Teacher/advisor/Attitude problem

Everybody raved about this business valuation class offered by Sarin. It had more followers at one point in time than the movie Avatar has right now (Hyperbole). Turns out all that glitters is not gold. For me both turned into heaps of disappointment. Sarin is a wonderful and talented teacher just that he hardly puts his skills into practice. His projects were fun in fact the curriculum was fun for the first few days and then it slowly started to get under everyone's skin. I was lucky to be in a very very cohesive group where each one of us brought something really good to the table. Some were not just as lucky and had tough time dealing with the other group members. Problem was not that everyone knew everything. The problem was that everyone thought they knew everything when in reality no one knew everything and the one's who did know everything thought they were god's gift to mankind and threw attitude around which annoyed the larger egos.

Stories apart I honestly enjoyed the first few challenges and truth is learnt a lot on my own but then some where I got tired. I got tired of being given gloomy, you try and figure out kind of goals. Sarin could have handled it much better by throwing out some concepts which we did not know in brief and then let us loose on the battle ground. For me I felt as if I was driving motorbikes on rugged terrain when in fact bikes need good roads. I mean in our case bikes came first and then the roads did. Learning seemed an up hill battle. Thanks to an understanding group I made it and so did they.

From my personal experience I would strongly suggest people to take his class only if they have good team mates with some idea as to what is going on in the course otherwise an individual can always learn something else. I wish Sarin could give 100% to what he is teaching. Things would be so much more better. His knowledge and experience is invaluable and something more than a drop for students would go a very very long way.

However on the upside he taught me how to start with nothing and in fact deliver results in a given short period of time. Is not that what MBA's are supposed to do,"handle worst case scenarios?"On the down side I felt that there were so many things that I could and in fact did on my own and did not need a teacher. He always seemed like he taught because he had to teach and not because he wanted to teach. Hmm... what can I say about such people? There are lots of them out there.

For instance my graduate advisor who goofed up my unit calculations and then took almost a month to get it straight. When I requested her to give me a YES before the holidays so that I can file for my OPT she went roaring,"I work for 1400 students you are not the only one." I am glad I have that in black and white. I will send it back to her one day asking,"What do you think would happen if this goes to the Chair Person?." Why do people write their thoughts aloud in an hate email? That too in a country like the US? Where warrior lawyers are eager to sue left, right and center? Maybe she thought I would not do it because I fall in a student category, who, to begin with is an Indian and to end with a female? Well NEWS FOR YOU advisor lady sometimes a demograph like me does do the unimaginable. We do fight against people who oppress us.

Never mind maybe she is upset with too much work that she has. So does that give her the right to be arrogant? I do not know. And I honestly have moved on. What is the point in firing back everyone who is rude to us. Its negative energy anyway. What goes around comes around.

Its all about having a positive attitude. I am glad I stand up for myself and present my case. Having done MBA, I know for sure that there is no point arguing without facts and shouting will never make me right. And being lousy in attitude will only have people write a blog about me. So I hope someday both Sarin and Lady advisor wake up and change their approach as well as their attitude. For now I understand where they both are coming from. But that will not be the case always. So better change than never!

Pain ends

I wake up every morning with the hope that maybe one day all my problems will end. But if they do then what would I do? Imagine a life without any problems or frustrations. How would it feel to wake up every morning knowing that I do not have to worry about my future. I might enjoy that kind of life for a few days and then? Then what? Life would be so very monotonous that I would wish for problems. Whatever I am today is the produce of the hurdles I faced. From morning till noon every action of mine is influenced by a past event. Every dime is weighed before it is spent. Of course! That kind of lifestyle does seem overwhelming at times and sometimes I do wish for days where in I can spend without thinking twice. But overall it is worth the pain. Pain makes us a better person. We value things more than we should. We appreciate smallest of things and we always try not to forget as to where we have come from.

I remember the time in 2006 when most people in this country spent because spending was the 'in thing.' Credit was no big a deal and I found more people in the malls than inside of their homes. Money seemed cheaper than it should be. All in all money had significantly lost its value in the eyes of the people of this country.

Easy money is never a good thing. It is always an indication that something is seriously wrong. As elders have always said,"There is no short cut to success." If anything comes easy it is always better to doubt the origin of the money or think what the catch in it is? Not that people did not know about all this. Just that over a period of time people tend to forget where they have come from and that is what exactly happened. Every one wanted to live the "Great American Dream." A dream that was built on slippery slope and a dream that finally vanished into thin air.

Come to think of it who is ultimately responsible for the miserable state of the economy? People, government? Who? A question even best of financial scholars are struggling to answer. A topic that belongs to "Behavioral Sciences," which says that some people find it easier to spend or just to save and that more people use heart to make the decision about selling or buying stocks. Why no one knows.

From the time man was created striking a balance has always been the most difficult thing to do. I know a person who spends saying," Oh! come on we will all be gone someday. What is the whole point in saving?" And I know another person who says,"Why do we have to spend. Let me save it all so that I can buy a $700,000 house and sell it for a million dollars." I wish I could say both of them were right. Unfortunately they are not. Spending while simultaneously saving is the key to end most of the pain if not all of it. It is important to know what to save for? Saving to buy a house in the form of cash is probably the worst idea I have ever known. In fact saving in the form of cash is the worst investment ever. Cash should only be enough to cover a worst case scenario. Rest should always be invested in equity, bond or a mixture of both would be the best. Respecting money and money's worth is the most important thing in life. "Know it all attitude" is what brought us down on our knees. Hopefully the economy is seeing some daylight and maybe one day America will be what it is modeled for. A capitalist economy which rewards a sensible risk taker in a seamless manner. For that the SEC will have to implement regulations in the strictest manner but in a way that it encourages the worthy and hampers the greedy. They can stop being ignorant and follow what the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Board does. Monitor every single transaction with the eye and agility of an eagle. They can hire a thug to catch a thug. From Madoff to AIG all did what they did because the SEC respected them for their integrity which none of them did have. This is called the HALO EFFECT. The belief that the GIANT can do no wrong. Well wrong was done and pain was indeed inflicted on people. Money came in easy and lost its importance but when it did gain respect things had gone from bad to worse.

I know the crisis will end maybe today or maybe in a month but when it does I pray that money comes in the hard way, and people know to save it prudently. Because it is only when the pain ends that money losses its respect in the eyes of the people and things start falling apart.

Taking lessons from history therefore I hope that even if I do get what I want in life I always have some pain in life. So that no matter where I am in life I always know where I came from.

May Christmas Hail cuz everything's on sale!

I could not believe my eyes when I saw things that I could buy for cheap. I started with one and then went on to the next and moved on to the other one, by the time I was done I had this huge pile of stuff that I bought for a bargain. Well thats what I thought until I saw the bill. Yep, I almost fainted. Just because I bought everything for less I had not realized that I had bought too many things. This is what I call as Holiday Sale Hypnosis. I just went into this state where it seemed like I was programmed only to 'BUY" things. Buy this, buy that, Oh! look at that one, that's so cheap. As I said once I came out of the shock I decided to draw the line and kept the ones I needed and returned the ones I did not want. Whatever it is, holidays are a blessing in disguise, they bring joy, happiness and super bargain deals with them. How I love Christmas. Merry Christmas to all!

Tiger strays!

I remember the day I oohed and ahhed over Tiger Woods. Then I heard and read about the wedding he had with this swimsuit model/nanny. I always thought and appreciated him for his talent. I was glad that he never got into any controversies. Life was smooth and then one day I hear what I should not have heard. I heard that Tiger strayed. I was disappointed and sorry for his wife and kids for about thirty seconds to be exact and then with the feeling that,"Well whether we like it or not Tiger did stray" I moved on. And am eagerly awaiting to see him play more so that I can continue to see his talent and not read things that trash him. I am not in favor of what he did but I am an ardent fan of Tiger Woods and not his personal life. So Tiger stop straying and start playing.

Abuse, half the sky, and, women!

As I read and am still reading Half the Sky I was stunned to see that most abuse against women is either done, instigated or supported by women. For instance a mother-in-law triggers problems between couples and then persuades her son to physically, verbally or emotionally abuse his wife, another woman. And what's worse is that sons are made to believe by such mothers that it is OK to abuse a woman to show her, her place or teach her a lesson.

 Unbelievable! First I was in denial but then come to think of it, is not it true? My maid in India came home abused every single day. Her mother in law would take all the money she earned and blame that she was hiding some more. Drunk son would release his energy by abusing his wife, my maid. When I asked her why she was still with her husband? She would timidly reply,"I live with him and die with him. Where can I go? I have little children." Had my maid been educated may be then she would have walked out on her abusive husband. If not walked out at least retaliated. 

Yesterday I was talking to my aunt who mentioned that her friend divorced her husband of twenty five years. Quite unusual in India. Divorce itself is a stigma in India and if a woman gets divorced very young then life for her is practically over. I am not saying that a man is wrong or a woman is right. Just that men are not just as stigmatized as women in India. Pretty unfortunate I would say. To get back to my conversation with my aunt who was horrified over what happened and kept stressing how wrong it was for her friend to leave her husband and at one point even mentioned that her friend was not what she looked, that she was abusive too! (This I found hilarious since I have known her friend too). Seems like my aunt wanted to somehow think that the man was right and the woman WRONG! I on the other hand was glad that the lady did the right thing. I have known her husband just as long and have seen him come home drunk every day, abuse her and sometimes get other women. The only reason she stayed in the marriage was because she was not very educated and of course for the kids. She knew if she left early, her husband, would never give her their kids plus she had no support financial, emotional or educational. What would she do? Now her kids all grown up have taken her in and have started retaliating against their father. Having said that does it still make it right for people to blame the wife for the divorce? I do not know. My aunt is of an older generation where women stayed with their spouses no matter how the man treated her. But for my generation it is unimaginable. Based on my thoughts I did tell my aunt to not talk ill of her friend but support her because this is the time I know for sure her friend will need her the most. Also I reminded her that she was a woman too and asked her to put herself in her friends shoes. In spite of my persuasion my aunt was like,"Nooo Roopa....!" 

Well I will not be able to change my aunt but will stand by women who are indeed abused and not name or trash them. Reading half the sky makes me realize that education is one tool that can make women independent in every way. I was blessed to have a cocooned life but to assume that every one has the same is a misnomer. This book is such an eye opener that I am inclined to work for the cause. I may not be able to change the world but if I can change lives of a few women that would be worth the effort.

Driving in bay area drives me crazy!

Here I was listening to Miley's song, 'Party in the USA' and driving in a two lane road/freeway (As if people in bay area follow speed limits to categorize roads as freeway, two lane, three lane or whatever) on a Friday night at the speed of 50 mph when I suddenly  reduce my speed to accommodate two slow moving cars in either lanes right in front of me. Believe it or not these cars were driving at 40 mph! I wanted to yell at the driver driving on the left lane,"Hey, moron if you want to drive slow then move to the right lane. Why are you parallel driving with someone just like you?" Yeah right! As if I call some one moron the person will humbly accept that he/she is a moron and pay attention to what I have to say. Worst part I could not even honk. To combat the problem I tailgated the slow moving car on the left lane. Result the car in the front did not budge. Now this is what I call as the 'worst-fate' scenarios. I mean what else could it possibly be? Sometimes there is hope for instance if the guy, fortunately I must say, turns right from the right lane then I can manage to zoom my way to glory. 

However this does not happen all the time. There are times when I am  stuck in similar scenario and neither car turns any where. What do I do then? I tailgate just as much as I can, curse  them under my breath and finally give up. 

People driving slow are unique species of their own kind. Freeway or pricy way it does not matter to them. Their motto is drive slow and annoy every one else, who cares! Then there are those who suddenly move to the next lane without switching the indicator on. And some who wait all the time in the left signal and on green go straight. How weird is that! How do such irresponsible or say dumb drivers get their driving license? A mystery I have never been able to solve. 

On Friday night when I faced slow drivers driving at 40 mph in a 50 mph zone I just could not take it. I decided to protest by non stop tailgating each one of them. My logic was at least one of them will get scared. Turns out none of them was even aware that I existed. Well I gave up. I compromised thinking this could be worse if I were in India. Worse or better? Let's see people in India honk all the time no matter what. And it's good because they send the message right across and people LEAVE WAY! Hello I know safety is important but not driving right is equally dangerous. I mean I could get annoyed and bump straight into the slow moving car!

When I was in Austin, Texas, people would cut into your way but make it sure to raise hand to thank as well as apologize for the unacceptable behavior. In bay area there is no concept of raising hands. Here people raise hands only to show their middle finger. Well for the first few days I felt bad but turns out now I do the same. In fact my middle finger has an artificially intelligent mind of its own. I guess its like what the Romans say,"When in bay area be like a bay arean." Yes, I created the word arean don't freak out. I am sure someday it will make it to the dictionary the way other senseless words do. 

Now on Friday gave up I did but then an unusual thing happened. The slow moving car wanted to change lanes to the right. Apparently with me tailgating and the car in the right lane moving equally slow the driver was stuck and missed the turn. Man! my happiness knew no bounds. For once the driver who drove me nuts had faced frustration. As a result the driver had no choice but to drive faster from then on. He/She had experienced my pain. 

I hope all  drivers who make driving hard for others learn similar lessons the hard way and thereafter drive better in order to make driving in bay area a pleasant experience and not a tedious frustrating chore.

Emptiness a unique cognitive dissonation.

All I ever wanted to do in the past few days was to get over with my marketing project. A project which started small and then snowballed into the size of an elephant. When choosing a country for the project we chose Chile, a third world country. Yes, third world is exactly we thought it was until truth came out one after another like pearl from oyster. The project went from being BORING in caps to super interesting. Whole Foods in Chile, we said in our comment, would prosper. Reason being sound fiscal policies followed by Chile is helping Chile rise up faster than ever in the race called globalization. At one time all I did for five days was dig for information on Chile and its demo graph. There is just so much that I did not know about Chile. After hours and hours of work I managed to complete the project. Today when submitting the project my team mate and I almost fainted with exhaustion. I am glad its over. Now I can take a break before other projects start getting due. Yeah! all the time my way from school to home I thought of 101 things I could do in the next few days of thanks giving vacation. Once home I realized I could not sit idle for more than three hours straight. Without much effort I opened my laptop and started to blog. Why are we humans never content with what we think will make us happy. Al right let me not generalize why was it that I could not be happy with the state I was in when I wanted to be in that state of emptiness all the time?

I gave it a thought and came up with this theory that is called,"Emptiness a unique cognitive dissonation." Yes, we all are our own consumers. We make trade-off with ourselves and after a while realize that the option that was supposed to make us happy is not exactly working. A clear case of dissonance. Confused state of mind and it is cognitive. So what exactly is the solution. Is not it obvious silly, more work! Now is the time for me to get back to things that have been staring at me like the geico thing for a long time. I rub them off when I am busy and cuddle and hug them when I am jobless. I am sure when I start doing things that I planned to do when I have more time will very soon make me unhappy and I will then again crave for free time. It is a vicious circle but that circle is so important because it makes us all appreciate what we do not have. Sitting ideal even for a few hours made me happy and appreciate what I did not have and then I was unhappy with free time. Result I gave in to blogging and now while blogging the same feeling of dissonance is making me grab some other work. My theory reinforces itself every thirty seconds. Maybe I am wrong or maybe I am right anyways its time for me to quit blogging and move on to something else. 

Bygones are bygones!

I aim to move forward and look at good over bad. But I see more of bad than good. I guess it is human nature to not let go of wrong. As human I define myself and others around me. I do not think before I go an extra mile for people I care. Who do I care more for? I do not know because I care equally for all. Is that what I did wrong? Did I care for the ones who cared less about me?Maybe this is a wake up call that I should care for myself and me and not for everybody! But that's what and who I am. I care and will care. Then why the questions? Questions like should I continue to be myself and do what I have been doing for people around me? Should I trust people? I do not know. I am lost and confused. My heart is heavy with profound feeling of disappointment. Why did what ever that happened, happen? Where did I go wrong? Was I too blind to see that people are not what they look? Questions echo inside my head all the time. Questions that are dark as night and deep as the sea. Answers seem to elude me. I look for answers in people. I talk about my pain, sometimes I laugh it out, sometimes I cry and sometimes I just choose to forget it. But forgetting turns out is not easy, forgiving is. So I decide to forgive for now but I will not forget. I will remember and not let bygones be bygones!

Moi Corolla

Yesterday I was late to school. Being late is not only an offense but a curse since the parking lot gets FULL and one finds oneself cruising every single street, nook and corner for parking space. Thankfully for me, yesterday, I had taken my teeny tiny corolla to school, which I cooly parked in miniature of a space next to 7/11, a few furlongs away, from the building where my classes are held. What would have I done if I had taken our SUV which is the size of an elephant? Of course I love our SUV just for the pleasure of driving it and in fact at times get annoyed that my husband claims his right on it! But yesterday I was just happy that I was in my Corolla, something,  I all the time, think of trading for a Nissan 350Z. Not that Nissan 350Z is any bigger than Corolla but it is a muscle car and its super fancy. But the hazards of parking a fancy car in a 24 minute parking space for two hours right opposite to 7/11 is that it becomes an easy target for tickets. You see cops love to circle streets close to schools and when they see a shiny car in a 24 minute parking space they wait till the 24 minute phase passes and then walk like Patrick Swazye towards the car and stick a $50 ticket in between the wipers of the car. 

With Corolla there are no such risks. I can park it where ever I want and be just fine. Yesterday too was a similar experience. My corolla  had over stayed the parking time but fortunately managed to not earn tickets. The feeling was of not getting ticket makes me fall all over in love with Corolla and appreciate its simple but worthy appearance. It might be a rugged ten year old Corolla and not a Nissan 350Z or BMW but it helps me be ticket-free in life which is more than what fancy cars could do for me. Someday even if I do buy a fancy car I will still own my good old Corolla; if not for anything else then for old times sake. Love you moi corolla!

Buy or not to Sell?

In my lifetime I have always come across people who are extremes. One who save too much and the other who save nothing. Its very rare that I have seen someone who knows how to strike a balance. I have had arguments with all three kinds of people and none of them has been able to fascinate me. Then there are some like my husband who no matter what manage to loose money. Not because they want to but because something beyond their control happens and the money from the bank account just vanishes. So what is the right approach? I am no Warren Buffet or Suze Orman but from what I have learnt from my finance courses at school and experience from work is that there is no one who can not save or not stop saving too much. It's a personal choice. We as individuals find ways to do things we want to do. Which means we have control on how we save or spend money. I had a professor who always said that life was all about making choices and living with it. I totally agree with her. 

As adults no one but only we know when to start and when to stop. There are things we are good at and things we are not good at. We can try and master things we are not good at or look for professional help. I have come across infinite number of people who say they know all about stocks and they are probably the ones who loose  most of their money in  stock market. I feel for such humble beings. 

There are enough noble laureates out there who started hedge funds that went straight down the drain. And then there is George Soros who made millions and millions on his quantum fund. The darling of the stock market title goes to Warren Buffet, he wins it hands down.

Stock market has its own charm. It is like a mistress to many since it can change colors, be extremely demanding, sometimes give pleasure but most of the time elude. Key is to know what indicates the mood swings.

Personally I take second opinion from my advisor on whatever investments I make. If one reads Warren Buffet's autobiography the first lesson one learns is that information, lots and lots of information along with math is the secret to success. Who provides information about the stock market? Obviously many people who know it all plus the well trained analysts who do detailed home work before they publish their results. Most of the time information comes from the sell side analysts. Buy side analysts keep it mum. Generally because they do not get the required information from the firm. Which means we, as humans should look for lot of opinion all the time. Warren Buffet knows it all but still seeks expert opinion and that has worked for him for not five or ten but for over thirty years. 

Accepting that we do not know something does not make us less of a person. It makes us Warren Buffet. ;-)

I always say this as an example to people,"You know where to get oil for your engine, you also know where to pour the oil but do you do all that on your own?" NO! You go to a specialist. Investing in a market is the same. Spending $300 an year on an advisor can save you tons and tons of trouble. These advisors do not wake up one day and say,"Gee! I am bored with the current profession I guess I will become an advisor." It is a long process. Of course there are some who mislead people and I in no way advocate such individuals. But at the same time there are a few who are genuine. Through this all I am trying to say is that there is help out there. All we need to do is weigh pros and cons and make the right call. 

For instance a particular company's stock  at one time sky rocketed but then as the economy tanked it went nose down. I checked the balance sheet of the company along with the footnotes and I realized that the firm had a lot of potential. And based on my research I gave  this  one person free advice to continue holding the considered company's stock. The Counter argument to my free advice was," You say it is a good firm then why is it not performing?" For which I replied look around. What does the economy look like to you? The fact that this company has a good growth rate in spite of this godforsaken economy should ring a bell in your head. You should well equip yourself with "BUY AND HOLD" strategy for this stock. The next question obviously was, how long? This was and always is an interesting question.

How long is based on so many factors such as the economy, competitors, and so many other things. At a time when everything in the market is crumbling people overreact to the smallest of things. Smallest of performance during good times is celebrated with laurels and biggest of achievement in tough times looks unsatisfactory. Everything can be measured and quantified but the psyche of the market is hard to follow. There is only so much one can do to understand what exactly causes panic. Numbers can define many things but not everything. 

Therefore one should always invest in stocks based on one's need. Short term, long term or medium term. Try and keep a good balance between bonds and stocks. If you have stock options given to you at IPO price or ESPP's use it prudently. Not everything needs to be sold. Check the company's balance sheet, read as much as you can about the firm and the market. Remember information is power. If not for anything else get an advisor at least to clear all your doubts. Making money is easy but making decision is difficult. There are times when a stock is worth $10 and the next day worth $150 or $0.10 cents. Was it luck. NO! Probably you missed something vital or you ran out of patience or were over confident. Find out what was that caused you to miss the signals and then work on it.

Again I am no expert advisor myself,  but I am a person who has some idea of what happens in the market. I might not be able to help someone make a fortune but I can sure guide people as a friend and a fellow human being. 

So far I have successfully guided a few of my friends and they are thankful I did which makes me and them equally happy. But only we can be our own best friend and by following what I have said might not help one  end up like Warren Buffet but it sure will help keep you from ending like,"Joe, the stock market loser."

Home Sweet Home

As a kid the best highlight in my life was my home. I was that odd specimen who would roam whole of the world but at the end still be happy that I was home. 

Like most people in Mumbai me and my family lived in this tiny two bedroom apartment that was a little over 800 square feet. There was one master bedroom for my parents and a living room for us kids. The living room was magical since it donned different garb at different hours of the day. For instance in the day it was living room, by noon it was our eating space, by evening it became  entertainment/dining room and at night it was bedroom  for me and my sister. For sixteen years I  grew up in that lilliput size of a home and not once did I feel that anything was missing from my life. I had my parents, sister and all my loved ones right there in that small apartment. During festivals it could hold close to fifteen people who shared the same bathroom and slept wherever they found place. No one cribbed not me or my relatives. We all knew having a two bedroom apartment in Mumbai in a strategic location was like owning a house in paradise.

 Everything seemed normal till my parents decided to move to Bangalore. Now Bangalore you see in the 90's was much greener and less crowded than it is right now. I remember teasing my parents. I used to call Bangalore the "Retirement Zone." Alas! not for long. Today Bangalore is anything but a retirement zone. Of course I am glad that India's economy is taking a new form and being a hard core economist at heart I applaud the growth in all major cities of India. Now when I talk to my parents they find it hard to keep up with the pace. My father goes,"I might as well live in Mumbai." And I feel why not? Mumbai being my birthplace wins hands down and never stops to fascinate me. I crave for it all the time. Guess that's how we Mumbaikar's are.  No matter where we go we always compare the city with Mumbai and go,"Un Huh nothing can beat Mumbai."Once someone in the US asked me,"So where are you from?" And I replied,"I am from Mumbai." And the guy went,"So you are an Indian?" I answered yes I am an Indian from Mumbai. Well that is how it is for us unique Mumbai people.

Anyways I came to Bangalore and realized that most houses in Bangalore were actually HOUSES. I mean they were independent unlike apartment and generally bigger in size than an apartment. Some of them were very big and when I say that I am not joking. When I was in Bangalore in the 90's apartments where a rare sight to see. My parents happily settled down in Bangalore with my sister and her family. They lived up stairs in a five bedroom bungalow with  my sister and her family. That is when I first developed taste for big houses. I liked the idea of walking for thirty seconds to reach the bathroom. The bungalow bug bit me hard in the 90's and has ever since been growing inside me. The bug has quadrupled over years and  now in the US I keep telling my husband about how much I love big homes and that I dream to buy one someday .

There was a time in 2007 where my husband and I had almost decided to buy a home.We had made intelligent (at least that is what we thought) assumptions about the market and houses. We totally got into the mode of buying a big home or bungalow as I call them and started the process of looking for homes through a website which gave information about houses, area and their prices. The deal was I would list down all the areas and houses which fell into our lousy budget of peanuts and the next weekend my husband and I would  visit them. One time we drove  fifty miles only to turn back in the middle of the way because of the huge back up on the freeway. I remember saying,"I do not think this will work for us. I want a house not a vacation rental." We were new to California from Texas. In Texas driving to do grocery is a journey in its own way. The only difference is traffic. It is not just as crowded as California is. When we drove those fifty miles on a weekend we realized there was too much traffic. Think about driving during peak hours. We probably might never make it to the destination on time.

That first encounter woke us up a little but not altogether. We then decided to try closer areas and ended up visiting a house in south San jose. An area I would never ever visit again. The houses were more like Ghettos in Chicago. I was so shaken by that experience that I said," Chethan I think we are doing a big mistake and we should do this through an agent."

Next we visited an agent who asked us whether we had gotten a pre-approval from the bank for a loan. Finding that amusing I decided to go to the nearest bank where I met this banker who convinced me that we could get loans for 'zero' down payment.He took a long time to explain what fixed interest or variable rate of return was and so on. I shook my head and applied for a pre-approval of loan for an amount that even I was ashamed to quote. But then I was naive and arrogant at the same time. You know I over rode the feeling  that because I was young I was invincible and that knowing to count meant that I was good at math. Of course I knew the feeling was not right but I anyways chose to believe it just for the heck of it.

The next time we met the agent we proudly listed our accomplishments. The agent looked at us and said," So how much are you paying down?" At this question my husband and I went blank. We thought we could buy a home for 'zero' down payment. Where was this agent from? Mars? Did he not know that? Then his question made me angry. But today I am glad that we met such a caring agent. When the agent saw us looking at each other he instantly knew we were amateurs and that were in real  need of guidance. As a part of a workshop he explained that getting a pre-approval involved dipping credit score which was an essential in getting home loans. When we heard that we were both worried but glad that now we knew what mistakes not to do. As they say its all about the learning curve. The agent then took us through various areas and explained that houses in bay area were determined by the school districts they belonged to. Good school district meant good price for the house and zero spending on kids education. Whereas not so good school district meant spending around $3000 for four hours every week at a private school for a three year old kid. And the fees increased as the kid grew. 

So the first lesson we learnt was to never go for pre-approvals without having money ready for down payment.  My uncle whom I later consulted said not to go for zero down payment ever or adjustable mortgage since refinancing could be expensive and the rates could fluctuate to any level.

The next one was to know how to tap areas with good school district or tap good areas themselves with smaller houses. The agent had suggested this plan that young couples could always follow. As a young couple, the agent explained, that we did not have to worry about buying big house at the very beginning. The strategy, he said, was to first buy a small home so that we  can rent it when we wanted to transit to a bigger home or at least sell it profitably in order to transit to a bigger home.

Third lesson we learnt was to find a good agent like the one we had and never just buy a home on our own. There are so many things that the agents know and we do not. For example there was this beautiful house in Fremont which apparently  as it so happens was built on some graveyard. Had the agent not told us that we would have had been in great trouble. Since not every one feels comfortable living and walking on  people's dead body. It's like making the expression,"Over my dead body" true.

After this eye opening experience Chethan and I decided to hold on our horses. It is not that we did not know what we  were told. It is just that we never thought about all these things. Our only focus was home. We wanted to buy a home. Period. We had to learn from the Japanese swordsman Miamoto to not only concentrate on the point of the enemy's sword but also on other sides since the attack always comes from the less obvious place. Well better late than never.We took it in the right spirit and decided to carry on with our lives and work our way towards buying the home we both so very much want. Meanwhile I got busy with school and  Chethan got busy with work. 

Today when we visit people's home we mentally appraise the value and discuss about the pros and cons. Getting everything such as good school district, beautiful house and wonderful neighbors is a gift bestowed upon a very few. What we as individuals can do is try. Try our best to not make the choice of our first home a disaster. That is the reason when I meet people who are house hunting I suggest they go to a good real estate agent. These are people who if good can help and save you from so much trouble and the unknown. At least our real estate agent did help us and for that we are ever indebted to him. And for the ones who have already bought a home and feel that they probably made the wrong decision I say,"No worries. What makes a home invaluable is not the area or the school district. It's the moment you spend with your family, the memories you make and the laughs and cries you share with your loved ones." Just live in that home and enjoy every single minute of it. 

Most of the time  we as individuals  think we know everything but sometimes knowing everything but missing pieces can prove financially fatal. What is important is not brooding over the past. Key is to learn from the curve and make prudent choices in future and that is what Chethan and I did. For now we have other agendas to think about and home is not our main plan but it is definitely there on the list.  As we move up the list I am sure we will one day own a den that we will proudly  call,"Home Sweet Home."

Grey's Anatomy

Work no work, mid-term no mid-term, food no food this is one soap that keeps me hooked up no matter what. From Christina Yang to Mc Dreamy every single character seems to fascinate me. All, no not all. To be honest  I was not that  great a fan of George. I found George to be a very slow character. Someone who took forever to talk, walk and do everything. Someone I would totally avoid. Fortunately my prayers came true and he quit the series. This made me halcyon. I am glad that he bid Grey's Anatomy adieu.

Every single season of Grey's Anatomy comes with tons of surprises that makes me sit on the edge of my couch. I record all episodes and see them over and over again. There is something about Grey's Anatomy. Every single person can  identify one self with one or the other character of Grey's Anatomy. We are sometimes like Izzie, we care and watch out for others and sometimes we  are arrogant and rude but good at heart like Christina. Pick any character in that soap and you will see something in common.

Personally I am a huge fan of Sandra Oh who plays Christina Yang in the series. She is a strong woman, super intelligent and represents hope in its own rugged way. Patrick Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo make a wonderful pair as Derek and Meredith. Their on screen chemistry is wonderful. When I look at them I realize that even the world's best looking pair do not have the so called perfect relationship. 

Lexie the character that plays Meredith Grey's sister in the series needs to know that she is actually a plain jane and not exactly pretty. Not to me at least. Well as they say beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. What makes me 'J' is that in spite of being ordinary she gets to date Mark Sloan. Talk about luck! 

Bailey for me rocks. What would the series be without her. Tiny little woman who literally binds the doctors together in her own sweet manner. Other than these cool characters I am also fond of Dr. Arizona and the chief. 

Today I saw the recent episode I recorded on DVR and I watched it four times again. Just could not stop not watching and now I cannot wait to see the next episode. Like the other episodes I am sure the next one will only make me fall more and more in love with Grey's Anatomy.

 As a kid I dreamt of being doctor and then as a teenager I saw blood and puked. That's when I decided not to become a doctor. Well that was one of the many other reasons that stopped me from taking medicine as a profession. So I live my fantasy through Grey's Anatomy and too be more closer to my fantasy I also watch House. Yes I admit I am a fan of House. But for some reason not just as much as that of Grey's Anatomy's. I know doctors do not actually live life large like the doctors in Grey's Anatomy. But then Grey's Anatomy is a soap who cares for reality. When Grey's Anatomy is on its all about dreams come true! Even if it is for a few minutes I live and enjoy every second of it. For those few seconds I am a doctor dating hottest male doctors in Seattle Grace Hospital, performing toughest of surgery and living life which is totally complex but equally fun. I go far far away from reality and when the saga stops I come back to reality and wait eagerly to transcend again to a land where dreams come true. 

Where do I start?

For every chapter that I read in half the sky I wonder what exactly is the problem to a solution? Donating money, doing charity, or maybe more! Question is where to start? What resources do I need? If I need to help the less fortunate what to do I give them. What have I taken from the book Half the Sky is that where there is a will there is a way. My dream is to adopt a certain village and create an economy that can sustain itself very well. Something on the lines of what Professor Mohammad Yunus did. Micro finance got an altogether new face thanks to him. Today there are tons of people who follow it some successfully and some very very unsuccessfully. Like the recent bubble that has happened in RamNagar in Bangalore, India. Micro Finance started with a big bang. The first lady who borrowed it started another fast food cart with the money business grew so did her aspirations. She continued to add to her line of fast food cart and then one fine day an idea cropped up her mind. She decided to use not her profits but another set of loan to buy TV and refrigerator for her house. One after another her desires grew and very soon she started faulting on her earlier loans. The problem with Micro Finance is that it is very much self sustaining if people do not default in their payments. Apparently one lady's wrong step brought down the entire system down. Pretty soon the local bank did not have enough funds to lend and other vendors were hit. As a result economy of Ram Nagar has tanked making it a subject of study in lot of schools. 

What went wrong was that in a miniscule manner the banks became little reckless as far as lending is concerned something which happened in big scale during the Asian crisis and recently in the US. I on the other hand plan on making loans to one person who then will lend what ever he or she owes me to the other person and the third party will pass on the loan to the fourth party and so on. This way each one of them would be interdependent for loan from one party and for returns from the other. This model is definitely flawed but if given some more thought can help uplift villages in India. Here it will important that villagers trust each other when lending and not misuse the loans by lending to the first of their kin. Some of these risks probably won't be measurable but it will be quintessential to build a model that gets rid of even unmeasurable risks. A model that will consider qualitative and quantitative risks.

Key is to keep things simple. There is a potential for growth in every single village. In fact there are some white and green revolution centers that still implement programs very successfully in rural India. It has helped lift economies of quite a few villages. Everything for now is a plan. My first step would be to work with such NGO's that are into micro finance or uplifting of villages using such schemes. What can be more fulfilling for me than helping villages in India at the very grass root. As I said I have to start somewhere and somehow. With each day that passes I write down ideas discuss it with some of my peers and brain storm. Sometimes ideas look good sometimes they do not. And when some ideas do not work I read books, books such as Half the Sky that motivate me to take action. The book sits on my study desk all the time reminding me that life has a bigger purpose. A purpose that is not defined by vengeance or wars. A purpose that is defined by one fellow human being helping another fellow human being. 

Five weeks with Andrew Lien

Can't believe its five weeks already! Every week with Andrew Lien was a roller coaster ride. Times when I thought he was not making sense and times when he did make sense. Then an event now a routine. Two case studies, one presentation and a project. Doesn't matter how much one reads or does. Marketing is all about basics. Most of the decisions go wrong because  decision makers forgot their basics. So rule number one is to never forget where you come from. 

Rule number two is that when it comes to business have no mercy. For instance when I had to make decision about how to get rid of the arrogant, bossy, eccentric Loy Weston of Kentucky Fried Chicken I gave emphasis to the fact that he was the oldest employee of KFC and had worked really hard to establish KFC in Japan. The idea of firing Loy Weston was not very appealing to me. I mean what example would KFC set by firing Loy Weston? And is it morally right? So I created an option where by KFC could appoint  someone else as his incharge so that Loy Weston gets the message that he has no powers anymore and that it would be best for  him to retire. 

I know its not the best option but it would save a man the disgrace of getting fired. But the option I suggested according to Andrew Lien is worse. He says making a man feel that he has no power by creating a position that dominates him is a wrong thing to do. Instead give the man some respect and fire him.  Give him a good retirement package and tell him that you are thankful for his services and that you will give him a good recommendation if he ever wanted one. That will save the man a lot of trouble. Hmmm.......!

This is what I call as a 'conscience call scenario.' What is right? Being ruthless for a business that helps feed you along with other employees of yours. OR let employees like Loy Weston tag along and let them do what they want because firing them would be wrong? Honestly I do not know. Firing is not an easy thing to do. At least for me. But if my job needs me to fire people then I would do it just to save my job. But if I were the decision maker then I would probably give it a lot of thought based on who the employee is, how much is his/her contribution is and so on..... I say this now but when the need is to save a business probably even I might end up merciless.

For now let me not even think about it and be a happy person with high aspirations and dreams and prepare for the presentation that is due next Tuesday and I shall cross the bridge when I come across it. 

Indians are good in math!

Why are most of the Indians good at math? There are many theories. The one I know is very simple. Indians like many Asians use math in their everyday life. From doing groceries to getting married. Yes. I am not kidding. This is how it goes. Parents decide having kids based on the budget they have for kids. Men hunt for women who will earn just as much as they do so that they can reach the goal of being happy faster than others do. Kids are forced to excel in professions that can help them earn more money and bullion. 

Of so many men that I have met in the bay area most of them are engineers. They all have spouses who are engineers. And the non-engineer wives either end up being house-wives or wait to shine after they get their permanent residency. I am neither an engineer nor a house wife. I am a student doing her MBA at Santa Clara University. People say what I am doing is expensive and that returns are not guaranteed and some say it is a risky but prudent investment. But I say that I am a math experiment. It's like two vultures looking at their prey and judging,"Should we eat it if the prey has masters or maybe we should eat it the one with bachelors?" or "Should we eat the prey based on which GOOD school she/he went to?" "Say you know what, let's regress!" Feels overwhelming doesn't it!

On the contrary if a man gets a wife with basic engineering degree in something it seems like the man made the right choice and ten or fifteen years later you will find the same man (after a lot of calculation) doing MBA at Santa Clara University and adoring you for doing MBA at an early age. Strange are the ways of men.

Then the men who have housewives. Please stop explaining to people every time you meet as to why your wife is at home. Trust me I do not care! Just because your wife is not interested to work does not make house wives hot. As for me I feel like the hen who would some day lay (golden/rotten) who knows eggs for my spouse. I am sure there are many others out there who are contemplating as to what will happen to me, golden or rotten egg? Interesting is not it? I can become somebody's thesis for doctorate!

For now I shall go to school and attend lectures and try to become a bright student. Will I ace in my subjects or life I do not know? If someone out there has a crystal ball with my name on it, or is good in math and can use probability theory or calculus, please let me know. It will save a lot of trouble for lot of people ;-) 

No one!

No one but you can touch the sky,
No one but you can say why?

No one but you are the best,
Life occasionally puts you to test.

There is a bigger purpose in life,
It is not just about being a wife.

There are women and children waiting for you,
To come and help them and make their world move.

Live for them if not for yourself,
They need your support and help.

Don't shed your tears they are pearls,
They find their way through your lovely curls.

Look at the sky and smile,
Enjoy your time on earth for a while.

There is always faith and hope,
To serve humanity and not mope.

Love yourself because you are beautiful,
Praise as much or mouthful.

You deserve to live and go on,
For the women and children from now on.

Trust me it was not me,
It's just that it was never meant to be.

Are women half the sky?

Women are half the sky, 

you do not understand and ask me why?

Because they live for others,

Are sisters and are loving mothers.

They hike up the unseen,

And fight the ugly and mean.

They get raped, abused and are all knocked-up,

They withstand it all without a hiccup.

They sigh and tears they silently shed,

They take all the pain given by the men they wed.

Ask how it is to be a woman,

And I say can there be any other bad omen?

I ask God to help me now,

So not to be weak I take a vow!

A woman in distress, someone else's mistress,

Of a man who makes her constantly restless.

She will one day break all the barriers,

Be free like a bird and fight like warriors.

So respect her always and love her more,

Because you will not like to see how a woman reacts when she is sore.

I hope there is out there, someone who loves a woman,

Who does an act so very very uncommon.

If the pain and atrocities do not stop against woman,

She will kill and destroy men because,"Hell hath no fury like a wrath of a woman."

One day, one fine day!

No tears, no pain, no loss no gain,

An act so precious but a blame so vicious.

For the heart that is broken,

 by the harsh words that were spoken.

I take it all in and sprint and face constant thirst,

But to achieve my goal, walk and run I must.

I live for the day when my dreams will come true,

For that one day all this pain I must go through.

I believe that I will find true love one day,

That will hold my hands, hug me whenever I am sad or gay.

My persistence will pay and I will be free,

One day it will be just my soul and me.

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize.....

This piece of news for me was like hearing about heavy rain and flood in Sahara desert. I was numb with shock for a very long time. Not because I think he does not deserve it but because the peace prize came bit more earlier than I thought it should have come. President Barrack Obama is one of my favorite icons. In spite of which I refuse to give him the benefit of doubt. 

My theory is very simple, which probably has been tried and tested for centuries and it goes something like this, you perform and then your efforts/performance gets appreciated in the form of cash, kind or Nobel Peace Prize! Where on earth does one get  awarded first with a Nobel Peace Prize for his/her future contributions to this wonderful planet called earth?

I always knew that someday he will get awarded for his efforts in encouraging green on this planet, peace keeping efforts and so on. But never, I repeat, never in my best of dreams did I dream of President Obama winning a Nobel Peace Prize for things he so far has not achieved.

My intention is not to pin him down against the wall for this because even he was awe struck when he heard about the Nobel Peace Prize. I am just wondering as to what was the Nobel Peace Prize Committee thinking when they shorted their list down to President Obama and that too unanimously. I know it is important to acknowledge the good work President Obama is doing. But for Pete's sake he is  the President of the world's most powerful country (I hope it still is the most powerful country in the world). With or without Nobel Peace Prize he will do just fine. The committee should have probably recognized someone in real need of it. Hah! come to think of it the USA is in recession and I am sure President Obama needs money equally bad and maybe that is why the committee chose him. Hey! If they can give him the prize they might as well have done it to help him financially. Who knows anything can happen in this crazy world.

I am sure there are enough people out there like me who are wondering why the award was given to our great president. But what ever theory they come up with it will not help because the award has been given and Obama according to me has been graceful enough to admit that even he does not think he deserves it. For that I give him a ten on ten. And I am happy that all that's well ended well. 

All we can do right now is hope and pray that  our beloved president respects the award by continuing his green and other good efforts and proves to the expectations of millions of Americans who elected him as the head of the state they love and respect. All arguments apart at the end of the day with all my heart I pray that; 

"God bless President Obama and God Bless America!"

Half the sky; Breaking vicious cycle

All individuals on this earth find solution to problems. Some work well and put an end to the problem and some fail to solve the problem and the situation becomes more of a ruckus, which needs serious attention. And then there are some solutions which solve/do not solve and also create new problems. Yep! that is what the second chapter in this book talks about. 

To give a better understanding of the example that is mentioned in the book, I would like to mention about my friend's experience as a worker in a NGO in India. After living in the US for twenty long years my friend decided to move back to India. He, as I tease him all the time, had reached what I call the self-actualization stage in life. He had lived the American dream and now wanted to dedicate his life = for his home country, India. 

When he first joined the NGO in India he was excited about his job. He was in charge of not only helping children in school but also finding strategies to keep students in school. He thought helping kids by offering books, food, pencil, dresses and so on would lure them to school. Well lure them it did. But once the kids got what they wanted  they would stop coming to school. My friend,(for now we will call him Prady), did some research and found out that the kids would come to school take all the things and then sell it elsewhere for money. The money so earned would go into the pockets of their parents who would then use that money to gamble or get drunk. Worse some parents would sell their daughters to pimps for money.

Which meant that Prady had to find solution for parents first and then the children. He then came up with a master plan. He would give things to children and once the school day came to an end, he would collect the things back from the children. Food was given only to students who attended school everyday. For girls (who voluntarily came for help) he built a hostel and saw to it that they were inaccessible to their parents. Initially the parents would create chaos but then Prady got the cops to take care of such parents who were of course abusive to their children and on top of which created scene outside the gates of the school and hostel. 

As a result some parents, mainly due to lack of money, turned new leaf and started working in craft factories of the NGO and those who did not died a sorry death. Parents are adults and for adults its hard to kill old habits where as for children especially girls education helps them  develop confidence and someday become financially independent.

Research has proven that educating women in under developed or developing countries help boost the economy. Because when a man works (in poor and third world countries) he uses (not everyone but most of them) money for things he wants, say hobbies, alcohol, gambling... Whereas women if they earn money they become back bone for the entire family, community and sometimes the whole village.

And to prove this very point the authors have talked about this school in Cambodia, sponsored by generous students and parents of a private school in Washington D.C. The school when first began had girls come to school every day but as the girls grew up they started dropping out mainly because the walk to the school had men waiting to pick on them, sheer poverty and illness. As a result the sponsors started a living place for the girls and today most of them have graduated and are bread winners for their family. Moral of the story is that sometimes a solution might not be the solution and it is important to consider what the problems the proposed solution can create and have a back up plan ready for every single strategy.

For the girls in Cambodia living space in the school premise makes all the difference. But unfortunately for those who never got the privilege to live right next to school ended up in brothels. Seems like there is not enough law in any country that can stop naive and innocent girls from being sold for their flesh. Every country has rules against flesh trade which unfortunately does not get implemented. Why? Because police or other influential people who can make a difference either take bribes from pimps to keep the show going or they do not care.

Like this one policeman in India who thinks that catching pirated DVD's in Indo-Nepal border is more important than catching pimps since America recognizes people who catch smugglers over people who catch pimps. But is it true? The authors of this book say it is! Generally countries raid brothels when they feel that the US is trying to address issue and that is one strategy that works. At one time in Mumbai there were more whores than one could count. As soon as the problem came into limelight police started cracking brothels down and  as a result pimps started charging more for whores and considering the risks customers refused to come or the brothel owners refused to buy such expensive girls. Many girls were freed thanks to this operation called, 'Catch pimps and owners of brothels because the world (the world here is the US) is watching us.'

Yeah! People think this all led to happy ending! But what exactly happened was that most girls who went back home faced "stigma" and came back to the profession and the rest did not come back because they  got AIDS, due to unsafe sex and died. To go one step ahead some of the girls  met generous men who married them. But not all married prostitutes lived. Some of them who had AIDS, unaware of their illness, infected their spouse and children, and as a result the prostitutes along with their entire family met a sorry end.

Now this a classic example of solution creating problems. What a country's government has to keep in mind while rescuing women is that they have no place to go. And if they do not have a place to go then they will come back. Therefore a country's government should take steps to rehabilitate such rescued women and give them a  chance at a second  new career. The country's government should also educate men, pimps, owners of brothel and prostitutes to use condoms and NOT follow unsafe sex. They need to understand that NOT using condom is not fun but a death sentence. 

Supporting NGO's, using some of the budget money to support women, helping girls get educated, can help a country to go a long way. Throughout the book the authors have stressed on this point to provide solution for a solution. They have done research that supports their argument.

The authors in this book want people to awaken and co-operate with the government of their country. The authors request people to do what the government fails to do and that is finding solution to the problem created by a solution. As an individual you and I can help one or more women in distress and make some difference in their lives. One woman or two does not matter.We can all start small and then make it big because one small help can go a long way. Since whatever you do touches someone somewhere. And that one someone  who gets help will pass on that help to one too many. Which means that you would have helped more people than you could have imagined.

Maybe you will not get anything back in kind but someone somewhere with tears in her eyes will bless you for every thing that you ever did for her. And that according to me is invaluable.

We can leave the problems for the government to solve and blame the country for all our problems on this earth. But before this kind of thought even comes to your mind think of what president J.F.Kennedy once said,"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."

Hope this statement inspires each one of you out there to make a big difference to make this world a better place for women and girls in distress to live.

Week 4 with Andrew Lien

Week 4 was, what I like to say,"Stress free." Our project proposal was accepted, Atulya Sarin's project looked bright, and honestly with one quarter more left to graduate I do not care much about what people have to think about me nor do I freak out about getting an 'A.' Surprisingly my priorities in life have changed. I put gaining knowledge first over getting an 'A.' I am glad that I took classes with professors like Andrew Lien and Atulya Sarin. These are teachers who make you apply your concepts. Something what the corporate world expects from us. 

Anyways, on Tuesday Andrew Lien addressed concern over groups that had failed to get their project proposal approved. Seems like the groups who did not have the proposal in place had no idea what to choose for the industry and the country. And when they did come up with some ideas they failed to send Andrew an email. Thank God I did. Or I would have been one of them. Anyways I hope that the groups learnt their lesson and from now will consider school just as important as their job. 

Later in the class the first group presented on the IKEA case. Not qualified to judge but to give an opinion. I would say that the presentation was lousy and the presentation skills of the group members was not top notch. SCU offers a toastmaster club for moderate fees. People refuse to join and try and improve their presentation skills. They assume that presentation skills are not important which is just not true. Anyways I cannot talk for others as I always say for each his/her own.

I remember listening to the team talking about the case for fifty seconds and by the fifty first second I was in 'fa-la-la' land. But I had read the case. So I sailed through by participating in the discussions which in fact continued to the next class on Thursday. The only thing I found odd was that the issues that was discussed in the case did not exactly have solution. The team proposed whatever it could but turns out IKEA never tried customizing its product to cater to the needs of different market segments in different countries, never broke the cult culture of having only Scandinavian people in the top management, Ingvar still rules and worst of all Andrew Lien balls his eyes every time I talk which makes me wonder is my accent that bad? He is the only guy that I have come across who says sorry every time I talk. Strange! Or maybe he has trouble hearing. Surprisingly he is OK with thick eastern European or Fillipino accent but my Indian english bothers him. Someday I wish to ask this question. For now I am going to ignore his behavior. Not because I am scared but because I do not actually care. 

I have so far managed to successfully converse with many Americans and one among them does not matter. I respect him for his teaching skills and my aim is to get the best of him and that is exactly what I am doing. For now I would give his class 2 and a half stars. Hopefully as days advance things will get better. Keep looking for good and keep reading.

Reviewing Half the sky!

Today, I started reading this book called, "Half the Sky." "Half the Sky",  is a book authored by Nicholas. D. Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn, a pulitzer prize winning couple, who have  dedicated their lives in doing research on women abused in various ways around the world. Through this book they tell stories about extra ordinary women, all around the world, who in spite of facing numerous pain and suffering have managed to emerge as strong and successful entrepreneurs or role models for other women. I first heard about this book in Oprah. Few stories that were mentioned in Oprah made me read this book. 

I received this book on Monday and from the time I received the book until now I have read the first chapter almost three times, looked at the picture of the women who suffered forced prostitution for hours and wondered as to what is that I can possibly do to help these women. Monetary help is a very small drop in the ocean. I want to do something more real like maybe write a letter or blog about them or maybe send some cards or ideas for expanding business. I do not know! But for now I know that blogging is the deal. Hopefully  through this blog I will be able to reach out to other women, create more awareness and maybe somehow get some great ideas. Let's see! 

Moving on to the book. The title of the book is actually a Chinese Proverb which goes,"Women hold up half the sky." What does this mean? It took me a while to understand this proverb. According to Hinduism a woman is considered as someone who shares half of the body of a man. Meaning a woman is just as important as a man. In fact Shiva, the Indian God gave half of his body to his wife and ever since has been addressed as "Ardha Nari Ishvar." A god whose one half of the body is masculine and the other half feminine. Looking at the Chinese proverb I would take a wild guess and say that probably it means the same. If not then I will definitely find out its exact meaning in future.

The Introduction part of the book talks about a girl named Srey Rath,  from Cambodia who was promised a job in Thailand and then, trafficked from there to Malaysia, and later forced into prostitution. Srey was lucky and managed to escape from the brothel and somehow found her way back to Cambodia, where she started her own business and ended up as a successful entrepreneur. Today Srey uses her charm and looks to sell her products to earn money which she uses to support her parents, siblings, husband and a son. But not all women in the world get a second chance. Once inside the brothel women either get killed of AIDS, or get killed by the pimps or owners of the brothel for trying to escape, or end up being disfigured for life. 

The book goes on to explain that prostitution is just one of so many other demons that destroy women in this world. Turns out 100,000 women are routinely kidnapped and trafficked into brothels in China,  more girls have been  killed in the last fifty years precisely because they were girls than all men that were killed in the wars of the twentieth century, more girls are killed in this routine, "gendercide" in any one decade than people were slaughtered in all the genocides of the twentieth century. Stunning! Isn't it?

Then why do not papers publish this in news all the time like any other news? Well think about it if they did how many of us (probably a few women would) bother to listen to it? As it is most of us detest listening to news and if the news is about atrocities on women then probably people will stop watching or subscribing news channels or papers! Well in this situation we cannot exactly blame the journalists.

As a kid growing up in India I can relate to so much  of gender discrimination that happened all the time around me. I was lucky to grow up in a family where all of us, except my father, were women. I do not remember being, ever, told that I could not do certain thing because I was a woman. To this date my father considers me to be just as good as any man in everything that I do. However I have seen discrimination done by other people in the society. For example one of my cousins, four years ago,  got a drop from her male colleague and some one saw that and ever since she was branded,"Characterless." And till this date no one from my community has come forward to marry her. What happened to the male colleague who dropped her home? Well being a man he had no problem getting married and by now he probably has two children. 

Another incidence happened right after I got married. I remember one of the elders saying what a woman should do or not do! I found it unacceptable and honestly never paid hoot to such things. I made it clear to my husband that I was his equal and no one would exactly show the other as to who wears pants in the house.  Its been over three years since I got married and I am glad over this period of time my husband has started loving the idea of being equal. 

Well I can mention such stories forever which I am sure everyone has experienced  at some point or the other in her life. A story that I want to share now is from the first chapter of this book. The first chapter which is called,"Emancipating Twenty-First Century Slaves," is about the life story of a woman named 'Meena" in India.

Meena was born in a village in India that shares its border with Nepal. At a very young age of eleven Meena was kidnapped and sold to a brothel by some rowdy in her village. When Meena reached puberty she was forced to have sex with an old man. When she resisted she was beaten very bad by the lady owner of the brothel, Ainul. Meena took beatings without any fear and that is when Ainul decided to drug Meena and let an old man rape Meena for handsome money. 

Meena remembers the time when she woke up and found that she was raped. That is when she gave in and started entertaining as much as 10-15 customers every week. And if some customer was not pleased with Meena then she would be beaten. The beatings sometimes would be for five days in a row or more. What is worse that Meena and other girls in the brothel were not allowed to ask their customers to use condoms. As a result of which Meena got pregnant twice, once with a daughter and later with a son, and each time her children were taken away from her because customers did not like lactating prostitutes or children hanging around their mothers. Also this strategy was followed my Ainul to keep her prostitutes from escaping.

Over a period of time Meena decided to escape and when she did, she went to a nearby village called Forbesgunge. There she was followed by Vinay, Ainul's man who let her practice prostitution in Forbesgunge in exchange for money. This went on for sometime but as years passed it dawned upon Meena that her daughter was to reach her puberty in an year. Which meant that Ainul would then force Meena's daughter into prostitution.

Meena hell bent to avoid this started making journey everyday to the brothel. She would wait outside the brothel for hours to get glimpse of Ainul and when she did, she would beg her to release her children. Meena's children were never told about her and they grew up thinking Ainul was their grand mother and Ainul's children were their real parents. Meena's children were made to do all house chores and laundry and they were never given slippers in fear that they might run away.

When Meena's visit to the brothel increased she was threatened. Once she was caught by the brothel gangs man who started hitting her so bad that, if Kuduz (who later married her and had two daughters from Meena) had not intervened, she would had sure ended up dead. From there on Meena and Kuduz constantly tried to free Meena's children. They went to the local police who refused to help. And unfortunately for Meena it was too late because Ainul had by then managed to make Meena's daughter a prostitute. 

Meena's son was so upset that his sister  had ended up as a prostitute, that he ran away from the brothel, sought Meena out and asked her for help. Meena knew going to the local police was a waste of time so she decided to go to a NGO called 'Apne Aap" as a last resort. Ainul had full control on the local police, a reason why the local police never raided Ainul's place. But the founder of 'Apne Aap" knew the national police who ordered local police to raid Ainul's brothel and arrest her. That is when Meena was united with her daughter and so many other women were free to go.

But the question is where to go? Meena was fortunate to marry Kuduz. What about other women? Would the society accept them? And it was not like Meena's problems had solved after marrying Kuduz. Infact Meena, Kuduz and her children were shunned by their own community and  society  that they lived in. Meena had not become a prostitute out of her choice. Unlike many women in countries like China or the US who choose prostitution out of choice. Meena was forced into prostitution by other people but for the villagers and other folks, Meena and not the numerous men who slept with her, were sinners. 

Refusing to be a prostitute all her life Meena stood up for herself and faced the problem. An act that  men men and bossy women did  not like. She reformed using 'Apne Aap's' help and is now leading a happy life. 

'Apne Aap', is a NGO that has a mission to help women and children and therefore has opened schools for children in various villages. It has also opened institutes that trains prostitutes. Inspite of its good work 'Apne Aap' faces resistance from villagers. People choose to keep their kids illiterate over send them to the school where the some of the other students are prostitute's children.

The founder of 'Apne Aap' is a localite who does not fear her villagers and is on a mission to save women from being sold. Meena has joined hands with the founder and already helped few girls in the nearby and surrounding village. Meena is just as chaste as any other person in that village. If the qualification for being a "pure" woman is measured by the number of men a woman has been forced to sleep with, then I guess most of the men in that village who spit fire at her have failed miserably. 

No matter what one has to say about Meena, for me she is my hero. A woman who inspired me to write my blog. A woman who made me understand that I have so much blessings to count and be happy in life. A woman who made me understand that it is OK to not get Atulya Sarin's finance project right! That mistakes can be mend. That life always gives you a second chance and that we need to  grab every positive opportunity life throws at us. 

Inspite all the hardships Meena is facing, she is serene, and believes that one day people will understand and learn to love and respect her. Meena has redefined courage, forgiveness and faith for me.

For all that Meena has done for me I promise Meena and so many other Meena's out there that I am with you and will do whatever it takes to help women like you!

To end my blog I would like to quote what Christopher Buckley,  said in the beginning of this chapter in the book,

"Women might just have something to contribute to civilization other than their vaginas."

Then a PGDBA, now a MBA! Did I make the right choice?

I  remember the first career fair I visited in the Spring of 2008. It was unbelievably good and held new hopes and promises for aspiring MBA candidates like me. I was happy that I chose to do MBA. 

 I started my MBA an year and a half ago when I was about 26 years old, with two years of work experience as a junior manager in the bank, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from Mount Carmel Institute of Management in India. Life looked beautiful and full of hopes. Then came the downturn with a big bang. And I saw everything I believed in fall around me, like a pack of cards. Strong or brittle, nothing could stand in the way of Hurricane Recession.

Here I am paying $783 per credit hour plus $400 every quarter on books and other reading material with the hope that one day I will be able to earn it all back. A risk I took based on my own set of assumptions. This called into question my understanding of getting higher education from a good business school like Santa Clara University. But then come to think of it what made me do my MBA?

Well that is a very long story which, I sure do not mind sharing. I was born in a family of five. My parents worked very hard like all middle class parents did. But the difference was that my father did a lot for others which left us the family with nothing much. From a very young age we were shunned by our rich cousins and mocked as losers. At that point in time I used to cry but now as an adult I am glad they made fun of my condition. It motivated me to achieve something in life. 

I fought my parents and did the unusual. I went for  higher studies after my under-grad. I took the help of my librarian and took loan from a bank that helped me finish my Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (PGDBA). PGDBA is a two year program, offered by colleges which are autonomous and affiliated to  All India Institute of Technical Education (AICTE). PGDBA is pretty expensive for someone who comes from a middle-class family. Thanks to my good samaritan I did my PGDBA and got a job in a bank. 

My first job after PGDBA was as a Junior manager in Centurion Bank of Punjab. I was very excited and happy that I had gotten the dream job at such a young age. I remember my fathers time when it took minimum of twenty years to climb the hierarchy. In my case I had landed as a junior manager in this bank in India. Excited I started my job. I was in charge of customer service, operations and cross-selling. I was trained for all the three job requirements. 

The first day I entered my office I saw that the Senior Manager was waiting for me. She handed me instructions as to what were the rules I needed to follow in that branch. With that she handed me a list of goals that I was expected to achieve in that one particular month. 

It read something like this:

---> Attain as many as 50-100 new customers every month.

---> Performance on operations will be gauged on the number of demand drafts, transfer of money, and such other functions performed. For every demand draft and such functions bank charged money which helped earn income. It was not the major part of the goal because the money earned in operations was not that great and the bank planned to out source operations in future, which it later did.

---> Cross-sell bancassurance (Insurance of some other company sold through banks. Banks earn commission on such insurance sold) products, mutual fund products of other companies (again banks earned commission for such products) and of course bank products such as loans,

deposits and so on. The target income from cross-selling for a junior manager (that is me) was around 25 million in rupees. UNBELIEVABLE!

This was my Oh No! moment. A point in life where I regretted being a junior manager. My other colleagues who had been in this profession for over two years were sharks in the sea who fought over the bait. I was in the middle of a war! These goals varied based on a person's position in the bank and was a big part of the performance appraisal. It could make or break careers. 

I did not know what to do, where to start. Because my college education had not prepared me for this kind of shock or say cut-throat competition where the fittest could survive only by killing and then  castrating  the other person. When I went home the first day I slept with fear in my mind. I dreaded to go back to work the next day. But, go back I did. I faced the challenge. I started making friends with my colleagues. Gave them the feeling that we could all survive by working as a team rather individuals. I started telling my subordinates to pass over the clients once they reached their goal to the other person who needed it. I know it was not exactly the best strategy but at least it kept us all going. And month after month sales just went up. We met goal after goals. It was fun for some time then after two years when my father said,"There is a proposal." I gave it a strong thought. Why? Because the proposal of a charming guy I had met earlier who had done his MS from UTA in the US and was then working for DELL seemed attractive. My father had told him that I was a post-grad and very ambitious about doing MBA from the US. And the guy was just fine with supporting a wife who had,"Fire in her belly," to achieve things in life. Ok! I know by now you were wondering as to when did,"Desire to do MBA in the US happen." For that read what follows;

All through my job as a junior manager I wondered every single day,"Would MBA from the USA teach me things that I learnt the hard way from my job?" "Would MBA in the USA be better than PGDBA India where I learnt some old concepts and not the current one?"

'Would MBA from the US help me use the concepts in making marketing and selling better than the live and kill other policy that I faced in my job in India. And that is when I told my father that I wanted to go to the US to do MBA. And thats when he planned to get me married. 

Fortunately for me the man I liked so much married me and agreed to educate me in the US. As soon as I landed in this country  I gave GMAT and got into Santa Clara University. 

My first day in school was just amazing. To begin with the classes were flexible as far as timings were concerned and the study material was awesome! All case studies and concepts were very current. Professors taught so well that my concepts in all the courses, especially in finance and international business classes, I enrolled in is so strong that I am proud about it. With 7 quarters done and one more quarter left to graduate I can now proudly boast that I have written numerous papers in finance, given tons of presentation, networked with enough people to last for a life time and trust me learnt that marketing/selling are two different things and are not implemented the way it was applied in the bank, I worked for in India. The MBA program at Santa Clara University has given me both knowledge and confidence. 

After getting into the MBA program in the US I feel that American MBA is any day better than Indian MBA (I do not know about IIM's and other country MBA and please note that I speak for the non IIM colleges in India. Again there may be exceptions. As I said this is my 2 cents.)

 

Today when I look at a case study I know what I am trying to solve, I can understand what alphas and betas are all about, evaluate a company's balance sheet with more than correct accuracy and so on. PGDBA I do not even remember what I learnt. I probably studied one day before the exam and remember doing other things like, attending events, waiting outside the deans office forever for one signature which was unimportant to everyone except the dean... Why did this happen? Because people in MCIM used the PGDBA as a money making source to invest in infrastructures to hike the fees and not to pay the lecturers who teach there. As a result the quality of teachers was so bad that no one learnt anything. Or should I say we hardly  learnt anything. That's a tragedy! I wish someday I can go back and start my own management school that matches American standards and help India create better MBA's.

Well for now that is one of my many other dreams. 

Looking back from where I come I think the wisest decision I ever made was to do  MBA. I am currently concentrating in Finance and International Business and actively looking for job. I do not know when I will get one depending on my visa status, but it does not matter. What matters is that I did my MBA at the right time to get knowledge and concepts straight. So when the economy recovers I will be ready to take a job and apply what I learnt in a much more and productive manner than I did in my earlier job.

MBA is my tool to achieving my goal in life and that is to excel in whatever I do, wherever I do. I strongly recommend my readers to consider MBA if they have had similar experiences to that of mine. Because at the end of the day it is not money but desire to know things better is what matters. And trust me the feeling that you know what you learnt really well is the best thing on earth.

Half the sky

Yesterday's Oprah left such a big hole in my heart that I just could not stop wondering as to what the heck was I doing? My life has a bigger purpose and that is to do Charity. The first thing I am going to do when I start working is sponsor education of just as many women and children I know. 

I am whatever I am today because of so many people who never forgot me and helped me whenever they could. As they say it takes a village to raise a child. In my case it indeed took a village to raise me. 

More than that I guess I was cut to help and nurse people. I am amazingly good at it. And I find lot of peace in doing it. So one day when I am 50 I am going to do good work full time. Tat at least is the plan of action for now. Let's see how fast I work towards realizing my dream.

Week 3 with Andrew Lien

Finally, Finally, Finally our team got the business and country of choice approved. We proposed of launching Whole Foods in Chile. 

This happened like a few seconds ago. What happened an hour ago, was Andrew's international marketing class. What we discussed today was not from the assigned articles that we need to read for every alternate class. So far he has mentioned very few points from the assigned articles. What he does every session is throw random things at us. He says that it will one way or the other help us, attain our goal, that is to do the project. He says there is not enough text in this world that can teach someone something but nothing can beat a man's experience. According to him  experience is one's best teacher. Interesting concept. Old school I would say!

All he imparts in his class sessions is his experiences as VP or CEO of different companies. Companies that sold totally unrelated products or services. He is an example of a person who is a high achiever and extremely flexible. Someone who has the capacity to adapt to changes and loves challenges. He thrives on it. It is hard for me to agree that as a non-engineer I can become Cisco's Chief Technology Officer. According to me that position does need some sort of knowledge about hardware, softwares, wires and cables and so on. Well our man Andrew says that CTO or CEO, it is the management skills and not exactly technical or non-technical knowledge, that makes one successful.

He further goes on to say that one should not stick to a job for more than three or four years. Now that is a hard thing for everyone to do. Especially based on one's needs, priorities, drive to excel and so on.

One can argue about these points forever. Prove it is wrong. But Andrew's experience says otherwise. As for me I probably will not take a shot at anything unless I do thorough research on the subject. And switching jobs for me depends on how good the other job will be in terms of both position, growth opportunity, pay and work environment. I will personally not prefer valley over deep sea. 

Anyways that was a point from one of his earlier classes. As for today the session was all about as to why a company should go overseas? There can be dozens of reason as to why a company chooses to capture a market outside the country that it currently operates in. Is it easy for a company to cross boundaries? Even with a team of 50 Stanford and Harvard or other school MBA's, how easy is the expansion into a different country.

There are enough success stories to inspire other firms and more than enough disasters that companies have faced by expanding outside their comfort zone. One such example is Wal-Mart that tried entering Germany and later for various reasons pulled out. There is when I wondered how easy is it to pull out? Well that depends on how deep a hole the company is in. If the company can find other partners or some way to not pull out. Then it would be great. Or else imagine the cost involved? Wal-Mart could probably afford this costly mistake. But can other firms afford to do the same mistake. And as Andrew says what is best is to remember that when in a hole stop digging. Try and get out. Because the more you dig, bigger the hole becomes.

A firm should move into a country if the country of choice has good enough demand for the firm's product, economically and politically safe, helps firm to counter attack its competitors and so on. Hmm! Interesting point. But as Julia Child says, "Who is to say as to what can or will happen?" I guess a firm has to do its home work well enough and then take the plunge. It should also have a back up plan in place for worst case scenarios. A firm should try its best to make things work and learn from its mistakes. Fear of failure will not help a firm grow. An important quality for a firm is to also be resilient. So thats what at least I learnt from Andrew's session today.

Keeping all this in mind my team and I decided to concentrate on Chile for Whole Foods. Chile is a small country. Has rich agricultural produce. And is suitable for Whole Foods to test the waters. If successful (Of Course! We as a team want to make the plan work) then Whole Foods can move to Brazil and other countries in future. Sounds like a plan!

Now what we need to do is take golden points from Andrew's experience and our knowledge, and  day by day every day take steps towards the goal. I will mention our plan of action and we will see at the end as to how the project comes out to be.

Till then think what would have happened had world not shrunk? Companies would be born and rapidly die for their market would saturate in no time. Probably only indispensable products would survive. And there too there would be cut throat competition which probably would be mob dominated. Man that sounds scary!So lets be happy that scary things did not happen and only good things did! 

A review day by day every day!

Andrew Lien is probably the most underrated instructors in Santa Clara University MBA program. He comes across as a man who is small and has more than average sense of humor and temper. First week with him in his class and I came out saying finally there is this one man who teaches MBA classes the way they are supposed to be taught.

But the decision to enroll into his class was not an easy one. I realized over a period of time that not many people take his class. Why? Well for one he can come across as extremely rude person and his projects and presentation demands are MBA level. Wait a minute! So are these people I am talking about not MBA students. Of course! they are MBA students but its just that they do not want to work hard and face rude people after one whole day at work. 

Hmm! Then why did I take his class. I took it because people who have taken his class went something like this,"Take it if you want to learn. But if you want good grades then skip it." After paying $783 per credit hour do I care about grades or knowledge? I care for both but knowledge wins hands down over grades. I will surely give this course my best shot. But grades are not my priority. Not till I look 13 units one quarter. There are people who take 6 units or sometimes just 3 units per quarter with easy going professors and get an A and take forever to finish the course. Taking forever means when they graduate they probably won't remmeber what they or learnt or maybe they will? I do not know. 

And as an adult I respect their choice since they work but what I do not understand is that whether company's money or theirs are not we supposed to take experimental courses and gain knowledge in MBA program? 

Maybe people on the other side think otherwise. Thats not the subject of discussion. So I will not breed too much on it. The subject of interest here is Andrew Lien. So as I said I decided to enroll in his class because I wanted to learn International Marketing. I mean think about it. Can we avoid Marketing in our lives ever? Especially with the rapid globalization. No definitely not. 

OK to move on. First day in his class I realized that he needed us to do a case presentation in a very professional manner and a project which needs us to choose a US based MNC's product and launch it in a country where it has absolutely no presence. None what so ever. Yeah sounds easy but so far I have not been able to filter one single product. And groups are not always easy to work in. But with 6 quarters done and 1 more to go the one thing I know about doing MBA is to network. And that can happen only through groups. So I am all in for it. You never know what life has to offer. 

I still cannot believe that two weeks of school are already done and I am into the third week. So far so good. Andrew Lien seems pretty approachable and fun. I do not take his comments personally. And why should I? Is not corporate America just as ugly, and I am glad I am developing a thick skin. That is what MBA teaches you to face people, and worst case scenarios, and build networks, and get used to live in, and with what ever you have.

I will make sure to map my progress through this blog and hopefully next time someone asks about Andrew Lien they will have enough beef in here to make their decisions.

So long to who ever ever ever reads my blog.