Changing face of INDIA...  

Posted by NoeL in , ,

Hi all,
I came to know about this yesterday. Infact, I got this mailed to my official email id by one of the seniors (top brass) in Mahindra. The letter, of which I am speaking of, is attached below.


(Click on the image to enlarge)

It says... "The supreme court has ruled that all injured persons especially in the case of road traffic accidents, assaults etc., when brought to a hospital/medical centre, have to be offered first aid, stabilized and shifted to a higher centre / government centre, if required. It is only after this that the hospital can demand payment or complete police formalities. In case you a bystander and wish to help someone in accident, please go ahead and do so. Your responsibility ends as soon as you leave the person at the hospital. The hospital bears the responsibility of informing the police, first aid etc..."

This is indeed a welcome change from the higher ups in the government. :) I hope, with many more of the likes, INDIA will be a better place to live in... sooner!!

NoeL

When Fuel Prices Go Up...!  

Posted by NoeL in , , ,



NoeL

Dream MBA  

Posted by NoeL in ,

Hi Guys!

I have started a new BloG. (here) The primary aim for this BloG is to share all the MBA related information which i come accross in this internet. I will also put in the placement stats of various colleges... definitely not all... but the ones i am interested in...

So why don't you guys check it out and let me know your suggestions?
MBA Colleges in India

NoeL

Latest from google..  

Posted by NoeL in

Go to Google Maps

Search some place in US, say dallas..
On top of the map you can see street view.
Just click it, and you can navigate through the streets as if you are walking around..
It shows real 3D Imagery of the places.

Its really cool, try it out...

NoeL
NB: Now you dont need to waste time and money to visit places in USA. :)

GREAT LAKES INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT: PLACEMENT REPORT 2008  

Posted by NoeL in

The placement season for the fourth batch of Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai ended on a high note and once again highlighted the increasing prominence of Great Lakes as one of the top B-Schools in the country. Students were jubilant with the kind of offers they got both in terms of remuneration as well as roles at the end of the current placement season. Interestingly, Great Lakes flagship one year PGPM course has been providing placements much better than many conventional two year courses and is steadily creating a name for itself among its much publicized peers.
Snapshot of Current Batch: 2007-2008
Keeping up with its reputation of providing business ready managers, Great Lakes current batch has an average work experience of 37 months. The current batch at Great Lakes is one of the most diversified batches among B-Schools in the country as students have come from different industries right from IT, Medical, Consultancy, Marine, Education and even Defense.


Work experience of current batch

Profiles offered
Great Lakers were offered choicest of profiles by companies which were as diverse as Consulting, Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, Corporate Planning and Strategy, Product Management, Brand Management, Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management, Equity Research, Banking, Risk Management, Financial Modeling and Treasury. Senior positions like Associate Vice President and other fast-track leadership roles were the most-coveted profiles that were grabbed by Great Lakers.



Recruiters at a glance
Great Lakes saw an encouraging 40% jump in the number of recruiters over the last year’s number of 61 companies visiting for placements with about 27 new companies visiting Great Lakes. Some of the prominent recruiters in different fields who participated in the placement process at Great Lakes are:
Banking & Finance: HSBC, CITIBANK, KOTAK, Tata Capital, IL&FS, ABN-AMRO, India Bulls, IREVNA, Pioneer Investments Corporation
Manufacturing, Energy & Operations: Caterpillar, BAYER, Larsen & Toubro, Cummins, Genpact, TVS, Tata Communications, DSCL, BGR Energy, BIG FM, Reliance Retail, Infosys BPO, ITC Foods
Sales & Marketing: Reliance Retail, Godrej, Henkel, Tata Communications, Big FM 92.7, MARG Constructions, Coca Cola India, Reach Technologies, LG India, ConnectM Technologies, Shaadi.com
Consulting: KPMG, Technopak Consulting, Monitor Group (Grail Research), Frost & Sullivan, Accenture, Cap Gemini, Infosys, Mindtree Consulting, Wipro Consulting
IT/ITeS: Accenture, Cap Gemini, ADP, Wipro, TCS, Cognizant Technologies, Infosys, Mphasis EDS, CSC, HCL, Satyam, VistaSoft, ITC Infotech, 3i-Infotech, Inautix, L&T Infotech
Sector wise break up


Placement Snapshot

The Average salaries based on work experience of the current batch are as follows:
Less than or equal to 2 years of Work experience – INR 8.17 Lakhs p.a.
Between 2 to 4 years of Work experience- INR 9.52 Lakhs p.a.
Greater than 4 years of work experience – INR 12.1 Lakhs p.a.

The average salary of the offers made at Great Lakes for the PGPM program of 2007-2008 stands at INR 9.70 lakhs. Remarkably, more than 60 students have become millionaires at the end of the placement season!
Placement highlights
Great Lakes in its four years of existence has not only been growing at an exponential rate but is also being increasingly recognized as a B-school to reckon with. With the current placement season ending on a high note, the future of students at Great Lakes is looking increasingly bright.

GREAT LAKES, The choice of professionals!
Placements clearly demonstrated that how choosing GREAT LAKES has worked wonderfully well for entry as well middle level professionals. GREAT LAKES which considers professional full time work experience as highly desirable for its course has provided an economical alternative to those professionals who want a high professional return from their management course. Quoting specific instances, Shalini Chandran, who had prior experience at DE Shaw walked away with a coveted Banking role in HSBC with a 7 digit package. Students like Sahana.J.V., a software engineer, and Karthikeyan, an automobile engineer both having 10 months of work experience before joining the program have ended with offers well in excess of 10 lakhs from a leading bank and an international manufacturing company respectively. Even people in higher bracket experience, have rich praise for the 1 year PGPM experience at Great Lakes. Students with more than 5 years of work experience were able to get coveted roles such as Senior Manager, Senior Consultant, Business Development Manager etc. Srivas Ramgopal, who was a tech lead in an IT major and had a work experience of 6 years will now be joining a telecom company in a Senior Management role at an attractive package. Students were also offered better profiles and higher roles by their previous employers. Overall, students of Great Lakes just didn’t get better profiles in their previous industries but were also able to switch to new industries. Indeed an indication of the value added by Great Lakes in this one year.
Career shifts at Great Lakes
One of the interesting features about the placements this year has been the success of Great Lakes in providing career shifts to a large number of students. Close to 90 students out of a batch of 164 students have opted for a sector change from their previous sectors. This throws an interesting insight on how management graduates are willing to experiment and try out new things in this exciting phase of growing economy. Varun Sardana, a software engineer from TCS made the move to Investment Banking, grabbing offers from IL&FS and Vistasoft. Anil Daga, who was earlier with the Citigroup Services, has been offered to lead an Investment Banking wing at Pioneer Investment Corporation. Students were also able to make shift from core sectors. Ashfaque Vohra who came from manufacturing with more than 4 years of experience is now going to join the sales function of the leading consumer products major LG.
Impact of world renowned faculty
The support of world renowned faculty to Great Lakes has played key role in the success of placements. Great Lakes students have been taught by stellar line up of faculties like Prof. Bala V. Balachandran , Dr. Goldratt, Prof. Seenu Srinivisan, Dr. Marti Subramanian, Mr. T.N Seshan, Prof. Nirmal Gupta, Prof Paul Prabhakar, Prof. Anantha Nageshwaran, Mr. Santosh Desai and many more who come from reputed schools like Chicago Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School, Kellogg School of Business, IIMs, NUS etc. The pedagogy of this stature is one of the prime drivers behind Great Lakes beating its last year’s record in spite of the ongoing IT slowdown, sub-prime crisis and downsizing by IT companies.
Needless to say, pursuing management course from Great Lakes has turned out to be a smart decision for these professionals and if placements are any indication to go by, then Great Lakes has truly arrived in the big league.
College URL: Great Lakes
Source: Glakes Placement Report 2008

Dream MBA  

Posted by NoeL in

Guys!

I have decided to start this blog to assimilate the placement scenario from various MBA colleges in India. An MBA aspirant (I am one) wont be required to go to individual college sites anymore.
This is the whole aim of this blog.

Hope this helps.

NoeL

A Crorepati who lives in a HUT!  

Posted by NoeL in , , ,


His story is an inspiration for millions. A self-made entrepreneur, his mission is to help the poor through job creation. E Sarathbabu hit the headlines after he rejected several high profile job offers from various MNCs after he passed out of IIM, Ahmedabad two years ago.

He instead started a catering business of his own, inspired by his mother who once sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai, worked as an ayah in an Anganvadi to educate him and his siblings. As a child, he also sold idlis in the slum where he lived. "We talk about India shining and India growing, but we should ensure that people do not die of hunger. We can be a developed country but we should not leave the poor people behind. I am worried for them because I know what hunger is and I still remember the days I was hungry," says Sarathbabu.

In August 2006, Sarathbabu's entrepreneurial dream came true with Foodking. He had no personal ambition but wanted to buy a house and a car for his mother. He has bought a car but is yet to buy a house for his mother. The "foodking" still lives in the same hut in Madipakkam in Chennai. Today, Foodking has six units and 200 employees, and the turnover of the company is Rs.32 lakh a month. But it has not been a bed of roses for Sarathbabu. After struggling and making losses in the first year, he managed a turnaround in 2007. How has his experience as a 'Foodking' been in the last two years? Sarathbabu shares the trial and tribulations of an exciting and challenging job in an interview with Shobha Warrier.

A tough beginning
As I am a first generation entrepreneur, the first year was very challenging. I had a loan of Rs 20 lakh by the end of first year. I had no experience in handling people in business, and it was difficult to identify the right people. Though I made losses in the first year, not even once did I regret my decision of not accepting the offers from MNCs and starting an enterprise of my own. I looked at my losses as a learning experience. I was confident that I would be successful one day.


Image: E Sarathbabu with his mother infront of his house.

Sleeping on the railway platform
My first unit was at IIM, Ahmedabad. When we started our second unit in October 2006, I thought now I would start making money. But I made losses of around Rs 2000 a day. A first generation entrepreneur cannot afford such a loss. But I worked really hard, working till 3 a.m. in the morning. What reduced my losses were the birthday party offers.

I started the third unit again in Ahmedabad but it also made losses. All my units were cafeteria and I understood then that the small cafeterias do not work; I needed huge volumes to work. My friends were extremely supportive in the first year when things were difficult for me. I had taken loans from my IIM-A friends. They were earning very well.
In December 2006, an IIM Ahmedabad alumni event took place in Mumbai and I decided to go there mainly to get a contract. I was hopeful of getting it. I also knew that if I got the huge contract, I would come out of all the losses I had been incurring.

I booked my train ticket from Ahmedabad to Mumbai for Rs 300 and I had Rs 200 in my hand. As the meet went on late in the night, I could reach the station only at midnight. I missed the train. I decided to sit on the platform till the morning and travel by the next train in the morning. I didn't have the money to check into a hotel. I didn't want to disturb any of my friends so late at night.

It was an unforgettable night as I was even shoved off by policemen from the platform. It was quite insulting and embarrassing. After two hours, people started moving in, I also went in.
A man who sat next to me on the platform gave me a newspaper so that I could sleep. I spread the newspaper and slept on the platform! I sleep well. I got my ticket refund in the morning and went back to Ahmedabad. And, luck did not favour me, I didn't get the contract.

In March 2007, I got an offer to start a unit at BITS, Pilani (Sarathbabu was an alumnus of BITS, Pilani). That was the first medium break for me. For the first time, I started making profits there though the other units continued to make losses. The reason for our success at BITS, Pilani was the volume; there were more students and there was a need for a unit like ours while in Ahmedabad, they have at least a hundred options.


If I made Rs 5000 a day at Ahmedabad in two shifts, here I made Rs 15,000 a day. BITS, Pilani unit gave me the confidence to move on. Unless you make money, you can't be confident in business.

What changed my fortune?
When all my friends who worked for various MNCs made good money every month and I made losses with my venture. But I kept telling myself, I am moving in the right direction to reach my ambition and vision. My dream was to provide employment and I was doing just that. I continued to work till 3 a.m. but I never felt tired.

Through BITS, Pilani, I got the BITS, Goa contract and that was the biggest break for me. It was not a cafeteria like the earlier ones but the dining hall that we got. We had to feed 1300 students. We started our operations in July 2007. At Rs 50, for 1300 students, our sales were Rs 65,000 per day. We soon started making a profit of Rs 10 to 15,000 a day. Around 60 to 70 people work there. I gave the charge of the Ahmedabad operations to one of my managers and moved to Goa. I was still in debt by Rs 15-20 lakhs but I knew BITS, Goa would keep my dream alive. Within six months of starting our operations in Goa, I repaid all my debt.

I was called to give a speech at the SRM Deemed University. After the speech, I asked the Chancellor, can you give me an opportunity to serve in your campus? He said, "If not you, to whom will I give such an opportunity?" It's a food court but a big one, similar to the one at BITS, Pilani. There are around 17,000 students there.

Now, I have the BITS, Hyderabad contract, ready to start in July 2008. Other than the six units, I have approached a few more universities and corporate houses too. In the first year, I had made a loss of Rs 25 lakh. Right now, we have a turnover of Rs 32 lakh every month, which works out to 3.5 crore (Rs 35 million) a year.

I have hired about 200 people. Indirectly, we touch the lives of around 1000 people. By this year end, we will have 500 people working for us. Only 10% of my workers are educated, the rest are uneducated. I want to make a change in their lives. If they have any problem, I will take care of it. We support the marriages and education of poor families. We are paying more to the employees as the company is doing well. Now that the foundation is strong, I plan to have ten units and a turnover of Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) by next year.

His advice: Never give up!
In the last two years, I have given more than 120 lectures in various institutions in India. When I got the first opportunity to speak, I thought God had given me an opportunity to encourage or inspire entrepreneurs. When youngsters tell me they are inspired, I feel good. When you just dish out the theory, nobody believes you. But when you do it, they believe you. What I tell them is based on my own experiences. When I thought of starting a company, I felt India needed 100 people like Narayana Murthy and Ambani. If 100 such people support 2 lakh people each, imagine how many Indians get supported. Entrepreneurship is needed to uplift the poor. It is not easy to be an entrepreneur, especially a first generation entrepreneur.

There will be lots of challenges in the beginning but you should learn to look for the light at the end of the tunnel. Never give up even if there are hurdles. There are many who give up within a week. You need determination and a tough mind to cross the initial hurdles. If you are starting without much money, you should not have any overhead expenses.

He still lives in the same hut
As I am in the food business, I know how much the price of every food item has gone up. Many people will languish in poverty because of inflation. Had my mother been working as an Anganvadi ayah today and earning Rs 1500, she would not have been able to feed us and educate us.

On the one side, we talk about India shining and India growing, but we should ensure that people do not die of hunger. We can be a developed country but we should not leave the poor people behind. I am worried for them because I know what hunger is and I still remember the days I was hungry. That is why I feel it is our responsibility to take care of them.

I wanted to buy a car and a house for my mother. I bought a car first, not a house. I still live in the same house, the same hut. I can build a house right now but I want my business to grow a little more. I feel good in the hut; thats where I get my energy, that's where I lived 25 years of my life. I want to remind myself that the money and fame should not take me away from what I want to achieve.

But within six months, I will build a good house for my mother. Her only advice to me is, don't waste money. Till I was in the 10th, there was no electricity in my house. I had to sit near the kerosene lamp and concentrate hard. That's how I learnt to concentrate.

The two year journey @IIMA has been very enriching. It seems like a 20-year journey for me. I was living every moment of the two years, from sleeping on the Mumbai railway station platform to this level.

NoeL

How is it to work in The Corporate World?  

Posted by NoeL in , ,

Let me explain it in the form of a story. This story has an OLD version and a NEW version.

Old Version:-

There was once a washer man who had a donkey and a dog. One night when the whole world was sleeping, a thief broke into the house, the washer man was fast asleep but the donkey and the dog were awake. The dog decided not to bark since the master did not take good care of him and wanted to teach him a lesson. The donkey got worried and said to the dog that if he doesn’t bark, the donkey will have to do something himself. The dog did not change his mind and the donkey started braying loudly. Hearing the donkey bray, the thief ran away, the master woke up and started beating the donkey for braying in the middle of the night for no reason.

New Version:-

The washer man was a well educated man from a premier management institute. He had the ‘fundas’ of looking at the bigger picture and thinking out of the box. He was convinced that there must be some reason for the donkey to bray in the night. He walked outside a little and did some fact finding, applied a bottom up approach, figured out from the ground realities that there was a thief who broke in and the donkey only wanted to alert him about it. Looking at the donkey’s extra initiative and going beyond the call of the duty, he rewarded him with lot of hay and other perks and became his favorite pet. The dog’s life didn’t change much, except that now the donkey was more motivated in doing the dogs duties as well. In the annual appraisal the dog managed a “ meets requirement” Soon the dog realized that the donkey is taking care of his duties and he can enjoy his life sleeping and lazing around. The donkey was rated as “star performer”. The donkey had to live up to his already high performance standards. Soon he was over burdened with work and always under pressure and now is looking for a job rotation…

Moral of the story:- “One must not engage in duties other than his own”

If you have worked in a corporate environment, I am sure you have guessed the characters of the new story.

NoeL

What is the WORTH of The Internet?  

Posted by NoeL in , ,

When I started getting into the world of internet, I wondered how someone, by owning a website, makes money. That time, according to me, owning a website was a costly affair and it was devoid of returns.

Then, with further interaction with the internet and websites like GOOGLE, I came to know about the advertisements that are being put on the websites. Each of those advertisements gave good returns to the website owner. That is when I started thinking about the amount of money that is present in The World Wide Web.

Just look at Google Inc.
  • What is their business model?
  • Where do they get all these money?
  • How are they managing to come out with such wonderful applications?
  • How did they reach the No.1 position in internet in about 15 year’s time?

Today, no one tells you to ‘go and search in the internet’. Instead, they will say ‘go google it’. Google is synonymous to internet and vice versa.

Google revolutionized internet. And the whole money that Google Inc. made was obtained from the internet. This will give us some idea about the kind of money that is available in this FREE internet. Just that, one should find the right working tool to tap it.

Now, having started with such a thought provoking post, let me introduce two people who, through their respective websites, tried to tap the money that is in internet.


  1. Alex Tew, a young then 21-year old student from UK started the website for the sole purpose of raising money for his university education. The index page of the site consists of a 1000×1000 pixel grid (one million pixels), on which image-based links were sold for US $1 per pixel, in minimum ten by ten blocks. The purchasers of these pixel blocks provided tiny images to be displayed on them, a URL to which they were linked, and a slogan displayed when hovering the cursor over the link. The aim of the site was to sell all of the pixels in the image, thus generating one million dollars of income for the creator. He was successful in his business model and earned a whooping $1, 037, 100 USD till January 2006. (Source)

    You can read more about him here or you can go directly to his blog. I am putting a snap shot of his website here.

    Description: Screenshot of The Million Dollar Homepage*
    Screen Shot: Taken on 20-05-2008 at 10:00AM by NoeL

  2. Ankur Shanker

    Ankur Shanker is a 25 year old engineer from Noida, Northern India, who decided to follow the path of Alex Tew and he started the website blog, Million Dollar Story in November 2007. Ankur wanted to raise money for funding his MSc. Economics from LSE.

    Ankur was admitted to LSE last year but then he deferred his admission by one year to July 2008. This was mainly due to insufficient funds for funding his higher studies plans at LSE. When Alex Tew decided to sell his web space at $1 per pixel, Ankur wrote short stories. Ankur thought of attracting more and more people to his website through interesting and thought provoking short stories, and thus earning money from the advertisements featured in his blog. A slightly different business proposal when compared to Alex Tew but with the common aim of finding funds for higher education. Ankur stepped into blogging for making $110, 000 USD in 6 months.

    On 3rd January 2008, IBN Live had come out with an article on Ankur and it can be read here. Ankur also featured in several Press/Media during this time. (Link)

From the reports and figures available on various websites, it is pretty clear that Alex Tew is successful in his Million Dollar Home Page. I am not sure about Ankur though I have asked for the same on his blog.

We can find lots and lots more of people like this who is trying to tap the money available in internet. Many are successful but dangerously many more stumble on their way.

NoeL

NB: Many might be thinking why I am here on the internet. It is not for money. Though I don’t mind it coming my way! :)


*This is a screenshot of a copyrighted web page, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by owner of the website. It may also contain trademarked logos. It is believed that the use of a limited number of such screenshots for identification and critical commentary relating to the website in question qualifies as fair use under The (US) copyright law.

Live your dream.  

Posted by NoeL in


Life gives answers in three ways.

It says yes and gives whatever you want.
It says no and gives you something better.
It says wait and gives you the best.

If you’re committed to your dream, you will win anyways.
Don’t just dream, Live your dream.
Keep moving towards it.

IPL – Are bowlers second to batsmen?  

Posted by NoeL in

I was thinking about writing this article for sometime. Now, with all the latest developments in Indian Premier League (IPL) from bowlers, I can’t delay this post any further.

IPL from its start was pitted as a game for batsmen. That should be the very reason why there were awards like ‘Max. No. of Sixes per Game’ and ‘Orange Cap’ instituted for batsmen. There was nothing like this for the bowlers.

But all that was bound to change. There were 2 hat-tricks in this IPL till date. The significance of ‘2’ can be understood from the fact that there were not many hat-tricks in the whole history of cricket (in over 100 years) before the start of IPL. Details of all the hat-tricks till the start of IPL are as follows.

  • Test – 37 hat-tricks (First one was in 1879)
  • One Day International – 24 hat-tricks (First one was in 1982)
  • Twenty20 International – 1 (By Brett Lee in T20 World Cup 2008)

Then there where matches in IPL where the bowlers dictated their terms, the recent one being Mumbai Indians Vs Kolkata Knight Riders (ScoreCard). Best bowling performances in IPL can be found here.

All these might have forced the BCCI and IPL governing body to come out with Purple Cap. This would be awarded to the bowler with the most number of cumulative wickets to his name at the end of every match.

Yes! This is better than nothing. But then, think of the awards which a batsman can entitle to. If the batsman performs well, he is all set for two awards (One is that of the 'Man of the Match' and the second is that of 'Maximum no. of Sixes per Match'!) whereas a bowler can get only one. Yes, here there is an assumption. But then, if you go through the match results of IPL, we can see that it is the fact. Is this double recognition required? If yes, why not for the bowlers?

As every coin has, this issue has a second face too. Most of the crowd that flow into the stadiums for watching the IPL matches just want to see likes of Veru, Yuvi and Afridi firing. The stadium roars whenever a six or four is hit. They pray for runs to rain and don’t want to see the wickets fall. So, it is not just IPL or the BCCI whom are to be blamed, for the institution of such double awards for batsmen. The crowd, of which, you and me are a part, played an important role. Alteast by now, BCCI and IPL have understood their mistake and have come out with the Purple Cap. We are not!

So are bowlers just not worth to be treated alongside batsmen? I feel bowlers should be given a better stature than the present... in cricket as a whole and T20 in particular. And for this to happen, atleast for the time being, many more hat-tricks are necessary..!

NoeL

The Pillars of Self Mastery by Robin S Sharma  

Posted by NoeL in ,

I recently read this book “The Pillars of Self Mastery” from Robin S Sharma. I really liked the book and so thought I will share the complete essence of this book with you all here. This is the second book of Robin S Sharma, which I am reading. The first one being “The Monk who sold his Ferrari”.

The important points from the book “The Pillars of Self Mastery” are:-

  • Sleep less: This is one of the best investments you can make to make your life more productive and rewarding.

  • Set aside one hour every morning for personal development matter. Meditate; visualize your day, read inspirational texts to set the tone of your day, listen to motivational tapes or read great literature. Starting the day off well is a powerful strategy for self renewal.

  • Laugh for five minutes in the mirrors each morning. Laughter activates many beneficial chemicals within the body that place us into a very joyous state. Laughter also returns the body to a state of balance. A 4 year old laughs 500 times a day while the average adult is lucky to laugh 15 times a day.

  • Set aside every Sunday evening for yourself and your family and be strongly disciplined with this habit.

  • To enhance your concentration and power of focus, count your steps when you walk. This is a particularly strong technique. So many people allow their minds to be filled with mental chatter. All the real performers appreciate the power of a quiet clear mind which will concentrate steadily on all important tasks.

  • Enhance your will-power. You must first exercise it and then push before it gets stronger. When you are hungry, wait another hour before your meal. When you are laboring over a difficult task and your mind is prompting you to pick up the latest magazine for a break, curb the impulse. Soon you will be able to sit for hours in a precisely concentrated state. Newton had a remarkable ability to sit quietly and think without interruption for a very long period of time. If he can develop this, so can you.

  • Never discuss your health, wealth and other personal matters with anyone outside your immediate family. Be very disciplined in this regard.

  • Cultivate the art of walking half an hour after your dinner. Walks in natural settings are the very best. Walking is, perhaps, nature's ideal exercise.

  • Be careful about your reputation. Never do anything you wouldn't be proud to tell your mother about. Have fun always but temper it with common sense and prudence.

  • Become your spouse's number one supporter, the one who is always there supporting and fueling hopes and dreams. Develop together and march confidently through the world as an army of two.

  • Spend time with Nature. Natural settings have a powerful effect on your senses which in turn will lead to a sense of renewal, refreshment and peacefulness.

  • Try fasting one day every two weeks. During these fast days, drink fruit juice and eat fresh fruits only. You will feel more energetic, cleansed and alert.

  • Drown your appetite by drinking more water - ten glasses a day is ideal. It revitalizes the system and purifies the body. Also get into the habit of eating soups and more complex carbohydrates such as rice, potatoes than other less healthy foods.

  • A contented mind is a continual feast. Greed and material desires must be curbed to achieve lasting happiness and serenity. Be happy with what you have.

  • Everyday, get away from the noise, the crowds and the rush and spend a few hours alone in peaceful introspection, deep reading or simple relaxation.

  • Empty your cup. A full cup cannot accept anything more. Similarly, a person who believes that he cannot learn anything else will stagnate quickly and not move to higher levels. Even the teachers have teachers.

  • Drink a cup of warm water before speech. Ronald Reagan employed this strategy to ensure that he maintained his honey-smooth voice. You will be judged by the caliber of your communication skills.

  • Always remember the key principle that the quality of your life is the quality of your communication. This means the way you communicate with others and more importantly, with yourself. What you focus on is what you get.

  • Aromas have been proven to be an effective means of entering a state of relaxation. Scents have a very noticeable effect on your mindset and moods.

  • Never argue with the person you work for – you will lose more that just the argument.

  • Do not take personal development books as gospel. Read them and take whatever useful ideas you need. Some people feel they must do everything suggested and take the techniques to extremes. Every book has atleast one tool or strategy of benefit.

  • Keep well-informed about current events, the latest books and popular trends. Many peak performers read five or six papers a day. You don’t have to read every story of every paper. Know what to focus on.

  • Readers are leaders. US Ex President Bill Clinton read more than 300 books during his short time at Oxford University. Some top performers read a book a day. The more you know, the less you fear.

  • When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take – choose the bolder, said W J Slim. Take chances, take smart risks and you will meet with success beyond your dreams.

  • You sow an action, you reap a habit. You sow a habit, you reap a character. You sow a character, you reap a destiny. The essence of a person is his character – make yours unique, unblemished and strong. Do not say you will do anything unless you will indeed do it. Speak the truth and measure your words wisely. Be humble, straight forward and peaceful.

  • Read the biographies of the World’s leaders and learn from their habits, inspirations and philosophies. Cultivate the important practice of active role modeling.

  • Remember and use people’s names when you talk to them. A person’s name is a uniquely sweet sound to them.

  • Go outdoors and look up into the blue sky for half an hour. Note the supremely strong feeling that you get when you are connected to Nature. Get away from your rigid schedule which will provide a refreshing release and make you feel wonderful when you eventually return.

  • Laugh at work and be known as a positive achiever.

  • The most efficient and effective alarm clock ever developed lies within our own minds. Try the following:
    1. Sit in an easy chair ten minutes before you go to bed.
    2. Shut your eyes and gently rest your hands on your knees.
    3. Breath deeply for a few minutes.
    4. Repeat this for 20 times: “I will wake at 5AM feeling fresh, alert and enthusiastic”. Then visualize yourself waking up at the desired time and imagine how great you will feel. You will soon wake up at the desired moment after little or no practice.

  • Develop the essential habit of punctuality for it is most important for high success. Punctuality reflects discipline and proper regard for others. Without it, even the most sophisticated person appears slightly offensive.

  • Winners do the things that less developed people don’t like doing even though they also might now enjoy doing them. This is what strength of character and courage is all about.

  • All individuals who have attained the highest of levels generally have cultivated the essential mental habit of optimism. Without optimism, life loses its luster and hardships appear at every step.

  • As we can take nothing with us when we leave, when you wake up early in the morning, repeat the mantra:
    1. I will serve others today.
    2. I will care for others.
    3. I will be kind today.

  • This kind of living will bring you huge returns if you stay on the purpose of aiding others rather than on the outcome of personal gain.

  • Each day, do two things that you do not like doing. This may be the preparation of a report you have been putting off or shining your shoes. It does not matter how small the task, just do it! Your personal power will increase and your productivity will soar.

  • Pick 5 relationships that you desire to improve over the next 6 months. Write out the names of these people and under each name, detail why you want to improve the relationship, how you plan to do so and in what time frame. This is simply another facet of goal setting.

  • Browse second – hand bookstores every few months searching for lost treasures of character-building books. You will find gems on public speaking, improving your habits, time management, personal health and other important subjects, at low prices.

  • Be known as someone with a cool head, warm heart and great character. Your presence on this earth will long be remembered.

  • Fill your home with bright, fresh flowers. This is one of the best investments you can make. Let the sounds of great music, loud laughter and good fun fill the oasis of your home.

  • Recognize the power of mantras and the repetition of positive, powerful words. Indian yogis have employed this technique for over 4000 years to live tranquil, productive and focused lives.

  • Build a mystique around yourself.

Hope this was useful.

NoeL

‘Funny’ Is English Or English Is Funny  

Posted by NoeL in

I stumbled upon this article somewhere in the internet. I felt nice reading it and so thought I will post it here for you guys to read and enjoy! Happy reading...!

English is a funny language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England nor French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices?

Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend, that you comb through annals of history but not a single annal? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn’t preacher praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Send shipment by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? Park on driveways and drive on parkways?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another.

Have you noticed that we talk about certain things only when they are absent? Have you ever seen a horseful carriage or a strapful gown? Met a sung hero or experienced requited love?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm clock goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn’t a race at all). That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it.

NoeL

You Have Everything  

Posted by NoeL in


You Have Everything

If you look at what you do not have in life;
You don't have anything.

If you look at what you have in life;
You have everything.

NoeL

My IIM Lucknow Experience!  

Posted by NoeL in , , , ,

I had gone to IIM Lucknow for my FPM interview and written test on April 14th - 18th 2008. Here is a detailed description on the various things that happened during the trip, things that went through my mind and details on the FPM selection process.

April 14th, 2008
I ironed my clothes, ran in search of a tie, scrambled all my (hard earned) certificates and was ready by 7.00PM… I had a train to catch at 7:45PM from Nashik Road Station, which is around 45-60min from where I stay. This time, I didn’t have my friends around to kick me out on time as usual.

In a few minutes, I was in the nearest Auto Stand. This time, I didn’t have time to bargain with anyone. So took the first Auto I saw and reached the station by around 7:50PM. Thanks to the Indian Railways for running the trains late. Else I would not have boarded the 2107 LUCKNOW SUP EXP to Lucknow.

In the train, I exchanged my seats with a lady for the Side Upper Berth… There I comfortably sat with my laptop and started reading one of my favorite books, The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. I was going for an interview for which, I didn’t have a chance to convert. So thought… "Why to take the trouble of preparing in the train? I will do some reading and will relax too…"

April 15th, 2008
I landed at the Lucknow Station at around 5PM, 2hrs later than the scheduled arrival. The sensation I had while coming out of the 3rd AC compartment to the scorching sunlight outside was something I won’t forget for some time.

From there, I took an auto to IIML campus after bargaining with him because this time around, I had all the time with me… My fellow college mate who is a current student at IIML had told me not to give more than Rs.120/-. Lucknow Station to IIML, auto drive was THE AUTO RIDE of my life. All the way, I was remembering the Auto stunt that was shown in one of the James Bond movies… Finally, I reached IIML campus ‘SAFELY’ for Rs.125/- (Hmm... Not bad!!) and in less than 45min (approx. 20Km through busy streets!).

After reaching the campus, I got myself registered. I was allotted Room No. 259 at ‘Chanakya’ Guest house. It was an AC double room but was being given away for single occupancy. For the next 2days, this was where I was going to be. The accommodation was good.

After freshening up, by around 6:30PM, I thought of taking a stroll through the IIML campus. Meanwhile, I had met another fellow aspirant named Prasanna and we both decided to check out the canteen and shops in campus. We had a cup of coffee and together explored more of the campus. One good thing I would like to highlight here is the behavior of the people. All were very pleasant and accommodating. Even the shopkeepers…

At around 8PM, we came back to the guesthouse for dinner. I must say, the dinner was awesome. The preparation was something very different and later on I found out that, it was the Chinese Indian style. (Is there a style like that??) The cooks were all from Assam. Delicious Yummy food!! :)

During this time, I met few more of the fellow aspirants and we all started sharing our profiles with each other. It was a reinstating feeling… As I had thought earlier, I was at the wrong place. All were with PG and 5+ years of relevant work experience. Some of them where already into research and academics and few were JRFs (Junior Research Fellow of UGC). They were surprised when I shared my profile with them. I told them that I came just because I got the call and that I am not even dreaming of converting it… and that was the fact!…

I went back to my room by around 9:30PM and resumed reading the novel. I decided to finish it in this very sitting. So read, read and read. Finally when the novel was over, it was around 2:30AM. That is when the revelation stuck me… I have a written test to attend early in the morning. Thought I will prepare something for the interview after my written test. So kept alarm for 7:30AM and slept off.

April 16th 2008
I was supposed to report at the FPM office at 9:00AM and the breakfast was ready at 8:00AM. Mr. Murphy decided to be extra active, that very day! My alarm didn’t ring. And I was peacefully sleeping till 8:30AM. Thanks to Prasanna for waking me up. Finally, I reached the FPM office by around 9:10AM (Hmm.. not bad!) after completing my daily ablutions and breakfast, as the last reporting candidate.

There after registering my attendance and filling up the travel reimbursement forms, we were directed to an exam hall. There the RAT (Research Aptitude Test) was waiting for us. After the CAT, a RAT…! Details on the RAT can be read here.

We were initially told that the selection process was for 2 days. And so, conveniently I had assumed that my interview would be on 17th April 2008. But to my surprise, my interview was scheduled right after RAT.

I had applied for Finance (My Love!) and Human Resource Management (For the Heck of it… 2 options… so clicked on HR too while applying..!). I had both the calls. The finance interview was the one right after RAT. HR interview was scheduled for a later time, same day itself. Details on my FPM interview can be read here.

After my Finance Interview, I was asked to wait in a conference room at ‘SAMADHAN’. Before I could even finalize upon whether to attend the interview or not, I was asked to move on for the same. I was thinking of meeting the FPM Administrator to tell him that I am not interested. But I couldn’t. So entered the interview board, told them what I felt… and came out in 2-3min… They wished me all the best and told me that I had a very good chance for converting the FPM in finance… (I never believed them!)

So from 16th April 2008 afternoon, it was about spending/killing time @ IIML campus. My train was at 10:00PM on 17th April 2008. I slept for the whole afternoon. In the evening, found out a place where TT and caroms could be played. There, I had a few games with the fellow FPM aspirants till dinner time…

Later on, I got my laptop connected to the institute wireless LAN… I started browsing for the rest of the day… Finally, by around 11:00PM, I decided to call it a day.

17th April 2008.
I woke up around 10:00AM after almost 12hours of sound sleep. After having breakfast, I strolled into the FPM hostel looking for some FPM student. Met this guy from Strategic Management… A very nice fellow… He explained in depth and breadth what the FPM is all about and how the classes were conducted etc… I could learn quite a lot about the program from him. I am really grateful to him for that.

Rest of my day was spent playing TT and browsing the internet. We, fellow aspirants, also had plans of roaming around Lucknow but decided against because of the extremely HOT climate… (It was approx. 40◦C and at Lucknow, they say, it can even touch 48◦C -50◦C)

At around 8:00 PM, I boarded the bus from IIML Campus (there are Govt. buses plying between the campus and the city!) and reached Lucknow station at around 9:15PM… I finally boarded the train at around 10:00PM from Lucknow Junction. I bid goodbye to Lucknow and the people there, never knowing that I was bound to come back!

My take:-
IIML campus is very well maintained and is wonderful. The architect of the campus needs a very special mention here. The whole campus is connected with Wi-Fi and they have different networks (Faculty, Students, Guest etc.) over Wi-Fi… Even the guests are able to logon to the network and use the broadband internet for free. The internet speeds were well over couple of mbps. (I could download a file of 25MB in less than 2 minute.) The people I met, professors, FPM officers, one at the accounts section and the others at the mess, canteen and the shops, where all very accommodative and well behaved. The food was amazing at the guest house though the student might not be getting the same quality. The only problem (I should mention atleast one na?) I could find there was the climate. In short, IIML is a dream campus to be in. (I haven’t seen IIM A, B and C campuses. So I am not making any comparisons with those…)

Comments are welcome...

NoeL

Research Aptitude Test (RAT)  

Posted by NoeL in , , , ,

RAT is one of the two selection processes for FPM admission at IIMs. Here are the details of the RAT exam i had at IIM Lucknow.

We were given a caselet. It was about an Engineer who started his own company. This guy started the company in one corner of his house in New Delhi. The company was into manufacturing of ‘premium gift items’. In the initial days, all the products were produced under his direct supervision. He had many suppliers and mostly he was doing the final assembly at his place. Initially volumes were also less.

Slowly but steadily, his business picked up. He started getting huge orders. Then he decided to shift his company out of his garage and for that he acquired land at Gurgaon, which was cheaper than the land available at New Delhi. Most of the suppliers still remained in New Delhi, baring a few who decided to move along with him. He initially hired a few marketing guys to improve his sales. He then hired a manager to look after his Gurgaon plant.

In the initial days of Gurgaon plant, he used to visit it often but as he started more and more ventures, his direct supervision over the Gurgaon plant decreased. He passed on the full control to the manager. This manager guy then went on to introduce lot of best-in-class management practices like Performance Appraisal System, Accounting practices etc. Initial days of the plant went on smoothly and profitably.

But few months from there, the plant got itself immersed into a lot of problem. There were quality issues popping out from everywhere. Even though the order book was full, the workers never showed an enthusiasm to produce more and the plant was never able to meet the demand. Sales slowly started falling. Suppliers started complaining about credit defaults. There were hell lots of problem.

The owner was extremely worried about the condition of the plant and wanted to somehow find out the reason for this. So he asked for the help from a near by management school and the school readily accepted.

Questions:-

  • You are a part of the team from the management school investigating on the Gurgaon Plant. What are your observations and possible problems?
  • What further data collection you will do for submitting a complete report on the plant and how do you plan to acquire the additional data?

We were supposed write the answer for the above two questions in around 750words.

Time: 1hr.

My Take:-

I felt like this plant is having all sorts of problems that it can ever have. In spite of one’s background, he/she had something or the other, where he/she could put his/her mind to work.

NoeL

What value does an institute add?  

Posted by NoeL in ,

There were many occasions when my juniors have approached me asking for my opinion and suggestion on taking up a particular institute over the other. At times, it gets still complicated. They even ask me to help him/her choose between the branch of study and the institute.

For a start… Let me tell something about myself. I had gone through this phase around 6 years back... In 2002, when I was out of my 12th Std, I had lot of options with me... being one of the top CET rankers from Kerala, I was really confused… (I often feel that a man gets totally confused when the life starts giving him many options!) I wanted to take up Electronics then… Not because I knew what was being taught in that or what kind of career path existed for an Electronics Engineer. It was simply because it was the hottest branch in 2002. And I believe it still is. Together with this interest in Electronics (for whatever reason I have told), I wanted to do my Engineering from one of the NITs and that too only from one of the South Indian NITs viz. Calicut, Trichy, Surathkal and Warangal…

Then the inevitable happened... Something many of my juniors (are/will be) facing… I won’t be getting Electronics in the 4 NITs I wanted… Finally, I decided to take up Mechanical Engineering at NIT Trichy… A decision which is still cloudy to me…

Now coming back to the topic… the MILLION DOLLAR question…
  • Did I learn something special at NIT Trichy which I wouldn’t have got in any of the colleges in Kerala?
  • Was it worth taking up Mechanical Engineering at NIT Trichy leaving the Electronics seat which was waiting for me at College of Engineering, Trivandrum? (CET Trivandrum is supposed to be the best college in Kerala and an Electronics seat there was a hen that lays golden egg. )
  • What value addition did NIT Trichy do in me?

I am not going to list down all that I gained from being at NIT Trichy. But then, I can, without doubt, say that NIT Trichy has transformed me into a very different person. Many learning which I have got, the attitude I am carrying with me now… are all from NIT Trichy and I don’t think I would have got those, had I took any of the colleges in Kerala.

Why am I telling you all these? I had yet again gone through this entire thought process very recently… for deciding upon my MBA admissions… I had a couple of MBA admits and I rejected them all… including IIM Lucknow, FPM admit…

Today, with the learning I have got, having gone through this thought process twice… is…

  • If one knows 100% what he/she wants to become in life (I mean, the branch of engineering or the specialization in Management), he/she should look towards taking up just that… And he/she can even afford to skip few of the top ranked colleges for his choice of study.

  • But then… If one has even a little bit of hesitation from his/her part on which branch or specialization to take, I will STRONGLY recommend them to look for the best college they can get into. It is because the kind of peer group learning which he/she will be getting at these institutions are very different from the other institutions. Here, one will be able to learn quite a lot… not just the text book stuff… and this will in turn help him/her come out as a complete personality package...
Your comments are welcome.

NoeL

PS: A very different perspective on this same topic can be read here.

Currency Binary  

Posted by NoeL in ,

TERM OF THE DAY - MAY 07TH, 2008

Currency Binary

What Does it Mean?
A currency trade that offers an all-or-nothing payoff based on a given currency exchange rate when the position reaches its expiration date. Binaries have a single payoff amount rather than the variable profit amounts found in traditional options.

Binary trades can be used for either hedging purposes (such as downside protection for assets held in a specific currency) or as a speculative bet on the direction a specific exchange rate will move. The going premium on a currency binary represents the consensus "odds" that the strike exchange rate will be reached by expiration. An investor or trader can also sell (short) a currency binary position, reversing the payoff options and effectively betting that the exchange rate will fall.

Investopedia Says...
Currency binaries represent a rather young trading strategy, and not all currency exchange rates are currently being traded. The majority of positions are for the EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/YEN based on their very liquid forex markets. For example, assume that the exchange rate for the EUR/USD is currently 1.25; an investor who buys a currency binary at a strike exchange rate of 1.30 is betting that the exchange rate will be 1.30 or greater on the expiration date. If this occurs, the investor will receive a set payoff amount, no matter how far above 1.30 the exchange rate settles. If the exchange rate at expiration is less than 1.30, the long investor receives nothing.

NoeL

Appraisal Time...  

Posted by NoeL


Keep up the good work!

I just had my appraisal based on the work i did in 2007 - 08...
The above picture describes in a nutshell, the feeling i went through, at the end of it... So thought of posting the same here... :)

NoeL

Rio Hedge  

Posted by NoeL in ,

TERM OF THE DAY - MAY 06TH, 2008

Rio Hedge

What Does it Mean?
A situation where a trader who is facing financial or legal troubles hedges his or her position in an investment with a ticket to a tropical location. The idea behind the Rio hedge is that if the investment goes bad (either legally or through financial loss) the investor will use the ticket to escape.

Investopedia Says...
The Rio hedge is a joke in the investment community regarding the risks involved in trading. A traditional hedge will protect against potential financial risks associated with an investment. The Rio hedge pokes fun at protecting against risks, such as getting caught by the authorities, lenders, or owners of the funds under management.

NoeL

Sena plans vadapav stalls to counter Mac!  

Posted by NoeL in ,

Hot vadapavs served in corporate style with a 'Jai Maharashtra' greeting from an assured Maharashtrian vendor - Shiv Sena will now take the popular snack to the Marathi Manoos their way.

Read the full news article here :
Rediff News: Sena plans vadapav stalls to counter Mac!

Now, that's interesting... Hope this will not end up as a vote bank gimmick...! Gimmick or whatever it is, this IDEA is far better than beating up all the North Indians in Mumbai...
On a positive note, this might indeed help in improving the 'Brand India' among the likes of McDonalds and KFCs...

Jai India!

NoeL

KAL's cartoon  

Posted by NoeL in

Fool In The Shower  

Posted by NoeL in ,

TERM OF THE DAY - MAY 5TH, 2008

Fool In The Shower

What Does it Mean?
A phrase used to describe the idea that changes or policies designed to alter the course of the economy should be done slowly, rather than all at once. It describes a scenario where a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve acts to stimulate or slow down an economy. When the first stimulus is made, the effect may not be immediate, which can cause decision makers to increase the magnitude of the change, eventually causing too much stimulus.

Investopedia Says...
The phrase is attributed to Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, who likened a central bank that acted too forcefully to a fool in the shower. When the fool realizes that the water is too cold, he turns on the hot water. However, the hot water takes a while to arrive, so the fool simply turns the hot water up all the way, eventually scalding himself.

Any change made to stimulate a broad economy, especially one as large as the U.S. takes time to work its way through. A move like lowering the fed funds rate takes about six months to fully integrate into the economy. Therefore, economists are always cautious about overreaching and prefer small consistent steps to enact change.

NoeL

The Corporate Ladder  

Posted by NoeL in

The Corporate Ladder

For more, visit...

NoeL

Best Indian Bloggers and Most Popular Blogs in India  

Posted by NoeL in

Hi fellas,
Here is the directory of top Indian Blogs, classified into various categories.
India Blogs
Hope this helps...!

NoeL

My IIM Lucknow FPM Interview Experience  

Posted by NoeL in , , , ,

I had applied for Finance (My Love!) and Human Resource Management (For the Heck of it… 2 options… so clicked on HR too while applying.). I had both the calls. The finance interview was right after RAT as I mentioned earlier. HR interview was also there on the same day but time was not told to me.
Around 30min after my RAT, I found myself sitting in the Finance Interview. There were 4 people in the interview board... let’s call them R, FR, FL and L… one on my right (R), one on my left (L) and two in the front (RF and LF). The interview went for around 30-40min.


Me: Good Morning, Sirs.
LF: Good Morning, take the seat…
Me: Thank you sir…
LF: So, you have done 10th in 2000 with XX.XX%... 12th in 2002 with XX.XX%... B. Tech from NIT Trichy in 2006 with X.XX CGPA… Joined Mahindra… as GET… so what are u now? Oh ok… Asst. Manager.

I was not asked for my INTRO… they themselves were making it out from my application form
L: How much are you getting from Mahindra? X.XX LPA…Oh you are making so much!! Then why are you interested in doing this course? The IIM professors won’t be making this much!!
Me: Sir, it is not about money! There is something more than that. I want to do something of my own in my life.
R: (Looking at my Transcript) Seems like you had a course on Finance during your B.Tech… So what have you learned in that? Let us know few of the chapters you had in it…
Me: Sir, it was offered as an elective and was a very basic course. It explained various financial terms. I took it out of my interest in Finance. (All this while I was thinking about the name of the chapters in the Finance Management course I had in the 7th Semester).
Me: We learned about Company Balance Sheets, how to read it, something on Stock Markets, valuation of stocks etc… (I really couldn’t remember what was in there… But I knew something or the other to tell in these topics. So I blurted out the above three…)

From here… interview was purely on finance … From here, I will put the questions only. Prof. Google will help you find out the answers for the same.
LF: So, what is P/E ratio?
R: What are undervalued and overvalued stocks?
LF: What do you mean by Market Cap?
LF: Do you invest in Stocks?
LF: What kind of investor are you?
LF: Do you follow Warren Buffet?
LF: What are his investment principles?
L: Why did the market crash?
LF: What is subprime crisis?
R: Wall Street? What is its Indian counterpart?
L: Why is it called subprime? What actually happened?
LR: You havn’t answered the question from L completely. Answer it completely. (This professor was quite all throughout the interview and was not asking any questions but observing me!).
LF: So you have an interest on ForEx Markets. So what do you mean by ForEx market?
LF: What kind of experience you have with the ForEx Markets?
R: So, you like yourself to get billed in USD or in INR? And why?
Me: I told reasons like rupee appreciation and depreciation. If Indian Economy is doing well and Indian Rupee is appreciating, I prefer getting billed in INR and if not in USD. (This was a cooked up, instantaneous answer.)
LF: How do you hedge the risk between different currencies? (I couldn’t answer this!)
R: So, INR appreciates only when the Indian Economy is doing well? How do you know whether the Indian Economy is doing well or not?
LF: So you are telling me that GDP of India is growing at around 9% per annum and that is the reason why INR is appreciating? (I forgot the impact ForEx flow can make on the exchange rates here…)
L: Then why didn’t INR appreciate for the past few years but only now? Do you know that Indian Economy was growing at an average of 7-8% per annum on GDP while US was growing at only at 2-3%...? So isn’t your logic wrong?
Me: I tried telling that US economy is 13times that of Indian economy and so 2-3% growth of US economy means 26-39% when compared to India and etc etc… (Cooked up... couldn’t get away with it. So finally, I accepted my mistake.)
LF: (In between, somewhere I had blurted out the word inflation. So they caught on to it.) So what is inflation? Is it good or bad for Economy? Will it affect the GDP growth rate?
LF: So are u speaking about nominal GDP or notional GDP?
(I said nominal and then he asked me what it is… I didn’t know and so accepted defeat there too…)
Here comes the best part.
LF: Seeing your academic performance, your age and Work Experience, you will be able to crack CAT easily if you try again. Also if I offer you a PGP admission here in IIML will you take it? I am going to offer it now…
L: Did you apply for PGP programs too in IIMs? Or you applied just for FPM?
R: What other calls are you having? Do you have other MBA admits?
Me: (I decided to be as frank as I can…) I have applied for both MBA and FPM in IIMs. But no IIM call. Sir, I have a couple of other MBA admits. Sir regarding the IIML PGP seat, I offered, I will definitely take it up. But then, that is only if you are not giving me the FPM admission this time.
Me: I know I am not good at Finance and Financial terms as I don’t have any kind of background in Finance. My short term goal is to get well versed with the Finance and Financial terms… (I got cut here…)
LF: An MBA in Finance will be enough for that…
Me: Yes sir… I know… So if I am not given the FPM seat, which I felt was out of reach till now and is still feeling, I will be taking up MBA finance somewhere… But then, I am sure, down the line, I have to do my research… I have to take my doctorate… I want to have something of my own… So I was thinking… If this seat is offered to me… why should I wait for few more years to complete my MBA and then work in an MNC…? After all, I am going to end up taking FPM here in IIML or in any of the other IIMs…
LF: Hmm… Ok… So thanks Leo.
R: What is this second preference given here? Are you also interested in HR? You were telling me the whole time that you want to be a finance guy and that is the only thing u want be become… Then what is this?
Me: (Again a frank reply…) Sir, we were given two options while applying. So, thought why to keep the second option blank. This is the ONLY reason why HR is shown as my second preference and I am not at all keen in being an HR guy.
R: You had a course on Operations Management too as elective in your 7th Sem. So you remember any chapters from it?
Me: (I wanted to get out of the place… Too much time already…) No Sir.
R: Ok.. Thanks Leo
LR: All the best.
L: Thanks. Please tell the next candidate to come in after 5min.
Me: Yes sir... Thank you sir…

My take:- I was able to do the best I can… And the best part is, I was never tensed… not even a bit… I could also show them what I am… It was like… I am like this… I know this much… You take me if you want… If not, I will look elsewhere… this is not my final frontier… I was happy and had a feeling of comfort within myself. The only worry now was whether to attend the HR interview or not…

Do let me know your comments...

NoeL

Harvard MBA Indicator  

Posted by NoeL in ,

TERM OF THE DAY - MAY 4TH, 2008

Harvard MBA Indicator

What Does it Mean?
A long-term stock market indicator that evaluates the percentage of Harvard Business School graduates that accept "market sensitive" jobs in fields, such as investment banking, securities sales & trading, private equity, venture capital and leveraged buyouts. If more than 30% of a year's graduating class take jobs in these areas, the Harvard MBA Indicator creates a sell signal for stocks. Conversely, if less than 10% of graduates take jobs in this sector, it represents a long-term buy signal for stocks.

Investopedia Says...
Started and maintained by consultant and HBS graduate Roy Soifer, the Harvard Indicator gave sell signals in 1987 and in 2000, which were both terrible years for the stock market. The esoteric indicator is meant to represent long-term signals based on the relative attractiveness of Wall Street jobs. The more grads that are enticed to go there, the more bloated Wall Street becomes and the more likely the market is nearing a top. When stock markets are doing poorly, fewer grads want to enter the sector. This indicator runs on a similar theme to the old market adage that when everyone else is looking to get in, it's time to get out.

NoeL

Life Is About Choices  

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Life Is About Choices
Life is all about choices.
Good or Bad; Right or Wrong;
Your destiny will unfold according to the choices you make.
NoeL

Interview Experiences  

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Hi Friends,

My IIM Lucknow, FPM interview experience will be posted shortly.
Other interview experiences, viz. Great Lakes, SPJIMR and SCMHRD are also in the making.

Do get back for more...

NoeL

A truely inspirational Video..  

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When going gets TOUGH, TOUGH get going!!

NoeL

What's pushing the inflation rate up?  

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Inflation is a measure of rise in general price levels of goods and services. Inflation is measured by taking a set (Consumer Price Index!) of goods and services, and then the prices of the items in the set are compared to prices one time period ago.

In India, inflation is measured based on the wholesale price index (WPI) which measures the change in prices of a selection of goods at wholesale prices. Inflation is primarily of two types - inflation due to cost push and inflation due to demand pull (supply side). Cost push inflation is due to rise in costs of input materials or labour, whereas demand pull inflation is due to increase in demand beyond installed capacity.

Controlled inflation is good for the economy as it increases motivation levels of people. The government, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, decides the inflation threshold in the country (current inflation threshold range in India is 4-5 per cent). The inflation target is one of the key parameters that go into determining fiscal and monetary policies. Inflation went up quite a bit in the beginning of last year (around seven percent) on the back of high liquidity in the markets (huge funds inflows in the form of FII and FDI). The RBI controlled inflation by tightening the monetary policy (raising cash reserve ratio and interest rates) and letting the rupee appreciate against foreign currencies. Inflation came well within the control limits in the second half of last year. However, inflation is going up again this year from the last few weeks. Last week, it has gone above 7 percent. And this week it has peaked at 7.57percent. Highest in the last 4 years. The reasons of rising inflation this time are quite different from those last year.

Here are some of the main reasons behind rising inflation:

Price rise of essential commodities
The prices of the basic commodities - milk, vegetables, cereals, dairy products, cement, steel, edible oil etc - have gone up quite significantly, especially in the last few weeks. This is due to supply concerns. There is fear in the market that the supply of basic commodities is not increasing in proportion to population growth. This has triggered a wave of speculation in commodities and hence the prices are going up rapidly.

Commodity prices rise at global level
Rise in commodity prices at the global level is another factor that contributes to higher inflation in the country. The correction in global stock markets resulted in a rise of commodity prices all over the world as investors are using commodities, especially precious metals, to hedge their risk.

Rising oil prices
Crude oil prices have gone up significantly in the last few weeks. Although the government is controlling fuel prices in the country, rising crude oil prices plays a crucial role in general price rise.

Increasing demand
India's economy is growing at around 7-8 per cent per annum over the last few years. The per capita income levels have gone up and as a result, the demand for many commodities has increased significantly.

Basically, inflation does not have any direct relation to a fall or rise in the stock markets in the short term. However, when inflation goes up beyond the comfortable limit of the RBI and government, they take some strong policy measures such as tightening of monetary policies, regulatory controls, subsidy etc.

Inflation  

Posted by NoeL in ,

We can hear the word ‘inflation’ everywhere for the past 1 month or so… How many of us are aware of what it is? What are its implications?
I would like to explain what it is in the eyes of 6 different people… viz. House Broker, Politician, a Finance guy, RBI, Ruling Party and a Layman!

House Broker
For him, it is a good thing. He can now give away houses for rent at a much higher rate. Though he is not aware of what actually inflation is and what its effects are, he knows that the prices are increasing… which is for him, an increase in the rent… blessing in disguise!
Who suffers? The man, who is in need of a rented accommodation.

Politician
For him too, it is good thing. After all, he is having a social cause to make noise on and attract attention. This is his golden chance to establish himself and his party. Politician need not turn towards think tanks to come up with ideas like ‘some party’ in Mumbai did recently.
Blind followers of the party will call bandh or harthal and even not hesitate to call it ‘INTERNATIONAL’ when the whole thing will be confined to his neighborhood. Nothing comes out of it.
For the ruling party, it is a very bad thing. For the opposition, it is their golden chance to win the next election.
Who suffers? The man, who is paying a higher price to day-to-day essential goods, viz. rice, vegetables etc.

Finance Guy
This guy mostly will be a finance graduate from one of the premier institutes in India / Abroad. He will start analyzing the so called ‘inflation’ using his various tools… There is nothing much this guy can do… Also this guy is not worried much about it. Because, he is someone whose income has already touched the stars!!
Who suffers? Not him. Not his organization. But the common man who is not even aware of what inflation is and how does it look like…

RBI
This is the most difficult period for the people in RBI. They have to somehow control the inflation. They will start making changes to the monetary policy. (CRR, Repo, Reverse Repo rates!) They have to somehow bring the monster (inflation) down! Tighten the credit… Reduce the money that is being circulated in the market… etc etc..
Any change in monetary policy will take approximately 4-6months to show its effects.
Who suffers? The same common man…! Whom I prefer to call a layman…

Ruling Party
This is the worst thing that can happen to them! Not because they are worried about its effect on the common people. They are worried because, the opposition party or the politicians will make this the biggest weapon to use against them for the coming election. Sleepless nights ahead of them…
Ruling party will start amending its import – export policy. They will start campaign against hoarding. They will try to do whatever they can. After all, they have to win the next election…!!
Who suffers? Should I say who AGAIN??

Layman
For this poor guy, life becomes a burden. He have no idea what inflation is or how it can be controlled. What he knows is that, his daily expenditure is going above the roofs. He might even think of joining the politician (whom I described above) and his party, thinking that, it will help him bring down his expenses! But is never will! Because the politician is there for his own vested interests.

So that is inflation for each one of them!

NoeL

Google is the best!  

Posted by NoeL in

Checkout the link below...
Google Movie Search
This link will give you the movies that are running at your hometown. No more calling to theaters, searching newspapers... Just use Google!! :)

NoeL

Currency Carry Trade  

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TERM OF THE DAY - MAY 02, 2008

Currency Carry Trade

What Does it Mean?
A strategy in which an investor sells a certain currency with a relatively low interest rate and uses the funds to purchase a different currency yielding a higher interest rate. A trader using this strategy attempts to capture the difference between the rates - which can often be substantial, depending on the amount of leverage the investor chooses to use.

Investopedia Says...
Here's an example of a "yen carry trade": a trader borrows 1,000 yen from a Japanese bank, converts the funds into U.S. dollars and buys a bond for the equivalent amount. Let's assume that the bond pays 4.5% and the Japanese interest rate is set at 0%. The trader stands to make a profit of 4.5% (4.5% - 0%), as long as the exchange rate between the countries does not change. Many professional traders use this trade because the gains can become very large when leverage is taken into consideration. If the trader in our example uses a common leverage factor of 10:1, then she can stand to make a profit of 45%.

The big risk in a carry trade is the uncertainty of exchange rates. Using the example above, if the U.S. dollar was to fall in value relative to the Japanese yen, then the trader would run the risk of losing money. Also, these transactions are generally done with a lot of leverage, so a small movement in exchange rates can result in huge losses unless hedged appropriately.

--
.:NoeL:.

Financial Terms  

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From today, i will be putting up one Finance Term each here in my blog for your reference. This will in improving the knowledge in field of Finance.
Courtesy : Investopedia

NoeL

Welcome to My Life!  

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Hi friends...

Today, 3rd May 2008, I am stepping on to the shoes of a writer! Blogger!!

For a long time, i was thinking of starting a BloG of my own. Also i always wanted to write about something.. Write about the things that come to my mind every now and then... Finally, i belive i am going to do that...

You will find posts here on following stuff!!

My Life! (The Past, The Present and The Future)
My Thoughts! (The things that will be going on through my mind... every now and then!!)
My Interests! (Weblinks, articles i stumble upon etc...!)
My Daily Activities..! (The ones i would like to share with you all...!)

Hmm... That is quite a lot... All these will appear here only if i post regularly!! For that i need inspiration... and it has to come from you all!! So keep posting comments!! :)

NoeL

Contact Me  

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I study at European Business School, Oestrich-Winkel. The opinions expressed here are my own, and neither European Business School, Oestrich-Winkel nor any other party necessarily agrees with them.