Story of the baggage carousel.

Rio-De-Janeiro, Brazil

The best way to head from the US to Brazil is to take a direct flight out of Miami, DC, or any other major US city. To save some money on the tickets, I took an Avianca flight with a layover at Bogota. After landing at Sao Paulo airport early in the morning, while waiting for my baggage to arrive, I saw a wide variety of things tumbling down the baggage carousel. Usually baggage carousel’s have bags big and small, suitcases hard and soft moving around, but in Brazil you see more than that.

Baby strollers, electronics, home decorations, bridal supplies and many other items which I have never seen in the baggage claim area at airports in 9 years of living in the US. Some of these are gifts and some will be sold informally for a profit. When international flights land in Brazil the baggage carousels are the supply chains feeding this informal economy. I have done more research on what things are in demand here and you can make use of the information I provide here to pay for your future trip to Brazil. Please do send me a royalty check on the profits you make here!



Victoria secret lingerie is definitely in demand here, or so I hear. Women here are completely smitten by American and European luxury and beauty products but they are prohibitively expensive here. Not that it stops people here from buying them. A walk around any shopping mall in Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo, you will notice that these American and European brand boutiques are doing roaring business. Bring in beauty products from the US and Europe, sell them cheaper that the ones in the boutiques and you will have enough profit to pay for your trip down here.

My Brazilian friends in the US are experts at this. They even book orders prior to heading down to Brazil. Friends and acquaintances make a wish list of things they want and transmit them across Facebook and chat. This is usually followed by frantic trips to malls and squeezing in every last gram of baggage allowance allowed on flights. Weight is money, the more you pack, the more you earn.

Bridal dresses are a guaranteed money maker. Take a trip down to any bridal store in the US or order a bridal dress of every size from David’s bridal. Brazilian waistlines are trimmer than the ones in the US. So order accordingly. Pack all of them in a suitcase, come down here and sell them on e-Bay. You will make enough money to pay for your flight tickets, hotel accommodations and money to splurge on few drinks by the beach.

Laptops are a big money spinner but I suggest you don’t try this. Customs officials here can be very difficult when it comes to letting laptops pass. One laptop maybe, but two, you are definitely pushing your luck. You can try small electronics which can fit into your carry on and suitcases.

What’s the deal about baby strollers which I mentioned earlier? It’s too bulky and you have to check it in as an item. So it doesn’t make much sense from a profit perspective. Usually people bring this in if someone in the family is having a baby and they requested a stroller.

So hurry and start planning for your free trip to Brazil! Check out your nearest Brazilian embassy website for visa requirements.

The game of animals.

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Yesterday I played the game of animals, “Jogo de Bicho” as it’s called in Brazil. Why am I playing a game of animals? Let me explain. Jogo de Bicho is a lottery played all around Brazil, and particularly popular in Rio de Janeiro where I am now.

In the USA and Europe, you have the Lotto, Power ball and Mega millions. Organized lottery, involving governments, with printed tickets sold in convenience stores across the country and televised drawings. Jogo de Bicho on the other hand is no where as nearly organized as Lotto, Power ball or Mega millions. “Bicheiros” are the ones who sell these tickets and you can find them on any street corner in Rio de Janeiro. All you have to do is pick an animal to place a bet and the payoff can be anywhere between 15-20 times the bet depending on the numbers you picked and results of the draw. What makes it so popular is that you can pick the amount of your bet. So poor can bet less and rich can bet more.

There are around 25 animals you can choose from with each animal having 4 numbers associated with it. You can pick one of the 4 numbers to place a bet. I picked elephant, which has 45, 46, 47 and 48 as its associated numbers. Out of this 4, I picked 45. Apart from this number you have to pick 2 more digits which go in front of 45. I picked 05 for this. So my number was 0545 and I bet 5 Reais (around US$3). The results came out today. You have to go check with the Bicheiro for the results. The results are on coupons like the one you see here.



All the 4 numbers matching has the highest payout. 3 numbers matching, for ex – 545 would have a lesser payout. I did not win anything. The number of the drawing was 0646. Damn! Missed it by a number! Should have picked 6 instead 5.

The game has an interesting history and you can read more about it at
Jogo De Bicho

From copy of a passport to history of a republic

Rio-De Janeiro, Brazil

I arrived in Brazil yesterday and will be staying here for the next 45 days. Carrying my passport everywhere I go, did not seem like a smart thing to do. In Brazil, you can go to a “Cartorio”, a person who authenticates copies of your documents which you can use in place of the originals. I decided to get an authenticated copy of my passport and Brazil visa which I could use instead of carrying my passport around.

Usually Cartorios have huge lines, maybe that reflects the amount of paperwork Brazilians have to put up with while dealing with their government agencies. Luckily for me, when I reached the Cartorio, it was empty and getting an authenticated copy took less than 10 minutes. On the walk back to the apartment, I came across a beautiful building “Palace Catete” with a huge signs “Museu de Republica Brasieira”, Museum of the Brazil Republic. Now that I have quit my job and have nothing much to do with lots of time on my hands, I decided to go in and see what this museum had to offer.

I walked in and was heading straight into one of the rooms when a security guard called me from the back and said “Precisa Pagar”. He meant “Dude, Don’t just waltz right in, you need to pay”. Ticket paid, with a brochure in hand I walked around the museum with photographs, portraits and displays chronicling the lives of former presidents of Brazil who lived in that building which served as a seat of government for over 80 years.



Before getting to Brazil, I read a fair bit of Brazilian history. Walking through the museum, I could put pictures and faces to the words I read about Brazilian history. One picture was with the current President of Brazil, Lula in a TV debate with the former president of Brazil, Collor de Mello. Lula lost that election to Collor de Mello in part due to TV Globo’s editing of the debate showing Lula as a bumbling idiot and Collor as a handsome, educated man. Collor de Mello proved to be an utterly incompetent president, looting the Brazilian government treasury with impunity. Globo, years later apologized to Lula.

One of Brazil’s popular politicians in the early 40’s, Getulio Vargas, killed himself with a gunshot to his head when he was about to be deposed from his presidency in a military backed coup. In Getulio Vargas’s bedroom in the museum, the Pajama and the revolver he used on his last night were on display.

When not in a hurry to get to work, we look around, notice and observe small things around us. We take the time to explore things we observe and it is in those moments that our understanding of the surroundings we live in increases. All in all, an educating morning on Brazilian political history and a good start to my 4 months of traveling.

Greetings from a scooterist.

Raleigh, NC

I ride my scooter to work every day and very often I get yelled at by car drivers that I slowed them down. I have tried to empathize with you and have tried to understand your road rage but have failed. I have built empathy for the poor, the underprivileged, the struggling grad students, the clueless undergrads, the overworked TA’s and underpaid restaurant workers. This road rage though defies my understanding. On blogs, I see perverts posting their fantasies and the intelligent trying to provoke a reasoned debate on issues they care about. I will use this forum to explain a few things in the interest of mutual understanding.




Do I have the same right of road as you have?

Yes. Just because you are driving a car does not give you an entitlement to the road. I have the same right to the road as you have and so do the students who ride a bicycle to their classes every day. I slow you down? Well, the bicyclists slow me down as well but I respect their right to the road and just give a smile and a nod when I pass them by. A little bit of respect and acknowledgement can go a long way in making the society a better place. So shut the f**k up and drive behind me and wait for your turn to pass. If you are trailing me for a long time patiently, then I usually move to the side of the road and at the first available opportunity, will let you pass. Some drivers acknowledge this gesture and give me the universal “thumbs up” sign and a smile. This acknowledgement makes me happy. I am no saint but I am no self serving bas***d either.

Why should I be on the road?
For the same reason you are on the road stupid. I need to get some place, be it work, gym or the grocery store.

Why am I in the middle lane?
Douche bag, I have to make the next left. That’s exactly why. I can’t be a super moped hero, moped ninja, super moped man or a flying James "moped" bond, to make a flying left turn from the right most lane. Does it make things clear?

Why I drive this moped?
It makes perfect financial sense. This moped costs 500 dollars to buy a used one, gives 80 miles a gallon and the insurance comes to 90$ per year. Add to it, I live just 1.5 miles from my work place. So it makes perfect financial sense which you, the guy driving the hummer with 500$ rims will surely not be able to comprehend.

To sum it up, I will be nice and I will let you pass. I will be respectful of your road rights, but if you yell or f**k with me, I will drive at 15 miles per hour and hold the entire traffic down during the morning rush hour and make your hummer feel like a worthless piece of s**t. Yes, I have this aggressive side to me as well. I just don't express it as road rage.

So just shut the f**k up and drive behind me.

Good day
The Scooterist you yelled at today.

Internal insecurity

Raleigh, NC

I haven’t been watching much television lately. I switched on the TV a few days back, tuned in to channel 29 which is CNN here and the first news story was about nuclear security. Fear mongering about how much nuclear material is out there and why you must be worried.

If I go by what CNN says, and make a list of things I should worry about, then the list would be unending. By the time I reach the end of the list, I would not know what to worry about first anymore. Discussions about national security seem to be less about national security and more about internal insecurity.

National security, finance, stock market, health and for that matter anything else. Everything seems to be driven by “sentiment”. I understand that humans are driven by emotions but is there no place for logic in our reactions? A cursory look at history would reveal that lot less people are dying today of diseases or war. USA has faced far more serious military, economic and health disasters than any conceivable problem or threat it faces today. So why this heightened anxiety and the illogical responses to them?

The richer we get, the lesser we seem to have the ability to handle adversity. Sometimes I feel like running away from this all. From this breaking news cycles, from the madness of sanitizers being installed in every nook and corner of my office because of the H1N1 scare, from draconian laws being implemented in the name of national security. Sometimes, I just feel like going some place far from this fear, anxiety and negativity.

One Lucky bastard

Raleigh, NC

A search on dictionary.com for the word bastard brings up the following

–noun
1.
a person born of unmarried parents; an illegitimate child.

2.
Slang.
a. a vicious, despicable, or thoroughly disliked person: Some bastard slashed the tires on my car.

b. a person, esp. a man: The poor bastard broke his leg.

3. something irregular, inferior, spurious, or unusual.

I am a bastard not in the sense of 1 but in the sense of 2b and 3 (something irregular or unusual not necessarily spurious or inferior).

I say that because the overarching theme of my life has been my strong luck. Things seem to serendipitously fall in my lap when I least expect. So I can say, I am one lucky bastard.

Growing up in India, I never was a hard working student in school. My approach to examinations was that I needed 50 out of 100 marks to pass any exam, so I read 50% of what I needed to read. The day of the exam usually 80-90% of the questions on the test would be from the 50% material I read. Sometimes I would push my luck and laziness a little too far and read only 30% of the material but the result would still be the same!

In India the 10th class examinations which one takes at the end of high school is a stressful situation for a lot of students. Unlike examinations until the 9th standard which is conducted by the individual schools, this exam is conducted by the board of education. One has pass this to enroll for junior college. My brother is 4 years older to me. When he took the 10th board exams, he spent a huge amount of time preparing for it. He would pull out all-nighters and my mom would prepare tea for him to keep him awake through the night. After a game of cricket, I would come back home and make fun of him for his troubles. His reaction, “dude, laugh as much as you want to, in four years time, it’s your turn”.


Four years later when it was my turn, the board of education decided that the curriculum is too intensive and stressful for students. So there was a simplification of the entire curriculum. Add to it my 50% logic, I breezed through the board exams. Growing up, my brother and sister would always complain, “You are so lucky, that it’s just unfair!”.

My brother after his board exams enrolled in a junior college in the sciences stream and decided to take a go at the entrance examinations to various engineering colleges. The same routine followed, all-nighters, mom preparing tea and his frustration at it all. What did I do after my board exams when I enrolled in junior college? I decided my brothers troubles are just not worth it. I am not going for the sciences stream and taking a go at the engineering entrance exams. It’s way too much work and I don’t care about being an engineer anyways. I enrolled in the Math and economics stream. The 50% reading rule continued for two more years in the junior college. My clueless, lazy attitude bothered everyone around me except me. Why should it? The going was smooth for me. I was cruising! Two years of junior college was followed by three years of under grad and some technical training in computer science on the side. The trusted 50% rule did not let me down in those three years as well. To make matters sweeter, I had a girl friend as well!

Finished undergrad, bachelors degree secure in hand, now it’s time to find a job! Everyone around was struggling to land one. I landed an interview from a software company through the technical training institute I attended the previous two years. The questions during the interview? Questions about C++. My answer? I don’t know anything sir and I don’t claim to, but given a chance I will do my best. The result?
I landed that job! The interview seemed to care more about my honesty more than what I actually know or did not know. The next three years I loved that job, lunch breaks was usually spent with my girl friend, disposable income to spend on chai and cigarettes at the numerous “irani” cafes with friends and occasional beer parties thrown in. Even treated my then girl friend to a few fancy romantic dinners. (By romantic, I refer to the dinner, not me). Life was good.

At the end of three years received an admission offer along with a guaranteed loan from a university in the US. Getting admission offers from a US university was the easier part, getting the US visa was the tougher part. What did I do? I applied my mail for the visa when everyone would line up outside the consulate for one. Voila, in a week the visa arrived by mail. That was when I realized the theme of continuing good luck in my life. My brother had a few years earlier got an admission offer from the University of Nebraska at Omaha but was turned down a visa by the US consulate and here I was, never tried hard for anything in my life and things just falling in my lap.


After finishing my Master in the US, I worked for a few years in the IT industry. One fine morning, I was told, “Sorry, we have to let you go. We are cutting your entire division”. I decided to make plans to return to India. I was at a restaurant and I met a guy whom I had seen occasionally at the same restaurant and engaged in small talk. During that conversation, I told him that I was making plans to return to India as I just got laid off. He asked me for my resume. The next week I had an interview call from his organization. After 2 days of interviewing, I had a job offer in hand which paid 15K more than the previous job. Add to it, I received one more job offer in Austin, Texas which paid the same 15K more than the previous job. Around the same time, I even met my now about to be wife. Even accidents do not seem to go wrong with me. After three years at job, the same person whom I met at the restaurant wrote my recommendation letters for the MBA admissions and I now have an admit from HEC Paris with a scholarship.


Why am I writing all this? Recounting my life story, spilling out details of my life which are probably of no interest to most people in the world? It’s because I realized every now and them that we value so little of what we have and strive and pine for things we don’t. It creates frustration, anxiety, stress and all the while we fail to appreciate all the beautiful things that have been given to us, for free. Things which serendipitously fell in our laps, things for which we never had to work hard. From the beautiful lush green trees and the breeze outside my window, to the smooth tasting Yuengling beer in my hands while I am writing this! We are all far more richer that what we actually have in our bank accounts. All this rambling is just an acknowledgement that probably the world has given me lot more that what I ever gave it in return or what I actually deserve and maybe in the future I will be able to correct this imbalance.

In the last stretch

Raleigh, NC

I am ready for a life change. There is so much more I want to explore and experience in life. All that will start come May when I quit my current job. Before that, I have to finish a few projects I am working on. My co-workers and managers have been good to me over the last 3 and a half years. The way I see it, I owe it them to finish the projects I am working on before I leave.

I am working harder the last 3 months at my job that I ever did in the last 3 and a half years. I feel stressed out and by the end of the day exhausted. I wake up the next morning and have to push myself hard to do my best. It's hard to motivate yourself when you know that you will soon stop doing what you are doing.

I can't wait for May when I can kick back and relax on the beach in Rio De Janeiro with a Caipirinha in my hand.

Media matters

Raleigh, NC

I have Time Warner cable in my house with 70 odd channels. After returning home, I switch on the TV to catch up with the news. One common characteristic of all the 3 major news channels (Fox, MSNBC and CNN) is their intellectual bankruptcy. Opinion masquerades as news, with each channel giving a different spin on the happenings of the day. Debates are nothing more than shouting matches with each political contributor sticking to his talking points and shouting his message across.

In 8 years of living in the US, very rarely have I found incisive, logical and informed analysis of the happenings in the world on these 24 hour news channels. World news? Forget it. Look for that someplace else. In my conversation with people around me, I notice a general ignorance of the geography, history and current events of the rest of the world. I wonder to what extent the American media is responsible for that.



Of all the Indian and American newspapers I read, I would rate Indian Express as the best. Shekhar Gupta, the editor of Indian Express is one of my favorite columnists. I spent this weekend catching up with all his recent columns. He offers an excellent analysis of the US Af-Pak policy and the happenings in the Indian sub-continent. Some of his columns can be found here Shekhar Gupta Columns

Passport update

Raleigh, NC

I received my new passport from the Indian embassy in Washington DC. I am delighted that I got the passport in time to apply for the tourist visa to Brazil and the student visa to France. With an Indian passport, travelling is a pain. There are very few countries which provide visa free travel to holders of Indian passport.




The Henley Visa Restrictions Index is a global ranking of countries according to travel freedom their citizens enjoy. Denmark leads the list with 157 countries providing visa free travel to it's citizens. India ranks 75 on the list with only 37 countries providing visa free travel to it's citizens. Afghanistan is at the bottom of the list with 22 countries providing visa free travel to it's citizens.

The complete list can be accessed at Henley Visa Restrictions Index

Junk mail

Raleigh, NC

Since last week, I have been checking my mail box twice a day. I found new credit card offers, balance transfer offers on existing ones, coupons for grocery stores, catalog for online apparel websites, postcards from real estate brokers, premium increase notifications from insurance companies and other things which I will not find useful in a million years.



I open the mailbox with enthusiasm and expectations and they get shattered in the barrage of junk mail. What I am waiting for is my passport which I sent to the Indian embassy in Washington DC. I have heard horror stories about the passport renewal process in the Indian embassies and I am hoping that things go smoothly for me. Once I get the passport back, I can go ahead and apply for the tourist visa to Brazil and student visa to France.

I am going to go check my mailbox again now :(

Travel plans update

Raleigh, NC

I will leaving the USA in May and head to Sao Paulo and then to Rio de Janeiro. In Rio, I will be taking a 4 week Portuguese course at Casa Do Caminho Language center. The school is located just 3 blocks away from the Ipanema beach!



The classes are from Monday to Friday 9am-12p.m. In the afternoons I can explore more of Rio and take short trips out of Rio on the weekends. End of June I will be flying to Hyderabad, India through Dubai. That will be a long flight. 15 hours from Sao Paulo to Dubai and additional 4 hours of flying to Hyderabad. July and August, I will spend some time with my family and travel to the Himalayas in the North. I will be leaving Hyderabad for HEC Paris, the 1st of September.

travel plans

Raleigh, NC

My travel plans from May - September. Starting in Raleigh, ending at HEC Paris.

Irrational exuberance

Raleigh, NC

I was so excited to receive the MBA admission offer from HEC Paris that rationality and realism went out the window and I made some over-ambitious plans. I bought the Rosetta stone software for French, level 1,2 and 3. I planned on finishing all the 3 levels by the start of the MBA program in Septemeber. All this in parallel to

-Learning Portuguese
-Working out regularly
-Drinking beer with friends on the weekends
-Upcoming travel plans to Brazil and India.
-Emptying my apartment and getting out of USA.

The HEC MBA admission offer led to some irrational exuberance and now the bubble has busted. Reality is sinking in. I will not be able to finish all the 3 level's of Rosetta stone French in time for the start of the MBA program. Language learning takes time and it is not possible to cram everything into the mind at once, like I used to do for my exams in grad school. Retention is the key to language learning and that takes it's own sweet time. I plan on not making any more plans.

I accumulated some good karma this week. I donated all my computer science books to the library at my workplace. I don't plan on getting back to programming after my MBA and hope that these books are helpful to my coworkers.

Avatar effect

Raleigh, NC

I just got back from the movie Avatar at the IMAX theatre. Awesome movie with excellent visual and sound effects! On planet Pandora, the indigenous humanoids can physically feel the interconnectedness of everything living and non-living. The entire planet Pandora is like a giant organism, with 'Eywa' the underlying field of energy sustaining the balance of life.

On a deeper thought, is our planet any different? All living and non-living things on this planet are interconnected in ways we cannot comprehend or imagine. It's just that we cannot feel this interconnectedness at a physical level. Eastern philosophies have talked for ages about this interconnectedness and the all pervading life force which can be experienced through deep meditation and contemplation. Physics research on the "Unified Field Theory" is validating what eastern philosophies have been preaching for ages. I recently read a book "The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe" by Lynne McTaggart. I highly recommend this book which details how scientific research is validating what ancient religions have been teaching.

On a tangent, I have been questioning whether we would value things in our life differently if we could feel the interconnectedness of everything living and non-living? The world around us, there is a huge distance between the cause and the effect. We are disconnected with the sources of food we eat. Sitting in a cube writing software, I am disconnected with people who will ultimately use what I develop. Politicians and leaders are disconnected from people whose lives will be affected by their decisions. Financial wizards at Wall Street are disconnected from the long term pain their actions can create. Is this disconnectedness leading to actions which result in short term gains and long term losses, whether be it in finance, environment or politics?

Recently I have been very skeptical about everything I see or read. I switch on the TV and see advertisements for prescription drugs. Talk to your doctor about xyz drug. Just pop one pill a day and you will lead a better life. But wait a minute; you might die from the side effects. Every advertisement or news article I read takes me into the 'skepticism zone' and I Google to find information which proves the exact opposite of what I just read. That again validates my skepticism which makes me all the more skeptical! I hope this is a temporary phase that will pass. I don't to be a grumpy old man at 31!

Form is empty, emptiness is form.

Raleigh, NC

I have trouble understanding the true meaning and essence of this sentence. This Buddhist expression originates from the Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra, commonly known as the Heart Sutra, which contains the philosophical essence of about sixhundred scrolls making up the Maha Prajna Paramita. Emptiness is a key concept in Buddhist philosophy. Thebigview.com has an excellent explanation of the concept of emptiness in the buddhist philosophy.

"What is emptiness? To understand the philosophical meaning of this term, let's look at a simple solid object, such as a cup. How is a cup empty? We usually say that a cup is empty if it does not contain any liquid or solid. This is the ordinary meaning of emptiness. But, is the cup really empty? A cup empty of liquids or solids is still full of air. To be precise, we must therefore state what the cup is empty of. Can a cup be empty of all substance? A cup in a vacuum does not contain any air, but it still contains space, light, radiation, as well as its own substance. Hence, from a physical point of view, the cup is always full of something. Yet, from the Buddhist point of view, the cup is always empty. The Buddhist understanding of emptiness is different from the physical meaning. The cup being empty means that it is devoid of inherent existence.

What is meant with non-inherent existence? Is this to say that the cup does not ultimately exist? - Not quite. - The cup exists, but like everything in this world, its existence depends on other phenomena. There is nothing in a cup that is inherent to that specific cup or to cups in general. Properties such as being hollow, spherical, cylindrical, or leak-proof are not intrinsic to cups. Other objects which are not cups have similar properties, as for example vases and glasses. The cup's properties and components are neither cups themselves nor do they imply cupness on their own. The material is not the cup. The shape is not the cup. The function is not the cup. Only all these aspects together make up the cup. Hence, we can say that for an object to be a cup we require a collection of specific conditions to exist. It depends on the combination of function, use, shape, base material, and the cup's other aspects. Only if all these conditions exist simultaneously does the mind impute cupness to the object. If one condition ceases to exist, for instance, if the cup's shape is altered by breaking it, the cup forfeits some or all of its cupness, because the object's function, its shape, as well as the imputation of cupness through perception is disrupted. The cup's existence thus depends on external circumstances. Its physical essence remains elusive.

If this is the case for a simple object, such as a cup, then it must also apply to compound things, such as cars, houses, machines, etc. A car, for example, needs a motor, wheels, axles, gears, and many other things to work. Perhaps we should consider the difference between man-made objects, such as cups, and natural phenomena, such as earth, plants, animals, and human beings. One may argue that lack of inherent existence of objects does not imply the same for natural phenomena and beings. In case of a human being, there is a body, a mind, a character, a history of actions, habits, behaviour, and other things we can draw upon to describe a person. We can even divide these characteristics further into more fundamental properties. For example, we can analyse the mind and see that there are sensations, cognition, feelings, ideas. Or, we can analyse the brain and find that there are neurons, axons, synapses, and neurotransmitters. However, none of these constituents describe the essence of the person, the mind, or the brain. Again, the essence remains elusive."

What is the essence of a person is what I struggled with while writing my MBA application essays. What is individuality? If everything we are is dependent on something else, then what makes me truly me? I took a simplistic approach to the application essays. What we do is what we are! So package everything I have done in my life so far. Education, work experience, hobbies, extra curricular activities and international experience. Present it in a set of well written essays and be done with it. While writing the essays my instinct kept telling me that though what I am writing is factually correct, it is not an accurate portrayal of my individuality. I have no clue what makes me truly me so how can I describe it in essays? For now I have accepted that truly understanding ourselves is an elusive goal.

Why MBA?

Raleigh, NC

Why do you want to pursue an MBA, why now and what after the MBA?

These are the common questions all business schools ask in their MBA admission essays. I did not have an answer to any of these when I first thought of getting an MBA. All I knew was what I did not want. After 8 years of cranking out computer code, I lost the passion for programming. I cannot imagine doing the same thing 10 years from now. Programming used to excite me. During my undergrad and grad school, I spent endless hours in the computer lab, writing all sorts of programs in pascal, C, C++, Java and what not. Every time the program compiled and executed, I was elated. The prospects of getting on the plane to USA, making the big bucks and enjoying the standard of living in a developed country was enticing, and writing software was the ticket to it all. Just had to learn to punch the right keys and I would be on the way!

Growing up in Hyderabad, India, where every street corner has a "computer training center", I had seen plane loads of people around me get degrees in computer science, take the GRE, TOEFL, board the flight to the USA for grad school and go on to work in the tech industry after graduation. Dot-com fever was at its high, there was huge demand for techies in the US. The guy selling suitcases a few blocks from my house was making a killing. Business had never been so good.

Four years into my career I asked myself the question, who cares about all the complex sort and search functions I write? It's so embedded in layers of software, no one is going to know who wrote it and what for. That's when I decided to do user interface development. Writing graphical user interfaces (GUI - gooey) that people can actually use without losing their sanity was fulfilling. This was no escape from programming though. GUI development was just a different kind of programming. So this got old too. I started researching roles which I could grow into and how. An MBA would give me the flexibility to change careers and locations. It would shake the status quo, break the routine and make life a little more interesting.

Next step was to put together a concrete plan which I could write about in the essays. A plan that is feasible, doable and believable. Besides the plan I wanted to present different aspects of my personality in the essays. What followed were months of intense self analysis, putting all my life experiences under a microscope, questioning myself as to what drives me and what makes me tick and who am I as a person. In UNIX operating system, "whoami" is a command which returns the username you logged into system with. I was searching for a "whoami" command in real life. Looking back I think I took the MBA application essay questions a little too seriously. I wonder how much I gained from all that self introspection. Thinking of programming, dot com fever etc, I came across this video which is very amusing.

Lost in translation

Raleigh, NC

BBC compiled a list of 10 most difficult words to translate. "Saudade" a Portuguese word is ranked 7th on the list.

1. Ilunga [Tshiluba word for a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time; to tolerate it a second time; but never a third time. Note: Tshiluba is a Bantu language spoken in south-eastern Congo, and Zaire]
2. Shlimazl [Yiddish for a chronically unlucky person]
3. Radioukacz [Polish for a person who worked as a telegraphist for the resistance movements on the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain]
4. Naa [Japanese word only used in the Kansai area of Japan, to emphasise statements or agree with someo
5. Altahmam [Arabic for a kind of deep sadness]
6. Gezellig [Dutch for cosy]
7. Saudade [Portuguese for a certain type of longing]
8. Selathirupavar [Tamil for a certain type of truancy]
9. Pochemuchka [Russian for a person who asks a lot of questions]
10. Klloshar [Albanian for loser]

Learning Brazilian Portuguese I have struggled to understand the meaning of "Saudade". Saudade is ingrained in the Brazilian psyche and this word gets a lot of play in the Brazilian novelas (soaps). These novelas are a national pass time in Brazil. Last year a novela "Caminhas das Indias" (Path to India) was a huge hit in Brazil. This novela was filmed in India and Brazil with the story line being a Brazilian woman falling for an Indian guy who travels between India and Brazil. Last time I visited Brazil, I found Brazilians to be very inquisitive about India. My guess is that part of the inquisitiveness was fuelled by this novela playing on prime time.



The sub titles in the video are in Spanish. That's because Novelas made by Globo TV in Brazil, play in the Spanish speaking countries in Latin America as well.

Coming back to the word "Saudade", Wikipedia describes it as a "vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist ... a turning towards the past or towards the future". The word has it's roots in the Portuguese maritime tradition. Women and children were left behind when the men ventured out on long sea voyages. Women left behind felt a longing for their loved ones with no control of when they can meet again, if ever. Immigrants to Brazil from all over the world felt a longing for the homelands they left behind.

I can say that I feel "Saudade" for India as I have a longing, a collection of fond experiences and feelings about India but don't know if and when I will go back to India. The fatalism element of "Saudade" is what has been difficult for me to comprehend. I hope my time at HEC is so fantastic and filled with great experiences that I have a "Saudade" for it once I finish my MBA.

Ate Mais... Tchau!

Portuguese learning

Raleigh, NC

For anyone learning Brazilian Portuguese, I found this cool site which is proving very helpful to me in learning the language and more about Brazil. The lessons have a wealth of information about Brazilian culture and customs.

http://brazilianportuguesepod.com/

Verbs and Verb tenses in Portuguese can be quite intimidating. This website has a good overview of Portuguese grammar.

http://www.sonia-portuguese.com/

Ate Mais

Tchau!

Rosetta Stone

Raleigh, NC

I bought the Rosetta stone (French) software a few weeks back. The Level 1,2 and 3 along with the audio companion put me back by $480. Enrolling in an institute for French classes was an even expensive proposition.

So far I give the software high points. I don't believe that the software is enough to build good vocabulary but it does help understand the language basics. I hope to learn just about enough with this software to get by in France. I am conflicted about how much effort I should put into French language training. Post MBA I plan to work in Brazil, so it might be better to focus fully on learning Portuguese?

Talking about Portuguese and Brazil, there is an ad campaign running there encouraging people to pee in the shower to conserve water.

The idea might sound gross to some but I think it's a very practical idea to save water. Would I do it? I will leave that for a later post :)

Why HEC?

Raleigh, NC

School selection during the MBA admissions process can be quite stressful. Researching the schools, determining the fit and creating a list of schools which one wants to apply to can take weeks if not months. I applied to the following schools

HEC Paris - admitted with 13K Euros scholarship

LBS - Dinged without interview.

IE Business School Madrid - Admitted

After living for 8 years in the USA, I felt the need to further expand my international experience. An MBA in Europe seemed to be an attractive option. I wanted to attend an MBA program longer than the 10 month or 1 year programs which most European schools offer. LBS and HEC were the best fit for me in terms of program duration and structure. IE was my backup plan.

LBS provides no feedback about their admission process. I can only guess as to the reasons why I was dinged. Probably my GMAT score was low? (700). Overall, I am super excited about starting the MBA program in September 2010 at HEC. HEC has fantastic dual degree programs. I plan to pursue the one with FGV, Sao Paulo. I am taking Portuguese and French classes and I can only hope that I don't mix them all up.

Getting started

Raleigh, NC

I am a September 2010 admit to the HEC Paris MBA program. I plan to pursue the dual degree program between HEC Paris and FGV, Sao Paulo, Brazil. I am an Indian IT professional living in the USA for the past 8 years. During the MBA admissions process, I found the blogs of others to be very helpful. Through this blog, I plan to share my experiences before and during the MBA program. I hope others find my experiences useful.