“In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.” - Winston Churchill
Never felt at home like this before! With the temperature breaking the record for the hottest day in October 2011, I was compelled to experience an Indian summer in London; an obligation I didn’t desire. I couldn’t have more emphasized and exhibited my discontent than the fact that I chose to remain indoors today and give the much appreciated ‘prolonged autumn heat wave’ enjoyed by the majority of Britain inhabitants, a confident and conscious miss. Amazingly, the last time Britain experienced such record soar in temperature was in the year 1985 – the year I was born – and then, now in 2011. I wonder, whether it has anything to do with me, fatefully! And to top it all, residing in the land of Englishmen today, I paid tribute to M K Gandhi, who had won freedom for India from the very same Englishmen!
We were bombarded with rigorous lectures right from day one, as the first official study week unraveled without much fanfare. Every day of the week was crammed with sessions from each of the modules for semester one and the module leaders each, very ritually, handed over a heavy book packed with infinite pages. The week began with the delivery of trivial insight on the ceremonious topic – Leading and Managing People; and the sudden quip of the words of Casey Stengel in my mind educed a silent smirk – “The secret to managing people is to keep the guys who hate you, away from the guys who are yet undecided.” Next day followed and we were introduced to a rather precarious subject – Identifying and Evaluating Value (of an organization/of a nation). The discourse was particularly made interesting for the students who hailed from non-finance background, who got to taste the syntax and semantic of accounting and finance. Nonetheless, I invariably couldn’t help but ponder, gasp, and sigh on the moribund economy of many European nations, as much as the connoisseurs of finance and accounting world can swank!
The middle of the week saw us imbue fundamental interpretations of my personal favorite theme – Marketing; fittingly titled ‘Creating Customer Value’. The omnipresent phenomenon of marketing rides solely on one crucial aspect – hope! It incessantly sells hope, nourishes the hope, further enriches the hope and more pertinently, keeps the flames of hope alive and burning. As the noted French writer Francois de La Rochefoucauld wisely understood, “Hope is the last thing that dies in a man...” And nothing exploits it more than marketing! And finally, Thursday concluded with us playing on MS Excel with zealous efforts to draw some sense of statistics. At this juncture, I must not fail to cite the famous quote on statistics by Professor Aaron Levenstein – “Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.” Guess that pretty much sums up all about statistics!
Just as we were about to heave a sigh of relief on the supposed culmination of a long and laborious schedule of 10am to 5pm every day, Friday sprung up with a surprise – of us having to undertake a psychometric test – under the last significant module for semester one – Personal and Professional Development. Although initially deemed punitive by many, further insight about the module revealed relevant and rather applicable use of the course curriculum. On that note, each member of the MBA cohort survived on to enjoy the impending weekend!
I, addicted to photography, couldn’t have waited any further to explore new places in London. But ominously, Saturday saw my camera give up on me due to my irrefragable negligence to charge the batteries. We frantically surmised for a solution and it was then that a brilliant idea conceptualized to elevate us from the tyranny of unfortunate predicament. We visited the Houses of Parliament, where photography was prohibited!
…as I look forward to another arduous week of the MBA menu served hot in my plate, the statue with a belligerent pose of Winston Churchill in the Houses of Parliament evokes memories, eliciting the desire to conclude with yet another witty quote from the same man, “A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen….”
Never felt at home like this before! With the temperature breaking the record for the hottest day in October 2011, I was compelled to experience an Indian summer in London; an obligation I didn’t desire. I couldn’t have more emphasized and exhibited my discontent than the fact that I chose to remain indoors today and give the much appreciated ‘prolonged autumn heat wave’ enjoyed by the majority of Britain inhabitants, a confident and conscious miss. Amazingly, the last time Britain experienced such record soar in temperature was in the year 1985 – the year I was born – and then, now in 2011. I wonder, whether it has anything to do with me, fatefully! And to top it all, residing in the land of Englishmen today, I paid tribute to M K Gandhi, who had won freedom for India from the very same Englishmen!
We were bombarded with rigorous lectures right from day one, as the first official study week unraveled without much fanfare. Every day of the week was crammed with sessions from each of the modules for semester one and the module leaders each, very ritually, handed over a heavy book packed with infinite pages. The week began with the delivery of trivial insight on the ceremonious topic – Leading and Managing People; and the sudden quip of the words of Casey Stengel in my mind educed a silent smirk – “The secret to managing people is to keep the guys who hate you, away from the guys who are yet undecided.” Next day followed and we were introduced to a rather precarious subject – Identifying and Evaluating Value (of an organization/of a nation). The discourse was particularly made interesting for the students who hailed from non-finance background, who got to taste the syntax and semantic of accounting and finance. Nonetheless, I invariably couldn’t help but ponder, gasp, and sigh on the moribund economy of many European nations, as much as the connoisseurs of finance and accounting world can swank!
The middle of the week saw us imbue fundamental interpretations of my personal favorite theme – Marketing; fittingly titled ‘Creating Customer Value’. The omnipresent phenomenon of marketing rides solely on one crucial aspect – hope! It incessantly sells hope, nourishes the hope, further enriches the hope and more pertinently, keeps the flames of hope alive and burning. As the noted French writer Francois de La Rochefoucauld wisely understood, “Hope is the last thing that dies in a man...” And nothing exploits it more than marketing! And finally, Thursday concluded with us playing on MS Excel with zealous efforts to draw some sense of statistics. At this juncture, I must not fail to cite the famous quote on statistics by Professor Aaron Levenstein – “Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.” Guess that pretty much sums up all about statistics!
Just as we were about to heave a sigh of relief on the supposed culmination of a long and laborious schedule of 10am to 5pm every day, Friday sprung up with a surprise – of us having to undertake a psychometric test – under the last significant module for semester one – Personal and Professional Development. Although initially deemed punitive by many, further insight about the module revealed relevant and rather applicable use of the course curriculum. On that note, each member of the MBA cohort survived on to enjoy the impending weekend!
I, addicted to photography, couldn’t have waited any further to explore new places in London. But ominously, Saturday saw my camera give up on me due to my irrefragable negligence to charge the batteries. We frantically surmised for a solution and it was then that a brilliant idea conceptualized to elevate us from the tyranny of unfortunate predicament. We visited the Houses of Parliament, where photography was prohibited!
…as I look forward to another arduous week of the MBA menu served hot in my plate, the statue with a belligerent pose of Winston Churchill in the Houses of Parliament evokes memories, eliciting the desire to conclude with yet another witty quote from the same man, “A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen….”
No comments:
Post a Comment