Given the well known popularity level of this blog I guess an explanation for my long absence (my last post was some six month’s back) will not be in order.
So I will get down to brass- tacks right away.
A couple of week’s back I completed a three week holiday, the longest holiday since I left school.
I visited Calcutta (so sue me for not using the new name!), my home town for three weeks, made a short trip to Jamshedpur and well…that’s about it. Talk about anticlimax!
Actually it was a lot better than it sounds. Calcutta in Durga Puja is always a handful and in Jamshedpur I was able to catch up with one of my bosses (and this is person from whom I have learnt the most in my life) and also one of my Prof’s in XLRI – Professor EM Rao.
Prof Rao teaches Industrial Relations in XL would easily figure among one of the most loved and respected Profs on the campus, and believe me, the competition is tough out there.
Among other things we started talking about impact of the present financial crisis on placements. Not surprisingly he too agreed that placement season will see fresh challenges this year.
In the course of the conversation we also talked about prospects of the IT Professional obtaining lateral placements after having completed an MBA course.
Prof Rao was unequivocal in stating that this is a very tough ask as experience in IT is rarely considered “relevant experience” in the MBA job market. He further went on to add that for those who pursue a functional/staff function role in the IT segment (eg: HR, Finance) are really operating in such a low complexity/low-skill area that for them any value addition/career progression will be a challenge.
Well, not very cheerful observations to my ears….a finance professional in a predominantly IT organisation!!
So I will get down to brass- tacks right away.
A couple of week’s back I completed a three week holiday, the longest holiday since I left school.
I visited Calcutta (so sue me for not using the new name!), my home town for three weeks, made a short trip to Jamshedpur and well…that’s about it. Talk about anticlimax!
Actually it was a lot better than it sounds. Calcutta in Durga Puja is always a handful and in Jamshedpur I was able to catch up with one of my bosses (and this is person from whom I have learnt the most in my life) and also one of my Prof’s in XLRI – Professor EM Rao.
Prof Rao teaches Industrial Relations in XL would easily figure among one of the most loved and respected Profs on the campus, and believe me, the competition is tough out there.
Among other things we started talking about impact of the present financial crisis on placements. Not surprisingly he too agreed that placement season will see fresh challenges this year.
In the course of the conversation we also talked about prospects of the IT Professional obtaining lateral placements after having completed an MBA course.
Prof Rao was unequivocal in stating that this is a very tough ask as experience in IT is rarely considered “relevant experience” in the MBA job market. He further went on to add that for those who pursue a functional/staff function role in the IT segment (eg: HR, Finance) are really operating in such a low complexity/low-skill area that for them any value addition/career progression will be a challenge.
Well, not very cheerful observations to my ears….a finance professional in a predominantly IT organisation!!
Durga Puja in Calcutta was fun and some nostalgia. I ran into my school-time crush….how is that…it must be after some 18 years!!!! And the best part was she recognised me!!
Want to know what was the stupid part? Well, I acted I could not exactly place her….it was so….so…..school-boyish. And this happened in the presence of some of my school-time friends (in any setting other than a Puja Pandal in Calcutta during Durga Puja, such a chain of co-incidences would be impossible!!) and we shared a good laugh after this. Infact we called up a friend of ours in the UK to give him an update on an 18 year old gossip. Guess what he was doing at that time.....sitting at a Puja Pandal there in the UK!!
Btw, I have been reading in the newspapers about Lt Col PS Purohit and the Malegaon blast. I cannot say that I understand all that is going on, but then I recall something learnt from one of my colleagues while I was working in N Delhi some 10 years back.
This colleague of mine was a Kashmiri Pundit who left Kashmir with his family in the 80’s due to militancy, leaving behind his considerable estate in and near Srinagar. He still had relations in Kashmir and I suspect was a closet RSS sympathiser. He used to say that the Army in Kashmir regularly collaborates with RSS cadres in Jammu (and Kashmir) for intelligence gathering, fake encounters and spying on suspected and convicted militants. And this collaboration often is at the level of a partnership and runs pretty deep on both sides.
While I guess Lt Col Purohit is no angel one cannot somehow escape the feeling that he is being made a scape goat and the rot is most likely deeper than this.
The army has benefited from its links with Hindu organisations in its drive against terrorists; it is possible that the relationship demanded a quid pro quo to the extent of weapons training and tactical support in retaliatory strikes….retaliatory strikes within our own country!
Want to know what was the stupid part? Well, I acted I could not exactly place her….it was so….so…..school-boyish. And this happened in the presence of some of my school-time friends (in any setting other than a Puja Pandal in Calcutta during Durga Puja, such a chain of co-incidences would be impossible!!) and we shared a good laugh after this. Infact we called up a friend of ours in the UK to give him an update on an 18 year old gossip. Guess what he was doing at that time.....sitting at a Puja Pandal there in the UK!!
Btw, I have been reading in the newspapers about Lt Col PS Purohit and the Malegaon blast. I cannot say that I understand all that is going on, but then I recall something learnt from one of my colleagues while I was working in N Delhi some 10 years back.
This colleague of mine was a Kashmiri Pundit who left Kashmir with his family in the 80’s due to militancy, leaving behind his considerable estate in and near Srinagar. He still had relations in Kashmir and I suspect was a closet RSS sympathiser. He used to say that the Army in Kashmir regularly collaborates with RSS cadres in Jammu (and Kashmir) for intelligence gathering, fake encounters and spying on suspected and convicted militants. And this collaboration often is at the level of a partnership and runs pretty deep on both sides.
While I guess Lt Col Purohit is no angel one cannot somehow escape the feeling that he is being made a scape goat and the rot is most likely deeper than this.
The army has benefited from its links with Hindu organisations in its drive against terrorists; it is possible that the relationship demanded a quid pro quo to the extent of weapons training and tactical support in retaliatory strikes….retaliatory strikes within our own country!
what was the 18 yr old gossip?
ReplyDeleteyou know....when you are in school....you ask someone about somebody and the friends start teasing you...the rumour mills start churning....the grapevine catches on ...etc...etc
ReplyDelete