Life Beyond Cranfield...

I have decided to take down the Cranfield blog and start with my London sojourn blog. But not without one last post.

As most of my mates know, I am still jobless. Although there are a few opportunities in the pipeline, I do not have any offer yet. My other mates are trying hard as well, trying to get through the choppy waters of what is a truly a tricky job market. No - we are not looking for high flying investment banking jobs or management consultancy jobs or even truly transforming leadership programs. But whether it is networking or understanding recruiters or making cold calls, it all takes time and patience. I guess swimming the English Channel would have been easier in the last 2 months - at least that would have made me fitter! But I guess you have to go through the grind... I remember a Cranfield prof remarking once in class that it it wasn't the MBA students that he was worried about ... it was the graduate market whose lack of opportunities that kept him awake at night...

But in the doom and gloom, I have to admit the last 2 months have helped me relive my days back in Cranfield and look back at amazement and amusement as to all that we achieved as a cohort. The faces, the laughter, the tears, the exasperation, the trips and adventures and the feeling of oneness - is something that I will never forget. I feel that I am fortunate to have this quiet period when I can reflect back and really absorb the surreal experience I had at Cranfield.

Interestingly now, I share a house with 3 of my Cranfield mates - and 3 other girls from Armenia and Burma... That is +2 to the 38 nationalities I experienced last year at Cranfield... now how cool is that ;-) And it is this gang, that keeps me sane and going. It's a full house, there is never a dull moment, there is plenty of food, shared bathrooms (yikes !! - c'mon not that bad!) and plenty of masti going around. It doesn't feel too different from Stringfellow or Chilver Hall in that sense... and there is plenty of Cranfield nostalgia to share with our new friends... so much so that we hope to have someone from Burma and Armenia in Cranfield MBA sooner than later !

Finally, I have to say I am happy to be here in London. I have always been a city boy and village life - to be fair - can be dull especially in winter - the first term at Cranfield in hindsight was a weather-shock to me.... London definitely has more sunshine than Cranfield... and it is nice to see people commuting, shopping and going about life in a hurry... it is so much like Mumbai in certain ways.. and Indian food and sweets are so easy to get. ...that surely keeps the spirits up!

To the Cranfield FTMBA class of 2012 - All the best and learn from the rest !

Summer of discontent

Well what's this you may say... just a few weeks back it was all about glorious sunshine and optimism etc. ... well the discontent stems from the (yet again...) unpredictability of the English weather... This long weekend we hoped it would be bright and sunny ... unfortunately it turned out to be cold, breezy and rainy ! And then its been dry and sunny for the past 2 days.

To add to it I have felt a bit overwhelmed in Term 3... have got 3 major and 1 minor but they all have reports to write, lectures to attend and frankly I was hoping it would have been easier to pace up than the case has been. Well I have to sacrifice a bit now so that July-August would be a breeze, with just 2 minors and a whole lot of time spare for ... what else ... job hunting !

The MCL (MBA cricket league) guys really missed out on the sunshine. Cranfield started well by winning both their league matches in some style beating Imperial and Lancaster. But the rain forced the finals to be held indoors and in the ensuing tennis ball cricket Oxford won the MCL tourney. May be Cranfield should not have done any scenario planning and allowed league points to count for a win... but then we are gracious hosts and fairness is what we pride in!

It's not so gloomy... I will be heading to Brazil next weekend for my IBE ( I haven't yet done my shopping ... talk about planning!) That should be a fun-filled week.

This Saturday we had a good trip to Ely, Cambridgeshire. The famous cathedral of Ely really stands out in that part of the town. Luckily for us that was also the day of the market and we had a great time sampling the food and roaming about on the cobbled streets. Best of all, once again it was great to get out of campus and hang out with friends, discuss, talk and have fun.

One thing that strikes me is how England has maintained the natural beauty and the historic monuments in its villages yet provided access to all urban infrastructure and facilities wherever possible. In India we proclaim that our country is a land of villages - but sadly we have only neglected them at the expense of rapid urbanization. Obviously the times are different and surely England had its pains before reaching where it is now. But this is something that pricks me and I hope lessons will be learned.

I will leave you with some pics from Ely.

Summer musings

Summer has finally rolled in. Glorious sunshine, clear blue skies and long days are here. Some us wondered in winter if such days were even possible in England... but seasons change don't they !

I have to say I do feel quite optimistic for some reason. May be it's the sunshine, extra time we have at our disposal in Term 3 or just that we are really learning some core stuff in our course. I am enjoying my electives of finance, globalization and international strategy. Entrepreneurship is an elective that I was excited to take up initially but considering that I don't have a business idea that I want to implement immediately, it has made me feel a bit ambivalent about it. Nevertheless my plan is to learn as much as I can from the course when it comes to business plans, financing decisions and the acumen one needs to become a successful entrepreneur. For now though I will hold my cards close to my chest.

Term 3 has been eventful already. We have already had 2 long weekends, 2 barbecues and beer/wine tours are to follow. Sports is in full swing - the cricketers are practising for the MCL - bat,pad,ball,nets and the whole paraphernalia.... rugby and football friendlies are also being played with the university teams and beyond. Some have rented out cycles, others are sweating it out in the gym while others are honing their tennis skills.

What have I done so far ? Not much I am afraid... except for paintball which was a great deal of fun ! So here I go - I have to note this stuff TBD in my OB sheets for Term 3. Hopefully my co-coach will ensure I follow up on all the grand plans I keep telling him about.

The golden window of job applications is upon us... AT Kearney, Accenture have been here and others will follow. Considering that the UK economy is growing at 0.5% competition is tough for the miniscule job openings we have seen so far. But there is solace in the fact that the PSW route has been kept open this time; at least the work visa should not create problems and may be that would help job seekers clinch the opportunities out there.

It's also a sobering thought to think we will be done with the course in 3 months... August is mostly going to be devoted to independent projects and job hunting. Of course there are exciting things like my Brazil IBE to look forward to, but I do feel that what could be or should be the most productive/creative/relaxing time of my life is coming to an end....

On a brighter note I am looking forward to next week when I will celebrate my birthday... its time to do some much needed summer shopping and indulge myself... a cool new pair of shades anyone ?

Spring cleaning - MBA part Deux

Spring cleaning is in full progress.

Term 3 is about to start and Term 2 holidays end today. Time to zip and compress all your beautiful vacation JPEG files and MPEG videos in the back of your cluttered brain and make some space for the enlightenment and education that will follow in Term 3.

Clean the room that you have so spectacularly ignored especially in the grind of the last few weeks with submissions and exam preps going on; get rid of the heaps of paper you have no love for except on the day you need them the most and can't find them; rearrange your clothes that you didn't care about because you covered them with that overcoat/jacket in winter - but clothes you will care about now since its spring and there is no hiding them behind the jacket or hoodie and hit the gym that you paid for and were lazy to walk into most of the time - motivated in no less measure by the 'natural beauty' that now adorns the campus; start looking for jobs frantically even if they don't exist; get panicky about your monetary policy; tighten your fiscal belts after the splurge during your vacations - but - look forward to the race that's about to start...

But the best way to go about this is to update your ipod and load it with a lot of optimistic, sunny songs like the one you see on the right ...

Sunny days

It's so nice to have sunny days again. I could not believe that it was 22C in London today. But one look at the Oxford Circus crowd and you could be forgiven if this was a major holiday or shopping season in progress. I am not a Londoner so I don't know how this part of London is on a usual weekday, but I could sense that summer has truly began, tourists are flocking and the shopping season is on.

When I was stuck in Cranfield during winter I always thought of London being a far away heaven that could not be reached. Of course I then considered myself 'new' in the UK and did not feel like venturing out. But after today I think I want to travel out more.

I had to go the Brazil consulate to apply for my IBE visa. It was so easy. I went on to the London Midlands website, booked an off-peak £9.25 ticket for students for the Virgin train to London Euston. So I board my Uni shuttle at 11.20,reach Central Milton Keynes at before noon, print my online ticket and leave by the 12.19 train. I hop off onto the underground train at Euston, get off at Oxford Circus and reach the consulate. Work done, I grab a couple of sandwiches at Pret-a-Manger ( though I took the Virgin train I am still a student! ), rest a bit on the streetwalk, enjoy the sun, the view, the ladies and get back on the train back to Milton Keynes. I get back by 16.20 and get the Uni shuttle back to the village at 16.30...hassle-free travel indeed.



My only ruse with the Virgin train is that I could not take a nap in it. It takes 30-35 minutes from Euston to Milton Keynes and by the time I had started dozing off, it was Milton Keynes ! Not that the view is boring... in fact the view is beautiful, the lush greenery, homes, cattle, sheep etc etc, but a couple of sandwiches does take its toll and its vacation so... zzz...

I wonder when India will get a Virgin train on its tracks... 10 years? ...
Me thinks India will probably have to hop on to Bullet trains or Maglev... it will have to jump a few iterations of rail technology ... catching up is expensive... adopting newer technology will be easier and sustainable... collaboration with China anyone ?

I was listening to -

An English vacation in a French town

I am just back after our ski trip to Val d'Isere in France. I wish I had tried to write something about each day during the trip. It would have been easier, more fun and more accurate. Twenty-four Cranfielders and their partners were in this trip. It's a traditional Cranfield trip and to that effect it is always very well-planned,executed and dare I say executed with military (Royal Navy?) precision.

One could write reams about each of the characters in this group. There were expert snowboarders, expert skiers, expert drinkers, expert beginners ... and so on. But at the same time we all knew how to have fun and enjoy ourselves. The snow sports were important. They were a way - an incentive - to push ourselves to be physically active considering the amount of time we spend with our bums on the chair - and at the same time to have plenty of good-natured,clean fun and relax after a tiring Term 2.

Not everyone joined this trip though. It's obvious. People had enough of the cold and snow this term and did not want to experience that - let alone push themselves physically - in a snowy country again. Also the trip was slightly expensive. It's France, the Pound is not that strong anymore and considering how popular Val d'Isere is with English tourists at this time of the year, bargains were going to be difficult. But credit goes to Wilko and company for trying their best all the way and giving us a trip of a lifetime and making things as smooth as possible.

The best way to talk about this trip is through pictures because words will fall short. We got a cheap shuttle arranged through the school for ferrying us to and from Gatwick. We started at 2 am in the morning on a Sunday... took an early flight out of Gatwick and landed in Geneva - yes Geneva ! 90 minutes later. The border guard at Geneva took a personal interest in my Indian passport, predictably because of my old photo that bears no resemblance to me today or my clone if there is one or an evil twin my mom never told me about... Anyway we boarded a bus arranged by our tour operator at Geneva and off we went. After 3 hours of navigating through winding roads of the Swiss and gorgeous French countryside, we reached Val d'Isere ready for action.

The next day I had my first real ski lessons. The last time I tried skiing was in Breckenridge, Colorado and that was a miserable experience. Somehow I convinced myself that this time would be better and hence I joined Matt and Rachel for a slightly advanced ski lesson. Big mistake ! Like a fish out of water I just could not ski at all ! I realized I needed to start like a real beginner and there's no better place than Val d'Isere to start one. I relented and joined the beginners group the next day and felt myself doing much better... It does get boring sometimes to hear your French instructor go "Allez Allez" and "La, La" - meaning come on come on, correct correct - but that helped me concentrate better and finish off my lessons on time and practise some on my own.

This was pretty much the schedule for the next 3 days. The evenings however were a lot more fun. The 4/5 course dinner at the hotel was so splendid ! Wine was even better !! The plan hence was ski hard in the day and gorge on the food in the evening and party at night... It was great to gather on the table and hear each other's experiences , the slopes they skiid on , how they fell, who had the biggest fall, who had the fastest time, who learnt to actually ski and not just stand on the ski... and so on... We were lucky in that we had folks like Richard and Ben who are bona fide ski instructors and who could give us tips on how to ski and the correct techniques to employ.

Besides the ski however there was a lot more fun... We had the Pub crawl ( I won't say anything more on that ;-) ), scrabble/cluedo in the evenings, dancing and pool at the famous Moris Pub, Bar quizzes and lest we forget - cricket on the big screen - yes ! We did not miss the Indo-Pak semi-final or the India-Sri Lanka final !! Who would have thought that was possible in a French ski resort ?! But globalization my friends and the sheer number of English tourists helped to bring this about.

I am happy I have improved on my skiing. Next time I think I can target the intermediate slopes. Although wearing those ski-boots is still a pain! But really it was the camaraderie of friends from the cohort and their partners that was the real plus from this trip. Cranfield or no Cranfield, good job after MBA or not, it is these memories that I will treasure the most... I will leave you with some - only some - pics to enjoy and get a minor glimpse of the fun I had last week !!!












I was listening to -

The Balance Sheet of Life

Friday was a lovely spring day ... the clouds sheepishly waving goodbye and the sun peeping out promising summer soon... the daffodils sprouting out from islands of green and the wind flirtatiously cool ...

I was happy to get out of Cranfield on such a day... missing lectures (not recommended !) as I went to collect my passport. You see since I did not have enough of snow this year in England I decided to enjoy some more and ski on a piste in France... lol well its the Cranfield ski trip as we like to call it... a bunch of us Cranfielders and their partners would spend a week in Val d'Isere enjoying well skiing. I am looking forward to my second ski experience in life ( the last one in Colorado was just a curtain raiser )

The fun part was how smooth the Schengen visa process was. I applied on Tuesday and I picked up the passport on Friday. Hop on the uni shuttle, get to the MK rail station, print out your Southern tickets that you booked for cheap online and 10 minutes later you are off in your Electrostar train... although I wish people would keep those lovely coaches a little cleaner :( For a train aficionado like me Britain is gonna be a fun experience with its myriad trains and routes and rail network.

Lovely as the day was it was a shocker to learn about the tsunami in Japan... We don't have any Japanese students in the cohort but Japan is a country we think about most of the time as its the second largest economy in the world and unfortunately a prime example of deflation. But its also heartening to see how well-equipped their emergency response is and certainly from an operations point of view ( I hope Bob, Graham and co. are tracking ) is how well-coordinated their response is... talk about strategy and planning, sometimes the best examples are outside the corporate world...

And therefore as Term 2 and the winter draw to a close I am sure all of us are looking at the balance sheet of our life... its almost 2 quarters here in Cranfield and we are all looking at the assets and liabilities that we have accumulated and are now planning the way forward. I for one am sleepless on this Friday night... some of the MSc students are giving me company as they enjoy their party downstairs... while most of the student gang will be preparing for the forthcoming exams... Some of the Indian students will be looking forward to the India-South Africa match in the World Cup... But for now I hope I can fix this body clock and get some sleep !

Cotswold trip

Yesterday we had a wonderful trip to the Cotswold district in England. I must admit I had a tough time remembering this name... I have misspelt it every single time - Cotwolds, Cotswell, Cotwells, Costwold, Costwolds ... even Coldwell ! (after Coldwell Banker, the realtor). Luckily for us it was a bright sunny day - a bit breezy, but nevertheless a perfect day to go out on a trip - and many locals thought the same as well.

Cotswold is just about 90 minutes away from Cranfield. There were about 25 of us in the bus. The plan was to go to Bibury and then to Brouton-on-the-water, two of the towns in Cotswold. Bibury is a quaint little village with old-style cottages and some big houses nestled in a lush green countryside. It is known as one of the most beautiful villages in England and is a favourite romantic getaway. If you look at the pictures below you will agree why !








It's also famous for its trout farm. Unfortunately for us, the farm is open to visitors mostly in summer, when one can actually fish the trout as well. We did catch a glimpse of the fish though...




Bibury looks like a place where people own vacation homes or post-retirement villas. Just the number of luxury cars on the small road indicates the kind of population that this village has... although some of the cars could belong to tourists... We saw Jaguars, Land Rovers, Mercs, BMWs - the whole procession.

A 20 minute journey later, we were at Brouton-on-the-water nicknames as the Venice of the Cotswold. This town is definitely a family paradise. You have got the small canal, bird-life, quaint little tea-shops, candy stores, the miniature village, model trains, inns and restaurants - all in all everything a family could enjoy.
First up I enjoyed some fish and chips at the Duke of Wellington restaurant, then a nice home-made butterscotch cone and then English tea ( the flavoured ones - some combo of mango,honey... forgot the rest... ), crumpets and cakes. Come to think of it, I ate more than I walked in Brouton.









For me the best part of these trips is that it gets me out of my room and mix with my batchmates... it would have been so tempting to laze around on my bed on Saturday... after late night birthday party for one of our friends... With spring around the corner and summer up next, I hope we will have some more trips...

Let me also thank Jessie for organizing this trip... this girl is just so active and energetic, you have to see it to believe it !

Crisis management and beyond

Well I told myself at the start of the new year that I would write a Cranfield blog regularly so that I can at least have a memory dump of my Cranfield days since short-term memory has become the order of the day for me.. well that has not happened so here I go again and hopefully I will be more punctual from now on.

What has happened so far ? Well we have settled into our schedule... I have settled on to my front row seat... well I was sitting in the last row last term and needless to say that did not help my wakeful state... I still have not got used to it but I think a front row seat keeps you in the midst of the action.... you don't sleep lest you embarrass the lecturer and you have no option but to pay attention to what's happening on the board. Having said that most of the lectures are interesting and I really don't want to miss them.

Our Strategy and MIT group assignments are underway... its been a nice experience in my current learning team; we have got some balance and some real smart people and everytime we debate/discuss it's a great mental exercise. I hope we go on with the same spirit !

We had a fantastic session on Crisis Management by Steven Carver today. Crisis is a fact of life and an MBA needs to prepare for it. Think about Exxon Valdez, BP, Panam etc... one must learn how to deal with them... More importantly how to deal with them in front of the media and in the age of social networking ! Plenty could be said but for now I think we have an idea about how to handle press conferences at least in theory. As part of the OB course each one of us would be facing a live (yes !) press conference and grilled ( fried ?) by some seasoned BBC journalists. I have been told they now do it for free ... well they have quite a few Cranfield bunnies to skin (and roast) isn't it... I am looking forward to that experience... bring it on I say !

Lastly, we have a mock assessment centre coming up tomorrow. It will be a busy day with all the interviews, tests, group discussion, presentation etc. It should prepare us well for job interviews and assessments in the near future. I hope to get a sound sleep tonite and perform well tomorrow... especially since I have not prepared anything at all... typical MBA student that I have become... gung ho and all that ! But should be fun :)

International week starts !

International week kicked off today at the Cranfield SoM forum ! Indonesia, New Zealand, Singapore, China, Taiwan, South Korea were out there in full force at their stalls displaying aspects of their country, culture, arts, food and wine(s) !

Australia was next. The Aussies put on a mighty good show as only Aussies could !
We had a small fund-raiser in memory of the victims and the devastation caused by the recent Queensland floods. Adam, Charlie, Todd and company whipped up an amazing barbecue (yes ! In cold windy Cranfield !!) with hot dogs, burgers and Aussie beer and wine. The evening ended with a highly entertaining Aussie quiz.

I hope to post some photos soon.

VCIC competition and CMA awards

Well we were done with our VCIC presentation yesterday... Can not reveal the company or the business plan that we were analyzing... We made a conservative pitch expressing our willingness to fund but with changes in the revenue model proposed by the company and a variation in the funding tranches. It was interesting... 8 minutes can be used up very quickly ! Certainly we need to learn to make elevator pitches quickly and effectively...

Next up in the evening was a trip to London to the Faraday Theatre at the Royal Institution ! The CMA awards for 2010 were held there. We had a free bus ride from Cranfield to London. It was great to see many of Cranfield's alumni at the meeting. We had an address from ARM's current CEO and the founder of Cobalt technologies. Good to see the success that two of the Cranfielder's had in their careers. Ngaire and Paula from the previous batch were awarded the Ford and Odgers prize respectively. It was great to see Paula as she was one of the orienters for our cohort. Man, have to say she must have a great deal of energy having accomplished so much in her MBA and getting a good job with AT Kearney as well. She did not quite reveal what the secret to her success was - cans of Red Bull or bottles of multi-vitamins, but that does set the expectations for us if we want to be as successful as her.

The long winding drive back home did sap the energy out of us though... We were all impeccably dressed but the weather was a lot warmer... I think I even sweated a bit Work on the M1 did not help as the bus had to take a circuitous route back home... But that gave us the chance to chat up with each other talk about careers and hardships and the PSW issues and work and fun and the break and the vacations and .uhh everything we could think of... Hey its a MBA brain !... It has the capacity to think and out-think regardless of sleep, energy or interest.

Motivating myself to study

I have a Project management exam tomorrow. It is part of the PMI course where we learn the basics of project management. Somehow I don't feel like studying for it. I mean what's the point - every project has innate variances, we can't predict them nor prepare for them - we can only react - hopefully react smartly and soon enough to avoid any potential disaster. Of course, I do guess that part of the reason for not studying is that I don't want to spend my weekend studying... I just want to laze around and catch up with the world around... Guess by the time I am writing this, I have lazed around enough... I need to pick up the PMI casepack and study EV,PV etc. Trouble is that's not the end ... We have a VCIC competition tomorrow... will be analyzing a business plan and acting as VCs determining if it is worth investing our client's money in it.... it would be like a full on WAC, but with a client presentation as well. The good part though is that when it is done on Tuesday, we will be travelling to London for the CMA awards organized by the alumni. Free trip, hopefully some food ;-) and meeting some alumni... what else can a MBA student want !

Just chanced upon this old Range Rover ad on youtube ... cute little piece of new age style music in the background and some 4x4s ...



Pity it's tough to get in to Jaguar Land Rover for a non-EU guy... but anyway that ad has refreshed me enough and now I am going to open up my PMI case pack... Subconsciously dreaming of a Range Rover in my backyard...