Monday, October 27, 2008

Q2 - Diwali in a suit

We’re into week 2 of the second quarter. I’m not sure if it’s just me but I do think this quarter is far more interesting than the last one yet a little harder too. For starters, I think corporate finance is going way over my head ( or is that because I’ve got it in my head that if it’s got the dreaded finance word in it, then it must be hard) while operations and marketing though more interesting than last quarter, are definitely beginning to pinch a bit. But hands down the most interesting subject we’ve got this quarter is GEM (Global Economies and Markets) and Peter Rodriguez is our professor for that. This subject is very relevant to the current crisis and helps us (ok, helps me, since most of my classmates seem pretty tuned in already) understand the financial crisis better by analyzing the fundamentals that built up to it in the first place. After each class I find myself marveling the amount of insight that my classmates bring to the table in such matters and I can actually feel the difference in my understanding from when I'm going in to when I’m done with the class. The new seating arrangement has me once more in the last row – prime bit of real estate in the class room, mind you – and although a lot of people feel excluded when they sit there, I personally enjoy sitting on my “perch” and taking in all the proceedings below, occasionally participating in the fray myself.

On the recruiting front, it looks like we’re just finishing up with the briefings. Two consulting companies this week and I think we’re done with the bulk of them. With the situation being what it is, the school has been encouraging us to explore off grounds job searches, even organizing a seminar on how to navigate the process with special attention to international students. Outside, the weather’s been cooling down and it’s gotten downright cold in the nights when I walk back to Ivy. Darden and the rest of the ville is looking really pretty with the trees peppered with leaves of multicolored hues and I love stepping on the fallen leaves to hear the crunchy sound they make under my shoes.

Finally, today is Diwali in my part of the world. When I called home last night I could barely hear my sister over the firecrackers in the background. If I had to sum up Diwali in one word for you, it would be this: firecrackers. If I were to sum up Diwali my way in a word for you it would be this: sweets. On this day, it’s custom that we wear new clothes and the sister sent me a new Indian outfit to wear for today. I, however, am sitting here in the library (I know I said I wouldn’t be back here for sometime but I can’t help it, it feels like home!) in a grey suit (grey like the weather outside), munching salty baked Lays because I missed lunch. Happy Diwali to me.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am curious what conclusion, if any, a room full of Darden students came to on the possible sources of the current financial situation.

Ashwin Alexander said...

Happy Diwali to you! I've been doing a lot of sweets-eating myself. But no crackers.
Except for the little cracker went that went off at my foot on the road yesterday night!

Venkatesh said...

Hey stud,
Stumbled upon ur blog by chance...u write very well. Saw ur economics prof's profile...looks like Darden is worth every single penny u r spending...will mail u in details with some updates :)

Mandy said...

hey there! thanks for remindin gus about diwali! i am sad i missed the ceremony at darden but trust that you started it off in style.
and "yay" for baked lay's! i've seen how they are made: very cool and not bad for you!
keep on writing. and enjoy q2!

MechaniGal said...

Hey Mandy, thanks for stopping by. I missed the Diwali bash in Darden because of a recruiting event :( But I hope I can make it up over the surprisingly (and deceptively) long weekend that we're getting :)

MechaniGal said...

@venkatesh: Thanks, will look fwd to hearing from you.

@cristin: Happy Diwali and lucky you! I'm missing all the sweets this year :( Really missing them...

@david: We were not exactly trying to come up with a quick fix solution to the problem. Our discussion was more centered around trying to trace the root causes and there were many. A lot of our discussion was based on this article: http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2005/20050414/default.htm
Our professor had challenged us to write our view of the crisis in one line that began with: The financial crisis occurred because of...

Ameya said...

Shubh Deepawali to you too!!! Hope you having a great 'Darden' time :)

And thanks for the Fed link. I have already been spending hours going through various speeches (and trying to make sense of it in my own way ;))

Kiran said...

nice writing

Anish Goyal said...

Belated Happy Diwali to u :-)
Diwali is not only about firecrackers and sweets, it's happiness and peace of mind also and from your blog, I believe, you had both of these :-)

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