Placement & Jazz

Hi,

Probably one of the fewere times when I am not enthusiastic about writing. Rather thinking deep and across about issues playing ont he mind.

Right now, my life seems to be beginning and ending with placement. Hmm. . not just my own, but for an entire bunch of people. The one reason that keeps burning in my gut and keeps me motivated to do this is that I have always believed in action, especially for the things I have always raised flag about.

The idea is very simple, if not you, then who!! I do think the society is made up of individuals. And the individual certainly is more important than the society. Isnt that amply demonstrated in all our selfish interests of life. So why make a difference when it comes to takeing action. When there is a need to do something, the group and the society take the front seat.

Anyways, i think the bigger frustration right now is the difficulty one faces in gettings systems to move. It is just not enough to move at a dynamic pace yourself, you will always be as slow as the slowest. And then you hit the boulder of people participation. Without getting a buy-in and the firm resolution of each individual, there is never the progress you think can be achieved actually by such an efficient set of folks.

And then people try to pull initiatives in different directions, thinking they can also take the lead.Which is right in someway, but just that when there is a stated direction - it just doesnt help the cause to divert into picnics of smaller objectives.

Wonder when I can come up with a working mechanism to organize and manage such a mesh of people, actions and thoughts. Maybe I need to do a Phd in this. Whew. . right now just a decent job with good money and some challenging work will suffice for me. The needs get to the basic, whent he mind evolves to the complex :)

Just need to get out and have fun with some friends.

till later,
satish

Final Countdown to the MBA!

Hi!

It has been more than 2 weeks since I came back to Singapore, and a week since classes have started for my last semester here at the NUS MBA program. The beginning to semesters, as always, has been a whirlwind of activity. But unlike other time, when one looks at short term goals, this time I have also been thinking of the fact that this will be my last few months at school, living on the campus and roaming around in tees and floaters.

Something more substantive is the question of the balance of learning. Doing the MBA was quite an obvious choice for me, although I also just wanted to get an opportunity to be a student again. After the humdrum of a routine work life, at times one just wants to get back to a phase of focused learning and value addition, or atleast a phase where these are central objectives.

At this moment, I look forward to the semester ahead as a challenging time, since there is a need to work on getting jobs (and not just for myself), and the desire to meet and relax with people, and do things that will remain etched in my mind. Many of these things do not occur by design, but as any organization theory class would tell you, the structure goes hand-in-hand with strategy. There needs be an organized chaos, just like in Nature.

All things considered, student life can definitely be a high-growth time for any individual, but the fun and frolic part of it is something that makes it wonderfully attractive. Wonder if some of it cannot be taken on to the workplace. I do hope there are organizations out there which encourage a fun & relaxed environment to work in, and to them, I can only say - I am looking for you :) If wishes were horses . . .

So much for now - Back to working day at the MBA!

Cheers,
satish

South Europe: Part 1 - ATHENS

First Stop: ATHENS, GREECE (22-23 october 2004)

The Maersk Air flight landed at about 12.30 in the day in Athens, and though I had woken up at 4.30 in themorning to catch the flight from Copenhagen, I couldn't sleep much because I was chatting up with this Indian family who was on my row. The guy, Shibaji, is from Calcutta and had an energetic boy of 3-4 years . Anyways, Athens airport immrdiately filled one of the Olympic feel, with the many signboards and decorations still on the walls. It felt warm, for once literally :)

Something that would be difficult to miss is the sight of the pretty women. Greek women are quite pretty, and I was just about to be reassured of that over the next two days. Maybe it was just bright and warm in Athens, so we could see the women more clearly than in dark Copenhagen! On the 40-minute bus ride to our youth hostel (Hotel Zeus)from the airport, I was entertained by the covnersation between one of us (not me) and a Greek girl. Let me say this, the greek girl was strikingly beautiful and had one of the loveliest smiles I had seen in a while. All this woman talk is getting too much, right!

After quickly refreshing at the hostel, we set out for the Acropolis, which was only a 30-minute walk from the place. We had to walk across what-seemed-to-be one of the central marketplaces in Athens. So there were these shops longs hotdog chains hanging, and a whole lot of other meat in all shapes and sizes. If this would sound a lil bloody, just further up was an entire meat market, where butchers were calling out to outsell each other in the freshness of their meat. Fat Greek aunties and uncles were checking out the meats, and the marketplace reminded me of the vegetable market on Sunday mornings in Ahmedabad.

For the more historically inclined, we passed the Bath, Roman Agora on our way to the Acroplois. The stairs to the first level of the acropolis was half occuppied by people sitting under umbrellas, of the coffee shops. The stairs overlooked some kind of a valley and provided a distant view of the acropolis, so it certainly did seem a nice touristy affair.

The four of us took a small detour to a small hill, a hill of Marble. If one just wondered about the pristine smoothness of the marble (we ketp slipping), the view of the Acropolis (and the Parthenon) from the top of this hill was probably breath-taking. Would recommend anyone who visits the Acropolis in Athens to go to this hill for a view of the Parthenon on one side, and a partial view of Athens city on the other.

Once on the Acropolis, the Parthenon is the final destination, but before there were equally interesting remnants of history and architecture. The Theatre of Dionysos is quite a sight to marvel at, and one could just imagine what it would look like when things actually happened there. Reachign up to the Parthenon tires you a little, but the sheer size of it overcomes any fatigue. The Parthenon can basically be seen from the four directions, and each side was constructed to mean something special. The Porch with six idols is interesting to see. We spent a couple of hours at the parthenon, and then headed down and towards the city centre.

The city centre is a beautiful square and is called the Syntagma square. It also has the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, guarded by 2 uniformed gurds round the clock. The market and walking street is accessible from the square, and has musicians and choir bands singing. We headed into the Olympic Store, and the sheer variety of the Olympics memorabilia was impressive. The entire event was relying on these memorabilia sales in the next year to break even.

The night we walked through many of the city streets, crossed innumerable cafes and pubs, and settled at one of the street cross-sections on stone benches in an open area, with the Parthenon lit up in the distance. The night was marked with a very engaging discussion between the four of us on how change could be brought around in a country like India and our role as citizens in this.

The next day is Athens took us to some other less known places, but was full of fun and interesting sights, including the 1200 years old Olympic Stadium, the new Peace & Friendship stadium, the rocky beach (with a beautiful meditating woman), the 2-month old trams and the haphazard buildings all across the city.

All in all - the impression one made of Athens was different from expectation. Athens is a bustling metropolis, with modern age commercialization rooting out the rich history of the city, except for the few architectural evidences left behind. One wonders, if it was a matter of time, that all of this evidence would just be transported into silicon to be provided as only virtual experiences. Greece definitely is more than just Athens, but the true beauty of Greece probably remains outside of this centre of world history.


Cheers,
Satish