Closing thoughts...

My tribute to the partners in the best way I can- with poetry and verse!

One chapter ends
and many more are born
Joy must fill our breasts
and yet, our minds are torn!

Palms red with clapping,

Chests filled with hugs,

Eyes moist with tears-
Pride that heart unplugs!

We go our separate ways
Riches and Fame, to find
But, alas, the only wealth that lasts
are souvenirs of the heart and mind!

-Arvind

Congratulations Marta & Hugo!

For the first-ever "Best MBA partner" award from IMD!!!

Jasmine's Maternity Photoshoot

Last week, Aswini and I did a "Maternity Photoshoot" with Jasmine and Tony... Here is a collage of the photos :)

Good luck with the delivery Jasmine! You can find the entire photostream here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjCt5zD9

Geneva Festival Fireworks

Summer Vacation Collages- Part 1

This series of posts will use picture collages tell the story of the vacations taken by the partners along with the MBAs in July 2012...

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First, its Anne & Patrick on their vacation in Lisbon

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Next, its Sminesh, Julia with Noah on his first trip to India and getting to know his subcontinental roots!

clockwise from topleft: Sminesh & Julia on a nightout without Noah :( , Noah meets children at Julia's NGO, Noah meets his grandpa, Noah rides an auto-rickshaw, Noah answers fan mail

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Then we come to Arvind(me) & Aswini and Vinita & Mahipal during our road trip in the UK from London to Edinburgh with a two-day layover at Vinita's place in Derby

First row- Panda scratches its butt in the Edinburgh zoo, Holmes and Watson discuss a case in 221 B Baker Street, Aswini makes the devil sign in front of Adam Smith, the double date under a tree near Chatsworth mansion
Second row- Aswini tries picking up a lotus, Mahipal looks at the tea Vinita made with suspicion, Aswini doesn't have any with her tea
Third row- Officer Lestrade lights up Holme's cigar, I am back in Pondicherry, Aswini near Tower bridge, The moor lands near Dave's parents' house in Pondicherry
Fourth row- me near Tower bridge, drive through the moors of northern England, Edinburgh view from the caste, Mahipal and Vinita share one of their cute/crazy moments :)

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Next, we meet Marta and Diego on their boat trip across the Mediterranean

more collages soon... 

A passion for smiles

If some one had asked me back in April to organize a party for 100-120 people, this is what I would do:

1. Take a pen and a piece of paper
2. Think of what needs to be done
3. Draw a blank
4. Give up and go home

I wouldn't know the head from tail of what goes into making a successful party. What needs to be cooked, what needs to be purchased, how to go about decorating- what it takes to create an ambiance where people can laugh, play, enjoy and have a great time. And that is why it is impossible for me to describe in words what Marta and Hugo pulled off last week. I am still dazed from the grandeur they infused into the most amazing event that we have seen at IMD so far this year. And this coming in the heels of a bar already set too high by the St Patrick's party that Marta organized last month.



It takes creativity, hard work, patience and most important of all, a passion for perfection and a passion to bring smiles to others to create something as amazing as this. And Marta and Hugo did it without a frown! Not to mention the entire team of partners who have been at work for over a month for this event, who took the time and the enormous efforts to do the painstaking task of buying, building, decorating, cooking, cleaning... and finally, assembling the extravaganza that was our Brazil-Portugal party at IMD.

At the end of the party, I was telling Hugo and Marta how amazed I was. Hugo responded, "Actually, you did not see everything. We could not do a lot of things we planned because there is simply no time!". I was afraid to ask what those things were. I was already floored in awe and there is only so much I can handle in one day.

I will say this- MBAs, you are lucky to be in IMD in 2012.

Exams Ahoy!

Brace yourselves partners!

The exam season is approaching. Which means the MBAs will get even busier than usual. And this time, its not going to be that illusion of busy the integrative exercise created :P

This time its going to be a long process- two weeks of wrapping up the start-up projects and presentations. Any free time remaining will be devoted to personal study. Expect fewer sightings of the endangered species that are the IMD MBAs.

But like most tunnels, this has some light at the end- 4 days of vacation! 4 days without talk of presentations, projects, assignments, books...

An ode to Kalidasa

I had written the following under the title "Ode to Kalidasa" while Aswini was still working in the US last year. Thought today was a good occasion to share! :)

As usual, scroll further down for the original Tamil version...

Rain pours here,
while the sun scorches there
Have the clouds
found a new home?

To bring me your pain
your yearnings, your tears,
Like messengers
have they come?


--

கொடும் வெயில் அங்கே
கொட்டும் மழை இங்கே
மேகங்கள் இல்லத்தை
மாற்றினவோ?

உன் ஏக்கங்கள் எனக்கு
உணர்த்த அவைதான்
மங்கையின் தூதாய்
மாறினவோ?

-Arvind

The Indian Winter

A look back at the last one month

Winter is probably the best time to visit the country- especially the southern regions which hardly ever see temperatures dropping below 20 degrees centigrade, even on the coldest of days. Any other year, I would have simply loved it.

But this year isn't every year. This time its different. I would gladly give up the splendid tropical weather for the snow and ice of Lausanne. No amount of vacationing at home, being surrounded by family, being pampered by parents, can lure me into staying here a minute longer than what is necessary. This time its different.

Because I have come here leaving Aswini behind. I left her behind in a new town, a new country- left her to figure out everything on her own. Find her own way to school. Find her own way to the grocery store. Find her own way to the gas station. Cook her own food. Get by on her own without knowing the language. All this in a place where I have lived for almost three years. A place I know well enough to be of great help to her. At a crucial time in her career when I HAVE to help her in anyway I can. Worst of all, I left her behind as soon as we finally got to be in the same continent, let alone the same city, following a prolonged and frustrating long-distance relationship.

A farm in a village near Patiala, Punjab in northern India

But we both knew this needed to be done. I traveled this great country from the north to south, from Madras to Hyderabad to Delhi to Punjab, in the last 20 days- in order to get things done. Important things. Professional as well as personal. A lecture here, a common friend's wedding there. One of us needed to hold good on commitments here. Most of all, one of us needed to be present here for the most important of decisions made by our respective families concerning our relationship and our future together. And I was the only one between the two of us who wasn't booked 7 days a week from 8 AM to 1 AM.

Finally, its all done. Adios India!

Harvesting in Solitude

Original version in Tamil below

Just when you took your first steps
My hands let go of your fingers,
Like the bird that pushes its young ones o'er
before they sprout the first feathers

Longings to watch you grow and win
this new battle in the war that's life,
like waves they come out of my heart
headed West, strong and rife

You fill my thoughts this birth of Thai*,
In this body that is, alas, duty bound
like the rice in the sacred pot we cook**
my heart boils and spills around

* Thai (தை) is a month in the Tamil Calendar, beginning sometime around the middle of January, which is ushered in by the harvest festival of Pongal, one of the most important festivities in southern India.

** An important farmers' ritual of Pongal is the boiling of freshly harvested rice in a newly baked mud pot, and letting it spill over. This signifies and celebrates abundance for the seasons to come.

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சிறகுகள் நீளுவதன்முன்பே
கிளி தன் குஞ்சை வீழ்த்தியதோ? -உன்
விரல்கள் பிடித்து நடப்பதற்குள்- என்
கரங்கள் உன்னை விலகினதோ?

படிப்படியாய் நீ முன்சென்றாய் -அதை
பார்க்க மனம் தான் துடிக்கிறதே
அலைஅலையாய் என் மனதிற்குள் -பல
ஏக்கங்கள் மேற்கே வீசியதே!

தை பிறக்கும் இப்பொன்னாளில் -என்
கண்கள் உன்னை தேடியதே
கடமையால் சிறைபட்ட இவ்வுடலில் -என்
இதயமும் பொங்கியே சிந்தியதே!

- Arvind