Jairam's Jives

Am done with my usual quota of Chai, Meggi and ‘vetti pechu’, ie, bullshit talk for the day. Just returned from my fave hang-out place in campus, the mess.

Today the buzz was regarding the dry runs of ‘Fix the mix’, ‘In-vested Interests’ and ‘In-suris’, all important components of the phenomenon that IRIS 2004 promises to be. Most of these games apparently went thru with minor hitches, and that is good news, especially considering that not much time is left for IRIS to descend upon Indore.

Another interesting event of the day was the debate organized by the MediaCom, the topic being ‘Outsourcing – the origin of the urban illiterate’. Venky, Ashwin and Chandoo did their part and contributed to the heated arguments that were happening there.

Chandoo is going great guns !!! Just click here to find out what I'm talking about. An awesome analysis of Making Capacity and Location choices for sleeping.

Another trip into Indore and my belief that South Indian cities are far more developed than cities in North India has been verified yet again. Something as simple as a Barber is so hard to find in Indore that it is quite maddening. More so, when this city is called the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh.

And even when one does find a barber, and you know to converse in Hindi, it’s simply impossible to make these guys understand what you want them to do with your hair.

Now that I’ve finished critically analyzing the Blair Water Purifiers case with regard to the marketing strategy proposed to be followed in the marketing of Delight in the nascent Indian market for water purifiers, I have reached the conclusion that the proposed strategy is ‘water-tight’ in that it considers all the various aspects of the product, price, place and promotion mix of the product.

Today was probably my first real live exercise in ‘management of scarce resources’. My travails with Quant Techniques have been well documented in the past. Today was the first official quiz of QT 2 and not surprisingly, most of my time was spent ‘star gazing’ at the various facts and figures, courtesy Ken Black and WSE Publications.

Here’s some food for thought. Should people in authority be allowed to use anything they receive in their official capacity to further their personal gains? Ha ha, being in a country like India, I guess it’s completely irrelevant asking this question.

Haven’t we all heard stories about our Sarkari Babus shamelessly furthering their personal gains at the cost of their official duties and more importantly at the cost of the very people who put them in these official positions in the first place.

For a little more than 24 yrs of my existence (actually more like 12-13 years of meaningful interactions), I’ve always been the person who instigates personal jokes, practical jokes and the like. I’ve always been at the forefront of taking it to people and constantly trying to get under their skins. I had this weird penchant for testing people’s limits of tolerance and patience.

However, like they say, life’s a great leveler.

If any of you ever want some sound advice on what not to do in life in general, and at a B School in particular, you can always learn from yours truly.

First of all one must never ever walk around professing his knowledge if he/she doesn’t have the capabilities to prove his skills. Secondly, always take all the knowledge you have with a strong pinch of salt coz you never know as to when the same will be tested and you’ll be found wanting big-time.

For the uninitiated, that is the primary sound made by the Thavil, the main musical instrument that is played at most Tamil weddings. That also is the name of the movie in which Madhavan and Jyothika have put in memorable performances (at least as per my standards).

First of all, the movie has such an uncomplicated plot and its storyline is as crystal clear as the early morning dew on a lotus leaf. Further, the movie does not include any usual masala ingredients like fights, group dances, etc.

First things first, the title is Tamil and it loosely means “A job well done!!!”. The reference to the usage is the fact that today was a relatively off-day in the sense that our sessions tomorrow are not taxing and therefore, we are having a well-deserved half-a-day off.

We’ve got one session of Quant Tech 2 for which no preparation is warranted either from the participants or the instructor.