The Week gone by

The last week was hectic and I like the kind of life where in you have no time to breathe and you have a new task at your hands or planned for you the moment you complete one. That’s my way of thinking and I am pretty sure that many won’t agree with me.

Well in all these things and life going on, I have decided to take up something, which I had in mind for long and I am working in that direction. Last week, I did attend the “MBA Tour” @ Taj Residency and was fortunate to attend a few open house sessions. The talks were informative and the teams from various schools were able to give to clear and crisp picture of what the program is all about and related matters. What struck me most was that, they were very frank and clearly stated facts and never gave a rosy picture and an imaginative world someone expects to land in. I had informal interview/talk sessions with 3 Universities and they impressed with my profile and I found the interaction interesting and something positive came out of all this but its too early to say anything.

The drive and the quest is still on.

Well all these bring to light, one question: “Why are US Schools coming to Indian Shores”.
After the Indian Diaspora based in the United States have proved their capabilities, brilliance, talent, acumen and credibility in the field of engineering, science, medicine and law, a new wave has just started.

What’s that?

Of late, India has started capturing the imagination of top business schools in the United States. Catch tomorrow's global leaders and hard sell them the India story today. That seems to be the slogan.Check the list for the Indians who have recently made it to the list of most influential business thinkers.(Source:Thinkers50).Most of the schools I spoke to say of the large number of the international students from Asia most are generally from India and China and this is a new phenomenon in the business education per se.

Over the last 2 years, leading business schools like Kellogg, Harvard, Stanford and Wharton have organised annual India trips to familarise their students with the world's fastest growing democracy. More than a dozen Indian companies now figure as case studies at these schools, and now the latest trend is for business schools to organise India specific conferences.

I spoke to the student’s advisor, an old lady from the University of Washington and she asked me so many questions and when I answered those she used to analyse those and ask me more. The talk though very informal centered around three points:

a.The emergence of the Indian economy on the global scene in spite of so many problems, (even she didn’t forget to hint at the Bangalore traffic and was zapped when I gave her some information.)

b.The important role in the decoupling of services from where work is done and where it is delivered keeping the 24/7 business clock ticking.

c.This was very personal and that was age factor. She asked me is it something inscribed/engraved in the mindset of Indians that at a very early age we want to do so many things and then are we not “ageing” early when we should be enjoying life. Well she was never against me being 25,but she said she was asking this out of her inquisitiveness and has seen this trend/pattern across all Indian students.

I simply loved the discussion, though I miss those kinds of talk in my day-to-day life. People who can understand your point of view and then state their viewpoint and you have a healthy discussion. Someone who can point out your flaws and follies and speak it bluntly on your face “lagta hai you need improvement in this area” and share their vast repository of maturity and real life experience.

Have loads to blog and will do that soon and that’s a promise. I have become addicted to blogs and when at times I am not able to do justice to this, I feel something missing.Whatever may be the case, I read blogs regularly during the lunch break or when work becomes monotonous (Rashmi,Sujatha,Amit,Gaurav,Sanchzo and Kuntal,so junta keep blogging).

Shine on and remain connected.