Jump start!!

Back after a rather long hiatus. Not that i've been unduly busy or anything, i'll put it down to a rather horrible combination of laziness, writer's block and being internet-less for a while.

In the interim a lot has happened, in my life and others'. A few more of my friends have left home for "greener pastures" as it were. I came back from my intership with a lot more exposure and much less expectations of work life. Not all that you learn in class is applied nor is practically applicable, some in the beginning, others never.

In other developments, there is a blanket ban on colas in Kerala. So now I can't drink Pepsi or Coke (always preferred the former to the latter, for some reason) but apparently I can get the other drinks, like Sprite, 7Up, etc. Weird, when you consider the fact that the basic raw materials, viz the water and sugar, are the same. They've also not banned the bottled mineral water of the same companies. And a week after these products were banned in around 5 states in India, an Indian woman becomes the CEO of PepsiCo!! Talk of ironical timing!

Staying with the lady, Indra Nooyi, CEO, PepsiCo, a Madras University, IIM Calcutta, Yale alum, has raised hopes for countless Indian girls who still face discrimination of varying degrees just about everywhere. It is also a beginning to the cracking (too early to say shattering) of the proverbial glass ceiling. Many women are heading corporations, national and multinational. But nonetheless, it is indeed inspiring for many young career women to dream beyond just a 9-5 job and focus on a long fulfilling career. Incidently I came across a discussion about this which somehow veered off onto a full scale argument about how Indians seem to be taking credit for achievements of desis in other lands. L.N.Mittal attracted more attention and debate in India for his bids on Arcelor than the interest generated in Europe.

CLoser home, my second year has started, tuchchadom here I am! It can be as fast and as slow as you want it to be. Classes have begun full swing and assignments, projects, exams and all those things that are designed to put you through hell have started pounding on us. But its enjoyable if you know the tricks of the trade.

Saw KANK this weekend. Every successive Karan Johar movie seems to be getting longer, more extravagent in sets, clothes and actors (well, its always had the top B.O. stars) and less bearable. The movie's got too long, it could have done with more precise editing. I'm not just talking about the time, 3.5 hrs I can handle, but the pace I could not. A tried and tested theme, but very poor handling. He tried to give it "his touch" but ended up with a hodge-podge effect.

This week will mark one year of ASB. Our first anniversary. What a year its been. Have I changed, or for that matter does anyone radically change after a year of MBA? I can't really say. I haven't seen much of a marked difference in most people and while some of them come out more confident, I really can't say that MBA makes you a different person. In many ways, it teaches you a lot of things, about working in teams, with people you like and may not like, about persuading the most adamant person to see your point of view, about keeping your cool and silence in the face of a raging bull while holding your ground. This requires a whole post to discuss. I would be grateful if someone out there who reads this could please leave a comment and send me a reminder to post on this.