Diwali in Photographs

The Festival of light arrived like a breeze and most people took a break from studies. For me it was some free time with the camera. I took some photographs with extended exposure in the dark and captured a few good photographs, or so I believe. I am posting some of the photographs.

I wish you a very Happy and Prosperous Diwali.

Another Midterm Gone.

Is it not what one of the Professors had once said ‘after my paper you will feel happy, if nothing else then for the fact that the paper got over’. And true, ‘Thanks God! The mid-term got over too soon this time’.

Usually after the exams parties are held. So now people are busy debating the Pros and Cons of the ISB administration’s suggestion of having time limits for the parties. We are lucky that there is no one around to implement the Court’s order. Most people, otherwise, would land up in trouble for breaching the decibel level beyond permissible hours (10/11 p.m. for open air functions). And there are laws of the land to enforce that.

Coming back to parties, for me those are small get together where people meet to socialize and forget work and worries for some time. The music is invariable soft and ambience sober. In parties that I attended, you could see the highest dignitaries- the youngest kids- moving around jerking their heads in contempt of the smaller mortals around. They were normally bribed by Probationers uncles and Probationer Didis (Gender Bias) by chocolates, which stuff their pockets most of the times.

So when mid-term and end-term are already there to add tension in life, one should stop worrying for nothing. World and people are still not that bad, may be the threats people perceive are more imaginary than real. And usually as I believe, first things first, get back to studies and no worries in life. And if this also appeared to be written without reference to context, it is not. Try to read between the lines.

Course Auction for the sixth term

We have not had the mid term for the fifth term and course auction for the sixth term is already on. There are some excellent courses available for bidding. And that is the toughest part of the whole exercise of which course to take and which course to leave.

Amidst difficult choices, I am planning to bid for the Investing in Private Equity so as to supplement the learning from the Project we are doing on the Venture Capital. Then, I am also thinking to bid for the Financial Statement Analysis to develop expertise on interpretation of financial statements of companies- Private or Public.

One of the courses, Indian Financial Systems will be of high relevance to me, so I will bid for it along with a course on Strategic Performance Management which has a bit LBOs, VCs etc. I am also planning to do a course on real estate. That makes 4 hours of classes on Mondays and Wednesdays and 6 hours of classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So hoping for a tough term ahead with possibly five courses to have a relatively free 7th term...

Loss of the Talent- Is it?

It is preparation time at ISB so people are busy with their case preparations and resume preparation etc. along with the academics. I was advised by a young friend who reviewed my CV that I should get my resume reviewed from as many people as possible. Well, good old roomy at D-10 Aravali Hostel, IIT D and the next door neighbour D-9, both VPs at a haloed I-Bank in London have agreed to do the needful. A third friend, another VP, has already started pulling my leg and has forwarded his advance wishes to me for ‘graduating’ again.

It brings back the fond memories of the IIT days when we were preparing to get into our dream jobs. They were preparing for CAT while I was preparing for IAS. But our courses coincided for ‘stat, quant and verbal’ as they called it. I needed those subjects for the General Studies Paper 1 Question 1 and for essay writing. While doing my summer training at Orkay in Mumbai, where breakfast was served for 20 paisa and lunch for 1 rupee, I had saved some money due to the subsidized canteen. My investment was in the form of course packs, used by CAT aspirants, to enhance my speed in stats.

This had served two purposes; firstly I had become a bench mark for my friends who were writing CAT. They lamented that I got higher marks when I was not even preparing for that exam; they rejoiced that I was not preparing for that exam. Secondly, it was age old wisdom of Civil service aspirants to complete Stats portion of GS paper in 60 minutes if one wanted to complete that paper. I had completed that portion in flat 20 minutes and used rest of the time to build my essay type answers. The result was one of the highest marks in General Studies paper, the waterloo of IITians in that exam. 10 years down the line we are all winners, I would say.

So what brings me to an MBA course after so many years or why are the civil servants quitting the premier civil service, or are they? The same question was asked to me some ten times in last 2-3 weeks by the Assistant Editor of a business magazine.

I only know that three of my batch mates in the Civil Services exam went to Wharton and have not come back. That is a big B-School by any standards, I accept. But yesterday I saw a lady who had done her graduation from Wharton and is working in India now. She was here with her team to talk about their firm and various roles therein and various projects they undertake.

I had questions to ask, why working here after Wharton? Then there was someone from IITD, who must have been there around the time I was there. Again wanted to talk to him but the session lasted till 2.15 am so didn’t feel like delaying them for my curiosity. May be they wouldn’t have minded, I don’t know. But I know something for sure. They were working at 2.15 am to get the best people in their organization. And that explains the difference, may be.

I also know that if anyone believes that people are thinking beyond the Civil Services due to the differences in salary, then they are wrong. People knew the pay scales when they joined those services. They wouldn’t like to join as fresh grads in Corporate when their room mates in engineering college are VPs and Directors recruiting at the international level.

We will have to introspect to search for the reasons. May be some people had extra energy which couldn’t expand as much as they wanted in Government system. May be the horizon itself became small while people wanted to grow more. May be fresh air will reduce the feeling of suffocation. If nothing else, the hierarchies at newer places could be flexible and people would like to just laugh at the sense of humour of a colleague, instead of sirring him.

And about the fears of loss of talent, they are unwarranted. As long as people taught in best B-Schools around the world are interested to work in their country, there is no reason to worry about. No system owns the responsibility of ensuring development alone or monopolizes it.

On Education and Agency Problems

The Agency problem in management has been defined as ‘the managers maximizing their personal benefits at the cost of the share holders’ cost’. The cases of agency problems in education systems are as prevalent as in any other business, though have not been studied in such details so far.

Let’s take a case of a school created somewhere in rural area. Almost in all the cases, schools are born due to the vision of some committed individuals. In our country where need for educational institutions, of primary education or higher education, is wide spread. In such situation, it is the efforts of a few committed individuals, some local leader or influential person, whose efforts create school in a location preferred over equally deserving other places.

The owners lobby with the Government for posting of teachers in their backward area and if the school is a private one, they search for teachers on their own efforts. Managers and administrators are appointed for day to day governance as well. However, soon when the hue and cry subsides and the excitement reduces the agency problems begin to surface.

1. City based teachers gradually start commuting, to and fro, from city to village. They can be seen on ‘Intercity Expresses’ more often then in School. Soon they develop an apathy to the problems of the school and are more than happy if someone else is willing to share their responsibilities

2. Then gradually as the supervision reduces, the absence from classes (responsibility) sets in. But since this can be easily identified, role of teaching is often times sublet.

3. The responsibility of conducting the classes and running the school ends on the shoulder of quack teachers who gladly accept this difficult role. These quack teachers could be local unemployed youth or other caretakers

4. Over the time the quacks learn their importance to the school and the dependence of other stakeholders upon them and gradually they fill in the other vacuums. They soon realize that beyond teaching, they are also important for say selecting the students for a few scholarships or for grading of students. Owing to their position, many students may be willing to take private tuitions under them for better grades or position on merit list.

5. The managers too, assured of their salary, turn a blind eye to such events. Since I believe that they are too holy to share the booty with the quacks, it must be that they try to improve their earnings in the form of ‘leisure time’ by caring least for the problems of the school. ‘Leisure time’ after all is what the workers trade for money beyond a limit.

6. This continues as inspections are few and informed. During inspections the genuine teachers report back on duty and the quacks to their normal roles and the authorities are given an impression that everything is excellent.

7. The pass outs from such schools show strange deviations from their performance records when they enter the real world. For example a board topper from Agra, who got admission in a premium engineering institute on basis or her board marks, was soon dropped by the engineering college due to her poor performance in academics. She though had over 90% marks in her board exam while other students in the engineering college had much lower marks.

8. The reason for rise and fall of such students are the ‘quacks’ that distorted grading and inflated their marks. For example in the school examinations if a student not enrolled for tuitions would top, quacks helped their favourites (when they got the answer wrong) for following the ‘right approach’ in attempting the question and giving them full marks. Let’s say they created a plus 6 marks of advantage for their tutored by this. In the next exam when their student was better prepared they may pull other student down for not getting the exact answer by giving them a flat zero while they still deserved six marks for the approach.

9. Over a series of exams, the gains and losses of neutral students even out (Case of a drunkard moving a step forward and then backward and staying at his place), but for those for whom these benefits are aligned move many steps ahead just by ‘policy decisions’. In the worse form of agency problem, policy could be aligned to pull some one down as well, when the competition is high and the rewards like scholarships few.

10. These events don’t go unnoticed. Once people believe it is luck, then they assume it is coincidence and by third time most ‘give up’. Those who still try to report the things are branded as the ‘disturbing factor’. A few of such individuals may be seen trying to reach the DM or the DIoS for solving the problems.

11. Many (though not all) good students still reach the positions where they deserved to be- though after a lot of struggle. Most of those handicapped birds who reached the top of the tree by help of bull s*** end up being shot down. The real loser is the school as its product loses credibility in long run. The deserving students lose their good will for their school.

And the saga of education and the agency problems there in, goes on.

Towards the end of the Fourth Term

The last of the core terms i.e. the fourth term will soon be ending. Today the results for electives for the next term have been declared. I am enrolled in Options and Futures, Fixed Income, Marketing Research and Logistic and Supply Chain Mechanism.

One of the criteria that I adopted for selection of courses is the least weightage of marks for the class participation. As discussed in the meeting with out faculty mentor, someone commented that he got a 9.5 on 10 in Class Participation (CP) without having said a single word in the class while reverse is also true for some. Two marks here and there mean a full grade in the course, so its time to be more selective.

I have also enrolled for Experiential Learning Project with four other friends of mine. We are working with a Venture Capital firm on developing the term sheet models for the deals that firm might like to make.

As the term end comes closer, a sense of change- in the groups, teams and comfort zones- is looming large. One of the mail summarized the mood, ‘Wanted an IITian with a GPA of *.** to complete our group in courses X, Y, and Z’.

'Bandhan' and PDS

I am sure the last weekend was the busiest we can expect to have at ISB. I wanted to write something about two important events of the last week, but could not. Even though it is 1 week since we celebrated the event ‘Bandhan’ on the Independence Day, I am putting a few photographs of the event now. From sports, dances, drama and singing, the visiting kids participated in every thing and wanted to perform more, even beyond the timings of the programme. Some of the moments were specially very touching.

Then there was another event which became important from my perspective. The 8 members BCG team visited the campus with two Principals. In their previous visit some of us had requested for information about the actual projects handled by the consultants. So this time they were prepared with presentations on three projects: on launching a product, on the Public Distribution System (PDS) and one on the IT Sector.

What actually drew the maximum attention was the project on improving the delivery of the PDS. The first hand experience of Ashish on the topic and the information he had gathered working in the Orissa and Chattisgarh villages was eye opener for many. Despite all the complications, social sector remains one of the most exciting and tough sectors to work in. But the satisfaction of, may be, having been of help to poor, helpless Indians is immense.

I might write some of my experiences with the PDS after the end of third term next week. And that reminds me, time is flying at ISB. Only one more core term to go and then people will be opting for their specializations. Doesn’t that mean making some of the crucial decisions of life in next one and a half month? Any advisors?

On Cultural Differences

I think every good B-School has its own cultural trademarks. These traits are the ones with which people can associate themselves, years after they have left their alma mater. One of these ‘culturally differentiating trademarks’ at ISB is that of ‘dunking’. Since pictures speak more than words, I have put two photographs of the first ‘Day time Dunking’ of our section. And if you are confused what a suited- booted Paah Ji is doing in a swimming pool, then that’s dunking or rather having been dunked.

Normally the Birthday kid and his/ her study group members are the first ones to be dunked; until the madness rises when most people end up getting dunked. But what drove the Section to break the tradition of Dunking at Mid-night was the fear of Corporate Finance Mid-term exam. So the dunking seems to be appropriate in the sense that people are washing the (bad) memories of the just concluded paper.

Preparations are also on at ISB for the Independence Day celebration. The best thing about the events planned for this 15th August is the visit of a number of school kids along with some NGOs. People here are planning games, music, arts and what not for the kids. And I know being in the reception committee for welcoming the kids is a much needed change than being escorted to the stage set up for district celebrations in the Collectorate. After all the responsibility to organize a successful show is the responsibility of the ADM General.

It also reminds me of the events I had planned for the Independence Day celebration at the District Headquarter in one of my postings. Amongst all the other things, I was most impressed was the performance of a flute player who played almost divine music. After a few days I had called for him only to discover an untrained rustic villager who was out of earnings, job, shows and a group to perform with. His previous group having dumped him for all the attention he used to draw.

Ranjan had brought with him a lot of certificates along with newspaper cuttings showing his kuchha hut and stories from his village where he works as a day labourer in others’ fields. All I could arrange was to tie him with a professional group with the help of District Information Officer. Now Ranjan is staging shows again and has been to some foreign countries as well. At times if my mobile buzzes and someone cries for a few minutes before speaking a word, I know it must be ‘Babu Moshay’. After all, places have their unique cultural trademark.

Indian Railways' Turnaround: The story retold

Here ended another weekend which I passed clearing the backlog of studies. I just submitted my second assignment for the evening, though the one on Finance was due for Wednesday.

This week General Management Club organized a speaker session with Mr Sudhir Kumar, IAS. The presentation about the turnaround of the Indian Railway has already been covered by some other B-Schools. However, it still mesmerizes the audience. It was a good learning experience for many to see how the organization could earn profits despite providing services at huge subsidies. The fun is that the change was managed once again by the age old bureaucracy. May be when it comes to the ‘people skills’, where conflict of interests is common, bureaucratic experience has no parallel.

This weekend we also concluded the Leadership Development Module, making presentations on diverse topics. We also discussed and watched some of the famous oratory skills demonstrations in movies and literature. Al Pacino in his Oscar winning role in Scent of a Woman was the favourite of the class. But my doubt remains; how many times can one create such sensation and excitement in business boardrooms, through speeches that are made without ‘Re-takes’.

My immediate concern remains about my inability to find out time to complete two of my literary projects. And as Ghalib had said, ‘Hazaaron Kwahishen Aisi….’ Every time I promise myself to comeback to my incomplete tasks- I end up beaten by the speed of the time.