Yesterday was the last class of "The Chicago Boy" Prof.Krishna Kumar(Global Economics). He is a classical economist and he has already created a huge bias in our minds against Kenesian school of thought. :-) The most interesting part of his class is "The Commanding Heights" video that he uses to teach in the class. His enormous amount of passion for the subject, the stimulation of interest he is able to generate in class and the way in which he anticipates the questions by the students - I can say simply "Brilliance re-defined". Interpreting the dreamworld I believe to be 'Real'
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Farewell to Prof.Krishna Kumar
Yesterday was the last class of "The Chicago Boy" Prof.Krishna Kumar(Global Economics). He is a classical economist and he has already created a huge bias in our minds against Kenesian school of thought. :-) The most interesting part of his class is "The Commanding Heights" video that he uses to teach in the class. His enormous amount of passion for the subject, the stimulation of interest he is able to generate in class and the way in which he anticipates the questions by the students - I can say simply "Brilliance re-defined". 
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Commanding Heights
During our term-2 we are having class room discussions on a few chapters of the wonderful documentary of "Commanding Heights" and an excellent explanation given by Prof. Krishna Kumar. I understood why he was chosen as the Best Professor for two consecutive years, 2004 & 2005. This is just one of his methods of teaching.
Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy is a fascinating & marvellous book by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw in 1998. In 2002, this book was turned into a documentary of the same title, and later released on DVD. Commanding Heights attempts to trace the rise of free markets during the last century, as well as the process of globalization.
Origin of the Title: The title "Commanding Heights" is taken from a speech by Vladimir Lenin, who used the phrase "commanding heights" to refer to the segments and industries in an economy that effectively control and support the others, such as oil, railroads, banking and steel.
I have added the link of this documentary to my blog as one of the 'most influencing' items in the left side of the menu. I will try to add whenever I encounter such powerful things.
Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy is a fascinating & marvellous book by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw in 1998. In 2002, this book was turned into a documentary of the same title, and later released on DVD. Commanding Heights attempts to trace the rise of free markets during the last century, as well as the process of globalization.
Origin of the Title: The title "Commanding Heights" is taken from a speech by Vladimir Lenin, who used the phrase "commanding heights" to refer to the segments and industries in an economy that effectively control and support the others, such as oil, railroads, banking and steel.
I have added the link of this documentary to my blog as one of the 'most influencing' items in the left side of the menu. I will try to add whenever I encounter such powerful things.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
SnapShots of the past one week
Lots of things happened during this past one week......
We, Sec-Cians planned to have Ethnic Day on last Thursday. Class room was very colourful - ethnic wear all around - sherwanis, kurtas, dhotis, sarees and the entire class was in festive mood. Professors were puzzled to see the entire class in ethnic dress and questioned whether we are attending any Sanskrit Class?
We took lots and lots of snaps.... and Ethnic Day was celebrated happily.
On Sunday we had a talk by Mr. D Shivkumar, General Manager – Nokia on "Future of Brands". The session was very very informative and gave us the real perspective on the topic. Kudos to the Marketing Club for organizing such a phenomenal session.
Also, Our Markstrat sessions started this week. MarkStrat is on Online version of a Retail Simulation game where the entire class is divided into groups for the whole term and will be assigned to different industries/firms that sell two imaginary Products - Sonites & Vodites. Each team has to prepare a marketing plan in each round with various decisions on Advertising, product promotion, R&D and lot more. We came 2nd in our Industry segment for the first round and working hard to do strategically well in the consequent rounds. Second round was not that bad though. Saturday is another deadline for taking Round-3 Decision. Each round is a nightout for our group. Thanks to Chiranth, my groupie, who continuously plays old classic hindi songs on his laptop throughout the night - to make us awake.
All our Term-2 all classes are in the morning and the classes start @ 8.15 everyday. Even if we do night out, we are trying to wake up as early as possible so that we won't miss any class.
Next week Friday - Mid Term starts. Two exams and Two tonnes of material to read..... :((
There is a screening of all the live Football matches on a very big screen and lots of parties are being organized - Arabian Nights - the latest one. But where is the time?
There is also a Blood Donation Camp scheduled for this week on behalf of NetImpact club.
Just now finished my classes for this week. TGIF has become TGIT (Thanks God it is Thursday).
ISB information sessions started and the prospective applicants can register to attend these sessions to get a full length information on ISB. The new amendment to the selection process is that GRE is no more valid and all the applicants should take GMAT only as ISB has been invited to join the Board of The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC).
More Campus news follows in the following posts......
We, Sec-Cians planned to have Ethnic Day on last Thursday. Class room was very colourful - ethnic wear all around - sherwanis, kurtas, dhotis, sarees and the entire class was in festive mood. Professors were puzzled to see the entire class in ethnic dress and questioned whether we are attending any Sanskrit Class?
We took lots and lots of snaps.... and Ethnic Day was celebrated happily.
On Sunday we had a talk by Mr. D Shivkumar, General Manager – Nokia on "Future of Brands". The session was very very informative and gave us the real perspective on the topic. Kudos to the Marketing Club for organizing such a phenomenal session.
Also, Our Markstrat sessions started this week. MarkStrat is on Online version of a Retail Simulation game where the entire class is divided into groups for the whole term and will be assigned to different industries/firms that sell two imaginary Products - Sonites & Vodites. Each team has to prepare a marketing plan in each round with various decisions on Advertising, product promotion, R&D and lot more. We came 2nd in our Industry segment for the first round and working hard to do strategically well in the consequent rounds. Second round was not that bad though. Saturday is another deadline for taking Round-3 Decision. Each round is a nightout for our group. Thanks to Chiranth, my groupie, who continuously plays old classic hindi songs on his laptop throughout the night - to make us awake.
All our Term-2 all classes are in the morning and the classes start @ 8.15 everyday. Even if we do night out, we are trying to wake up as early as possible so that we won't miss any class.
Next week Friday - Mid Term starts. Two exams and Two tonnes of material to read..... :((
There is a screening of all the live Football matches on a very big screen and lots of parties are being organized - Arabian Nights - the latest one. But where is the time?
There is also a Blood Donation Camp scheduled for this week on behalf of NetImpact club.
Just now finished my classes for this week. TGIF has become TGIT (Thanks God it is Thursday).
ISB information sessions started and the prospective applicants can register to attend these sessions to get a full length information on ISB. The new amendment to the selection process is that GRE is no more valid and all the applicants should take GMAT only as ISB has been invited to join the Board of The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC).
More Campus news follows in the following posts......
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
How to optimize Sleep Time?
From the past two months, my sleeping time is continuously declining....... and I know it won't improve......... :(
Somewhere down the net, I read an article about "Sleep". I was amazed to know that humans only needed one-hour of deep sleep/day. But the problem is that.....this deep sleep will only last 15 minutes and come back every 90 minutes.
How could we optimize our sleep to get the one hour deep sleep without spending 6 hours in bed?
Well....... The body follows a cycle and, when you feel really tired, note down the time on a paper... You will probably see that this tireness will come back about 90 minutes later.
It would be perfect to be able to sleep only 'Four' times '15 mins/day', when you think your have reach your deep sleep cycle!!
Why don't u just give a try???..........
Monday, June 12, 2006
Ready.....1..2...3....Go!!
World Cup Foot Ball.....Started
Week........Started
Term-II.............Started.
Running........Started.....
Term-II started with a 'dynamic' "Competitive Strategy" class by Prof. Nandini Lahiri.
Why 'dynamic?'............... 25% weightage of marks will be awarded for CP(Class participation).
Today the entire class was active, talking, discussing, sharing and counter arguing the points and many valid and fruitful ideas were flown through out. IMO...It is good to have Class Participation...........but I have a different opinion on the amount of weightage.
10%-15% is reasonable, but Professor explained the importance of CP with respect to the "Strategy" part and I agree to it.
Today's takeaways are Porter's 5 forces model, Industry Attractiveness, Competitive advantage & a discussion on "Cola Wars" ...........Interesting!!!!!
There is a project to be done on Strategy and the due date is in the visible distance... :((
Lots of other assignments are also waiting for me............
Tomorrow on "MarkStrat" simulation game.......
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Term-I Adieu
First of all...Apologies for the delay in updating my blog. First time, First term... Exams and no time to blog. I know this is not an excuse, but I was helpless. Yesterday, we finished our Term-I exams. So by now, I am a 12.5% MBA............ LOL...........
At this context....I would like to share a few insights about our Term-I Faculty.....with you alll.....
My MBA journey started with the 'Financial Accounting' class of Prof. MarkFinn, Kellogg. Prof. Mark Finn is one of the best Professors that ISB can offer .. Yes.. ... He is "The Best".He is such a wonderful Professor, very humble and always ground to earth with ever lasting smile on his face......and wonderful command on the subject.......... I just could not believe at times............ I was fortunate to talk a couple of times in his Class.....
Then Comes "Managerial Economics". This subject was taught by Two Professors, each shared half the term.
Prof. Amit Bubna-ISB, who taught the first part has two distinguished qualities, which I liked the most. His Passion on the subject and his Dynamism. He pours such an amount of energy in the class with his lecture and makes all of us....active throughout. His surprise quizzes, games and "The Economist" contest and a lot more.....shows his devotion towards the subject.
Prof.Rakesh Vohra-Kellogg, the God of Economics I can say. He took all the classes without a single PPT. Using just a small piece of paper with some toy stories, he explained the intricacies and enormities of Game Theory. Thanks, ISB for bringing such a great professor for such a tough subject.
Statistics: Both Prof. Bob Stine and Prof. Waterman - from Wharton. Both of them showered the entire class with their Subject. Especially Prof. Stine with the Null Hypothesis and Prof. Waterman with Multiple regression.
God! How energetic they are and what command they have? They are simply phenomenal.
Marketing: The another synonym for the word 'Marketing' is Prof. Jagmohan Raju, Wharton. His timely wits and deep knowledge in the subject blended together and gave a wonderful experience .
The best thing to watch out is his "Photo Cold Calling". The class starts with questions about what we learnt in the previous class and the student whose photo gets flashed on the screen has to answer the question asked. Ofcourse..........if the student cannot answer it, he can nominate some one to answer the question....... But Poor Girl M - was nominated most of the times as she was an acting CR of our section. As days pass by, some students stop recognizing their own faces.
The first half of Marketing was taught by Prof. Ansari, Columbia. He is very cool and composed.. The best part is that he handled even the toughest Post-Lunch, sleepy sessions with his timely jokes and one line punches and made the entire class active.
Overall.....................The Professors are Gods in their respective fields and they did a Phenomenal job..............
Term-I ends........
Term-II starts from Monday and in this term the subjects are Competitive Strategy, Decision Models, Mktg Decision making & Global Economics. More on this after Term-II.
At this context....I would like to share a few insights about our Term-I Faculty.....with you alll.....
My MBA journey started with the 'Financial Accounting' class of Prof. MarkFinn, Kellogg. Prof. Mark Finn is one of the best Professors that ISB can offer .. Yes.. ... He is "The Best".He is such a wonderful Professor, very humble and always ground to earth with ever lasting smile on his face......and wonderful command on the subject.......... I just could not believe at times............ I was fortunate to talk a couple of times in his Class.....
Then Comes "Managerial Economics". This subject was taught by Two Professors, each shared half the term.
Prof. Amit Bubna-ISB, who taught the first part has two distinguished qualities, which I liked the most. His Passion on the subject and his Dynamism. He pours such an amount of energy in the class with his lecture and makes all of us....active throughout. His surprise quizzes, games and "The Economist" contest and a lot more.....shows his devotion towards the subject.
Prof.Rakesh Vohra-Kellogg, the God of Economics I can say. He took all the classes without a single PPT. Using just a small piece of paper with some toy stories, he explained the intricacies and enormities of Game Theory. Thanks, ISB for bringing such a great professor for such a tough subject.
Statistics: Both Prof. Bob Stine and Prof. Waterman - from Wharton. Both of them showered the entire class with their Subject. Especially Prof. Stine with the Null Hypothesis and Prof. Waterman with Multiple regression.
God! How energetic they are and what command they have? They are simply phenomenal.
Marketing: The another synonym for the word 'Marketing' is Prof. Jagmohan Raju, Wharton. His timely wits and deep knowledge in the subject blended together and gave a wonderful experience .
The best thing to watch out is his "Photo Cold Calling". The class starts with questions about what we learnt in the previous class and the student whose photo gets flashed on the screen has to answer the question asked. Ofcourse..........if the student cannot answer it, he can nominate some one to answer the question....... But Poor Girl M - was nominated most of the times as she was an acting CR of our section. As days pass by, some students stop recognizing their own faces.
The first half of Marketing was taught by Prof. Ansari, Columbia. He is very cool and composed.. The best part is that he handled even the toughest Post-Lunch, sleepy sessions with his timely jokes and one line punches and made the entire class active.
Overall.....................The Professors are Gods in their respective fields and they did a Phenomenal job..............
Term-I ends........
Term-II starts from Monday and in this term the subjects are Competitive Strategy, Decision Models, Mktg Decision making & Global Economics. More on this after Term-II.
A mail from one of my batchmates to the Future aspirants of ISB
A wonderful mail by one of my batchmates Mayank Jain to all the Prospective, Future aspirants of ISB. Worth Reading.............
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/isb-pgp/message/11795?l=1
For the benefit of those non members of the above group, I had uploaded his mail to Uploading.com
(Please click the below link and follow the instructions like entering a number and clicking the download.....)
http://www.uploading.com/?get=G7J6UIPO
For the benefit of those non members of the above group, I had uploaded his mail to Uploading.com
(Please click the below link and follow the instructions like entering a number and clicking the download.....)
http://www.uploading.com/?get=G7J6UIPO