L'Attitude and Gravity, the pillars of success

Dear Friends,

I am really sorry that i could not complete the part - II of story that i was writing, Instead of that i have decided to put the success of the Great Lakes college Fest that went off in the best possible way that even many accomplished organizers were astonished at the remarkable way it was conducted.

Management Students from 20 schools took part and the events went off in grand success. The conclaves were excellent with Dr. Chandrababu Naidu, the former CM of AP, Jairam Ramesh, Congress MP in Rajyasabha, Dr. Arunachalam and other dignitaries speaking words of wisdom.



The release of the college magazine, the maiden edition of Gravity was launched with great fanfare. I will be posting many pictures in the coming days.

Here are a few to start with .........

A CONFUSED MBA GRADUATE NIGHT-OUT

Garam Masala - A ruined night

For me the day normally begins at night, not that I don't do anything during the day. It is only that I get sick of the group work, deadlines, the girls with thier boyfriends and the boys with their repeated attempts to get girlfriends, the spamming and other things. So Night for me is a God's gift at enjoying my personal time in my own domain pursuing the unlimited education that I have access to with no finger up my ***.

This night was like a regular night till my room mate called me up and said that we should go for a movie today. He knows about me very well that I am not an ardent fan of movies if it some regional language or anyother. Lets say my movie watching limit is only till the English ones where in I get my dosage of BRAS (Blood, Revenge, Action, Sex) and all that you can think of without any sentiments attached.

Due to previous nights achievements on gyaan, I decided to take a break and go ahead with his proposal. He told me to meet at a certain place and then we both can go out for dinner and for the movie afterwards. My repeated telling him about my navigational skills and map reading capacity fell on deaf ears and he convinced me that I can achieve it (He motivated me by saying that there will be lots of girls).

Finally the prediction came true, I got lost and was somewhere of nowhere and had to call him and convince him to come and meet me at that godforsaken place. Finally after much deliberation we met at a place. We went for dinner at a Jain restaurant and were treated to a meager meal that in no comparison could fulfill me if it was not for the pretty ladies sitting next to our table whom I kept oogling at from time to time.

we reached the movie theatre and parked my car (Yes!! i have a car). Then I scouted for some girls. Found one in a tight jeans, one in a loose top and other with a boy friend's hand on her who was too huge for me. So before I could decide whom to oogle at or go after all of them entered the theatre.

We entered too and god!! could i believe myself; the theatre was some thing like an enlarged toilet with seating arrangement and all for a meager Rs.80 only. The seats were prepared to take in fighter pilots and not me. I finally put my ass in there and wriggled. NO CHANCE AT ALL. So i thought what the hell, let me adjust somehow and I looked around, there was no female in sight and the only female I could see was like a little far (5 MILES away) with a husband and 4 kids trying to argue with him why he is not getting popcorn and drinks already!!!

I resigned to the fact that it cannot get better than this and prayed to god to relieve me from the pain that I was going to face for the next 3 hours or so...

After showing a documentary on how to save water ( every drop...), how to use condoms, and some jewelry ads that reeked of overdone sets and half naked women the movie started.

Hmmm.... This itself is a big thing. So let me stop here and I will put it in the next post.... Till then a few pics from the movie.

COLD PLAY IS JUST AMAZING!!!!

Hey,
Continuing with the previous post here is another song. This is by cold play (my best) from the album " Rush of Blood to The Head" and the song name is " God Put a Smile on Your Face". This is an awesome song and the music is so cool......... I just love it.

The Lyrics have so much meaning and everyone of the songs that I am going to be putting will be better than the previous lyrics all the time. So keep Enjoying!!!!:):):)



God Put A Smile Upon Your Face

Where do we go, nobody knows
I've got to say I'm on my way down
God give me style and give me grace
God put a smile upon my face

Where do we go to draw the line
I've got to say I wasted all your time
Oh honey honey
Where do I go to fall from grace
God put a smile upon your face yeah

And ah, when you work it out I'm worse than you
Yeah, when you work it out I wanted to
And ah, when you work out where to draw the line
Your guess is as good as mine

Where do we go, nobody knows
Don't ever say you're on your way down when
God gave you style and gave you grace,
And put a smile upon your face oh yeah

And ah, when you work it out I'm worse than you
Yeah, when you work it out I want it to
And ah, when you work out where to draw the line
Your guess is as good as mine.

It's as good as mine, It's as good as mine
It's as good as mine

As good as mine, as good as mine,
As good as mine, as good as mine
Where do we go, nobody knows
Don't ever say you're on your way down when
God gave you style and gave you grace
And put a smile upon your face

Linkin Park - The Best of All Ever

FANATICS like me will probably acknowledge that the two albums " Hybrid Theory" and "Meteora" have the best heart- touching lyrics ever heard. I thought I would die listening to them, since more or less I had to go through the pain and sacrifice that I thought depicted. I probably listened to a million times all the songs, but the best of lot have the lyrics are here. I Thought I should start putting few of the best lyrics that I have by Linkin Park, Cold play, Train, Ana Johnsson etc.

So keep watching out for the best from me!!!!

This is a song from the the Album "Meteora"

Artist: Linkin Park Lyrics Song: Somewhere I Belong Lyrics

(When this began)

I had nothing to say

And I get lost in the nothingness inside of me

(I was confused)

And I let it all out to find

That I’m not the only person with these things in mind

(Inside of me)

But all that they can see the words revealed

Is the only real thing that I’ve got left to feel

(Nothing to lose)

Just stuck, hollow and alone

And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own

[Chorus]

I wanna heal, I wanna feel what I thought was never real

I wanna let go of the pain I’ve felt so long

(Erase all the pain till it’s gone)

I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I’m close to something real

I wanna find something I’ve wanted all along

Somewhere I belong

And I’ve got nothing to say

I can’t believe I didn’t fall right down on my face

(I was confused)

Looking everywhere only to find

That it’s not the way I had imagined it all in my mind

(So what am I)

What do I have but negativity

’Cause I can’t justify the way, everyone is looking at me

(Nothing to lose)

Nothing to gain, hollow and alone

And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own

[Repeat Chorus]

I will never know myself until I do this on my own

And I will never feel anything else until my wounds are healed

I will never be anything till I break away from me

I will break away, I'll find myself today

[Repeat Chorus]

I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I’m somewhere I belong

I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I’m somewhere I belong

Somewhere I belong

The Devil in the flesh!!! :)

Hey friends,

Here are a few pics of mine. Don’t ask me why I am putting them here, it is only for the sake of a few people who don’t know how I look like and why I keep posting all these things ok.

So enjoy the pics, if there is anything bad or silly, don’t complain but just go through them, if there is some thing good and nice that you like about, then please post your comments ok. If you need some more pics, please feel free to ask anytime.

Bye :)
cya

GVK

The Return of the Devil ...... from Outbound to Blog

Dear Friends,

Sorry for the long delay in writing the blog. Was held up with so many things that by the time I was finished with everything, 2 weeks have passed. There are lots of things to write this time, personal mostly, so feel free to skip it or read through.

At first I want to mention that though i did not take part in any of the IIM contests or confluences, my mark is found everywhere. I had the pleasure of doing the presentations for most of the students submitting their ppts (incase you did not know, stands for power point presentations). This took me a better part of 10 days. Then there was the usual Outbound that was planned as a term break and it was soggy.

Chennai was raining pigs and donkeys and there was nothing that I could do except get wet for most of the time. The outbound turned out to be a normal with more role plays and creative idea nurturing rather than a de-stressor as it was slated to be. Few pics which i had to take: These are a few namoonahs!!! Many more to come soon.

After the outbound came the diwali, could not go home due to lack of transportation since the so called Chennai metropolitan was flooded till neck and hence had to stay back. One best thing is that I got the time to write the blog and update the happenings, finally.

Don’t worry about my pics, since I tried to look my worst, did not even have a proper haircut since 4 weeks, so that is why I am looking so shabby and all that, so chuck it out and please consider the picture in the profile for further use.

I think this is enough and it is time to pen off, Will be back soon with loads of stuff, especially since my electives are starting in 2 weeks,

Till then All Hail the God (hmm…..sorry the Devil)

Gopal

P.S. i could not put my pics, due to the lack of clarity, so will decide and put a separate post for that ok :)

Operations Management Newsletter, Issue 4

Rulz of the Game

The "Rules" of the Game :-
1. The female always makes the rulz.
2. The Rulz r subject to change @ any time without prior notification
3. No man can possibly know all the rulz.
4. If she suspects that the male knows all the rulz,she must immediately change some of them .
5. She is never wrong.
6. If She is wrong , its bcoz of a fragrant misunderstanding which was a direct result of something the male did or said wrong.
7. If Rule 6 applies ,the male must apologise immediately.
8. The female can change her mind at any juncture.
9. The male must not change his mind without explicit written consent from her.
10. Female has every right to be angry or upset @ any time.
11. Male must remain calm @ all times , unless the female wants him to be angry or upset
12. Female must,under no circumstances , let the male know whether or not she wants him to be angry or upset.
13. Any attempt to document these rules might result in bodily harm ;)
14. if the female is hot , all rules r NULL and VOID.

If you don't think these are true, all the females can get back to me and the males..... u are already converted.
So don't bother to contact me.

Article in India Today

Article in India Today - Starts with who......??

B-SCHOOLS: OVERSEAS OPTIONS

Indian versus Foreign

Indian business schools offering international faculty are fast gaining popularity. But will they be able to match the brand value of the best foreign management schools?

(Article is here)

The article starts off with my qualifications, saying what all I did and what I did not do, i.e., basically not join a Top Notch American B- School. This actually set me off thinking, if this was the right choice that I made, specially with a US degree already and another Master also, on top of that with a 5 1/2 years experience working in government as well as other companies.

Finally after a small session of brain racking and rationalized thinking, I came to the conclusion that it is actually a good proposition and I made the right choice. Of course, the results will show out during the placement season when and if I make it to a TOP NOTCH COMPANY - INDIAN or MNC.

Let’s hope the article helps in getting me some limelight and gain my 15 mins of fame, in one form or the other. I have taken a big leap of faith and the trust is on none other than Uncle Bala, because of whom I am here and of course my qualifications.

I think I have boasted too much about myself and the article, but imagine it is a nice thing to happen to me.Lets hope this is not the first and the last that I will be in a magazine or a newspaper and there are many many more to come.............. Soon

cya soon,

Love

Gopal

Operations Management Group Newsletter - 3

The 3rd issue of the Great Lakes Institute of Management's Operations Management Group (OMG) newsletter is out. The previous fortnight was very exciting with a sensational overwhelming participation for the MS Project software. Was a little tough to handle such a large group, but i think it was a great success. Just finished off today with the Optimization models final exam, had to struggle till 6:00 am in the morning and had just one hour sleep.

Mafoi counseling followed by classes and guest lectures have filled the day, so a little sleepy in filling up the blog, so will be back with a big bang soon.


adios,
Gvk

Operations At It's Best Time

The last three weeks great for operations management majoring students as well as others as we had the best of professors from IIM's who saved us from the boredom and made creativity and thought process as worthwhile undertaking. The professors were no other than Dr. Ravi Chandran from the esteemed IIM-A and Dr. Mahadevan from IIM-B.

So coming to Dr. Ravi Chandran, anyone who knows him will appreciate him for the best thought process he brings to the class and he makes everyone sweat even with the best of AC facilities. Man.... he is awesome in a sense that dodging him does not pay at all and you have to face him, go through the process if you want to be anything in life. I fortunately has the chance of taking a couple of pics of him during the class.... knowingly.

As far as Dr. Mahadevan is concerned, he is the best in my opinion. The kind of explanatory skills, interest generation in a dry subject and the subtle jokes he makes always impressed me as well as the class. The inventory and forecasting game that he conducted was very creative and making us feel foolish and brilliant at the same time.

Operations Management Group Newsletter

The new slogans and tag lines

Dear Friends,

This week saw a flurry of quizzes everywhere, right from the college quiz at the Great Lakes Institute of Management (i was the winner last time, this time i wanted to give others a chance) to the quinkie slogan contest at yahoo groups. So i thought it is high time that i be the spoilsport and publish the answers.

these are all correct answers by the way, so trust me and keep learning.

Automobile Slogans:

1. FORD - Built for the road ahead
Ford. Designed for living. Engineered to last.
Have you driven a Ford lately?

2. GM - Pontiac Vehicles
Advertising slogan: We are driving excitement

Chevrolet. An American Revolution
See the USA in your Chevrolet
The Heartbeat of America
The road isn't built that can make it breathe hard!
Eye it - try it - buy it!

Oldsmobile car brand
Slogans: Start Something
This is not your father's Oldsmobile

Cadillac brand
Advertising slogans: Cadillac. Break Through
Creating a Higher Standard
Standard of the World
The Penalty of Leadership

Buick car brand
Advertising slogans: Dream Up
Buick. It's All Good
Isn't it time for a real car?
Buick. The spirit of American style

SAAB, Swedish car brand
Slogans: Welcome to the State of Independence (USA campaign)
Saab. Move your mind (European campaign)
Find Your Own Road

Hummer brand
Advertising slogan: Hummer. Like Nothing Else.

3. DAIMLER CHRYSLER - Smart. Open your mind

4. BMW - The Ultimate Driving Machine

5. AUDI - Keeping ahead through technology
Everyone dreams of an Audi

6. TOYOTA - Moving Forward
Get the Feeling. Toyota.
Drive Your Dreams.
The car in front is a Toyota
I love what you do for me - Toyota!
Your new experience of motoring

7. HYUNDAI - Hyundai. Drive your way
Always There for You
Driving is believing
Prepare to want one

8. NISSAN - Shift
You can with a Nissan.
Just wait you drive it.

9. HONDA - The Power of Dreams
It must be love
Honda. First man, then machine
Technology you can enjoy

10. SKODA - Skoda. Simply Clever
It's a Skoda. Honest.

11. VOLKSWAGEN - Drivers wanted. (US marketing campaign)
For the love of the car
Relieves gas pains.
Surprisingly ordinary prices

12. FIAT - Driven by passion. FIAT.

13. JAGUAR - Born to perform
Unleash a Jaguar
Don't dream it. Drive it!
Jaguar. The art of performance
Grace.... space... pace.

14. LEXUS - The Passionate Pursuit of Perfection
The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection

15. TATA MOTORS – innovative way of life; More car per car

1. Microsoft - Where Do You Want to Go Today; Your Potential Our Passion

2. Windows XP - Do More with Less

3. HP - Invent ; Everything is Possible

4. Computer Associates - The software that powers the E Business

5. CSC - Experience. Results.

6. Accenture - High Performance. Delivered

7. IBM - ON DEMAND

8. LENOVO - We are building a new technology company.

9. Apple Macintosh - Think Different.

10. TCS - Beyond the Obvious

11. Infosys - Powered by Intellect, Driven by Values;
Improve your odds with Infosys Predictability

12. WIPRO - Applying Thought

13. EMC - Where Information Lives.

14. Adobe - Simplicity at work. Better by adobe.

15. Macromedia - What the web can be.

Placement Time Approaches..........

hmmmmmmmmm..........

An item during the regular pre-placement hangama, picture with all ... decked and dressed ready for market......
Wish i could have a better face atleast to make up for the lack of proper credentials in education or multi-b(m)illionaire ancestors.

HISTORY OF SIX SIGMA : PART II

The roots of six sigma as a measurement standard can be traced back to Carl Frederick Gauss (1777-1855) who introduced the concept of the normal curve. Six sigma as a measurement standard in product variation can be traced back to the 1920's when Walter Shewhart showed that three sigma from the mean is the point where a process requires correction. Many measurement standards (Cpk, Zero Defects, and so on) later came on the scene but credit for coining the term "six sigma" goes to a Motorola engineer named Bill Smith (six sigma is a federally registered trademark of Motorola).
In the late 1970's, Dr. Mikel Harry, a senior staff engineer at Motorola's Government Electronics Group (GEG), began to experiment with problem solving through statistical analysis. Using his methodology, GEG began to show dramatic results – GEG's products were being designed and produced faster and more cheaply. Subsequently, Dr. Harry began to formulate a method for applying six sigma throughout Motorola. His work culminated in a paper titled "The Strategic Vision for Accelerating Six Sigma Within Motorola." He was later appointed head of the Motorola Six Sigma Research Institute and became the driving force behind six sigma.
Dr. Mikel Harry and Richard Schroeder, an ex-Motorola executive, were responsible for creating the unique combination of change management and data-driven methodologies that transformed six sigma from a simple quality measurement tool to the breakthrough business excellence philosophy it is today. They had the charisma and the ability to educate and engage business leaders such as Bob Galvin of Motorola, Larry Bossidy of AlliedSignal (now Honeywell), and Jack Welch of GE. Together, Harry and Schroeder elevated six sigma from the shop floor to the boardroom with their drive and innovative ideas regarding entitlement, breakthrough strategy, sigma levels, and the roles for deployment of Black Belts, Master Black Belts, and Champions. In effect, they created a business revolution that continues to challenge the thinking of executives, managers and employees alike. Their strategies and tools have been perfected through the years by Six Sigma Academy. In brief, the contribution was the unique combination of business leadership plus quality and process improvement tools and techniques which made it possible for leaders to recognize the value of six sigma, not just as a tool for operational efficiency, but as an enterprise wide business strategy with direct bottom line impact.

Next post: Six Sigma: Part III; Black Belts, Master Black Belts, and Champions

Six Sigma: Is it enough? Part -I

Introduction

In the olden times there was the concept of "Zero Defect" but it was considered more as a hypothetical term rather than having a more practical aspect because though the companies propagated that their processes or services were of Zero Defect but very few customers relied on them because defects were always there. A "Defect" can be defined as any product or service that does not conform to the set standards or satisfaction of the customer. Now, Six Sigma is a concept that tries to achieve a near zero defect with 3.4 defects in a million events.

What is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma is a methodology used to improve any business process by constantly reviewing, updating and re-tuning the existing process. Six Sigma provides the tools to improve the capability of any business process. Six Sigma professionals evaluate a business process and determine ways to improve upon the existing process. Six Sigma incorporates the same principles and techniques used in Business, Statistics, and Engineering.

Six Sigma improves the process performance, decreases variation and maintains consistent quality of the process output. This leads to defect reduction and improvement in profits, employee morale, product quality and finally customer satisfaction.

Six Sigma Strives for perfection every time. It allows for only 3.4 defects per million opportunities for each product or service transaction.

Six Sigma relies heavily on statistical techniques to reduce defects and measure quality.

Evolution of Six Sigma

Japan has been credited with the evolvement of Quality Systems like TQM, Kanban, Kaizen, etc., but Six Sigma has been evolved by the Americans by a company called Motorola in early 1990's. Later in the mid- nineties, GE and Allied Signal adopted it. According to Jack Welch CEO of GE, "Six Sigma is the most challenging and potentially rewarding strategy that GE has ever undertaken". Now Japan has always been known for controlling wastages by having Just-in-time Inventory systems but this concept of Six Sigma, which relies heavily on statistical controls, encompasses all the systems and gives near perfect and measurable results, which in other systems cannot be done easily.

Six Sigma was originally centered around manufacturing improvements. The reason for this was knowledge of the statistical tools in the manufacturing functions and the ease with which we can quantify the benefits. However the customers did not readily see these improvements. The approach was therefore broadened to all business operations. The success of these companies with the six sigma approach caught the attention of the Wall Street making it a popular strategy that is being adopted by many organizations worldwide. Indian organizations such as Wipro, Tata Motors, Hero Motors, Godrej-GE have also adopted six sigma strategy to improve their businesses (Reference: Business Today, Sept 22, 1999).

Operations Management Group

In this, i am gonna post the newsletter for the Operations and Management Group (OMG) that will be done by me every weekly or bi-weekly. This will cover all the activities undertaken which will include management, operations, technology, and other sections of operations and technology.

Every week we will cover the accomplishments, the future activities, a special article for reading and much more.

Chilling at Ellis Island, New York

Chilling at Ellis Island (New York)

The building in the background is located on the Ellis Island, and is the first immigration center established in the United States of America. Once inside, it provides an insight into the first years of people moving from different parts of the world to the "Free World".

Academician at Graduation

Graduation at Florida International University

The same arrogant guy with a Bachelor's, Double Master's Degrees. Too realistic to believe right!!!

The Devil himself !!!!

I was an embodiment of brashness, arrogance, ego but yet the best at what i did. Perfectionism is my middle name.

The devil himself!!!!

World Traveller

London Airport (Ferrari backing me)
The coolest airport i ever visited (I have flown more than 200,000 miles till now), the Heathrow at London.