Wishing Everyone a Multi-Lingual, Multi-Cultural Happy New Year

Afgani - Saale Nao Mubbarak
Afrikaans - Gelukkige nuwe jaar
Albanian - Gezuar Vitin e Ri
Arabic - Antum salimoun
Armenian - Snorhavor Nor Tari
Assyrian - Sheta Brikhta
Azeri - Yeni Iliniz Mubarek!
Bengali - Shuvo Nabo Barsho
Bulgarian - ×åñòèòà Íîâà Ãîäèíà(pronounced "Chestita Nova Godina")
Cambodian - Soursdey Chhnam Tmei
Cantonese - Sun Leen Fai Lok
Catalan - FELIÇ ANY NOU
Chinese - Xin Nian Kuai Le
Corsican - Pace e Salute
Croatian - Sretna Nova godina!
Cymraeg - Blwyddyn Newydd Dda
Czechoslovakia - Scastny Novy Rok
Denish - Godt Nytår
Dhivehi - Ufaaveri Aa Aharakah Edhen
Dutch - GELUKKIG NIEUWJAAR!
Eskimo - Kiortame pivdluaritlo
Esperanto -Felican Novan Jaron
Estonians - Head uut aastat!
Finnish - Onnellista Uutta Vuotta
French - Bonne Annee
Gaelic - Bliadhna mhath ur
Galician - Bo Nadal e Feliz Aninovo
German - Prosit Neujahr
Greek - Kenourios Chronos
Gujarati - Nutan Varshbhinandan
Hawaiian - Hauoli Makahiki Hou
Hebrew - L'Shannah Tovah
Hindi - Naye Varsha Ki Shubhkamanyen
Hungarian - Boldog Ooy Ayvet
Indonesian - Selamat Tahun Baru
Iranian - Saleh now mobarak
Iraqi - Sanah Jadidah
Irish - Bliain nua fe mhaise dhuit
Italian - Felice anno nuovo
Japan - Akimashite Omedetto Gozaimasu
Kabyle: Asegwas Amegaz
Kannada - Hosa Varushadha Shubhashayagalu
Khmer - Sua Sdei tfnam tmei
Kisii - SOMWAKA OMOYIA OMUYA
Korea - Saehae Bock Mani ba deu sei yo!
Kurdish - NEWROZ PIROZBE
Laotian - Sabai dee pee mai
Lithuanian - Laimingu Naujuju Metu
Macedonian - Srekjna Nova Godina
Malay - Selamat Tahun Baru
Malayalam - Puthuvatsara Aashamsakal
Maltese - Is-Sena t- Tajba
Marathi - Nveen Varshachy Shubhechcha
Nepal - Nawa Barsha ko Shuvakamana
Norwegian - Godt Nyttår
Pampango - Masaganang Bayung Banua
Papua - New Guinea Nupela yia i go long yu
Persian - Saleh now ra tabrik migouyam
Philippines - Manigong Bagong Taon
Polish - Szczesliwego Nowego Roku
Portuguese - Feliz Ano Novo
Punjabi - Nave sal di mubarak
Romanian - AN NOU FERICIT
Russian - S Novim Godom
Samoa - Manuia le Tausaga Fou
Serbo - Croatian Sretna nova godina
Sindhi - Nayou Saal Mubbarak Hoje
Singhalese - Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa
Siraiki - Nawan Saal Shala Mubarak Theevay
Slovak - A stastlivy Novy Rok
Slovenian - sreèno novo leto
Somali - Iyo Sanad Cusub Oo Fiican
Spanish - Feliz Ano ~Nuevo
Sudanese - Warsa Enggal
Swahili - Heri Za Mwaka Mpyaº
Swedish - GOTT NYTT ÅR! /Gott nytt år
Tamil - Eniya Puthandu Nalvazhthukkal
Telugu - Noothana samvatsara shubhakankshalu
Thai - Sawadee Pee Mai
Turkish - Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Ukrainian - Shchastlyvoho Novoho Roku
Urdu - Naya Saal Mubbarak Ho
Uzbek - Yangi Yil Bilan
Vietnamese - Chuc Mung Tan Nien
Welsh - Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

Merry Christmas

Here's wishing all my readers "Merry Christmas" !

While you enjoy the spirit of christmas there's some food for thought for all of you.
Here is an observation made by Justice S Mohan of SCI in his judgment in Unnikrishnan, J.P v. State of A.P., AIR 1993 SC 2178. This was a case, inter alia, touching upon the question: "Whether the right to education is a fundamental right? If so, up to what level - primary, secondary, higher, university and/or professional"?

"The fundamental purpose of Education is the same at all times and in all places. It is to transfigure the human personality into a pattern of perfection through a synthetic process of the development of the body, the enrichment of the mind, the sublimation of the emotions and the illumination of the spirit.

Education is a preparation for a living and for life, here and hereafter. An old Sanskrit adage states: "That is Education which leads to liberation" - liberation from ignorance which shrouds the mind; liberation from superstition which paralyses effort, liberation from prejudices which blind the Vision of the Truth.

Interesting Conversation

Today let me share with you excerpts of a conversation that I witnessed. Before sharing the details let me provide you a brief background. We are housed in the GMP village (fully furnished twin sharing apartments) but are required to come down to the MDP Dining Hall for having breakfast / lunch etc. During the mornings there's always a rush since classes are from 8:30 AM.
Today was no different with everyone rushing through their breakfast to reach the class on time. After finishing his breakfast IR was patiently waiting outside the washroom for the 2 people inside to come out. The time was 8:25 AM. After a good two minutes one person emerged from inside the washroom. IR stepped back to make room for the person. Suddenly VK aka visionary emerged from nowhere & tried to wriggle through between them. Now, IR had witnessed such behaviour of VK several times earlier in the past. This time he was determined to teach VK a lesson or two. So he pulled VK by his arm and stopped the latter. Here's the rest of conversation.

IR: Hey, where do you think you are going? Get in the queue.
VK: Oh Oh...sorry I didn't see you.
IR: Why? Are you myopic?
VK: He He, Yes, No, I mean...
Then IR goes inside & shortly afterwards VK joins him. (BTW, there are just 2 basins).
IR: You know what, guess you should learn a bit of courtesy. That sure will take you a long way in life.
VK: He He. In India we do not need courtesy.
IR: Who told you?
VK: Indians are by nature not courteous.
IR: hmm, that's the latest bullshit that you engineered, right. On 2nd thoughts, you are right. Apparently some Indians aren't.
VK: Of course, you are a very courteous Indian.
IR: You bet I am and you are one extremely discourteous Indian.
VK: Oh Oh. I was just joking.
IR: Maybe, but I wasn't...

The reason why I am posting this conversation is to highlight that even in a B-school where apparently one comes across some of the most elite people of the country this type of unacceptable behaviour is extremely commonplace. The same people when they travel overseas though are magically transformed to extremely well-mannered & thoughtful individuals. My question is then why do we not exhibit such nice behaviour towards others while we expect others to show the same towards us. Food for thought :-)

3rd Term Electives

My electives in the 3rd term are as follows:
e-Business
Labour Law & Cyber Law
Marketing Strategy and Implementation
Product and Brand Management
Organisational Change and Development
International Financial Management
Resource Based Strategy
Strategies of Cooperation

You will observe that my concentration areas are IT / Marketing / Strategy.
I have taken a single Finance elective this term - IFM. Next term I will be taking another Finance elective - M&A.
This is a conscious decision since I do not intend to pursue a career in Finance. The only 2 Finance electives that I have chosen are purely out of interest.

Service Science, Management and Engineering

It is widely known that the economies of the developed world are predominantly based on services and those of the developing world are headed in the same direction. However, the businesses within the service sector of most economies are still mostly based on narrow and unsystematic methods, leading to lack of competitiveness, speed to value, and most importantly, innovation.
Today Dr. Guruduth Banavar, Associate Director, IBM India Research Laboratory, Bangalore talked to us regarding IBM's initiative called Service Science, Management and Engineering (SSME), which aims to create an ecosystem for developing the knowledge base and train the labor force and to make significant advances in service research and innovation. This is what he had to say "We clearly need to develop a more systematic approach to services innovation if we are to sustain this vital new sector in the economy".
The goal of the SSME discipline is to drive productivity, quality, and sustainability of services, while making the learning rates and innovation rates more predictable across the service sector, especially in complex organization to organization services including business to business, nation to nation and government to population. This new academic discipline brings together ongoing work in fields of computer science, management science, and social science to develop skills required in a services-led economy.
Many leading universities across the world have begun exploring and investing in the field of service science (SSME) to develop exactly these cross-disciplinary skills. University of California, Berkeley, Arizona State University and North Carolina State University are among a handful of universities in the United States which have established programs in service science. Universities in Europe and Asia are also creating programs in this area.

Back to Jamshedpur

I'm finally back to Jamshedpur after an enjoyable Aussie trip. We reached Kolkata on 12th morning (2:00 AM) from Bangkok. The flight was delayed by around 1.5 hours. One hilarious thing happened at bangkok airport. We were waiting in the lounge (before boarding) when a group of gals sitting in front of us suddenly started giggling uncontrollably. When I turned my back towards the direction in which they were seeing & laughing I saw RC, visibly embarrassed, coming out of the men's restroom in a hurry. Knowing RC and her idiosyncrasies this wasn't too surprising for anyone though ;-) As if this were not enough within a couple of minutes their was another roar of laughter from everywhere around me. This time VM (Bacchu Yadav) mistakenly entered the women's loo and hurriedly came out red faced. Three cheers for RC & VM for producing this "Double Dhamaka" in Bangkok and entertaining everyone around :-)