The vision of a citizen - Vol 1 - Case 1

Case Study 1:  Roads in Mumbai:

Facts:
The roads are dug up 
The roads are said to be under construction
Roads are completed and touched up after months of work on it
In some cases the roads develop potholes every year and have to be done up every year.

Questions and concerns:
Why is the Quality of work so substandard??

Is there a quality control check  that the authority follows?
 
The surface is not meant to provide excitement in the lives of people by making them feel as if riding on an amusement park ride. Prime purpose is to make smooth and safe roads for a peaceful journeys.

The borders of the roads are so badly defined. It reminds me of the shape of the amoeba in the my biology books.

Even if we assume that the workers may not have aesthetic sense or interest in the aesthetics of the roads.
Why can't the authorities set up a protocol which the workers will have to follow no matter what?

Please feel free to add more such cases which you might have observed regardless if we'll be able to do something about it or no :P

A new addition for sports lovers

A dedicated website for Indian Football.

http://www.kickoffindia.com/

The best features I found out to be were a dedicated section for grassroots football and mainly its dedication towards Indian football.

Cheers to the website!!!!

The MICA Experience (form filling and entering the audi)

I knew there was going to be no replacement of the paper but I simply couldn't afford to have contradicted my views which I had expressed earlier. We had to submit our completed SOP form at the beginning of the entire process. I had started filling my SOP from the 27th of March - The day when I got the news of getting selected for the MICA GE/PI round. I had filled atleast 10 rough copies of my form and was ready with atleast 15 likes and dislikes each before finalising 3 each on the form. I knew exactly what each and every word in my SOP form meant. The moment I made a mistake in my questionnaire I realized there was a contradiction. I cancelled the NO I had marked and turned it to YES for regular exercise. And in the regular sport I had also entered Cricket which again I had to cancel as by no means was I playing Cricket regularly. I scribbled over the word Cricket and wrote walking after it. The other 2 questions were answered neatly and efficiently as per what I feel about fitness. The scribbling in my questionnaire I reckon was a major part of my failure. When a person is given 20 minutes there is no need to do haste and scribble. For a reader of that questionnaire all it could project is that may be the person wanted to clarify about his stance but still about 2-3 cancellations means either hiding a fact or trying to manipulate with some data. All this thought about me doing badly in my questionnaire struck me only after it was declared that I was a spot reject for this year. With no apprehensions in my head at that moment I continued to answer the problem of the UN guy. The following was my answer:

" I think Mr. Chetan should go ahead and write the false report. The most important for any organization is to assure that business runs smoothly and the company has quality projects from potential clients. This would also help Mr. Chetan to maintain better relations with the ministry and help him get future projects for his organization. Using his power he should find a suitable job for the employee elsewhere."

I was comfortably left with atleast 5-6 minutes after putting the last full stop in the above para. That is when I was still staring at the cancellations I had made. I had left no room for correction at that moment not because I had done it well but because I had consumed my quota of visually pleasing pardonable mistakes. The sheets were collected as soon as the allotted time ended. Then we were told to check our interview slots. The interviews were slotted to start from 11:00 a.m. Those who were the first 3 people in the each of the 4 interview panels were requested to not be late. We were given a much needed break of atleast 30-40 minutes. From the classroom we were requested to move to the auditorium - A place which I seen in pictures a million times. A place which I felt described as to why the MICA experience is so unique.

We quickly checked our respective interview slots and moved to the auditorium. Entering again into an Air-conditioned room felt great. Digital Pictures turned into real vision. The colourful long drapes hanging from the ceiling just mesmerized me. I went right in front of the passage way of the audi and started to climb the steps observing the colourful cushions neatly placed on chataee on every step. Felt a sense of belonging like a Cicketer who is amongst the probables of the Indian Team might be feeling while going through further selection process drills in a boot camp. Gently placed my bag on one of the steps and left with my friends to have a bite at 'Chota's' - A well known eating joint at MICA.

The MICA Experience (contd again)

Time up??? It was just about that we started working on our task. Moreover, it was just about that our group had finally started working as a team, rather than than concentrating on earning individual brownie points by trying to gain attention of the examiners by trying to put each others individual points forward. Time indeed flew past. Reminded me of how under pressure my engineering exams which used to last literally for a month would pass by like a week. We had decided to to read out political, economic, entertainment, sports, crime and miscellaneous news. The content providing work was done. I was still confirming with the content gathering team if they needed any more news on any of these topics. It seemed at that moment that there was enough of content to be read out for the bulletin. I had no idea as on who was going to read the bulletin, how the news reading was going to be managed. Seeing our condition the examiners said, "Ok. We give you 2 minutes more. Just assemble everything within this time.". Did nothing productive in that time except for gathering the chart papers on which we had stuck the news to be read out and discussing how the news reading process would happen. Finally we had to start reading our bulletin. We expressed the categories of news that we were going to read out. The examiners then asked us, "So who is going to read the sports news?". I thought the entire process was set up. I also thought that though I didn't have much of an idea about the news reading department, atleast the news reading department would be having complete idea about what they are supposed to be done. After the question there were a million exchange of glances that our group members had with each other. Finally somebody from the news reading department stepped in and she read out the news pretty well. Ya, pretty well it was, but only to realize that there was only 1 news item as far as sports news was concerned. I looked at the damn chart paper in astonishment. Providing content was my job. But, Hey!!! I did ask everybody if any more content was required. If it was one of my mundane arguments I wouldn't have hesitated to argue. Of course I chose to be calm at that moment. With hiccups at various stages of the protocol of reading the news we were finally done with once and for all. The examiners weren't done with us. The picked one of us and asked," What do you think went wrong in this task?". He answered,"I think we were not clear about what we are supposed to do. And we did everything just randomly. We could have structured the process in a more efficient way.".

Now now... I was immediately asked the same question. "Yes no. 6. What do you think you'll could have done better??"
I don't know why I get stuck between my straightforward self and my diplomatic alter ego. I decided to go the diplomatic way. Mr Diplomatic answers, "I think our team started off pretty well." One of them immediately snapped at me,"Started off well???" And gave me such an offended look as if I told her to touch my feet and beg for mercy. Now again I had 2 options, either stick with my point or correct with sufficient support to do so. I chose to do the former and continued, "Yes, We started off well. As a group full of strangers it was going to be naturally difficult to come up with a plan which everybody would agree to. But we still managed to sort things out pretty quickly. Slowly we also started getting into the groove of how to go about things and give the task the proper direction. As a group in the allotted 20 minutes(oh oh... mistake... 30 minutes were allotted) we did a fairly god job as a team of 9 people." She seemed pretty content with the answer now. But to convince the examiner that our group had done a decent job i feel 'maine khudko bali ka bakra bana diya'. But after my answer I got some respite in seeing my group members being happy with my answer. Yeah, why not. I batted for you'll. You'll should be. A couple of more questions that I don't remember as I started thinking about my answer and evaluating it. Hey no offense to any of my group members. We were indeed a rocking group. So rocking, that inspite of knowing that we hadn't done kind of a good job, at the end of the task we gathered as a group in front of the examiners and clapped for ourselves gleefully. (And also for the fact that 2 girls got spot offers and 4 other guys got into the merit list.)

After the Group Exercise we came back to the classroom. Discussed for a few minutes of what we could have done better. Finally we got frustrated and started discussing about how we would sleep behind the last row of benches if we would get bored in a particular lecture. Really, there was ample amount of space to do that. We were the 1st group. After some time the other groups also started coming into the classroom. They started describing how rocking their group exercise was. Another group was proud of having completed the task 5 minutes before the time could end. Now on a comparative analysis I started to feel a bit tense. Finally all of us decided to just forget all of it and stay calm for the upcoming events.

After all the groups assembled in the classroom a couple of teachers entered with sheets of paper and distributed them. A middle aged pleasant looking teacher started giving instructions,"On this sheet there is a case of a particular person given to you who is facing a certain problem at his job. You have to write a solution in not more than 5-6 lines that are provided. When you turn the page there is a small questionnaire regarding your fitness that you need to answer. Fill the form really carefully. 20 minutes are more than sufficient to fill it. Please note that no replacement of the form shall be provided in any case."

The problem was as follows, "Mr. Chetan Shah has recently been appointed as the representative in a UN group. He has been asked to write a false report about an employee who is not so competent so that another person of the ministries choice could replace that person. He is also about to get a $3 million deal from the ministry soon. What advice would you give Mr. Chetan and why. I read this entire problem a couple of time, few instantaneous solutions jumped up but I didn't want to jump up to conclusions that soon. I turned the page, saw a questionnaire of 4 questions related to personal fitness. I had known a golden rule from seniors regarding the process to get into MICA,"Be yourself. Simply don't fake." The questionnaire was as follows:

1. Do you exercise regularly Yes/No
2. Do you Engage in any sport regularly including Yoga? If yes mention sport
3. How important do you rate fitness as a beneficial activity on a scale of 10
4. What would you rate your fitness on a scale of 10?

My answers went in the following order:
Exercise Regularly?? No, frankly I dont. Marked No.
Do you engage in any sport regularly? No. Not in my recent past or present. Heyyy... But I do walk regularly. But that has become my default routine and I consider that as a stress reliever rather than a way of exercise. Moreover, in one of my likes in the SOP form I had also mentioned one of my likes as going for a long walk. I had marked NO for regular exercise. I thought again what to do. And I scribbled on my answer...... (dhanae dhanae dhanae dhanae dhanae)

The Indian Profit League

In the roaring arena
of the Indian Premier league
Seeing a stage set up
a situation proud I would be

A different identity it is
for Indian Sport
A billion dollar affair
with all the crowds support

A new hope it is
for all the distraught cricketers
Recognition for their ignored talent
and crores of admirers

A circus is set up
for the crowd to stay entertained
Its has pulled the female gender too
who earlier from cricket abstained

The unpredictable turnarounds in games
give a strong hint of match fixing
But if cricket was so easy to be staged
the popularity wouldn't be so jaw dropping

The advertisers have found
a jackpot of a medium to earn
With luring chances of visibility and recall
the clients are eying a lot of returns

Celebrities, corporates part of all the bling
Cheer leaders enjoying doing their own thing
Crowds ready to shell out earnings
Friends, couples and families all are enjoying

The internet medium through youtube optimized
3D matches and private screenings are the new trend
The saas bahu serials are facing a beating
the marketers have a lot to learn from this bend

Controversies have loomed over it
Frauds and impersonations have led to disappointment
Hurt Egos are flying loose, exercising power 
all these obstacles too weak to harm this huge achievement

In all this celebration & jamboree
I pray the essence of the game shouldn't be lost
Indian sports has got its profit earning flag-bearer
for this we Indians should raise a toast


-- Kaustubh Kabre

The MICA Experience (contd)

The bus was scheduled to leave from IIM-A at sharp 8 and it did. One thing about MICA. One cannot expect the world out of MICA. It has its limitations and one has to accept them at every corner stone be it before getting into the institute, while studying in it and after completing your course when you are all ready to face the market. In the scorching 45 odd degree temperature, we were taken in a luxury AC Volvo bus... no way ... It was apna normal bus with cramped up seats in which a huge enough person like me doesn't fit. People were still filling in their SOP's. One of my one-day-old friends asked me for one of her dislikes which was to be filled into the form. After all the stupid options we gave her she settled down for Anu Malik's singing. Of course that had to be followed by some sample Annu(that is how he spells it and she also did) singing. The back benchers including me continued with their antics. It was such a riot in the bus, for example when we reached the MICA campus few people actually started shouting "Nahi mummy mujhe school nahi jaana hain.. Main school nahi jaunga". Loads of fun moments like these made me relaxed a tad bit before all the drama that was about to unfold on the eventful day.

It was my second time at the campus. My first one was a brief information gathering visit when I was too shy or scared to even talk to anybody and gather information considering it is as my right. I hadn't observed the surroundings of MICA then as I had simply hurried through the place. This time I had all the time to do that. This time I had longed for it so badly. The fields were as lush green as I had seen in pictures, the red bricked walls gave a pleasing effect to my eyes, got the same warm vibes from the staff as I had got from each of their communications, there was a certain cool factor about the entire place and I was simply in awe of the expanse of the campus.

Got quickly divided into groups of 9-10 to go ahead with the process. Were made to sit in one of the classrooms. Felt nice to be in the AC after the burning bus ride.We were taken into the Group Exercise room. Two middle aged ladies standing within welcoming smiles. I thought so nice, they seem to be so harmless, and thought I was in for a pleasant experience. They begun. "What you'll have to do is create a TV news bulletin which would last for 5 minutes from the material we have provided to you. If you have any questions we are not here to answer those, you may sort them within yourselves. Time allotted to you will be 30 minutes. Before you start the exercise we would like you'll to wear these aprons with numbers on them which would help us in grading you'll properly" Wore the aprons, I developed nerves.  Not too unexpected as I'm pretty much experienced in the field of developing jittery feet. The group started to discuss as on what should be done, my legs were shivering, wondered if that was happening out of nervousness or no intake of edible particles in the morning. Finally pushed myself in the conversation, told the group to first have a look at the material that was provided . Economic Times, Bombay Times, DNA Money and quite a few other papers were there. Along with 5-6 chart papers and a dozen sketch pens. The work had to be divided into working departments. Was late to take charge of things so decided to play a team supporting role. Took responsibility of content gathering from the newspapers provided, coordinated with the team assimilating the information on the chart paper. The examiners suddenly said, "ok. time up."  ... (to be contd)

The Great Indian MBA Show

I am not particularly concerned with the reasons why people want to pursue an MBA. At the end of it at the core the reason is money. I wouldn't blame the system either which demands a degree in management to climb the ranks in an organization. The one's who do an MBA call it a hoax. The one's without it call it a ray of hope. But, yet the power of this 3 letter abbreviation is for all to see.

I have personally had times when I have wanted to pursue management studies so that it hones my leadership skills, and makes me more aware of things and build up essentials required to undertake managerial responsibilities in an organization. Which is true. Do you think without a know how of what all are the factors associated in taking business decisions I would be able to undertake positions of high responsibility especially the responsibilities involved in huge businesses. These businesses have reached this position after years, one wrong move from a not so competent manager could mean a disaster for the entire business and a threat to the hardwork of so many people involved in the business over the years. The real purpose of an MBA is this. To be capable of handling various arms of the company .... EFFICIENTLY .... The stream of choice ofcourse varies from person from person.

Money, Dowry, Marriage, Extortion, Pride, Ego, and what not reasons are the fringe benefits(Do not want to mingle my views against these topics when talking about MBA, So ignoring them). I do not say that they are not important(depends on a persons point of view) but I mean to say that at the end of the day if you do not transform yourself into an efficient manager be it from whichever B-school these benefits are a mere short-lived paradise. The lack of understanding of this very subject has given rise to institutes of the likes of IIPM. And the donations for absolutely average B-schools have sky-rocketed to amounts which if given away as charity would solve the problems of atleast 5 Vidarbha farmers. One could actually start an NGO with that kind of money. But the laws of the world are actually really simple. Where there is a demand, supply has to be provided, if supply is restricted, the people on the side of the demand are ready to pay astronomical amounts. The rat race has gotten to everybody. It all starts with lack of quality institutes. Then the problem worsens with the unbelievably huge number of aspirants... and mind you we indians are known to be intelligent ... so it is large number of good quality aspirants flowing in every year which means only handful get into the best colleges and a huge chunk of them are left finding just another MBA college. This huge chunk is pushed back into their jobs and try again next year competing yet another year with top quality students. And getting disappointed yet again and then finally landing into a college which they never wanted, just in pursuit of a better career and for a fitting end to their academic life to finally settle down and have a family.

Nobody wants substandard education. The problem is that we all who are a part of the rat race are being pushed into this regardless if we want this or not. It is not like people do not get jobs after graduating from 2nd rung or may be 3rd rung or 4th rung institutes. But the problem lies in the first rung being considered as Gods and the second rung being ambiguously considered as good just on the basis of a handful of entrance exams and a limit on the number of seats in these institutes. If anybody doesn't believe that the people from IIM's are treated as heroes, the salaries speak for themselves. All of us ask, what is that thing which is special about them that they get a salary which is approximately 5 times that of mine after we both get a PGDM certified by the AICTE. And if there is something so special(decided on the basis of an entrance exam) then why are seats so limited that force me to call myself not as special as him, when I know I have it what it takes to be there and I have also proved myself to be good enough in these MBA exams. The increase in the number of IIM's and in their seats is a good move, but is it enough to lessen the kind of bias that exists in the system today??? If a certain college is given AICTE approval why is it not considered on similar lines as any other good college which has got the same approval. That means the process of this accreditation is flawed. You either not give the approval or you give the approval on the basis of strict rules which would ensure everybody the same kind of development and an equal chance to fetch the top jobs ( Why not .... MBA to humne bhi kiya hain ... aao dekhe kisme kitna hain dum)

The exclusivity attached to the IIM's is fair enough. Otherwise why would 2 lakh people slog their asses every year in order to try and get into one of them. My only point is, don't make the junta who is not from the IIM's look like loosers who are not good enough to fetch the fattest of pay checks. If the Indian system devices a way to create a strong second rung of colleges which is lacking today... There would be atleast some kind of justice that would be done to the lakhs of participants who are ready to shell out lakhs to attain a management degree(for their various reasons) by giving them a feeling of belonging to a clan of good managers. The 3rd and 4th rung would continue to exist due to the huge demand. But atleast a good 50-60 colleges to choose from in the second rung who would be considered at par with each other considering various factors ... right from good learning methods to getting a good job.

The MICA Experience

The day when dreams were near to be accomplished had arrived. Landed at Ahmedabad on the 11th of April 10'. Made a stupid choice of taking prepaid taxi which charged me 280 bucks for a distance as good as Mahim  - Churchgate. The moment I got into the cab and its wheels started rolling, a hot(i literally mean hoooott) gust of dry air blew on my face. I asked my self. Dude if you get selected by MICA you will have to bear this for 2 years. And I was like, increase the temperature a few notches more and tell me to live in MICA for a year more I would still have the smile on my face that I had on that moment. Felt great that I had dreamed about something for nearly 2 years and I was just a group exercise and an interview away from realizing it. It was a feeling of accomplishment I would remember for the rest of my life. After all, how many times in life do we get what exactly we wanted. I had come this close to my dream for the first time in my life and was smiling from ear to ear atleast till the point on the next day when I was declared as not even being there on the waitlist of the probables for the PGDM(C) batch of 2010-2012.

But as the message that comes out of Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, its the journey that teaches you the maximum things in life than the feeling of reaching the destination. When I had seen the requirements for MICA, 90+ in CAT/ 600+ in GMAT and then clearing MICAT to be eligible for the GE/PI, I thought that I didn't have the caliber to even have come this far. I was a total flop in competitive exams atleast until then. I kept belief in myself, slogged my ass off, scored a 640 in GMAT, I was so fairly well prepared for competitive exams post GMAT that I succeeded in most of the Indian exams including CAT to the extent I wanted myself to succeed. This was the degree of fighting spirit that my desire for MICA had pushed me into. I am thankful to this entire journey for building so much of confidence into me. It just taught me not to get frightened by a daunting task without putting in your best efforts, most importantly when you so badly want something in life. And today when I look back, I am literally in awe of the efforts that I had put in and that makes me feel proud about my abilities and has made me a much more confident for my future attempts at MBA exams and most importantly for my dream.... MICA. In no mood to let go that one so soon atleast. Comeon(the author at the time of upload of this article was 3 months short of turning 24... I hope he can consider himself to be young at that age).


Got the first taste of the cosmopolitan nature of MICA. I was constantly in touch with Abhbijit from Bangalore before reaching Ahmedabad. A kannad born and brought up in Calcutta, now working in Bangalore. On reaching my hotel the first person I met was Dhaval from Aaamchi Mumbai and later ever smiling Mahima - born and brought up in Ahmedabad, now working in Mumbai. Akshay from Delhi who runs a dance academy, Shelly from Noida working for an IT major, and Vidhu who had done a masters in microbiology or something from the UK. I am by nature a very quiet person, but I was amazed by the ease with which we all gelled within seconds. Right from this moment of meeting this people at vastrapur lake, finding a place for dinner in Bawarchi I knew I was in for an altogether different experience of my life. The world is indeed a really small place. Dhaval turned out to be working in the same company where one of my friend works. Mahima turned out to be a SAP Consultant from Siemens who complained of having a tough time with a certain Mr. Wadhwa during her stint at Times.... I'm sure some of my Times friends are listening :P

The D-day had arrived. The day started from India's premier MBA Institute IIM-A. Roughly 72 aspiring candidates on that day. I had to be just one of them to claim the coveted seat that I had been eying for a couple of years. The task seemed less daunting than eliminating 5200 aspirants from the 6000 odd students who appeared for MICAT to get a call for GE/PI. These top 800 students had to be really good after such a gruelling process. And boy, the quality of students that had come over there didn't disappoint at all. Needless to say, I felt proud to be part of the clan.  ..... ( to be contd)