Course has started....

My actual B-school course with lectures started..on Tuesday 27th May..with lectures on Financial Accounting, Organisational Behaviour and Quantitative Techniques...all three on one day..the lectures were really heavy dose of management stuff..
Initially the lecture seemed Greek-latin to me..but after some time it started making sense..After the lectures we came to know that we had to submit FA assignment on Thursday morning 9 am, there is a quiz on Tuesday on OB..thankfully nothing in QT..
Tuesday night sat till late to complete FA assignment..came back to room to read OB..i think they have dissolved sleeping pills in the OB book paper..2 mins read the book and fell asleep...very soundly asleep.. :)

Next day, Wednesday i.e. today morning had to rush since we had 4 lectures today...starting 9:30 am...there were 2 lectures of FA, then QT and finally quiz and then OB lecture..
FA was interesting since I was exposed to the raw side of accounting..

QT was the same old mathematics stuff...so was feeling really sleepy...in the start it was very difficult to control sleep and concentrate..so hit upon the novel idea to see around the class..and I could see atleast 2 of my friends sleeping in the lecture...I could hardly control my laughter watching them sleep..and that really awakened me..then started concentrating on QT lecture which was actually very good..the prof was putting lot of energy in the class..

Then came the dreaded quiz today at 3:30 pm...kuch padha nahi tha..did not know a word..but the quiz was all about common sense..so attempted the questions as they came...10 mins quiz wrapped it up in 5 mins..and went off to rest room...

OB lecture started after the quiz..i dont know what to say about OB..sometimes it seems to me as Psycho stuff...and it actually is...while flipping thru OB book came to know that OB is derived from Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology & political science...now why it is like that i dont know..but the lectures of OB are fun..say anything and the prof will support you and start a new thought of discussion...also you gotta keep saying something since there are points for class participation...in short "bakwaas karo aur marks pao..." seems to be the motto of the whole class including me :)

After the class..checked the quiz marks..there were scores of 10 and 6...I thought i had scored 6 but that was class average..i had actually scored 10 out of 10 in the quiz...was pleasantly surprised..

Came back to hostel and slept for an hour to prepare myself for the long night ahead.. :)I proved right this time and it actually turned out to be late making balance sheet for a hypothetical company till 2am in the night..assignment for FA...I still had to prepare for OB quiz tomo and FA class alongwith QT quiz day after..shit man thats lot of work still to do and here I am blogging all the way.. :)

~kushaal

Desert Safari..

The desert trip was supposed to start at 3:30..and it got postponed to 4..thankfully some time to rest after the medical test...come on now even half an hour makes a lot of diff... :)There were around 133 of us for the trip so there were 3 buses for us..

The bus trip was short and sweet and we reached the desert soon..Then we entered the four wheel drive car for sand dune bashing to reach the camp in the middle of the desert..
Sand dune bashing was awesome..in my car there was Ashwath, Ishita, Vinay, Uday, Julie and Shruti. I dont remember the driver's name but he was from "Peshawar"..Then started absolute fun for next 15 or so minutes..The highs, the lows, the skids and the crash into sand dunes were all there..well shruti was the loudest in cheering and that really boosted the ego of the driver who decided to give us a little longer trip..with more jerks in the cars..

Finally we reached the camp..then started the photo session for Orkut..after some time it got boring and the gang decided to do race..we were really dumb on this..'cos our racing tracks passed the tracks of the cars..we did not notice this..I was the judge and I officiated the race..the loser was supposed to be buried in the sand...Uday, Ashwath, Vinay, Shruti and Ishita started running very fast down the slope..all of a sudden we could see..Humpty Dumpty Shruti and Ishita giving 90 degrees fall in the sand..too cool stunts..unfortunately not captured in camera..well we did not even need to bury the losers in the sand..they were already in it :)thankfully not seriously hurt..

Now comes the interesting part..we could see the other group of cars coming and they were all headed for us..we were sitting on the Car tracks of sand bashing..total phat gayi...in the cars were our friends sitting who were encouraging the drivers to just bash us instead of the sand..even bribing them :P...we ran at top speed through the sand to reach the top of the hill and we were safe..one great stunt for the day..

After this came the camel ride....i think they were "HE" camels 'cos whenever the girls went near them..they went ahead to kiss them ;)..really freaked out the girls..finally the girls were no more fun then the camels decided to explore try new options..so it was guy's turn to be surprised..After the short trip, well the camel ride was really short..only meant for photo session..but it was fun..

Now we had option to do racing on quad bikes..30 AED for 15 minutes..well since we did not have license to drive in Dubai we decided against it...just kidding...license is not required in the middle of the desert.. :DWe saw a Quad bike just parked near the fence..apna Indian dimaag chalu...photo session karo..and send it to friends..that i was driving quad bikes in desert.. :)

After that we decided to go towards the camp...no the belly dancers had not come..there was a "HUMMER" parked there..phir se photo session chalu..photo with HUMMER in all angles..top view, side view, even bottom view :)Finally, we models were really tired posing and decided to take rest for some time..and explore the camp..

In the camp were dresses of Arab people..male as well as the female..phir kya tha...guys and girls started wearing them and then photos of the ARAB couples started getting clicked..left and right..Inside that attire it was freaking hot..5 mins and I was sweating..2-3 photos and I was out of the dress

Viewing around..we decided to walk up the hill to get the whole view of the camp...well the climb was steep and thats when we realised..apna stamina kitna hai..i guess we are really getting old real fast :)eventually we reached the top and it was worthwhile..awesome view..coming down was really easy.. :)

Some enthu people in our batch started singing...you know what it takes to start a mandli..4-5 Indians and 3-4 Fosters can is all it takes to bring out all the songs of Hindi films...some foreigners were really dumbstruck as to what we were doing...they started filming them..rest of us were used to this back at home so it was normal for us...

Tried out the "Sheesha" which was there..did not really like it..so just hung around there...observing people around..some people were getting "High" out of even sheesha and started singing over there also.. :)

There was a counter where girls were applying henna..even guys were getting designs of Henna done on their arms..I had a small design of Sun done on my Arm..which I removed it soon as it started to itch after some time so I washed it off..

Finally came the dinner announcement, we were all famished...food was good but I finished it very quickly since the "Belly Dance" was about to start...
"Belly Dance" - It was too good and it is very difficult to describe it here...no words can do justice to it...you have to be there to experience it...The belly dancer pulled some guys and girls from our batch on to the stage..well there were some foreigners but our batch of 130 people really dwarfed them out..i think they were some 30 in number..initally they were shy and then even they started rocking to the tune..

Phir kya tha..it was ride back home..we were really exhausted..the spirits were still soaring..The trip ended on a high and now ready to hit the course..
The whole desert safari trip was awesome..100 AED thats something like Rs. 1200 for the trip was fullto paisa vasool..

~kushaal

Medical test..

After 2 weeks of stress and previous sleepless night, we finally got a day off before the course was supposed to start off...but then batch co-ordinator scheduled Medical Test for Dubai Student Visa for us..

So again I had to wake up at 8 in the morning and leave for the test..Now the tragedy of all the things happened...but seems normal to me....got used to this kind of things in the last 2 weeks..nothing surprises me anymore..

The batch co-ordinator gave our medical test address to the driver as KV center which is more than 2 hours drive from here..whereas our actual medical test was in Quasis[which is just 30-45 minutes drive] as mentioned on our form..so from 8 to 10 we were in the sleeping like morons in the bus..

Finally when we reached and checked at the medical center we realised the goof up..so then it was journey back to quasis which turned out to be very near to our hostel...so if we had gone to Quasis in the first place, things would have got wrapped in 2 hours..instead of more than 6 hours out of which 4 hours were in the bus..

Medical Test..well it was the same as before in Muscat..Blood test..big needle in the vein to suck out the blood..and the X-Ray..I was the last person for both the things..instantly got famous among the batch of 28 people who were waiting for my test to get over... :)

Well next blog is on desert safari trip

Journey to Dubai- SPJCM

I was on Cathay Pacific flight to Dubai on 13th May at 2020...I was flying to Dubai by night flight...I had landed in Mumbai just 2 weeks back from Muscat...and here again I was travelling to Middle east...

well after the usual send off from my family..I proceeded towards the luggage check-in area...now i was anxious about my luggage weight..usually it is 20 to 30kgs depending on the airlines..plus 7 kgs cabin luggage..so I asked the person on the counter - How much is the maximum luggage allowed? He saw my luggage and asked me to first keep the luggage on the weighing scale..Guess the weight of my luggage - 13.5 kgs..even on adding my hand luggage it was 17.5 kgs..I could see the person trying to conceal a laughter..he somehow managed to tell me to just checkin the luggage.

After which I proceeded towards Immigration..On seeing my passport stamped multiple times for Work permit to Muscat..he asked me..
why are you going to Dubai?
I replied..with cliche answer..to study Global MBA in SPJCM...

He again asked..are you sure?
I replied..Sir I have paid 12 lac fees..
Then he replied..All the Best and stamped my passport and asked me to proceed towards waiting area..

Here I saw some folks of my age..I guessed that they were of sp jain which eventually turned ou right..At one time I thought of approaching them and starting up a chat...but there was so much going on in my mind..that I decided against it..

Luckily the Cathay pacific flight departed on time and it was as good as Emirates airlines..which I used to fly back from Muscat.
Just when i thought it was going smooth and I can drift of to sleep, a woman with her young toddler came and sat next to me..I am not sure whether the young toddler took a liking to me or just for the fun of it..she decided to test my extreme level of patience..after some time i felt it was fun and I started playing along...usually I fall asleep after the flight takes off but this was the only flight where I was awake the whole time...

while playing with the toddler I even managed to eat the nice meal and to see National Treasure 2..It was good movie..talk about multi tasking starting before the MBA course :)

In just a little more than 2 hours, I landed in Dubai smoothly..then started the usual immigration process..walking thru the line..finally getting the stamp to enter Dubai..Finally when I reached the line to collect my luggage, I realised that Murphy really rules my life..so I had to stand till the end for my luggage to arrive.. :)

Fortunately my habit of travelling light really helped, started walking quickly towards the exit with my luggage..On exiting the hot drier of air hit me and I finally realised that I have reached back in Middle East..Found the SPJCM driver standing outside with my name on the list..On enquiring I came to know that I was the first person out..strange!!so then i decided to enter the airport again and collect SIM card to call home...obviously first call after receiving the card was to home..

Finally all the SPJCM students arrived..my batch-mates and we proceeded towards the cab..to go to Hostel..The luggage on other folks was unbelievable...so huge suitcases..cant even describe here....I started getting complex with my tiny, light suitcase in front of them.. :)

The roads and general surrounding seemed like Muscat...very little difference...good roads and flyovers...was getting the Deja vu feeling of having come here already..

Finally I reached the hostel totally exhausted....got the room alloted and went towards the room with my luggage..The room though small in size had all the amenities..none of my roomies were there..i guessed they would be arriving the next day morning..just crashed on one of the beds and before I knew it dreams started flowing in my head..
Next day the remaining roomies Jay, Ashwath, Ashish and Dharmesh checked in to the room and the six month stay in Dubai started..

~kushaal

Blog Name - GIMBA08??

Well you must be wondering..Blog name as GIMBA??
Sounds different...but why GIMBA...well in the first 2 weeks here...we came to know that we will be learning lot of business jargons as part of the course...and also lot of B-school lingos...

Each B-school tries to differentiate itself...so different words in SPJCM...

Which batch do you belong to?
I am from SPJCM GMBA May 2008 batch...sounds so boring and even annoying..
Well our seniors were smart and creative...and they changed GMBA to GIMBA..

So I am part of GIMBA May 08 batch..Sounds more cooler
and hence the name of the blog...GIMBA08
Now we have the name set...the blogs about the course are on their way..

~kushaal

Hello

Hello Friends,

This is my first blog...i am not an avid blogger...but it is getting very difficult updating my friends about my SP Jain GMBA experience every week so I have decided to start blogging...

there is so much happening all around me...that I am finding difficult to keep track of it...forget about remembering them few years down the line..

so I think blogging is the best way to recollect my days in SPJCM...I intend to keep updating with this blog with my experience here..so that you can share my emotions and experience of being in SPJCM GMBA 08 batch...

your encouragement is the fuel to keep my blogging alive...so please add your comments or tips on my blogs..that will also help me improve my blogging skills :)

Cheers,
Kushaal