My GMAT express : Approaching a temporary halt

I know I had barely started off with my preparations but I have to bring it to a temporary halt. The circumstances that have led to this decision were totally unavoidable and this was the best choice (actually there was no choice, it was the only option!). In any case, here is what led me to this decision:

1) Work – I was hoping that post thanksgiving it will cool off a little. But it is getting more hectic, the fact that two of my colleagues will be on month long vacation (one after the other) only compounds this.

2) Vacation – I am planning a month long vacation (visiting India) early next year. This will be our first trip in three years and lots of people are looking forward to meet Rhea (my little daughter) for the first time. What this means is I cannot take any leave since I have to save them all for my vacation. Also, there is going to be a lot of planning involved and yea shopping too!

3) Rhea’s first birthday - Rhea will be turning ‘one’ next week. We are planning for a get together for our friends. Till now Sony (my wife) has been taking care of most of the planning and I feel really bad that I haven’t contributed much, but she has never complained! I am going make sure that I can contribute more to this and make it a really memorable event for all of us.

With that said, the GMAT prep is on hold (for now). I think I will start from ground zero after our India trip.

PS: Sony (my wife) puts a lot of effort to maintain a blog for my daughter. It’s really cute, I am sure you will like it. Check this out yourself – http://rheasabode.blogspot.com/

It’s been lull

Not much has been happening on the GMAT prep front since I gave that practice test. I think it’s my score, had scored less on the practice test it would instilled the much needed urgency; it’s a matter of complacency which definitely is not a good thing. I started going through the OG12 but I am more inclined towards spending time on Quant material (since I like it) than the Verbal (which I am relatively weak at).

I think work too has something to do with my lack of effort here. It’s really getting very hectic and doesn’t leave me with a lot of time. But hopefully next week onwards (after thanksgiving) work will cool down to normal levels and I hopefully I will be able to take a few days off in December. 

Where do I stand?

Based on the analysis of my performance on the GMAT Prep, it’s very obvious where my weaknesses are. I think this is what I have to target in the order that they have been listed.

1)      Verbal :  SC (All concepts)– I thought I could rely on my ear to do a good job. Looks like a lot of hard work is in store as this misconception has been debunked!

2)      Quant  :  Permutations & Combinations. I made a couple of mistakes, the problems were tough but I think with a little bit of effort this can be ironed out easily.

3)      Verbal : RC  - Need to improve my reading speed.

It’s not that I am perfect at rest of the topics, but these are the low hanging fruits and provide me the ability to maximize improvement with the minimal effort (Though I doubt the effort for improvement in SC will be minimal). 

GMATPrep – Not a bad start

The first thing I did after deciding on the MBA path was to research about the GMAT, which obviously is the first step and a prerequisite for the application. I came across a few good GMAT programs and forums with a ton of information. I decided to register on BeattheGMAT forum just because of the quality of the content and the variety they have (Blogs, Articles and obviously the discussion forum).

I figured that the OG materials (the official resource) were a must, so I went to the nearest Barnes & Nobles and got hold of the OG12. I also ordered the Verbal & Quant review (2nd edition) online. The best way to start the GMAT prep was to assess my current strengths and more importantly weaknesses. I downloaded the GMATPrep practice tests and took the first practice test.

Surprisingly I did well on my first GMAT Prep test. I got a score of 720 (Quant  50 (93%)            Verbal 37 (80%) Overall  720  94%). Based on my research this was near or above the average score for the top schools and this is what I had as my target. My work and family commitments really won’t allow me to spend a lot of time and this score does no harm at all. I am really excited about this score, hopefully I will be able to maintain my focus and adhere to a strict routine. Time to get back to the drawing board (actually excel sheet) and track my problem areas. 

The pursuit – A difficult decision and an equally challenging path.

After a lot of self-introspection it finally has come to this – a full time MBA is the way to go. An MBA has  been on the card for some time, but I was unsure whether to go full time or part-time. I bounced my thoughts off my wife and friends. Few of my friends had already treaded this path (full time as well as part time) and their inputs proved invaluable.  

I came across some interesting perspectives, in particular about the full-time vs part-time debate, and I will definitely post them sometime later on this blog. For now it’s time to focus on the GMAT and the selection of colleges.

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.”

                                                               -          Gautama Siddharta (Buddha)

               

Aussies – stop ‘monkeying’ around, will ya?

Aussies – stop ‘monkeying’ around, will ya?

A lot of noise is being made out of the ‘monkey’ chants heaped on Andrew Symonds during the recently concluded ODI series. Something that started out with a small bunch of spectators has taken an ugly leap with the whole of Cricket Australia, fans from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia and a lot of present and past cricketers getting involved. Ponting has always been a moaner and he seems to be the torchbearer in making this an issue, even though Gilchrist had clarified that the Australian team will not be making a song and dance out of this. The frenzy has reached such dizzying heights that Australian fans are already threatening Indians of ‘payback’, Sri Lankan cricket authorities have already expressed their concern that they will be the first to face the wrath when they tour down under.

I was discussing this issue with my wife, and we were thinking why only he was called ‘monkey’ and no one else and why ‘monkey’ and nothing else. The conclusion was unanimous, with that big white paint on his lips giving them an inhuman look, those strands which suggest that he hasn’t had a bath for quite some time and gawky grin – he does look like one! My wife was curios, was he always like this? So we googled for some for his images and there we found a beauty. There was this image of Symonds with his childhood sweetheart Brooke Marshall, and he looked a handsome young man in the snap without the paint and the locks. Now if he wants to look this way, he should be prepared to take what people think of it.

Intrigued by the whole episode I did some digging, to find why this was taken as a ‘racist’ remark a not just a taunt. What I found is interesting. The aboriginals (native Australians) were considered inhuman (you can read it as ‘monkeys’) till much part of the 20^th century, it only changed when the ‘White Australia policy’ was repealed in the 1960s. Symonds happens to have an aboriginal mother and a white father, so you see Symonds is a half breed and the word ‘monkey’ must be reminding him of the trauma that his clan might have undergone during the last few centuries. The point here is that, it’s not the fans who are the culprits for making this a racial issue. It’s that wide mouthed Ponting and the Australian media who are responsible for this. Australia is the most racist country in the world, they treat the aboriginals as monkeys and now when some irate Indian fans accidentally bump onto that word they create such a hue and cry. Poor Symonds, he is only going to get more exposed due to this whole episode! I am sure the fans were ignorant about Symonds’s background; they just went by looks and found some words to taunt a dangerous player who was carting the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground. Even some of the past cricketers (mind you Australian cricketers – Waugh and Border) were surprised as to why Ponting and Symonds were acting so ‘precious’! I don’t want to read too much into this, but probably Ponting has a sense of guilt over the treatment of aboriginals by his community (The Australian Whites) and sees this opportunity to shed some of that!

Getting back to the ‘monkey’ chants, we are forgetting something that happened not too long ago. The Australians have always been preaching about ‘being prepared to take what you give’. But they don’t seem be following this at their end. It was almost a decade ago when McGrath called Jayasuriya a black monkey. Isn’t this double standard by the Aussies? When they taunt someone its fine, come on it’s just a jibe – get over it. But when they end up at the receiving end, they just can’t take it. Everyone ends up whining, with Ponting leading the pack. These morons should be told that respect has to be earned and it goes both ways. Its high time these Aussie cricketers stop jumping and whining around, its time to have their feet on the ground and their tail between their legs…err I meant hold their horses.

Reliance Retail to venture into Non-Vegetarian food segment

Reliance Retail to venture into Non-Vegetarian food segment

News about Reliance Retail venturing into the non-veg segment and coming up with a non-veg chain has been doing the rounds for the last few months. So has been the silent but persistent murmurs criticizing Mukesh Ambani and the Reliance Group for coming up with this ‘unethical’ way of making money.

According to the news Reliance plans to get into this segment pretty soon and will initially be selling existing products until they come up with their own abattoir and manpower to roll out their own product. Initially the Retail group would be a part of Reliance Industries and a few years down the line it will be demerged into a different entity. According to the grapevine Mukesh has not yet been able to convince the market operators to stick with him for this venture. Seemingly this notion has not gone all that well with the broker community majority of whom are ‘jain’ and ‘marwadi’. Many HNI’s are crying foul over Mukesh for straying away from his ‘Gujrati Vaishnav’ beliefs, there are people threatening to pull out their investment from Reliance Industries, then there are those contemplating to stay out till the demerger, there are some special cynics who are urging Kokilaben to put some sense into Mukesh’s head, some are predicting that God will punish Mukesh and his group heavily if they go ahead with this plan.

Are these pig headed morons really concerned about ethical values here? If that were the case why didn’t they raise their voice and move out of Reliance when Reliance was ‘muscling’ and ‘greasing’ its way to superpower status, or is that the ‘Gujrati Vaishnav’ tradition supports such acts? As far as their threat to move out of investment in Reliance is considered, it should be taken with a pinch of salt. These pig heads are damn smart when it comes to making money; they know for sure that for every one of them prepared to liquidate their holding there would be hundreds looking forward to possessing it. With our markets opening up for the world, there will be many FII’s too - queuing up for those stocks, Mukesh might even get an offer to produce something to suit their palate on the eve of thanksgiving. As far as investments are considered Reliance certainly is ‘The Goose that lays Golden eggs’, and these morons, however vociferous they might sound, just do not have the spine to get rid of the Goose and its Golden eggs.

What then is the actual issue? It’s not at all an ethical question, because if that were the case why should cosmetics companies, cigarette and liquor companies and even the pharmaceutical sector (since they test their products on animals) be allowed to survive, and I am sure I have missed a big list here which some way or the other hurt animals. It’s not even a case of vegetarianism or non-vegetarianism, there is an age old squabble going on about it and neither side has ever managed to convince their opposition. This truly is a question for Mukesh Amabani, for him to choose between his business interests and traditional values. He, and only he, has the right to even ponder about this, every other word on this will be nothing more than noise out of clattering empty vessels. Mukesh’s business acumen might nudge to go ahead with the venture and he surely should do it then, but if his tradition beckons him not to do so he has every right to step away too.

If at all I see an issue out here, it is about the brutal treatment of animals while they are transported, it is about the pathetic conditions of abattoirs in our country (if you thought meat eaters do not have the right to think about that, that’s crap, as even a criminal with capital punishment is treated fairly in jails till death), it is about the use of children in these abattoirs, it is about the human deaths because of the unhygienic conditions that exist in these abattoirs, it is about the violence that builds up in the minds of teenagers who end up chopping live cattle in these abattoirs. That’s the issue which needs to be tackled, because there will always be a large population of non-vegetarians, leading to a large market for non-veg products and if not Reliance someone else will be tapping on to that.

As a matter of fact Reliance getting into this field might help solve quite a few problems. Reliance being such a premier group and always under the public spotlight, it might be forced to take up measures that are more human. The inhuman condition prevailing in the slaughterhouses of UP and Rajasthan might be replaced by hygienic ones, use of western technology and machines might eradicate the need of child labor. So if things fall into place properly, Mukesh can kill two birds with one stone - Improve the miserable conditions prevailing around the Indian non-veg industry as well as make handsome profits out of this new venture. Wow, so if he kills two birds with one stone, isn’t that ‘dugna munafa’!

300

300 – A magnificent portrayal of brave men with beautifully chiseled bodies battling against equally hideous creatures.

For me this single sentence sums up the whole movie. It’s a beautiful movie, provided you can stand spurts of blood, chopped limbs and a lot of slaughtering. Even these aspects may not look all that gruesome since the makers have given it a highly stylized touch, and some of the war scenes have been done so awe inspiringly, I don’t recollect any other movie depicting the battle scene so vividly. You actually feel being on the screen and piercing through the maze of Persians being thrown at you, it’s truly a CGI and animation masterpiece.

Though the movie scores heavily on its brilliant visuals, sound effects and characterization, what it seriously lacks is a strong content. It just ends up a battlefront movie and nothing more. Director Zack Snyder was so hell bent on translating Frank Millers comic book onto large screen that most of the parts of the movie look like comic book stuff rather than looking real. I expected houses, landscapes and humans set in 450 B.C to be more real and life like rather than looking like painted houses, brush stroked backgrounds and monstrous-alien-like creatures. The portrayal of Persian army with warriors from different parts of Asia might trigger off some archeological excavations for a lot of extinct ugly human cousins. These at times look so much prominently out of place that it spoils the whole canvas of the movie. A little more real life portrayal of these might have done wonders for the movie, but then one must understand that Snyder and Miller had other ambitions for this movie.

There is a lot of talk about similarities that this movie bears with its successful predecessors ‘Gladiator’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy. The background score and scenes where Queen Gorgo and her son are shown in fields are the only similarity with ‘Gladiator’. But 300 strongly lacks the human touch, Ridley Scott went to great depths in depicting Maximus’s struggle. He made us go through the pain that Maximus endured and the concept of taking vengeance seemed the only palpable, rather a must, climax. However in Snyder’s case, though the men are rightly fighting for the freedom of their country, it looks more like a self inflicted act by a bunch of battle crazy warriors. The creatures in ‘300’ resemble some of those from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, especially the ‘Gollum’ like treacherous ‘Ephialtes’, but the similarities end right there as the trilogy was an epic in all sense (including the length of the movie) whereas 300 is only a glorious depiction of an epic battle. While the battlefront scenes really make a visual splendor the rest of the movie only looks like shady comic book stuff.