Congratulations to the Darden team for winning the Entrepreneur's Choice Award at the Northeast Regional Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) hosted by NYU on March 6, 2009.
Huan Tran, Gunjan Shukla, Matthew Gunther, Kevin Martin and Matthew Fedors represented Darden. Six teams competed to advance to the finals. Darden team is pictured below.

An Indian IT Consultant’s (read: the most ordinary applicant to B-schools) guide to B-school : Preface

Now that my journey to land in a top B-school (or should I call an A school :-) if Darden is so great ) has ended and catalyzed the beginning of another phase in my life, I have decided to assimilate my experiences and present those to you.
Thou shall find the collective manuscript of this fulfilling but arduous voyage which demands diligence yet is driven by destiny.
I promise that I would try to extract the coarse part of this ride from the usual glimmer and shimmer of b-school and try to present an unbiased picture.

I wrote this pre-text because I wanted to know if some of you have specific questions about B-school which I can try to respond to in my post.

Will come back next week with a genuine attempt to write my ode to B-school.

Till then have fun and take care,
GUNjan

What You Got?

“Hello…this is ****, how can I help you”
“I bought a phone with wireless internet service from you guys, I bought data cable to connect the same to my PC and access Internet but it’s not working.”
“Ok…click on the installation file”
“I did”
“Now what you got”
“Well, I have gone through several steps of installation and am stuck on the one where it recognizes the data cable”
“OK, now what you got”
“Just told you, I am stuck on the installation window which says it can not recognize any COM port on my machine, whereas I am trying to install a USB data cable”
“OK click ‘OK’ on that dialogue box, now what you got”
“If I will click on this dialogue window, I will go back to installation window…right ( angry )”
“OK, no what you got”
“Just told you I AM BACK TO WHERE I WAS STUCK (very angry #$^%%$&^^)”
“Why didn’t you buy the correct phone”
“Dude, what does it have to do with the phone, where I am trying to install the data cable( now very very angry)”
“I think you got wrong cable”
“Sitting there, just by speculation you can tell me I have wrong cable ( can I get a gun, knife…something….#$^%%$&^^%#@$#@$^&) “
“Go to our service center and get your phone and data cable checked, possibly buy a new one”
“New one …this is a new one”

This was the ultimate conversation between me and a Reliance ‘Tech Support’ guy.
Instead of looking at the reasons of inability of installing a modem and drivers, he told me to buy a new phone and cable.
Reliance….that’s what Dhirubhai named his company, which didn’t seem to justify on not one but many occasions.
I agree that when a company’s customer base increases, such issues are inevitable but that’s where our companies have to learn and improvise.
Good customer service is the centripetal force for creating the circle of trust among consumers.
We need ethical, motivated and sincere professionals and corporate giants like Reliance will be instrumental in achieving that.

Neo will say that I am rephrasing my corporate standards baloney but I mean it.
We are boasting to be champion of services then we need champion workforce.
“it’s ok” attitude will only lead us to “ what you got”

Dedicated to Suresh and Vasudha...two of my good friends who are getting married


it's overwhelming
it's chaste
it's exhilarating
it's mad
it's luscious
it's sour
it's pain
it's power
it's mesmerizing
it's innocent
have seen all shades of love
but crossing path with such a journey
is heartening and fortunate
Wish to see you two not just as friends,
companions and partners in crime
but cherishing the togetherness
till last bottle of wine
Will never find Suresh in his zone
Coz with Vasudha he can live a thousand years alone…
A thousand years alone…..a thousand years alone

Thought it would be another film
but it turned out to overwhelm
remembered again who he was
Gandhi was not another political farce
I wandered and looked for him in vain
an altruist saw my pain
told me Gandhi is resting today in circuit house
seeing the security around made me proud
even an army will fail the bout
confused, dazed I said Bapu where are your dhoti and glasses
he shouted, are you a fool
I have perfect eyes and dressing sense
take off your stereotypical lens
world has changed and so have I
fought a lot for you and now I want to touch the sky
who knows if they will choose me again
I have homes to build and wealth to gain
public knew my agenda in election
it had 5 roads, 3 trains and more reservation
but those so called intellectuals celebrated a holiday
and rest were forced to sway
that Gandhi took years to empower you
this Gandhi will take no time to overpower you
disgusted, ashamed I left
saw Godsey walking around the corner and shouting loud
I committed a havoc earlier but this time I will make you proud
this time I will make you proud....

“What are you so indulged in nowadays?”
“Well Neo, I am preparing my business school applications”
“Great, so what do you want to achieve by pursuing MBA?”
“Jeez, do I have to communicate my short term and long goals to you too Neo?”

“Well, I am just trying to evaluate your desire on the scale of your dreams and passions”
“You know about my dreams of becoming an entrepreneur and serving the community.”
“Yeah, yeah…basically you just want to be ‘someone’”

“No things which I want to do, I don’t need to be a ‘someone’. I can still work for the community, pursue my professional goals but
I want to step at a higher level to be able to act at a broader level”

“Here we go, you want to be the man.”
“Being the man is not that important, being exposed to more resources at such positions makes it desirable for me”

“You don’t need to prove yourself to anyone, Bill Gates might be exhibiting profound interest in curing deadly diseases and
showering money on numerous charity organizations but a nurse serving in a hospital and a teacher tutoring orphans contribute no less to society than he does”

“I Agree but that doesn’t suggest that we ignore his contribution either and what about the jobs these so called capitalists create, can that be not metamorphosed into service to community?”

Neo won’t answer anymore …I won’t argue…what do you think?

Until next time…have fun and take care

they divided us
made one divine
pronounced another untouchable
said God embraces some
but mourned existence of others
generations in shackles
ignorant lives
but we woke up
dust on our minds washed up
I saw his mother
working chores for others
hoping he can see the sunshine
we just have different names
I thought he was the same
friends forever
we said to each other
wanting to touch the sky
youth personified
enthralled, exuberant
we paved our way to harbor
but they patted his back and pushed mine
said credentials are not our glass of wine
I met him again
he had books and I carried pain
burning effigies and shouting with disdain
they divided us again