Anurag Jain's Blog
Sunday, November 30, 2003

Google's University Search

Google never ceases to surprise. It has a university/college specific search facility to make it easier for people to narrow down search. IIMB is listed there too!
0 comments                                                                                              


Saturday, November 29, 2003

B-school events

The Smart Manager Invites You to Nationwide B-School Competition on CNBC-TV18

CNBC-TV 18 and The Smart Manager are pleased to invite you to participate in a new training initiative for MBA students entitled "Trial By Fire". This unique television series with a significant online contest aims to find out how prepared management students are for working in the real world. It is nationwide initiative, challenging and thought-provoking.

"Trial By Fire" is open to two-member teams from management schools across the country. The preliminary round will be conducted online with teams having to take the test on the website www.cnbctrialbyfire.com. The top 32 teams from the preliminaries will be invited for the on-ground events, which will then be telecast on CNBC-TV18. The Smart Manager is the knowledge partner for the series.
0 comments                                                                                              


Friday, November 28, 2003

Bangalore Events this weekend

1. Antaragni. 28Nov

From Raghupati Dixit of Antaragni: ""Hey Friends...Antaragni will be performing at St.Josephs Commerce College (brigade road) on of 28th November, 2003 (this friday) at 6.30 p.m. Please come along and tag your friends too. Tickets are available at the venue for 50 bucks ONLY!!!!!!!!!!"

2. The Tallest Rock band from Finland.....Live in Bangalore
Guruskool and Royal Orchid Present THE STEREO JUNKS! The Tallest Rock Band in Finland
A LIVE concert
on 28th and 29th November at the Geoffery's @ the Royal Orchid 1, Golf avenue,Adjoining KGA Golf course Airport Road Bangalore.

3. Cryptic Live

One of Bangalore's finest progressive rock bands, Cryptic, plays live at the Baldwin Boys' School (Hosur Road, near Johnson Market) this Saturday at 7 pm.
Passes are priced at Rs 100 and Rs 200, and all monies go towards aid for the Shristi, a school for the mentally handicapped.

This may well be the last show that Cryptic does for a while, since Durga, their drummer, will be leaving for higher studies in Australia shortly. She's one of the finest drummers in Bangalore, so it will be quite a loss.

4. Mahila Okkoota presents a one-woman show and film screening

November 30
The Screening of the film The Day I Became a Woman by Marziyeh Meshkini, at Bal Bhavan at 5.00 p.m. to observe the South Asian Women's Day for Peace, Justice and Human Rights
December 2
An One-woman show Hennu Allave? by renowed theatre person, Laxmi Chandrashekar at St Joseph's Commerce College Auditorium at 5 p.m.

Donation passes of Rs.10/- per person are available at 5496934/5492782. For details contact: Padma or Prema.
Programmes organised by Mahila Okkoota (a coalition of Women's and Human Rights Groups) in solidarity with the International Campaign Protesting Violence against Women and Girls.
0 comments                                                                                              


Thursday, November 27, 2003

Details on what happened during CAT leak at IIMs.

A forwarded mail from an IIMA PGP2. Not sure if I should publish this. Heck, I just did.

-----Original Message-----
Subject: Fw: Important-- Help the IIM's

IIM side of the CAT scam...and a request to all alumni to chip in with watever help they can...
******************************************
From Media cell co-ordinator, IIMA:
Hello all,

Since there has been a lot of confusion prevailing amongst all regarding the CAT paper leak, IIMA director, Prof. Bakul Dholakia today convened a meeting of all current students at IIMA and put forward

1. the account of events as they happened on Sunday (the day of the leak).
2. IIMA investigation of the incident
3. the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD)
4. Steps that IIMA is taking

Part 1: Account of events on Sunday:

* 7:15 AM: Director receives call from DIG, CBI. He informs Director that he has copy of question paper which seems to be CAT paper and he would like to cross check with CAT paper. Director says that even he doesn't have CAT paper and it is CAT committee (comprising of Admissions Head of six IIM's which can throw light on this). Director asks him to call back.
* 7:30 AM: Director contacts Prof Vijay Sherry Chand in Mumbai (IIMA's admissions head) and explains the situation. Prof. Sherry Chand gives him contact of Admission head of IIML (zonal IIM for Delhi where leak was detected), who is in Delhi for administering CAT.
* 7:35 AM: DIG, CBI calls again. Director gives him contact info of Prof Sherry Chand and that of IIML admission head.
* 8:00 AM: IIML admissions head is contacted. He directs CBI to Prof. Arpana Shukla (Prof at IIML) who is also in Delhi and supervising one of the centers in South Delhi, closest to CBI office.
* 8:15 AM: CBI goes to nearby center and finds that all trunks with CAT paper are safe. They try to open up trunk for paper. But Prof. Shukla opposes saying paper are sealed and cannot be opened before 11 AM. (What if CBI is wrong?).
* 11:00 AM CBI in presence of Prof Shukla and principal of DPS (CAT center) opens CAT paper.
* 11:35 AM: Paper was confirmed to be matching with one of the four sets of question paper.
* 11:40 AM Aaj Tak flashes CAT leak news.
* 11:45 AM Director receives a call from HRD ministry. They force him to cancel CAT. Meanwhile MHRD announces CAT retest. Director refuses saying only CAT committee can order retest which will be decided only after they confirm the news.
* 12:00 AM Director is attacked by media in Ahmedabad. Meanwhile, HRD ministry gave ample publicity to news. Director takes charge of defending IIM system (and thus, IIMA gains focus of media).
* Director convenes meeting of CAT committee in IIMA on Tuesday and that of all other IIM Directors on Wednesday.

Part 2: IIMA investigation of the incident:

This is fairly long process. CAT process is divided into pre-printing and post-printing. Pre-printing process is totally in-house. All evidences (even soft copies) are destroyed immediately. No single person is coordinator and hence cannot have all the information all the time. Finalized question paper is converted into butter-paper copy (again in-house) and then taken personally to printer who prints it in fairly secured area. Printing, sealing and boxing up of paper takes almost 3 weeks. Then these papers are doubly locked in trunks, sealed and trunks are sent to various centers, where trunks are opened between 8-8:30 AM on CAT day. Papers re opened only during exam.

IIMA has contacted all 147 centers in 26 cities and their investigation has reveled that NOT A SINGLE trunk was opened and NOT A SINGLE paper
was disturbed. This shows that paper was photocopied before sealing it at the printer. (CBI has got photocopy of printed paper).

When Director has explained this to CBI and they are satisfied with their investigation, CBI has given clean chit to IIM's and declared that IIM system is fool-proof. Director is now working on re-test which will hopefully happen in the first week of Feb.

Part 3: the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD)

There has been tremendous pressure from MHRD for centralizing admission procedure for management schools. They wanted CAT to be postponed this
year. They had asked IIM directors on 22nd Oct to postpone CAT, which Directors declined. There have been MHRD demands to reduce the corpuses
at IIMs. MHRD trying hard to make IIMs to fall in line.

Part 4: Steps that IIMA Students are taking:

1. We have contacted all major dailies, magazines and some TV media for raising our voices against HRD initiatives.
2. Since Monday morning, the Media Cell at IIMA has given interviews to CNBC, Doordarshan, BBC among others to put forward our point of view.
3. The other 5 IIMs are also being roped in.

This is just to give you a brief update on what has been happening back at home. The Alumni and the Media Cell will be working to bring in the support of the alumni which will surely be needed in this. We really look forward to your help in this crisis where the autonomy of the IIMs (in their admission procedure and day-to-day functioning) is under threat. We will be grateful for absolutely any help that you extend us in this hour of need.

Best regards,
KS....PGP-2
0 comments                                                                                              


Wednesday, November 26, 2003

For the record

Taking a cue from my PGP batchmate Shoubik Dasgupta, I thought I also should put in my oath hereby (you know, just in case!) :

"I, Anurag Jain, s/o Sh P. C. Jain, do solemnly affirm that I cleared the CAT by honest means and did not get the papers in advance."
0 comments                                                                                              


Monday, November 24, 2003

CAT leak

CAT is the reason IIMs are considered a pure meritocracy. But by now all of you would know about the CAT paper leak that happened yesterday: here, here and at google news

Its highly unfair to the people who slogged for months/year and attempted CAT without any unfair means. I wish all aspirants who took CAT this year the very best for next dates (as and when they are announced).
0 comments                                                                                              


Saturday, November 22, 2003

Self-Promotion Inc: Site Hosed

My site usually receives around 600-650 hits a day. But on Nov 20, it registered almost 1300 hits. Later, while going through weblogs (and also, courtsey a friend - Ankur Jain), I found out the excessive traffic's reason. Now I know RK, but didn't know he liked my site. But one thing is for sure: One more incident of such inward linkages, and my site would be ready to kiss goodbye to the world. :(

While talking about myself and my web-presence, here's another inward link to my blog. Oh Matt, how on earth did you manage to find me!
0 comments                                                                                              




IIMB event - A musical on Saturday, 22 November

-----Original Message-----
From: Film Club
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2003 3:26 PM
Ladies and Gentlemen,

We welcome you along with your family and friends to the screening of probably one of the greatest musicals ever, and a wholesome family movie. The details are as follows:

Movie: The sound of Music(1965)
Genre (Musical/Drama/Family)
Director: Robert Wise
Cast: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer
Language: English
Runtime: 174 minutes
Timing: 8:30pm
Venue: IIMB Auditorium
Colour: Colour

We advice you to especially bring your children along. A synopsis of the movie would soon be available at http://spidi.

Dress Circle - The IIMB Film Club
0 comments                                                                                              


Thursday, November 20, 2003

B-Schools Events

1. Quiver .. fest at ITM, Bangalore. 21st-22nd Nov.
Website

2. Legala - National Law School Fest
Legala, the Culfest at National Law School Bangalore, is being held on the 21, 22 and 23 Nov 2003

0 comments                                                                                              


Wednesday, November 19, 2003

Blogging Noise

I have heard a lot about noise in search engines due to blogs. But to mesaure the magnitude, just sample some of the hits that led people to my blog yesterday:

* Kishori Amonkar + contact nos
* contact email address of amitabh bachan for social work
* ahmedabad gays contact numbers
* 98450 bangalore female date

Get a drift? Seems like Google did just the right thing buying blogger (bugger? :)). If blogging continues to grow at today's rate, Google should - and most probably would - have a separate search index for blogs.

But in the meantime, please spare me of gays contact number searches. And yes, while you are searching for a female date, please get me one too, u dorks.
0 comments                                                                                              


Tuesday, November 18, 2003

Mess goes online

Even though I find IIMB mess as one of the best (and I have lived out of home for last 13 years now!), our mess committee has been doing a lot of improvements recently. Now they have gone ahead and launched a website for the mess!
0 comments                                                                                              




IIMB Summer Placements Cracked!

IIMB has created a record by placing full batch of first year students for the summer internships in three days flat! (An ET report here) The process got over yesterday and cluminated with crackers rocking on the dance floor (L-Sqaure). A L-Square party on Monday night is quite unusual at IIMB. But then the occassion was unusual too, and the 'spirits' were high!
0 comments                                                                                              




More Bangalore Events

1. CHATTERATI - An Annual Event

Sunshine Toastmasters Club, Bangalore, affiliated to the Toastmasters International Club, was started in December 1999 and by now has an array of distinguished speakers from divergent professions such as Medicine, Law, CA, Engineering, Armed Services, etc. This club meets on every Thursday evening from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at room # 5, Alliance Francaise, off Millers Road, Bangalore, 560010 (contact Dr Chaya Nair, President, tel: 3333604). It is one of the very active and sophisticated toastmasters clubs in India. (The attached document contains an overview of the activities of the club.)

CHATTERATI - An Annual Event

Sunshine Toastmasters club is organizing an annual event, CHATTERATI, on November 29th, 2003 from 6:30 to 9:30pm at Rotary House of Friendship, Levelle Road, Bangalore-560001. The event will feature two categories of speech contests: Category 1: Between Toastmasters and Category 2: Between Non-Toastmasters. There are attractive prizes for winners of both the categories. And there is a dinner after the contests. The entry ticket costs only Rs 100, which entails to participate as a Non-Toastmaster in the contest (contesting is optional), view the event, and enjoy the dinner with all the participants and the visitors.

Details of the Event: Date: Nov 29th 2003, Time: 6:30pm to 8:30pm , Venue: Rotary House of Friendship, Levelle Road, Bangalore, Dinner: 8:30pm to 9:30pm
Ticket: Rs 100
For further details and to buy the ticket, please contact: Ravi Prakash (98452-37017), Jayant RC (94482-24926)

2. Forthcoming Events at Max Mueller Bhavan, Bangalore

A Conspiracy of Stories: Tales from the Indian Subcontinent
Written by Erik Schäffler

Outdoor stage performance with live music by Theater Triebwerk, Hamburg, Germany

In association with the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath

6.30 p.m. on Saturday November 22, 2003
at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath
Kumara Krupa Road, Bangalore 560 001

For adults and children (7 years and above)
Duration: 75 min.

Limited passes available from Wednesday November 19, 2003 at MMB.

*****************************************************************

"Where to draw the line" : A Cartoon Workshop

11.00 a.m. on Monday November 24 and Tuesday November 25, 2003 at Max Mueller Bhavan, 3 Lavelle Road, Bangalore 560 001with participants from Germany, Bangladesh and India.

Designed as an interactive forum for cartoonists, the two-day workshop will feature discussions, lectures, and live-drawing demonstrations and culminate in an exhibition featuring the works produced during the project. Also on display will be samples of works by all the participants. the ideal platform for addressing issues faced by cartoonists the world over and an excellent forum for exchange of ideas among established cartoonists as well as aspiring ones. Certain aspects of the workshop will be open to the public.

At 6.00 p.m. on Monday November 24, 2003 at the same venue, there will be a public talk: "Cartooning in the midst of a million mutinies" by Mr. Narendar Pani, Senior Editor, The Economic Times, Bangalore

For further details please call or visit our website.

Maureen Gonsalves
Programme Coordinator
Goethe-Institut - Max Mueller Bhavan
No. 3, Lavelle Road
Bangalore 560 001
Tel: 221 9772, 221 4964

E-mail : progr@bangalore.goethe.org
Web : www.goethe.de/bangalore

1 comments                                                                                              


Monday, November 17, 2003

Bangalore Events

1. Flights of Fantasy Music Concerts

programmes on Saturday, 22nd and Sunday, 23rd November 2003 at Chowdaiah Memorial Hall
22 November: 6:30 p m : Carnatic Vocal recital by Vidwan T M Krishna
23 November: 10:00 a m : Hindustani Vocal-Dhrupad recital by Gundecha Bandhu
23 November: 6:30 p m : Carnatic Violin Jugalbandi by Vidwans Ganesh & Kumaresh

Admission by invitations available at the Ganjam Showroom, 148, Embassy Square, Infantry Road. Seating on 'First come first served' basis for all three programmes Brought to you by Ganjam, Karnataka's Legend in Diamond Jewellery

2. 22nd Varshikotsav of SURSAGAR
SUR SAGAR celebrates its 22nd Varshikotsav at 6:30 p m on Thursday, 27th November 2003 at Chowdaiah Memorial Hall with a Bansuri recital by
Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia with Pandit Ravindra Yavagal (Tabla)

Invitations with Seat numbers being sent by Postal Mail to enrolled Patron Members,Benefactors, Hony. Members, Life Members and Donors of Sursagar.

Others may collect the Invitation cards from Ganjam Showroom, # 148, Embassy Square, Infantry Road.
0 comments                                                                                              


Saturday, November 15, 2003

Personal websites: Out of fashion?

I usually dont link to general news on my blog as I figure that Net users are pretty well (24-hrs) connected today, and hence they would already know that news by the time I tell them. But this item why personal web sites matter? on slashdot is interesting to me as I myself run a personal site (and I enjoy maintaining it). Nice discussion happening on /. , and as is obvious, some people think its for egoistic people's to run a personal webpage/site, whereas some others think that its quite worthwhile to have a personal webpage/site.

Food for thought!
0 comments                                                                                              


Friday, November 14, 2003

Mobile phone and Yahoo Messenger: A sypmhony

Recently I got a mobile. This is my second attempt at getting mobile. The first one was 2 years back and was a futile one where I ended up wasting money on a phone which only worked in the US (GSM 900). This time its a bliss!

Since much before I got a mobile for myself, I have been in touch by SMS with a lot of my friends who have mobile. Well, you see yahoo messenger allows you to send mobile messages (=SMS) for free without the recipient mobile user having anything to do with yahoo! After I got my mobile, I tried it with myself.I could send 4-5 SMS' successsfully to my mobile phone number from my yahoo messenger. After that I got a message saying:

"To continue receiving text messages from anuragkjain, you must reply to one of their messages. Your reply will be sent to anuragkjain".

I could continue recieving messages from yahoo messenger users but in order to do that I have to respond to that one message. This step is to protect mobile phone users from spamming. I somehow didn't reply to that message, and instead erased it! Then, whenever me or my friend tried sending SMS from yahoo messenger to my mobile number, s/he would get this yahoo messenger error:

"This number has chosen not to receive any text messages."

This continued for some time and then I hit google where I could find only one page discussing this problem! (there was one more, but in some non-english language).

I tried the solution outlined at the discussion forum. I sent messages to +8242105, +8242103, 8242101 but all failed and of course, I got charged for international SMS for these numbers :) I tried variants like 8242105, 8242103, 8242101 (without a + sign), but the nothing happened and nothing continued to happen (remember HHGTG?).

Then I went to Yahoo India and tried something. And I could fix it. Solution was very easy: You have to send an SMS which says 'unblock all' to the number 8242 (for India. dunno abt other countries) and voila! You'd recieve a reply SMS saying "All Yahoo! IDs unblocked successfully. You will now be able to recieve messages from any yahoo user".

Even though I started recieving yahoo SMS on my mobile from other yahoo users, but still I was unable to send SMS from my yahoo login to my mobile. I was getting this error: "Your friend must respond to one of your messages before you can send more." I again tried a command "reset anuragkjain" by sending it as SMS to 8242 from my mobile and zap!, it worked!

Simple, isn't it? When u know, of course. I wasted 30-35 rupees and numerous SMS before finding the right solution!
0 comments                                                                                              




B-schools events

1. National IT Seminar 2003, XLRI Jamshedpur

The theme for this year's seminar is "ERP II - The Next Leap.
http://www.xlri.ac.in/nits2003

2. Seminar series DMS IITD on 13th & 14th
We are organising a two day Seminar series, "Building India Inc. - Vision 2010" on the 13th and 14th November 2003. We invite you for the same.
Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi http://www.iitdmba.org

3. "WHIZCOMP-2K4", HBTI, Kanpur.
dear sir,
we feel proud to tell you that we are organizing a Computer Science seminar on "Recent Trends in Computing and Applications" by the name "WHIZCOMP-2K4", under the" Association of Computer Science Engineers" on Jan-24,25 2004. We cordially invite you to the function. It will be helpful if you please arrange for sponsorships through your contacts. This would certainly help us in making the seminar a success. Looking for your contribution
CSE
HBTI,Kanpur

0 comments                                                                                              


Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Net Speed

Over the last few months, our net connexion at campus had become terribly slow. Turned out that the 1.5 mbps line we had, which I thought to be a dedicated line, was actually a shared (with 3 other orgs.) line! But, just last Friday we upgraded to a 1.5 mbps 'dedicated' line and now the speed is real fast!! Net surfing is again what it used to be! :)
0 comments                                                                                              


Tuesday, November 11, 2003

Bangalore Events


1. Yavamajakka!
Poile Sengupta's YAVAMAJAKKA! A musical for the entire family......and a political allegory

13, 14, 15 November 2003(Thursday, Friday and Saturday) 7.30 pm Chowdaiah Memorial Hall Tickets at: Supermarket (Fifth Avenue, Brigade Road), Café Paradis(Alliance Française) and at the venue Original music score Preetam Koilpillai Director Abhijit Sengupta Choreography Arati Punwani

Assistant Director Vivek Madan Cast includes: Aporup Acharya, Poile Sengupta, Preetam Koilpillai, Anish Victor, Romola Cardoza, Rukmini Vijaykumar and over 20 children from The National Public Schools Indiranagar, Koramangala and Rajajinagar,NAFL and TISB in a collaboration with Theatre Club!

2. Trekking in Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary - 22nd & 23rd Nov
Contact:
CARE 126, Arora Business Centre, 111, Dickenson Road, Bangalore - 560 052.
Ph: (080) 5586719 / 337/ 627 & 5598128 Mob: 98456 - 95350
URL: www.careadventures.com, Email: careadventures@vsnl.net

0 comments                                                                                              




European dinner tonight!

This should be fun!

-----Original Message-----
From: Mess Committee
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 1:18 AM
Subject: European dinner tonight!

Well guys, that was not just an attention grabber....

In association with the Exchange students @IIMB, Mess Comm has arranged an European dinner tonight. The menu boasts of Pasta and Salad with delicious dessert.

We thank the Exchange students for sharing the recipe and helping in the food preparation.

Cheers,
@MessCom
Energizing IIMB
Note: The regular menu will also be served.
0 comments                                                                                              


Monday, November 10, 2003

Entreprneurship

Just attended a talk by Prof. Howard H. Stevenson Sarofim-Rock Professor of Business Administration , Entrepreneurial Management, Harvard Business School. He's a veteran in Entrepreneurship research and a pioneer of Entrepreneurship department at Harvard Business School. According to him, entrepreneurship in today's context is about following:
1) Resource Mobility
Capital markets
Labor markets
Product markets
2) Reinvestment in the community
Angels
VCs
Employees
3) Celebrating other's success
The media
Prestigious institutions
Community
Scholars
4) Celebrating Change
Connectedness
Internet
Loss of protectionists' power
Getting governments on board
Overcoming the fear of science

Also according to Prof Howard, a Promoter/Entrepreneur operates very differently from the way a Manager/Trustee operates:
Parameter. Promoter/Entrepreneur Vs Manager/Trustee
Driver. Opportunity driven Vs Resource driven
Committment to Opportunity. Short & Quick Vs Long & slow
Committment of Resources. Minimal, with many stages Vs Complete in a single stage
Control. Use or buy Vs Own or employ

It was quite nice hearing from the expert himself on a subject that greatly interests me!
0 comments                                                                                              


Saturday, November 08, 2003

Bangalore Events

Jazz Utsav

A revival of jazz Yatra after 12 years. There is one concert on Nov. 10th & another on Nov. 18th...Nov. 10th concert will feature a Saxophone quartet from France , Quatuor de Saxophone de Paris and a contemporary folk-jazz music band called Oikyotan. Tickets are available at Alliance Francaise (Ph:2258762, 2265390), the Pro FX showroom at Barton Centre, MG Road (Ph: 5594440) and at the venue.

date : 10th Nov. 2003 time : 8pm onwards
venue : Royal Orchid lawns, Park Plaza adjoining KGA Golf Course, Off Airport Road

0 comments                                                                                              


Friday, November 07, 2003

IIMB Event- A documentary and a Roman Polanski thriller on Friday, 07 November

We welcome you along with your family and friends to the screening of a documentary on the Sahyadri Mountains (brought to you in association with "Prakriti", the IIMB Nature Club) and a classic Roman Polanski thriller this Friday!

The details are as follows:

Documentary: Sahyadri Timing: 6.45pm Venue: IIMB Auditorium Runtime: 45 minutes Approx. Language: English Rating: Open to all age groups

Movie: Chinatown (1974) Cast: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Hillerman, Perry Lopez, Burt Young, John Huston Directed by: Roman Polanski Timing: 8pm Venue: IIMB Auditorium Runtime: 131 minutes Language: English Subtitles: No Colour: Colour Rating: UK:15, USA:R We advice you NOT to bring your children along.

A synopsis of the movie would be available by 6pm today at http://spidi (right hand top corner of the webpage).

Regards, Dress Circle - The IIMB Film Club
0 comments                                                                                              




Rainseed Series - Thermal and Quarter

Thermal And A Quarter, together with Trans Indus, a unique eco village on Kanakapura Road, bring you The RainSeed Festivals, the first of which, simply called 'Guitars', will begin Saturday, November 8, 2003, 9 pm onwards.

'Guitars' will feature TAAQ and three of Bangalore's smoking new axemen, solo and in concert:

Eric Samuel: Well regarded for his extraordinary tone and expression, Eric brings a refinement to the title 'rock guitarist' that few can match. Previously with the EMDEES, Eric is currently a full-time family man, but will take time off to join TAAQ at RainSeed.

Anirban: One of the city's youngest guitar heroes, Anirban is fast accumulating his own fan base. His technique and feel are a revelation, and his versatility makes him an asset in any musical context. He has joined TAAQ on previous occasions, and this collaboration has always seen some inspired jams.

Prakash Sontakke: A Hindustani Classical performer, adept at both slide guitar and vocal, Prakash is a first-call session player in the city, and is a composer of some note. Open to experimenting with various styles, this will be his first encounter with TAAQ.

TAAQ, now working on its third album, will premiere some smoking new originals at the gig. Donor passes (only a limited number) priced at Rs 100 will be available at the venue.

Gear up for the RainSeed series, and spread the word around.
0 comments                                                                                              




More B-School Events

1. TAPMI - Atharva
Hello Friends

It gives us great pleasure in inviting your institute to be a part of T.A Pai Management Institute's Annual fest Atharva. Atharva has been conceived with the idea of providing a platform to students of Indian B-Schools to interact with each other and with corporates, share experiences and enhance learning. Atharva this year has been scheduled for the 5th, 6th and 7th of December 2003.

website: www.atharvatapmi.org

2. First Event Manfest 2004 IIM Lucknow

The Journal of Excellence
The Journal of Excellence is our endeavor to crystallize Management thinking through academic papers written by students and professionals. The Papers will be assessed by a Panel of Judges comprising academics from India and abroad. The theme for this year is "Understanding Change for Management"

Prizes:
FIRST: Rs. 30,000 SECOND: Rs. 20,000 THIRD: Rs. 10,000

Moreover, the winning entry has the opportunity of being published in Metamorphosis, a journal of international depute, edited by a board of distinguished academics including Professor Sumantara Ghoshal. Pls find relevant details in the attached document. Our dedicated website www iiml-manfest.com will be up shortly.

The deadline for submission of papers is December 15, 2003. The journal itself will be released in the 3rd week of February after winners are determined through presentations at Manfest between January 16-18, 2004. For any clarifications you can revert to us at manfest@iiml.ac.in
0 comments                                                                                              


Thursday, November 06, 2003

Revolutions of Matrix sort, tonight

IIMB has its share of Matrix followers. And we have booked almost 125 tickets for tonite's (955pm) show at Symphony. By booking 4 tickets, I am one of the top 2 bookers :) We get to watch the most awaited movie (for me) just one day after the world-wide release, not bad, is it? :)

Its been long time that I watched a movie with a big college group. Last such time I can remember of, was during my engineering days when we watched 'Hum' (*ing Amitabh) in Gurudev cinema, Kanpur. And the whistles and dances that happened on "Jumma Chumma de de" was, well, phew! I hope none of that happens tonite 'cause I am a serious Matrix fan and I want to understand the finer points in the last of series of the triology.

As Agent Smith says: "Mr. Anderson, We missed you" (you have to hear this line). So here I come Mr Anderson!
0 comments                                                                                              


Wednesday, November 05, 2003

B-School Events

1. AvantGarde - IIT Kanpur MBA
Greetings from MBA @ IIT Kanpur!

The department of Industrial and Management Engineering at IIT Kanpur has been running an online monthly management newsletter "Avant Garde"(AG) - The first of its kind among management institutes in India. Avant Garde, now out with its 8th edition for the month of November 2003, focuses on current industry trends, technology management, management research papers, gist of seminars given by leading corporate personalities through our lecture series and of course the happenings in the student community at MBA in IIT Kanpur.

Please visit the link below to experience what it is all about:

http://www.iitk.ac.in/ime/MBA_IITK/avantgarde

AG Team
MBA - IIT Kanpur

2. Horizons-2003 from IIMK

The fourth annual management seminar of the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode(IIMK) "HORIZONS- Exploring the Frontiers of Management" is being
organized on the weekend of 15th & 16th November 2003.

Registration is open online http://www.iimk.ac.in/events/horizons/registration.html

bout Horizons:
To reflect upon the constant flux in the business environment and emerging opportunities,IIMK organizes an annual management seminar- Horizons. IIMK
believes that its students as leaders of tomorrow and citizens of the corporate world need to align themselves with the changing times. Interactions with Professionals from academia, industry and government create an awareness of the challenges that management professionals must address. Horizons is IIMK's attempt at translating some of these trends and changes into a language of possibilities and moving the frontiers of management a few steps closer to the realm of application. In the past Horizons has seen eminent speakers from industry and academia share their wisdom with the students.

The website url is: http://www.iimk.ac.in/events/horizons/

The Themes for the event this year are:
1. Manufacturing- the coming of Age
2. Built-to-Order Banking
3. Knowledge Workers: International Pulls and National Pressures
4. Brand Wars - Phantom Menace or Attack of the Clones?
5. Integrating Operational Risk into Risk Management Systems
6. Panel discussion
The Lame Blame Game: Board Vs Management Vs Society

Some of the confirmed speakers are:
Mr. Ashvin Parekh, ED, Deloitte and Touche Tohamatsu
Mr. Chander Bansal, MD, Tansport Division, Alstom India
Mr. Pandia Rajan, MD, Ma Foi Management Consultants
Mr. Pramod Sadarjoshi, Director, HR, Cognizant Technology Solutions
Mr. Shashi Kalathil, ED, Pepsi International.

3. ViewPoint: The Paper Presentation Competition
ICFAI Business School Mumbai presents to you it’s Annual Business School
Meet-“konflux-2003” to be held from 24th – 26th November 2003.

We are inviting entries for “ViewPoint” The Paper Presentation for which
the last date is 10th November. The maximum word limit is 3000. Please
visit our website http://www.konflux-ibsm.com for further details. You can
also win attractive prizes by playing interesting online games on our site.

0 comments                                                                                              


Monday, November 03, 2003

P Chidambaram and the art of Project Execution

I attended Mr P Chidambaram's talk day before yesteday at our campus in the context of our management fest IIMB-Vista (theme: Mission Execution), and his recipe for getting things moving on the govt projects execution front:

1) Govt should privatize whatever it can.
2) Evolve new organizational forms/structures. Current structures are inadequate to deliver. E.g. Bhakra Nagal dam was constructed on a contract basis and it stands as a testimony to a project finished on time and an excellent example of engineering marvel. Maybe give projects of national significance on contract and then enforce compliance (think golden quadrilateral).
3) Enforce Accountability and impose economic penalties for non-performers. Or at least award performers, if not punish non-performers. Current system as very few performers (e.g. Mr Shreedharan of Delhi Metro and Konkan Railways fame) because incentives (and penalties for non-performance) are missing.

Not very original I guess, but if we are able to achieve these it can work wonders....
0 comments                                                                                              


Saturday, November 01, 2003

National airline carriers - same everywhere?

Recently I read two books. Actually, make that 1.75 books. The first one is Nudist On The Late Shift - Po Bronson and the second is Loosing my Virginity - Richard Branson. I can see the disapproval in your eyes hearing the scandalous titles, but these two books are as 'businessy' as they get!

I am still reading up (0.75 done) Loosing my Virginity and will write excerpts/review soon, but in the meantime I came across this news about Indian government's decision allowing private airlines to fly to Colombo. Now here's the link between the book and the news: Richard Branson's autobiography is full of stories about Virgin's struggle against British Airways and the contempt with which BA treated Virgin (and before that Laker and British Caledonian). Just like Branson's anguish on the subject spells it out, I also dont understand why the national carriers have to assume that its their birth-right to have priority - and more importantly, exclusive - access to the routes and slots. Even though, nothing much has come out in Indian press so far about the behind-the-scenes fight between Jet/Sahara and IA/AI, I am sure there must be a lot going on at AI/IA in order to not concede ground to private airlines. Dont believe it? Get this: At one of time, at BA there was a formal team set up to rein in Virgin's progress! If it can happen in UK, from where our public institutional structure has been borrowed, it surely can happen in India. I am waiting for the time when Naresh Goyal or Uttam Bose would speak up about what really is going on.
0 comments                                                                                              


Home