Next after a hectic schedule of enjoying and partying in singapore was a whirlwinf training in frankfurt.
I had to go there for a DB training on negotiation skills and presentation skills and was only for the GTB graduates. Since I had bonded (or rather tried to bond) not so well with the people from other continents, hence i wasnt really looking forward to this training.
Anyways we reached Bombay late at night about 1sh in the morning and then almost immediately checked in for the Lufthansa fliht to Frankfurt.
1. Lufthansa is by far the worst flight that I have ever been to. It is worse the the worst Deccan flight that I have ever flown on!! Well it was not on time, the air hostesses were older than my granny and no entertainment channels for the entire flight
2. When we reached there, it was crazily windy and there were forecasts of a storm!!. There was video doing rounds in the news channel in germany wherein a flight tried to land thrice but was unable to do so on the runway because of windy conditions
3.As we reached frankfurt early morning, we took a youth hostel and roamed around the whole city. Frankfurt is one of the most drab cities in the world and so by the time it was 3 in the evening, we had seen the whole city 5 times over! So we decided to catch a small nap. We small is surely an understatement as we only got up at 7 the next day!
4. since we were pretty tired of the place called frankfurt, we decided to immediately take a train to Bad Homburg, an extremely expensive and extremely posh region near frankfurt where DB had arranged for our training and stay.
5. Bad Homburg was easily of the most beautiful places in germany atleast. We took our rooms which were single manned and were damn cozy!! Rushed off to have a pizza at a restaurant where the cook and his crew knew neither english not german, but only Italian!!! Well i think these kind of things only happen in europe!!!
6. We had two days of training on negotiations which were quite interesting. We had rounds and rounds of presentations, all of which were taped and shown to us again and again. But my fav part was one on one negotiations in which I nearly killed the other guy and managed to take away an amazing deal. But in the end the other guy felt that he had too much and decided to call off the deal. The negotiations just fell apart!! it was damn hilarious
7. We had to prepare case studies and were then put in groups and pitted against each other to win deals in front of top managemnet!! It was crazy as to how much imporatance the germans attached to this exercise. Well our went on well. We did not just win our deal, but also were voted as the best group amongst all by the jury. So well I walked away with an amazing DB champagne. I have it at my home and it sure does look really nice!
8. More ..later alligator!!!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Back to work!
To write "Back to work" is probably one of the toughest things to write! I mean the pressure is not just on the finger on the keyboard (lost practise over last 15 days) but also emotionally. Phsycologically it is amazingly tough to get urelf back to office after days of doing nothing but enjoying.
If the days in Germany were awesome then those in Singapore were par awesome!
SIngapore:
Stayed at Tiki's and Singhania's place. Those two kinda souls were very good friends of mine in campus and it was great meeting them after a long long time. As a matter of fact meeting Singhania who was one roll number before me was definitely one of the high points of my trip. Apart from that Horsie, Tiki and harish were extremely warm hosts! They really made the singapore trip truly comfy!!
Things that we did in singapore:
1. Singapopre airlines is by far the best airlines that I have been on!
2. MAx max beautiful and clean city. Cleanliness in singapore is legendary and so we spent most of our time trying to locate garbage and refute the theory of singapore being the cleanliest city!
3. Sentosa islands!!
4. Dolphin show, 4 D movie, sky rides, luge, cable car, butterfly park, merlion, underwater aquariums.. awesome!!!
5. best part of sentosa was the "songs of the sea" where in there is a 3d laser show on fountains of water. easily the best that I have seen!
6. Night safari, zoo and juring bird park: i mean I dont think I get get any closer to polar bears penguins and lions at the same place. Especially in the night safari, these were alarmingly near. i mean we could vitually touch them.
7. cLARK qUAY: The night lifeline of singapore with a ROaring Night Life! We drank till 2 on a tuesday and it was still jam packed!!!
8. finally the DB networking event for which we had gone
10. Stayed at the best 5 star hotel in singapore "Four Seasons": HAd a big deluxe room all to my self. Went for hour long baths in the shower followed by bath tubs!
11. the event was nice and is always good to hear about how india china will beat the recession!!(I still wonder why my portfolio is down 30 %
:(
If the days in Germany were awesome then those in Singapore were par awesome!
SIngapore:
Stayed at Tiki's and Singhania's place. Those two kinda souls were very good friends of mine in campus and it was great meeting them after a long long time. As a matter of fact meeting Singhania who was one roll number before me was definitely one of the high points of my trip. Apart from that Horsie, Tiki and harish were extremely warm hosts! They really made the singapore trip truly comfy!!
Things that we did in singapore:
1. Singapopre airlines is by far the best airlines that I have been on!
2. MAx max beautiful and clean city. Cleanliness in singapore is legendary and so we spent most of our time trying to locate garbage and refute the theory of singapore being the cleanliest city!
3. Sentosa islands!!
4. Dolphin show, 4 D movie, sky rides, luge, cable car, butterfly park, merlion, underwater aquariums.. awesome!!!
5. best part of sentosa was the "songs of the sea" where in there is a 3d laser show on fountains of water. easily the best that I have seen!
6. Night safari, zoo and juring bird park: i mean I dont think I get get any closer to polar bears penguins and lions at the same place. Especially in the night safari, these were alarmingly near. i mean we could vitually touch them.
7. cLARK qUAY: The night lifeline of singapore with a ROaring Night Life! We drank till 2 on a tuesday and it was still jam packed!!!
8. finally the DB networking event for which we had gone
10. Stayed at the best 5 star hotel in singapore "Four Seasons": HAd a big deluxe room all to my self. Went for hour long baths in the shower followed by bath tubs!
11. the event was nice and is always good to hear about how india china will beat the recession!!(I still wonder why my portfolio is down 30 %
:(
Friday, February 29, 2008
Off For VAcation to Singapore & Frankfurt!!!
I love my company guys!!!
Well am off for a jaunt to Singapore and Frankfurt and will only come back next week!!!!!
cya guys!!!
Well am off for a jaunt to Singapore and Frankfurt and will only come back next week!!!!!
cya guys!!!
Friday, February 15, 2008
Back on Campus: Pre placement talk in Lucknow!!
It was one thing that I really wanted to do: Go back to Lucknow, where undoubtedly I spent some of the best days of my life. I could not go for Manfest, but as luck could have been I had to go to L for the pre-placement talk for DB. The best part was that Shefali also managed to convince her boss to go to L and so it was more like a double bonus!
So we flew together on Sunday evening and were supposed to give the ppt on Monday. We reached Lucknow at about 9 in the evening and were duly impressed to find a person standing with a placard with my name with DB written on it. Well my chest puffed up nearly like the ad of timesjob.com waala guy. Well the sad n scary part was that the driver was new to the area and forgot the way to the campus. All of a sudden we found ourselves stranded in the car in the middle of hinterlands of UP! Seriously it was kinda frightening. But then I decided to take things in my hand and finally got back on track. I was only wondering how others, who had no idea about Lucknow, might have felt in the same situation. So we finally managed to reach campus by 9:30pm where we had a couple rooms booked for us.
Now was the first bombshell shocker. The Alcom (alumni committee) had organized talk by us on “the careers in the banking industry in India”. It wasn’t tough for us, but the fact that I have never landed up on podium for any of the extempore competitions was one of the major reasons for my inhibition. But shedding those was easy and the talk went on fine for about an hour followed by another hour of Q&A’s.
We finally rounded up at about 11:45 and promptly went for a walk around the campus. It was kinda empty as campus (well it is placement times!), but we had an awesome time. We sat as the Nescafe and spoke to Nescafe waala-Alok for a long time. Had a maggi outside and sat near the fire in between Nescafe and Guptaji’s shop. We sat there for a long time before going to the library and revisiting the old times. I mean I have sat, studied and even slept through my days in lucknow in campus. I am sure I must have spent more than 60% of my time on campus in the library. Not necessary;ly studying, but genrally it was the most peaceful place on campus. Then we took the long route behind the library towards MDP centre, then the main gate and finally patanjali. We were chocked with memories and finally decided to call it a day at about 2..
Got up early and went to Fauji! Ordered some dal fry and jeera aaloo to go with it. Vikalpa, the HR from DB Bangalore was there and so went and met her as well. Ajay, my boss who was supposed to give the ppt had run out of battery and was incommunicado. We finally managed to call him up and sent him a pick-up car which meant that there was delay in the ppt by nearly an hour. Since students were already in the classroom, I had to take the stage again and spent about 45 odd minutes giving another gyan session to the guys. Finally Ajay came and we gave the ppt which again went over time (mainly in the Q&A section). One thing I realized over this period was that as a student people are anxious to get good placements, but believe me, the companies are more nervous than the students to get good guys!
I never knew that while on campus, but this is 100% true..
After Ajay and Vikalpa had left, we went back to the Nescafe and had another round of maggi. It was nice knowing that H9 won Sikander this year around. Well in my first year we came agonizingly close to winning it. But the fact that our juniors have done us proud is one of maximum pleasure and satisfaction.
We sat with Mohini and a lot of other guys and talked our way to complete nonsense. It sometimes is fascinating how in campuses you are completely at ease with yourself and have no real worries to think about.
It was like coming home….
Well met up with Chauri, who had also come up for Deloitte PPT and then spoke for a long time with Neerja Pandey, my fave prof on campus. And when it was time to leave, I can say that except for the tears, I was crying like a baby..
I said it was like coming home, and now it was time to leave home…
A home that never really was mine, but will always be a part of me..
I miss Campus Life.
I miss Campus.
What the hell
I MISS LIFE!!
So we flew together on Sunday evening and were supposed to give the ppt on Monday. We reached Lucknow at about 9 in the evening and were duly impressed to find a person standing with a placard with my name with DB written on it. Well my chest puffed up nearly like the ad of timesjob.com waala guy. Well the sad n scary part was that the driver was new to the area and forgot the way to the campus. All of a sudden we found ourselves stranded in the car in the middle of hinterlands of UP! Seriously it was kinda frightening. But then I decided to take things in my hand and finally got back on track. I was only wondering how others, who had no idea about Lucknow, might have felt in the same situation. So we finally managed to reach campus by 9:30pm where we had a couple rooms booked for us.
Now was the first bombshell shocker. The Alcom (alumni committee) had organized talk by us on “the careers in the banking industry in India”. It wasn’t tough for us, but the fact that I have never landed up on podium for any of the extempore competitions was one of the major reasons for my inhibition. But shedding those was easy and the talk went on fine for about an hour followed by another hour of Q&A’s.
We finally rounded up at about 11:45 and promptly went for a walk around the campus. It was kinda empty as campus (well it is placement times!), but we had an awesome time. We sat as the Nescafe and spoke to Nescafe waala-Alok for a long time. Had a maggi outside and sat near the fire in between Nescafe and Guptaji’s shop. We sat there for a long time before going to the library and revisiting the old times. I mean I have sat, studied and even slept through my days in lucknow in campus. I am sure I must have spent more than 60% of my time on campus in the library. Not necessary;ly studying, but genrally it was the most peaceful place on campus. Then we took the long route behind the library towards MDP centre, then the main gate and finally patanjali. We were chocked with memories and finally decided to call it a day at about 2..
Got up early and went to Fauji! Ordered some dal fry and jeera aaloo to go with it. Vikalpa, the HR from DB Bangalore was there and so went and met her as well. Ajay, my boss who was supposed to give the ppt had run out of battery and was incommunicado. We finally managed to call him up and sent him a pick-up car which meant that there was delay in the ppt by nearly an hour. Since students were already in the classroom, I had to take the stage again and spent about 45 odd minutes giving another gyan session to the guys. Finally Ajay came and we gave the ppt which again went over time (mainly in the Q&A section). One thing I realized over this period was that as a student people are anxious to get good placements, but believe me, the companies are more nervous than the students to get good guys!
I never knew that while on campus, but this is 100% true..
After Ajay and Vikalpa had left, we went back to the Nescafe and had another round of maggi. It was nice knowing that H9 won Sikander this year around. Well in my first year we came agonizingly close to winning it. But the fact that our juniors have done us proud is one of maximum pleasure and satisfaction.
We sat with Mohini and a lot of other guys and talked our way to complete nonsense. It sometimes is fascinating how in campuses you are completely at ease with yourself and have no real worries to think about.
It was like coming home….
Well met up with Chauri, who had also come up for Deloitte PPT and then spoke for a long time with Neerja Pandey, my fave prof on campus. And when it was time to leave, I can say that except for the tears, I was crying like a baby..
I said it was like coming home, and now it was time to leave home…
A home that never really was mine, but will always be a part of me..
I miss Campus Life.
I miss Campus.
What the hell
I MISS LIFE!!
Weekend at home!!!!!
Apart from that, its been an eventful week that gone by. It was a week of many firsts, like first time going back to campus etc..
I traveled to my alma mater!! Yes, went to Lucknow for the pre placement talk. But before that I spent a couple of days at home. I will go day by day on that:
Saturday:
Saturday was off and so we (shefs n me) took a lazy morning 11Am Jet Flight to delhi. We reached there early and had a good time sitting at the amazing jet terminal in the Bombay airport. The view from that CCD is one of the best that I have seen and that fact it was warm and sunny outside made the sight from inside even better. We heard names of Dia Mirza and Ritesh Dekhmukh being announced at the departure terminal and ended up having VJ Ranvijay of MTV in our flight! Well the flight was nearly on time and for the first time, I had people waiting for me at the airport! Well Shefali’s siblings had come along with her mom to see their soon-to-be part of the family! Well so I was thrusted upon with a bouquet of flowers by a coy and smiling set of brother and sister, who were most interested in getting this piece of history captured on the camera. So I duly stood there and posed like a pro on the red carpet for the shutterbugs!
Lets keep this aside. Mom and Dad had come to pick me up at the airport and we subsequently drove down back to Ghar. Driving in Delhi roads is like driving a hot knife through cheese. Smoooooooooooth…
One new thing was the opening of the huge flyover on NH8 and the start of toll at the flyover. Had tons of rajma chawal for lunch followed by a quick power nap. In the evening went out with mom n dad to the mall and bought a pair of designed saris for my mom. It’s nice to see moms glow with pride and happiness in seeing their kids buy something for them. We called it a day with some coffee and hot chocolate at the Barista Café.
Sunday:
Woke up really really late. After all it was a Sunday. Had my customary cup of tea along with the newspaper (waah waah waah).. We had a late lunch and then rushed off to DSOI where we were scheduled to meet Shefali n her mom. Everything was in order till the time I managed to see the correct time on my ticket. I was under the assumption that the flight was at 8 and had told mom dad accordingly. All of a sudden I discovered that it was instead at 7. Thus started a hurry up process and so we rushed off to DSOI and almost immediately left for the airport where we had to catch a flight to Lucknow!!
More on this in the next blog!
I traveled to my alma mater!! Yes, went to Lucknow for the pre placement talk. But before that I spent a couple of days at home. I will go day by day on that:
Saturday:
Saturday was off and so we (shefs n me) took a lazy morning 11Am Jet Flight to delhi. We reached there early and had a good time sitting at the amazing jet terminal in the Bombay airport. The view from that CCD is one of the best that I have seen and that fact it was warm and sunny outside made the sight from inside even better. We heard names of Dia Mirza and Ritesh Dekhmukh being announced at the departure terminal and ended up having VJ Ranvijay of MTV in our flight! Well the flight was nearly on time and for the first time, I had people waiting for me at the airport! Well Shefali’s siblings had come along with her mom to see their soon-to-be part of the family! Well so I was thrusted upon with a bouquet of flowers by a coy and smiling set of brother and sister, who were most interested in getting this piece of history captured on the camera. So I duly stood there and posed like a pro on the red carpet for the shutterbugs!
Lets keep this aside. Mom and Dad had come to pick me up at the airport and we subsequently drove down back to Ghar. Driving in Delhi roads is like driving a hot knife through cheese. Smoooooooooooth…
One new thing was the opening of the huge flyover on NH8 and the start of toll at the flyover. Had tons of rajma chawal for lunch followed by a quick power nap. In the evening went out with mom n dad to the mall and bought a pair of designed saris for my mom. It’s nice to see moms glow with pride and happiness in seeing their kids buy something for them. We called it a day with some coffee and hot chocolate at the Barista Café.
Sunday:
Woke up really really late. After all it was a Sunday. Had my customary cup of tea along with the newspaper (waah waah waah).. We had a late lunch and then rushed off to DSOI where we were scheduled to meet Shefali n her mom. Everything was in order till the time I managed to see the correct time on my ticket. I was under the assumption that the flight was at 8 and had told mom dad accordingly. All of a sudden I discovered that it was instead at 7. Thus started a hurry up process and so we rushed off to DSOI and almost immediately left for the airport where we had to catch a flight to Lucknow!!
More on this in the next blog!
End of Rotations: Shackling My Freedom!!!
So this is pretty much as vella as you can get. Well I am on the verge of finishing my one year rotation (read complete uselessness). I have been completely futile and have not contributed a single penny to the banks top line, but have created a major dent on the bottom-line..
So how do I feel? Well for one, I am wondering if its just rust on me, or have I been left fatally incapable of putting in hard work. Past one year, that too after the hectic MBA regime, has been a cake walk, or for that matter, only a cake, no walk at all! But now as I look forward to joining capital market sales, I am just wondering whether I can manage that or will be left puffing for breathe. But on the positive side, I feel a know thousands of people in the bank, having learnt from them and now will work with them. I feel I know more about the different aspects of banking than most people can ever imagine. How good it turns out to be in the long term will be seen only in long term!!!
So how do I feel? Well for one, I am wondering if its just rust on me, or have I been left fatally incapable of putting in hard work. Past one year, that too after the hectic MBA regime, has been a cake walk, or for that matter, only a cake, no walk at all! But now as I look forward to joining capital market sales, I am just wondering whether I can manage that or will be left puffing for breathe. But on the positive side, I feel a know thousands of people in the bank, having learnt from them and now will work with them. I feel I know more about the different aspects of banking than most people can ever imagine. How good it turns out to be in the long term will be seen only in long term!!!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Yesterday!! Surprise Surprise!!
Well yesterday was not really a special day, but there was something special about it.
Yesterday I booked a table at the Intercontinental in the morning for myself and Shefali at their renowned Kebab Corner. I kept Shefali totally out of the loop while doing so. It was only after I met her in the evening that I told her about eating out. Even then I told her that we would go to a cheap place in Marine Drive. And so it was nice to see her smile and be happy on finding that cheap place to actually be Intercontinental.
Personally I have been to places that have the ambience and places that have good food. This was one place that had both and that too in large volumes!
The Galawti Kebabs (Shefali’s Fave) were simply fantabulous, and so was the lamb stew. Finally we feb ourselves fat to some wonderful Mughlai Daal along with some Shahi Aaloo!
The place buzzed with activity. While I was doing the booking in the morning I was wondering if there was at all any need to do so on a Wednesday evening. I was expecting not more than 10% occupancy, but was astonished to infact find a waiting there!! Blessed be my foresight!!!
The sumptuous dinner was followed by a couple of pans on offer at the exit of the reception (Thank God they were free!!!)
Another hole in the pocket, but another evening well spent.
Yesterday I booked a table at the Intercontinental in the morning for myself and Shefali at their renowned Kebab Corner. I kept Shefali totally out of the loop while doing so. It was only after I met her in the evening that I told her about eating out. Even then I told her that we would go to a cheap place in Marine Drive. And so it was nice to see her smile and be happy on finding that cheap place to actually be Intercontinental.
Personally I have been to places that have the ambience and places that have good food. This was one place that had both and that too in large volumes!
The Galawti Kebabs (Shefali’s Fave) were simply fantabulous, and so was the lamb stew. Finally we feb ourselves fat to some wonderful Mughlai Daal along with some Shahi Aaloo!
The place buzzed with activity. While I was doing the booking in the morning I was wondering if there was at all any need to do so on a Wednesday evening. I was expecting not more than 10% occupancy, but was astonished to infact find a waiting there!! Blessed be my foresight!!!
The sumptuous dinner was followed by a couple of pans on offer at the exit of the reception (Thank God they were free!!!)
Another hole in the pocket, but another evening well spent.
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