Me Danced! :-D

I accepted the offer to anchor a Indian Fest conducted by ISA ( Indian Student Association) called UTSAV at LSU because, the person who asked me was dear to me :

1. He was one of the people who came to pick me from the airport, when I 1st landed in Baton Rouge
2. I adored his compering skills during our welcome party and the way he conducted himself!

So 4 days before the actual event I go for doing my script rehearsals and by the end of it all I know is I am dancing for a kannada song! [ Jinke Marina..yes yes you read it right it is JINKE MARINAAA only and yep you got it Arpitha was dancing for it]

The ISA people had this idea of doing a medley of Indian songs for the final performance and we all were requested to participate. I didn't want to be the only one objecting it and putting down the enthusiasm, I tried to escape by telling I am busy etc but it didn't work ;-). So since I was already in deep soup why not enjoy it ? And that is exactly what I did!

The anchoring and the dance were both appreciated by many people. And I am glad about it. Most importantly I had a blast doing it! Wouldn't mind trying it once again somewhere sometime.

The Dance Video

Oh ho its "HOT"

During the 1st Launch week, I had missed a company visit! from MBA!! And every time I see the awesome blanket that my classmates received from them, I feel BAD and SAD! I don't want to miss anything as part of MBA, since I am here missing a lot of other stuffs back home...Makes sense right!

So last Friday, 12th Nov 2010 we had a company visit to Tabasco (Sauce Manufacturing Company, located at Avery Islands ,2 hours drive from Baton Rouge). It was painful to get up at 6 AM after having a busy week with Marketing Presentation. Thanks to Praveen, who dropped me to school. We got into huge Hi-tech buses and the moment I sat I slept! 1 hours of bliss full sleep made me feel good and once we got off we were welcomed with some awesome donuts, and coffee! The trip was worth this at least :-D. It is basically a family businesses and owned for about 200 years now. The whole place was green and spread till where I could possibly see. The architecture of the buildings was British based I felt. So we visited the actual red chilly factory, tasted a fresh paste of hot pepper and man it was "HOT", people were coughing, crying, jumping, cursing once they tasted 1 tiny particle of it! Imagine when is is zillion times hotter than green chilly for me, how that non-spice eaters would have felt.

We next had a presentation about the history of the company during whcih time I had another cup of coffee and was chatting with my buddies back home. Finally we visited the manufacturing and packaging division and it was a good experience indeed. We finally had to grab a sandwich and head back to the buses. Way back, I didnt sleep rather I chatted with my MBA friends and came to LSU by afternoon.


I still feel the burn in my stomach when I remember the taste of the hot pepper!! ;-)

Mother of All Presentations

Back in engineering I and Asima had struggled to do presentations! We used to be nervous just like the rest of them not because we did not know how to speak, but because we did not know what to speak that sounded "technical" ;-). I must agree, that Asima was a much better presentation maker than I was. I ROLF laugh when I remember the multi-color slides I had come up with and how she convinced me to go with a single sky blue background!

Now after 3 years, I am more confident and comfortable to talk about anything with anybody for any length of time. I am not trying to boast, but just giving a base for my next reading.

So here in MBA, as you all know there are infinite presentations and discussions. have been doing good so far. But, for marketing we just need to give 1 presentation for the whole semester for about 45 minutes. The prof is real good, he is the sport management guy at LSU for football as well. he will analyse, observe and critique your entire presentation on the way you dress, walk, talk, breathe, eat, sit and behave in the class the day you are presenting! Fortunately or unfortunately we were the last team to go for it, 10th Nov 2010!

Off course I had the same old fear I had back in engineering for this one! 1 week of exhaustive meetings, brainstorming and discussion with the prof made us put up a great presentation for the class. We however, did not win the extra 10 points that we compete for with another team who present on the same case study, but we were happy and content by our performance. But, what was most important for me was the prof feedback on my presentation and it was good, which made me all smile!

Now I can sit back and take a break not worrying about presentations till god knows when! :-)

And on the day of our presentation, I took my classmates to an Indian Restaurant and they just relished the food! :-)

LSU Vs bama!

I had worked a plan for close to 3 weeks, so I can spare some time to volunteer at AID ( Association for India Development) . They basically have food stall during the football games, and the proceedings of the business is sent back to India for some social cause.

Lucky me, I get to go for "THE" most important match. LSU Vs. Alabama! The atmosphere is like India, Pakistan cricket match a couple of years back! :-)

I had to wear a LSU T-Shirt when I am working at the stall with gloves on hands when ever I am touching any edibles! The shirt was literally stinking with food smell but I has no choice but wear it. And since I am the "strict" veggie, I was at front desk just facilitating the whole business :-D.

I sneaked from the food stall a of times and went to the stadium to witness the craziness! Serving the drunk wild fans, enjoying nachos and cheese my self with quick visits to the stadium made my day more interesting than whats was happening since a few days! 8 hours, awesome fun, no MBA, no Work...just serve, eat and watch! It was perfect. Did get an opportunity to bond with fellow Indians in the stall as well. Would love to do it sometime when I can afford! ;-)

P.S : Off course LSU won the game!!! ;-) score was 24 LSU, 21 bama...6th Nov 2010

MBAA Games 2010! Geaux Green

After never ending PoB [ Practice of Business] sessions every Friday as part of our MBA course, last Friday was something different!!

Yes, we had our very own "Sports Day" for the 1st & 2nd year MBA's. We are divided into 4 Cohorts [ Blue, Red, Purple & GREEN]. I belong to the Green Cohort. Apparently Green has been winning the trophy since 3 years!!! When they sent a registration form for adding our names, I just volunteered for Tug of War [ Considering the fact that I am no sports person and didn't want to be one of the reasons just in case Green lost this year].

Chilly Cold morning, all wearing sports ware [ unlike the usual Business Formals!!] and some even in Halloween Costumes was a treat to my sleepy dead eyes!

Kick-Ball - Green lost and won a game each. I was just the photographer for the whole event apart from clapping my hands when someone played good.

Volleyball - I was so exhausted clicking photos ;-) I just rested on the ground with some friends

In the mean while Green had won some other game

Relay - I participated in 4 legged race and frog jump. The guys between whom I stood in the 4 legged race, literally squeezed me in an attempt to lift me and run!!! I am applaud for the but it since that day my arms are aching like hell [ Nah anything for Green and no PoB ;-) ]. Green was the 2nd best.

Tug of War - Though I had registered for it, I never got an opportunity to participate. But I was a huge moral supporter for the guy at the end. His name is Bobby. He gave me his jacket so I don't freeze in cold that morning, so I thought I must scream my guts out to cheer him up. The usual scenario's is we stand 5 feet away from the rope and the moment the whistle blows scream like crazy people saying " Geaux [GO] Green, Come on Bobby, Push it, You can do it" and once we win/loose start over again !!! Green was the 2nd best!

Anyways end of it cumulatively GREEN won as usual, we took a couple of snaps before everyone left for early Halloween Celebrations and me coming to work!

Home away from Home!

After 2 months of classes, we were getting Fall Break [ 21st & 22nd October], this was a long 4 day break since weekend was also there!

I had planned to visit my bro during this time, and he had booked my tickets to San Jose,California long back. As the days neared, I was more worried about my 4 days absence here, the pending task I have to complete etc. One of my friends asked me "Are you exited to see you bro" and I was not so "reactive " about it then. But when I stepped into the plane to go, I know I skipped a heart beat, when I realized I am going to meet FAMILY!!! That 's the time when I said to my self screw the pending task, screw assignments let me not think of it for the next 4 days!!! And I must agree it was the best decision I made :-D

Had a wonderful travel experience from Baton Rouge to San Jose [ sitting next to a Yahoo Employee and a Manager of some company], landed in San Jose, picked up by my bro, headed straight to a Indian Fast Food Center, packed Dosa, Idlis and filter coffee and came to his apt ooops I would rather call it HOME!!!

Was impressed and surprised the way his home was maintained, hogged dosa and dozzed off on the carpeted floor [ better than my unstable air mattress]. Woke up when mom called, spoke to her briefly got fresh and had idlis and coffeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :-). Was watching the latest hit "Endiran" when bro came home and picked me. Visited his office, met his colleagues, boss and had buffet lunch with them in an Indian Restaurant [Sneha]. After that, bro took me to shopping!!!! Then we headed to a Jain Temple [ Was very relaxing and felt good] and had dinner at Tirupathi BHIMAS [ I can still feel the taste of RASAM I had there]. Then bro thought me how to drive for about 2 hrs I guess.

Next day same routine, but we made a visit to Shiva Vishu Temple at Liver-more, then headed to San Fransisco. The drive was really endearing! Visited
1. Golden Gateway Bridge
2. Crooked Street
3. Peer Street
in San Fransisco and dined at a posh Italian Restaurant with one of his friends.

Came out to realize bro's car was towed, had to hunt for it and pay a hefty fine! Didnt realized the drive back to San Jose as I was exhausted!

Next day, met Nikhil & Srivatsan [ Friends and Colleagues from MindTree]. They are studying MS in San Jose [ This year just like me]. Nikhil prepared some good coffee and I had a typical gossipy chat with them. Nikhil then took me around his campus followed by some mouthwatering Punjabi Lunch. We then went to a Tech Exhibition [ though the plan was to go to an ART museum]. Had some fun seeing & experimenting some techie stuffs. Lost our way back home, so asked my bro to pick us. Then went with bro for more shopping and had CHAATS for dinner .

Well that's the end of it, next day traveled abck to Baton Rouge [ bad travel experience] and got back to my routine of worrying about everything! Yes Bro's Home was HOME AWAY FROM HOME, for 3 days I had good sleep, good food, good company and no responsibilities to worry about just like how things were back HOME and above all I was with FAMILY. I couldn't have asked for a better break!!!

Though my heart desires I get such breaks every weekend if not everyday!! Is it too much to ask for ?

A weekend that wasn't!

After mid term exams, I was really looking forward to having a great stress free weekend :-)

The Initial Plan was :

1. Get my Learners Permit to drive in US on Friday afternoon
2. Have a good poker night at our place on Friday night
3. Saturday morning get up without an alarm ringing!!!
4. Clean the apartment
5. Go for lunch with a couple of friends to an Indian Restaurant
6. Finish my take home exam on Saturday Evening
7. Prepare Bisibele bath & Paysam on Sunday :-)
8. Get ready for my trip to California coming weekend!! [ To meet my brother]
9. Wash clothes and Iron them

What actually Happened :
1. Since I didn't have my Indian DL with me, I was turned down at the Driving License Office
:-( [ After waiting for about 2 hours]
2. Pre-pone the lunch plan on Saturday to dinner on Friday night [ I didn't get to eat Saga Paneer]
2. Poker night though was fun, we had to wind up early since many were tired
3. I had to get up like 6:30 in the morning on Saturday, to go to some driving school and attend some 6 hours of class room lecture [ To get the certificate through which I can apply for Learner's Permit]
4. I came home like 4 PM in the afternoon on Saturday, crashed on the bed, woke up at 6:30 PM and started cleaning my apartment.
5. Since I was not done with my Take Home exam, my entire Sunday went for it. This meant no Paysam, no Bisibelebath and no visiting temple .
6. Lastly, forget washing clothes I couldn't find time to wash my hair as well.

Looking forward to a better long weekend this week.....