A day in life of NUS MBA Sem 2 student

the day starts snoozing the alarm atleast twice... to wake up for the class... and always late.. with exception of not-wanting-to-sing-in-due-to-late class...

and the first call of the day to find someone to get hot cuppa of caffeine from Toscana or the double shot of tea from Edward..

and to the mail first thing as you enter... the chatting between classes... snoozing behind lappies... waiting for the breaks... the quickie breaks... sometimes too long...

the lunches wid pals and the more important decision of where to have lunch... will it be chappatti at PGP or curd rice at Engineering or the same old feta cheese sandwich at the Terrace... or do we have the courage to patiently wait for Aunty at the Deck?

the discussions on random topics... planning the schedule for the day... involuntarily heading towards the lounge..

picking up the free FT copy... browsing through pages... not before you think submissions are more important than news... FT goes in bag... and, two days later on the dining table you again read same paper when its being used as table mat...

finding the right place to study... and ultimately there is no right place... dont blame me... the facebook and gtalk are the culprits...

and random sessions with random set of people everyday... pretending to study / work on project.. or most times applying for internship.... ultimately ending up laughing... arbit BC sessions... and a few times on silliest of PJs... Hey, I am still the King? Where art thou, Catalyst?

a quick nap in the lounge... finding people sleepin next to you when you wake up... the most uncomfortable positions but to find yourself fresh like never before... and then again a customary visit for stimulant and a bite... and then vowing never to eat Fries and Butter croissants...

Preparing for evening class and rushing to get free food... complaining about same old ugly food and black tea... meeting new interesting set of people (PT guys)... and wonder how they manage MBA, work and family?

then more importantly deciding for dinner after the class... Night Canteen? Noooooooooo... I hate the food... Subway? Can Can... But, Dadi's is shut my friend and Rangoli is quite expensive... Ok, no one will eat Maggi... I will cook for all...

And then the cooking marathons.... 3 people 3 recipes 1 dish! Kuch bhi daalo.. edible hota hai... But I dont put onions... HOW can you cook without onions?? And the flaring up of temper (and the invention of bullish levels... and VIX and Emerging Markets)... The daal and 'mummy ka masala'... relishing every bite (or sip in case of daal)... Of Khanne's delicious food... sometimes the same old khichdi or dalma... And then The Great Emperor claiming "daag jaata hi nahi".. like just out of Vim ad...

A small walk may be... Or hooking on to lappies to check the missed activity of last 4 hours on facebook and gtalk... trying to read for next day's class... group activity for pre reads as well.... getting surprised at "me off" ping at 1 AM! Hey, badhu normal che ne?

Crashing off at 2:30 and to realise that it was another day gone! I again did nothing! I better get started now! But wait, the terms dont start before 2 weeks! Got some time... will start after the presentation next Wednesday... sure thing!

And then came an end to the period which I would describe one of the best ever quarter in my life! Cheers to the Sem 2 of NUS MBA!

Collective Responsibility - An Utopia? Not quite!

When people are cribbing about their groups not working efficiently and spending hours on worthless meeting and suffering from improper work allocation and say more than 4 is a crowd, I proudly stand up and say my economics group should be ideal group!

Group members: Ram, Rahul, Saurabh, Suhas, Abhishek, Pavithra and Me.
Number of Assignments Done: 6
Number of Presentations: 2
Number of group meetings: 2
Strategy: Believe in each other to complete the work much before deadline.

Volunteering or Free Riding? I would I say was almost free rider and that was a guilt factor. But I would go ahead and say that we never allocated work to anyone. No one was leader. No one was responsible. Everything was voluntary. To put it in three simple emails which used to come to prior to every submission.
"Done. Please Check"
"Checked and corrected."
"Uploaded"

We collectively knew that someone will do it and we had full faith in ourselves.

Today, when we sit in class after receiving standing ovation from Prof after presentation, I am really really proud to be part of this group. Rarely, in future I will be working in this kind of group - hard working, intelligent, smart, work-horses, and most important who believe in collective responsibility!

Just to end with a quote which we have proved otherwise - "Everyones Responsibility Is No Ones Responsibility" - Not quite True!