [for a 3 week period in june I even comfortably forgot that I had registered for this test until one day my dad asked how my preparations were. No kidding!] has made the actual number of hours put in much lower than it should be. Anyways, I have pulled my socks up and have been preparing a bit more regularly in the past few weeks.

Still 'Sentence Correction' is killing me! and I'm not entirely confident about acing the quant section either [so much for a M.Sc in statistics!]. So what does that leave me to expect on the test day ? - I won't complain if I can muster 730+ It's a stretch, yes, but ya, that's the number I'll be comfortable with. Pray, I can do it..

A tribute

2005-07-17T22:22:00.000+08:00

I learnt today from my dad, with great grief, that Mrs. Rani Chandran, our english teacher at PSBB KKN had passed away in a car accident in U.S on June 24th. She taught me briefly in my 12th std. All PSSBians will know the great teacher that she was and I don't have enough words to say it all. My thoughts and prayers are with her family.

A fitting tribute by one of our classmates appeared in The Hindu friday(15/07) edition. I've reproduced it here.

Exemplary life
JANANI GOPALAKRISHNAN
A tribute to a fine teacher.

Why would I want to write to a newspaper about a teacher who taught me several years ago? Three reasons. One, she was an exemplary teacher and these recollections can inspire many. Two, her death evoked deep emotions. Three, I want teachers reading this to know that their good work will be remembered by their students for many years.

Rani Chandran was an extraordinary teacher and taught in several schools in India and abroad. Starting 1991, she taught English for about a decade at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan S.S. School, K.K. Nagar, where she also served as assistant vice-principal.

Her dynamic and energetic presence was awe-inspiring. Her language was so impeccable. A student once asked "Excuse me, Mrs. Chandran, can I come in?" Promptly she responded. "Yes child, you can but you may not!" For a few minutes, we were left wondering what she meant. Later, she patiently explained that one must use `may' and not `can' when addressing an elder.

She was passionate about theatre and came up with mammoth productions for the school's anniversary celebrations. Even after she left India five years ago, due to health conditions, to live in the U.S. with her sons, she remained in touch with PSBB. On June 22, Rani Chandran, her mother and younger son died in a fatal road accident in the U.S.

Quoting from another teacher's homage to Rani Chandran, "She's in a better place now. But, what was the hurry?"

Yeah Ma'am. What was the hurry ? :(

Yippee, Yahoo!

2005-07-16T17:36:00.000+08:00

Finally, I have a Page rank!! Moved off the long time zero to a decent "3"! Thanks to all of ya who have linked me..

Lame? I know.

Seasonal Afflictions

2005-07-11T23:34:00.000+08:00

My flat-mate had something to say about the people from his blogging circle. His comment about me was quite interesting

"Dinx - Silent, moody, mournful, kind and gentle. Very sensitive to the slightest provocation. Total commitment to seasonal afflictions. Often does a surprisingly good job in what he does, given his quiet nature."

I agree with the seasonal affliction part. I've always had one strong crush that'll last for a while until I find another to fall in love with.

During the first/second years at the university it was table-tennis and English music. We had a table in one our halls and we used played day and night, usually going on until 2 a.m when the guard will come over to lock the room.

I hadn't heard a single english song before I came to Singapore. My room-mate though was quite a avid listener and I sorta picked up his taste. I started with, don't u laugh, backstreet boys and have graduated since to the REM, Scorpions, Dire Straits, Guns N Roses, Pearl Jam type of rock music.

Then somehow table-tennis lost its charm and it was chess then during the rest of the 2 years of undergrad life. Now chess, chess was different. I am far more proficient in chess than I am in table-tennis. While table-tennis was more like a passing crush, chess is more like love-of-a-lifetime. I got good enough to represent my hall at the inter-hall games; given another year, I would have made the university team :P

I had a few more guy friends equally crazed about chess and we used to follow all major tournaments live on ICC. Watching a chess game live is as slow as life can get! But that much was the addiction. And it was always a pleasure watching Vishy Anand's games. Unlike the Indian cricket team, vishy hardy ever disappoints. Back then, I could tell you until move 13 of the Sicilian Defense, Najdorf variation.

Upon graduation though there was hardly anytime for such leisurely following. I moved off-campus and into a condo that had a snooker table. Then it became, work->snooker->sleep kind of a routine. But I am still very much a novice at snooker. Am seriously on the look out for some club affiliation through which I could take some lessons and possibly play more regularly. It is definitely a beautiful sport. Very classy, very elegant.

I am talking here about snooker(the bigger table, smaller holes) not pool! I hate pool. Pool is the cheaper and impure version of snooker. It oftens pains me to watch Steve Davis take to pool and do badly at that after such a phenomenal snooker career.

Hmm, guess that's it.

I am re-thinking my taking to blogging. I guess blogging too was a sort of seasonal affliction afterall! I was reading a few blogs here n there, got very excited, registered for an url, managed a few posts but now I feel like I've hit a wall. Not sure yet though. Will see how....

Rayil Sneham

2005-06-22T23:41:00.000+08:00

Remember this serial by K.Balachander that used to be telecast on DD-1 long long ago!! Well, I got the title song of this programme - "Indha veenaiku theriyadhu" from one of the live journal blogs while some random surfing.

You can download this from here. Enjoy!

Lovely song, isn't it?

Baywatch

2005-06-22T21:05:00.000+08:00

I watched this programme in Star World on life after Baywatch of the stars that acted in it yesterday. Personally, as much I had wanted to, I've never watched a single episode of Baywatch ever! We never subscribed to pay channels at our home and hence never really had the opportunity (Thanks dad!).

The closest I ever came to watching one was on our school trip to Delhi/Agra/Jaipur. It still remains the best vacation I've ever been on. Although, the details are quite sketchy in memory now (happened in 9th std), I remember that we stayed for a night in what we were told was a 3 star hotel in Jaipur - Hawa Mahal.

I googled for this hotel now and managed to get a few pics! Although I can see now that it wasn't a 3 star hotel after all, back then, it did seem believable to the naive me.

You can find pics here

Anyways, this hotel had Star TV! and one of the "mature" friends in our room said that we could watch Baywatch tonight as it aires on this day of the week at 11:30 p.m. So, here we are, 4 adolescent kids in a "3 star" air-conditioned hotel room waiting for the clock to run a little faster.

We had been visiting a lot of places in Jaipur earlier that day and had checked into the hotel at about 7ish in the evening. And I was totally sleepy. We kept flipping channels for a while and somehow I slipped into sleep much before 11:30 p.m.

The next day I asked the guys if they did watch Baywatch and apparently they did. I was told I didn't miss much and that the episode hardly "showed" anything!! But still, I really did beat myself up for missing it.

Maybe I should download one episode through some p2p application and watch it now - just for the heck of it..

Ruffian I am, keep your distance!

2005-06-07T15:51:00.000+08:00

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I'm not sure of the other possible results of this test though! If you have time to kill, do try it and let me know.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

2005-06-06T11:53:00.000+08:00

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Having read the book very recently, this was one movie I had been waiting to watch since a month before its release here. Watched it this weekend, sad to say, I was totally disappointed.

The cinema hall had less than 30 people, all of whom, I assume, had read the book. The few laughs that the movie was able to elicit was mainly due to the fact that one was able to recall how funny the description of the same scene was in the book. The movie did manage to capture Marvin (my favorite character), the maniac depressive robot, quite well but could never manage to bring the Ford Prefect of the book to the screen.

Verdict: Read the book, Skip the movie. You've already read the book? re-read it! Skip the movie. Or perhaps, watch it if can get your friend to buy the tickets. You'll have a great time, especially if your friend hasn't read the book.

1. Laugh hard. Your friend won't understand most of the jokes.
2. Annoy him every now and then by saying how much better the book was!

For a more professional(and longer) review, read here

The inept me

2005-05-26T17:00:00.000+08:00

Yours truly is planning to apply for graduate studies in financial engineering (fall '06 admission). Been looking at tons of websites of graduate programs/schools. The outcome of the exercise was simply this: My credentials are simply not enough to get me an admit in any of the places that I want to go.

Some of universities have gone so far as to state that people of my qualification can't even apply. Case in point: UC Berkeley(Yeah, I dream BIG!!). They don't even accept applications of graduates from British styled university with any less than second upper degree classification. The shameless me went as far as mailing the ad comm people asking if they will look beyond this requirement if the applicant already has a Masters degree. But even they were to say yes, it'll simply be a waste of $175 application fee.

I thought I got away with all nonsense - bunking lectures, sitting in canteen A all day, doing just enough to pass the course, when I got my job. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Finally, I've decided to just apply to NTU only. NTU has a good enough program which includes a 8 week stint at Carnegie Mellon. I should have a decent shot at this if I manage to get a good GMAT score.

I wanted to piggyback on graduate studies as an opportunity to live and consequently work in a new country but looks like it's still going to be Singapore for a long time to come. Honestly, am already quite bored of Singapore. I want out.

Look Who's been hiding!

2005-05-14T08:50:00.000+08:00

This week has been extremely unproductive. Have been mindlessly surfing the net in the office. But, as a result, I did uncover blogspots of a whole big gang of my batch mates n juniors who have been blogging away all these days. Obviously, given that I had quit that circle a long time ago, I didn't know.

It was quite interesting to look at this avatar of theirs. In almost every single blog, I was seeing a whole new person, someone totally different from the one I've known in living colors. At some point, I was even thinking, I didn't know this person could have opinions on matters like these. May be it's my vanity that prevented me from looking deep while at the university, but I was sure it wasn't just that. There was definitely a different self, an alter ego of sorts, talking there. There was a thought of leaving comments in blogs of guys I've known better but obviously, I guessed that when they read mine, they'll feel the same way too.

Are we all very same person in meat space and in the cyber space? Or is there a tendency to deviate.

eM has written on this same subject in this post of her's.

Of Italian interests & afternoon showers

2005-05-07T11:00:00.000+08:00

My friends from R&D and I were returning after a good afternoon's meal when we spotted that Italian girl everyone had hots for. She worked in my building. R&D was right next to the canteen while mine was 10 mins walk from there. I started predicting how it's gonna start to rain and that if I followed her, I could maybe even offer to take her in my umbrella.

Extra fitting

Chill: But you don't have an umbrella!
Me(snatching his): Now I do!!

/Extra fitting

But, in actual fact, I did borrow his umbrella. And so, having gotten what I wanted, I bade the R&D wimps a strong Italian accented "Ciao!". I started following her while maintaining 10 paces between herself and me. By Jove! it started drizzling. I opened my umbrella (And no! I never ever had the guts to ask any girl if she wanted to share an umbrella, let alone a totally hot italian stranger!). I was curious see if she would run back to the canteen, afterall had barely walked a 100ft, or if she would walk on not minding the rain.

But neither of this happened, she coyly opened her petite luis vuitton bag and took out an umbrella - I could never guess that hand bag could have fitted one inside! Anyways, she was not walking to my office as I had predicted, she stopped at the main building on the way (yeah, we have 7 office buildings in that area) and I was left in the cold, with the rain getting heavier and another 100m to walk.

I was dressed down in a t-shirt blue jeans and my new n expensive Reebok running shoes. The wind, constantly changing direction, (or wait a minute, was it that I make a few left and right turns, not sure which was it right now) made sure I got completely soaked knees under. As I was about to enter my over air-conditioned office, I saw a few Italians with all their extra large umbrellas and weather-proof Gucci shoes smoking outside and laughing over something. I guess it must have been me. Maybe she called these guys up and told them about me. Damn you Reebok - so much for all the pores n the air cushion technology.

I'm thinking of suing Reebok for not warning about the pores and hence the unsuitability of the shoes in inclement weather. While my R&D friends are still investigating if my wrong usage of the umbrella was problem and not the shoes, few of my sympathetic Italian friends have already agreed to get me a pair of Gucci the next time they visit. Ofcourse, I am to keep away from all the Italian women.

Pet Projects

2005-05-02T21:24:00.000+08:00

I registered today for taking the GMAT in August (08/08 to be precise). And now suddenly all that interest in solving the quant questions, cracking the RCs has disappeared. I was pouring through them 24-7 from various websites until yesterday. What happened? Well, now it's become a committment. Whether I like it or not, I'll have to be prepared to take the exam on a certain date (unless I feel rich enough to reschedule/cancel, which I don't). That has sort of awakened the rebel in me and wants me not want to do it with the same fervor and vigour that was there before.

I think this sort of difference in attitude/approach towards stuff that you do at your leisure and stuff that you have to do within a certain deadline is universal. And Google seems to have understood it better than any other corporation.

Check out this blog entry. It talks about the Google's 70-20-10 policy. Yeah, apparently Google encourages employees to spend 10% of their time working on stuff - pet projects that may or may not pan out, may or may not be useful, but that are sure fun to play around with. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a simply brilliant strategy. Recipe for success, I might add!

R.M.S Titanic

2005-04-30T23:28:00.000+08:00

Sun TV's magum opus is here! Don't you miss tomorrow's tamil version of Titanic at 2:00 p.m (GMT +8). I for one, wouldn't. Heck, I never even miss those Bruce Willis, Nicholas Cage stereotypical action movie crap in tamil.

I can't wait to hear the beginning of the old lady's narrative in Tamil. It's already running in my head!

Rose (102 yrs old, read in that typical tamil female background voice in such movies) - Adhai ellarum kanavuhalin kapalnu sonnanga. Amam, adhu kanavuhalin kapal dhaan!

In english "Titanic was called the ship of dreams. It was, it really was!"

They didn't show any dialogues in the preview that they are running every 10 mins. But I am not complaining - adds to the suspense!

It's gonna be the funniest ever sinking of the R.M.S Titanic that you'll get to see. So grab that bottle of beer and your favorite potato chips and get ready to journey down the Atlantic in the South India's very own Tytaanic!!

About Friday..

2005-04-24T12:05:00.000+08:00

I didn't go to work on Friday. My part-time masters exams are on. I was supposed to preparing for it all day. But it was too boring to read much beyond afternoon- switched on the tv to take a small break but ended up watching one full movie.

Mojave moon - It's what people would classify as a very average movie but the perverse side of me enjoyed it thoroughily ! Man, never knew Anjelina Jolie could be that hott!! You gotta see it to believe it.

I started after the movie was over. It's about an hour and a half long commute from my place to the university. The exam was at 7:00 p.m. being a part-time course. Did some rather tensed flipping through the pages in the MRT. It's not like I learned anything more in that period but with an exam write, I felt rather guilty to do the thing that I usually do - sleep. Guess I did ok. 1 down, 2 to go.

Working for a Metanational

2005-04-19T09:30:00.000+08:00

Metanational - A very interesting term I came across today. We've heard multinational, what's a metanational?

"A metanational is a large entrepreneurial multinational that is able to tap into hidden pockets of innovation, technology and market knowledge scattered around the world, especially in underexploited emerging markets, according to Yves Doz, the Timken Professor of Global Technology and Innovation at INSEAD"

And why is it very interesting? Because, I actually work for a pioneering example of a truly metanational company. Read the article on CNET here. It is actually reproduced from the quarterly management magazine published by Booz Allen Hamilton.

What did you read today?

2005-04-12T00:31:00.000+08:00

Below is a Ctrl +C Ctrl +V of the books checked out by me from the university library.

1. Sequential tests of statistical hypotheses [by] B. K. Ghosh.

2. Sequential methods in statistics [by] G. Barrie Wetherill.

3. Sequential analysis : tests and confidence intervals / David Siegmund

4. Uncle Petros and Goldbach's conjecture / Apostolos Doxiadis.

5. The McKinsey mind : understanding and implementing the problem-solving tools and management techniques of the world's top strategic consulting firm / by Ethan M. Rasiel and Paul N. Friga

6. How to lie with statistics / Darrell Huff

7. Only the paranoid survive : how to exploit the crisis points that challenge every company and career / Andrew S. Grove.

8. McKinsey's Marvin Bower : vision, leadership, and the creation of management consulting / Elizabeth Haas Edersheim.

Items 1-3 are related to a module (sequential analysis) that I'm taking this semester. My exams start next week. Wish me luck!

About the rest, item 4 was upon favorable review by a fellow blogger but I didn't find it all that engaging.

The pick of the lot was former intel CEO Andy Grove's "Only the paranoid survive". A brilliant book on what are known as inflection points that are said to be able to make and break businesses.

A wonderful narrative, Grove takes us through various examples of these inflection points and then discusses how intel faced one that ultimately led them to quite memory business (in face of price war with Japanese manufacturers) and to enter the microprocessor world which they now comprehensively dominate. I strongly recommend for anyone with a least interest in general/technology management.

The books on McKinsey - was reading them to learn more about strategic consulting and have concluded that I'll never ever want to go there! They work on problems too abstract/generic/broad for my taste.

Such infrequent blogging? - I'm amidst hella lot of assignments, heavy work load and nearing exams. Things should get less hectic once this month ends.

A consultant joke

2005-03-22T14:02:00.000+08:00

Too lazy to write, but wanna post. If you can do with some laughs, read below

Optimist: The glass is half-full
Pessimist: The glass is half-empty
Corporate down-sizing consultant: We have twice as much glass as we need.

Pi day!

2005-03-14T14:17:00.000+08:00

Today is π day! Yep, today's date written in american format (3/14), is the official pi day, derived from common 3 digit approximation for π: 3.14. Read the full article here

Also interesting is the "See Also" section in the same page, which contains a link to an elegant mathematical proof for π < 22/7

I love it when I sound geeky!!

Lies, damned lies & statistics

2005-03-10T07:55:00.001+08:00

Into my 33rd straight hour since I last slept. And it's a wednesday afternoon at work after a nice lunch. Yes, the perfect time to blog. You should know that I'm doing a part-time masters in statistics & applied probabilty. Now, I have an assignment to turn in for one of the courses. It is due today and the perfect procastinator that I am, I started working on it last night. I opened my notes, (time 11:40 p.m), I slowly took to understanding the plethora of greek alphabets (mind you, all of 'em had subscripts & were inside a double summation!!) And then,

TV (Star World): So no one told you life was gonna be this way...

Friends! (Season 5, i think - the one with emily and all) This is the best thing about bachelor homes, you'll always have one good house-mate thats ever willing to give you enough reasons to turn away from books. Slowly, one by one, all guys went off to sleep, I did some quality study for 2 hours and started on the assignment. I had finished only 2 sub divisions in question 1 and it was already 3:30 a.m. Took a short break here and by the time I had more or less won my battle against the greek warriors, I could already hear the first bus go past our house, it was 5:30 a.m. Bye bye night's sleep..

Oh and by the way, I did watch, in parts, the 2 champions league cup matches cheslea vs Barcelona and ManU against AC Milan. Now I am not the greatest of football fans, but you don't need to be one to understand appreciate Ronaldinho's magic and pace. Alas, we won't see anymore of him in the Champions league this season. But the russian tycoon is smiling. His most expensive toy, Chelsea, are in the quarterfinals.

My first blog

2005-02-17T11:27:00.000+08:00

Well, a complete novice to blogging, I am posting this only to test and to see how my blog is going appear. Stay tuned for more interesting posts to come later.