Interesting so far..

Life down under has been pretty interesting so far with a bit of beauty of surroundings, new friendships, new culture at work and outside, long hours of sleep ( quite contrary to my usual self) on the weekends and so many more things.

Till date there have been three days which were most eventful, the first one being meeting up with ‘Tugga’ Steve Waugh. Just happened to meet up with him while taking an after lunch stroll in the streets. For the first few minutes I was just staring at him and smiling. Appropriately, after a couple of minutes of the unrelenting gaze from my side he shot an exclamatory look. Of course one has the leeway of being in a daze whence one meets up with the childhood hero and that too by sheer random luck. By the end of the talks I did what I know best- blabbering about markets and we had small chat on AIG and its future (this was before the Bailout).

The second memorable day was the trip to Canberra’s Floriade. It had the most beautiful collection of tulips and their derivatives( I mean multicolored tulips like a mix of an orange and purple etc) . The countryside/outback in Aussieland is amazingly beautiful with an amazing array of flora and fauna. I would say Sydney has got the best of all worlds, with an amazing mix of beaches, mountains (snowy ones too), caves and forests all located within a small radius (300km). It rained half the way to Canberra and almost the full way back. I have never seen so many rainbows in such a short period of my life as I have here. Infact on one fine day I saw two rainbows in the sky!!

The third memorable day was the Annual Conf. of I Bankers where we witnessed behind the door presentation of the past, present and future of I banking in this part of the world. It also provided a platform to meetup with the country heads from around the world including the current BOSS and the most probable one for future. Great perspectives and amazingly talented people provided the maximum amount of motivation possible to each other for weathering the storm the world is currently witnessing.

Generally each day has brought new things in life on personal and professional front. However, all said and done one misses India every passing moment and more so on the Festival of Lights-Diwali. Enjoy all you lucky fellas for you are in India where sweets were exchanged and crackers were burst. Not that it did’nt happen here. Of course we do our part here but it’s not the same. To top it all was working on Diwali..There is a price for all the good things..

Downunder..

It's been over a month now... Opera City is very beautiful indeed...Bondi was beautiful but was bit of a disappointment because of its size...Baga is a much bigger beach....
Overall my exp here till date has been a mixed bag.. Work within the bank is just ok till date..not something which will send shivers of excitement down the spine... Honestly ....I think more than anything once u get in... what u realize is that the journey was more arduous than the task ensuing.. post the goal ....i.e.
One thing I admire about Mac bank is their spirit.. the kind of things they undertake literally stems from a well known line...

'what the mind of man can conceive it can achieve....'

but of course after covering all your positions as a bank....
Life style is pretty chilling.. Staying next to a place like darling harbour ensures one can de-stress pretty quickly by taking a short walk over the bridge and getting hit in the face by the sea winds.....i also love the piazza in front of the Victoria building as it's one of the most happening part of the town with thousands of people criss crossing the place any given hour...

after a long time in my life.. i have the privilege of coming home and taking out time for myself instead of academic/professional pursuits...till now the personal part of the life is going pretty fine..however sometimes...during the week......when i am punching in the keys...the heart longs for the final journey which should be undertaken.....sometimes i try and tell myself..of all the prices one pays to pursue what one really wants (also of knowing what one really wants).... and sometimes it seems in the long run.. may be it wont matter...
my bet is that if i know my self... the journey is on....its only a matter of time...

indeed... one of my favorite lines from a movie....

"...geology is a study of pressure and time......that's all it takes really........

..pressure and time....."

On the contrary the city of SCG keeps on amazing me everyday with its beauty...would try to be at the Boxing day test this year and try to catch up with couple of cric Gods..

New Life...

Placement week got over. Hectic to say the least, but it was indeed a very interesting period of life. One gets to know the limits to which one can stretch oneself  only becasue of resilience and the depth of interest in a field. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience as in any case I never had the luxury of getting several job offers in two days. 

Global Mkts role at I-bnk would be something which I may rue/mull over for some time. Hope life takes me to places where I want to reach as my passion for getting in to Mkts makes me get up at night and think about the  missed chance which  stemmed from the inability of the campus recruitment process of a bank to offer appropriate remuneration. 

The Oz option is more like one of the famous bidding cases which had a good part of the valuation coming from the real option of the project in the future.. 

Valutions are still on...

New life post ISB or the same one with new perspective...yet to decide...

Night Time at ISB....

Night time at ISB is not the least of lonely times.. infact the afternoons can be sometimes much more lonely time..
..
even if one is loaded with a number of assignments and is working till 3 Am..and expects no one to be around, when one goes out to get a cup of tea...dont be surprised if you find plenty of folks doing their stuff.. assigments, boozing, getting a cup for themselves..etc...

New year came in and till date not free from the asgnmnts.. no break what soever this time as asgnmnts are getting over by Monday morning..

Fin Eng. course in term 6 was the most enjoyable one till date.. and I feel lucky to have met the like of George Chacko.... what pedigree!!..and what exp!


Death Spiral Converts etc.. good stuff to know...

lets see what T 7 brings in...

by the way at ISB since now i am accustomed to sleeping less than 6 hours per day... i watch all the IND Aus matches in the morning ...almost every ball and then set out to do the asgnmnts...
cool na... after a long time .. i had the privilage..Laxman was amazing today... esp the first 50 in 43 balls ... only he can do it..

Hope the others continue the good show tom....

After three weeks..

Had the D day with GS today.. one of the most made up interview I ever had .. Did'nt ask me any thing. answered all Qs...Infact when I asked about GS deals.. he himself was not aware...
Shortlisted the unsure...and no

I dont understand why ppl do things which they have no passion for ..just to do what others are passionate for...now .....Howard makes so much sense.. and he always did....the fire still burns deep inside...

Guess i have still a long way to go and better/bigger things to do......

One of the very sad days of my life....

Placements-Mixed Bag till now

Did'nt get a shortie in DB.. took me 2 days to overcome it....GS shortie came in .. good feeling .. it doesn't get bigger than this.... Had a talk ..... told me ..they found the profile very interesting...Hope this feeling endures with them.....

Friday..9.00 am GS interview...10.00 AM INTF....well talk about time management....

5th term was really tough for me ....may be due to the 4 fin papers... i guess now..shud have had more time to prepare...now 3 days to go and no major prep....

Hope.. this blog takes me to rounds at London and further... Lucky blog....

2.30 am still slogging... another night spent slogging... after a while... I guess...one starts enjoying the hardships...and I am really loving this place and I am absolutely serious... the more one slogs the more satisfaction one gets.. I guess that might be one of the reasons why i leave stuff for the last minute prep....

all subjects in this term were good.. next term is a trade off.. will decide by sunday.....


roger....

Jaagte Rahooo... Jagte Rahoo...................

Slept at 3 Am yesterday, got up at 5.30 Am went for a long stroll... 2.00 AM the next day still up.. Non Stop...

'Bhad main jaaye duniya dari, sabse badiya chowkidari' .....:-)

Third term is three much to handle.....

Get a grip man it is still 2 more hours before you hit the bed... and have to be up again and submit the survery before 12.00 Noon after reading a 40 page case.....

anyone reading this to get a feel of life @ISB... this is what it is... and this is what we now enjoy....

Stretched ... like a Stretch Hummer..... coool... No.... Choice...No...Enjoy...Yes.....