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 -