The survey man

I was at my in-laws' place the other day and we were generally enjoying a lazy afternoon. Prashant (my husband) and Rohan (my bro-in-law) were playing on the terrace, with Vedant (my little one) in Prashant's arms. I was busy learning to spin a top for the first time in my life and I happened to take front row seats to their highly evolved game of foot powder (For those who are interested, they customized football, replacing the ball with a powder box, the goal with plants, the field with the terrace and the foot with the foot.)

A young man came up to us and asked us if we could spare some time. He mentioned that he was representing Future Group and that he was doing a survey regarding household expenses on various items. Prashant requested him to speak with me as he was otherwise occupied in the aforementioned activity. I looked up to Prashant in a way that said, "Really? You play this exciting new game and I speak on a subject as interesting as household expenses?"

The incredulity on my face was probably misconstrued by the young man. He decided that he must come to my rescue. What he said next blew our minds! He shook his head and said in a tone which indicated he had this by rote, "I want to talk to somebody who is in charge and the primary decision maker in the house."

We were so taken aback that we simply sent him packing. So, here's my question. Are these stereotypes so deeply embedded in our psyche that we can't even consider that a woman is capable of making decisions in the house? So much so, that we need a man even to answer a survey?

From Burj Khalifa to Marina

And it was that time of the year again. I was on notice period.

In this highly productive period of my life, I decided that I needed a well deserved break before I began my new assignment. So, in spite of my busy schedule, I took on the responsibility of planning the sojourn. Such is life. As the famous quote from Atlas Shrugged goes “If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders - What would you tell him?"
I…don't know. What…could he do? What would you tell him?"
To shrug.”

But, shrug I didn’t. I labored on. The instructions for me were simple. The trip had to span four days, between 23^rd and 26^th August. Not a day more, not a day less. I wanted to maximize the utility of the trip by making it international. Considering the criteria, my initial research on the web led me to zero in on Dubai as the ideal destination. We had folks in Dubai who had been asking us to visit them or a very long time. And, it seemed to be the right fit in terms of possibility of coverage in the time given and budget. I narrowed in on flights giving us the optimum amount of time in Dubai. Just as I was about to plan out our itinerary, everything changed. My aunt from Dubai visited home. She said, “Oh please do come! But, it would be scorching at the end of August!” We didn’t need anything further to cancel the trip. We were not taking a nine month old baby to a city at a sweltering 50 degrees Celsius! Dubai scrapped.

But, I was not one to be deterred easily. So, I assessed the next viable option as ‘Singapore’. I found that we probably had a day less at the minimum, but it could be done. So, I again narrowed down package options, optimum flights and the whole shebang. After a whole day of going through contacting travel portals, researching costs, preparing itineraries, Singapore was dismissed as an option mercilessly. My own mother was the one to kill the idea this time. She said, “Do you think we can do all that sightseeing with the baby? He needs to be able to crawl about all the time”. Singapore scrapped.

Now, I turned my attention to another domestic travel hotspot – Rajasthan. But, as luck would have it, the accommodation I wanted was either unavailable or involved too much travel. At this point, I had begun laughing. Anybody who knows me will tell you that is not a good sign. It means Shruti has lost all control. I gave up and resigned myself to a vacation that served a higher purpose – satisfying my baby’s fans. I decided that we were destined to head out to good old Chennai and sealed the deal.

So, here I am. I am excited about our trip to Chennai and happy to visit our most frequented city for a four day holiday with Baby Dant. Yenjaay J

Back after yet another hiatus

Yes i know.. i am like the most regular blogger ever! "Thank u thank u... i would like to thank my" ... Oh.. u ask me what's the secret of the highly predictable and continuous and incessant blogging? Well i think I have always been very organized and dedicated in anything i did.. For e.g. when i was 5 years old (as u can see.. great memory too!) i cried and cried and cried when i had fever (oh.. not a pertinent example? hmmm... ppl keep telling me that i tend to be a little arbit at times.. but i am persistent at that too.. i have ALWAYS been arbit!)

So.. with all that aribidity(Blogger just underlined that word red.. wonder why! must be an earlier version...) i must tell u that i gave this psychological test in the Change Management Class called MBTI. (No it didn't tell me to visit the doc.. It was a basic version, u had to pay for the consulting.) So, it spewed out the result that i was apparently an I-N-F-J (Introverted-Intuitive-Feeling-Judgement). And then i read what these INFJ clan of mine generally behave like... hmmpph...hmmpph.. I apparently would be best at stuff related to social work, education, ministry, environment.... Dudes... repeat after me.." Shruti is becoming an entrepreneur.. " and not the social or not-for-profit kind or any such thing (with due respect to that flavour) I WANT TO GO GET THOSE CLIENTS, BABY!

So, as the business partner (aha! does that sound good, Sriram ? 5% extra equity stake for being respectful to u in every blog.. nah! not worth the loss of funnnn! ) mentions, "tune bohoth jhoot bola hain" or my take is "test ne bohoth jhoot bola hain"! For the record, Sriram's personality type came out to be E-S-T-J (Extroverted-Sensing-Thinking-Judgement). Now, we knew we were different and all that.. But, if test is really an indication, the founders of this company are going to having some fun sparring!

Law of network effects

Considering the popularity of the term "network effects" as an answer to all questions in Strategical Analysis of IT, here's a law dedicated to the enlightening concept:



"The value of the concept of network effects increases with the number of MBA students who buy in to the concept".



This, my friends, is the reason the dear professor repeats the term 25.3 (calculated using mulitple regresson after accounting for multi-collinearity and micro numerosity) times in every class, on average.



Happy networking and effecting!

I'm now an MBA/8...

Ello ppl!!!

I am officially an eighth of an MBA now... i am accordingly articulate, precise, tactful, busy, correct, and fashionably incorrect... Oh its just an eighth done... have a long way to go yet....

Now that the first round of grades has hit me, it is evident that any infinitesimal slacking will be brutally punished. You will have to live with the social stigma of being "below average".... And suddenly u realise, coincidentally ofcourse, that u aren't in an MBA school for grades! C'mon.. can u even be so naive? But ofcourse what it IS you are here for: thats a BIG secret... Dont let the cat outta the bag now.. someone else might steal ur thunder!

Now that also bring me to my life's ambition at this point in time "make average"... And if by luck, by some supreme chance i happen to hop over that much elusive line, then its time to bring out the champagne! The happiness is so unbearably HUGE that i simply have to start dancing the dance of the guinea pigs in the middle of the windy atrium (i like ta move it move it....physically fit....MOVE IT)...

U paid for this experience... to be among the sharpest, brightest peer group in the world... enjoy the joys and sorrows of it... sure, they average out too :)

A point in time

Windy it was, the atrium spare,

Holed up in a room was I,

On an incessant merry-go-round in air,

Couldnt make a single thought fly.....

Dear Davies...I have to agree....

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Law of conservation of attention

I had a major revelation today :The law of conservation of attention.

The total amount of attention in a day always remains constant. It may be transfered from one lecture to another. Attention can neither be created nor destroyed.

This became apparent to me after a stroke of brilliance in Stats class followed by sheer dumbness and sleep in Accounting class.....

See, i even have empirical data supporting my law :)

Cheers,

Shruti.