The first two weeks (orientation and pre-terms) at ISB made most of us feel like spending our entire life in the campus. Full of fun, games, parties and what not. After the first week of core terms, I am sure most of us would have second thoughts about the same. ISB never sleeps. You would find people sitting in the lawn and discussing the assignments at 3 AM. You would find many rooms lighted up even at 4 AM. By the time those guys decide to enjoy their brief and invaluable nap, those early morning guys would get up and start working on ….
Even before the classes started, our batch is engaged in completing the pre-read for Marketing, Finance etc. Myself .. I started off reading Marketing Management by Kotler (bible for marketing). After reading two chapters, I could not recollect where I started. As days passed (remember just two days), most of us were fighting for time and busy with trade offs. We were expected to complete the post-reads AND the pre-reads for the forthcoming classes. Rest all apart, one thing can be taken for granted. By next April (hopefully we all will be in sound shape), we all will be masters of time management and trade offs along with Master of Business Administration.
Two days back, we (Shashank, Tarun and myself) were discussing career options and work life balance post MBA. Like any other day, Shashank is in high spirits with a Fosters in his hand and Tarun came up with an excellent story he came across.
A child of a high paying parent is deprived of his father’s time and attention. On a day, over breakfast, the conversation goes like this:
Child: Dad, how much do you get paid for an hour? Father: 5K an hour Child: Hmmmm …. Can you give me 4K. Father: What does a kid studying first standard got to do with 4K. blah blah…..
and rushes to office after breakfast. This guy thinks over the conversation during the course of the day and makes up his mind to give 4K to the kid. By the time he returns home, the kid is lying in his bed half sleep. With no intention of waking up the kid, he places four 1000 Rs notes by the side of the kid. The kid wakes up and takes a 1000 INR which he had collected from long back and gives 5K to his father and asks him to take out on an evening for an hour. Very moving. Isn’t it ?
The moral of the story is not so difficult to make out. But, the most difficult challenge I guess is to manage work-life balance.
I thought I would post one very funny conversation which took place over dinner today.
I was having dinner with two buddies of mine and we were discussing how life could be if one gets married while at ISB. One of us interpreted it as marrying a gal who is doing her MBA along with you at ISB. He came up with advantages like staying together in studio apartment instead of two shared apartments and thus saving some money. Then one of us came up with “The chances of marrying a girl at ISB are very minimal. Even if you start building a relationship, you never know if the girl is responding to your efforts (to build a relationship with her) or if she is networking with you”. :) :)
I must say that the last few days are quite happening with something or the other going on in the campus. Right from 12-April to this hour, something or the other goes on in the campus. It could be folks socializing, informal events to formal events. I believe all this is to prepare our batch (Class of 2009) to the roller coaster ride (one of the speakers in the orientation session described this as walking on a high speed conveyer belt with nothing to protect you from falling off side ways. You have to balance yourself and maintain pace with the conveyer). One of my favourite quote/phrase of the orientation week so far is the statement made by Dr. M Rammohan Rao (Dean, ISB). He was referring to the quote by his professor during his Ph.D days. The essence of the statement goes like: If you make a prediction, predict something which is not going to happen when you are around. If the prediction goes wrong, you will not be around to take the beating :). Along with the statement, the manner in which it was told made the entire auditorium burst in to laughter.
Registration was organized extremely well. It did not take more than an hour and half for me to complete the entire registration process. The first Sunday on campus is no holiday. We had presentations and a session on the first model (three legged model… though it is not directly related to our course) of our MBA on a Sunday :(. I guess this is an eye opener for all those who got used to five working days a week. However, I am not sure if anybody realized that all this was happening on a Sunday. That’s what sets the organizers and the speakers here apart.
Section events got kicked off today with treasure hunt. By the end of the day, everybody was wet because they were either sweating in the hot Hyderabadi sun or they were dunked in to the swimming pool. Our team managed to complete treasure hunt in two hours. We are not the winners for sure. I think we fall in the median 80% of the teams :)
Some of the information we came across during the orientation:
1) The next batch going to be 500-550 strong. Construction for the new student village is underway.
2) Avg. GMAT score for the class of 2009 of ISB is close to (if not more than) schools like Harvad, Wharton etc
3) ISB is aiming to be a pioneer in business research in India and APAC. I also believe that the focus is mainly on emerging markets.
One more thing, if you are male IT engineer from Bangalore, you are the most common species here. You are sure to find lot of your comrades here.
Finally, I am idling here in the hanging chair in the balcony of my house and wondering how awesome being jobless is. I am having a pretty relaxed time enjoying ghar ka khaana. This luxury is not going to last long as my classes are going to start next week.
Quite contrary to the last few days, the first half of the last week has been extremely crazy as I had to travel back to India and complete all the relieving formalities. Just an hour before the scheduled pick up by taxi to airport, I managed to drive 30 miles (to Nashua) and pick up a delivery from DHL. While driving, I was just hoping not to be caught by cop which would potentially kill my schedule. Finally, I managed to reach airport an hour and half before departure time. The best part of the journey was my co-passenger. Never before during any of my journey/travels, I had a female co-passenger sitting next to me. But, this time around, a girl (that too a blonde (4.5)) is sitting next to me. Surprised, I cross checked my seat number with boarding pass three times to verify if I am looking at the right seat number. I was right. Unfortunately, the feeling did not last long. I had to trade my seat as one my colleague was sitting alone. The journey was kinda adventurous as the waiting time in Frankfurt was just 50 minutes and that too the connecting flight does not depart in the same terminal. Fortunately, I managed to hop in to the connecting flight at the right time and my baggage also reached Bangalore safely.
My relieving formalities also went smoothly. Almost everybody I met in the last few days of my work at my previous company know about ISB. Considering the fact that ISB is still in its first 10 years of inception, it is quite an achievement. But, ISB needs to do some sort of brand building as not many abroad know about ISB.
Finally, the placement report of ISB for 2008 batch is out. The report can be accessed here. I also applied for educational loan with Andhra . Life is made easier for we guys. I completed the loan application form in just 30 minutes (ofcourse with the help from a staff). I also managed to open a savings bank account and get a pass book with in just an hour. I must say that I am very impressed by the service I got from the bank (take note private bank enthusiasts)
As the famous lines in “The God Father” go, it is very important to demarcate between personal and business issues. Let me cite Michael Corleone's words “It's not personal…. It’s strictly business”.
Like many, I was a keen follower of Mergers & Acquisitions which took place over the last few years. I am very impressed by the scale of acquisitions taking place across various verticals in the industry. I believe, owing to several factors, many industry verticals (irrespective of how mature they are) are going through a consolidation phase. In every industry, this phase is bound to happen at one time or the other.
I was also following the JLR (Jaguar-Land Rover) deal which the Tata Motors won. I am glad that Tata’s can use their expertise in turning around unprofitable businesses to turn around two iconic British brands. Like many, I too have my own concerns. Considering the portfolio of Tata Motors, terms of the deal etc, can Tata’s turn around these businesses. On the positive side, this deal could potentially make Tata Motors a “one stop” for car enthusiasts. Also, a typical customer could start with a Nano, upgrade to Indica/Indigo/Palio few years later and could upgrade to some high end model (Range Rover, X* series in Jaguar) when he/she could afford. So, a customer could purchase his first car and his last car with Tata Motors, provided that the customer is extremely satisfied by the service received from Tata Motors. Not to forget, the international market Tata Motors would be targeting with JLR. Of course, all this requires lot of effort and planning on behalf of Tata Motors.
I came across a post on JLR deal in BusinessWeek and it is worth a mention. For the post, click here
While this post is a very good write up on JLR deal, I would say I am disappointed by the comments section. After I read the comments, for a while, I really had second thoughts on free e-media. The context of the post is lost just in the first few comments and it looks as if the comments turned out to be arguments. Phew! (Few comments reminded me of dialogues in Rajnikanth's movie).
After I read the comments, I am all the more puzzled due to several questions that ringed in my mind. They are:
1) In this globalized world, how fair are the words “Indian (any country for that matter) Company”
2) What does it take for a company to be called an Indian company? Do the founders need to be Indian? Do the majority of operations focus on India? Do majority of share holders need to be Indian? Do all the share holders need to be Indian? Do the CEO and majority of the management team need to be Indian? Should the company be funded by Indian government and the company be responsible to the cabinet?
3) When Tata signing JRL deal can be compared to the victory/domination of Indian businesses over British businesses, what does Vodafone’s purchase of majority stake in Hutch signify?
4) Does the fact that every body is using electric bulb signifies the power of American innovation over ignorant rest-of-the-world.
All such comparison with foreign institutions and brands does no good to organizations and brands emerging out of India. Instead of focusing on differences, I think one should focus on common strengths and spread globalization to every corner of the world enriching people. At a time when Indians (including me) need to educate the rest of the world about India’s rich and diverse culture, all this rant and unnecessary comparison makes the task much more difficult.
By the way, congratulations to Tata Motors for sealing the deal. The real deal (turning the two brands around) starts NOW.
DISCLAIMER: The contents of this blog are strictly my personal opinions and not those of any organization/institution I am a part of, nor made in any official capacity of such organization/institution unless expressly stated otherwise and where I am explicitly authorized to do so.
So, I am going to ISB and everything is official about it. When I started applying, I googled for blogs to find information on application process, tips and personal experiences of folks who made it. Now, I think, is an opportune time to help folks who are in similar state as I was a year back. Hence, this post.
I believe, it all starts with the realization to do MBA. The reasons are very much specific to individual. Trust me; the reasons are very specific to each and every individual. Once you have realized, you have lot of schools to choose from. Once you have finalized on the schools, it’s all about how well you do in convincing the ad-com of those schools. The application process of each school is not exactly the same as the others. However, the approach can be broadly categorized in to taking the exam (GMAT etc), filling up the application form and then the interview (this may be accompanied by group discussion for certain schools).
Though GMAT is not the single most important criterion to make it to a B-School, there is no harm in having a good score in application. If you can’t score big, don’t feel disappointed. Fortunately, applying is not only about GMAT. There are lots of avenues in the application where you can make real difference.
A very good read to start application process is 'How to get in to the TOP MBA Programs' by Richard Montauk. The book deals with most of the intricacies involved in application process. It also addresses some very typical “What to do when faced with” questions. Personally, I found this book very handy.
They say MBA is all about networking. True to that statement, I think, even an MBA application starts with networking. Once you start applying, I think it is always suggestible to get in touch with alumni of that school. Be it drafting resume, editing essays, preparing for interview, I think it is always suggestible to seek help from people who have lived through the process. In my case, the help and feedback I received from ISB alumni proved invaluable. I also suggest applicants to use the “contact a current student” feature provided by the school and make full use of it.
The sooner one starts the apping process, the better it is. Not only does this give more time to think over the application, it also helps in refining application strategy. While writing essays, the author (referred as you further in the post) should try to be “critical and logical”. Once you are done with the first version of the essays, make sure that the essays are critically read by diverse set of people. Seek feedback from them, analyze their feedback and try to accommodate it in the essays with discretion. Not to forget, the more the essays are read, the better they get. One more very important point to note is: It is always suggestible to submit the best application than to apply early. It is always suggestible to submit a strong application in second or further rounds than to submit a “not-so-strong” application in the first round.
After the application is submitted, it is better to be patient than to send emails to schools asking for status (unless until school does not conform to the deadlines). Also, in the interview, never say anything which contradicts what is written in the application. That’s like kissing a cobra. In the interviews, stick to the essays and try to add personal touch rather than sounding like somebody else (unless until you are very good at acting).
Few tips:
1)Be Yourself. Don’t try to be someone whom you fancy. You are at your best when you are what you are.
2)Be critical and logical while drafting essays and resume. The first version of essays and resume is never the best version. Typically, a good essay or a good resume goes through numerous reviews and edits.
3)Seek help from Alumni. Most of them will be helpful as they might have been through similar situations in the past.
4)Enjoy the application process. Historically and statistically, humans have done extremely well when they enjoy what they do. Also, application process is a good opportunity to introspect. Trust me, many people recollected some very important events in their life during the application process which were forgotten over time. I am one among those many people and don’t ask me what those events are :).
For those who come across this blog while applying to schools, Happy apping and Good Luck!!
DISCLAIMER: The contents of this blog are strictly my personal opinions and not those of any organization/institution I am a part of, nor made in any official capacity of such organization/institution unless expressly stated otherwise and where I am explicitly authorized to do so.
To start with little history, Bear Sterns is a financial giant with 80 + years of experience in financial world. This company withstood The Great Depression, the stagflation of the 70s, the dot-com burst but succumbed to the subprime mortgage crisis.
Now what is subprime mortgage crisis?
Subprime mortgage crisis is sudden increase in foreclosures by home owners.
Now, who are “these” home owners and what is foreclosure?
These home owners are people with not so good (less than generally accepted) credit rating and ended up taking home loans with higher interest rate. Subprime loans provide an opportunity for borrowers with less than "not so good" credit rating to access loans at higher interest rates.
With the real estate prices’ increasing continuously, the lure of hedging on homes is too good to resist. Even if the lure is not good enough to entice people to buy homes at high prices, the fear that “if not today, I may never be able to buy a home in this ever rising real estate market” could also be a significant reason.
Let’s look at an example:
A person XYZ takes a loan at higher interest rate (subprime rate) when the real estate prices are sky high with the hope of refinancing at a low interest rates. If XYZ does not have good credit rating, he/she is not entitled to loans at attractive interest rates. However, XYZ can improve his/her credit rating by paying EMIs on time for one year. The problem arises when XYZ cannot pay as planned. The credit rating worsens and the chances of refinancing at lower interest rates are minimal. To add to the problems, if the real estate prices collapse in the midst of all this, XYZ is in real soup now. XYZ took a loan at higher interest rate when the home is valued at a higher price. Now, the home is not valued at the rates for which it was paid for. That means, XYZ is paying more than the current value of the property and he/she is not financially sound enough to manage this. So, XYZ chooses to foreclose the property. When this happens on a bigger scale, boooom, crisis starts.
So, how did a company which was awarded “Most Admired” securities firm in Fortune’s "America's Most Admired Companies" survey get involved in all this? Bear Sterns invested heavily in hedge funds that lost almost all of its value because of subprime mortgage crisis. One thing led to the other and finally, the share which was valued at 87 USD during the last week of February 08 is offered 2 USD on 14/15th of March 08 by JP Morgan Chase. The firm whose net income during the previous year was 2.1 billion USD (source: http://www.businessweek.com/bw50/2007/74.htm) was purchased 236.2 million USD. That’s how quick fortune changes. One of my colleagues was talking about an English guy who holds 10% in Bear Sterns. Man, that guy would have wept his heart out after all this. I even came to know that few employees of Bear Sterns who hold stock options could not control their emotions during all this mess. After all, we are all human.
However, If one looks at the bigger picture, I think this is all part of economical cycle. Not everybody would get rich all the time. Few get rich, few get richer and this might mean few getting poorer. It’s all in the game. Mankind has seen many financial collapses like this in the past for different reasons though; many of which we don’t even remember vividly (For those who forgot, remember, there was a much bigger financial collapse just few years back. Does ENRON sound familiar?). The collapse of ENRON had far reaching consequences than the collapse of Bear Sterns. A typical investor in Bear Sterns is much richer than a typical investor in ENRON. Also, it is not as difficult to find another job for employees of Bear Sterns as it was for employees (most of them not highly skilled) of ENRON.
My point here is: We should all look at the bigger picture and not panic when a blip takes place in the economy. An economy is not bound to grow unprecedented. It is bound to have recessions. We should not loose confidence and rather work towards a better tomorrow and a brighter future.
DISCLAIMER: The contents of this blog are strictly my personal opinions and not those of any organization/institution I am a part of, nor made in any official capacity of such organization/institution unless expressly stated otherwise and where I am explicitly authorized to do so.
As every process has a purpose, I started researching on the purpose of Daylight Saving Time (referred to as DST further in the blog). The most common reason I came across was "optimizing the energy utilization by utilizing day light". However, up on deep diving in to the concept of DST, I came across statistics which contradict with "optimizing energy utilization". Also, there could be other efficient ways of playing around with clock to use power efficiently. This assumes high significance owing to ever increasing oil prices.
Let us dwell up on the concept of DST. DST is nothing but getting up early to reach office at the same time. I am sure the above sentence is very confusing. Let me explain in a different way. DST is nothing but advancing clock so that "day" starts early and ends early.
Let us discuss various advantages of DST.
1) As a normal day would start early and end early, this leaves more time for leisure. This encourage people to spend more time outdoors.
2) As a typical day would end early leaving more time for activities like shopping (much to the delight of women :) and to the retailers ofcourse) and partying.
3) Reduction in energy consumption due to the extra one hour of sunlight which is utilized in the evening owing to getting up early.
I am not sure if there are any other advantages of DST. My initial reading on DST led me to the above and I very much agree with the first two advantages. I would like to discuss one more factor which is cited as an advantage of DST before focusing on energy utilization.
4) People would drive back to home when the sun is still in the sky making driving relatively safer.
I am not able to comprehend how driving is made safer by the extra sunlight offered by DST. Let us restrict our discussion to the American context. First of all, DST is implemented during spring and summer. During those six months, most of the working people would drive back to their respective homes from work when sun is still in the sky even without DST taking effect. Those who would be benefiting by driving are the one who spend that extra time for other activities. So, the people who would be benefiting are the ones who would spend time outdoors.
Let us talk about energy consumption. It looks very obvious that energy consumption would be reduced by DST. Effectively, we utilize sunlight by getting up early and not sleeping when the sun is already in the sky. However, there are lot of factors which needs to be considered before concluding that DST would actually result in efficient power utilization. Few of them being; geographic location, climate and social habits of the populace in the region. However, if the decrease in consumption in the evening is more than the increase in power consumption in the morning, isn't it worth trying DST during winter? However, there needs to be empirical evidence to support this claim. Contrary to popular belief that DST results in reduction in energy consumption, certain studies by National Bureau of Standards reveal that DST does not always result in reduction in energy consumption.
However, DST could result in better performance of retailers. Is DST the boon to retailers who are devoid of shopping festivities like thanksgiving, christmas, new years eve etc which are all during winter?
DISCLAIMER: The contents of this blog are strictly my personal opinions and not those of any organization/institution I am a part of, nor made in any official capacity of such organization/institution unless expressly stated otherwise and where I am explicitly authorized to do so.
When I started blogging, I never thought I would write on a movie. But, the movie 'Life is Beautiful (Vita รจ bella, La)' impressed me so much that I started writing about it as soon as the movie ended. May be ... because, I did not want to loose the essence the movie.
I have been trying for many months to watch this movie. For some reason or the other, I could never watch it till this week. I had very high expectations of this movie as I had heard quite a lot about the movie. After the first half of the movie, I googled to see if this the movie I had heard of as an excellent story of a man who tries to save the life of his son in a Nazi concentration camp by comparing the day to day activities with an imaginary game. The first half of the movie looked like a romantic flick. Like any other love story, the first half has some standard scenes which viewers expect out of a romantic movie. Now that we are talking about romantic movies, I want to mention a movie (When Harry met Sally) I watched earlier this week. If you compare the first half of Life is Beautiful with 'When Harry met Sally', I think the latter scores just for a single dialogue in which Harry talks about male-female relationship. I cannot stop from referring to the dialogue and I am pretty sure many men would agree with the dialogue. Watch the video below atleast for Meg Ryan :), if not for the dialogue.
But boy, the second half of the movie (Life is Beautiful) is awesome. I have to look for adjectives to describe second half. The main character (Guido), a jewish italian is happily married to a non-jewish italian (Dora) with a kid (Joshua). A typical happily ever after family. But it does not remain so after the German invasion. The Jews are sent to Nazi concentration camps and the rest of the movie is just awesome. In order to refrain Joshua from getting negatively influenced in the Nazi concentration camp, Guido attempts to portray the life in the camp as a game. A game in which the first person who wins 1000 points wins a tank, a big tank. Guido cleverly discourages Joshua's attempts to return home by telling Joshua that they are leading the game. And the game continues till Guido sacrifices his life only to make Joshua victorious. The manner in which Guido mimics the walking style of Nazi soldiers even in the face of death is beautifully presented. The rest of the events unfold in a dramatic manner and you can feel the emotions going through Joshua when he notices a big tank approaching him.
If Guido can smile in the most challenging conditions and let Joshua spend the worst time in the history of mankind in a cheerful manner, I am sure everybody could take a leaf out of this movie.
Now lets play around with the story line a little bit. Imagine what would have happened if there had been another Guido following similar strategy. Lets call the two fathers Guido-1, Guido-2 and the two kids Joshua-1 and Joshua-2. The fact that the first person who wins 1000 points would win a tank could result in competition between the Joshuas. Now, there are two kids with the common goal of winning 1000 points first for the lucrative prize. Will this be a classic example of survival of the fittest? Will the Life be beautiful in this scenario? Will Darwin be proved wrong? Going by the general principle, it is unlikely.
Creativity apart, I consider this movie to be one among my all time favorites (Oops.. I have to update my orkut profile). And I suggest readers who have not yet watched this movie to seriously consider watching once. I bet, it is definitely worth every penny and every second you spend on it.
P.S: For those who got an impression that I became an avid blogger, please do not frame such wrong impressions :). The last post on 'intellectual orgasm' was started in the first week of February 08 and I could publish it only by 26 February 08. Blame my inertia or so called laziness for it.
DISCLAIMER: The contents of this blog are strictly my personal opinions and not those of any organization/institution I am a part of, nor made in any official capacity of such organization/institution unless expressly stated otherwise and where I am explicitly authorized to do so.
Well, the purpose of this (my) blog is by no means to guarantee an intellectual orgasm to readers. But, I would like to share one such incident which made me experience something close to intellectual orgasm.
To start with, let us talk about few things I have learned about politics in the American context. Honestly, I feel myself privileged to get an opportunity to closely follow one of the toughest Democratic races in the history of Democratic Party. I have been keenly following all the debates and the results of the primaries and caucuses in the last few months.
The truth is: Politics is the same anywhere in the world. The issues might be different, the tactics might be different, the stakes might be different... But, the central theme is same. The central theme is the desire to win; The desire to assume power; The desire to be the head of the state.
To reach this goal, politicians often make sweeping statements. When Barack Obama says "There is some thing happening in America". Yeah... There is something happening every where in the world Damn it. Even at 10,000 feet below in the Pacific, you will find something happening. Tell me WHAT is happening in America.When Hillary talks about universal health care making health care mandatory for all Americans, does she consider the homeless to be aliens?When John McCain addresses the gathering as my friends and compares lawyers to an aquatic species (fish), does he at least remember that there is a person called Abraham Lincoln who is considered as one of the most important persons in American and Republican history and who happened to be a lawyer.
One thing which surprises me very much is the way these politicians go on record talking about their relationship with their rivals. While the results for Super Duper Tuesday are being released, Barack Obama talks about his friendship with Hillary. Yeaaah.. rright. Anyone who followed democratic debate in South Carolina does not any further information/explanation to support the above.
For those who missed THE action -->
Agreed that they both share the same goal (presidential nomination from democratic party and president of USA down the line) and hence it is not difficult to understand the animosity between them. But, this mud slinging is sure to benefit the GOP.
One more thing that surprises me very much is group politics. i.e.. Politicians vying for a major share of votes of a community. Hillary, for example, is getting a major share of the Latino voters. Barack getting a major chunk of African American votes which is quite contradictory to his speech. Barack claims to represent a united America. But the numbers does not reflect that. Barack performs significantly well in African American and among well to do Americans (not to forget television show hosts). This 'group politics' is no different to the politics in India in which candidates attempt to get the lions share among particular caste and religion.
Now, lets talk about media. After all media is also a business and viewers are its clients. They (people in media) show what people want to see (like poor celebrities). They show what amazes people. In doing so, many a times, media becomes judgmental and tries to influence people. One classic example is MSNBC. I really hate to say that people like Chris Mathews and Keith Olbermann are so judgmental that one can easily get an impression that they hate Hillary by listening to them for five minutes. The disparity in the media attention shared by Hillary and Barrack and its effect on the results is a classic example of the clout media carries. What ever, America is a free nation and everybody has the right to speak even if they are very judgmental.
Raised in a developing and not yet completely literate country, I used to think that dirty politics are only game in developing and under-developed world. I am proved that I am wrong. Politics is the same everywhere. It is the sheer power and responsibility these politicians assume up on victory which makes the fight worth the effort. Now, if politicians are a dirty breed, why the hell do we place the responsibility of the complete country and its citizens in their hands? Is it because they are experts in blaming others and hence they would be able to blame others effectively when they screw up. The answer is NO. We place the responsibility of the country and its citizens in the hands of the politicians because they were tested in a rigorous election. They could influence the whole country and win the heart and soul of millions of its citizens. The process of selecting presidential nominee of each party further adds up to the challenges faced by these candidates. This is where, I think, American model scores well above the Indian model.
However, end of the day, the word "fair" has no place in politics .. whether it is in India or in America (I do not have much knowledge about other countries. But I think I can safely assume that this statement holds good in all countries).
DISCLAIMER: The contents of this blog are strictly my personal opinions and not those of any organization/institution I am a part of, nor made in any official capacity of such organization/institution unless expressly stated otherwise and where I am explicitly authorized to do so.
