The Business Excellence Awards for B-Schools has been formally launched....
Its the game which is different from other Business Games....
For details click here.

Come play the game during Xpressions at XIM-B

Important dates:
10th September: Submission of Papers
20th September: Declaration of Results
2nd October: Xpressions starts......and the other phases of game will be played on campus

The Paper topics are given on the link given above....

The preparation for war kicks off...........

SOME MORE SNAPSHOTS.....

While writin this post its rainin like nethin here.....
and raindrops surely are big........
well here r some more pics.......
dis time of the open sky......
the view is from my hostel block roof.....
unlike last time wich were directly from my room

Source: my digicam
View: where the sun shud rise on a new day

Source: my digicam
View: The area behind my institute

Source: my digicam
View: where the sun shud rise on a new day

Well the place is so serene and calm....i wud say this is the closest to nature that todays Homo Sapien can survive easily....

So much of greenery around, sometimes u can even spot those beautiful creatures called snakes roaming around in campus.....best place to spot them is the area around the tennis court.....

thats all for now......

BEA B Schools - Kurukshetra

It's a jungle out there. Only the fittest and the mightiest can survive. In today's corporate battles, one requires a solid armament of critical hard skills that can make the difference between affluence and perdition.

BEA B Schools, as the major event is called, is a game open to all B-Schools around India. It kicks off with an intensely fought paper competition between the teams that are taking part. The victors of this round match wits against each other in a quiz. And finally, the champions of the quiz move out to play one of the biggest and most unique battles ever fought on this planet .. They play Kurukshetra.

Kurukshetra is a real-time physical simulation game where teams are required to muster up all the knowledge they have about fields as diverse as Marketing, Finance, Systems, Operations and HR. They play the game over quarters trying to maximize their returns by beating the market through sheer understanding and application of concepts.

The game drew a tremendous response in its second year last year. Participants in the game came from a myriad of the Top B-schools viz. IIM-A, IIM-B, IIM-C, XLRI, MDI, NITIE, IIFT and SP Jain.

The countdown for the Battle Royalé has begun. It is just a matter of time now, before the warriors assemble to fight out a war like none other..

Kurukshetra 2004

P.S.: The game is part of Xpressions - Annual fest of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar.....

FRIDAY THE 13th

Today is Friday the 13th....so following is some info wich i found about the history of Friday the 13th......the Devils day......
(SOURCE: www.howstuffworks.com)

Let's look at this objectively for a second:

• In order to organize time, human beings created calendars.
• As part of today's dominate calendar system, every year is divided into 12 periods called months, consisting of roughly 30 days each.
• All days are also grouped into sets of seven, called weeks.
• In the Western world, a significant chunk of the population suspects bad things will happen whenever the 13th day of a month occurs on the day of the week called Friday.

Like many human beliefs, the fear of Friday the 13th (known as paraskevidekatriaphobia) isn't exactly grounded in scientific logic. But the really strange thing is that most of the people who believe the day is unlucky offer no explanation at all, logical or illogical. As with most superstitions, people fear Friday the 13th for its own sake, without any need for background information.

The superstition does have deep, compelling roots, however, and the origins help explain why the belief is so widespread today. In this article, we'll look at some of the interesting stories behind this unluckiest of days.

The Christian Tradition
The fear of Friday the 13th stems from two separate fears -- the fear of the number 13 and the fear of Fridays. Both fears have deep roots in Western culture, most notably in Christian theology.

Thirteen is significant to Christians because it is the number of people who were present at the Last Supper (Jesus and his 12 apostles). Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th member of the party to arrive.

Christians have traditionally been wary of Fridays because Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Additionally, some theologians hold that Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit on a Friday, and that the Great Flood began on a Friday. In the past, many Christians would never begin any new project or trip on a Friday, fearing they would be doomed from the start.

Sailors were particularly superstitious in this regard, often refusing to ship out on a Friday. According to unverified legend, the British Navy commissioned a ship in the 1800s called H.M.S. Friday, in order to quell the superstition. The navy selected the crew on a Friday, launched the ship on a Friday and even selected a man named James Friday as the ship's captain. Then, one Friday morning, the ship set off on its maiden voyage... and disappeared forever. A similar, entirely factual story is the harrowing flight of Apollo 13.

Some historians suggest the Christian distrust of Fridays is actually linked to the early Catholic Church's overall supression of pagan religions and women. In the Roman calendar, Friday was devoted to Venus, the goddess of love. When Norsemen adapted the calendar, they named the day after Frigg, or Freya, Norse goddesses connected to love and sex. Both of these strong female figures once posed a threat to male-dominated Christianity, the theory goes, so the Christian church vilified the day named after them.

This characterization may also have played a part in the fear of the number 13. It was said that Frigg would often join a coven of witches, normally a group of 12, bringing the total to 13. This idea may have originated with the Christian Church itself; it's impossible to verify the exact origins of most folklore. A similar Christian legend holds that 13 is unholy because it signifies the gathering of 12 witches and the devil.

The number 13 could also have been considered pagan because there are 13 months in the pagan lunar calendar. The lunar calendar also corresponds to the human menstrual cycle, connecting the number to femininity.

In the next section, we'll find out about some other stories behind Friday the 13th.

Other Traditions
The Christian perspective on Friday and 13 is the most relevant today, but it's only one part of the Friday the 13th tradition.

Some trace the infamy of the number 13 back to ancient Norse culture. In Norse mythology, the beloved hero Balder was killed at a banquet by the mischievous god Loki, who crashed the party of twelve, bringing the group to 13. This story, as well as the story of the Last Supper, led to one of the most entrenched 13-related beliefs: You should never sit down to a meal in a group of 13.

Another significant piece of the legend is a particularly bad Friday the 13th that occurred in the middle ages. On a Friday the 13th in 1306, King Philip of France arrested the revered Knights Templar and began torturing them, marking the occasion as a day of evil. Check out this site to learn more.

Both Friday and the number 13 were once closely associated with capital punishment. In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.

Ultimately, the complex folklore of Friday the 13th doesn't have much to do with people's fears today. The fear has much more to do with personal experience. People learn at a young age that Friday the 13th is supposed to be unlucky, for whatever reason, and then they look for evidence that the legend is true. The evidence isn't hard to come by, of course. If you get in a car wreck on one Friday the 13th, lose your wallet, or even spill your coffee, that day will probably stay with you. But if you think about it, bad things, big and small, happen all the time. If you're looking for bad luck on Friday the 13th, you'll probably find it.

WHAT A DAY.....

Prakruti - the nature club of XIMB got a formal inaugration
Prakruti is a club, of which i was one of the ten founder members.....
it all started as an Organizational behavior project....
today WWF and Prakruti are working together and we are open to
more such collaborations....
As of now the club is handled by Rural Management students, with us also
participating in its activities.......(actually trying to now)
Hope the club LIVES ON........
Sometimes its great to let ur wild side out....... ;)

Secondly, for any Microsoft basher like me....wat can be the best thing.....
to read an article where Microsoft is termed as big old man being targetted
by various youngsters around it on various fronts......
well its like Microsoft has two flagship products which are mainstay of its business....
Microsoft Office and Windows OS.....
Both have just received minor updates and cosmetic changes and
released as new versions.......none are too gud or i must say amazing as what one
may expect from a organization like Microsoft....
Their softwares today are like patched clothes which may come apart any time....
and this can be seen from various virus attacks and crashes which one experiences
with MS products......
Today they are on defensive (for the first time - I AM HAPPY)....claiming that their OS
overall cheaper than Linux and stuff like this......
Their browser doesnt fare better than Opera/Netscape/Mozilla.........mind that Mozilla is
not even at version 1.0, its in testing phase and outperforms IE like anything......
To avoid big customers from shifting to open source MS has been cutting rates of its
products on case to case basis......
People are slowly shifting towards the Open Source generation of products......which
unexpectedly are much stable and in many cases much better......
Overall MS is facing attack on various fronts from companies like IBM, Opensource,
Google, Sun Microsystems, and many other similar firms which are churning out better
products at cheaper costs and moreover people are shifting towards them now........

Fingers crossed........hoping for the big old man to come down finally......
Also.....their products launch dates are being postponed...they are not sure whether they
should launch them or not.....they have postponed launch of new Windows till 2006 as of now.......

While this all happens I am enjoying this......using Windows 98 (since insti asks us to be on
Windows machine) and using Mozilla (the best browser i have ever used), listening to songs
over Winamp (not Windows Media Player)........

P.S.: will try to put up the snap of the inaugration soon......
wait till next post
Apurv did u get ur update finally yet again n dis time rapid updates ;)

VIEW FROM MY ROOM

Well i earlier told u about the great sky we have here.....
while i am writin this its rainin yet again......for more dan a week or 2
the weather has been like this......amazing.......
if not rains den u can expect drizzle.......
so water almost pouring down like nethin......

well here r few pics.....givin the great view from my room

[Source: My Digicam]
[This is the view from my room]





[Source: My Digicam]
[yet another view from my room]

[Source: My Digicam]
[View from the area behind my room]

Hope u liked the pics.....
will be uploadin more of the nature pics around......

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

ENGLISH: Can be put to crazy use.....

Though this is anld one......but interesting one......

Ever noticed how deleting one word after the other in a sentence can lead to a nice story?
Here's an example:
Oh John please don't touch me at all...!
Oh John please don't touch me at...!
Oh John please don't touch...!
Oh John please don’t...!
Oh John please...!
Oh John..!
Ohhh......

WHAT IS A LIFE WITHOUT IRRATIONALITIES......

As of now......mid-terms are over (2-3 days back)......SDM and Advertising projects second phase to start soon....

So actually findin no break.....got a Sunday....rested in peace.....wanted to go out...out to the beach...but paln failed...its ok.....went out for dinner.....wat a tandoori chicken.....after such a long time.....

Projects are on...life is on.....life without work nowdays seems bore.....feeling of emptiness kinda stuff comes around.....

the weather here in Bhubaneswar has been amazing......rains...rainbows.....and the most orangish sky u might have ever seen........

Have been seeing movies also.....Troy conquered and went around the world in 80 days.....

Till here everything is fine....

But now what follows is the list of life's irrationalities formulated by me...with some contributions from a few frnds:

1- Irrationality of the Buying Behavior: When one goes in a shop, and looks around not intending to buy anything…..and if the salesperson doesn’t pay attention , one ends up buying just to gain attention

2- Irrationality of Planning: Plans are made and strictly not followed

3- Irrationality of not legalizing prostitution in India: Prostitution - such a big industry (illegal) in India - govt. officials involved in it....big corporations use it.....so why doesn’t government make it legal and earn money as tax from it....in that way even people in govt. involved will not be arrested...since there would not be any illegality involved in it.....

4- Irrationality of efficient markets: According to Efficient market hypotheses at any given time, security prices fully reflect all available information. but do they truly reflect the behavior or the future trend the co. mite follow.....

5- Irrationality of trust in knowledge: Why don’t people realize that the middle man they use in dealing with stock market doesn’t know much more than them...he has same info as you have....and since its your money he is investing he has no risk......so why do u listen to him.....

6- Irrationality in Prices of Telecom Stocks: why are telecom industry shares so low priced.....when it is expected that there will be consolidation....and after budget 74% FDI should have given the telecom scrips a big push - still their scrips remain at low price....

7- Why do people run after a particular stock which is on a bull run knowing very well that only more demand for that stock can make it fall.....and they will even buy that stock at a really exorbitantly high price – eg. - IT Stocks.....and when the market crashes, why do they cry - they would have realized market cannot sustain such a run......

8- Moreover to above one - why didn’t the investors sell the stocks when they were initially falling.....were they expecting the stocks to reach back to the peak from which they had fallen - crazy is how u can term them.....at least a graph plotted could have told them.....market is stabilizing n readying for a fall.......

9- Finance people have a perception...that using their concepts of Financial Management and all the fundas....they can outdo others (what they might think of as lesser mortals) in the game of investing....well I don’t feel it works......

10- The biggest dilemma in today’s society is that a student performing average is always told that what will he do....people say he cannot do anything....why is such discouragement given to him......why do people express shock if he gets into one of the top institutes for studies.....why still remains....no one can ever understand......

11- why does censorship in movies exist - if people dont wan to see the movie - den they will automatically make it flop....eg. Girlfriend.....

12- why do parents from a very young age try and push their children to a particular career - even if they might not be mentally suited for it......especially prevalent in doctors - and doctors should be better at understanding this psychology part - children have their own lives - why force them to carry on your legacy......

13- why does society not approve of inter-society (caste, religion n all) marriages - mostly love - let the time take its own course in deciding how couple finally lives......

14- Advertisers are one of the biggest irrationalities to happen to us - after media - why do they simply not tell the facts about the product which will make it sell.....why do they have to go overboard generate over expectation and flop goes the brand....

15- Does technology drive us or it drives our expenses......People changing their mobiles every few months, almost every house has the latest gizmos - without thinking whether they will use it or not.....and most of them are wasteful expenditures.....

16- Why is Business Ethics taught in Business Schools - is it followed out there in the real life - everyone will most probably follow what is the company policy or do the stuff they think they can to earn money - eg. Whistle blowing.....no one does it for social purpose....but mostly for personal gains - in which they might sometimes fail......

17- A situation is like: an investor was considering on investing in a particular stock....but did not and it has gained in value over a period of time.....HOW DOES THE INVESTOR RESPOND TO IT? HE THINKS HE MADE A LOSS.....BUT WHEN DID HE MAKE A LOSS....HE DID NOT BUY IT.......

18- If we consider when people are bidding for investing on land.....these will obviously be taken away by Builders (in most cases)...where they cannot....they just cannot.....I think why don't these builders form some kind of cartel to invest and then distribute within themselves.....this way they will not take the price so high by fighting between themselves....an individual investor will be looking at very few spots for investing into....he will not take any random plot if bidding is done based on individual plot, he will choose on some criterion....so builders forming cartel and getting plots at low rates can actually be quite a successful strategy.....they will have a pretty good increase in profits and as such they are normally tight for cash....

19- Stock market investors who are in it for short term gains - (I am not sure) might carry MEMORY OF PAST - meaning that a particular stock they invested a few days back and the stock fell.....but now there is a rumour (a strong one) that it will soon be rising....HE WILL NOT INVEST IN IT......."once smitten twice shy" follows here........

20- Why don't investors spread their stocks...so as to have a proper protfolio.....generally they invest following the trend in which some sector is performing as a whole....if sector A is performing well....and they have stocks in sector B which is not growing as rapidly as sector A.....they will move all their investements to sector A.....and god forbid...sector A crashes....

21- Investors after few initial successes at their portfolios or investments start thinking that they have cracked the stock market - they treat it as a game.....does it hold true......Stock market is a gamble....u can try to understand the way it will behave but never crack it......it is difficult to predict what is driving a stock up the charts...

22- In Delhi....lately newspapers have been covering the latest trends in prostitution as being that females from good decent and financially sound families coming into the flesh trade.....what i can understand is that they will not want money...but if they want pleasure then why choose this route which can bring bad name to them and moreover their whole family...better to have a boy friend......Why still remains......or is it "Money for nothing and Sex for free".....no clue...

23- After life syndromes which many people experience

24- Intuition or sixth sense - like what is going to happen in future….how do people get it


25- Why do only developed economies need to grow at the cost of developing or under-developed - like US through WTO wants to slow down the growth of various Asian economies.....

26- Irrationality of Brand Following: Why do people follow brands – which are costly and same stuff one can get for cheap…..is this to show that they have money…..about they might think that by showing of using brands they can give out a feeling of power which for them might lead to third motivation of impressing the opposite sex with the motivation of getting sex…..This is much more prevalent among males

27- Irrationality of Money Wastage on movies: Why do people, especially in metros spend over Rs. 125/- on a particular movie……movies are slowly becoming rich man’s entertainment…..

28- Irrationality in vehicle buying behavior: In metros, especially Delhi….ok agreed buses have reduced…..but vehicular traffic has not…..why do people keep on buying more and more vehicles when the place to drive is not there……they are much more prone to accidents (meaning additional expenses – even for scratches) also where will they park…colonies have become a car display centre….

29- Irrationality in love: How can one person stay honest with one person all the time…...and another one never gets satiated…...

30- Why are following felt by humans – Phobias, Fantasy and Anxiety. No proper answer to this can be given…..Some will base it on human psychology….but then that is not satisfactory…..

31- Irrationality of Obsessions: Why do people have obsessions and why do they get violent in it…..one can be passionate about something – like Rock Music, but getting obsessed with it….why?
After getting obsessed about something a person will forget about other things in life so why does he get into the obsession
I do not know how to frame it properly….but hope I have conveyed what I feel….

32-Irrationality of Inconvenience Transferring: To solve one's own inconvenience give others the inconvenience - can be seen a lot in various colonies between neighbors......

33- Irrationality of known business partners (or Irrationality of friends as business partners): In business with people you know......why don’t people still document any verbal deal they do.....this is what leads to breaking of relations......n still people don’t change......this is a thing which keeps on repeating itself again and again….

34- Some cases of multilingualism have been found. For instance, a girl from France never learnt English, but one day after an accident she started speaking English in accent…..
(I do not know how true this incident is…..but will try to confirm source….came to know about it through general chat with a friend – since nothing could explain it – it is here)

well dats all for now.....

lets see ur responses in the comments side.....