HT Week 10 - End of Hillary Term

The last week of so called Hellary term. Well the term wasn't exactly the hell. Infact I think I enjoyed it way more than the first term. The main reason being with a great group of friends. You don't need Socrates to tell you that the good company can make any moment a moment worth remembering. Neways... here are some highlights of the week.

Examinations

I must confess that I haven't prepared for exams as seriously as I did last term. But still exam is exam and I had to spend most of the time studying. This time the exams were in Examinations school. This is the traditional building where thousand of students have been writing papers of years and years. This is very beautiful building. We can't take photos inside, but if I get it somewhere I will post it later. Meanwhile here are couple of them stolen from Jenny's blog.

Examination School

People in Subfusc after the exam

So it was quite an experience to go to a nice building in subfusc and all. And this time I could just walk as the building is close to my place. And the papers were OK. Nothing spectacular, nothing too worrying. So it would be fine.

Dorcet

So here is something. MBA are supposed to be the managers, leaders and organizers. MBAs from reputed institute like Oxford (well I know we rank 20 world wide... but its not that bad) are supposed to be good at what MBAs should do. Then here is a simple story.

12 MBAs from Oxford decides to go for couple of days of vacation. The plan is simple hire cars, book accomodation and go site seeing. Well, it wasn't easy to co-ordinate four cars and 12 full grown, full ego MBAs.... so we ended up visiting nothing but city centers and restuarents in Southampton, Dorcester and Dorset. Little bit siteseeing at beach.

But tell you guys, I won't say if wasn't fun. It was a hell lotta fun. The drive was simply wonderful. The road was picturesque. The compay was fun-filled and the accomodation was scenec. You will get all that from the snaps. But the most enjoyable event was the Friday night. We played Pictionary and Dumb-Charads. It was such a fantastic fun and great break. Haven't enjoyed that much since Engineering. Everyone was at his best and there were moments for life. People got identities and characteristics attached to them which will be laughed upon everytime we will meet. Some moments are marked deeply and I am sure that after spreading throughout the world for earning break and butter after MBA, whenever we will meet, these memories will be recalled and cherished. Great event guys... One for the bests for MBA. I won't write much. Get the gist from the album below.... Still snaps from some other cameras are pending. I will upload them as and when I get them.

Dorcet Trip

Back to Oxford

But all this exam and fun made me severely run out of sleep. Even while driving back I was feeling the strain. So when we came back on saturday, I decided to ditch the previously decided plan of movie and poole and slept at about 2000. Get up in between for couple of hours for dinner and went back to sleep again only to get up at 1100 in the morning on Sunday. It snowed heavily on Sunday morning. But I missed that. Harsh actually send text that it is snowing. I read that but just preferred sleep. And then had the movie and poole thingie tonight.

This is pretty much it. I will update the blog again when I get the snaps. Otherwise I am off to Turkey next Monday. So may or may not write for a while.

Have a great time all. And belated happy Holi!!!

HT Week 9

The preparations leave week. Last term it was very simple vanilla PL. Studied all seven days in a structured way. This term was bit different, many deadlines in between. EP Presentation and three big assignments.

EP Presentation.

Entrepreneurship Project Presentation. One of the special things at SBS. We make a team of 5 and create a business plan for a very new idea. Out Idea was a Healthcare Kiosk. I need permission from my group to share the details. But we worked very passionately for EP. This group is my most favourite group I ever had in Oxford. I loved to work with them as a group and some times individually. I guess I have made friends for life here in the form of this group. We had to give a 10 min presentation in front of a real VC, MBA program director and our EP guide followed by 10 min Q&A and 10 min feedback. I worked hours for preparing the slides. As the idea was healthcare, I created slides in Blue and White theme that will look very much 'doctory'. Also used a chic to grab the attention. The presentation was handled by Harsh and Jenny. Harsh's pitch was very enthusiastic and straight from heart. While Jenny presented with grace and professionalism backed by real data. 10 min Q&A was handled by rest of us. We answered almost every question. We had 10 main slides for presentation plus 20 backup slides for anticipated questions. Any question asked was backed up by these slides and data.
The feedback was:
This is the best presentation so far. You guys look very committed to the project and very enthusiastic. You have done your work and prepared a good case. These are the best presentation (slides) with most extensive back up slides. Your teamwork is excellent. You have handled presentation and distribution of work very professionally. The Q&A part is excellently distributed.
Our EP guide sent an email saying:
"Dear all: Very many congratulations on this morning’s work. The panel felt that this was by far the best presentation and rigorous business case they had encountered to date. "

The only negative feedback was about making financial stuff more reasonable. We will do that and submit the final Business Plan before 10th April.
Here are some snaps of this memorable moment:

EP Presentation

This is not all. We sent our idea to couple of conferences and were accepted at both places. One in London and IEEE conference for healthcare technologies in Singapore. Again excellent feedback.

Rest of the week and weekend

Then had three big assignments due. Somehow finished it. Don't want to talk a lot about it.

Also attended end of term dinner at Jesus. Nice food and ambience. Enjoyed it a lot as it was on the eve of our EP Presentation.

After that just study and study. Exams are starting tomorrow and Ending on Wednesday. So again wish my good luck. Last time your wishes were pretty helpfule :)

With this, I will end this selfpraising, show-off post.

HT Week 7 and Week 8

Nothing very spectacular happened during these weeks. Almost everything was regular. As the term end is coming near the workload is increasing. Have done very well in some assignments while have done very bad in others. Have attended great parties and had fun with great people. This term I am hanging out a lot. Last term the outings were about once a week or not even that. And the normal time of outing was from 2000 to 2400. This term there is no regularity but it is lot more frequent. This is an accumulated result of the facts that unlike last term when I studied only with Sab, this time I am studying with a group of friends. The library timing is extended by an hour and it now closes at 12. And the work this term is more tiring. So any given night, someone needs a visit to pub or restaurant and we just go there. Sometimes we just go and play TT or Poole in common room of some college. It starts at 0000 and lasts till 0200. Overall, a lot of fun time....

It was Jitin's birthday in week 7. Here are the snaps:

Jitin's Bday

Again, thanks Aashima for snaps!


Other than that, no big parties on week end.

But was invited by couple of friends to their colleges for meals. Went to St. Cross college for lunch. Courtesy, April. Its very small college. Fairly old. (The colleges build even in 19th century are considered NEW on Oxford). I liked the nice garden there. The view was suitable for any epic movie. Though they had very modern and un-harry-potterish dining hall.

This Friday Larry Kao invited me for dinner at New College. Interestingly, New college is one of the very old and big colleges in Oxford. Harry Potter 4 was filmed in this college. Interestingly this college has nice garden and a Myans type pyramid below which people who died from plague are burried. This garden is called squicky garden because if you clap or make noise in front of this pyramid, the eco squicks. If you remember the long corridors in Harry Potter, they are from this college. And again below the floor of them are lieing many dignitaries of college. The dining hall of the college is large, old and beautiful. Enjoyed the dinner. Unfortunately it was dark and I haven't had camera. I feel very sorry for that.

Other that that the lectures ended this week. Now coming week there is very important EP presentation on Tuesday and three big and individual assignments due on Friday. So itz gonna be very busy week. To make the matter worse, there is a nice greek party in my college on Tuesday and Harsh's birthday on Friday. So letz see how I survive. Wish me good luck for presentation and course work.

Sorry for unstructured and random post. Have fun!

HT Week 6

Week

Came and went. Just like other 5 weeks. Some assignments, Measure leap in EP, again nothing in TMO project, and stuff. As I said before, I am working in different groups this term. About 4 groups... Three of them are choosen by student while one is imposed by the college. This compulsory group had really smart people with diverse backgrounds and knowledge. Unfortunately we didn't / couldn't work as a group. This was one of the most disintegrated teams I had ever worked in. At the end I made some very good friends at the same time some bitter relationships in this group. All in all we submitted our last assignments as a group this Friday and I am just glad that it is over.

Surprisingly I didn't study as much as I needed to and still somehow I am not feeling pressured. I know... very bad for me.....

Anyways. On Wednesday called Jenny and Incheon (Korea) for dinner at Jesus. Both of them are my EP partners. Both of them are very experienced and senior to me but still very humble people. Loved the dinner.

here is one more from dinner last to last week.

McKinsey presentation
For some people it was like event of the year, for some it was annual worship event. Almost every other MBA dream of working for this company. They are elites of the elites. The company of smartest people in the world. Actually the presentation was almost like any other presentation. But the atmosphere was charming and, if I would say, inspiring. McKinsey had brought people from all over the world for the presentation. They were well prepared with agenda and who is going to talk about what and all. Everyone of them was in black suit. And great number of MBAs were in the same attire except I guess only 5% (including me...). We were sitting and they were standing and everyone was dreaming to cut the few feet distance between them and us. Every student was thinking of standing at the other side. McKinsey tag is one of the most powerful tags in the world. And you could see it in the eyes of students how much they desired for it. I think max 4-5 of us will be able to pass that few feet distance and all of sudden will be regarded as success stories by the school. They will be featured in school broachers and called for school events and honorary dinners. While most of the rest will keep having equally successful but less regarded career...... Interesting......

Week End

Mardi Gras

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardi_Gras

Remember last term I was whining about missing the Templeton dinner? Well I came one step closer this term. Still I couldn't get the dinner ticket. but got the ticket for the after dinner party. Well, the party wasn't as much fun as I thought and the dance floor and DJ weren't that cool. Not that I was craving to dance... but it just couldn't raise the party atmosphere to the extend expected. Nonetheless had fun with friends. And managed to kept alive this term's tradition of celebrating Friday nights till Saturday morning. Here are some snaps:

Mardi Grass

PS for computer illiterates: Click on the above picture to see the album. Also you can click on other pictures to enlarge them

Jodha Akabar

Saturday was bit lazy. I was supposed to study but I didn't. I was supposed to go to Cowley Road to get some Indian grossary but I didn't. I was supposed to buy wetsuit for Turkey trip, but I didn't. Then what did I do? Well.... nothing till 4.00 pm. At 4.00, 8 of us gathered at Gluecester Green bus station to travel for about 2 hours to Southhall. Reason was food and movie. SouthHall is an area populated mostly by Panjabi folk. This area has most of the Indian stuff you need including restaurants, hotels, supermarkets and theatres. Had good food, watched the movie Jodha Akabar, fooled around and reached back to Oxford at about 3 in the morning. but I must say we had a great time. This is the stuff I was missing last term. I am glad I am having fun this term. Here are some snaps:

Jodha Akbar

Once Again courtesy Aashima

Rest of the week end

But I know this fun is at the cost of study. Every hour I am spending in partying and hagging out with friends is piling up the work I need to do for this term. And with only 4 weeks remaining for the end of the term, I am afraid that I will be in trouble.

But anyways... I am thinking that I will enjoy this week end and then will start study. Though I became restless for not studying since Thursday. That made me skip the rugby today and study instead. Skip rugby because I had some other plan as well.... Nintendo Wii.... My college GCR has Wii as I mentioned last time. Jenny seems to be fan of wii and wanted to try it. So she, Tarun and Ravindra came to my college GCR in the evening and we spent about 3 hours playing wii and Pool. Again had a great time.

So thatz the story of this week end. Lots of fun and good time and very loose on study. Hopefully now coming four weeks will be fruitful.

HT Week 5

Before anything else, here is the video of Oxford MBA created by college. There is one more at you tube. This is taken last year, so you wouldn't find me in there :)




Week

As expected, the week was pretty busy. I was brave enough to ditch couple of lectures to work on assignments. Had to interact with multiple groups this week. Thankfully things went smooth. Though I have realized that we are lacking considerably in EP as well as a huge report due end of the term on Technology and Innovation Strategy (TIS). During weekly EP meeting on Friday we have distributed the work and decided the timeline. So we are at least moving in that project. But for TIS, the group haven't even meet yet. This is scary. We have to decide something this week.

Anyways. Got Turkey visa. So everything including visa, tickets and hotel is done now and I am really looking forward to the trip.

Week end

Had another blast this Friday. Actually had macroeconomics group meeting from 5 to 7. So didn't go to happy hour. All the seminar rooms in college were occupied. So we went to RAC for the meeting. RAC is the Templeton college accommodation just across the street from SBS. Templeton college takes about 60 MBAs and more than half of them live in RAC. So had meeting in the common room there. After the meeting played TT for about an hour in that common room. After TT grabbed some quick food. The plan was to meet at Aashima-Lovraj's place like we did last Friday. But Jitin insisted on watching movie. So finally me, Harsh, Jitin, Lovraj and Aashima we all ended up in the GCR (Graduate Common Room) bunker of my college. They have this nice big TV, DVD system, music system, Wii, pool table and foosball table. We spent many hours there watching movies and playing pool and foosball. Finally dispersed at about 2.30 in the morning. Great fun and great to spend time with friends.

Rest was normal. Working on assignments. This Sunday I wasn't feeling very good. So decided to ditch rugby. Now I am feeling sorry for that decision. Anyway. The guests of this Sunday's Jesus college dinner were Mr and Mrs Kiran Chaugule. Marathi couple from Pune. And they are Jain. So was like family dinner. Had a good conversation in Marathi.

After that here I am writing assignments. Couple of them are due in few hours and group members are sending mails after mails. So have to go back to work.

Meanwhile here are the snaps of Chinese new year celebration that I promised week.

Chinese New Year Celeb

Courtesy Aashima:

HT Week 4

Week
Very lazy and relaxing. It was a week to recuperate and get ready for next 4 weeks. I stretched myself a lot on last week end. So by the end of Monday I had completed the whole week's readings and assignments. So I just took a little break from studies. I used time to chat, sleep and hang out. On Wednesday I called Naveen and his wife Rashmi for dinner at my college. My college has formal dinner every night except Saturday. I am allowed to bring max two guests. And it is 'comparatively' cheaper. So I have decided to use it as a platform to hang out with friends and network with contacts.

Just a food for thought:
In real business life, you make two kind of relationships; friends and contacts. Friends are the people with whom you share the emotional side of your life, you seek help in trouble and these are the people you can count on blindly. Contacts are the people you meet with particular purpose in mind. You just know few aspects about you contact, like particular work area, the company (s)he works for and his/her job role and suchlike and you let him/her be aware of same kind of aspects of your life. You never open up with your contact.

Anyways.....I invited Naveen Verma, Pretty smart and senior person from Pune and his wife for dinner on Wednesday. The dinner was pretty good. Had some good time and good laugh.

Naveen and his wife Rashmi at Jesus dinner hall

Went to London on Friday for getting visa for Turkey. I am going Turkey this vacation from 31st March to 11th April. If anyone is around and would like to join, let me know.

Chinese New Year
This thursday the Chinese New Year of RAT started. The new year is as big festival as Diwali. Jenny Hui, a nice friend from HGKG gave me a new year present including chopstics. Really nice of her.

Jenny and thatz Abhijo written in chinese.

My Chinese New Year gift

Then the chinese gang in B School arranged a cool program on Friday. They had hosts and singers and dancers and instrument players, all in traditional chinese. Pretty good program and great performances. Unfotunately I didn't have camera at that time. So you guys have to wait till I get snaps from others. After the program went to Aashima and Lovraj's place with couple of friends and had a biiiiiig talk about life and relationships and stuff till 3 in the morning... We were asked by the housemate to keep our voices low. Them we moved to street but still the discussions were getting so heated that we were asked to shup up by the neighbours as well. Great start of week end. :)

Week end
Well it was very relaxed and normal week end. Moderate study and rugby on Sunday. Spent some time calling people. Mom n Dad had bought webcam at home. So had a great chat with them. It was great to see the family.

This Sunday I invited Aashima and Lovraj, very nice Indians based in Dubai for dinner at Jesus. Those poor souls had finance assignment due in 3 hours. So they couldn't loiter around. But again the time went very nice. Once again depending on Aashima for snaps.

That should be pretty much all. Coming week is supposed to be very busy and next week super busy. But I think I have enough of rest and am ready for it. So bring it on.....

HT Week 3

A very very busy week . Have multiple assignments due and some of them are still due so this is going to be short.

Week
As mentioned, very busy week. And it was hard to concentrate on classes. Though a very good assignment on social networking. This cleared many prejudice I had about the buzzword networking that I am hearing in MBA for long time. And the more I know about it the more I think that I should do it but the more I realize that I won’t be able to do it. Well I can write pages about this but some other time. Though the toughness of the week was relaxed by couple of events. We celebrated Sabina’s birthday on college on Monday. Nice break and chance to eat some good cake. On Thursday went to Karndeep’s place for dinner. He invited few of us whom he don’t meet regularly. This was clearly the effect of networking assignment. Nonetheless we had great dinner. He is really good cook. And then had typical WIT hostel type fun after so long... these two breaks have kept me going though the week

Weekend
Again most of it was spent in assignments. There was a bop (oxford word for parties) organized by SBS MBA students on Saturday. I thought it will be a good break and may be a chance to do networking or at least see how other people do it. But alas. It was a big flop. Very few people turned out hence I left pretty early. Although managed to play rugby on Sunday. I can’t call it tough any more as more and more professional players are coming in and it is getting more serious and implacably more nasty and tough. But I liked it very much. Unfortunately there are too many big guys around and have to save my little body intact for writing more and more assignments.

Well I am sure there were many other interesting things during the week but I am not able to think of it right now. So I will stop it here... See some snaps at the link below.

HT Week 3