Half way through Michelmas.

One of my closest friends Abhay, reminded me the other day that i hadnt blogged for over a month and that he isnt getting the inside info of what happening at Cambridge. So here i am after a huge gap writing.
The reason that i have not been writing anything has not been that there have not been reasons to write about. On the contrary, i have so many things to write about that i keep losing track of where I should start from. Now that i am half way through the Michelmas (first) term of my course, let me go in reverse order of how things have been unravelling here.

Today i was almost trashed by employees of my Magazine Company, because i was talking to them after i had fired 30% of labour and expected the rest to get the work done without a pay hike. I was given a barrage of questions to which i quiet frankly did not do the worst jobs to be alive. This is what happened in my Organisational Behavior class today. I had 15 minutes to device a strategy to motivate my remainder employees to work extra hours for me without the extra pay. Real life... I think so... The passion that exists in the class to interact and get the answers out of each other was explicit and makes for fantastic class-room experience. The Cambridge Experience.

I was burning the night oil yesterday for a competetive project which my team and i chose to run for, which is purely optional and working with a new team, comprising of friends you know cos you chose them makes for an exciting experience as it may not always be what you expect as rosy a picture that you wanted. You start having arguments and clashes of opinions just because you have no idea where to start or where to end. But in the end you find the right answer cos you have a Brazilian, a Macedonian, an American and an Indian perspective working towards gaining a solution. You have to love this team-work. Just another gem from Cambridge MBA.

If you thought that was a great multi-cutural diverse team, get this my Cambridge venture project has 5 individuals, a Thai Genius who cannot be beaten at numbers, an English Lawyer whose points of views and perspectives are the most unique, a German political scientist whose love for music gave him the chance to change the supply chain industry forever, a Japanese who worked all his life in the biggest business industry there is - China, and an Indian Artist who pretends to be an engineer and loves being part of all these teams. We are the Stealth Eagles who are working on a Marketing project for a local venture company to expand its horizons to markets they dream to be serving in. Bringing in so many nationalities together has not only ensured cultural growth in each individual, but also the sensitivity to each individuals strengths and weakness'. I am sure this will help us make better managers in the future. Possible in a small hanging workspace at the Judge Business School.

Just last week we were visited by two of the world's leading CEO's, Mr. Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo (Nokia) and Mr. Graham Mackay (SABMiller). Two hotshots in one week, I know this is pretty much at par with any other leading MBA school. But which school offers you a chance to have lunch with the CEO of Nokia. Well it happens in Cambridge.

Did i tell you two of my friends actually met face to face with the living legend, Dr. Stephen Hawking. I came to know that the legend lives just 5 minutes from my college. I have no other word than 'Amazing' for this experience.

On the extra-curricular front, i am now part of my college rowing team. Makes me feel very proud as this was one thing that i really wanted to do in Cambridge. There are only a few places that one can experience this beautiful team-sport. I also had a great Cricket nets with some of my Pakistani friends. I tried finding the reasons how they are able to produce world class bowlers at the click of their fingers. Also pondered where is the English cricket team going wrong, when they have some of the best training facilites in the world, whereas countries like, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan produce players from nothing. Enjoyed having tea sitting with Indians and Pakistanis watching the best Cricket ground in Cambridge - Fenners Cricket Ground.

We also managed to teach a French guy the rules of Cricket. Pretty amazing I think.

There have been many more experiences, which i am not able to understand where to start from and where to end at. Hence i leave with a promise that Abhay, will again remind me of writing a blog and i shall write more of my experiences.

Cheers,
Abhi.