How I Started My MBA – Part I

As some of you know and some of you probably don’t, I will be joining Indian Institute of Management Bangalore for the PGP on June 21st. It’s one of the best news I have had to share with the few faithful readers that subscribe to this blog of mine.

I doubted that my Essay writing & PI experience at IIM Bangalore would be useful to anyone if I didn’t get through. Now that I have gotten through I think sharing what went through with you is the right thing. So here goes.

The CAT experience: Personally, this was the most difficult part for me. My preparation, when compared to a lot of others, was relatively less. I hadn’t given any Mock CATs and the whole confusion over the computer based test thing only discouraged me from going to any coaching class. My preparation was solely based on the material that I had obtained for my GMAT preparation (I scored a 710 there).

My exam was scheduled for 10am at Sir MVIT, Bangalore on 2nd Dec. I reached the center on time and the staff/coordinators at the venue were well informed and helpful. They knew the whole procedure, the glitches present in the system and what to do in case anything went wrong. The exam went smoothly without any problems.

The test was easy compared to previous papers. Now this meant that people who had prepared really well could ace it. At the time of the exam I thought that a properly prepared candidate could actually score full marks on the test (don’t know if someone did).  It also meant that I would be at a disadvantage because to do well percentile-wise I had to do really really well percentage-wise.

My CAT score was as expected. 96.73 overall. The sectional percentiles were a little surprising. 80.7 in Quant (I think I attempted 3 or 4 questions less than required in this section). 98.28 in DI & Logic (I was actually surprised by this high a score here) and 94.67 in Verbal ( this was around what I expected). Usually with this kind of a CAT score one rarely expects any calls. So how did I get calls from IIM B, K & I? Will tell you about that the next time

Update: Changed the heading, because first off – I don’t think it is a tryst and second I am yet to start at IIM B.

Movie Review – How to Train Your Dragon?

So what do you do on a overcast Sunday afternoon when there’s no water in your room? I don’t know about you, but I went and watched “How to Train Your Dragon“. I went with high expectations, having read all the reviews, but the movie still exceeded my expectations.

The storyline for the movie is your run of the mill one, a misfit hero who saves your day, with a little bit of romance thrown in. But the script is crisp and the editing is squeaky clean. There are a lot of scenes that capture your attention, the awkward conversations between the hunk of a viking king, Stoick (voiced by Gerard Butler) and his son – our hero, Hiccup; the scenes of dragon training; and almost all of the flight scenes, especially the one showing the first time Hiccup navigates a set of dangerous rocks in the sea while flying Toothless, his pet dragon.

The voice actors have done a good job and the whole movie is ripe with witty dialogues and well directed scenes. But the best reason to watch the movie – the beautiful dragons, especially Toothless, our hero’s mysterious, intelligent pet. The scenes with the dragon have been well thought out, giving a lot of depth to their characters. Not since Dragon Heart have I seen a movie giving so much importance to dragons.

All in all, it was really really fun to watch this one, even though I went alone. After Kung Fu Panda this is the next Dreamworks movie that I absolutely loved (although I thought that the former was a bit short). I do have to say that I watched the movie in 2D, I hope to catch it in 3D sometime as I think some of the scenes will be more fun in 3D. Well, I hope you too catch the movie in a theater sometime, it’s paisa wasool.

Why is Sania’s marriage such a big deal?

I mean, seriously, why is it a big deal?? Why are Rajdeep Sardesai, Arnab Goswami and other supposedly great Indian journalists fawning over this piece of utterly irrelevant news? Is it because she “was” once touted to be India’s ace female tennis player? Is it because Sania is marrying a Pakistani cricketing ex-captain (one with a shady history of marriages) ? Or is it because she was supposed to be a representative for feminism in India who never lived upto the expectations? Is the ridiculous Aman ki Asha campaign sponsoring this marriage?

As far as I can remember, Sania has never been in an exciting tennis match except for that one with Serena Williams. And her engagement got way too much attention than was required. And now this ridiculous thing about her marriage. I am not sure why serious journalists consider covering Sania’s marriage as a good use of their time. I mean, aren’t there other more consequential issues which need a hell lot more attention than this one?

This, I believe, is just an indication of the serious rot in today’s news media (primarily the television news media). Seldom does one see a prioritization of news based on their relevance. Sensational news trumps useful news. Bad news trumps good news. Panel discussions are more fights than meaningful debates with an aim to reach a conclusion or to at least start a solution. The line between real news and paid ones are blurring constantly, while our newsmen (and women) are busy slapping their own backs for the good work they are doing.

I don’t mean to come across as a person who has turned a blind eye to the various developments in journalism and news media that India has seen over the past 10 years. I like to be updated on the happenings in the world and a good piece of journalism, like some that were reported from the field in Afghanistan and Iraq are appreciated by yours truly. I like the fact that news is on my fingertips and just a channel switch away. I am glad that I have the opportunity to know a lot more about the world today than I would have had 10 years ago.

But I can’t help but wonder -

• Why isn’t there that one program in the day in any news channel, which I would like to catch no matter what I am doing?
• In a 24 hour news channel isn’t there even an hour worth of good news that can be showcased? I am talking news about those silent achievers, those things that make us proud to be Indian. Why isn’t investigative journalism ever used to dig up good news or inspirational news?
• For all the adulation that journalism receives (one hears about journalism awards every now and then) we have to wonder where the forum for receiving negative feedback is. The media doesn’t take lightly any criticism (remember Bharka Dutt?) and there doesn’t appear to be any constant effort to improve its current condition.

I fear the day when we’ll have somebody on our television mirroring Glenn Beck’s interview with Sarah Palin. And to think that I ranted this much because of Sania’s marriage. Well lets all join the news channel in wishing the newly-to-be-married couple all the best.