WHAT A YEAR-2013

I believe I am an optimist and it’s only natural to say that last year was better than the year before and this year would be better than the one we just left behind. However 2013 was just mindblowingly spectacular. Yes it did triumph the year I fell in love for the first time,the year I had my first kiss,the year I started my first job and the year I bought my first car . 2013 was larger than life in freakishly high proportions. I graduated from one of the top B schools in the world, spent a crazy one year in two continents , traveled like a maniac , lived in a gazzilion year old chateau , made friends from across the world literally with an OD of Latinos, learned a new language ,ate almost all of the world’s cuisines , bagged a superb job and moved in to a beautiful apartment in a new country .Most importantly did all of the above with the most spectacular partner in crime and rhyme Prinku.

2013 will always hold a super special place in my heart and in my life. It taught me to be humble , to take challenges head on and deal with life. It made me understand the importance of knowing context and cultures, of knowing religions and beliefs. There were times when it was difficult O hell Ya – getting back to the classroom , trying to stay awake in those 90 minute lectures , dealing with some not so pleasant folks and most importantly staying away from my family and my G gang which I missed like crazy. But still the happiness and success trumped the challenges. I believe in myself more than ever , I believe I can take on anything in the world, all thanks to this one year. Given a choice I would hands down repeat 2013 again, but I am even more excited about this new one. I am sure I will face challenges and I will crazily miss my new friends who are now spread across the world and the old ones back home. I know I will deal with what ever comes my way and I do know I will make it big with all that I have learned and with Prinku on my side.

LET IT BEGIN…..

Graduated!!!!!

It took me the longest to write this post because I didn’t want INSEAD to end. The fact is I graduated mid last month and I should have written it then. But my INSEAD journey continued. A bunch of us came to school every day, had lunch together and talked about the meaning of life and other bullshit. I read all I ever wanted to read and more and it was awesome. However the fact remains , I am a INSEAD MBA now and soon it would be time to get back to what they call life.

Graduation lasted for about 2 weeks. It started with a trip to Mykonos where 300 of us ruled every club, every street and every restaurant there was to rule. Needless to say we partied everyday like it was the last day. I would have to admit, I don’t remember much of the city as most of the time we were buzzed or getting ready to be buzzed. Some said it didn’t make sense to spend so much money to go to Greece when you can do it at half the price. But it was not about the money, I stopped keeping track of my budget after the first one month and it was a free-fall. After all what is an other raindrop in the ocean or to better put it once you are negative you are negative. What was more important was to meet all the amigos and go crazy one last time and boy we did go crazy. It was amazing how we followed the same pattern every day and night for those 7 days. We started at the same time and finished at the same time always leaving the deep irrelevant conversations unfinished. What mattered was that everyone important to me was around me probably for one last time. As for seeing the real side of Mykonos I will take a cruise when I am old and bored.
After a week-long party, Prinku and I reached Paris. My drive to Fontainebleau reminded me of all the crazy times I had in this small little town when I was here for 2 months just a couple of months back. That was perhaps the first time it came to me. Dam it was all ending.

The best part of the graduation trip apart from graduating obviously was to go back to Tavers. What a feeling, being in that crazy big house once again with all my pals. I went to each room remembering each one of my crazy house mates, the dinners the parties. Tavers was for sure a highlight of my entire one year. It was Priceless.
On the lovey afternoon of 4th July we graduated, every one dressed as well as they could be or ever would be. Some flaunted their Armani’s, some their souls and some their countries. It was awesome how the diversity still set in. One by one each one of us walked on the stage to rightfully hold what we most deserved. And as everyone walked on the stage one after the other, a sort of flashback played in my head reminding me of something crazy that person had said or done.

And suddenly it was my turn and an unexplainable feeling swept through my whole body. I felt elated, excited, and nervous and humbled all at the same time. I was happy for what lay ahead yet I was scared to jump out of the bubble. In my heart I thanked my folks who made me capable enough to come this far and I thanked Prinku without whom I could have never enjoyed this one year at INSEAD the way I did.

What followed was more champaign, hugs, good-buys and promises to get back together. The plans for next reunions were already being made, as I sat in the corner breathing the INSEAD summer air for one last time. It was indeed the best year in my life. But the journey had just begun.

2 months to go...

All the excitement for the first 3 periods at INSEAD kind of tones down in P4. After spending a superb P3 in Fonty I came to good old Singi and it hit me. It was about time, in just 4 more months we would be INSEAD Alums. This is super news but that also mean that this world is coming to an end. In a couple of months we would get back to the big boy world, be change agents, be great leaders, drive large corporations out of the red, find blue oceans and do all this with super-duper ethics. No matter how much you want to get transposed to that world straight away you know you have to start somewhere. Finding a job is a good place to start unless you are Jonathan Levi, the only serial entrepreneur I know who is going to kick ass in the coming years.

Now If you are at INSEAD chances are you would be a future consultants, at least you would try to be one, thankfully for me I realised I was too old for the consulting gig and would rather work for a super iconic brand which I could wear on my chest. So consulting went out of the door for me and I started my industry search. P4 was all stressed out especially for those who were pulled in by the consulting gig. The case interviews took away the animals out of the party. The only dates being fixed were case practise dates and to get a call from the holy trinity aka MBB was like a call from god himself.

Now in all this chaos, lesser mortals like us who would want to go back to the industry with a vengeance were feeling out of place or even a little bored. The fact that the world transferred to Fonty didn’t help either. Daniel , Alma , Doina , Ivan ,Vincent, Bada , Joris , Rodolfo , Javi ^2 ,Sid , Einar , Gabi , Tahir , Jonathan all the cool cats and the top dogs left me behind. And it seemed all gloomy here.

Anyways P4 has passed without much action accept for some cool electives which boasted my GPA and P5 has started. I am still trying to find the right brand for me and the right brand is trying to find the right person for itself , it’s pretty mutual, a very balanced relationship I would say . But I would say I am close to start a superb new career and kick some ass. Priyanka and I are booked for the grad trip in Greece and our graduation in Fonty which is going to be the biggest high in this one year to say the least. 2 months to start a new life yet again.

Hang on my friends

Hang on my friends cause we will do it right
Don’t fret at all we will win the fight.

The industry will charge with all their vigour
The consultants will scare you with all their rigour
Don’t lose ground, don’t lose hope cause in the end you will pull the trigger

We have come a long way from when we started
We kicked ass and our futures are already charted

We have learned to lever up and build the tax shields
We are no more scared to explore the blue fields

We have the tools to put the strategy right
Pierre, Sameer and Hayden have made us all bright

You know to be political and be politically right
The liberals will say good people will win the night

Some of us will go for money, some of us for glory
Some will go to the country they love and some will go to continue their love story

Where ever we go, whatever we do we will make the cashbooks ring
At the end though we will do the right thing

So hang on my friends we will do it right
Don’t fret at all we will win the fight

P3

I don’t believe it; P3 just flew by while was looking for my Beta. It seems it was just yesterday when I walked out of CDG to breathe in some chilled Paris air. After 5 months in the sultry Singapore weather the winter chill was rather refreshing. Everyone told me this is the worst time to be in Europe but for me it was either this or nothing and well it was too big an opportunity to be missed. Thanks to Prinku who pushed me to do the right thing. It turns out the past 2 months definitely were the best since I started my INSEAD journey. Everything I did, every moment I spent and every one I met was rather special.

Waking up to snow most mornings, 30 minutes’ drive through the most beautiful French villages on river Sene and catching up on sleep through ISLM curves. All night long ACF cases which made me age 10 years .Finding betas which were more difficult than finding god himself. Creating organisation structures in which I didn’t fit in and creating a future full of buddies and happiness in which I fit perfectly. Fighting to win the war of the worlds and winning the spread award for market driving strategies. Struggling to fit Bob Marley and Jim Morrison with Fukuyama and Huntington. Trying to understand the liberals, the realists, the culturists and the world through George Bush’s POV.
Hot chocolates for breakfast, desserts and steaks for lunch and shitty vending machine sandwiches for dinner which tasted really good. Real wine and cheese every single day @ 3 euros which increased the glow on my face and fat on my waist. Getting spoiled on Paula’s pies and dinner spreads and getting almost high at the old school Glasgow and Aussi Bar. The food was the real highlight these 2 months.

My 300 year old chateau, my 13 best buds , drinking next to fire place, it was love all around. Never ending conversations on love, life and happiness and impromptu cuddles and hugs there was never a dull moment at TAVERS. My tryst with ski slopes in Val d’isre and Verbier, 50 falls, an almost broken knee. 45 minute dinner walk in -15 to the top of the hill and a super scary sledge ride on the way back which made me love life so much. My first encounter with French Cops and my first speeding ticket on a foreign land was all well worth it.

Prinku in Paris , a superb drive trip with the love of my life , cheese stops and wine stops it was just so intense. Her smile when she saw me, my happiness when I saw her. It was love unlimited.

P3 u will be missed.

CHATEAU DE TAVERS

It was early Jan when I found it.2 hours of effort , driving through jungles and small villages i finaly found it.I drove in through the iron gates and looked at this huge old magnificent house in the middle of nowhere. It had no address, no GPS location, no directions and no signboard! it didn’t need any, it was iconic. This was Chateau De Tavers my home for the next two months. I walked in through the kitchen door and smiled. I told myself this is going to be epic and it was.

I had never stayed in a house this big. Huge garden in the front , view of River Seine , 14 bedrooms, 3 huge living rooms , a tower complete a terrace , old wooden stair case , wooden ceilings , of course some 50 French windows and a freaking dungeon converted in to a lounge. I felt like a young kid on a treasure hunt running from one room to other finding hidden treasures which reminded me of this chateau’s wickedly awesome history. It didn’t end there , the library had more than 1000 books ,2 pianos , a pool table, a drum set , consoles and pictures .Pictures of ex Inseaders who once lived in this legendry house. I could feel it in the pictures; the friendship, the love, the madness.

I wondered if I will have a picture like this on this wall and if the ones I am going to share my world with for the next 2 months be so cool. They were each one of them crazy, adorable, affable, lovable and cuddle able. One by one they trickled in and my smile widened. My picture would have this crazy crew comprising the crazy Chicago queen Jaxxi baby , the Rhode Island princess bailleeee , the casanova from Spain Rafa , the Greek playboy Theo , the Belgian royal standing tall at 6 ft 5 inches BIG O , the first Mandarin speaking Belgian Donald aka crazy feet , the Austrian guitarist and ladies’ man David , the future president of Moldova Doina , the real hooker and ex fighter pilot Julian aka Juli baby , the ski master and cook par excellence Javier, the Hongkong king and future formula 1 driver Lawrence and the only Romanian to endorse healthy food Alma aka Aloo. These guys were out of world.

We jelled like jelly as if we knew each other for years.The singing the Tavers anthems, the afternoons meant lunches together , the nights meant wine next to the fireplace . Sundays were movie nights, Thursdays were dinner nights and every other night was fire night.We were like a band of brothers watching out for each other and almost flashing the TAVERS cult. We hosted the elaborate dinners thanks to our awsome cook Paula and we hosted the best freakin party at INSEAD which will go down the memory lanes. I can’t believe its ending so soon. Eventhough I am looking forward to go back to the sunny Singapore and the love of my life Prinku, deep inside I am super sad to leave TAVERS and my 13 partners in crime. Adios Gang. ILL BE BACK!

This is not the end.....not yet

It was the night of the black and the whites; it was the night of goodbye kisses and last dances and as usual a lot of singing and swinging. It was after the club toned down the music and only when Gabriel aka Freddie our in-house rock star started singing the Bohemian Rhapsody when it all came to me. P2 had just ended which means some of us would change campuses and we might probably never see each other ever again. I had this sudden rush in my head and everything blurred in front of me, I agree the celebrations had started rather early at around 4 immediately after Sameer’s hilarious POM exam but I think more than the alcohol affect it was a concoction of thoughts which was tripping me. I wanted to freeze the moment and just look at everyone around and relive every bit of the last 4 months I had spent with them. I wanted to speak to all of them, the ones I won’t be able to meet again, the ones I wanted to finish our conversation with and the ones I wanted to start some. I even shut my eyes and pinched myself only to wake up and realise it was really true 40 % of MBA done.

After the swinging Peruvian Rodolfo aka “Aladdin” told me I need to write my next post on our drive back home I knew it would be easy. It’s always easy when there is a rush of emotions in your head. My mind was like a kaleidoscope of memories at that point in time. And even though time had just flown by and P2 was painfully short the build-up of memories and experiences was just outstanding. It was fresh in my head and it seemed it was only yesterday when about a 100 of us got drunk on the clarki bridge for the first time. The endless lunches, the endless nights, the hangovers, the bloody barbeques, the national weeks, class acts in the class and outside of it, all of it was running in front of me. I will miss getting drunk with the nasty Pizarro who is the uncrowned king of cheat sheets, looking at Pat aka the energy gangster and just laugh, having a smoke with Philip and listen to his ideas of changing the world, seeing Charlie Taylor’s stunts which earned him the super human status and a golden pass at raffles hospital, listening to Nuno’s playlist, Tahir’s fantasies and Gabriel’s songs about food and love.

I will even miss burning the midnight oil in the BOR’s with fellow sluggers Ricardo , Joris in P1 which didn’t really push our grades but definitely pushed our limits and in P2 the fellow library revellers Zori and Mateen who gave me the courage to sit one more hour every hour for 3 straight days. I can list a lot more down but then it would just seems like an Oscar speech which it is not. Honestly if I could I would thank everyone around for making these 4 months just so incredibly great. I am sure that the next 3 periods would be even more intense and leave us with enough inventories of stories. Some that we could tell our grand kids, some to our folks and friends back home and some well some just to no one. Looking forward to a shivering start of P3 in France, my tryst with some winter sports, some dungeon time with my new house mates at Chateau De Tavers, lot of wine next to the fireplace and the one thing I dig the most conversations.