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!