LIFE @ ISME, Bangalore

Briefs

It has been close to 4 months since I joined ISME(International School of Management Excellence), Bangalore. The life since has been like a milling machine. The initial 7 days at ISME were for orientation and gave me a brief idea about the overall curriculum. From the day onwards I have been following an utterly hectic lifestyle. ISME offers a 16 months PGPM program in line of Europian B- Schools where you are taught by excellent professors from some of the best B-Schools in India. 12 months are dedicated to class room teaching where as students get 4 months internship in various firms. ISME provides Six Sigma black belt certification which is rarely followed by any other institutes in India. There are three specialization courses provided by ISME. They are Marketing, Finance and IT. HR is about come up next year.

ISME has taken special care to admit students from different parts of the country. The motive behind this is to make students aware of different cultures and practices.

Academics and Activities

One thing the college has ensured is that the students get the best in terms of faculties and it can compete with any of the best B-Schools in India in that respect. We have got a decent library with some of the popular business magazines and journals and a well furnished computer lab. The campus as usual is wi-fi enabled. So you need not worry about internet.

Your communication skills are bound to excel as you would be presenting at least 5-6 presentations per term(2 months). Functional english classes are taken once in a week to put extra effort on those students whose communication skills ar not up to standard.

We have till now experienced guest lectures by excellent professionals from some of the  highly reputed companies like Makino India, a 60 year old Japanese company based in Whitefield, Bangalore and Adidas. We have also been addressed by Major Vijay Batra, retired army personnel who also fought in the Kargil war of 1998.

ISME, in order to provided a platform for  co-curricular and extra curricular activities has created academic and literary clubs which arrange team games, quizes, cultural programs etc. in the college. The annual cultural day is celebrated on Diwali every year.

If you are ready to accept challenges and have the passion to excel, ISME is the right place for you. This fast track course will teach you much more than what you expect from most of the B-Schools in India.

Your smile makes my day

You come, smile and go,
I get a reason to cheer up.
You neither talk to me nor do you give a look
But I long to see you over and over again
Coz your smile makes my day.

I don’t like the tint of your specs
As they hide your beautiful eyes, I wish
I could hold your face in my hands and ask
Are you the same who I always cherished in my unfazed memory.
I know, You will never get a hint of these feelings, coz
I will not let you know, but I still wake up every morning with a hope
Coz your smile makes my day.

Nights are lonely now, days are no better
Pricked by a thousand thorns every moment,
I look for succor.
Will I be able to overcome this yearning
Which kills me now and then.
Why can’t I express my mind, why can’t I come over
Why I always end up with a solitude
And ask myself to do me a favor
The best idea would be to kneel down before you
With a rose in my hand,
And convey
That your smile makes my day.

The thin line between Love and Infatuation

An unknown author once said, “Love is the child of Illusion and the parent of Disillusion.”

Well, the sentence itself seems to be a depressing one. But the more depressing part for a failed lover is that, every frustrated lover in this world is not a great literary, who can coin a one-liner quote and get rid of frustration. Love is like a sea, you are either in it or out of it. There is no in between. That is the reason, why people feel like a fish out of water when rejected.

Love is as old as the universe itself. To be wise enough, God created the universe as he wanted to have some fun(like a child who loves his toys),He put some poor little creature on a small round planet called as earth and let them loose. In due course of time, there was evolution and a screwed up animal was produced who wanted something more than food and shelter. You know, which animal I’m talking about. Ofcourse it is man. The so called human, who has generated innumerous no. of emotions, that he can handle. And out of those emotions, man found the twin brother of LOVE, the INFATUATION. I say they are twins, because there is a thin line between Love and Infatuation, which is hard to distinguish. And it is almost impossible to distinguish for a person who is infatuated and mistakes it for love.

So, is there any way to distinguish between Love and Infatuation? Yes ofcourse! But the way is not visible to the infatuated person, because he/she doesn’t like to accept the truth. I must put an example.

Take for instance, a 14 year old boy begins liking the girl next door, who is 20 years old. For the boy, it is love, but for the girl(if she is proposed) it would be understood as infatuation. Infatuation generates from curiosity. The curiosity to explore, understand, touch and feel the sensation. This is more biological than emotional. There is no commitment involved here. There is no logic, why a person gets infatuated. Infatuation is more in young age which gradually fades out with time and the Gen-Y has found a new word to describe it, “A Crush”.

But, it doesn’t mean that older people don’t get infatuated, but the cases are rare. There are instances where, infatuation culminates in love. The reason behind this is as a person grows old, his psychology, emotions and personality also grow to be mature. But somewhere in his mind the infatuation persists, which always look for a special attention. If it is nurtured further and given a proper direction it grows to be more rational and logical.

(Watch the movies “Malena” and “American Beauty” to have a better picture of infatuation in young and old age.)

Infatuation is like a fruit, half ripened. If the fruit gets the special care and attention from the farmer, it ripens and can be consumed. But, if it is neglected, it goes waste.

When love demands total sacrifice and devotion, infatuation has its base on physical attraction and fulfillment of desires.

And finally I would like to mention a beautiful poem by Oscar Hammerstein.

A bell is no bell ’til you ring it,
A song is no song ’til you sing it,
And love in your heart
Wasn’t put there to stay -
Love isn’t love
‘Til you give it away.

Do Anaar, Teen Bimaar

Pick up a 19-20 year old boy(irrespective of his family background, education, looks) and ask him the greatest problem he is facing now-a-days. The answer, most probably will be how the ex-boy friend of his ex-ex-girl friend is eying on his current girlfriend, or how he has morphed the picture(basically the head) of the lady class teacher with Pamela Anderson’s body and the teacher has come to know about this. The list is endless. The Generation Y is having an edge over its predecessors. I think it should be Y+.

Now, don’t be surprised with the title of the topic. I am gonna share with you some of my experiences when I was a 20 year old. It was 31st December 2004. I was on a journey from Bangalore to Mumbai along with my batch mates. We were 30 in number. Due to some problem regarding the seating arrangement in the train, we had to cancel the tickets and decided to go in a bus. I was in the middle seat in some row, Junaid right to me and Bipul at left. We left the hotel at 7 pm.

Scene 1:

Junaid: Hey Prasan, how do I look, I mean, am I looking good with this jacket ?

(Junaid has just bought a cheap denim jacket from Majestic, which later found out to be undersized for him and he has already lost two buttons while trying to put it on. )

Prasan: Oh, dear friend you always look good.(Now, Prasan is a boy who never breaks a heart, especially if it’s a friend.)

Junaid: Well, mmmmmm……eh…..aaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!

Prasan: You wanna say something?

Junaid: Yah…..is it ok if I propose Dolly? What do you think?

Prasan: Dolly, ……hain….I din’t get you! I mean, I beg your pardon but, I thought you are after Sunita?

Junaid: Have you gone mad? I was never after that palm tree! Dolly, I think is just perfect for me.

Prasan: OK, nice! if you think so, go ahead, give your best shot.

Junaid:Thanks yaar, but before I take the leap, let me ask Karan. Who knows, if he has some medicine for me!

Junaid goes to sit near Karan. Now, Karan is a boy who is more or less similar to the character played by Yash Tonk in the movie “Ishq Vishq”. He plays the role of a catalyst in each and every love reaction, whereas his own love life is in a doom.

Scene 2:

It’s 9 pm. The bus has just halted so that we can have dinner. I asked Bipul to come with me, but he seemed to be a little upset. Thinking that he would come later, I go down and have my dinner. After 30 mins, I go into the bus and find Bipul still seated there. He is not willing to talk to me. So I ask other friends to do something. A little later he is pulled out of the bus to have his dinner.

Scene 3:

Now, it’s 12.30 am. I had a little nap. Suddenly, I heared somebody sobbing and to my surprise, it was Bipul. He has hugged a teddy bear to his chest and is siting like the stump of a recently cut banyan tree. Now, I get curious about him.Well, the situation can be best described as the Mandakini of “Ram Teri Ganga Maili” trying to feed her son in a train. I think most of you can relate it.(I don’t know why I always end up comparing it with a movie scene whenever I find a peculiar situation!)

Prasan: Are you crying, Bipul?

Bipul(Wiping his tears): No.

Prasan: Tell me the truth. What’s the problem?

Bipul: Ohh God! Prasan, all my dreams have been shattered. Did you see Sunita with that guy, in the corridor?

Prasan: Oh yah, they are close friends. I know that guy. He is staying in Bangalore now a days.

Bipul: Noooo! Sunita had lunch with him. She also got a gift from him!

Prasan: But, why are you crying(I know the reason, but I’m trying to tease him)?

Bipul: Don’t you know, I love Sunita?

Prasan: Ha ha ha ha….you…….you love that palm tree!!!!!!! She is 2 inches taller than you, man!

Bipul: No, she is actually of my height. She looks taller only when she wears those high heel shoes.

Prasan: Ok, now what you wanna do?

Bipul: What can I do when she has got engaged with that guy?

Prasan: Hey, nothing happened. You can still pursue her.

My words have no effect on him. He goes on shedding tears. By 5 am, I find the left half of my shirt fully drenched with saline water. What really happened is, he has rested his head on my shoulder all through the night and has taken every possible measure to wet me with both tear and saliva.

Scene 4:

5:30 am. Bus halts near a public wash room for a while, so that we can get refreshed. Now, while boarding the bus again I saw something which is described below.

Karan has his right hand on the left chest of Junaid. In his left hand he is holding a wrist watch and he is counting Junaid’s heartbeat.

Karan: Oh my goodness! It’s beating fast. It seems you din’t sleep well last night.

Junaid: Oh it’s true! Tell me the no.

Karan: It’s 98…you better take it as 100.

Junaid: I’m nervous! I think I won’t be able to do it.

Karan: You can…..my friend….Just be confident and tell her.

So I got the clue that Junaid is going to propose Dolly.

Both Junaid and Bipul proposed Dolly and Sunita respectively, and got the same response. Both were rejected. Now, don’t ask me why? After all those were a kind of psychos.

Now what about the “Teesra Bimaar”? . You remember the guy who had lunch with Sunita? That one! Except some of his meetings with me in Cuttack where I was studying, he was always out of focus.

Sunita and Dolly got married 2 years back. Sunita, I got to hear, is now settled in US and has become the mother of a cute boy and Dolly is somewhere in Hyderabad.

Junaid, Karan and Bipul have got decent jobs and the fictious person who was trying to morph the picture of the class teacher with Pamela Anderson’s body has landed up in ISME, Bangalore.

PS: Based on a true story. 4.39% manipulation with the facts so as to hide the character names. Don’t be surprised with the percentage mentioned, because MBA students always need to be perfect.

Coming out of the cocoon

“Jeena yahan Marnaa yahan, Iske siva Jaana kahan”, the song written by an ailing Shailendra on his death bed, requested by Raaj Kapoor long before ‘Mera Naam Joker’ was made, could not have been rendered in a more beautiful and meaningful way, had it been written with some of the sophisticated words. It was Shailendra’s last song which became one of the best philosophical songs we ever had till date.

The song says, the heaven and hell both are here. We have to face the consequences right here at some point of time. A fetus in the womb of a mother unknowingly undergoes all those things that have been described as the hell. The unborn child feeds, drinks, defecates and vomits right there before it comes out. The day it comes out it learns a new thing, sees a new light and have a new experience.

Some philosophers have described the whole life process as a birth and rebirth session. Each and every individual in a way, is encased in a large cocoon which has many layers. Whenever we learn something, we break one layer, see a new ray of light and proceed towards a greater light source. A more knowledgeable person is born, and the process continues further.

Now, imagine a train running through a long tunnel with no lights, and the only hope is to get out of it as soon as possible. An accident occurs at the mean time, people become helpless, they can’t even come out of the train, unable to know whether their kith and kins are safe, as it is dark. Most die, some injured, few unhurt.

Now, did they break any layer of the cocoon? Yes, everybody did it! But how? What about those who lost their lives? Friends,what we forget is that our ancestors, mythologies and legends have described the Almighty as the ultimate source of light! We always look for coming out of the shell and take the ultimate birth but, the day we break the last layer, we embrace the death!

Isn’t it an irony? No, it is the life process which we are not able to understand with the limited scope of our mind, as I said we are living inside a cocoon, and we have not yet broken that layer of the cocoon where we would get the desired answer. The day we get the answer, it would be the greatest day of our life and the greatest knowledge ever imparted to us by ourselves.