Move over the fairness obsession - All you need is a clear even toned skin, Indian men!

Back in 2010 I had written about how the India society is so unabashedly obsessed with fair complexion - even Indian men. To be honest I too was part of the band wagon till not so long ago. Well I still am - just that I now realize that you just cannot get a lighter tone with any of the skin lightening creams that are available in the market - certainly not when we face the kind of heat in the subcontinent and the kind of pollution that is so ubiquitous in Indian cities.

Think about it yourself ! As I understand to be able to maintain a fair skin you should be inherently fair. None of the fairness cream can turn an inherently dark complexion into a fair one. Even for those that are inherently fair, genetics matter to ensure if that fairness is affected by exposure to sun if it isn't. While it is known that the phenomenon of tanning affects one and all I would like to believe that if affects different people to different limits depending on the extent to which the pigment melanin comes up to the surface of the skin when exposed to sunlight.You perhaps may have noticed that may north Indians get tanned much less as compared to others even though they are even more exposed to sunlight - genetics I think!

In short, Melanin holds the key. Based on the extent to which this pigment can be kept subdued tanning is effected

I haven't observed the chemical composition of most fairness creams for men but I presume they would contain the same ingredient as would be present in a sunscreen. You might as well use a sunscreen with a large spf (sun protection formula a metric to measure the reflective power of a suncreen)(say 35-60) depending on the comfort level you have of applying such creams on your face. Creams with large spfs are very thick and need to be evenly spread. Hence I doubt that a fairness cream can do any more than a sunscreen.

 In other words - you can only retain your present complexion not lighten it. 

That said, sunscreens or fairness creams are important to prevent further deterioration in complexion (prevent tanning basically). You could get a fairer skin through applications of particular chemicals on your face which leads to a peeling off of the top layer exposing the unmelaninized lower surface which is considerably lighter. But you would need to go to a parlour for that and the treatment could take you about four months - I am keeping this segment of the discussion reserved so as not to take the focus away from the principal topic of daily application of products

But do you really feel the effect of a consistent tone even after regularly applying sunscreens. The answer may vary but for most Indian me taking to public transport or bikes( anything other than am air conditioned car) the answer is perhaps a no, Suncreens provide a sticky surface which attracts more dust to settle on your skin - the result being uneven tone sometimes as though you have come from a mine. It is important ,therefore, that you have a face wash that cleanses your skin of the dirt after the travel is complete. This is where the importance off ace washes comes in something which has unfortunately been not paid much attention to by India men.

The series to be followed should therefore be

Suncreen with a high spf --> cover your face as much as you can --> go out inn the sun ('coz you have to) --> use a face wash when you reach your destination

There are a few face washes inn the market catering to the male tough skin - Garnier men, Vaseline face wash for men and Nivea advanced whitening to name a few but none does the job of cleaning your face of excessive dust as well as "L'oreal Men Expert with Charcoal foam" does. I have tried many face washes - L'oreal is just perfect for the India men skin constantly exposed to dust and pollution. Its charcoal foam has an amazing magnetic effect that clears away pollution leaving your skin with an eve tone something you will want to have on a Friday night while wanting to go for a movie or to the party after a gruelling day at work followed by travel through the congested and polluted Indian roads. It has oil control as well - so you skin may feel a little dry after application. You may use a moisturiser after that to control that.

The face wash is just great and I personally feel that L'oreal has perhaps underestimated the potential of this cream in the India market. Presently, I  don not think there is any other face wash that would come close to L'oeral for cleasing your skin of dust as much as this does. L'oreal also has a "Brigtehning foam facewash" which is effective but I feel the charcoal content in the former one just provides so much better cleansing!The facewash though, is slightly more expensive coming in at INR 449 for 100g and i have not foud this consistenly in all super markets - not atleast in Pune

So while facecreams seem to occupy the Inndian man's mind when it comes to fairness the focus sould clearly be on getting an even tone atleast under Indian conditions and in this "L'Oreal Men Expert Charcoal Foam" is strongly recommended

Govenment Action - Good or Bad ?

In light of increasing government intervention in western economies (Greece and the U.S to name a few) over the last 3 years , the debate is raging as to whether "Government Interventionism" is the right thing to do or whether such actions, reactive though they may be, are going to take country into a state controlled soviet-styled regime.On the other hand, developing countries like India because of their restrictive social structures often find that their governments cannot pick up seemingly economic viable reforms as there is a vote-bank that is at risk of being forfeited should the reforms not work- FDI in multi-brand retail ,for example. The evaluation of a government's action(or inaction) may ,therefore, seem desirable. To evaluate it, one may try to understand the government action in terms of its impact to :

a) The state treasury
b) The people

I have kept businesses out of the beneficiary list as the impact of policies on business eventually is transferred to the people who run it ,are employed by it or consume for it. As Milton Friedman argues that a business is not a "a big cornucopia" but is rather a collective representation of its stakeholders and their interest. The following video clip, though addressing a lot of other issues does mention the above concept ("a big cornucopia") during its course :

Milton Friedman - The free lunch myth

The affect on the 2 affected parties can be viewed as positive or negative.

The effect of an action/decision will be a positive one on the government if it is able to raise more money via taxes (as a result of that action) and utilize it for some other socially uplifting process (a difficult assumption in the corruption ridden world, but we wouldn't get anywhere were we not to consider this).It is negative if it means that the money available in the treasury takes a hit on account of the said action

The effect of an action/decision will be a positive one for the people if it is able to benefit them economically by raising their income directly or indirectly by the lowering of prices or non economically by providing knowledge corpus (education) on which they may later base their future. The effect is a bad one if people grow effectively "poorer" by having less money to spend.

These are rather simplifying assumption and a lot more goes into decision making than just the general economics of a decision. With such assumptions in place , we try classifying the government action through its impact as being :

A) positive;positive - Good for the govt and good for the people
B) positive;negative - Good for the govt but bad for the people
C) negative;positive - Bad for the govt but good for the people
E) negative;negative - Bad for the govt and bad for the people

Lets analyze these concepts :

A) Positive;Positive - Govt action leads to people getting richer. Govt taxes these people and grows richer itself and uses the increased finances for 'socially uplifting' projects. An example of this is the Govt of India allowing a 100% FDI in multi-brand retail. The action would result in :

a) Retailing giants like Wal-Mart and Tesco setting fully owned processes in India.
b)Generates more employement
c)Reduces prices as the firms have well formed supply chain processes. People have more to spend - Thus a positive
d) The gvernement taxes the newly employed
e) The government taxes the profits of these behemoths and is now better off to spend the proceeds in other "socially uplifting" schemes - Thus a positive

Several counter arguments like the risk of Mom & Pop stores being at risk of being wiped out exist, but if we are to assume an ideal economy, the coming in of retail giants is only going to serve to benefit this community as the kirana stores will now think of becoming more efficient at managing their resources . Plus government restriction to practices like "predatory pricing" can also help these stores retain a fare share.

It is a win-win for all

B) Positive:Negative - Let's assume the scenario in which the government has to build a flyover and wishes to tax the people to achieve the objective. It can also raise money through Infra bonds and handing over the contract to private players but lets just assume they stick to the first action:

a) It is a positive for the government as it now has more money for a "socially uplifting" project
b) A negative for the people as they presently will have less money to spend and this paid money can never be recovered

Even if the contract is awarded to a private player the govt will be richer as it will now tax the profitable corporate entity. The built flyover is a national asset and will benefit the people in the long run but on immediate grounds is a loss to the people's buying power

Other example of such action being the taxing of people for mega-sporting events like the Commonwealth games

C)Negative :Positive : No government would ideally want to do this. But electoral compulsions may push them to frame policies like subsidizing Oil companies or higher education. In such a case :
a) The immediate effect is that a lot of the planned money for something else goes into saving the oil companies or improving the infrastructure of educational institution - a money which the government could have resisted spending by passing on the expenses to the public directly. This money is "dead money" as the expectation that it will be recovered is almost nil.The chances that the engineers and scientists in the long run will help improve the efficiency of government engineering firms is slim (certainly in this country) as most of the graduates from Govt run institutes take up private jobs
b) The public stands to benefit as it now spends less for petrol,LPG and diesel. Also parents spend less for the children's education.

Not a great proposition for the people at the helm,though ...

D)Negative:Negative: A "save our soul" response. Done during severe crises like the goverment's intervention in the US to save their banking system by borrowing money. The borrowed money will eventually be financed by the people who will become "poorer" unless the government magically turns around the economy to a high-growth path in less than a quarter in which case the people's increased income and subsequent taxes on it will finanance the help without essentially making the people poorer.

Another example is President Reagan's hike in interest rate to lower the country's high inflation pushing the economy into recession in the 1980's

People ,in general, while evaluating government responses should also evaluate the kind of finacial and to some extent social situation that exists in the country. The US response to the financial crisis was a "Negative:Negative" response but they had absolutely no other choice. Similarly the Indian govt's reluctance to allow more FDI in a high inflation environment is a depiction of the much used "lack of political will".

Give FDI a chance, you can change policies to mange the ill-effects should the situation go out of hand

The un-fair advantage

The age old fair and lively ads along with the new ones - Vivel's fairness beauty cream , Emami "fair and handsome" ('the mardon ka fairness cream') , Garnier's new fairness facewash - there seem to be far too many fairness enhancing products in the market which makes you wonder if "fairness" (that of color) is truly important . The answer varies .

In most professions your looks don't matter at all . In certain businesses it may matter as to how presentable you are but certainly not whether you are of light complexion . In professions such as modelling and acting though ( acting in movies not the much forgotten stage acting ) it has increasingly started to become relevant ( if it was nor already so) as to how fare you are - at least in this country . It's sad but true that a fair model is more likely to get a chance to act in a T.V commercial more easily than her/his (it's more her and less his) darker skinned counterpart. It's sad because to some extent God has made it so . To any Indian eye a fair complexioned individual has always seemed more attractive than a not so fair individual with equally blessed facial features - and this is something we can't do much about . That's just the way we see and interpret attractiveness and fairness ranks very high on that index.The Indian pshyche has actually been brought up on such stereotypes and much as we may wish it away it's perhaps going to remain a part and parcel of our outlook in the near future . Guys are still going to talk about the new fair girl in the campus as being more desirable . This explains why there aren't too many successful dark-skinned models around barring a few like Bipasha Basu and Sameera Reddy . And they don't have it coming too easy for them either . One has to stand up against taunts such as "kaali billi " and the likes to really make it big . And you really need all of Sushmita Sen's grace, elegance and smartness to stand up against the ultra- fairskinned Aishwarya to make the jury believe you are better (not to take anything away from Aishwarya- she can still stake a claim to the world's "most beautiful" tag) . The point is in the glamour world you need to have additional gifted features to be sucessful if you are not outright fair and the NRI guy irrespective of what complexion he has is still going to seek out that " fair beautiful" bride in the wedding season . So what is to be done about this bias based on color? It's strange that we don't see much literature on this existing bias. Perhaps people don't feel it as much as I do .

I think only from the perspective of being fair(by this fair I mean reasonable) one should judge a person's beauty quotient not only from her fairness but also other features like the body structure, how she looks as a whole . It may not come to us naturally as we can't just be rational all the time . Sometimes our eyes and inherent desires get the better of us but at least this way we are being more fair than just saying "forget it she/he is dark". Even in the glamor world I think more scientific methods of judging facial beauty like " symmetry is face" should be taken into account rather than just how visually attractive a model is . That will then be the new definition of beauty and later the correct definition of beauty.

But such a suggestion seems contrary to anyone's understanding, I'm sure . The bias is even proven by a recent British research . Seems like we will have to live with the unfair advantage for the foreseeable future

Ishq na kariyo kaake - the real panchnama?

Finally it has arrived - a movie on the plight of bachelors ,particularly software engineers in this great country where the common and often disparaging adage is that if you throw a stone it is likely that you will end up hitting a dog or a software engineer - such is the sheer number. Quantity apart the movie will well capture everyone's attention with its initial appeal to the soul of every bachelor who is distraught and absolutely fed-up with his mundane office-facebook-beer day . He ends up scolding his manager at office more because he doesn't like the work rather than the manager doing anything particularly devilish. The bachelor slangs (the innumerable beeps inspite of which it was easy to make out what the intended words were) further helped in uniting with the frustration of this large community.But here is the catch - he has his friends ,those unforgettable creatures he feels like openeing his heart to after the frustrating day,whose semi nude pics he uploads to get facebook "likes" and ''comments" and with whom he cracks those vulgar jokes over a pitcher in a bar.That's the only silver lining. Yet the "kutta" feels that there is something missing in his life.


The comforting hug of his girl at the end of his tiring day,long talking hours about the unimportant happennings in the day which his guy friend would give a shit to listen to and the element of sex which he always wants to explore (though rightfully that has not been shown as the sole purpose of his need for a relationship). But does the dog deservedly get solace through this?Is the movie too biased towards highlighting a guys problems without particularly understanding what a girl may want

Well every man to his mind. The relationships start just as most relationships do - with music in the background and fragrance in the air."Rajjo" and Neha's relationship is the quintessential boy-girl relationship in urban India. The girl and guy want to be together,the guy is a little wary of the comfort level of his friends so the girl befirends his friends, moves in with the guy (the guy should not have hastened into this though) and everything is rosy till the first two months after which the girl wants the world to have just 2 people (him and her) and the guy finds out that there are other things on this planet like his old friends,beer and Sachin's centuries. Then begins the struggle.The girl asks the guy to spend all the time in the world with her at the cost of most other things. The guy gives in at most times because he finds this first experience of his something he cant live without. Then come concessions after concessions till he cuts himself off from most things that he enjoyed (before he met this seemingly dominating women) including changing the way he dresses up. The girl as has been depicted is unrelenting in her demands. She wants to make this guy an object that gives her the sense of importance she craves for and not getting which she constantly complains to the extent of questioning his rationale of handling over a million rupees to his father for investments. The guy is in a soup (in a worse state actually). He has no one to tell his feeling of unhappiness to. He feels trapped in this desolate dungeon where even the weekends have become a liability because most of it goes in "babu" appeasement. He feels emotionally exploited when he sees that his Babu feels a sadistic pleasure in seeing him beg for her return after she lies about her spending time with "chiraag". His misery continues till one day he just decides "its not gonna work", the first time he does that in reponase to the millions of such threats from his girlfriend dearest.But is that all thats there to the story - a poor guy emotionally tortured to walk out of a relationship? Well not quite. The depiction is seemingly biased. Nothing has been said about the guy's willingness to spend time with his girlfriend after the initial days.He always wanted to run away. He seemed happy doing it. "Babu" at some level seemed justified asking him for her time. And wasn't she well within her right to expect Rajjo to share all important decisions like giving major investment money to his father? (just as an FYI) Agreed "Babu" was unrealistic in her demands on Rajjo's availablity but seemingly Rajjo made no attempt to clear the air upfront by keeping "babu" in the loop about a lot of things including their Goa trip. This story was the most typical urban relationship that was depicted.Unfortunately the girl was depicted as being overtly possessive (which is still okay) and vehemently demanding (which is a bit over the top, typical girl friends are not particularly that).

Rajjo and Babu

Vikrant - the macho urban male ends up having a so-called affair with an up-market fiercely independant Delhi babe who seeks that her individuality remains untouched in matters of sex,boyfriend choosing and her life in general. Vikrant plays the understanding friend for an unusually long time because of the inherent goodness in his heart and of course somewhere deep within he liked her and somewhere deeper within the evil sexual elements were waiting to burst out. He tried his best to play the understanding man but right from the start it never looked likes things were going to work out. He gave it his best - hats off to him - but why blame the girl? The couple were just plain incompatible. The woman needed to mature more and tone down her free spirit - something only age could have controlled while Vikrant should have stopped playing the out-of-the-world understanding guy that no one really can be - except those that don't really bother much as to who their girl hangs out with. This was failure that was just waiting to happen

And liquid - well my heartfelt sorrow for him. The jovial ,fun-loving ,manager-scolding guy was such a breather . He almost instantly depicted what you and I would at some stage want to be - carefree. But sad he fell in love with a women who plainly had no respect for his emotions. He opened his heart out but she was blatantly one of those selfish kinds who never bothered to see what the other was going through as long as her codes were written, her parlor bill was paid and her house rent was taken care of.She was wicked and there are no second thoughts about that.Her double standards were evident and she should not have entertained LIQUID the way she did especially when Abhi (poor guy even got slapped) was not comfortable with her going out with anyone else. Liquid was unlucky and definitely got the shorter end of the stick. But he should have known better when to pull out of this seemingly loss making investment of time. He alone was responsible for himself being emotionally raped the way he was. But good that he was back to his original self at the end of it all.

Then a nice happy ending with the bachelors returning to where they started - a typical bollywood movie at that. But these guys will eventually love and be loved and probably marry and have children.How will they be handling things then? The truth is love is more complex than people generally think and it really needs mature souls ,not people freaking and frolicking like the humming bird. Love is based on a deep understanding of one's needs first and then the partner's needs and on tremendous compromises. It is the compromises that make love what it is. That's where it derives its strength from not from the delusional "night in shining armor" expectations. Chances are that at some point in the future these blokes will get a hang of it and be ready to make those daring compromises so that the "patta" is after all more enjoyable than it has been depicted

A refreshing topic to make a movie on though . 8/10 from me :)

The Decision Review System - A Boon or a Bane

One can't remain too far away from Cricket, can he? Especially when the world cup is on. Glad that the Indian juggernaut ran over Pakistan to enable the country to set-up a summit clash with a team that probably looks most suitable to lift the coveted trophy.Well, the beautiful game has taken all of us into its fold but when the euphoria does die down it is probably worthwhile taking a look at a new technology introduction which to some may have been the best thing that could happen to the game so far as transparency is concerned while to others it may seem as a move that has marred the aesthetics of this gentleman's game.Yes, it is the much discussed Decision Review System (DRS). It would be silly to dismiss something as innovative as this simply as a boon or a bane. But a few points of contemplation may be a good start to help appreciate or criticize this technological introduction.



Better Decision making: The single most important argument in support of the DRS is that it prevents, in so far as it is possible, incorrect decisions. A batsman who believes that he has incorrectly been handed over a leg before decision when his bat clearly hit the ball can now seek for a television intervention to overturn the decision by the technologically handicapped on-filed umpires. A welcome change indeed. One can't help to imagine the fate of the Indian today team had Tendulkar not sought a Decision review when he was handed over a leg before from the bowling of Saeed Ajmal. To be fair to the umpire he seemed gone for all money to the naked eye and I am sure most people in the country would have felt the same but the review proved otherwise and the referral ensured that no team got an undue advantage owing to a manual error. What the DRS also helps prevent are instances of dissent.Many a time in the past players have been reprimanded for displaying their dissatisfaction at decisions by on-filed umpires, a practice which to me was a little harsh on the players. Not only was the player at the receiving end of a seemingly incorrect decision , he was also not allowed to show as much as a sigh of disappointment - an action which is only natural under those circumstances. With the decision review though, he can just symbol it to the umpire that he needs the 3rd umpire to verify the decision. The 3rd umpire's decision is binding .Hence the player has no reason to feel disappointed

Number of reviews: At present every team is allowed a total of 2 unsuccessful reviews. Mind you the Reviews which are successful are not counted in.But if the DRS indeed ensures that the game is played fare and square why limit the number of appeals to 2? A restriction on the number of appeals means that after the appeal quota is exhausted one cannot seek tech help even when the decision may appear incorrect

Time taken for reviews:The time taken for the 3rd umpire to come to any real conclusion is squarely based on the complexity of the decision at hand. Yes ,match situations and player reputation do play a small part but none is as significant as really how close the decision is to being incorrect. With only 2 decision reviews allowed per team, this hasn't resulted in any serious issues w.r.t teams finishing their overs on time.But if the quota were to be enhanced then this may lead to a spilling over of the match into extra time.Not that we need any stretching of the already 7 hour long game :)

Scope of the reviews: At present Teams can go upstairs for almost any kind of decisions. While so far only LBW and caught behinds have really been reviewed, teams may in the future ask for a referral of a wide ball if the teams are neck and neck at any given time. Now for a wide delivery there are no clear cut answers. The ICC needs to be limit the scopre of these reviews so that decisions which would perhaps remain contentious even after a 3rd umpire intervention are best left to the on-filed umpires

Ian Bell got lucky with the 2.5 m rule

Clear demarcation of the role of the on-filed umpires: There were a couple of instances in the Cup's league matches when the umpires had differing views on LBW decisions being reviewed when the point of impact was more than 2.5m from the batter's stumps. While the decision was sustained in the case of an appeal against Ian Bell - a decision that cost India the match - it was overturned by another umpire in another game. The credibility of any new scheme depends on its consistency. Clearly the above incidents have shown that the ICC hasn't paid much attention to the consistency part of it

Umpires embarrassed: And it is with much pain that I write that it is not a pretty picture when one looks at the face of an on-field umpire when his decision is asked to be reviewed. It sometimes feels like they are the culprit in the dock and that their fate would be decided by TV umpires in 2 minutes. Much worse is the picture when they have to overturn the decision and to add some Indian spices to the wound, every spectator can see it on the giant screen. Imagine having to look at a David Shepherd correcting his decision . There is obviously nothing wrong in doing what is right but just that Cricket despite all its scandals has always been perceived as gentleman's game and much of this reputation has for years been kept intact because of the alomost infallible reputation that the on-filed umpires of yester years held. Not that that reputation has taken a beating in this cup - umpires have invariably got their decisions right - but there may be a little less infallibity quotient for the umpires going forward

What a spectator sees on screen

Spectator popularity- I think the DRS has been rather popular among spectators and television viewers. They feel a degree of connection when they see that a decision is up for a review and they can form their own opinion about it. There is also greater spectator participation when a decision is reviewed on the giant screen and if the game is indeed for the spectators, I am not sure if the sponsors will be too happy if the ICC decides to take back the DRS altogether.Though I was really young to have noticed it but I believe that the DRS is having the same effect on the viewers that the Run-out referrals to the 3rd umpires had in the early 1990s

Like I mentioned above, there are no clear cut answers and each person is bound to have his own view. To my mind though, there are more 'goods' than 'bads' in the new system. With a few tweaks, the system could be made agreeable to all

IIMK - The Interview

The last of my IIM calls was scheduled to happen on the 28th of Mar 2011. Though I had not particularly kept up with the latest happening owing to ill health, I had some previous interviews to back me up and give me the confidence required to face this one.

I was required to report at the center at about 8:30 A.M and I did indeed reach about an hour in advance and that point on I so wanted the process to get over as soon as it could.I could hear a few Malayalam words flying around.Incidentally a significant proportion of the candidate population were Malayalis.

Coming to the business end of things,at about 9:00 AM we asked to write a composition on a given topic within half an hour. The topic was a abstract notion really. One could interpret it in any way.I felt this gave me more leeway in drafting the essay and I had quite a few points in mind but I could jot down just about half of them for lack of time. This was followed by a rather strict check of the documents and candidates without the photocopies of the originals were asked to fetch the same.The verification of these documents was the most time consuming part of the selection process. After each verification, the candidate was asked to move to the interview section where one was almost instantly called in for the same .

There were a couple of gentlemen in the room where the interview was meant to take place. I was ushered into the room by a gentleman well into his forties,I would guess.I was asked to submit the photocopies of the documents to the panel during the verification of which they began asking me questions. They did not take a look at the originals which I had carried with myself.I was asked to take my seat. Right from the word go I was getting the feel that the interview would be relaxing. Atleast the professors made me feel really a ease.
Written below in conversational style is what transpired in the next 15 minutes (the interview,I observed, was of a shorter duration). I shall refer to the interviewers as I1 and I2 and myself as Kunal

I1: Good Morning
Kunal: Good Morning

I2: So Kunal tell me about yourself
Kunal:[And thus went my practiced answer in reverse chronological fashion with much elan and fervour.Lol]

I2:[well at ease] Mmmm. Tell me which was your favorite subject in Electronics engineering
Kunal:[Oh I hate that. Why dig the past? In any case I didn't want to drift too far away from Communication] Digital Electronics and Communication system [I was actually tipped off of this potential question by a previous interviewee]

I2: OK. Tell me the difference between the difference between 2G and 3G from a technical stand point. not from a scam perspective.Ha ha
Kunal:[I was obviously not amused having to start the interview with question i was not completely aware about] The primary division is from a modulation perspective. [Explained what modulation was]But I do not clearly know which modulation schemes are used for 3G communication

I2: So why can't they employ 3G enhancements in 2G?
Kunal:[Not sure what the question meant]I think the correct way to look at the question will be from the point of division really which is the modulation scheme rather than looking at it from the point of view of why 2G could not have 3G schemes. The schemes were gradually improved

I2: What is the difference between 3G and 4G?
Kunal:Not sure if I would be able to answer that. I'm sorry

I1: What is an avalanche breakdown?
Kunal:[Was a little rusty but felt I did a good job with answering this question with a detailed explanation]

I2:I see you haven't written your salary here [pointing to the space on the Personal data form where the information was requested]
Kunal: It was an optional question I preferred not to answer

I1: I see you have a good grade point and you have a nice job . Why MBA?
Kunal:[Spitted out my practiced answer this time with more gusto about why I want to start an education firm imparting Financial basics to students of Std 10th and 12th]

I2: So you target will be high school students. How do you think you will be able to attract students when they are busy preparing for the IITs etc?
Kunal: I think much of this would depend on the marketing strategy.My USP would be to allow students to make an informed choice of a career in the future.I would initially want to start my business in the summers where students will have the opportunity to prepare for their entrance exams as well as devote time to learning more about finance and economics.

I2: Okay. Since you mentioned you want to impart financial basics etc., etc., can you tell me what the Limited stands for in Goldman Sachs Pvt Ltd?
Kunal[Damn. I didnt remember.]I remember we were told about this during our training, but I don't think I would remember now

I2: Try.
Kunal: [I thought professing ignorance would be better than darting in the dark]It has something to do with the legal processes.I'm sorry that's I would know

I1:So I see you have got a call from IIMB too .Which among IIMK and IIMB would you choose if given a chance?
Kunal:[Practiced]. It is a tough question. I will cross the bridge when I reach there

I1: What is so unique about IIMK that you would want to join?
Kunal:[I had not done any research on their website, so didn't know what really set IIMK apart]I have spoken to people who have passed I have passed out of IIMK and they were always impressed with the quality of education and faculty. It is a great place to be having proven its worth over the past 8-9 years. Not to mention I did my engineering from NIT Calicut and IIMK had its beginning in the NIT Campus. So I have a natural affinity.[I dunno why I said the last sentence]

I1:Okay. So many scams happening in the country. I am fed up of democracy, I want to get rid of it.What's you take on this?
Kunal:[Smiles]We do not have an option do we ?I would want ti answer this question in 2 parts.[Explained why there is no alternative and the fact that we have a multiparty democracy.Secondly I mentioned about the 4th pillar of democracy which is the press and said that we should be proud of their dynamism. Removal of democracy would mean removal of the freedom of press]
[I ranted on]Part of the circumstances that have shaped my views is that I spent 4 years in Kerala where I have seen students the same age as mine being very politically motivated.It is different from other parts of the country [blah blah blah]

I2: How many states are going into elections in the next month?
Kunal: 4

I2: Sure
Kunal: Yes

I2: Name them
Kunal: Kerala,Tamil Nadu,West Bengal and Assam

I2: Which is the 5th state?
Kunal:[Smiles] Oh. I don't know if there is a fifth state

I2: It is Pondichery
Kunal[Never knew Pondicherry had elections][Smiles]It is a Union territory

I2: [Smiles] Okay Kunal . That should be it.
I1: Do you have any question for us?
Kunal: Yes. I have been meaning to ask that given my entrepreneurial ambitions , will their be electives catering to entrepreneurship?
I1: [He mentioned there will be and that they are willing to improve on a cell catering specifically to entrepreneurship]

Kunal: Are there incubation facilities for new businesse?
I1: Yes . There the new cell could have such facilities. You will also have a holiday placement offer option.

Kunal: What is a holiday placement ?
I1: You can try out different things like your business among other things fresh out of campus and if for some reason you wish to get back and get placed then the campus will allow you after 2 years of your passing out.[Atleast that's what I understood]

Kunal: Wow
I2: [Smiles]Nice option . isn't it?
Kunal: [Smiles].Yes great option. You will be able to hedge your risks.

I1: Okay, Kunal. Thank you
Kunal: Thank you and it was a pleasure talking to you

The professors, like I said before, were incredibly comforting with their mannerisms. Presently hoping for the good news . The results for IIMK ,I learnt, will be out in the first week of May.

Related links:

IIM Bangalore - The interview

IIM Indore - The interview

IIM Shillong - The interview

IIM Bangalore - The interview

Mar 12 2:00 P.M was my date with an enviable challenge - the chance to make it to IIM Bangalore - among India's most sought after B-school if not the most sought after B school. I was glad that I reached the center (which was IIMB itself ) a good 45 minutes before the selection process was meant to commence . Saw a few familiar faces including someone from my own college. After some relaxing chit-chats about how previous interviews had been we were all asked to assemble on the first floor outside a room inside which the destiny of the 10 of us who were in the assigned group would be decided. Sharp at 2 we were asked to enter the room and told to write a one page essay (and that's as much space that is provided. One cannot ask for an extra sheet to write on) on or the most likely reason for price rise . That if it was a productivity or distribution issue.We had a good 10 minutes to think about the topic followed by 20 minutes in which to pen those thoughts which one would imagine is rather sufficient. I thought I did okay with the essay. Nothing great really to talk about.

The panelists took the paper away from us exactly after 30 minutes from the point they directed us ti begin thinking. We were then asked to wait outside the hall and that we would be called in the order in which we sat. I was meant to be No 2. but the first guy had not turned up which made them tell me 'You are first up. Don't go too far away'. I didn't . just waited outside for my turn and was asked to enter the hall at 3:00 P.M

There were 3 panelists inside. One alumnus and 2 professors . The alumnus was from a finance background and there were professors each from Finance and Business communication.
Written below in conversational style is an account of what transpired in the next 20 minutes. I shall refer to the interviewers as I1 (finance prof),I2 (alumnus) and I3 (Business Com prof)

I3: So you have got 2 files.Please hand them over and be seated.
Kunal: Yes[Smiled]. There is one for academic certificates and one for co-curricular. Good afternoon! [Didn't mess it up with a 'Good morning' this time :)]

I2: You work for ... [There was pause .Perhaps meant for me to spell out my company's name,which I did. After which he followed] Goldman Sachs [And I knew where the rest of the discussion was headed. It's all up to you dear firm :) ]Who is the CEO?
[Nice to start with a sitter]
Kunal: LLoyd C. Blanfein

I2: Your C.E.O was in the news recently. What was that for?
['How recent?' I thought.Then I thought I should say the most recent one]
Kunal: Rajat Gupta was on the board of directors of GS in the past. Lloyd Blankfein was reported to have been willing to testify in the trial

I2: What else? Goldman was in the news otherwise too
[I knew this was for what had happened sometime in May last year]
Kunal: Yes there were allegations of fraud.
[I ventured to explain what the CDO containing the mortgage backed security was about and the affected parties ABN Amro ,Paulson and Co and the Royal bank of Scotland . All information available in public domain]

I2: Don't you think that it was wrong?
Kunal: Well if a company (trying to generalise the issue) is found not to have complied with rules and regulations the it does become a question of morality ...

I2: How many employees are there in Goldman globally?
Kunal: there are about 30000 employees

I2:Kunal, I heard after the allegations ,Goldman came up with a 14-point guiding principles for the employees correct? I have only heard it from others. What does it guide you about?
Kunal: [Smiled] Before I answer that just wanted to let everyone know that the 14-point guideline have always been there and were not constituted as a reaction.Also,I can only disclose as much as is available in the public domain. We obviously give primacy to our customers ,our people and reputation. [Explained a little of how it is important to the firm]

I2: What do you think Goldman is there to make money or service its customers?
Kunal: Making money is at the back of everyone's mind.But what is important is how you get there and for Goldman its important that Client is serviced.......

I2: Kunal, I want you to think about this. On the one hand you promise to service your customer but on the other hand hand the activities are ones that are meant to enhance profits. Don't you think this is wrong?
Kunal:[Again trying to generalize. Guess had to repeat my earlier answers in a new way!]I think both the things go together. You would always make a profit if you service your clients and earn there good will and .....

I2: Kunal, so how would a new joiner fresh out of college look at Goldman Sachs ? As a money maker?
Kunal: I was recruited fresh out of college myself from NIT Calicut and I was aware that being a financial services firm the firm would of course make money . What really is important is the underlying principles of ....

I3: What is your job there at Goldman?
Kunal: I work there as a technical analyst for the support and development of Goldman's global P.W.M business. [To put things in perspective told them a little about how a typical day would be for me]

I3: What is the need of technology ?[The question was very long and also supported by I1. the gist of that was I think 'Why do companies invest heavily in technology ?']
Kunal: Technology is an absolute must. For example one of the feature which gives a lot of wall street firms an advantage is the principle of mark to market(which helps hedge against a counter party default) for which you need technology as you need to do the computation daily. This can't be done without technology

I3: Mark to market. Mmm How does it work?
Kunal: You take the latest price and if say you have agreed on a future transaction at Rs 85 kilo of rice to materialize on the 12th of May and the current price rises or falls by one rupee then that rupee has to be exchanged between the interested parties and this helps prevent .....

I2: How do you arrive at the pricing?
Kunal: Since it is done daily I would imagine that the last closing price of a product would be taken as the current price.

I1: Are you sure?
Kunal: Pricing is the responsibility of another department. So ..

I1: [Smiles] Tell me if you know or not?
Kunal: I would not be completely ...

I3: Lets say Reliance share is selling at rs 1000 the whole day and just before the market closes someone buys it at Rs 5000. What will be the price of Reliance at the end of day?
Kunal: The value of the share is always the last price at which it is sold and in this case it would be Rs 5000 ... [Not sure I understood that question completely though]

I3: Don't you think that's wrong?
Kunal: [Smile]Before I answer , would like to state that that this is a doubt that i have had myself about product pricing and i have raised it in different forums> I don't think think such a scenario would happening mature markets

I3: No no, we are not talking about mature markets here. Lets say someone decides to buy Reliance at Rs 5000 a share? How do you think the calculation would work?
Kunal:[Thought a little]I would imagine they would take the average of the prices at which it was traded the whole day and because ..

I3: But that's not easy correct?
Kunal: mm . I don't think there would be any ambiguity w.r.t the prices at which shares were bought. We just add them up and take the average
[I3 responded by saying something. Do not recollect now]

I1: So its all finance? why do you want to take Marketing up?
[Phew ! where did that come from . I didn't mention it in my SOP that I wanted to opt marketing. was a little puzzled]
Kunal: The reason why I want to pursue MBA is that I want to open a business of my own in the education sector. [Told them how teaching is my passion and how I observed the difference in business knowledge in new york between Indians and westerners, was asked to come straight to the point and told them that i want to impart basic financial knowledge to students fresh out of school so that they can make an informed choice ]

I1; Why do you want to do this?
Kunal: To start, teaching is my passion ..

I1: passion is one thing what else?
Kunal: A lot of students want to take up M.B.A without really knowing why.They do an MBA just because everyone else is doing it. i want to help people make an informed choice?

I1: Don't you want to make money. Why do want to glorify your intentions?
[On Dear Lord]
Kunal: Making money is at the back of everyone's mind but ..

I1:I think it is the front of everyone's mind.
Kunal: Well... i was reading this book one minute entrepreneur and there they had stated that for anyone to sustain any business it is important to keep making money and lets say for that reason alone, one would want to earn money.

I1:What skills do you presently have that you think you would make a successful entrepreneur?
[Never thought about that]
Kunal:[kept beating about my being organized and about my organizational skills in the past and then stopped]

I3: Being organized that's it? I would imagine that chaos is what would make a person go for entrepreneurship! [looking at I1 for agreement]
[Aah! Cleaver play of words.]
Kunal: Well i think you need a certain amount of entropy to start with. thereafter its you organizational skills which would give the firm a direction.

I3: IIM Bangalore is not a place famous for entrepreneurs. Of the 300 students barely one turns out to be an entrepreneur.
Kunal: I thought there were quite a few actually.There is the NSCREL. I was going through the websie and I did find quite a few start-ups including Just-books ..

I3:All those are from NSCREL, the PGP program doesn't have anything to do with it.
[I was taken aback as I had all the while being thinking that the 2 were neatly tied]
I1: That should be enough. thank you.
I3: Yes . Thank you. You got any question for us?

Kunal: [Still not completely out of the surprise.I paused] mm PGP and NSCREL are not tied?
I1: No. They aren't . They just operate within the campus

Kunal: but there would be electives catering to entrepreneurship?
I1: Yes, yes that there will be.

Kunal: [Thought that should be it]. Thank you. It was a pleasure


Dunno how to rate this. Was I too assertive or too meek to their linking. Fingers crossed.