Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Football Update

Arsenal's form has been very patchy over the course of the last few matches. Patchy enough for even the most die hard of supporters to have their doubts.

The draw with Portsmouth which finished 2-2 was the latest in the series of points dropped at home. On the positive side the team came down from 2-0 down to pump in a couple of quick goals that saved the day.

Don't what to expect this season. We're well and truly out of the Premier League race. We have a chance in the Champions League and the FA Cup. Hoping for the best. I'm hoping that the team doesn't do an encore of the season final day photo finish to qualify for the Champions League for next year. If we are able to do it successfully it will still be a good season.

All the same it's great the see the young talent coming through. Adebayor whom people had slated even before he came to Arsenal is finally showing the naysayers what he is capable of. Still has to improve some aspects of his game but his progress ever since he's arrived at Arsenal has been amazing :) .... Possibly another feather in Arsene Wenger's Cap.

Carling Cup match against Liverpool scheduled for today....the youngsters like Denilson, Merida ,Traore should be getting a tryout...hope it is a good match :)

6th Term

Back in campus for the 6th and the final term of the MBA. With the amount of workload I've been under haven't been able to really sit back and relax. Have planned to do it this term :D

Will get to it as soon as I'm done with the Financial Engineering Exam scheduled for tomm, Fixed Income Project report, Society Business & Management project presentation, Financial Engineering individual and group assignments all scheduled to be submitted this week and of course not forgetting the Treasury Paper due on 30th. Once these are done then maybe i can think of a rest :D

Cheers

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Arsenal 3 : Liverpool 0

Forgot to mention this in the last post.

Good win against liverpool with Flamini, Gallas and Toure getting the goals......looks like things are back on track after the hiccups against Everton and West Ham :)

Now for the UCL matches.... :)

Cheers

Monday, November 13, 2006

Ashwamedha 2006

IRIS 2006 ended yesterday with a great performance from Parikrama and Silk Route......I'm not a fan of Heavy Metal but the performance by Parikrama was really good.

Will remember this edition of IRIS for a long long time to come. Being a part of the organising team of Ashwamedha has been a really enjoyable experience......was hard work for the better part of 2-3 months ...but it all felt worth it when everything that was planned went off exactly as per schedule with absolutely no glitches.

Was great working with the Team Ashwamedha .....Thanks guys .....Unforgettable experience :)

Cheers,

PS: Detailed posts on how life has been at I soon :D

Monday, October 23, 2006

Campus Update

Almost halfway through the fifth term now and time is really flying by. The next two weeks promises to be exciting times on campus with preps for our B-School fest going on in right earnest. More details on www.iimi-iris.com

Fifth term will also be over soon and then it will be just one more term before we graduate to become MBA's and enter the corporate world.

When I first came here 2 years seemed a long long time and I wondered how I would manage. Moreso because it was my first time outside Mumbai and also hostel life.But as the 2 years come to a close I must say that these have been some of the best experiences i've ever had.
Had our fair share of hectic schedules, plethora of projects and submissions and exams. But apart from all that campus life has been one great experience and have made some great friends in the process.

Haven't blogged regularly...but probably will compensate for that with a detailed account of the MBA so far .......soon :)

Cheers,

Arsenal 4: Reading 0

After the disappointment of the midweek loss to CSKA Moscow Arsenal came back strongly to demolish Reading 4:0.

Henry (2), Helb and van persie all were on target as the Gunners made light work of Reading. This was a team which gave both Man Utd and Chelsea a tough time but with the kind of form the Gunners are in they did not stand a chance.

It's great to see Rosicky and Helb linking up ever so well. Fabregas has made the midfield his own and the defence looks rock steady. Things have never looked so good :). Hoping the run of wins continues

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Football Update :)

Arsenal are on a roll after that horrific start to the season. 6 wins out of 6 in all competitions and the Gunners are steamrolling their way to the top of the premiership :)

Great to see the young talent coming through.....Walcott had a debut yesterday and he looks like the successor to Henry...All the others especially Rosicky, Hleb, Fabregas and Gallas are looking better and better with each passing game.

Here's hoping that the string of wins continues :)

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Campus Update

This is very unusual from my side....2 posts back to back :D ....but there is always a first

We're in the thick of the fifth term here at Indore. Promises to be a very busy term what with all the Finance courses that I've taken. Going by the books that are being given out this term is not going to be easy at all atleast for the finance guys on campus. Besides academics we also have Iris our B-School fest this term and preparations for that are going on in full throttle.

Second year is not as easy as it is sometimes made out to be but then it's not all that bad either :D.

On the non academic front we have also started a social interest group called Pragat-I here in IIM I. Basically what we do is teach the youth in and around the villages around our campus. We've started with teaching them the basics of english and hope to move on to other things later. We've finished with the first few classes and things going great on that front.

Hoping this initiative continues at IIM I. I've always loved teaching young kids and these classes take me back to my time at NASEOH where we taught Physically challenged kids. Although Sunday was just about one free day in the week for most of us we enjoyed going to NASEOH and spending a couple of hours teaching and interacting with the kids. Their enthusiasm was really something we could learn from.

Lot of people do question our reasons for doing this.....Maybe it won't change them much but I still believe that whatever time we spend with them and interact with them makes a difference for them and they really appreciate it.

Guess the following email from one of the students at NASEOH sums it up for me......initially he barely could speak English or use computers.....The email below sent by him was one of his very first

" Hi wayne sir,

How are you, are you fine previous day you celebrity your birthday
but i dont no that last week was your birthday many - many happy return of the day god bless you. Next year i will first wish you
you tach very well really nice to met you and your friends. "


Cheers

Finally an update :)

The long dormant blog finally sees an update and no prizes for guessing why :D

The Big match happened on Sunday and Arsenal beat Man Utd 1-0 at the Man Utd fortress Old Trafford. Before the match everyone had written Arsenal off because of the large spate of injuries and the none too exciting form they were playing in. People were discussing the quantum of defeat that Arsenal would suffer without even giving them a chance. As one of the few Arsenal fans on campus (and in India i think :D) it was a tough time facing the comments on the poor performance.

And then the big match happened......Was a match full of ups and downs and a huge number of errors on both sides....Arsenal missed a penalty in the first half and that was not really a good sign....with the match coming to the 85th minute without any goal being scored most of us had resigned ourselves to a draw. And then Fabregas with a pure flash of inspiration made a run inside the box and gave a superb pass to Adbayor who made no mistake :D.

Normally am a person who does speak much but take some liberties when it comes to football :D ..... I think my reaction to the goal being scored was something worth watching and most people in the common room were surprised :D. But then I'm a die-hard supporter of the Arsenal and this win really meant something. Had a great time after that talking to all the Man Utd fans who had written the team off before the match.

So finally hope to get the season underway albeit a bit late in the day :)

Update on campus life in my next post which will be posted shortly :)


Cheers

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Life in PGP 2

First post after coming back to campus for the Second year (and yes also because someone reminded me that I had a blog yesterday).

It's been one month after coming back....With the pace of activities here time just flies by before you even realise it.

When I first arrived at campus for the start of PGP 2...was expecting a fairly easy life....and the first 3-4 days on campus did nothing to dispel that belief. But now that most of the 4th term electives have started....things don't look too easy. In fact if i look at it PGP1 is actually having an easier time compared to what we are going through right now.

The Junior batch as come in as well...this time the batch strenght has increased to 180 as compared to 120 earlier. Suddenly the campus looks a lot more crowded :D. We had the PGP 1 having their Talent Night yesterday.....most if not all the performances were excellent to say the least...all the more commendable given the fact that they had a most just 2 days to prepare amidst classes/assignments etc :D

The Rainy season has set in on campus....and the campus is looking lush green and the view from the hilltop is just great :) ..... a relief from the hot summers in Mumbai.

Coming to my favourite topic..Football

Eagerly looking forward to the start of next season of EPL. One of the main reasons being Arsenal will be moving to their new stadium at Ashburton Grove. From what i've seen of the initial pics of the stadium....the atmosphere there would be just fantastic.

Arsenal have made one major signing in the form of Tomas Rosicky who can take over as a replacement for Robert Pires. Team looks quite balanced for now..but we do need a couple of defensive signings.

Reading has taken a backseat right now......I do hope to get started with 'Snapshots from Hell' which is a book about Life in the first year at a B-School....Going by what i've read of the foreword I'm going to identify with most of the things that have been written in that book....will try and post a review of it once I'm finished with it.

That's all for now

Saturday, May 13, 2006

May 17th..D-Day in Paris

Ok folks long time since i updated my blog.....and since i've been getting repeated requests to update...here goes


Firstly Football :D

It's been a good time to be a Gunner fan this past one month....although the form in the EPL has been like a rollercoaster ride .... the form in the Champions League has been been terrific to say the least.

And it all culminated in the final week of the EPL .....Things were simple for Arsenal....win 3 out of the 3 matches to have any chances of qualifying for UCL next season and also hope that Spurs slip up along the way and also there was the small matter of qualifying for the UCL final.

The final day was something I will never forget.....switching between the TV and the comp trying to keep both the games Arsenal V/s Wigan and Spurs V/s West Ham. As things turned out.....both the matches went exactly the way Arsenal wanted.... the celebrations at Highbury were something to be remembered for a long long time.

Won't dwell on the Spurs controversy...but suffice to say that their claims were found to be unfounded by the premier league :D :D

Now...We're on our way to Paris..... Hoping for a great match against Barcelona.....Even though I'm a Die hard supporter of Arsenal ....winning the final seems a wee bit difficult...but as they say...Que Sera Sera....:D :D

Now Summers

Been enjoying the 2 months here at Mumbai....even though the weather is baking hot and the daily travel in the crowded locals don't do too much to help :D .. Spend my travelling time catching up on a lot of reading...in this month have finished with the exploits of Psmith from PGW, Maximum City b Suketu Mehta which in my opinion gives you a view on Mumbai which is vastly different from the one's we are used to seeing .... Suketu's accounts of the Gangsters personal lives are chilling to say the least......all in all it makes for a good read.

Now back to reading Jefferey Archer "As the Crow flies" which seems to be a pretty good book.....Interesperse this with "The UnderCover Economist" which is a great book to learn 'Practical' Economics and should be a good read for anyone remotely intersted in teh subject :D



Hmm..coming to music...spending my time listening to cover versions of songs by the group which calls it self "Gregorian" ....Have a listen for some really different take on contemporary music.

Their versions of "Brothers in Arms" originally by Dire Straits and "Losing my religion" by REM are great to listen to.


Ok,..that concludes this post.....one of my longer ones...hope to keep updating this blog more regularly from now on :D

May17th ..D-Day :D ....Here's to a Gunners Victory!!

:D

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Gunners down The Galacticos

In footballing terms....the past week has been a really good one.

First........Arsenal have an away win at last with a 4-0 thumping of Fulham

Second......Arsenal's 1 million defence keeps out the famed Superstars of Madrid

Third.......Chelsea defeat Spurs with a last minute goal


Hoping for the good form to continue tomorrow when Arsenal take on the European Champions Liverpool....Will be a good match :)

Trying my hand at Blogthings :)




You Have a Phlegmatic Temperament



Mild mannered and laid back, you take life at a slow pace.

You are very consistent - both in emotions and actions.

You tend to absorb set backs easily. You are cool and collected.



It is difficult to offend you. You can remain composed and unemotional.

You are a great friend and lover. You don't demand much of others.

While you are quiet, you have a subtle wit that your friends know well.



At your worst, you are lazy and unwilling to work at anything.

You often get stuck in a rut, without aspirations or dreams.

You can get too dependent on others, setting yourself up for abandonment.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Gunners back in form ;))

Big news of last week was the 7-0 thrashing of M'borough by the Gunners. Seems like they are well and truly back in form and should start the climb up the table from now on.

Amazing what a new set of signings can do to lift the morale of a team. Must admit that with no signs of any transfer activity was beginning to have serious doubts...... but as always Wenger knows what he is doing. The 2 signings that are confirmed as of now are typical wenger signings ...i.e players with a lot of potential and who come cheap :D .... I guess wenger should stick with this strategy :D..his big money transfers (not many of them) have not all been as succesful as hoped.

The 2 signings and plus a expected signing of Walcott capped a perfect end to the week what with Man Utd and Spurs also losing. I still believe that inspite of people writing off the gunners they will still challenge for the 2nd place.

Enough about football :D

Today was a holiday on account of the 'inaugration' of our 'new' campus :D :D

As always inspite of the holiday I've left the pending assignments for the last minute and am currently struggling to finish off the Marketing and the Accounting assignements which are due first thing tomorrow :D :D ..... Speaking of which ..let me get back to work :D

Cheers