Category: general

I?ve started my first proper client engagement today. Will be here for seven months or so. And we have a policy that we literally sit with a member of a client team, and the guy I was supposed to be with has disappeared, so I?m jobless now!

Unlike my summers, one nice thing here is that breakfast and coffee are brought to the table. We?ve to go out to the canteen for lunch, but the lunch is really good so it?s ok. And unfortunately I?m yet to get net access, so writing this down in my laptop. Will be transferring this to my blog once I get connected.

This is an old economy company, and most of the client team members are in their 40s or 50s. Some interesting stuff during the introductions earlier this morning. The way we introduced ourselves was markedly different. Our team members all introduced ourselves by first name. in fact some even shortened them ? Siddhartha became Sid and Rangarajan became Ranga. And those people simply refused to disclose their first names, introducing themselves as ?Chauhan? or ?Sharma? or whatever!

In fact, I had a look at some documentation regarding the project also. That too referred to our people as ?Ranga?, ?Sid?, etc. while those guys were all identified by their last names!

By the way, people here call me Karthik. Though I?m not sure that?ll last too long since there are two seniors from IIMB here and they know me only as ?wimpy?!

A large part of the last week was spent orienting myself at Goa. Given the off-season, our firm managed to find a set of honeymoon cottages at a good rate, and with team-building measures being an objective of the exercise, we had to share rooms.

I was lucky to get a ?normal?, though remote, room. A couple of friends were put up in a room with a view. A view of the bathroom I mean. There was a window between the room and the loo, which could be opened only from outside! And provided a strategic view of the bath-tub and the pot. Truly confidence-building measures!

Nice resort, amazing food, the constant sound of waves crashing against the sands, a swimming pool, bikini babes.. and we were attending classes. Classes on making powerpoints, writing reports and on professional ethics. And on Friday night we are invited to a party where the bosses get us drunk, and early on Saturday morning we had to make a case presentation! A true test of spirit.
After the case presentation, there was a session on ?useful tips?. Some stuff I found nice:
1. You are going to work hard for your jobs. You are young. You will be paid well. We encourage you to spend and lead a good life. Trust us, you?ll regret it later if you generally try to save!
2. Life will be tough, and there might be some stress. Your IIM friends may not hold on forever. The most important thing for you would be to build strong relationships and a strong support system within the firm.
3. This profession is a marathon, not a sprint. Remember that and ensure you don?t burn yourself out.
Outside of the session, a senior manager said ?Karthik, I?m not sure you can hold on for four-five years as a bachelor given the vagaries of this profession?. Wonder what he meant. Guess I might figure out in a couple of years.
Best part of the training, though was this game of beach volleyball, at the end of which I had figured out that for the last couple of hours I had ordered around this above mentioned senior manager, and he had faithfully followed what I had said, knowing that I was boss on the court. Felt really good!

M called me at 10:30 this morning and asked me about the status of the work he had given me yesterday. “I’ve done this this this googling boss; haven’t got data on that that that. Can you suggest some sources?”

M: I don’t need much info on that that that. this this this should be fine. Also find me some data on somethignelse somethignelse.

Me: OK. i’ll get back to you in an hour.

M: Just mail all these by 2. i have a meeting at 4.

Me: yes boss.

In the middle of the conversation, the lights had gone out of our lives. Another short call later, I figure out my building is on fire! So we leave everything (our most invaluable laptops included) and run for our lives.

There is a huge crowd gathered outside. The whole office is on the road. Frantic phone calls are made to make sure everyone from our office is safe. Soon the red guys arrive and the fire is out. We aren’t allowed to enter the building though. Our laptops are inside.

I’m worried about my work. The first deadline I had to meet in this job, and something had to happen. We’re all tensed up. An ice-cream at the nearby Baskin Robbins (the guy must’ve blessed the fire; he would’ve never made so much business no a normal day) and then we find that the building will be closed for the rest of the day.

I call M and he knows the bombay office had caught fire. He says “at least tell me this and this”. These guys want to go for movie. Half an hour to go for the movie to start. I head off in search of a cyber cafe.

Don’t know why, but Bombay doesn’t have the same density of cyber cafes as Bangalore. Had to walk for half an hour around Bandra to find one. Arrive there sweating. 45 mins of quick work means I have re-googled all of this this this and sent it to M. and I have time to catch the second half of Pink Panther.

The cinema “hall” is as big as my bedroom in my Bangalore house. five rows of seats. Probably the smallest I had ever seen. Regretted not carrying my camera. Coming back, movie done, we head back to office to see if situation has improved. Now they’re letting in people escorted by security to collect belongings (they think we are all vandals). Laptop comes out. Off to a nearby restaurant for an average and quick lunch. Tea at friend’s place and back in hotel at 7!!!

Yeah, I had a day off today , but i hope i don’t ahve to work on the weekend to make up. And I’ll be startin on my first lnog-term project on Monday. Still, feels good coming back early. Nothing to do though, so i come to the nearby cyber cafe and blog!

This is probably my worst written post ever but when you have the cyber cafe’s clock ticking you can’t expect too much good work.

he was the “common man” of IIMB. common dog, rather. like the pug in the hutch ad, wherever you go he would follow. he has made his presence felt by shaking a leg and a tail at L^2 parties. he has attended many a class, and has even slept through some of the more boring ones. he has followed us around all over campus, but never out of it. he has stood by, watching, as we played wing cricket. he has been there at every pizza order-in, waiting patiently for the leftovers and crumbs – sometimes he’s been rewarded with a whole piece.

and yeah, if you say that the most important thing in an IIM is placements, our man even attends PPTs. he made himself comfortable on the floor of auditorium during the Merrill Lynch PPT, leading to a wisecrack from the presenter (something to the effect that junior represents the average associate at ML – all of them work like dogs or somethings).

just like gundu rao, the mess staff, the walls and the trees, junior will remain a fixture at IIMB. hopefully. for there was an attempt to clear the campus of dogs a couple of months ago.

this is my first blog from my new firm. it’s a fairly small office, with no fixed seating. we are expected to be away at client sites most of the time so it’s ok. we don’t have a loo of our own, but share it with a few other firms in the same building.

the interesting thing I noticed in this loo was the huge barriers that have been erected between adjacent urinals. So high that you can’t even figure out who it is next to you! Quite a contrast to, say, my office in London where I interned, where there were absolutely no barriers between urinals! Would be a really pissing-off experience when your boss would come and stand next to you.

One problem which I’ve always worried about is about designing the optimal urinal division (by minimizing the size of the stone slab required to separate). For one, it is different for different age groups. For example in a school, where most users will be young boys, the walls can be lower than in other places. Also, another problem would be to whether put more stone above (near the people’s faces) or below (near the center of gravity). Then there is the other dimension (the length of the slab sticking out of the wall). The thickness of the slab depends on the material used, and that also needs to be taken into consideration.

One should also take into account the cultural differences, and openness of society. In more open societies, a smaller slab can be used, and in some cases (like in my old office in London) totally dispensed with. In places like India, where people feel more insecure, it is better to have larger slabs.

I think I could do a BTech project on this.

For the record, several years ago, had remarked that urinals are like exam halls – prudence demands that you leave one slot vacant between adjacent users!

Reached here earlier this afternoon. Plane was 20 mins. late. Food onboard was bad so just had a bowl of cucumbers 🙁 feeling hungry now.

My company had sent a taxi to the station so getting to the hotel wasn’t tough. And i’ve been booked in a sea-facing room on the 5th floor. view is cool. initially felt giddy though.

First pertinent observation – phone calls seem more expensive in Mumbai than in Bangalore. a local call from GSM to GSM is Re. 1 in b’lore while it is Rs 2 here

More later

And before i forget, i’m leaving for goa for training on tuesday. Will be there till saturday. Hope to have fun…

Tomorrow I’ll be leaving Bangalore for the second time. I’m off to Mumbai tomorrow.

And I’m going to miss Bangalore terribly, even though I know I’ll keep coming back frequently, and plan to return for good in at max 10 years or so… And this time I’m not sure if I’ll be able to run back every other weeknd, like i did when i was in Madras…

Anyways, bombay sounds exciting, so let’s see…