Back to school

I got up at 4:00 in the morning today.

I miss being the master of my own destiny-- with no official deeds to be done, no chores, no red diary tagged along with me to keep me track of my daily event.

I want just a peaceful and pleasant awakening.... A peaceful mornings.

Weekend!!

Weekend was just too short and most of it was spent studying. I had a case study write up due by Sunday evening. It was an interesting case about a company called "GOLFLOGIX." Golflogix makes a software called Xcaddie-- sort of like GPS navigator.This product helps the golfers to know the exact range of their golf balls, putters and also helps them improve their swings by giving strategies. So far, the company has been using the golf course as their number 1 selling media. Since the revenue stream has not been positvely high they are faced with a quagmire as to whether or not to directly sell their products directly to the customers. If they do decide to sell Xcaddie to the customers, they might jeopardize their relationship with the golf course.The executive board is in the midst of a dilema? What should they do?

Our write up was about our strategy -

If you were the CEO of the company what would you do? My decision, of course, had to be justified with a quantitative analysis. This was the question we had to keep in our mind while doing the write ups.

The whole of Sunday and half day Saturday was taken by this case study. Heaps of credit goes to Mr D for all the help! (Of course, I decided to go with both the customers and the golf course channel while selling the products) I have another mid-term this Friday. Last Friday was the Statistic exam and this week is the Marketing Analysis and next week is Accounting. Exams are rolling like anything.

What else--- Well, I suppose when you make a concerted effort to write every day in a blog, then it will have to by nature turn to something more personal:)

Soon it will start to get dark early. The day light saving has started.Winter is around the corner. Walking in the cold will be dreadful. I am rambling--- as you can see I have a half-formed thoughts.

On an interesting note, couple of months ago I had attended the talk show of Mr. Sharad Babu Shrestha from the READ foundation and just recently, I read about him in Kantipur about him being one of the recipients of Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. What a true honour for our country!! KUDOS for his hard work!!!

Eventful week

I feel really good right now. The reason – my Statistic class. I just finished my 3 hours long exam and I feel so relived. I don’t know how I did- but I am glad it is over. I try not to dwell on the past; therefore, I have not even taken one glance at my notes. What is done is done. I had studied quite a lot and I am hopeful for a good grade.

I also had another MBA 600 paper due today. After working for extra 3 hours last night I managed to finish that one as well. The two big burdens are now all gone. This explains my days silence— Even though I am contemplating on whether or not to write the blog, I thought about doing it anyways. I just finished my exam and I deserve better than sitting infornt of my laptop in the library right?? However, since I have not updated by blog for almost a week now, I thought about giving a quick update before disappearing in my school zone.

Among myriad of events that have taken place over the last few days, these two are worth noting.

First, the lecture series with Mr. Terry Lundgren, the chairman and the CEO of Federated Department Stores Inc., the parent company of Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. Yup! He is the big guy behind the acquisition of Filenes and other numerous stores. The exciting thing is that I actually got to shake hands with him. I really enjoyed this talk. Just couple of months ago, there was this big talk about Filene’s at Downtown getting closed and here I was shaking hands with the man who was doing all this. It is quite amazing isn’t it? Under his leadership, they have successfully completed the $11 billion acquisition. The location of the event, Boston Harbour Hotel was amazing. Since this was the breakfast event, we had to get there by 7:30. I had the privilege of enjoying the beautiful sunrise of Boston Harbour at the 7:00 in the morning.

Now I write with great enjoyment about my visit to Michael Porter’s talk. The talk was about his new book, “Redefining the Health Industry.” But more than the talk was the excitement I had in seeing him. I still vividly remember memorizing the Porter’s Five Forces of Model. I had first encountered this topic in my 12th grade in high school and the recent one was just last week – in my MBA 640 class. This concept involves a relationship between competitors within an industry, potential competitors, suppliers, buyers and alternative solutions to the problem being addressed. Very very interesting theory —as interesting as Mr. Porter himself I must say. Currently, Michael Porter is a professor at Harvard Business School. He had power in this voice and had totally taken control of the room. Everyone looked very attuned. One thing that really got my attention was his style. I noticed how much he moved his hands while doing his presentation. Seeing this I felt at ease. Why? I have a habbit of moving my hands when I am doing my presentation and it had really bothered me. However, seeing him do this, I felt relived. If Michael Porter can do it, so can I right!!

Here is another exciting news, I actually made an effort to speak with him and managed to get his business card. I have yet to write to him but this was one heck of an eventful day for me. I still cannot believe I actually met Michael Porter!

These events are the true highlight of my week.

What else----We had a very interesting discussion in my Global Marketing class. Whether or not there was a scope for a GLOBAL currency? I personally say, it is very much possible and attainable. Maybe in next 20-30 years, after all this is all about GOBALIZATION. There is the Euro, which is very much like a global currency in European continent. If this is possible-- with Germany and France in it-- then it is very much possible for the rest of the world!

I have started to read “The Kite Runner,” the long awaited book in my reading list. When Omar, one of my friends mentioned it, I could not resist it anymore. The book is fabulous. It takes me to this whole different world. I am not myself but the character in the book. To me, this is a true escape to the serenity. A really TRUE escape.

It looks beautiful outside. The late afternoon sun is still sparkling on the glasses of the tall building. The weather tomorrow is suppose to be horrible. What can I say; such are the vagaries of life. Off I go-- Cheerio!

Weekend run-down

At first glance it looked overwhelming. It was crowded-- very very crowded. Since it was the Laxmi pooja, we had decided to go to the laxmi temple at Framigham. We wanted to go in the morning but later decided to go in the evening. The day was very nice. Sunny-- high 40s to be exact. We decided to take a quick walk at the Regatta. Regatta- HEAD of CHARLES is a boating event that happens ever year around this time. It is a two day event where all the big schools compete in a boat rate at the Charles River. The ambience is bit festive-- of course, nothing like our tihar back home. The whole of Harvard Square is crowded. People everywhere. Surprisingly the weather unlike the previous two years had been very friendly. We actually were quite fortunate to see the sun. Walking around the Bank of the river was indeed quite refreshing. This was my third Regatta in Boston.

That night along with Shailendra dai, we went to the temple. It was packed. We did not even find the parking and had to walk for almost 10 minutes. For a second, it felt like temple in Nepal-- well not exactly, but somewhat similar--- shoes lined up on the floor, people waiting on a queue to get inside the main door--Surprisingly we bumped into subarna dai who had also come to the temple with prativa di. It was indeed a co-incidence because I had just told prasanna that it would be so much like Nepal if we bumped into someone and there he was! Even though, the ambience was nothing like Nepal, it still felt really nice seeing all those people.

After spending an hour in the temple, we went to have a dinner at a Indian resturant in Framingham. The dinner was nice and cozy but even nicer than that was the intellectual conversation we had with Shailendra dai. We talked about various things-- ranging from all the philosophical topics of mind,distractions, self- realaization, sucess, failures.Very very important topics indeed.

It might sound quite astounding, but to me, one of the biggest acomplishments is when I start to control my own mind. Your mind-- well, my mind wanders a lot. Sometimes I am in the library trying to finish my homework but within few minutes I find myself doing something else --something totally different than the accouting I am intended to do. This is all DISTRACTION-- My core enemy. At this point in life, time is very crucial for me. I have so much to do and so little time and here I am wasting my time doing something else. Shailendra dai added a very important point-- he said," do not expect to see the change overnight, it wil take sometime.." Since I am very impatient this is one of the very important thigs that I need to keep in mind. I have to admit I am very impatient.I have improved a lot thanks to prasanna but I need to work a lot!

I am positive that this could possibly backfire me in future if I do not improve it. At the moment, we are in a library. I am trying to do study. Mr D is also working. I just finished writing my Career Development plan for the MBA 600 class. This is sort of an essay outlining your career goals based on your interest, your strengths and your weakness. At this time, I am happy that I have a goal. Many people are quite ambiguous when it comes to their goals. I was -- when I was in my undergraduate. Until my second semester I was not sure of what my major was going to be. I remember writing my dad and asking for his help. However, at this time it is all different and one of the major reasons for this is my work experience. My work at Nissan really helped me find my true passion. I love working for products and brands to be exact. I like -- I am going to use stronger word-- I love to explore new cultures and different interest and then try to develop a marketing strategy accordingly. Since the “WORLD IS FLAT", after all, it is about understanding new cultures and trying to cater it accordingly.

My goal eventually is to work in an International Organizations, however, for a start, I would like to work in a Multi national companies.

I have my Organizational Behaviour presentation tomorrow. We are doing a presentation of " The epic of Survival"-- the story of Sir Ernest Shackelton. Very interesting story about a courageous leader. A story about a great leader who truly overcame all the obstacles and successfully conquered his journey. While working on this presentation, I also realized a lot about the topic “Courage". It indeed takes a lot to be a COURAGEOUS Person. I take the example of the movie BILLY ELLIOT-- one of my favorite movies, where Billy, the 11 year old boy follows his passion about doing the BALLET. Learning from your setbacks is another form of Courage and I TRULY ADMIRE those people who despite their failure do not get afraid to try it again and AGAIN AND AGAIN!! I know a person like this and I AM very happy to say that he is my TRUE role model. :)

It looks quite dark outside. Soon it will be cold. The day light saving is at the end of this month. It is bad because the day is going to be shorter.On an interesting note, this morning, I did a little bit of Raag myself. I also practiced the “OMMMM" with MR D your mind really was in a tranquil stage. For a second, you forget about everything-- absolutely everything. The only thing in front of you is your mind.

Tomorrow is another longg day for me. I am going to attend the Lecture series at Boston hotel. It starts at 7:45 which means I have to be out by 6:30.On Tuesday, I am attending “MICHAEL PORTER'S " speech and I am soo much loooking forward to this. I have read about his theory since high school and now finally being able to see him is a true honor. He is a professor at Harvard business school and indeed a true scholar.

( This is supposed to have been posted yesterday, however, thanks to my procrastination side, I decided to wait till today)

I went to see Mr. Terry Lundgren, Chairman, President & CEO, Federated Department Stores, Inc at Boston Harbour Hotel. Very exciting event. I got to shake hands with Mr. Lundgren and got to ask him a question about the strategy of the company.

life

“Such are the vagaries of life.”

Reluctantly, I have started to believe in this sentence. Mr. D used to say and still says this every time I tell him something—any happy or sad things-- or anything at all.

I've been doing a lot of reflection lately. Even though I have been avoiding the literal meaning of this sentence, I have gradually started to believe in it.

Do I want to?

If I had choice, I would not.

I would like to undo lot of things. Yet! I cannot.

Why?

“Because such are the vagaries of life”

One moment you are happy and in a matter of a second you can be a total darkness.

Harder to understand is the cycle of life that mistakenly assumes that we have taken time to understand everything when the truth of the fact is no one has! Not even the most philosophical person.

Life is simple -everyone claims.

And yet, without a doubt, I humbly admit that life is unfair and it is dubious.

I want to go on and on and I wanto to CRY -- just CRY— sadly what is done cannot be undone and it is best if I put a full stop right now.

Classes are going on. It has been busy. It is the networking week they say. Did little bit of a mingle with the other MBA students today.

I attended the panel discussion of Felix Rodriguez, The CEO of CITGO. He opened his speech with a quote, “London has Big Ben, France has Eiffel tower and Boston has the CITGO” Even though this sign has been one of the oldest landmark in the city of Boston, never did I know the fact that this company was actually from Venezuela.

The overall lecture series was ok. Honestly speaking, I was not as impressed as I had compared to the ones I have seen. So far, the best one for me was from Lord Ian Brown, the CEO of BP. That old man is filled with fire and that is how a good leader should be I think. Well, that is the image I have of a good leader.

A leader with a DRIVE, A leader with a chutzpa!

My marketing class was fun. We did a case study of ADIDAS and Cartier. Two powerful brands with two different marketing strategy and niche. One thing that I realize when I talk about this topic is the passion I have with the topic of “Brand.” I had worked in a brand department at Nissan and had enjoyed tremendously. This is what I would like to do in future.

It is about 12:00 am. I just finished my Stat homework. Mr. D is doing his work and I am taking a break. I thought I would catch up with the blog. I am also watching “The Charlie Rose Show,” one program that I have not stopped watching since the sophomore year in college. I love this show. Rarely on television can you find intelligent, sustained conversation between grown-ups about subjects that are genuinely interesting. Charlie Rose is INDEED an exception.

I had chance to watch, Bill gates and Warrant buffet, Vinod khosla, Amartya sen and he is interviewing Mr. Mikhail Gorbachev tomorrow. Right now, Mr. Rose is interviewing Paul Volcker, the president of World Bank and Nandan Nilekan,the CEO of INFOSYS.Last week, I had a chance to watch the interview of George Soros and John Grishm, my favourite author.

Let me share one interesting thing! I have managed to watch most of the movies based on his book. The favorite one so far has been “The firm” and “The runaway juries.”

I have a long day tomorrow. Good night!

regular

WOW- The power of North Korea!

Like The NY time quoted "Korea's announcement to set of a nuclear trest only offers frightening proof of the Bush Administration's diplomatic incompetences and failure of imagination." By announcing that it has conducted a nuclear test, they have certainly ensured the beginning of another possible war. This indeed signals the catastrophic future. I guess such are the vageris of life I suppose.

Another big news over the weekend!

The acqusition of YOUTUBE!!

YOu tube has been something of an overnight sensation-- truly. People are wathcing movies, music etc. I have to admit that this is where I had watch the insipiring interview of Mr. Laxmi mittaland ofcourse, MR Zidanne's interview after the W. cup final.

You tube really has spread like a wild fire since it officially debuted last december. The company is now acquired by GOOGLE for $1.6 billion. According to the WSJ, consumers have watced the NIKE commercial featuring "Ronadhinio : Touch of Gold more than seven million times."This clearly shows a potentinal of capturing great marketing publicity.

Weekend rundown:

Nothing exciting-- same as usual I guess.

I had a chance to quickly flip through the FORBES magazine and was amazed and VERY happy to read that the newly appointed CEO of PEPSI is- a FEMALE and she is from INDIA. SHe is MRS. INDRA k. NOOYI. I was so very thrilled to read about her. She should be a ROLE MODEL to all of us-- who wants to conquer the business world.The more interesting thing is that she has been known to wear traditional Indian saris to her inaugral functions. Her ascension has made her an epitome for executives in India as well as in America.She definelty will be my ROLE MODEL!!

We also had a chance to watch the movie "corporate." I have to admit that the movie has been depicted very well. Corporate world indeed means knowing a little more than the competitors. It is a good movie and to top it all of, the print was very good as well.

Saturday, we went to have a brunch at the " neighbourhood" with sanjay and sujata. Sunday night dinner at Yadav's was Good. We had the luxury of eating the delicious pasta.

( this was actually written on Tuesday--and I am just posting in today-- i.e Thursday)

I went to the "Jerusulam Women Speak" today at Northeastern University. I was very very touched and inspired by these courageous ladies. There were three ladies from Gaza, Bethlehem and Israel with a background of Muslim, Christian and Jewish - all with one view " to have a peace in the middle east." I want to write more on this because this event did have an imapct on me in a certain way!

friday!

I am taking a break right now. MY eye hurts. I am trying -- emphasisng the word "TRYING"to do some research for my prefessor but there are so many distractions everywhere. Inside and out! Cannot concentrate. We had a workshop this morning from 8:30. How to do good presentation and write executive summary-- concise and to the point ones!! It was good one, however, my only compalain was the breakfast. We had this from 8:30 to 1:00 and did not have any breakfast-- the least they could have done was to have some coffee.

Anyways, since then I have been in the library, trying to finish some work form my professor and trust me it is not going anywhere.

Plans for the weekend-- not really.. Study and Study!

The festival of Dashain is finished. It has been 12 years since I have celebrated dashain in Nepal. Dashain back home is different and fun. Since I had school this year, the day really did not seem like dashain. Just any other regular day. The biggest highlight of this dashain for me was my dad's birthday. His birthday is in the first day of Dashain and he turned 50. I can officially say he is an old man :)

There are days when the sun hides. It is gone for so long, you are not sure you will see it again.--But today that is not the case. The sun is out but it is soo chilly outside. REALLY really coldddd...... Brrrrr

Next week on Thursday, I am going for a talk show at Northeastern. The title is "Jerusalem speaks." That is the exciting agenda for next week :)

Have a great weekend!

quick summary

They are eerie sensations, more common than one might think: It is the sensation of an Exam, homeworks-- all those nauseatic feelings that I am encountering at the moment. Time is precious. Time management is even more precious. However, I am in the midst of dilema not being able to manage the both.

HAPPY DASHAIN!!! Weekend was good. It was Dashain for all the Nepalese. Even though I wanted to enjoy the festival in a full swing, I was not able to cause of the group project and the asssignment I had. Both Saturdays and Sundays- most of the day time, I was crammed with my projects and report. However,I did manage to enjoy the evenings eating good food at Muna aunty's, Manisha bhauju and Anju bhauju's place. It was a small dashain fiesta for us.

The "khasi" ko masu was simply superb!! On the day of Dashain, I was very happy when our Organizational Behaviour class was cancelled. It was in the afternoon and it gave us some time to enjoy the "dashain." I had no interest of attending the second class, but I had no choice because class participation is heavily counted towards our final grade. I just wished I did not have to go--- Wishful thinking does not always come true does it?:)

Tuesday morning was a longgg day for me. I had to get to the Copley Plaza at 7:30 in the morning. I got up at 5:00 and was out out house by 6:40. It was our first lecture series I suppose. This one was from the CEO, the chairman and the PRESIDENT of PROCTER AND GAMBLE, Mr. A.G Lafley( This man has all the three titles! quite amazing! ). It has always been my dream to work at this company, keeping that in mind, :) I did manage to do bit of a networking with employees from Gillette and P and G and got some business cards :) By the way, I also got my Business card from the school :)

The session was very very interesting!I was very astonished to find out that the P & G is !69 years old. WOW!! By far, the biggest acqisition for them has definetly been aquiring GILLETTE:

Mr.Lafley looked like any other CEO resonating the same trait as other Great LEADERS! The product of HBS of course!! . The guy with a power.From all the lectures I have attended, I feel that the leaders have some attribute that is easily distinguishable compare to the regular people. Mr. Lafley, "the proctoids,"as he is reffered by his fellow workers was also one of them. He had a power in this voice. Since he has been in the company the sales been up to 20%. When you are talking about 20% in terms of million and billions of dollars it is just HUGEEEEE.

It really felt nice being in that room with other representatives and stake holkders and hearing his strategies and marketing plan to sustain in the market. :) I really hope that I get to work with this company some day!

ERIC CLAPTON!!

Both Prasanna and I, we also managed to go see Mr. Clapton this week at the Fleet Center. Honestly speaking,I was bit disappointed that he did not sing his famous songs-- father's eyes, tears in heaven, change the world-- He did sing, Leila, Cocaine and you look beautiful tonight.

It had been a really long day for me and I was really tierd. Prasanna was fully enjoying. It has always been one of his dreams to go to Eric clapton's concert and I am glad he did :)

I am at the Library and I have a group meeting in about 20 minutes, so I better get going!