Author: Dhruba Jyoti Chatterjee
MBA-IB 2011-13,New Delhi Campus
As I was walking past the Academic Block today, a bland piece of paper caught my attention. It said – Applications for MBA (IB) – 2012-14 (Full Time) available. I smiled. Not a long time back, I was one of the many aspirants seeking the right to call himself an IIFTian. Today, as I complete a month at IIFT, I can safely claim that I have completed (1/24) th of the journey towards that goal (Pardon me for the exaggeration, but the hangover of the business statistics quiz will take some time to subside!).
So, how has it been so far? The immediate responses from the heart are: Hectic, Demanding and Sleep-depriving. On most mornings, it becomes impossible to believe that water is chemically neutral, for it makes my eyes burn as I try to wash away the dreariness from them. The subjects haven’t made my life any easier. I now know how hard it is to ‘balance’ a balance sheet; the bell-shaped curve has made frequent appearances in my nightmares; I fail to see the difference between segmentation, targeting and positioning, beyond their spellings and pronunciations. In between shuffling the pages of the textbooks (cumulatively heavier than yours truly) and understanding acronyms/jargons/ fundae/formulae, I am also unlearning and relearning a few things; the alphabetical system, for example. In a world, where the evening begins at 23:59:59 and GAS is not just a state of matter, but part of your daily conversations and content for the answer sheets, alphabets have assumed a whole new meaning. The letter A doesn’t remind me of the fruit/product Apple anymore; nor does the ball represent the alphabet B. In my new world, A stands for Assignments, B for ‘Babloo ke Paranthe’, C for CV, D for Deadlines and so on and so forth. It’s easier to count the days when I faced a quiz than the ones when I didn’t. I almost feel the chairs greeting me as I enter the auditorium or the NCH, for I have spent more time with them than anyone else in the college so far. Yet, every night (technically morning) when I eventually hit the bed, I go down with the satisfaction of having spent the day productively, having learnt something new.
As I slowly find my feet in this new phase of my life, walking away from my comfort zone, I can see many others like me, frantically waving their hands – my new friends and mentors, welcoming me in this world of exciting challenges and wonderful opportunities. Well, the journey has just begun. And I am in no real hurry to finish it! Hopefully, we, the batch of 2011-13, shall make it a memorable one.
So we are all set for the UCL semi final 2nd leg(El Clasico number 4 in little more than 2 weeks)
at the Camp Nou. Before this Real Madrid has won 1, Barca 1 and one resulted in a draw. Going into the match Barca has an advantage of playing at home with 2 away goals at hand. In the first leg, it was a deadlock which was broken by Pepe's dismissal which seemed to turn the tide in Barca's favour and they went ahead when Messi turned in Ibrahim Afellay's cross. Messi then added a fabulous second when he ran 30 yards before slotting in.
Real Madrid's defeat at the Bernabéu by Zaragoza – José Mourinho's second league defeat at home inside a month after a nine-year unbeaten run – gave Barça a chance to stretch their advantage at the top to 11 points but they were beaten by Real Socieded later on Saturday. Real Madrid coach Mourinho rested several first-choice players, including Real's top scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Xabi Alonso, ahead of Tuesday's Champions League return at Camp Nou, where they will aim to overturn Barcelona's 2-0 advantage from the first leg.
For the 2nd leg, Pepe is suspended and then there are players in danger of missing the final if
booked - Alves, Mascherano for Barcelona and for Madrid, they are Arbeloa, Adebayor, Di María, C.Ronaldo, and Albiol.
To improve their attacking ambitions, Mourinho may play Kaka in an attacking central mid-field role. Madrid is one of the world’s best teams on the counter. In fact, they are much more than a team that depends on the counter. For much of the season Madrid has dominated the ball and retained possession for long stretches. In addition, Madrid have been quite dangerous when they’ve been able to turn the ball over higher up the pitch and then break at speed. Their pace and technical ability makes them very adept at transitioning from defense to not only attack extremely quickly but to do so in numbers.
Tactically, Alonso plays a key role in the midfield as Pedro and David Villa are for Barca. Alonso is a fine passer but he’s not particularly strong at shielding the ball or dribbling. With Villa and Pedro pressing the full backs, Barça will be able to break Madrid into two horizontal pieces by pressing Alonso and forcing Khedira to build up more of the play. This will require both Xavi and Iniesta(who might not play) to defend vigorously on the press, which they fortunately accustomed to doing.
The Barça wide players must press and disrupt the Madrid full backs as they seek to initiate play. Pedro in particular will be critical for Barça because one of the signfiicant advantages Barça have is Pedro’s work rate compared to Ronaldo’s. Pedro will need to not only pressure Marcelo but will then need to track back to support closing down the partnership between Marcelo and C. Ronaldo.
Which leads us to the final way Barça must defend – one of their best defenses in this match will
be to possess the ball and to do so with as few errors as possible. One of Madrid’s greatest
problems in this match will be - How to generate attacking opportunities in the way they are
accustomed to against a team that possesses the ball for so long and infrequently makes mistakes in possession.
Some Catalans see Barcelona as their "national team" – despite the presence of foreign players such as the Argentinian Leo Messi and Brazil's Dani Alves. Some Madrileños see it as the sporting embodiment of "anti-Spanishness". It is a state of mind that harks back to the days of General Franco, when Real Madrid was seen as the establishment club. Barcelona, almost as a corollary, became a symbol of Catalan resistance.
For them this is war, a set of proxy battles between the Catalonia region – of which Barcelona is
the capital – and mighty Madrid. With a draw and a victory apiece so far, the bruising campaign
will not be settled until Tuesday.
The first leg saw Mourinho openly criticising Barca(for their "theatrics)and UEFA(for "supporting" the Catalans). I have heard/seen people making baseless comments that UEFA supports Barca as UNICEF are their sponsors. But here I want to make clear that UNICEF does not sponsor Barca. Rather it's the other way round i.e. Barcelona FC funds UNICEF.
Anyways, hoping for more football and less of an action packed movie in the last Clasico of the
season.
I chose to watch this movie as it was suggested by Pinaki Sir in class. And as he rightly said, the
movie is depressing, and leaves one with a paranoid feeling. I still wonder why Midnight Cowboy was slapped with an X rating. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards though, becoming the first and only X rated movie to win Best Picture(they used this for promoting the movie). John Schlesinger won Best Director, and Waldo Salt won Best Writing - Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
Midnight Cowboy is all about one of the essential myths: The eager youth comes from the country to the city, and his simplicity and freshness are ground up in the urban jungle. Joe was a simple-no-ambition dishwashing Cowboy on the road to nowhere. In this small nothing town he might have been the top stud with women falling all over him. Realizing "the only one thing I ever been good for is loving" he concocts this naïve idea that he's going to quit his job.
Joe Buck happens to meet Ratso(Rico or Rizzo), a person entirely outside his experience. Like a rat, he makes his own way in the city, hated, asking no favors, living the life he knows. The characters are very different yet they complement each other really well. The only reason being- there is no other way to turn.
Joe is very much a daydreamer. The film is constructed with a series of flashbacks and dream sequences that are triggered by as much as an incident reminding Joe of something "similar" that happened to him. Joe's biggest misstep is buying into the images and words he sees and hears. His worldview seems to have been formed through John Wayne's movies.
Midnight Cowboy is a movie that destroys myths and demonstrates the difficulty of trying to attain one's dreams. Joe's great misconception of media leads to broken dreams, promises, and hopes when Joe tries to live his version of the American dream. The film wastes no time in pointing out Joe's lack of intelligence, style, class, tact, quick thinking, brainpower and so on make him unable to succeed in a place he doesn't understand in the least.
Joe's encounter in the dark movie theater with the kid with hornrims was seriously damaged by Schlesinger's flashbacks,which I think, were a serious weakness in the movie. I can never be sure what went on with the girl in Texas, or what Joe's grandmother was up to, but that doesn't matter. Experiences like those in Joe's background should have produced a masochistic, impotent figure, which don't fit into Joe Buch as we see him.
In the end, Midnight Cowboy is a devastating movie and doesn't care about sending the audience home happy. As a whole though, the film is hardly all gloom and doom because the friendship between Joe & Ratso and sequences that show their dreams shed some light on even the darkest of circumstances. Even the concluding sequence is painful. As Joe and Ratso make their way to enjoy in Florida, Ratso passes away in the bus. The people know something serious has occured but they don't get much bothered and some old women are shown as doing makeup as they get ready to get down at Florida.
The movie reminded me of the innocent, innocuous village people's experiences once they step into a metro city and it really does give you a mental beating. All in all, a depressing movie filmed in a cutting edge style that shows even dreams with low expectations can have a high price.
Director : Sudhir Mishra
Story : The film has parallel stories of two gangsters, Arun (Irfan Khan) and Kuldeep (Arunoday Singh), who get their love life entangled with their criminal misdemeanours. Kuldeep is assigned the job to kidnap Shyam who is supposed to get married to the daughter of the Home Minister. And he kidnaps Priti(Chitrangda Singh) along with Shyam as they believe she is his fiancee. Arun decides to get Priti out of the trouble but realizes that he will have to help Shyam too to see her happy!
Review : When I think of this movie, the first thing that comes to my mind is Sudhir Mishra flooding my memory with a lot of names I'm unable to figure out who was given which name except for Mehta, Arun, Kuldeep, Bade and of course Chote(who comes in a transgender form towards the end. What/Why was that?!!) . Another notable thing is the Delhi lingo used in its purest form :) Teenagers who find that actors are actually using their favourite vulgar words would feel proud but no one else would. It was just too much and seemed to be out of context a lot of times.
I was also confused with a complex story line. Well if the idea was to relate/contrast the lives of Arun and Kuldeep why couldn't it have been done as simply as in Taxi no. 9211. And how can one attempt to make a humour out of a murder under Indian circumstances! The movie that comes to my mind in this regard are The Godfather and Pulp Fiction(and it wasnt humour exactly) and we all know the perfection of those classics.
Irfan Khan steals the show as the despondent lover, who is ready to sacrifice his life for a woman who is confused whether she loves him or not. Aditi Rao Hydari and Chitrangda Singh do quite justice to their respective roles and especially their looks.The interesting thing was that it was shot in and around Delhi. It's nice to see that movie makers in the recent years have shed the Mumbai obsession in their films when it comes to show gangsters.
The movie is dragging towards the end. Our gang was just passing the time making fun of each other when Irfan Khan went through his last moments. In short I felt as if the director was trying to club many hollywood concepts into a single Bollywood movie.
I know these comments dont gel with the general perception. So comments invited...
In the class, I tumble in a freefall
Early starter profs, unwelcomed by all
Last row being the professors screwball
Under the hawks watch, I scratch my eyeballs
I don’t wanna be here, an oddball
Why am I here,I try to recall
A New Perspective I suppose, free thoughts are my Be all
Fools, he thinks, you are just some slimeball
There are ways to make your presence felt in the hall
Whether you are large or small
Be invisible in transparent overall
Or Wait your turn, an intelligent outfall
Sweets, it seems, I am new to this ball
Stall your thoughts, the rules here stand tall
The 2 years,how it goes is no longer your call
Sit Up!! time for another ROLL CALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Recently I saw this great movie "Tuesdays with Morrie"...
Awesome.. Made me to think and rethink..after a looong time:):)
"What's the wrong in being No.2?"...thought provoking one liner!!!
How many of us including me aspire to be at the top all the time..Is that place really worthy of it???
What's the point in winning the race if you do not enjoy racing?
What's the point in education, if it doesn't make a human more humane?
World is a very big place..(for God's sake its not just market). Why should everyone play a zero-sum game?.
We spoke so much on Sensex and Nikkei but not on Haiti.. When is the last time we left the GD mentality and really listened..
Where are we erring or is it all my invalid assumptions?..
I am no monk and I am an MBA :) so...I have no answers.
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