HIS FIRST LOVE

This post is dedicated to one of my close friends Samir Thakkar . Before you scroll down thinking this to be an obituary, lemme warn you,this is not one!

Sam(that’s what we call him most of the time) is my classmate in MBA. I know this guy for some time now. Describing him is a cakewalk. He is a no frills attached-low maintenance-unassuming-brainy guy. The proverb ‘calm water,deep sea’ suits him to the tee. He talks less and allows his actions to do the talking. Our(Rupal, Payal,Divyesh and I) favourite pastime is to bully him and he is such a sweetheart that he doesn’t resist…or may be we don’t give him an option!

24th February 2010 is a historic day for him. I guess in his diary he will mark this day as a red letter day! Any guesses??!! Date , girl, job, score..??..?? it is believed that your happiness increases manifold when your LOVE is happy. On 24th February 2010, his LOVE created history. Did I tell you who his first love is? He is in love with his LOVE since last 20 years! Never misses a chance to follow his LOVE. Closely monitors his LOVE’s moves and yesterday his LOVE created history and the entire world watched his LOVE do that! Are you still guessing? Oh ..dont strain your brain much…his LOVE is none other than SACHIN TENDULKAR!!!

Sachin Tendulkar is his first LOVE, his passion! He calls him ‘the last action hero’. As a matter of fact he is one. Sam is a calm guy most of the time except when Sachin gets out. For him a cricket match ends the moment Sachin is out. I remember him telling once that he had gone to Chinnaswamy stadium, B’lore just to watch Sachin bat and came out when his innings was over! He even responded to the IDEA ad which flashed a particular phone number allowing people to talk to celebs, Sachin was one of them. I can write pages describing his madness for Sachin but I leave that to him. I am sure by now he would have posted something on his blog related to Sachin.

Currently I am not much into cricket but thanks to Payal and Sam I get forced regular updates about cricket matches. Somehow yesterday I was not aware about the cricket match. I happened to call him precisely in those moments when Sachin was nearing his double century. He picked up the phone and I started hearing commentary, not the match commentary but Sam’s commentary. Praising Sachin and cursing Dhoni, simultaneously. I was feeling sorry to have disturbed his reverie in those moments and offered to hang up which he dint hear probably, as he was busy describing his LOVE, Sachin! Finally after showering a million swear words on Dhoni, Sachin finally took the strike and then he reached the milestone, created history, he hit a double century! Needless to say, Sam was dancing, cheering. He was so over excited that on that moment he announced that he would be throwing a party to celebrate this feat. And gluttons we are! Today, we robbed him at Domino’s! He brought a cake written 200 on it! Nonetheless, the party was fun.
I really wonder whether he pays(or will pay) this much attention to his girlfriend…poor girl!

FEB FERVOR

The month of love, February, is here. Valentine’s day is just 6 days away. But the enthusiasm is cleary visible. People in love, irrespective of geographical location, are busy searching gifts for their loved ones. This fervor is infectious!

Last week I had accompanied one of my friends for a shopping spree to a local mall. Though initially I was reluctant for this expedition but she successfully coaxed me into accompanying her. We started with one of the popular retail outlets. There we shopped everything but the needed stuff! Afterall, girls will be girls ! Both of us ended up combing the entire store, purchasing lot of accessories. All said and done, I enjoyed. I ran out of finance, otherwise I would have indulged more.

As my friend dint get what she was looking for so we happily scootted off to the next mall. Wow!! By now I was totally loving it! That mall was splashed with red all over. What a tempting sight it was…hmmmm…Most of the shops had sale going on, perhaps keeping in mind the valentine season. We entered a gift shop and I was mesmerised from the very beginning. ..so many options to gift your loved ones. It was very tempting. I went around the store three times, every time telling myself…”control…controll…!!”
And congratulations to me …I dint spend in that mall!! But after this valiant fight with my greed..I ended up eating an overpriced ice cream and that too tasteless :(

All this while I was wondering that everybody is trying to please their partners….but is there any way one can irritate their partner so that he or she ends up ripping his/her hair apart??!!!??

If you guys get any innovative answers, please inform me. Otherwise keep reading my posts, I may dedicate one of the posts for this :)

Till then…wishing all you people in love and all those people who are yet to fall in love a happy valentine day :).

REPRESSION HIT!!

‘Repression’ was the flavor of the season thoughout year 2008-2009. Now before you drain your brains thinking what repression is, I will make the task easier for you. Repression,according to me, is nothing but Recession and Depression coming together. Repression managed to scare the daylights almost out of everybody. My term in MBA was smeared all over with repression. The initial half with negatives of repression and second half with positives of the same.

In the initial half I saw my seniors jobless. Companies were not hiring people citing recession, leading seniors into depression. Layoffs, cost cutting had become routine words in the vocabulary. Amidst all this chaos I was wondering my fate in my final year.But thankfully situation changed for the better. The economy revived bringing smiles to many gloomy faces.

Being a member of placement committee distributing placement bulletins to various firms is part of my job. I really enjoy doing this. The funny thing that I experienced is that wherever we went to distribute the bulletins, the recruiters were offering urgent openings. Which means we were in the pavillion(for the time being) and seniors were in the field! Its okay….all is well till now.

When recession was in full glory, most of the people were surviving on a shoestring budget. I remember, almost year ago, my friends and I were out for a lunch in a restaurant. The restaurant is sort of ok. But they seemed to be desperate to control their budget. They were offering tissue papers on demand only! Now I found that extremely hilarious…there were no tissue papers to fool around with. Desperate times calls for desperate measure. I don’t know whether currently that restaurant is out of recession or not..i never cared to go back.

Recently I was hanging out with my friends at a coffee shop in town. I have visited that place enough to remember most of its items mentioned in its menu card along with their prices! But this time they had a surprise in store. This shop, once upon a time, used to offer a medium sized cup brimming with coffee and covered with cream…delicious! Just the thought makes me drool …..mmm….ok now..coming back to coffee…But this time when that sizzling coffee came, I was rolling over my chair, laughing like crazy. Trust me friends….one look at the coffee and you would feel that the cup is screaming out loud…..I AM RECESSION HIT!!! The cup was one tiny weeny thing. You can barely manage to slip your index finger into its handle for the sake of holding it. I should say it was a peg of coffee and not a cup of coffee! That cup reminded me of my childhood days where I used to play with toy kitchen sets and had fake tea parties. I guess those cups were bigger than this! I wonder what else has been downsized there!!

These were some funny instances surrounding recession..will update more as and when I recollect them.

Getting started....

hello friends!!

this is my maiden entry to the world of blogging. It’s a funny situation now..coz now I don’t know what to write!! But there is always a first time to everything..so lemme get started..

I graduated in chemical engineering in 2008 and before I could sink into my vacation I was attending MBA classes! Life in MBA is much fun as compared to engineering. It seems engineering experience has made me a tough nut to crack. MBA proved many things, but one thing which stands out and that is..’come what may I wont change’! 8 semesters of engineering passed, 3 semesters of MBA passed as well and result is …well….cant u predict??!! I havnt changed a bit..i still do things on the last moment.

Year 2009 was a mixed year for me. But by God’s grace year 2009 ended on a positive note for me. I got placed through campus recruitment in one of the leading private sector banks. But thanks to ‘3 Idiots’ many people got gossip to satisfy their ‘sour grapes syndrome’. Today morning I read an article in TIMES OF INDIA which can probably open many closed eyes(if they don’t then ignorance is bliss). I am posting the article here..u guys can enjoy reading the article

BANKERS INC

Money has become probably the single most important aspect in the human struggle for existence in today’s materialistic world. Not surprisingly, careers related to money management are not only highly sought after, but also extremely rewarding. Thus it is not surprising to witness the popularity of banking.
While it may seem that banking as a career is open only to students of commerce or economics, nothing can be farther from the truth. “The banking industry has been recruiting people from all fields of education. The last few years have seen the recruitment of B.Tech and MBA students as an increasingly favoured trend. In fact, if a survey was to be carried out, it would be observed that professionally qualified people from other streams are employed in larger numbers in banks than commerce students” opines Amit Prakash, Assistant Manager at a public sector bank in Mumbai and a qualified MCA.
CAREER CHOICES
A banking career is no longer merely about cash transactions. Banks today,
offer a wide range of products and services. Says Rajesh Belani, a branch manager at HDFC Bank, “Banks today play the role of financial institutions that provide retail services to customers. There is no more any such thing as core banking. Banks have evolved into a kind of retail system where all services need to be offered under one roof.” A melange of choices is thus available to anyone who wants to take up a career in banking. Some options include the areas of general and branch banking, specialised financial services like treasury, credit, merchant banking, retail and institutional marketing and information technology. Banks are also increasingly looking to expand their operations into audit, corporate affairs, corporate secretariat, consumer banking, human resources, finance, compliance and assurance, procurement and vendor
management (PVM), corporate real estate services (CRES), risk management, group technology and operations (GTO) and wholesale banking. Undeniably, creating a huge demand for skilled manpower in theses areas. K.S. Prasanna, Divisional Manager, Canara Bank Merchant Banking says, “There is a general marketing thrust being given to merchant banking. Look out for openings in the areas of accounts, services, administration and operations.”
Banks have also got increasingly active in the areas of mutual funds, securitisation, credit cards, consumer loans, housing loans and trading in gold and forex. The need for professionals across the banking sector- whether public sector, foreign or multinational banks, has seen large-scale recruitment of MBA graduates, CAs and CFAs to enhance efficiency. The emergence of technology-driven new private banks has also created a demand for more professionals.
GETTING STARTED
While most banks don’t necessarily need a prospective employee to have prerequisite knowledge of banking, those
with some knowledge of or inclination towards finance are given preference. There are many jobs in banks that require only basic minimum educational qualification like graduation. However, some senior level positions demand specialisations in areas like project analysis, credit appraisal skills, managing huge loan portfolios and foreign exchange. Good computer skills are also almost always preferred. Public sector banks mainly recruit graduates for clerical posts on the basis of an all-India level examination. A separate test at the all-India level is conducted for recruitment of the cadre of officers in which candidates are chosen from amongst engineers, lawyers, doctors, etc. Private sector and foreign banks prefer professionals like MBAs, CAs, CFAs for junior positions who they recruit
through campus recruitment drives and interviews. At the senior positions, however, experienced bankers are preferred.
A lot of institutes now offer certificate courses in banking and related subjects. Some of these courses help one gain an edge in the industry. The Indian Institute of Banking and Finance offers various options like e-learning, coaching classes, professional development programmes and certification in professional competency standards. The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology offers numerous programmes to private and public sector candidates aimed at strengthening their base in the banking and finance sector and keeping them up-to-date with technological advances in the field. Besides these, the National Institute of Bank Management¸ Indira Gandhi National Open University, University of Madras, The Aligarh Muslim University, Maharishi Dayanand University, Gujarat University, Utkal University, Annamalai University, SNDT Women's University, University of Rajasthan and Manipur University are a few other universities that offer such certificate courses. A lot of banks nowadays also hold their own training programmes for new candidates. “We put new recruits through on-the-job training and every candidate is expected to undertake a minimum of one week’s training”, says Belani. Prasanna supports the fact that most banks now prefer to have new candidates go through their own training programme post-selection.
SUITABLE SKILLS
“A prospective candidate needs to be well versed with market conditions. A lot depends on how well he is able to pitch the services of the bank to a customer. Good interpersonal skills and an aggressive, confident approach to tackling problems, hence are essential,” reveals Belani. Prasanna agrees, “An individual must possess the right aptitude and a lot of interest in the work along with the willingness to learn on the job. Marketing talent too proves important.”
In general, banking entails a large number of interpersonal relationships; hence good sales and communication skills combined with analytical skills, an ability to synthesise and a sense of initiative are desired. Banks prefer candidates with some basic accounting skills and strong work ethics. Also, since most banking jobs have long working hours, desirous candidates must be prepared to put in hard work and have the ability to withstand long work hours.
MONEY MATTERS
Private sector banks generally offer pay packages with a strong emphasis on performance through variable bonuses. According to Belani, money is not an issue in this industry, especially if the candidate is deserving. While basic salaries range between Rs 25000 to Rs 30000 a month for officers, performancebased incentives can be as high as a twelve month basic salary as well.
Pay-scales in nationalised banks are governed by the Reserve Bank of India and the Pay Commission of the Finance Ministry. Here too, the range of salaries is very attractive and is based on a scale system. While staff at a lower-scale earn between Rs 10000 - Rs 18000 a month, officers on a higher scale can draw anything in the range of Rs 20000 - Rs 26000. High officer cadres can earn up to around Rs 32000 per month. In addition to the monetary packages, some banks also offer leased housing facilities, medical and health insurance and loan options.
WIDENING AVENUES
D Gautam, management trainee at a public sector bank in Mumbai opines that there is a strong policy against lateral hires. He says, “Public sector banks favour promoting people through the ranks. However, no such restrictions prevail in private sector banks where good performance is usually rewarded on time by way of attractive bonuses and promotions.” Moreover, given the scale of operations of most banks today, one has the opportunity to explore the various departments and aspects of banking in a relatively shorter time.
Having said that, it is wise to conclude that the banking sector provides a steady path for growth and handsome salaries for aspiring candidates.