After considerable thought I decided to enter the selection process for the MBA program in the Dubai campus of SP Jain. At first I thought it would be absolute hell considering they choose only 200 students a year out of the 2000 students that apply for the course. And upon reading blog posts of other candidates who underwent a similar selection process it sounded tiring. However I decided to go for it.

The selection was a three tiered one, similar in structure to the graduate recruitment process I underwent at Citigroup. There was to be a written examination, followed by a Group Discussion and Personal Interview.

Once I confirmed from students that the written examination was just like the one in the GMAT examinations the task was simplified greatly. Now all I had to do was familiarize myself with he format of the examination. There could be no better book to do this with than the great Princeton Review study books. Upon going through them with sufficient detail I came to know what was expected of me. This greatly helped in the examination as I could circumvent the common mistakes people often make in such examinations, I also saved a lot of precious time by not needing to read the explanation on how to answer each section.

Apparently dress code plays a major factor and required me to wear a pretty formal suit along with a tie. Usually I would think this to be silly as the majority of the crowd attending the institution are very informally dressed and anything but posh in appearance. But considering the only guys who were selected in my batch wore suits (me and another dude).

Now the written test seemed pretty easy, with me completing my strong points first. The General Knowledge (last section in the question paper) and the English grammar correction sections seemed to be the easiest and were tackled first. After that came the data sufficiency which included some mathematical questions. At first I seemed concerned that I seemed to have completed the written test way before everyone but after throughly checking all sides of the question paper I was satisfied. We were allocated 90 minutes to complete this stage.
Upon completion of the written test I handed in both the question and answer sheets only to receive another question paper in return for it !!! This consisted of two essay questions, something that was familiar to me again.

The second part of the written examination required me to answer why I wanted to undertake his course and the other asked me to describe a problem I faced at some point in my life and how I overcame it, now I think they would prefer if a work related situation was described here. We were given 20 minutes to answer each essay question.
After the second part of the written examination we were given a 30 minute break. I met the other guys who were in the selection process with me outside the campus during this time. Most of the guys were all undergraduates from India and there were two others who were pretty qualified. One was a guy who had worked for the past year half at Infosys and seemed a pretty smart dude. The other was someone who had completed his Msc and MBA in IT management after his degree course and now was here to do his MBA in something I dont remember; this guy seemed pretty full of himself though he seemed to know his stuff.

After our lunch break came the personal interview. This time there were only five of us guys and two mallu chicks (looks like the hot arab chick and the other mallu boy got sent back till her test results came in). This was a fairly quick process with the dean Mr. Jain verifying our credentials (by merely scanning the application form) and repeating the essay question asking us why we wished to undergo the MBA course.

The group discussion session started after a long wait. The wait was primarily due to the slow and delayed arrival of some huge mallu chick in a saree. We were then told that the topic for group discussion was “Is India an emerging country?“, that we could speak for and against the topic. Everyone being Indian’s obviously went for the topic and spoke positive points on the topic. According to me I absolutely excelled in this stage. I put forward several positive points and topics for discussion. In fact every time the group fumbled for points I took the initiative and gave someone or the other something to analyze. The best thing I possibly did was keep track of time and when I sensed that our time was approaching an end, I addressed the entire group and asked them to summarize our topic of discussion and the content we described. We then concluded to reflect our point of view. This stage probably took 20 minutes or so.

Needless to say I was accepted to undertake this course. Starting this January 2007 I will be joining the Singapore campus of SP Jain to start my course. After six months I will then transfer to the Dubai campus of SP Jain to complete this course.

I guess I am looking forward to going to Singapore though I doubt I will have any real time to have any fun. Yay to going to another exotic city I guess ?

It is always an experience when you go someplace new and the transition period from which you pick and apprecaite both cultures and learn a moderate lifestyle. Yes it is a life altering experience and you face reality as it, raw and bitter. Meeting people from all walks of life and backgrounds is what University life is all about and that is what makes the difference when you study away from home, far from any shelter you had previously been offered.

Good bye’s have always been hard and that is exactly what I encountered when I met my friends from Middlesex this Saturday (7th October 2006). There happened to be quite a few people I knew, which was quite unexpected. I was originally going for JO’s farewell party with her girlfriend M to Spain forever but there happened to be AM, RN, AB, LY, E which was quite a surprise.

The only thing stopping me from going back home is the Viva for my Msc final project. Once that is over tommorow (11th October 2006) I will be off. My flight leaves tommorow and by tommorow this time I would be in the air.

No one can predict the future and nothing can be said what no one has seen. But one thing I am sure about, whatever it is I am looking forward to it. After all it cannot be too bad to be back and live in Dubai. Home Sweet Home ? As I said before it is Dubai and the question mark with its degree of uncertainity is very important.

Currently making the last and final adjustments to my report and implementation as it is due this Monday. Need to generate performance analysis charts for my implementation and apply some evil statistics routines on them.

Spent a few days last week in London staying at the Regent Palace hotel in Picaddily Circus and managed to get some nice unwiding time. Managed to go for Sheesha at some cafe I had been to with my Middlesex friends RM, AM, GVLO a few years ago (Kinda disappointed though it tastes nothing like the ones in Dubai). Had some amazing Labenese food at a very nice and posh restaurant called Tarboush in Edware Road (much superior to its counterpart in Dubai though probably not as superior where food is concerned). Went clubbing a few places in Leicester Square and by the end of it all it was back to Canterbury to ‘hit the project’ again.

Heading back to Dubai on 11th of October. Pretty much looking forward to it to be honest, who knows what lies up ahead ?

It happened to be the smartest thing I actually ever did as as soon as the plane took off they made an announcement that this flight, Etihad Airlines Boeing 777 had high speed WiFi internet onboard. For a modest fee of $19 I am typing this blog entry out at 38,000 feet high up in the air and can continue to use it for the remaining 6 hours and 15 minutes of my flight duration.

There is little technology can do to amaze me nowdays but what better way to spend a boring flight that to be have the entire world through the Internet at your fingertips ?

Possibilities are ulimited and Etihad even gives live streaming TV channels once you are connected to their Internet service. No more limited boring fixed movies that they show. Hell I could even fire up Bit torrent and download a movie of my choice at the 10mbit speeds that I seem to get.

Life is good but this is a short holidady and I have to be back in UK by Tuesday, the 29th of August 2006 so that I can give a presentation to the Computer Systems Research group at 10am the next day !!!

Signing out for now…… till later

Rather than go out and spend all my money partying decided to just go out to dinner to Cafe de China. It is a pretty decent place with an ‘all you can eat’ for just £13.50. Worth it to no bounds as the food is just splendiferous; one of the few restraunts in Canterbury that I just keep seeming to back to again and again.

Had quite a lot of food (around seven different dishes) and drank three quarters of a bottle of Sake (Japanese drink). Dessert ended up being Tiramisu and Chinese bowl (nothing but a mixture of different ice creams – actually did taste better than the Tiramisu). Overall the food did taste pretty good but nothing like Sadaf restaurant (Amazing persian cusine place in Dubai) which I would prefer anyday !!

The most amazing part is that there happened to be three other people in the SAME restraunt who were celebrating there birthdays.

After all the food we were up for going into town to The Loft (the best cocktail bar in Canterbury) but since it was pretty early (around 08:30 pm) decided not to eventually.

Got home and spent the rest of the night relaxing with Southern Comfort and watched Lady in the Water (recommended flick to anyone who has not seen it yet – yes I watched it before the UK release date).

Yet another birthday of the many more to come in my life and looking forward to many more of them…..

P.S. My birthday gift ended up being a self bought CORSAIR 1GB PC3200 DDR-400 SODIMM RAM chip for my Toshiba Satellite P30-110 laptop. Now my laptop has a total of 1.5 GB ram and runs really fast.

Well looks like this will be the last of my celebrations till my exams get over on August 11th after which it is time to go full swing on my Msc project which I submit on the 2nd of Octboer.

On an unrelated note almost forgot to mention I have a telephonic interview lined up with Jagex for Runescape, the same people who made the most amazing Java based MMORPG. Actually really excited about this opportunity as it would be really nice to be employed by someone who made something you enjoy and be able to contribute to the cause. The whole thing popped up out of the blue when I was contacted by email by a Mr. SA about the position of ‘Software Engineer’ for which I had applied absolutely ages ago. If everything goes as planned something might just kick in.

All my classes have culminated and all that needs to be done are my exams in August and my Msc project. The topic of which is the same as I mentioned before the Formalization and Implementation of Birrell’s Distributed Reference Listing algorithm the revisited version as proven by my supervisor Dr. REJ.

With nothing to do all day and bordem kicking in time is going very slowly. Most of my undergrad friends have gone home for the summers and there is pretty much nothing to do except stay in home and sometimes meet A, PK and MB. Of course there is loads of work to do which is going at its own pace.

Called V and AJ today and they all seem to be having a ball in Dubai of course there is the touch of politics still circulating amongst everyone. But life seems to be good there.

As for job prospects after University everything seems dim right now, only time will tell.

In september after the course is over PK, M and me plan to move off campus as we get kicked out of University accomodation. Well atleast my plan is to stay till the mid of October and then head back to Dubai but they want to stay till January so what is to be done still needs to be figured out.

As for now it is time to focus on studies and sort out everything else at its own pace….

My cardio workout plan is going superb and I have more than enough motivation to be doing it automatically now on a everyday basis. Today I discovered a new track that leads from the back of our University in Canterbury all the way to the beach in Whistable. The track is actually 5 miles ( approximately 8 kilometers ) long and forms a part of the UK National Cycle Network. Upon tracking the path on Google Earth I noticed that the farm lands extend all the way through. The blue line in the map indicates the path.

Actually managed to cross the two and half mile signpost to Whitstable today which meant 5 miles back and forth. My target for the end of the year is to complete the five mile path and return so eventually go all the way through to the 10 miles. The scenery however is amazing and littered with daffodils and farm houses and stallions all the way through with some pretty well designed ponds.

Though I am seriously considering purchasing a outdoor GPS tracker and upon Jonathan’s recommendation will get the Geko 201 which can also help me integrate with Google Earth and track my run logs. It can also leave an electronic breadcrumb trail so I can go loiter anywhere I want to and use the device to eletronically follow my way home. The device not only makes use of GPS but also uses the WAAS system so accuracy is within range of 3 meters.

Cant wait for the exams to get over and that is all that will be on my mind for the next few days. The bright side is that it finishes as quick as the 8th of May but that leaves me with very little revision time between exams. Theres only thing I am looking forward to after it, doing NOTHING !

It is calling it a bit close as I have exams on the 2nd but as of now that is how it is going to go. Unless everything goes haywire and messes up I plan to stick to schedule and wrap it up.

There were loads of people walking by my window and surveying today looked like potential students that were going to move in next year. Apparently in the summers the Jewish people come around and tie ropes on all the lamposts to mark the terroritry as Jewish as a ritual before moving into the house. That should intresting to see.

AJ is off to Dubai on the 1st and I am soooo jealous of him ! Everyones gonna be having a ball without me which is a total bummer.

The weather here is neat now and if the heaters are kept at anything above 20 degrees the whole room becomes a sauna and I mean litterally the person is drenching in sweat. Bonus being the windows can be kept open 24/7 for circulation.

Silly pain in my right foot keeps resurfacing and this time I should seriously do somethign about it; the orthopedician I saw last time said it was nothing but it cannot be nothing if it keeps resurfacing and at times (very rarely) so painful it forces me to limp. But thats life ups and downs heh.

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But some of the non implemented features will come up in the own good time as Exams are just around the corner and this time I have three exams on the 2nd, 4th and 8th of May and my revision is no where near completion.

Well it looks like I will have to do something real quick or suffer having to mess up yet again which I absolutely cannot afford to do. The thing is I am not able to get the right frame of mind to sit down and initiate work. Not to mention that I am absolutely tired of studying. So yes I am really really forcing myself to the edge.

Sometimes I feel like its not going to end up anywhere except me ending up in a Psychiatric ward with a nervous breakdown lol but of course I of all people do realise that there is absolutely no shortcut but to sit down and do what has to be done.

Easter holidays have been fairly dull with most of my friends having gone home leaving the campus fairly empty. The only people I end up meeting are A and my new friend P. Have mingled among their friends circle and sometimes end up going clubbing with them or to the casino.

Been to The Works like twice in between and met V there. The whole scenario should be intresting and I might discuss it later at some point depending on future circumstances. Once I am done with my exams I should check my future schedule and need to go back to Dubai for atleast a week or two to catch up on everything and meet my parents and everyone else.

As for my sleeping patterns which have been absolutely thrashed and ruined with absolutely no schedule whatsoever partly credit of which goes to my irregular study hours and the holidays I successfully managed to missed the Easter Egg hunt yesterday. It was very nice of A and G to organize it though and havent had a chance to meet them in person and thank them, the only gratitude and apologies I offered were by SMS text messaging.

Hopefully this week will give me new strength and determination and I will be able to devote myself completely to acheiving my goals and becoming completly engrossed in my revision and studies.

At the moment I am chasing a Graduate Placement job as an Internal Applications Java Engineer at Google. There is a telephonic interview that I have to undertake tommorow at 19:00 BST (DST annoys me to no extent as it is a hassle to have to turn your analog clocks back and forth) with some engineer from the Google office in California. Keeping my fingers crossed as working with Google would be a splendiferous experience. To be able to work for an organization that has shown such a massive and rapid development and being able to smack down leading players in the market in the progress would indeed result in massive self development and what other way could there be to start my career.

Everything else looks pretty still everyone on campus has gone home for holidays but I decided to stay back and prepare for my exams so that I would not mess up by going home to Dubai and wasting time. Also decided to go this June for DreamHack Summer 2006 in Sweden which is going to be really really amazing. It runs between June 17 to 20th and is said to be the worlds largest computer festival with over 5000 people under one roof. The event is said to be so popular that all 5000 tickets get sold out thirty minutes to an hour after ticket sales are open to the public on the Internet. All that needs to be arranged now is cleanup of schedule and arrange for a visa.

Cant wait to go back to Dubai though both after exams and back for good pretty fed up of the monotony in life here and doing the same thing over and over again without any variations. Oh well, only time can tell what happens and where I end up.