So how did I get to be here, procrastinating on my homework while looking out on the beautiful river view from the Hertford College Graduate Centre?

Starting with the basics, I am a 25-year-old native of Washington, D.C. and a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. After college, I worked at a public relations firm doing health and social marketing work. After a few years, I quit my job in Washington D.C. and lived in Uganda for a while, working on a small business project with village women.

I always knew I wanted to enter a career in international development, but I wasn’t sure exactly what kind of training might be helpful. Most people I knew in the development field had MPH, MS or even law degrees. But the more I learned about the field, the more I wondered if a new kind of approach was necessary—one that incorporated the end “customer’s” viewpoint, one that responded to demand instead of supplying programs dreamed up by bureaucrats, one that demanded accountability and efficiency in all its operations.

Why weren’t more people in this field getting MBAs? I wondered.I was almost through with my application process—solely to business schools in America—when I happened to have a conversation with Chris McKenna. Now the  Oxford MBA Program Director, Chris was working in America when I asked him about Oxford’s business program. Many schools I was considering seemed like “classic” MBA programs, with a focus on traditional industries, making money, etc. I was more interested in applying business techniques to the nonprofit sector and “making a difference” in the world. What could Saïd Business School offer?
Chris paused then, and his eyes widened. No doubt he was thinking of the School’s Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, its professors’ many public-private research interests, or its uniquely international student body…among many other factors. “I really think Saïd would be a good fit for you,” he said.
So here I am, almost done with the first term, and it has gone by fast. My day planner looks like it was attacked by a crazed diarist around the end of September. And it’s been filled with some really unforgettable moments (hopefully including actual class material…we’ll see in exam week…)

As the core first term requirements, we are taking Marketing, Strategy, Finance, Financial Reporting, Decision Science and Managerial Economics. In the interests of full disclosure, I should tell you that I nearly fainted when I read this little educational ensemble before I came here. But here’s the good news: there are a surprising number of people in our class who have just as little background in quantitative analysis as I do. And there are even more people who are experts in these subjects and devote an incredible amount of their time to helping their classmates understand the coursework.

I’ve been quite impressed, in fact, by the general lack of competitiveness here. If people can help you by sharing their knowledge, they don’t hesitate. Maybe you’ll help them with an assignment in your area of strength, maybe you’ll buy them a beer at the pub later, but reciprocation isn’t the important thing.

And then there’s quite a lot you can learn from classmates outside the academic arena. The student body here is so diverse, it feels like a mini United Nations. We are all divided into study groups of about six people, with whom we will do group assignments for the whole first term. In my group alone, the students are from India, China, Colombia, France and Great Britain. So whenever we work on a project, we get six perspectives analyzing the problem in a uniquely comprehensive way. (And yes, sometimes this can be difficult, such as when we have different reactions to things and need to reach a quick consensus…but it actually doesn’t happen as often as you might think.)

As for the other activities, a few examples and a couple pictures will have to suffice: MBA happy hours, Diwali parties, matriculation events, 2008 election night festivities, formal dinners at friends’ colleges, the notorious Evelyn Waugh Night at Hertford College…deep breath…punting on the Thames, visiting museums, cycling in the countryside, Guy Fawkes Night (for which there is no explanation a non-Briton will understand), and just generally exploring Oxford, one of the oldest and prettiest towns I’ve ever seen. You can understand why there’s hardly any white space in the day planner.

There’s only one week of lectures left for Hilary Term. After that, it’s one week for revision and then, it’s exams week again. I can’t believe that the second term is already almost over. It seems that it just started. Last Friday, I submitted an assignment for Operations Management. It was about Zara, a multinational clothing retailer. I don’t think I have ever been in one of these shops. Anyways, the case study was about its IT infrastructure. We had to decide whether to keep the old system or to replace it with a new system. If we wanted to replace it which functionalities should we build into the new system? It was an individual assignment which is rather unusual because most of our practical work is done in groups. For example, for Operations Management, there were already two group assignments before the individual one. There’s one exception though. As one of the electives for this term, I chose Marketing, Culture & Society. That’s probably not such a typical MBA course. The amount of reading we have to do for this course is really immense. I’m not saying that there’s not much reading for all the other courses, but for that course, it’s definitely even more. We draw from anthropology and question some of the economic theories we are taught in other courses. It’s quite interesting but it definitely is a lot of work, not only because of the readings but also because of the assignments. It’s three of them and they are all individual. The last one – which is due a week from now – has a word limit between 4,500 and 5,500 words. I really have to get started on it. Yet, the good thing about this course is it doesn’t have an exam.

Also nice about the course is that we get to hear many guest speakers, e.g. Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones from L’Oreal and Paul Temporal who gave an interesting presentation on Nation Branding. In general, there was a really great variety of guest speakers at the business school this term. I can’t even remember all of them. But I will probably never forget John Bird’s presentation. He’s the founder of “The Big Issue” and drank a bottle of wine faster during his presentation than I would usually do at a party. Speaking of parties, that reminds me of the vibrant social life here in Oxford. One of the highlights was the Burns Night. At my college, Mansfield, we had a bagpipe player, some whisky and lots of really delicious haggis. There were several other nice dinners as well, e.g. the New Year Dinner at the Oxford and Cambridge Club in London or all the Exchange Dinners that my MCR (Middle Common Room) had organised with other college’s MCRs. I could probably go on writing about dinners forever. I just do love all these dinners. Another thing Oxford is famous for are the College Bops. Unfortunately, I only managed to go to one this term, the Hollywood Bop at Linacre College, but that was definitely a lot of fun. It’s almost sad that Hilary Term is nearly over. I just wished all the exams were already over, too!

We have one fewer class than last term, which makes a surprising difference, although the hours not spent in class are meant to be filled with our “EP” (Entrepreneurial Project). The EP is a new business plan development project done in teams of five. At the end of the term, we’ll be pitching our plan to a small group of VCs and SBS advisors for feedback before submitting the final plan early next term.

In addition to EP teams, you have to manage up to four other study groups depending on the mix of electives you’ve chosen. Study groups seem to be a completely different creature between this term and last. Last term, I practically lived with my study group—we ate together, drank together, and edited papers on an overhead projector for hours to get the wording just right. This term, my new group has met only once, and all of our editing is happening online. It’s a different approach, but basically a necessity when you’re looking at coordinating the busy schedules of six people. So far, it seems to be working for us.

First of all apologies for taking a 6 week break from the blog!!! I missed writing and hope some of you did reading (shout out to all family and friends who kept reminding me to update it). But I am coming back from a great event which inspired me to share with you all. Will get to it in a bit.

First of all, what was I up to these past few weeks. Lets make it fast. Exams in december, big time parttttttttttty from 1130 am to 4 am the next day, trip to london, lord of the rings musical, back to India, met up loads of old friends, trip to mumbai, 31st bang with school friends and couple of MBA friends in abad, great family time as my sis made a special trip to abad too, back to oxford, unbelievably dreadful weather (which just refuses to get better), un-freaking-believably busy semester (2 core, 3 electives, entrepreneurshp project, internship and scp search, fulltime job search, electives for upcoming semesters, on average 3 projects a week with 4 different groups), couple of great fun night outs….phew! pics for some of these events are up. Will put up others too…

Now I shall share with you a great evening. The day started as usual early (hate getting up in darkness, even at 730, all cold and having to choose between extremely hot water or extremely cold water for a face wash as two seperate taps here in the UK) as had to go for an operations management short field trip to the biggest TESCO in the neighbourhood with my study group. Have a great group for the core courses (all groups i have this term are great :P!!). Spent about an hour there and back. Got home, changed as had a meeting with my Entrepreneurial project team. Then after another meet with MBA director with regards our EP, back home to get into a tux for a presentation by L’Oreal CEO Sir Lindsay Jones which was to be followed by dinner with him and his team and a few select MBA students.

The talk, in my mind, was one of better ones I have heard. Sir Jones’s speech personified what he said was the one thing his journey meant to him: FUN. He delivered expert subtle nuances on ‘Enduring Success’ from his experiences at L’Oreal in a very engaging way.

AFter a drinks reception for networking with all the L’Oreal guests and all the audience, a few of us proceeded for dinner in the boardroom. It was a great couple of hours being in the same room as some of these people with a wealth of experience having led truly global giants (I am sure the few other MBA students who were fortunate to be in there must have felt the same). A really engaging post dinner conversation gave insight into their minds and views from where they are at.

A senior director on the boards for a lot of big companies made a point with regards corporation’s role in sustainable business. He talked about an example of how while in an African country he was helping out with a hospital which was trying to arrange for drugs which would help treat small kids with AIDS. It was a battle to arrange for the infrastructure and distribution to get the drugs sent from the big nations to this small interior place in Africa. Then he walked out of the hospital that evening and was surprised to see major cola drinks easily available. The obvious question was if there could be a network of distribution for the colas, how is it that something as critical as life saving drugs does not find its way there? Should corporates not play a role?

An extremely logical counter argument provided was that there is a difference between philanthropy and tax!!! Corporates are there to do what they do best. To create value, make wealth, re-invest, increase employment, improve economies and then help in ways they can. But to expect them to do what is actually a goverment or the UN’s job would lead to a scenario which takes business away from doing their job and doing something which is not in their expertise! There is a situation where we almost start believing that the corporataion is obligated (a la tax) to do what is the core responsibility of government!

Somehow that thought process of the distinction between philanthrophy and tax just struck a chord …

Also had a wonderful wonderful dinner at Pushpaks and Alka’s (yup if you are following my blog, I had a great one last sem too at their place). WE were celebrating republic day of India. That explains the patriotism in the snaps..:-). As is usual at their place — great food n good times! And the weekend weather has just been SPECTACULAR. I know it wont last tho….

I shall leave you guys with that. But from now on, shall be extremely regular as before…

Next week’s menu: more bad weather, 3 projects, talk by founders of Netfinder and the Big Issue, dinner with CEO of the Big Issue, black tie dinner at Oxford Cambridge club with Oxford Business Alumni and much more!!!

Shout out to dear friend nbf..happy bday dude!

Exams
Whoa, that was a lot of exams—6 in 4 days will really take it out of a person. I felt pretty good going into the first exam on Monday morning, but then a killer Financial Reporting exam in the afternoon hit pretty hard, and it was a slippery downward slope right through to Thursday morning, when Finance just about did me in…It’s been funny thinking back on my undergrad experience—somehow, I don’t ever remember exams being that big of a deal. And it wasn’t that I didn’t take difficult classes, or lots of them. I guess I must have had projects and/or final papers in lieu of written exams for many of my undergrad courses. Needless to say, I have never packed so much information into my brain as I did in weeks 9 and 10 of this term, and while it was stressful, exhausting, and detrimental to any semblance of healthy eating or sleeping habits, it was actually fun to feel like I had really learned the material. We’ll see what the examiners have to say in a few weeks…

Winter Break
It is so cool to live in a place where you can hop on a plane for less than £100 and in a few short hours you can be skiing in Switzerland, cruising the streets of Barcelona, or roaming around on the African continent! Ok, ok, so I didn’t manage to do all of those things over the winter holiday, but I came pretty close! The ski trip was thwarted by a combination of poor snow conditions, and waiting too long to purchase tickets and reserve accommodations. My husband and I did, however, manage to meet up with my family in sunny Barcelona. We had a lovely Christmas spent with long lost relatives outside of Madrid, and then made our way south to Granada before taking the ferry from Tarifa to Tangier. We spent a phenomenal ten days travelling between Tangier and Marrakesh, soaking up the beautiful, vibrant, and ever-entertaining Moroccan culture. We walked the beautiful and winding streets of Chefchouen, got hopelessly lost in the crowded market in Rabat, and spent an entire afternoon watching from a balcony restaurant as the huge plaza Jemaa l-Fna in Marrakesh came to life with food vendors, snake charmers, acrobats, and fortune tellers. It was a tough decision to stay abroad for the holidays, but I must say that this winter break will not be soon forgotten.

Back in Oxford
We arrived last night by bus from the London Gatwick Airport. It’s a bit surreal to have spent the last several weeks traveling, then return “home” to Oxford, which still feels a bit like a travel destination of its own. Coming in on the A-40, the bus drove through so many interesting parts of the city that I haven’t even found on a map yet—places like Headington, Cowley, and St. Clements all have great shopping, beautiful old buildings, and fantastic restaurants just waiting to be sampled. This term, I’ve made a resolution to get out more, experience more of the incredibly rich history and culture that Oxford has to offer.

It felt good to be back, and nice to see familiar faces again at the Business School. We walked down the canal path to the grocery store last night in the dark, got caught in a horrendous downpour on the way back, and thought to ourselves “Ah, home sweet home!”

It’s a few months ago now that I started my MBA at the Saïd Business School. The first term is over. It’s called Michaelmas Term here in Oxford. In a few days, the next term, Hilary, will start. It’s strange to look back at the previous term. I didn’t really know what to expect from the programme. Sure, I knew I wanted to do an MBA. I carefully looked at several different business schools and decided that Oxford was the best option for me. But how would it really be?

On the first day, we were welcomed by our Dean and our MBA Programme Director in the school’s largest lecture theatre, named after South Africa’s freedom-fighter and then President Nelson Mandela. Next, it was our turn. All students had to give a short one-minute-introduction of themselves. 220 new faces from 40 different countries, that was impressive. I couldn’t remember a single name afterwards.

It’s different now. When I stroll around the business school, these are all familiar faces now. The MBA Programme is very intense, especially since it’s only a one-year-programme. That means that we spend a lot of time at the business school, discussing in classes, working in teams, studying in the library, asking and helping each other. That helps to get to know each other.

The downside is, it’s really hard work. There were moments where I wished I hadn’t decided to do an MBA. I started last term with a very bad cold, never really caught up with all the readings we were supposed to do and hardly had time to explore Oxford, at least not as much as I would have liked. And that’s a pity since Oxford has so much to offer. The University consists of 39 Colleges. Most of them are truly historic and really worth visiting. In addition, there are several museums, the Bodleian Library, the Covered Market and lots of fantastic pubs, just to name a few of the sights. By the way, every MBA student is also a member of one of the Colleges, e.g. I am a member of Mansfield College. And the Colleges also organise many events that are worth attending. At least at my college, it’s definitely always fun to hang out there!

Well, with the intense course and all the other things going on, one doesn’t really realise how fast the term passes and suddenly, it’s time for exams. Last term, we had to take six exams in four days. That was crazy. But somehow we all managed to do it. The party afterwards was fantastic!

After having spent Christmas in Germany, I am back in Oxford now. In a few days, Hilary Term will start. We already have the reading lists and an overview of the assignments for each course. While we all had the same six courses in Michaelmas (Strategy 1, Finance 1, Decision Science, Developing Effective Managers, Financial Reporting and Managerial Economics) we were able to choose three electives in addition to two core courses (Operations Management and Marketing) for Hilary. I chose Developing Effective Organisations, Financial Management and Marketing, Culture & Society. Besides the courses, we have to work on our Entrepreneurial Project during Hilary, i.e. we have to develop a business idea, present that to an external panel and write a business plan for it.

Although I have learned so much about Oxford and about how the business school works I have the same feeling as in the days before the MBA Programme had started. I don’t really know what to expect from the new courses and lecturers and from the Entrepreneurial Project. But I am looking forward to finding it out. Let’s see…

1. Exposure to the International Diversity – an Example in Financial Reporting

Financial reporting was one of the subjects I was expecting to be particularly useful.  I found the lectures, which covered from IS, BS, CF and consolidation methods to treatment of a lease, very fruitful indeed.  However, what was really eye-opening for me was how different the methods of accounting were from country to country and how each method does make sense respectively.  Before coming here, I didn’t even know that it is common in some countries to list fixed assets at the top of the BS, or classify assets and liabilities by nature, not by term.  The global perspective of the lectures reminded me of the advice from several people that studying in Europe as opposed to the US would allow you to be exposed to a broader range of international business practices.  At that time, I imagined that the difference would basically about the composition of students’ nationalities – which of course would and actually did affect the discussions within the lectures a great deal – but here the perspectives, or mindsets of professors who primarily define the scope of lectures do seem broader.

2. Conceptual Frameworks of Organizational Behaviour

I found all those concepts and frameworks we learned in the Developing Effective Managers (Organizational Analysis) not only extremely intriguing but also of much practical use.  This actually came to me as somewhat surprising because initially I was a little sceptical about how useful the course would be even though I was very interested in the topic.  Having majored in economics in my undergraduate study, I used to imagine what we can learn in such courses as organizational analysis to be “too fuzzy.”  However, the course provided me an excellent opportunity to think about how I would work in, contribute to, and lead a team or an organization.

Going through concepts and frameworks about motivation, team effectiveness, culture, leadership, and so on, and a number of case studies, I found myself constantly reflecting on my own work experience.  Which factors have motivated each of my co-workers?  To what extent those factors might have been similar to or different from what motivates me?  What are the factors that led to the effectiveness of certain research project?  And as asking such questions I noticed the following 2 things.  First, they are often the questions I have asked myself more or less, if not in a formal way, when trying to figure out how higher performance can be achieved and how each of my colleagues can enjoy projects and even find them personally fulfilling.  Second, the frameworks and concepts provided in the course allow me to take into consideration some aspects I couldn’t pay attention to before, and analyse my own experience deeper, in a more balanced way.

So, although the term lasted only 3 months, this particular subject felt like much more since I ended up re-exploring my whole work experience.  It is true that some concepts in Organizational Analysis are difficult to quantify, and thus they are in a sense indeed “fuzzier,” especially when compared to propositions in economics for which mathematical definitions and proofs are provided.  But revisiting academia after 4 and a half years of work experience, I can tell that those “fuzzy” factors about management of organizations really matter, and are too important to neglect.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/jitind/TempletonWeek9

Click Above is an album

Yo gang! This is going to be super short as its 3 am and I still need to work for an economics assignment which is 50% of our grade and due tomorrow. But I will say this– this Monday is easily the most look forward to Monday of the term! IT is when all assignments are done, all group studies for this semester over and just one week of classes and one week of preparation before exam!!

This past week has been really really intense! 3 Big time group assignments were due. Each with a very high weightage and time was as usual squeezed. Tensions were high and the group dynamics were changing as people were getting edgy as exams near, no time to study, group study taking longer, more at stake and in general too much too do. Every one felt sleep deprived, overworked and under appreciated!!

So I am just going to go through a laundry list of what I did this week. Though check out the snaps. They are from Dinner, Opera and after party (one of the wildest parties this semester) at Templeton College. Templeton is Oxfords most mordern and specialist MBA college. It has 60 MBA students, by far the largest MBA community any college accepts.

So night at Templeton was fun. Also after 3 weeks I went for Improv workshop. Its exciting times there as we are planning for a performance in MArch sometime.

This week finalized the team for Entrepreneurship Project — by far the biggest reason I am at oxford. Am happy as have got a decent team. Also had a meeting with the Chair of Said who is also co-ordinator for the EP. I think we have a brilliant idea which if followed through might actually be feasible to take live. It was something that had occured to me back in San francisco and its exciting to see it turn into the EP.

Got officially inducted into the Oxford Entrepreneurs this week. Should be a great year at this pretty impressive organization which is one of the largest if not the largest student run body in Europe!

Do check out the snaps. And promise a lot more fun next week and there is going to be a lot of ‘blowing steam’ this week!!!

Man this semester is officially getting out of hand. Things are simmering at boil!!
And I am struggling!The horrible weather is not helping at all. Overcast, raining and very cold! I long californian sunshine or amdavadi heat!

This week we had an individual case study assignment for Organizational Analysis. We will see how things go. Got grade for a strategy and Decision Science Workshop. Unfortunately our distinction streak was broken as we dipped below for both these.

Another major assignment this week was the Financial Reporting ‘Vodafone’ assignment. Man it had become the bane of my life last few days. Just coming back from submitting that beast — 3500 word analysis of Vodafone’s 164 page annual report and 10 such reports for last 10 years, which is going to account for 40% of our Financial reporting marks. We need to do well on this one! Fingers crossed and will keep ya guys updated!

Also this week got serious about EP (Entrepreneurship Project). Oxford is maybe the only business school which has one subject less in the Hillary (second) semester and instead has a Business Plan competition which ends with us presenting before VC’s. Teams should have a mandatory 5 members. EP was one of the major reasons I elected to come to Said. So far have clubbed with another idea guy and we are toying with 2 ideas. We will be creating elevator pitches for both and sending out to few of our friends, mentors and professors for a gut check before we decide on one. Also we are trying to think up of and recruit a team as people are very rapidly consolidating into groups. Watch this corner for updates throughout the next 3-4 months!

Ok. So it was not all work and no fun. Went for a couple of college dinners this week. First went to Wadham college — special thanks to Deepti for having me over. I shall update the pictures form Wadham soon as I do not have them yet. Wadham College was founded by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham in the reign of King James I. Nicholas Wadham, a member of an ancient Somerset family, died in 1609 leaving his fortune to endow a college at Oxford. Famous alumni: Robert Blake.

Also had the ChristChurch Black Tie event for chirstmas. Unbelievably beautiful and grand affair. You guys have already seen the famous Potter hall in few of earlier snaps but check them out again. Had Aashima and Alyson as guests with me. Was a great night!!

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/jitind/DinnerAtChristChurch171107

Lastly went out and watched King Khan in ‘Om Shanti Om’. Now Mr. Khan needs to thank me for being his loyal fan. All the way in OXford, with people stressing their wits out due to all the mad rush, I made time to check out the ‘Diwali’ Bollywood blockbuster of the year. And shamelessly so, I LOVED IT!. EVERY NONSENSICAL minute of it.

Next week is super crazy. It starts on Monday with another Decision science workshop (the 2nd and last this semester). The rest of the day is going to be used up by the Silicon Valley comes to Oxford event wherein we have a slew of seminars and master classes. We have quite a good panel with the Founders of Linked in, Yelp, YouNoodle and Automactic, Venture Capitalist firms, Stanford Prof’s, Senior Google personnel etc coming in. Being on the Oxford Entrepreneurs I shall get to do dinner with them which am looking forward to. There is a huge Economics group assignment to get started on which is due end of week and is 50% of our grade and if that wasnt enough there is also a Finance group assignment! Daaaammmmnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!

Allritie gang! Next 3 weeks better be the most hardworking weeks I have had since the last couple of years (basically last I worked as hard was the first few releases of THoT) if I am going to have any shot of getting through this semester.

Miss all of my friends & family, miss California n miss India!! Miss watching Kobe light it up (NBA season’s started). Miss Fort Mason in San Francisco and Naaz 8 ! But am loving every minute of Oxford and acutely aware that week by week, the year’s ticking away.

A very very happy diwali to everyone (family/friends in states, uk, india and dubai!)

Today is gonna be super short. Have a mock exam on Tuesday, one individual assignment due and a shit load of other stuff.

The week was long but the weekend was great fun but sub par on the study front. That is getting to be a concern as I am lagging terribly on my courses and if I do not get my act together it may well be a lost cause!!

Diwali was a major highlight. Partying started on Friday. There was the Diwali bollywood bop at Keble college. Great music and lotta fun. Then a good 15-20 of us landed up at a friends place and played cards all night long. Crashed at 6, up at 10 on Saturday as had to help organize for the Diwali party at the Business school in the evening. The event was a huge success and loads of fun. Check out the attached pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/jitind/DiwaliPartySBS101107

Also this week attended the Magdalen dinnner which was arranged as a Christchurch Magdalen exchange event. Magdalen by far is the prettiest college I have seen at Oxford so far. See the pics. There are still parts of Magdalen (like their famous deer park) which I need to check out. Famous alumni: Oscar Wilde.

Got a distinction for the third assignment. So far our group is 3/3 for distinctions — which is good. Would be great to carry it through for all assignments for Michelamus term.

Had a peer support dinner at Hanbal’s! It was a feast. Was great to catch up with the peer support bunch.

Allright..promise to fill up details and more snaps next sunday. Need to get to cover up for all the fun this weekend. Happy diwali and a prosperous (hindu) new year to all!!