German Bakery Blast

German bakery was ripped apart in a bomb blast last night, killing 9 people. German Bakery, now no more, marked my life in Pune.

I used to live 600 meters from German Bakery. Every morning, crossing GB by 7.35 am was my goal to ensure I would be able to take the office bus. and in the evening, walking by GB marked relief and relaxation. Nepali, who opened the bag containing the bomb thus triggering the blast, and the other waiters knew i wanted the apple pie the moment they saw me walk in. on some days i would surprise him by not asking for a take-away parcel, and just enjoy a green tea in the L-shaped seating area. just sitting there, on those wooden benches, watching people of all colours and nationalities talking in various languages, GB was my introduction to an international crowd. GB extreme TP was how we called our gang of friends, when as General Crazideas, Major Hawkeye, Captain Maverick and Captain Mystique, we had our headquarter meetings every night. i discovered the mushroom cheese omlette here with Manisha and that dimly lit area became the founding stone of our friendship. and one bomb blew it all apart. but not before i had put three seas between GB and me.

when i heard about the blast, i was miles away, returning from a ski trip in Andorra. my muscles are sore from the skiing i learnt in the past two days, but my heart is bleeding from the news of this small shop being blown to pieces. the place which was a part of my identity in pune, the city where i discovered myself. but before this identity got destroyed, i tore myself away from my country. in search of an experience, and in search of friends. and i have come to realise why the friends you make in childhood are the friends you make for life. my friends back in pune reached out to me to share their pain, their concern, and here in the midst of a huge crowd of so-called like-minded people, i could barely find 2 people to share this story. who i thought would be bothered by it, by my feelings. and here i was, enjoying a novel experience, having the freshness of the mountains and the beauty of the snow rejuvenate me, disconnected from the world. while pune is suffering. india is suffering. the people i care about are the ones i have left behind, and the people i am seeking are those who don't care. i don't blame them for not caring, its not in their nature, i am blaming myself for expecting, and for not valuing the important things in my life and instead seeking what is not important.

life has its way of teaching things, and if i had to come here to figure this all out, to find myself, then i guess its worth it. keep personal and professional life separate. thats the lesson, easier said than done, but not impossible. and i will learn.

sense of humour

i remember someone had once asked me, what are the qualities you would look for in your life partner. i had used all the cliched words under the sun, to which the person had responded, and how about sense of humour? i didnt realise the significance of it then, but now i do. particularly when you start juggling with responsibilities and time becomes a scarce resource. thats when you need someone with a good sense of humour to jack up the fun quotient in your life.

while partner may not be an immediate reality for me, but professors are. and i have to tell you about two of them whose sense of humour is so far unmatched. little surprise that they both teach finance subjects and openly accept the need for humour while conducting a finance course. more so when the class is scheduled after lunch and for the presentation to be viewed clearly, the lights need to be dimmed. although too detailed a description is not fun and you have to be there to experience it. but i can give a highlight from each of these two professors' humour.

cut to two weeks ago. mid terms exams start tomorrow. its evening and we are huddled around a table preparing for the first paper when prof.L's mail pops up. his paper is scheduled only the day after tomorrow, so i look at the pop-up and wonder what on earth does the subject line "surprise" could mean at this hour. then the drama unfolds. his exampaper has been leaked. the file has been uploaded on the intranet where all the course material is usually uploaded on a daily basis. and the prof's reaction? surprise and dismay. s*** happens. papers get posted on intranet. life is an arena for trying out mistakes. there is no trace of anger, only dismay at the realisation that he will have to prepare the paper again. oh what a beautifully tricky paper he had designed! so how do you deal with mistakes? you accept them and you convert them into a learning opportunity. so the prof after finding out about the leak, ponders over the extent of damage done, the possibility of it having been read already and eventually decides to review the erstwhile exam paper with the students. you couldnt have missed his dejection at having to unravel the witty and well disguised tricks in the paper for the whole class. before starting the review, he said please wake me up if i fall asleep reviewing this. no prizes for guessing the lines on which the actual paper was designed.

exams are fun too. you listen to music while solving the paper. you spend the previous evening packing for the ski weekend (which is to follow the end of midterm exams), and then practice a couple of sample papers while having dinner and icecream. fun stuff. the professors obviously know about the ski trip, they can see the rucksacks, placed neatly along the seats, they can sense the eagerness among students to grab beer 2 hours from then. so what do they do? they design the paper based on analysing a ski workshop. at least you get to know how your skis are made, while you go through the formality of an exam.

back to my other finance professor. he had introduced himself as, "i am german, and that being said, bring on all the stereotypes". well he lived up to the stereotype of being very witty. let me tell you what happened today. so we have labels indicating our names in front of our desks. the prof was in class, and some students changed the name of one of our classfellows (who is perpetually late) to "miss andorra 2010". nothing significant, just timepass. unfortunately the to-be-victim walked in just then, saw the trick and as he sat at his desk, he started to remove the label. the rest happened for me in slow motion, although without any background music. the prof walked up to this guy, took his face in his hands and kissed him on both cheeks. you could imagine him on stage, awarding the "miss andorra 2010" crown to the hapless beetroot red-faced victim. needless to say, the whole class burst out in wild laughter and applause. the other good thing was that we stayed awake for the rest of the duration of the class.

you have brands of humour, sorted by nationalities.. the sarcastic indian, the cynical german, the loud american, the dark british. and then there is the brand of humour sorted by profession. and finance professors top my list.

management for life

IESE has been the opportunity of a lifetime for me. it started with culture shocks and lack of sleep, but i am gradually waking up to the lessons it has in store for me. to know who i am. to know what i have. to know what i like. to know what i can do. to know what i want.

i have been aware of some things before coming here. accounting for my expenses. i knew exactly where every rupee i had spent. and i knew exactly where every moment of my time had gone. after coming here i got to know how it all fit-in in terms of accounting for my desires, both in terms of purchases and in terms of actions. what was the opportunity cost of not going to indore? and then of not going to chennai? today when i look back it these two decisions were the investments that brought me to this place, and with a strong emotional support from my family. love included in family. i was conscious of keeping a healthy flow of working capital. i rather have cash in hand than on loan in someone else's pocket. that's usually bad debt. same with investments. money invested in stocks is not to be trusted for emergencies. with operational finance i came to know how working capital could make or break companies. heck i had even done a project on working capital. had compared ratio across industry, trying to analyse their health using those numbers. what did i know that i was trying to get to the level of analysis that bankers do for a living. i am glad engineering professors don't have the exposure to investment banking. then the marketing strategy project. i knew the 4 ps but again didn't know how to use it. the survey we did to understand the customer was a humongous task. making and giving presentations was probably the biggest transferable skill from those days.

the next opportunity is the internship. this is the chance i have that pulled me out of my job. to work with like-minded people, to explore a new world at a whole new scale of responsibilities. where you will not have a supervisor to review your work before it goes out. you are your reviewer. and of others as well. the world is calling, are you listening? oh you have your eyes set beyond that? exchange. a new culture, a new peer group. a new world of opportunities. and a fire within that is looking for a new whiff of oxygen. keep it going. and one day you will fly.