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.