Healthy Competition

"They glanced at one another like tigers taking measure of a menacing new rival.".......... The Class, Eric Segal.
I remember reading this novel some 10 years back. However, This line has since then always remained fresh in my mind. Always.

Today in our HBO lecture this issue came up all of nowhere. Whether we should take our batchmates as partners in our learning process or should we take them as our competitors. Interesting.... right.
Including my proffy, most of my batchmates were arguing for partners. That everyone should assist others in the class. We should try to help each other in overcoming his/her weaknesses.
But does it happens all the time?
I'm not sure about others, but I certainly believe that its my competitive spirit only which has taken me so far. Its hard to believe that most of the time we don't see our batchmates as rivals. In my opinion we do. And there is nothing wrong in it. One hour and 20 minutes which we spend in a class will be most productive only if everyone is trying to outshine others. To give his best.

The only imporant thing must remembering is that competition should be healthy. One should not resort to unehtical means :D.

Passed CFA Level - I

It’s been more than 4 days when results came out. I do think of writing about it here everyday but ...

These days its been soo very hard to concentrate anywhere.. Things are moving so fast ... Not only therez study pressure, I've to keep applying for my internship too. Have to prepare for possible interviews. Prepare for upcoming CFA Level-II and FRM exam... Marketing, DE, GME, HBO Project, MC Write up... Then therez guitar Classes too. Phew...

I do think, I'm quite capable of managing all this. But then for this new found source of distraction. It’s not letting me concentrate anywhere. I do tend to become bored of task in hand every 15-20 mins. Keep switching between cases, books, Guitar, Internet and sleep. Sure I need to do something fast.

Anyway, amidst all this chaos, on 23rd of Jan I felt relieved to read that I've passed CFA Level-I exam. This certainly was a confidence booster. I'd hardly prepared 15-20 days for level-I exam and hence was a bit sceptical of my chances.

When I’d left India for Manila, I’d set a goal for myself … to clear at least CFA Level-II by the time I graduate out of AIM. Now this result, certainly gives me a chance to achieve my goal. Level-II & III exams are administered only once in a year (in June). In all probability I’ll be graduating in December and it only means that I’ll have to pass level-II in June. I know, I can and sure, I’ll.

Walkabout

So, finally I bought an Acoustic Guitar Today.
Now this sounds interesting. Why would an MBA student in midst of his classes leave all the books behind and head towards a Guitar shop!!!.
Well the answer to this question lies in my HBO Course. In this course we were asked to take up a challenging project. To do something which one always wanted to do but could never muster enough courage. Of course there were certain conditions attached to the type of projects one can chose.
I chose to learn playing Guitar & to perform a duet in the end with one of my batch met who is also standing by me in this journey.
Since my engineering college days I wanted to play Guitar. Once I even started taking lesson from my guitarist friend, Swadhisthan Thoke. However, I failed miserably then.
So This time when opportunity knocked on my door, I didn’t let it go.
I’ve got 2 and half month, before the D-day. Also, this Walkabout carries 25% weight of HBO course, which again is a 4 credit course. Lets see what happens.
Btw, I’ve already taken appointment with an instructor here and shall be starting my formal training from tomorrow. Wish me luck !

Back to my "Karma Bhoomi"

After a much needed three week break from studies, am back in AIM, my "Karma Bhoomi" till december, at least. My classes/grilling begins on the afternoon of 7th, so am thinking of exploring a few pages of wikipedia in the meanwhile.
Past three weeks were rejuvenating in the literal sense.
My vacation started with a trip to Thailand's capital Bangkok. Honestly I was impressed with the progress they have made in smoothing road traffic. The flyovers and expressways they have made is a model for major cities around the globe fighting with the traffic jam problem.
Then I went to Jaipur where I met my cutie pie, my angelic daughter who turned 6 months old a couple of days before my arrival. It was really moving to see that my daughter, whom I'd last seen when she was only 1 and half month old, recognized me the moment she saw me. May be its because she used to see me almost on the daily basis on webcam. Whatever. Thank you wifey for individually taking care of our daughter not only as a mother, rather as a father too.
With Apooravi, my next 7 days passed by in no time. Contrary to what I'd thought before leaving for India, I could hardly drive my parked car, City Zx for 100 KMs. there was actually no time for anything. I hardly did any shopping. Can't even see any movie in the theater. However, I somehow managed to get the edu loan ceiling enhanced by a few lacs.
On 25th, I proceeded alongwith my wifey and daughter to Jamshedpur where I met both my younger brothers and my parents. We were all together after a long long time. Once again a week seemed too little to be enough.
on 31st I left Jamshedpur for New Delhi where I took NCFM's Derivatives and Debt market tests. I think my performance in these tests were satisfactory considering that I was not able to prepare at all for these tests.
On 3rd night I left Delhi for Manila via Bangkok. My daughter and wifey had come to IGIA for seeing me off. Last time my daughter was very young, but this time I'm sure she is going to miss me.
Btw, no prize for guessing that I'm missing them like hell.
It was near dawn, when Cebu Pacific's flight landed in Manila. The moment I came out of airport and our taxi started plying on the roads of Manila I felt as if I'm back to a place where everything is sooo much familiar. As if I'm back in my own country. I was feeling so much at home that in the evening when I was going out for dinner, I started talking with hostel staff in "hindi". When she said "sorry", it took me a moment to realize that am not in my motherland, rather in a foreign country where hardly anyone understands hindi. Whatever.
The break was great. It has reenergized me to take the coming semester head on, and I'm sure raring to go :).

MALENA......

He who said so, was dot on target when he said that "Cinema" is a reflection of society. It truly is. It tells us so many things about the customs, fashion, architecture, etc of an era which can not be encompassed in literature.
After my CFA Level-I exam got over on 2nd dec, I've watched many a good movies. Notable among them are, "Catch me if you can", "The others", "The Illusionist". However, one movie which I'm not going to forget for quite some time is definately none other than "MALENA".
Wowwwwww. What a movie. Hats off to Giuseppe Tornatore, Writer/Director of this Italian flick for coming out with this perfect depiction of pure love, the longingness felt by the one sided lover.
As soon as the movie starts, it transcends you into the second world war Italy. The master storeyteller casts his magic and you suddenly start feeling in sync with all the characters of the movie for next 1 hour 40 mins. And when the movie ends, you feel like staying back in time for some more time so as to be able to share the pain with "Malena".
Simply great. Cinema at its best.

Can Group - LT 7B

So finally I have a pic of my CAN group mates. Looks great ... right? Allow me to introduce my Learning Team members. From Left... Your truly, Reetesh Bhargava, Ruchak Mehta, Karen Mario Sumcio, Wang Shu, Russ Lo and Amit Vijay. When we'd started our journey 3 months back, we were kinda most 'under rated' group. No one amongst our group was a 'high flier'. But in less than 3 months time our group has created a niche for itself in the eyes of all professors. We met our mentor today and it was really satisfying to know that all our group members are doing quite well. Good job LT7B. Keep it up...

Dard-E-Dil, Dard-e-zigar

So it was another WAC night.... Good thing that I cud finally submit my WAC in time .. at 07:20 a.m. :)
4th night out in this week. and another one in the offing .. woooooooofffffff....
Here in AIM we sixth floorites have made a rule that we'll not say its today unless we've slept last night ... or in other words .. if it is a night out then today has not yet happened... it is yet to happen .. so although it is already 10:00 a.m., I don't accept that its 20th October... nah .. its 19th ... how can it be 20th, if I've not slept on 19th night ?????
whatever............ :D
So now the title of this post ... Dard-E-Dil..
I've kinda found a new-found respect for this song thanks to my dear room mate Kapil .. Kapil Dhar .... "Kapil 'Kapil' kataye ja ..... "
This morning, I went to pee and there I heard him singing this song while taking bath.... Wowww.. he was singing this soooooo wellll ....I always believed in his singing capabilities ... but it was something very very special ... direct from the heart ... so very real .. so very "dard se bhara"...
WSo here I'm .. listening and singing the song .. for the ..... nth number of times ...
"Dard -e - dil , dard- e - zigar.... dil me jagaya, aapne ....."