How to name it - Part 1

Phase 1 (here is my real life drama getting unfolded)

Now is the journey on to the so called " college experiences". I have had the privilege of being the last student to get admitted on the last day at the last hour. How many lasts!. Guess this was a lasting experience. The first day (for me) in my college was at 8 am not knowing how to get to that college, what are the formalities, etc.. some how finished them. The first hour went off well. We had a break from 10 15 to 10 45.. There began my “being interviewed” process. Girls in the class (59 of them) looked at me in uniformity… I knew several questions would have been in their mind. All of them looked at me as if I am an “experienced” UFO (EUFO) with a human skeletal shape has entered room number 38(that’s where the 1st year classes happen). There was an equal amount of inquisitiveness in the minds of most of them in knowing who this EUFO is? I managed to answer them in a soft way and gave a convincing reply to them. But still the gap between them and me was there and it was a huge one. It was obvious. The age difference is just 14 to 15 years across all of them. I managed the day 1 at college successfully. When I returned home, I just felt so damn depressed and was regretting if I had made a wrong move. Leaving a highly paid job and studying is not an easy joke. Of course, motivation came through different sources in the form of my sister and other family members, close friends circle in the capacity of Directors and Senior Managers. I decided let me wait for few more days. If it does not work, I can go back to my employer itself.

Few days passed by. Gitanjali was the first person to whom I spoke with and she was kind enough to lend her notes to me. It was a noble thought to help. Thanks to her. Weeks passed by. I was totally clueless as to which group / band should I join? As this was happening, I was no way nearing the acceptance line which is essential to survive. The fear got set in me. If this condition prevails, I will literally be thrown out psychologically. Still I was living in a hope that things would change if I came down to kids’ level. I decided to remove my working and experienced hat and wore a student hat and approached members in the class. This time the scenario was different. I got admission in to the student wing. Somehow the first semester passed by. Towards the end of first semester, I found 2 little girls with whom I got acclimatised well. They are Lalitha and Sowmyaa. They were kind enough in accommodating me in to their row without any row ;). I will mention about each separately. Towards the end of semester 1, the so called examinations were conducted. Fear set me in again. I studied very hard. This is a kind of a new experience for me to study 5 units and write tests where in there is a mandate called I need to pass. I really slogged a lot to score that decent figure.

Wow.. I forgot to tell one thing here. By the end of the first semester, I was dethroned successfully from being a human shaped UFO to a decent acceptable human being called fellow student. Towards the beginning of second semester, my friends’ band wagon expanded. I got in to a host of good friends. They are just too sweet. Everyone will have adjectives also highlighted.

Lesson learnt: It takes some good amount of time, mindset to gel in to the relatively very young at heart and age group ;)… So move your coins accordingly. The game is yours.

Phase 2:

Second and Third semesters (till date) were a comparatively easy sailing. One thing that was a convincing factor to me was I did not miss my classes physically. Being mentally present was still a question. I passed the second semester successfully and stepped in to the third semester with extreme amount of confusions setting in. I was denied of my choice of specialization. This came as a big blow. It was a kind of force majeure situation. I had to take one of the specializations that my mind never craved for. After all the confusions, I decided to take a compromising stand of accepting whatever comes to me either by choice or by force. That’s how Marketing and Human Resources landed in to me.

I am right now in the fag end of my third semester where in I enjoyed a lot and there were many emotions exhibited during this stage. DoOs (Difference of Opinions), fights, compromises, again fights, compromises, were just happening without any blow to friendship (I felt) as such. As I am drawing a curtain to the study world at Chennai, its time for me to bow and thank all of them who have just sailed along with me forbearing all the tortures I have been rattling them in the form of real hazzles, witty jokes, emotional outbursts (after all am an accepted human being right!) etc.

How to name it - Premiere

Am back after a brief hiatus ;-)
A premiere:

I have been bestowed with wonderful friends and well wishers who have just been showering me with help, positive thoughts, motivation, so on and so forth. I take this opportunity to thank every one of them on my xth birthday. It has been a wonderful roller coaster experience with lots of fun, fight and learning during the 3 semesters.

It all began on a fine night when I was just wondering where to head way in the career ladder after 11 years of continuous work experience. The search for betterment began that night coupled with apprehensions at every stage. There were handful of options on my hand such as continuing the current job, hop for a new job, be on my own and continue with my brief entrepreneurial stint and take it further, go for the domestic assignments and a period to corporate ladder, signing up for higher studies– meaning both in the US and India so on and so forth. While this was dominating and eating my brain, I gave a thought to studying(!) on a little note. The scary thing at the back of me was people saying.." you.. studying.. at this age.". with a self note that "College a naana? "(sounding like a Santoor advertisement). Yes. Believe it or not.. This question was haunting me so much.

There was this little courageous (yet in a timid voice ) me who kept telling “just go for it” without any big killer instinct. The just go for it was literally an attempt to see if the coin will turn to my favour. As a result, I applied through Anna university and successfully got an admission. No preparation for the entrance exams. It has been a long time since I sat for an exam. So this was a kind of a new experience. As a result, I scored little above average in TANCET and got into this city college. The journey has just begun.

In the meanwhile, all my final formalities of resigning the permanent job were just happening with heavy element of convincing skills taking a stride. My previous employers are just gems. They were really kind enough in NOT allowing me to resign (lol) but at the same time encouraged me in my next big step. So I came out of my employer with a win-win situation (I guess I managed succession planning pretty decently). When I said I am going to study, I had mixed reactions. Some said its a very good move. Some said it’s an awful (not awesome) move. Some chuckled. I had to convince whole loads of people. The reason being they are the industry people.

Lesson learnt: If you are taking a studying path after a long work experience, do not act fast. Take time to choose and don’t regret from then on. Have self conviction.

Life's interesting thoughts!

We are surrounded by people, feelings, emotions, confusions etc. It makes me think are we right? Are our thinking right!. This made me scribble my feelings in an electronic format :-) I just decided to pen down the things that are seemingly under my control to correct and become a good person to myself.

Life teaches wonderful lessons every day every hour. Some of us attempt to learn the lesson in a right way, some of us listen and ignore, some of us pay attention not to listen so on and so forth.
I have learnt some insights from past experiences and is making every attempt to correct myself in the process. To begin with, How many of us agree that we have attitude problem? Am sure 95% people say Nay to this question. While we take this hypothetical percentage to a reality, we can also stand justified in saying that 95% have attitude as a problem in them.

Let me just say this with few examples: (Correct me if am wrong). An attempt to search a honest answer
1. Many of us have commuted in auto. Do we thank him when we get down from the auto? - Am sure we say No to this. Because we feel there is no necessity. But just imagine, a simple thanks is for he making us reach our destination safely.
2. We go to a retail mall. Since most of the retail malls have self service, we just see things and we pick n buy. Occasionally we ask the representatives. If we see an item that has fallen down ( may be we could have put it down or any other customer might have put down), do we take an initiative to keep it in its place even if we see it has fallen down? We just ignore as we have a tendency that the Representatives are paid for picking things fallen down.
3. We go with our friends for a walk or for shopping and see our friend / someone slipping down. What is our instant reaction? Surprise, Shock / Smile? If you say surprise, why do you get surprised? You should just offer a helping hand. If you say smile, why do you smile Just for a second, put yourself in that person's position. One can understand the feeling.
4. How many times would we have shown a grim face at a person not dressed properly? Our instant reaction is Yak! Is it under our control? Perhaps situation could have made that person.
5. How many times do we appreciate / accept one's achievements wholeheartedly? We always try to blemish their presentation / work.
Adding to it, we seldom see people giving due credit to the person who has done it..
Am sure most of us try to be exceptionally good on the aforesaid instances. But we should always take it as a practice and strive to find the real "you". Am not sounding to be spiritual or so. I am just trying to try and change myself, my attitudes, thoughts so that it leads me as a positive person in life.So thought to share with all.

Proud Achievers!

"The greatest things are accomplished by individual people, not by committees or companies."

Today was one of a great day for many of my classmates. A warm Sunday, 3 days before the End semester examinations, etc to call this day. Today was a special day - A day when India scores 349/5, a day when Zaheer Khan creates a record, Gambhir hits a ton, etc.. For my college, it was a convocation day, another formal event happening. Some of my class mates got their Bachelor's degree in their respective disciplines. Adding a star to this day was achievements from 2 of my class mates. - Shamala and Bhavani.

Talents wherever it is however it is should be mentioned with true appreciation from the heart...

This class has tremendous amount of innate potential girls. Over the recent days, many of the kids(! I guess I can call them now) obtained their bachelor's degree coming out exceedingly well.

SHAMALA - She is a silent awesome girl in the class. And extremely gifted with intelligence, potential and good amount of analytical thinking + academic brilliance. This got exposed in the form of she securing 2nd rank in her degree. What a great achievement!.. Shamala made all of us proud today. I am very proud and happy for you Shamala...Kudos SHAMALA!. More to go!

I wouldn't stand right if I don't mention this girl in the blog today. She was the Star of today's function. True Talents is respected, appreciated, and applauded. BHAVANI (very brilliant) got a Gold medal for being the class 1st (I remember this distinctly in the midst of few awards she got today). AMAZING. In addition to this, she was asked to release their annual book that contains the graduates who passed out this year. Very happy. CONGRATULATIONS BHAVANI!, more to go!

Both the girls made the entire class proud and am sure the near and dears of both the girls would have stood dumbstruck on the awards they have got... Watch out for this space as some more girls who deserve to be mentioned and made me proud of my association with them. To what I know, 2 more girls are in the mention list... As I said, the two girls who stood University Fifth are getting their accolades today and tomorrow. Shubha Mangala and Sindhuja - truly they rocked. I have mentioned about them already. They just proved that they are very studious and miles to go girls!... Triple S have once again proved... KUDOS!.

My blessings for them to get more!

Googling

When I was searching for an information on the net, sorry googling on the net...I came across an information which I thought of sharing..

We all know Google is a Search Engine company.. Interestingly Google began life in January 1996, not as an internet search engine and online advertising corporation as it was destined to become, but as the thesis project of Larry Page, later joined in his endeavors by Sergey Brin, both PhD students at Stanford University, California.

The name 'Google' itself was derived from a misspelling of 'googol' (ten raised to the power of a hundred) but the original name for the search engine was BackRub', paying homage to the theory of the importance of back linking, or citation, which was the cornerstone of the project.

The verb 'Google,' was added to the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary in 2006 and Google has become integrated into society as a noun in its own right. The practice of searching for information on the web has come to be referred to simply as 'Googling', a tribute to the success and effectiveness of the project's aims.

Source : http://wiki.name.com

Interesting isn't it!

Pick in the Rain - Another Story

I may sound crazy if I keep posting stories and stories. However, this little story really made me think and have been making honest efforts to help people close to me or people whom I care for. (If not the entire society, a part) and definitely not for the 3rd lesson but for happiness. I liked this.. Guess you also would like.

One night, at 11:30 PM, an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rain storm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car. A young white man stopped to help her - generally unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960s. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxi cab. She seemed to be in a big hurry! She wrote down his address, thanked him and drove away.

Seven days went by and a knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A special note was attached. It read: "Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes but my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband's bedside just before he passed away. God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others."

Lessons:

• Offer help to anyone who needs it

• Thank others for helping you.

• If you help someone. Someone will help you

What an amazing truth!

An Interesting Case... Sorry ... Experience

As a part of academics, we were required to do a Case Study Analysis which was a pretty simple, straight forward and did not require much of an "Out of the Box" thinking to solve it. Perhaps, bad luck was on our way.. The irony here is the case study which was an easy cake walk came to us on the last day of submission. In addition to it, we were informed that the case needs to be submitted 1 week from the initial date of submission (this is called extra time i guess).. Believing it and keeping our dream horses ready for the race, we sent it to the required email id only to hear that the case study extension was NOT One Week but One day.. Still living on the ray of hope (utter foolishness- we were just fooled by ------) we attended the competition as an audience building castles in air.
The 6 groups which presented were good in their own ways. The reason me saying this is unless they have impressed the panel of judges, they wouldnt have made it to the finals. LIFO stands for Last In First Out.. In this case, the team who won (IIT MADRAS) were the last ones to present and walked away with the prestigious FIRST PRIZE. I must admit and admire that the teams did very good amount of Hard work and they just had to walk that "Extra Mile" to win the prize.. Really Awesome presentation..
This was a new kind of experience. I had some take aways from this entire episode. Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards. Very true ... It was a good "experience test"..
Nevertheless, it was a nice experience on a Saturday.

Mindset!! - An inspiring story

I was surfing the net and this inspiring story caught my eyes of attention.... Thought of sharing it with all. Do not know who formulated.. Nevertheless what matters is the Moral.. Here's how it goes!!

As my friend was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not. My friend saw a trainer nearby and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.

"Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free." My friend was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were.
Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before? So make an attempt to grow further.... Why shouldn't we try it again?

"YOUR ATTEMPT MAY FAIL, BUT NEVER FAIL TO MAKE AN ATTEMPT."

Experience, Journey of life

Welcome to my area...
Life is a wonderful train journey. We meet lots and lots of people... Some we speak once in a lifetime, some on few occasions and some stay in our mind and heart for ever. Of some we meet, we acquaint and then regret why we met them.. So, Life is a mixed bag of feelings, emotions, happiness, success etc. Just like that, after my continuous 11 years of work experience, I just decided, its time for me to stop and take a stock of where I am at present and where I want to head from here onwards. Quoting Malcolm Forbes,
" The goal of education is to replace an empty mind with an open mind",
education paves a way to fine tune and condition your mind and contribute to a great way to society. I signed up for a full time regular Masters in Business Administration... In this blog, am going to share my experiences in MBA as well as characters I met in my life... Happy Reading...

UNITED EFFORT ALWAYS PAYS OFF

Teamwork means a joint action by 2 or more people. Thanks to Wikipedia for this definition. I wonder how magnetic this eight letter could be. Although I have been a part of teams and have headed teams for quite sometime where it has done wonders, being in a B School with team members 14 years younger to you is a thrilling experience.

Yes it happened to me. This team is called 'ELEGANT EIGHTS' consisting of Sindhuja, Shubha, Shamala, Lalitha, Sowmyaa, Varsha, Ronica and myself. We were required to deliver a presentation on Indian Women Entrepreneurs and CEOs a much perfect topic at the time of celebrating Women's day!!!

India has witnessed lots of Women CEOs running successful businesses and managing work and life in a balanced approach. Perhaps this topic came to us with a hope that the above 8s would turn to be CEOs and Entrepreneurs. Who knows? Watch us for the Entrepreneur space in the years to come...

Generally presentations need dry runs more so in a team effort. But, ours was a little different. It was a sheer coincidence that none of us were really prepared that hard to make it a PERFECT 10. All of us came to the college on a Monday morning looking at each others faces just wondering what we are going to blabber. Here again we stood as a team.

Finally our turn came and we went up and whew the Introduction on the topic was given.... by none other than a Splendid Shamala (just to add a tag to the names). She did it very nicely and her English was very good. SPLENDID SHAMALA!

Second was my chance. God and I only knew what I had spoken and I mustered courage to speak in front of 50 students and to wrap my topic on Mallika Srinivasan within 3 minutes.

Next came our team's wonderful Shubha...I must admit that this girl is very confident on what she speaks, a NO TENSION girl on the stage, no fear to speak in front of the class. She is very practical and believe me she is a perfect teacher Tremendous amount of clarity, confidence, courteous... SPARKLING SHUBHA!

Next came Sindhuja's turn. She took a personality whom the entire world knows and India is proud of. She spoke about Indira Nooyi as if she knew her for several years. Except for an initial hiccup on statistics (which really did not make a difference), she sailed the topic smoothly as an experienced speaker. SMILING SINDHU!

Lalitha was the person who spoke next. I guess she must have read about this person a million times. She spoke about Kiran M Shaw (chose to shorten) as if she knew she was her neighbour. Although there was an urge in her to complete speaking within the stipulated 3 minutes she did not miss out on even one point. LUSTROUS LALITHA!

India is a country in diversity. When we take India as a whole, we stand unjustified if we don’t talk about a Hindi person. So thinking this in mind, Sowmyaa kicked off her presentation with Ekta Kapoor. Sowmyaa speaks well and maintained the good pace in her own witty style. SHARP SOWMYAA!

Over and Varsha came clad in a Saree (elegance of a woman) and spoke about a Doctor. Preetha Reddy. She is the cool person I have seen in the class. No Worries. A soft spoken yet conveying what she wants to...She did it with ease. VERY COOL VARSHA!

The conclusion was done by none other than remarkable Ronica. An unassuming character. Her English is truly AWESOME. I wonder what she is doing with this talent. She is an excellent speaker with perfect intonation, accent and style. She has the best language skills compared to any one in the class. I am sure she would be one of the best Presenters in the years to come. Girls following or becoming fan of another peer student is nothing that great. This girl has made not only many students become fans of hers but also her trainers (I mean the Faculty members). She rocks every-time she presents! ROCKING RONICA!

Although my adjectives may mean the same, every one is a gem in their own ways. - Very brilliant and very understanding. That is very important to taste the Success!!! Whether we win in presentations or not, whether we outscore other teams or not, it was a truly joyous occasion for all of us yesterday!

Thanks Team Members!!!

This part of my blog is dedicated to all my team members on the occasion of Women's day and being born as a woman is a gift. So, we are WOMEN of SUBSTANCE.

WHAT MORE A TEAM COULD ASK FOR!

First Pranams

Hi
Welcome to my blog! Nothing goes successful without the blessings of parents... So, my first pranams to my parents, particularly my mother.... (my father is a passive motivator- he is great in short). My mother is an excellent woman. She is full of enthusiasms, positive vibrations, excellent people skills so on and so forth.. Thanks Amma. Those who have met with her will definitely enjoy her talk, her creativity etc.. I want to write a lot about her ... Running short of words...

ஈன்ற பொழுதின் பெரிதுவக்கும் தன்மகனைச்
சான்றோன் எனக்கேட்ட தாய்.

I will try to be one amma...