1: The Last Day

THE LAST DAY

Exams are officially OVER
No more sitting for 3 hours and writing the paper :) :)

I am so so so happy today. Its our FAREWELL party tonight and an after party in the hostel for the entire night :) :)
Its going to be so much fun :) :)

I am so excited that i do not know what to write any more
SO
Yiiiiiipppppeeeeeeee :D

2: The Last Exam

Done with 2 exams and only 1 more to go now and the partying have begun in full swing :)

Just came back from an amazing party on a thursday night... it was only 20 of us in the club and we had rocking fun today and the cherry on cake was that we got to bring in a friend's birthday. This would be the last birthday that we will celebrate as MBA students and we sure did make it a memorable one :)

I dont't know what else to say except  the fact that excitement is in the air :) :)
and yes, Farewell shopping is complete, the dress and all the accessories are in place. Just waiting for tomorrow to come for me to get ready  :) :)

3: Exam Time

Only 3 more days to go

Well the last 3 days means we have to appear for the B-school exams for the final time starting tomorrow. We have only 3 subjects in this last Trimester and though I have no motivation whats so ever to study for them, I WILL have to pay a little attention to the Powerpoint presentations given by the professors... I am not reading any text books this time around :)

Now I just can't wait for these 3 days to get over :) :)

4:PEOPLE all the way

Just 4 days to go

I think that I owe the wonderful experience of the past 2 years to the people I have met here.

For the first time ever I have stayed in such close proximity to people who come from different walks of life. It made me realize that though all of us are so different but still we are so together as class mates, as batch mates and as room mates.

Of course there are people with whom you do not gel very well or you might even dislike but then there are those who become friends for life.

1. I guess a Business School is all about the people. Learning to adjust in groups ( even if you are in a group of your choice)
2. Dealing with personalities (one is so very different from the other and you have to find tricks to handle them ;))
3. Accommodating everybody ( deciding on a place for dinner is a task in itself :))
4. Bringing in birthdays at 12 am ( the cake make up and the birthday bums :) :))

Its a wonderful experience and it just can not be put to words. It has to be experienced.

Few years down the line when I will think about these two years , probably this madness and mayhem and chaos is what i will remember and cherish :)

5:Interesting Realizations

5 days to go

Ok so today we are half way through the countdown and after so much writing and pondering I have made the following realizations :::::::::

1. Most of All  the grind is about placements.  Also the toppers all year round can bask in the false glory but the ones with the best job offers have the last laugh :D
2. It is possible to watch 3 movies in a night and 4 seasons of a TV series in a week (and this fever spreads like forest fire :) :))
3. Eventually everyone passes all the exams in MBA (if you don't then pay 250 bucks, give            re-exam(s) and you are for sure PASS)          
4. MBA students will die without a LAPTOP   
5. There are 2 basic necessities of an MBA life:  INTERNET & MICROSOFT OFFICE  

I am so very happy for 2 really well spent years :) :)        

6: The MBA Routine

6 days to go

The daily MBA life is pretty routine:

1. Try very hard to get up in the morning and then finally get up and say," Why do i have to go"?
2. Run as fast as possible to catch the college bus
3. Attend 2 lectures of 3 hours each
4. Come back and sleep
5. Get up, eat and work on the assignments, presentations till late in the night or when there are no assignments watch movies on the laptop :) :)
6. Sleep and get up again

but the interesting part is that we have loads and loads and LOADS of fun in this very routine :)

And yes, SATURDAY NIGHTS come every week which means get out of the hostel and party :) :)

OKAY we are not that disciplined, we get out of our hostels many times a week for shopping, dinners etc :)

Though parties after those tiring gruesome 2 weeks of exams are even more fun coz people are so happy that exams are over (obviously ;)) and also because we get to go back home for a weeks time which is such a refreshing break.

Its amazing that now we will miss this daily grind so so much, although now a completely different slogging will start ;).

Its the last 6 days left now and the parties have begun and will continue endlessly ....

So from now Every night is going to be a GOOD NIGHT :) :)

7: Random Observations

7 days to go

I am a little late for DAY 7 post but then what to do??? I am spending so much time with friends and away from laptop ( thats an irony for an MBA student :))

Anyways, I guess, I am on a writing spree, though I really don't know if I am making any sense.... but I just want to document my past 2 years some how so I am just writing and I am happy writing ( ok, now thats too much use of the word "Writing":)).... so i will begin listing some more facts.......

1. One of the major debate in an MBA class is: Mumbai versus Delhi ( my college was in Bangalore, people had come from various places but the fight was always among Mumbai and Delhi :))
2. Its good to know the local language. I have learnt Kannada and I know the following words:   Chill Maadi, Relax Maadi ( Maadi means "to do") and Kannada Gothilla (means I don't know Kannada language ;)                                                 
3. Few common opinions are:  THE FOOD HERE SUCKS, THE INTERNET IS DEAD, I WANT TO GO HOME, WHAT WAS THE PROF SAYING AND WHY , WHY EXAMS & WHEN WILL THEY END YAAR 
4.  There always are 2 or 3 students who will ask some weird, random question which will make you say,"WHAT IS HE/SHE SAYING?"....but these students also break the monotony of a boring, never ending lecture :)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
5. Organizing events are real teachings because you get to handle not the students but the academic and non academic staff, their ego clashes. You learn how to say OK & YES to everybody and still do things that will be right...( believe me some people know nothing but they still come up with silly ideas and want you to execute them, and, if you do things as per them then boss, you are so very DEAD :)).... Also if you are a part of the organizing committee you get to officially bunk the lectures ;)
6. Day to Day application of text book theories: All assignments, studies & presentations are completed "Just in Time (JIT)"....    &   80% of the work is done in last 20% of the total time allocated (Pareto analysis) 
7. Classroom Presentations: When one team presents other teams are busy working on their presentations or are sleeping in the back of the class or busy with their laptops.... only a handful of students listen to what is being said......                                                                                                            
8. There were a bunch of boys in my class who used to play multi-player games like Contra Strike by connecting their laptops to LAN... they all looked as if they are doing some individual work on their laptops but the real story was so so so very different :)

I have a smile on my face while writing all this and I am loving it :) :)

8: Jargonized....

8 days to go

While doing an MBA, out of all the things what everybody inevitably learns are the typical MBA Jargons.

Basically what I am trying got say is that If and only If I want, I can make crazy complex situations out of simple things using some of the phrases that I have come across  :)

And believe me earlier whenever I used to hear the big shot corporates and journalists use such terms and phrases on Television or interviews, I used to be really fascinated but now after the MBA I just can not keep my eyes from rolling (the wicked, sarcastic kind of roll :)), and I just can not keep myself from going mad with laughter because now I know what they mean and now they no more sound amazing to me :)

So here I am presenting some of the Business Buzzwords/ MBA jargons I have learnt in the past 2 years :

1. Mission, Vision and Values : I am still not sure about the difference, they sound the same to me
2. Core Competencies: Whatever is it that you are best at. An MBA's core competency  would be simply complexing the things :P
3. Breakthrough Thinking/ Innovation: World would have been a completely different place if everybody could do this :) :)
4. Paradigm Shift : Means you were doing one thing and now you have shifted to something completely different which has costed you a bomb and there is a complete chance that you will make a fool out of yourself ;)
5. Your Value Addition: Something for which everybody gets paid for ( basically it means whether or not you have slogged to death or not)
6. Scope Creep: You were supposed to give 10 but now you have given 3 extras so you suffer for the mistake made
7. "Let's discuss this offline": Means i do not know the answer so stop bugging me. Or it could mean, "Meet me outside and then I will show you". :) :) 
8. SWOT Analysis ( Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat Analysis): If you know nothing better to do then DO THIS and you can put anybody to sleep :) :)

Jokes apart, I really think that Business Graduates do a great job because of their holistic knowledge of the business as, after all we are taught about all the four pillars of a business - Finance, Marketing, HR and operations. We might not be business domain specialists or experts of a particular field but with our soft skills and effective communication, we can definitely bridge the gap ( spoken like a true MBA... I have learnt really well ;) ;)....what say??????????)

9: What has MBA taught me????

9 more days to go

Now here we are talking about value addition. What has MBA taught me????

and most of all........What really have I learnt in the past 2 years????? 

But hey!!!!  the learnings can be good or bad, serious or funny, a major revelation or simply common sense :)

Well in interviews we ( yes "we" because all MBAs give certain typical answers ;)) answer this question by saying that MBA has helped us to formulate a holistic view of the business, to think from a business perspective, resource management etc etc etc...

Some also say ( not in interviews, of-course :)) that MBA is all about GAS :). Its all common sense which is presented in a glorified way by some amazing use of a language called English :)

Well as far as i am concerned, i think MBA has actually broaden my horizons. I was an entrepreneur before pursuing MBA so I had already learnt many business concepts before commencing the course but MBA helped me to appreciate what I already knew.

By the way, there is lot of acads involved in MBA & its not just about business suits & fancy presentations :) :)

Following is what I learnt from my MBA:

1. Negotiation & Marketing are the key to MAKE or BREAK…All the fancy looking numbers on excel sheets are not enough but interpreting them convincingly is of utmost importance. You don't get deals by numbers because everybody has the same numbers. What work in your favor are your communication skills. Even if you have no substance on paper, you can still shine with some good marketing.
2. To make your work sound very important, effective & complicated. use words like “analyse”, ” strategy”, ” value enhancement”, etc generously. 
3. A true MBA never ever gives straight jacket answers like YES, NO or I DON'T KNOW. All that you say is... "we'll have to look into it" or "it depends" etc etc. Even the non MBA successful businessmen that we see all around us also use such lingo :)
4. Always consider OPPORTUNITY COST..... The principle of opportunity cost applies to everything: every choice has hidden costs (i.e if you do one thing you forego doing various other things that you could have done in the same time or money or both) whether you’re buying groceries, buying clothes ( the dilemma of buying a skirt or those amazing shoes within your limited budget ;)) , or taking on a new project.
5. If you cannot convince a person, confuse him.
6. Its best to be  “Jack of all trades, master of none”
7. MBA concepts are not just "gyaan", they are actually applicable to real time situations.
8. Good academics + Great Communication Skills + Loads of Self Confidence+ Little bit of Luck = A Successful MBA Story
9. Lastly, I learnt to make some real good Power Point Presentations and I really am good at it, in fact I would say I am superb at making and delivering PPTs :) :) :)

0: Bid Adieu

                        

I am 3 days late in posting about the D-Day but the full night party and hectic travel plans for the next 2  days are to be blamed for this...

Anyways coming back to the excitement ....... Many of my classmates were really really emotional by the fact that the MBA is now over, this is the end of the student life and the end of the hostel life, but somehow I was/am not able to mirror their feelings.

I have really enjoyed my the 2 years and I have brought back some really wonderful memories which I will cherish for life. I will definitely miss the friends that I have made here ( 3 of them Abhinav, Mithun and Pooja being really really special :)), but having said all this I really think that its the right time for this phase to end. I am not at all sad, but infact I am really looking forward to my new life ahead with my dear husband :) :)

While I was enjoying my MBA life, my husband was living all by himself.  He sacrificed so much for my dream to come true and now thanks to him I have all that I wanted ( touchwood :))

So with some really good memories and some amazing friends for life, I bid adieu to the wonderful life of an MBA student as  I embark upon an all new life with my husband, Anil.

Thanks for reading :)

I will now write my next post from a new location and a new home :)

...and the Countdown begins Today!!!!!!!

                      

                       

10 more days to go and my two years long  journey towards becoming an MBA will officially come to an end.

29th April, 2011 will be the last day of my student life ( well, of-course I would continue to be the student of a subject called life, but thank god that I am free from the academics and the course contents and the text books :) :) :) ). By the way I am an extremely good. intelligent and smart student (I just can not be modest ;)), but text book study really bores me....

I think I am drifting apart from the topic, so back to the countdown :)

From June 2009 to April 2011, I have discovered or may be rediscovered some facts about myself and I think now is the appropriate time to pen them down ( or may be post them down in this digital, hi tech format called blogging :))

So here are the top 10 facts about I, Me and Myself :

1. I can manage my time quite well
2. I can definitely be the team leader but if somebody is more efficient then me, I always listen 
3. I am an extremely good and effective presenter. I always get the most difficult or complex part to present and I always do a good job :)
4. I hate, hate , HATE people who are not willing to work or who make excuses and  post pone work till the last minute and who take me for granted and now I know how to handle them.
5. I am a simplifier (I don't know if thats a word), I like to keep things as simple and interesting as possible.
6. As far as my work is concerned I like to be organized so that the end result is on time, effective and good :)
7. People want to work with me so I am in a position to chose who to work with ( I am just a little bit of control freak, not much though and I think its essential to get the work done)
8. I am not an all work no play girl. I do everything from watching all the movies and sitcoms on the laptop, chit chatting till late in the night, partying ( I love to dance), but I always make sure that my assignments and presentations are on time. And as far as exams are concerned, I study only 1 day before the exams like many others but score amazingly well :)
9. I am the first bencher only because I sleep or get busy with my laptop if I sit anywhere else and I think not listening to the professor is very disrespecting and I strongly think that more then the text books, its the professors' experiences that teaches us ( well, not all professors are good but some are really great :))
10. I never ever say no to any plans, be it watching a movie or a dinner or clubbing or 1 day trips. I am always in and I like to enjoy things as if there is no tomorrow :) :)

These are my top of the mind recall :)

In the coming days, I would come up with series of posts regarding my MBA life.

Thanks for reading :)

The Design Process

Its been a long time since I have shown any activity on this blog. I was missing in action because right after my exams I left for my sister's wedding which by the way was really fun.

After coming back I have pondered on various things to write about and I realized that I have mentioned the MBA many times but have not written about my boutique in Ludhiana.... Yup... my mother runs it and me and my sister (Kirti)  are design partners to it.

Well now that I am writing about my boutique and recently we designed clothes for my sister's wedding, I thought that I will take you all through the process of designing my sister's Wedding Lehnga.

I have used various pictures to illustrate the entire process.....

So lets begin............

Step 1: Deciding the colour and fabric for the garment. We chose red color as in Indian culture it is  the holy color of matrimony.

The skirt was made of red brocade ( a silk fabric with woven patterns in gold and silver threads) and the dupatta and blouse was done in Crepe Silk.

Step 2: Deciding the embroidery pattern. We first make the designs on paper, then transfer them on a tracing paper.

Border 1

Motif 1 

Motif 2

Motif 3: A paisley

Step 3: Tracing the design on to the fabric which has been tied on to a wooden frame.

Step 4: Putting on the embellishments onto the traced design. We used a lot of sequins, dabka ( delicate coiled metal, colored stones, thread work and pearls.

Artisans at work ( Note how the skirt has been cut on bias and then tied to the wooden frame)

This is the border on the hem of the Lehnga. We used Motif 1 to create the entire border. It was flanked by the lines of pearl on both its sides and then the border 1 was traced and above border 1 we traced the paisley motif.

We filled the empty space between the 2 motifs with intricate mesh of red resham (Silk thread) and sequence. It gives a very distinct look to the border. It red stands out very brightly in all of the gold work.

We gave subtle touches of green in the embroidery to cut out the monotony of regular red and golden lehngas

Motif 2 was sprawled across the entire lehnga

 

Step 5: Once the skirt is embroidered then the dupatta and blouse are done using the same techniques and the final step is stitching of the entire garment.

Following are the pics of my sister on her D- Day 

We  had used a net dupatta for covering the head as it is light weight. Border 1 was used to embellish it

Let me know how did u find this journey of making of the most important attire of a girl's life.