tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47527145030455671482024-03-13T19:57:40.210+01:00Abhishek's BlogMy digital home on the interwebs! Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-24730795307028740612021-03-25T13:19:00.049+01:002021-03-25T15:31:29.058+01:00Minimalism Rulebook<p><br /></p><p>Being an engineer, a data analytics guy, and then a strategy professional, I strongly believe in finding a proper method or framework for doing things, instead of following a "hit and trial" method. </p><p><br /></p><p>When I started my learning journey about <a href="https://blog.abhishekkhanna.in/search/label/minimalism" target="_blank">minimalism</a>, I searched a lot on google for finding a Minimalist Rulebook. I honestly believed that there should be a set of 10-20-50 rules that you need to follow to become a minimalist. I scoured a lot of websites out there, subscribed to their email lists, and downloaded many free PDFs that they offer. However, most of them turned out to be guidebooks on <b>How to declutter your life.</b> </p><p><br /></p><p>Well, most of them were good for that purpose, but decluttering is only a very small sub-set of a minimalist lifestyle. No doubt it is the most visible part, but eventually, it is only a sub-set of the overall philosophy. Also, instead of all those long PDFs, I rather prefer to go and read a 15-word blog post from <a href="https://www.theminimalists.com/junk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Minimalists</a> </p><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote><p style="text-align: center;"><b>The easiest Way to Organize Your Stuff … is to get rid of most of it.</b></p><p></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Umm, so there is really no rulebook?</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkzaak1jO74C2oyP_x6-Vrg6Wioza4KmjwE40dMWT8ncZz5HflyIk5FrRNLl_jS9x1kwD_k_YEECs0CBVuD8dcEtJPPZK45Qy_iXfWhs47EsUyT-73LYW2sH0zAerD9JWfw34lRTtvjwQ/s640/dan-dimmock-3mt71MKGjQ0-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Rules Lists Notes" border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkzaak1jO74C2oyP_x6-Vrg6Wioza4KmjwE40dMWT8ncZz5HflyIk5FrRNLl_jS9x1kwD_k_YEECs0CBVuD8dcEtJPPZK45Qy_iXfWhs47EsUyT-73LYW2sH0zAerD9JWfw34lRTtvjwQ/w640-h360/dan-dimmock-3mt71MKGjQ0-unsplash.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://unsplash.com/@dandimmock?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Dan Dimmock</a> on <a href="/collections/1011159/work?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table></h3><p><br /></p><p>The more I study about it, the more I realize it is not only inaccurate but quite pointless to have a minimalist rulebook. </p><p><br /></p><p>Minimalist living is not about who can lead a normal life with the least amount of possessions. Rather, it is about owning or being attached to things consciously. Own 100-200-300 things, but each one of them should add value to your life. However, what adds value to my life could be absolutely useless for you. <b><u>Context matters</u></b>. For example, I love tea and own several pieces of tea-making ingredients and equipment. But in a coffee drinker's life, all of this is just clutter! </p><p><br /></p><p>To add to it, I realized what adds value and what doesn't is a <b><u>point function</u></b>. Meaning, it is true only at a given point in time. When I shifted to where I live now, I carried my Xbox thousands of kilometers with me. I could not imagine a life without it. However, today morning I found it stuffed at the back of a closet, untouched since almost a year ago. </p><p><br /></p><h3>So what should we do?</h3><p>In any dictionary, Minimalism is not written as the opposite of the word <b>Want</b>. Rather, Minimalism is defined as the process of owning things more consciously and questioning the value of things we still hold on to from the past. </p><p><br /></p><p>From my personal experience, what works better for the human behavior is defined, scheduled processes than rules or my pet peeve - new year resolutions. Taking an example from my other passion - personal finance - </p><p><br /></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Process</b>: Following a Systematic investment plan (SIP) or Dollar Cost Averaging (in American parlance) is a great process to automate long term savings while making sure the amount earmarked for savings is not used for wasteful expenses - you can't spend what is already deduced from your account</li><li><b>Changing context over time</b>: To assess if your current investment profile still aligns with your long term values, it is recommended to periodically balance your exposure between different asset classes (debt / equity etc.) once a year or so</li></ul><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Similarly, for the minimalism practice, each one of us has to answer our own questions and develop our own processes - </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>How do we decide if a thing adds value to our life or not?</li><li>How do we make our purchase decisions?</li><li>What to do with <i><b>just in case</b></i> items in our home and life? (the drawer filled with 50 different screws and 20 different chargers and wires!)</li><li>How do we learn to co-exist with family / friends who do not believe in minimalist lifestyles?</li></ul><div><br /></div><div>and so on...</div><div><br /></div><div>Once you have clear answers to such questions, you will realize that you don't really need a Minimalism Rulebook. All you need to do is </div><div><br /></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>remember these key values before making any purchase decision in life / while periodically reviewing your possessions</li><li>revisit these questions periodically, to evaluate if your answers have changed </li></ul></div><div> .. and that is how you truly take your first steps in adopting the minimalism philosophy. </div><div><br /></div><div>Till we meet again - Au revoir! </div><div></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">PS: Do check out the <a href="https://blog.abhishekkhanna.in/p/books.html" target="_blank">Books </a>page on the blog [<a href="https://blog.abhishekkhanna.in/p/books.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Link</a>]</span></div><p></p>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-6630943233503979062020-11-10T09:30:00.003+01:002021-03-16T21:33:50.865+01:00Hedonic Adaptation<p>I am currently following a course on Coursera: <a href="https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Science of Well Being</a>. It has been one of the most famous online courses by Yale, to date, and my favorite so far. If you haven't checked it out, I recommend you do it. </p><p><br /></p><p>There is a concept discussed in almost every lecture 'Hedonic Adaptation'. Which, simply put, states that </p><p><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: center;">On average, a person's happiness remains almost linear throughout his life. We get used to everything.</h4><p><br /></p><p>We envision, that a big positive event such as buying your first car will make you really happy. Well, it does, but only for a few days. Let's say till the new car smell wears out or you get the first scratch on the bumper. </p><p><br /></p><p>On the other hand, we envision that those big negative events will make this life a living hell, well guess what, we get used to it as well. Do you remember the paranoia in April-May? Everyone was refreshing Worldometer 20 times a day, washing groceries with dish soap, and even crossing the street if you spot a pedestrian walking your way! ... and now, almost no one seems to care! </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://ilovekadampabuddhism.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/hedonistic-treadmill-1.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="533" src="https://ilovekadampabuddhism.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/hedonistic-treadmill-1.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image Source <a href="https://kadampalife.org/2018/12/31/buddhism-the-hedonic-treadmill/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">kadampalife</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Hedonic Treadmill</h3><p></p><p>It is the exact same reason the concept is also referred to as the Hedonic Treadmill. We are running on a treadmill, trying to maintain the state of euphoria by chasing Instagram likes, buying new things, searching for those 15 minutes of fame. But alas, this survivalist brain of ours brings us back to where we started. </p><p><br /></p><p>I read a very interesting example today about this - We can now purchase and download all our favorite songs on our phones and can, and actually do listen to them whenever we want. But does it give the same burst of excitement if the song unexpectedly comes on the radio or you hear it being played in a car passing by?</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">This example can really be tied to the age-old adage that we hear from monks and minimalists. <b>Experience over Things</b>. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Once you own a song, after the first few times, your brain knows it resides in your pocket, and you can listen to it anytime. Meh. Takes away the excitement. While, as is the case with all experiences, listening to it on the radio is a once in a while event, can not be done on-demand and actually has a surprise element to it! </p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Can we alter the baseline?</h3><div><br /></div><div>I often found myself asking the following two questions during the lectures:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>How did my happiness / life satisfaction baseline get set to a specific level? </b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>To be honest, I didn't find much conclusive answer to this question. Some studies say almost 50% of the weight is on genetics, the next 10% is on the conditions you have grown up in, and the rest 40% is what kind of personality we have, our thoughts, values, and so on. I figured, the baseline doesn't matter, if I can find an answer to the second question </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>How do I play around with it?</b> </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> Professor Laurie Santos gave several good pointers, but the following ones struck a chord with me. </div><div><br /></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b><u>Savoring: The act of stepping outside of an experience to review and appreciate it </u></b></li></ul>While having an experience, step out of it and realize that this activity was probably your dream for years, what seems like an unordinary thing now</div><div><br /></div><div><div><ul><li><b><u>Gratitude The quality of being thankful and a tendency to show appreciation for what one has </u></b></li></ul><div><br /></div><div>Sounds like a small thing, but writing down 3-5 things every day that you are thankful for increases your happiness baseline for weeks! And sharing your gratitude with a person can yield months of increased baseline. </div></div><div><br /></div><div>And this method is Dwight Schrute approved as well </div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DFc0cTwdbsk" width="560"></iframe></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>And the last one, which was quite a counterintuitive one for me. <b>Interrupt your positive experiences, and savor them by enjoying them in multiple sittings</b>.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I actually didn't understand this one quite well, till I heard the subsequent example: Were TV shows much more exciting when we had to wait 1 week for the next episode, which was even further interrupted with advertisements? Or are they more enjoyable now with them playing in such uninterrupted mode than even Netflix has to ask - Are you really still watching this show?</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Ending Notes</h3><p style="text-align: left;">I still have about 3 weeks of the course to go. Will add here or in a new post if I find more such interesting nuggets. For now, I will leave you with my favorite quote of the week.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><ul style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: segoe-ui_normal, "Segoe UI", Segoe, "Segoe WP", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></ul><p></p><blockquote style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.05); border-left: 8px solid rgb(30, 136, 229); box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: segoe-ui_normal, "Segoe UI", Segoe, "Segoe WP", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 24px 16px; orphans: 2; padding: 16px 32px 8px 24px; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">A new car sticks around to disappoint you. But a trip to Europe is over. It evaporates. It has the good sense to go away, and you are left with nothing but a wonderful memory. --Dan Gilbert</p></blockquote><div><br /></div></div>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-52245974611962822142020-10-12T00:49:00.004+02:002021-03-16T21:34:27.738+01:00What is minimalism?<p>Like most of you, I spent the better part of 2020 in my pajamas, wearing the same 4-5 t-shirts throughout the lockdown and wondering about a lot of existential questions. Obviously, after exhausting the whole catalogue of Netflix. </p><p><br /></p><p>With an extra 2-3 hours extra per day, thanks to reduction in travelling time - to and fro from work - I was able to dedicate a lot more time to reading. In addition to the usual financial markets stuff, I was forced to read a wide variety of topics just to keep myself engaged. </p><p><br /></p><p>To my surprise, one of the topic that stuck started with reading <i>en vogue</i> book of the year by <a href="https://amzn.to/2GRZCmu" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Marie Kondo</a>. Though I also read a lot about the first principles behind it - the Zen way of life, minimalism, meditation and as Po would call it "inner peace". The only one that stuck was Minimalism.</p><p><br /></p><p>To be fair, we are not monks. We cant renounce stuff and live life like master Oogway. We must take what is good and practical to apply and enrich our life. </p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">So how do you actually define Minimalism?</h2><p>First I present you the definitions from the learned ones, and then mine.</p><p></p><blockquote><p> </p></blockquote><blockquote><p>Maybe you don’t need to own all this stuff. - <a href="https://www.becomingminimalist.com/becoming-minimalist-start-here/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Joshua Becker's </a>Neighbor</p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>Minimalism is defined as a design or style in which the simplest and fewest elements are used to create the maximum effect. Minimalism had its origins in the arts—with the artwork featuring simple lines, only a few colors, and careful placement of those lines and colors - <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Andrew Ongaro</a> </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>Minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important—so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom - <a href="https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Minimalists</a></blockquote><blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote><p>It’s a way to escape the excesses of the world around us — the excesses of consumerism, material possessions, clutter, having too much to do, too much debt, too many distractions, too much noise. But too little meaning. - <a href="https://mnmlist.com/minimalist-faqs/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Leo Babuta</a> of the <a href="https://zenhabits.net/breathe/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Zen Habits</a></p></blockquote><blockquote><br /></blockquote><p>My definition is a derivation from the work of all these masters, and my <a href="https://blog.abhishekkhanna.in/2015/12/end-of-mba-program.html" target="_blank">MBA</a> degree - Dude, its just Pareto Principle. <b>Only 20% is enough to get 80% of the results! </b>While we know this for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">business</a> world, it is equally applicable in personal world as well.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDfK1QDGylyLTPn9gqdQe4sc6U3-UUqAB9IJ5lmd3XcGMvsEGA-8CdmpTJZm5_wzEymxn_Oip6cLLK7gqObUR7nHy9ySk3Sqwk8diJVSFrGfdRkWEw8rlu4J4dJSfc266Cx7x5rDQlkcA/s640/sarah-dorweiler-x2Tmfd1-SgA-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Plant" border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="640" height="435" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDfK1QDGylyLTPn9gqdQe4sc6U3-UUqAB9IJ5lmd3XcGMvsEGA-8CdmpTJZm5_wzEymxn_Oip6cLLK7gqObUR7nHy9ySk3Sqwk8diJVSFrGfdRkWEw8rlu4J4dJSfc266Cx7x5rDQlkcA/w640-h435/sarah-dorweiler-x2Tmfd1-SgA-unsplash.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@sarahdorweiler?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sarah Dorweiler</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/minimalist?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Unsplash</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Being a certified data nerd, I tried collecting some random samples to test this out</h4><p></p><p>- We have 8 HDMI cables at home but only 2 ports in the TV</p><p>- Got 5 suits, but only wear 1 lucky one for all key meetings [not taking questions on this one]</p><p>- More than 50% of the contents of the wardrobe were not used in the last 1 year</p><p>- iPhone has actually unloaded 35 apps of the total 50+ on due to long-time-no-see</p><p>- Don't even remember where do I know from ~500 <i>friends</i> on Facebook</p><p>- Not even going to do the same exercise for LinkedIn - already know the results will be worse</p><p>... and a lot more </p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Certainly begs a question or two?</h3><div><b>1) Does it matter </b>- Yes, it does. Believe it or not, most of us are dealing with a cognitive overload. Too many processes running at the same time, leading to less than optimum resources being provided to the essential ones. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>For the same reason you see most influential CEOs always wearing same clothes - less optionality, less cognitive overload for non essential stuff. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>To take an example from your daily life, the famous words of IT helpdesks - did you try restarting it? The simplest solution to complex problems, as it simply shuts down all unnecessary processes that the laptop started in parallel during the day! </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>2) What should you do about it </b>- I have no idea, what <b>you</b> should do, but here are some things I am working on</div><div><br /></div><div>- Start discarding some of my possessions [ideal target is one item per day]</div><div>- Reduce stock portfolio to less than 20 stocks</div><div>- Try saying no to at least 3 meetings per week</div><div>- Reducing time spent / connections on social media </div><div>... and some more</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>My goal is to try <a href="https://www.theminimalists.com/game/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">30 day minimalism game</a>, but that is a very hard one. As of now, I am on baby steps of the process :)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>See you next time with more updates! </div>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com0Paris, France48.856614 2.35222191.3129184941013321 -67.9602781 90 72.6647219tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-72944853926412114162018-08-29T12:52:00.001+02:002018-08-29T12:52:42.180+02:00Student Loans Endemic<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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First things first: In the past few years, no other image has brought me as much joy and mental peace as this one:</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxXMLRIcgXqnYLKV0xcvMB0H-zleND2RRcHwvFASrEolhAua8jta7xeL4rG2MzOmsiF-sJCXD86CEBAFe_Yg-DWrL2ld_wjzmA9otvAJmj-vvjhUbiz5-BEPm3MJJrvaKj2FlEEi-iE3A/s1600/student-loan.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="student loan screenshot" border="0" data-original-height="295" data-original-width="918" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxXMLRIcgXqnYLKV0xcvMB0H-zleND2RRcHwvFASrEolhAua8jta7xeL4rG2MzOmsiF-sJCXD86CEBAFe_Yg-DWrL2ld_wjzmA9otvAJmj-vvjhUbiz5-BEPm3MJJrvaKj2FlEEi-iE3A/s640/student-loan.PNG" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">~~~Closure notice of my student loan account~~~</td></tr>
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Ever since <a href="https://blog.abhishekkhanna.in/2016/06/hello-from-other-side.html" target="_blank">my graduation in June 2016</a>, closing the student loan has been - you can say - my singular focus in life! While the loan payments were quite manageable for <a href="https://divya-kodati.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">our household</a> budget, just looking at the sheer size of the debt in 2016 used to nauseate me. </div>
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Leverage</h3>
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For those who have undergone any form of finance or business courses, leverage is usually one of the first topics that they learn about. In investing terms, leverage basically refers to the act of seeking higher profits by investing borrowed money (<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/optioninvestor/07/sources-leverage.asp" target="_blank">source</a>). The courses then go into the detail of adjusting your extra returns with the cost of capital (interest) and the tax benefits you get on the interest paid. Net-net, on paper, it is a brilliant idea to leverage to grow rapidly - <b><i><u>IF</u> </i></b>you have a consistent cash flow. Mind that IF in bold, underlined font. </div>
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Leveraging, or taking out a student loan, for international higher studies course is indeed an interesting option, but considering the current economic conditions, increasing protectionism and volatility in general makes it the second most risky investment you can make in the recent times. First, of course, is investing in crypto-currency! Well, don't even get me started on crypto! </div>
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Recently, I read some of the most beautiful words written about leverage (<a href="https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/casualties-of-your-own-success/" target="_blank">source</a>)</div>
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Body size in biology is like leverage in investing: It accentuates the gains but amplifies the losses. It works well for a while and then backfires spectacularly at the point where the benefits are nice but the losses are lethal</blockquote>
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Optionality</h3>
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Along with increasing the risk, I believe, any form of regular, mandatory payment decreases your optionality. Especially in case of student loans, as your repayment term begins, you are forced to find a paying job, or let go of any start-up ideas that you were pursuing. While one may or may not exercise any optionality, it is always at the back of your head to be in a stable, secure life with cash flows exceeding loan repayments at the bare minimum. </div>
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Having said that...</h3>
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And, after closing down on the juggernaut sized loans, I can now say that <a href="https://blog.abhishekkhanna.in/2014/10/time-flies.html" target="_blank">this leveraged trade</a> was one of mybest trades with quite high ROI. Not only I have changed my industry and geography (of the 3 famed traits that define your job: geography/industry/function), but it gave me incredible opportunity to settle down in the city of Paris! AND, that puts us in close proximity of almost the whole of Europe for <a href="https://divya-kodati.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-french-escapades.html" target="_blank">mini-sojourns</a>! </div>
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<h3>
In a nut-shell...</h3>
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What I am trying to say is leverage is risky! If everything works out - awesome! But in most of the cases, it is taken on by students, in disproportionate amount vs. their own assets, and with no clear visibility on future cash flows. Compound that with volatile geopolitical and protectionist environment of today, it is not a figment of my imagination that student loan debt will be the next burst bubble, similar to that of 2008.</div>
</div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-66717688909657030542018-07-21T12:21:00.000+02:002018-07-21T12:34:10.828+02:00Let's re-learn! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A long time ago in a place far, far away, I used to have an interesting friend. One Friday evening, like any other Friday evening, we were chilling at our regular <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=theka" target="_blank">Theka</a>, when suddenly he made an interesting proposition. Though in a very businesslike but suspiciously hushed tone. <i><b>Only because I was his close friend</b></i>, he wanted to introduce me to a business idea, where I <i><b>just </b></i>need to invest a small amount. The good part about his plan was that the returns would start flowing in in less than a month. The even better part about his idea was that soon after, I will have to do nothing and the so-called business will run on auto-pilot mode and I would be a sit-at-home millionaire!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmXHAEoBnY2yTZ7yiL7gKerwzk756gNK_4_Dc1RPSMY7wGyuTOsEMaswJz9gi5tu3P8kTf2J_nniiEGy3VN7giGnJGSpnc5u_yUvaYZvLeVeEE4GSKF_2Xy3gduBa5e6LrA0ziqMkL23c/s1600/jimi-filipovski-189724-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="investing 101" border="0" data-original-height="939" data-original-width="1600" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmXHAEoBnY2yTZ7yiL7gKerwzk756gNK_4_Dc1RPSMY7wGyuTOsEMaswJz9gi5tu3P8kTf2J_nniiEGy3VN7giGnJGSpnc5u_yUvaYZvLeVeEE4GSKF_2Xy3gduBa5e6LrA0ziqMkL23c/s640/jimi-filipovski-189724-unsplash.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/8koEuSiR1zM?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; transition: 0.2s ease-in-out, 0.2s ease-in-out; white-space: nowrap;">Jimi Filipovski</a><span style="background-color: whitesmoke; white-space: nowrap;"> on </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/search/photos/finance?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; transition: 0.2s ease-in-out, 0.2s ease-in-out; white-space: nowrap;">Unsplash</a></span></td></tr>
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I am very sure that the audience of this blog is smart enough to understand that his business-idea was the infamous Multi-Level Marketing scheme, and of-course that conversation is one of the key reason why the first line of this blog says, ‘I used to have an interesting friend.”</div>
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But this post is neither to discuss MLM schemes, nor about old friends. This post is about a simple question that I usually ask anyone giving me an investment idea or as it is better known as 'tip' – if your idea is so commercially viable, why do you want to share your riches with me? Why don’t you mortgage your house and invest in the business? If everything goes well, soon after, by just sitting in your mortgaged house, you will be the proud owner of 100 such (mortgaged?) houses! </div>
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This is probably just one example, and that too a very crude one. But the deeper you dive into the field of investing the more examples you will find of people and even companies misselling and promising (mostly?) unachievable returns. And that’s where my friends, this line of thinking is helpful. If the cost of capital (plus transaction charges) is less than the promised(!) returns, it is probably time to ask some hard questions.</div>
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Although, I must warn you, that probably I am from the older generation where people thought about businesses which were profitable or had a break-even point, and did not plan to run on ‘funding’ till someone bought them over. But I digress…</div>
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---</div>
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<h3>
A new Journey</h3>
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In not so distant past, till I decided to quit my full-time job and pursue <a href="https://blog.abhishekkhanna.in/search/label/MBA%20Life?&max-results=6" target="_blank">my MBA</a>, I was quite engaged in investing as well as trading. However, to fund my education, I liquidated almost all my investments, and even spent a couple of years under heavy debt! Yep, the infamous student-loan!<br />
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As the loan was paid-off and closed recently, I am re-learning the process of investing, while getting acclimatized with the new realities of the trading world. As I learn, digest, think and process, I will try to jot down some of my thoughts here on this page.<br />
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May the bulls (& bears) be always with you... ! </div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-33236546432685536612018-02-10T13:54:00.000+01:002021-03-16T21:40:17.467+01:00The one where it snows in Paris<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In what should be a non-event for most of the people, it snowed in Paris this week. Oh boy, and it snowed heavily than what I have witnessed in past 4 years in France. And it wouldn't be an overstatement if I say, I have never seen Paris look so beautiful in my life!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixBdX9Gbt5n6Wlu_DmZUiLccwQOcdq1LoWI7UwCxCi4SfGVckZmvGm88-K3K7XVap7qNeV-wJgUGdLeUYTufJqctobKQ0AHoD3dtGE61q68Sq2hNGnhKKaoP1xd_30fGSOb2IL8uOq7-B1/s1600/IMG_1636.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixBdX9Gbt5n6Wlu_DmZUiLccwQOcdq1LoWI7UwCxCi4SfGVckZmvGm88-K3K7XVap7qNeV-wJgUGdLeUYTufJqctobKQ0AHoD3dtGE61q68Sq2hNGnhKKaoP1xd_30fGSOb2IL8uOq7-B1/s640/IMG_1636.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from my balcony</td></tr>
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Being born and grown up in harsh, hot weather of Delhi, with blinding-foggy winters, I have had only a few brushes with snow in my life. My first encounter with snow was when I used to work in Romania. That got out of hand, pretty quickly. The whole town was covered in snow for over 3 months! Suffice to say I believe I finished the quota of snow-days for 24 years of my past life in those 3 months! </div>
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The little town I lived in, Timisoara, had a different charm in the snow. Having an apartment and office in close to each other helped me a lot to discover new snow-covered ways through parks, central squares, near rivers and over the bridges - all while walking back and forth from work. Though I didn't realize it at that time, but the sentiment snow evokes in me is something as close as love as one can feel! </div>
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The yearning I had, over the years, to see and feel fresh layers of snow never went down even a notch. To add to it, I don't remember where, but there was a scene in a movie (or a TV series?) where the actor opens his mouth to taste the pure taste of snow, as it falls, made me add that to my bucket list! </div>
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And, I tasted snow! ...as it fell by buckets, in the shape of tiny feathers from the sky! </div>
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I left for work at 5.30am couple of days ago, and it was snowing lightly. Though I hate to get up so early, not to mention venture out of the house at such ungodly hours, but what I felt was surreal that day. While the world (and <a href="http://divya-kodati.blogspot.fr/2018/02/snowflakes-snowflakes.html" target="_blank">the Mrs.</a>) were tucked in their Razais, I was the lone soul walking outside, with an ocean of snow in any direction I saw. Only to be punctuated by some iconic Parisian buildings. I was creating fresh footprints in the freshly laid snow, with no sounds except the one I was making while stepping on the snow clouds! </div>
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To put it briefly, I witnessed and felt pure magic! I can write pages to describe what I felt early morning that day, and still feel that I haven't conveyed my feelings properly. But instead...</div>
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... <b><i>I will take a pause here and wish everyone reading this to feel - every single day of their life - the happiness and magic I felt that day. </i></b></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-73754758688084782272017-12-30T12:20:00.000+01:002017-12-30T12:20:59.850+01:00THE YEAR THAT WAS: 2017<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As I sit in the familiar comfort of my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razai" target="_blank">Razai</a> with a warm cup of Chai in my hand, I couldn't help but notice that it has been 12 months since I smelled the aroma of a cardamom Chai mixed with Delhi's fog! We say this every year, but didn't 2017 just whiz by faster than we could imagine?</div>
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2017 for me can only be defined as the year of big transformations. The year that brought with it momentous changes, of positive nature, in both personal and professional aspects.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8uzUixeDxE5ID2joWfEEyUvtF3KEofAb_kYfLZvE5vQMHl6xjl6Qs4HoDdNFUbN5BNePXjD1KMgT0iaC3Fn8ncg30tYcUkCoc-4L8aIzUYWz9lco_1qUIdQvD7VZFRT8OkSrT3DJ0KuA/s1600/szucs-laszlo-91030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="time, year end, clock" border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8uzUixeDxE5ID2joWfEEyUvtF3KEofAb_kYfLZvE5vQMHl6xjl6Qs4HoDdNFUbN5BNePXjD1KMgT0iaC3Fn8ncg30tYcUkCoc-4L8aIzUYWz9lco_1qUIdQvD7VZFRT8OkSrT3DJ0KuA/s640/szucs-laszlo-91030.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/0gdHUhYkXDc?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; text-align: start; text-decoration-skip: ink; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out; white-space: nowrap;">Szűcs László</a><span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #111111; white-space: nowrap;"> on </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; text-align: start; text-decoration-skip: ink; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out; white-space: nowrap;">Unsplash</a></span></td></tr>
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<h2 style="text-align: justify;">
Professional Updates</h2>
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After completing my <a href="http://blog.abhishekkhanna.in/2016/06/hello-from-other-side.html" target="_blank">MBA</a> last year, I toughed out 6-odd months in an internship, then 6 more months in a temporary contract (known in French as Contract Duration Determinée or CDD). However, at the beginning of this year, I was finally able to secure a full-time contract (known as Contrat à durée indéterminée, in short <a href="http://www.blog.parisunraveled.com/3-things-you-should-know-about-your-contrat-a-duree-indeterminee-cdi/" target="_blank">CDI</a>) in a leading global firm. </div>
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Having worked in India for the most part of my professional life, all these contract types were very alien concepts for me. In my previous jobs in India, the process flow was as follows - a company hires you (usually from the first contact to final offer, I have never spent over 4 working days), and then you continue working there till you retire, or you leave by giving a 30-60 days notice. The company can also fire you if they don't like your performance by giving you same notice or compensation for the same. </div>
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However, from what I have gathered, it is quite hard for even private companies to eliminate positions or fire employees due to labor protections in France. For all practical intent and purposes - it is deemed nearly impossible unless there is gross misconduct. Hence, large companies usually require you to go through a trial period of internship or a temporary (fixed duration) contract before they can trust you enough to give you a full-time contract. </div>
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While there is protection for employees (which a surprisingly high number of millennials in France seek), this whole process makes employers very cautious while hiring new people, leading to lack of liquidity in the market. Therefore, you will see people sticking around in the same company or companies having to keep the same people around for decades, even if there is a visible mismatch. Plus making it hard for new talent to get hired properly for a job fitting well for their profile rather than in a firm which is willing to give them a CDI. </div>
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However, having decided to have built my career in France, I am adapting to the prevalent system, and happy to report my CDI contract to you guys. </div>
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<h2 style="text-align: justify;">
Personal Updates</h2>
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This is the big one - After ~2 long years living on our own, while spending Friday and Sunday nights in Eurostar to travel between Paris and London, the <a href="http://divya-kodati.blogspot.fr/" target="_blank">wifey</a> has now relocated to <a href="http://divya-kodati.blogspot.in/2017/08/to-new-beginnings.html" target="_blank">Paris</a>! As some people are calling it - The Khannas Reunited! :)<br />
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With that, we have now commenced The Grand Tour of Europe! As our weekly shuttles between London-Paris have come to an end, we have decided to spend our travelling budget on visiting a new country every alternate month - or simply 6 or more new countries every year! </div>
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In terms of cities, this year we visited the regular London, Paris, Delhi, and Hyderabad, along with new additions of Prague (Czech Republic), Copenhagen (Denmark), <a href="http://divya-kodati.blogspot.in/2017/09/champagne-cheers.html" target="_blank">Champagne</a> (France). Ghent (Belgium) and Lille (France).</div>
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We also spent a lot of time exploring the streets, museums, and gardens of Paris. On that note, I think we should cover the Parisian expeditions in a separate post. Something similar to Sahil's post on <a href="http://www.sahilbihari.com/2017/03/my-paris-hall-of-fame.html" target="_blank">Paris hall of fame</a>! </div>
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Onwards! </h2>
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For 2018, instead of making several small resolutions - which almost no one ever keeps - I have decided to do six '30 day challenges'! I first heard about the concept in this <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/matt_cutts_try_something_new_for_30_days" target="_blank">Ted Talk</a> and was quite intrigued by it. With several small life improvements and personal projects that I am working on in parallel, I think dedicating a month to each of them would be quite interesting as well as productive!<br />
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Keep watching this space for more info! Till then...</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Wish you and your family a happy and prosperous New Year 2018!</i></span></div>
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<i>I should probably write more of these year-end reviews: <a href="http://blog.abhishekkhanna.in/2014/12/the-year-that-was-2014.html" target="_blank">THE YEAR THAT WAS: 2014</a></i></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com0New Delhi, Delhi, India28.6139391 77.20902120000005228.3907261 76.886297700000057 28.8371521 77.531744700000047tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-90218640575454959352017-08-21T11:00:00.000+02:002021-03-16T21:40:34.825+01:00My watch is ended<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Keeping up with the Game of Thrones theme, as with most of our conversations these days, I recently used the epic half-liner from previous season “My watch is ended” with my <a href="http://divya-kodati.blogspot.it/" target="_blank">wifey </a>to remind her of:<br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li style="text-align: justify;">The batteries of my watch have died again: even though I have been wearing wrist watches for over 20 years now, I have no idea how long are the batteries of a watch are supposed to last! Empirical evidence suggests anywhere between 6 months and 10 years, depending upon the weather conditions on Mars during that period! </li>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">Side note: I can never ever wear a watch that needs charging every night! Even though I would love to, but for the foreseeable future I am not going to try any smart watch </li>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">She got her first French salary (yippie!) and as per the tradition, she needs to buy me a ceremonial gift! </li>
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For the impatient readers, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Too_long;_didn%27t_read" target="_blank">Tl; Dr</a> version of the outcome of that discussion is: after hours of research and keeping in line with my personal preference towards not charging a personal device for as long as humanly possible, we bought this beautiful piece of Fossil Mechanical watch! Just look at the video and appreciate all the intricate machinery slowly humming along inside!</div>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BXQdK1QAJba/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by abby khanna (@furobiker)</a> on <time datetime="2017-08-01T16:01:03+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Aug 1, 2017 at 9:01am PDT</time></div>
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For the patient ones, I did some research on types of watches and how to select a good watch. While selecting a watch is a matter of personal taste, I have documented here various types of watches available in the market so that you guys can make more informed decisions in the future: </div>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
Types of Watches: </h3>
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Based on the “movement” (a.k.a “calibre” or the basic mechanism driving the watch and the associated functions, also referred to as ‘complications’, such as calendar, multiple time zone features etc.) a watch can be categorized into two basic categories: Quartz movement or Mechanical movement. Various manufacturers implement these movements using their own styles/techniques, but essentially these two kinds of movements are building blocks for all kinds of watches: </div>
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<h4 style="text-align: justify;">
How to find out if the watch is quartz or mechanical: </h4>
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Just look at the seconds’ hand! If it is making clear jumps between seconds, it is a quartz watch, if it is making a sweeping motion or several tiny jumps between seconds, it is a mechanical watch. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPsKR5DPim3LzB9FESwnPq83bf3FlZBefLxTtXOaIF41aFT7PafMFGiOhxoUO82kchoq4GlJJ-Amer4FrhqZ9TXwmr8HQdCjEiChX5KJbwPUKubk8pPFK_QYARfmDtr-hnp_paE_2q9VA/s1600/quartz-vs-mechanical-watch-movement-gif-1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="734" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPsKR5DPim3LzB9FESwnPq83bf3FlZBefLxTtXOaIF41aFT7PafMFGiOhxoUO82kchoq4GlJJ-Amer4FrhqZ9TXwmr8HQdCjEiChX5KJbwPUKubk8pPFK_QYARfmDtr-hnp_paE_2q9VA/s640/quartz-vs-mechanical-watch-movement-gif-1.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Source: https://i0.wp.com/www.precisionwatches.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/quartz-vs-mechanical-watch-movement-gif-1.gif?fit=734%2C200&ssl=1</span></td></tr>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
Quartz Movement:</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Powered by a battery, watches based on quartz movement are pretty accurate and require much less maintenance than mechanical watches. Just an occasional battery replacement and it is good to go. Typically, quartz watches are much less preferred by watch enthusiasts due to lack of craftsmanship and technology or engineering prowess in designing intricate parts. </div>
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<h4 style="text-align: justify;">
Mechanism: </h4>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Simply put, the battery sends current through a quartz crystal (hence the name quartz movement). The current electrifies the crystal, which in turn vibrates. These vibrations create the movement to drive the watch motor, which in turn drive watch hands. These watches run quite accurately till the time battery is providing ample current to the crystal. As the battery starts running out of juice, you will notice that the watch has started losing time. </div>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
Mechanical Movement: </h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Powered by a wound spring, most of the luxury watches run on mechanical movement. In a lot of mechanical watches (for example in the video above), there is a provision to witness and appreciate the intricate components, working together in a tightly woven configuration to power the watch. Several super-luxury watches still have hand-crafted intricate parts, designed for a snug fit and supposed to work fine for decades. </div>
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<h4 style="text-align: justify;">
Mechanism: </h4>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mechanical movement watches store energy in a wound spring. The spring transfers energy to gears and sometimes other springs to provide regulated power to the watch hands. I am assuming your next question would be: From where does the wound spring gets its energy from? Good question! </div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Types of mechanical watches: </div>
</h4>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Manual: </b>Remember the typical watch our grandparents wore? They were rotating the crown on the side of the watch to wind up the spring. The energy is stored in the spring and is typically enough for ~24-hour period. Though some of the newer watches may store enough energy for ~2-day period.
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<b>Automatic: </b>Automatic watches also have the option of rotating the crown to wind up the spring. However, they also have a metallic weight (called rotor), which is free to move when the body of the watch moves. So, when you walk or move your wrist, the metallic rotor moves, winding the spring. Hence, when you wear it daily, there is no need to wind up the spring, as it gets automatically wind up when you walk or move your hands. </div>
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<h4 style="text-align: justify;">
... and </h4>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Well, that was a brief overview of different types of watches. Personally, mechanical watches interest me more, especially where the mechanism is visible through the front glass. If you are interested in the engineering behind watches you can also look at how basic gearing works in such watches and how different manufacturers add complexities (in simple terms – features) to their respective products.<br />
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Let me know if you found this brief note useful! </div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com5Champ de Mars, 5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007 Paris, France48.858370099999988 2.294481300000029524.818495599999988 -39.01411269999997 72.898244599999984 43.603075300000029tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-54287684770025546802017-07-31T18:20:00.000+02:002021-03-16T21:40:41.860+01:00Getting back to writing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Last week, I was out for a formal dinner with some colleagues. Amid regular getting-to-know questions, one that stood out to me was “What do you do outside of the office?” Even though I am busy from the moment I wake up, to the time when I finally switch off my phone and sleep, I realized that day that since past couple of years, I have not worked on any of my specific hobbies or a personal project!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Side note: Apparently, playing games on X-box or assembling so many pieces of furniture for your new house that one can easily qualify any carpentering exams does not count. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I started remembering the things I liked and the side projects I worked on during me pre-MBA life in India. Travelling – it is something I do to relax, not as a personal project. Reading – sure, but the number of books I have read in 2017 stands at 3. Writing – the last time I wrote on this blog was over 12 months ago! Coding – I have quit more times than I have started! Running – Although, I increased my stamina to go up to 12kms in one go, I have not been regular in the last 7-8 weeks. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The same night, I went out to buy a mop to clean up the spider-webs from this blog. Currently, I am going through quite an exciting period in my life, and if I properly get down to jotting some nice experiences, I can fill up a few hundred pages! So, why not! </span></div>
</span><div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">When I started this blog page a few years ago, I decided that everything I write here should be either:</span></div>
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Something I am knowledgeable about</span></h3>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">About a year and a half ago, I switched careers – from a procurement advisory function, I have moved full time to an energy management and automation firm. This is a completely new industry for me, and I am picking up new things daily. I have a lot of stuff in my head to write about – renewable energy (especially solar) and its impacts on the grid, building management systems with the focus on energy efficiency, automation and digitization of the manufacturing industry, 3D printing to name a broad few topics.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Every time I pick up a notepad (yes, I am old school when it comes to writing) to write about these topics, I feel quite underwhelmed with the things I know vs. the things there are actually worth knowing about the topics I am going to write about. If you look at the chart below, I am currently hovering over the valley of despair!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ypsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Dunning-Kruger-Effect-300x238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="http://ypsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Dunning-Kruger-Effect-300x238.jpg" data-original-height="238" data-original-width="300" height="317" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dunning Kruger Effect</span></td></tr>
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<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Something I am learning about </span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The target at the very top of my mind is my slow progress on learning the French language. I am doing ok in reading newspaper level French, however, when it comes to speaking and more importantly listening to French, I fall flat on my face. There is nothing worth writing on this topic, but just leaving it here as a casual reminder to self. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
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</span><div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The other thing I am learning is nuggets of history about the things I like and the things I am discovering. Just in the past quarter, I have learnt about the The Ashes Cup while touring The Lord's stadium in London, the fine art of making scotch while touring The Glenlivet distillery in Scotland, life of Pablo Picasso and the depiction of his state of mind through his paintings in Musée national Picasso (Picasso museum) in Paris, among tens of other things. </span></span><br /><br />Wait, these all sound pretty solid ideas to pen down what I learnt, remembered and then augment with external research! </div>
<div>
<br />Alright, back to work now! Till we meet again next week!</div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-62411685602557738922016-06-26T08:30:00.000+02:002021-03-16T21:41:02.325+01:00Hello from the other side<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-zwoxBjTmN8L_vBRPQGroGoZB7mBppQUjedXlJDnbokMP-FMe9dtNu-BfWv_nfhzMzqBrTiMs0m4OCXVdsL5ZkqV5HdeWYUue7W_ETH5DiA8JHWpO1vLitMHbRQjCzL69rfmcuM4eYBc/s1600/HEC_MBA_GRADUATION_2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-zwoxBjTmN8L_vBRPQGroGoZB7mBppQUjedXlJDnbokMP-FMe9dtNu-BfWv_nfhzMzqBrTiMs0m4OCXVdsL5ZkqV5HdeWYUue7W_ETH5DiA8JHWpO1vLitMHbRQjCzL69rfmcuM4eYBc/s640/HEC_MBA_GRADUATION_2016.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<b>June 10, 2016</b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">End of the formal education. A lifelong quest for knowledge continues.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Bonus links:</b> Every year, HEC Paris releases a fun video at the end of the graduation ceremony. This year's video was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlAnX0C3PEU" target="_blank">HEC Creed!</a> Have a look! Though, 2014 graduation day video is </span>my favorite - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9pgsgrqCYo" target="_blank">HEC in the world of TV shows</a>! </div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com2Jouy-en-Josas, France48.757916636083081 2.16946844603273848.75529963608308 2.164425946032738 48.760533636083082 2.1745109460327381tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-31219759471664513082016-05-17T21:13:00.001+02:002021-03-16T21:41:09.470+01:00Podcasts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Two key things that I check in my pocket before stepping out of the home are my <a href="http://www.navigo.fr/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Navigo </a>card and my headphones. It has been about a year since I got addicted to podcasts, and I now find unimaginable to not listen to them while walking/travelling alone. It will be fair to say that podcasts have almost completely taken over my headphone time over the past year. </div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
For the uninitiated, Podcasts are the internet version of good old radio shows. Consider them similar to audio-books, but a hundred times more interesting. The best feature of podcasts is that you can download them on your phone, using certain apps, and listen to them even without internet connectivity. Podcasting apps typically download the latest episodes when the device is connected to home WiFi, and arrange the episodes in chronological order using the information provided by the RSS feeds. Yeah, the same old RSS feeds that were a rage during the blogging era! </blockquote>
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Every few weeks, I try to refresh my subscriptions by discovering and adding new podcasts to my list and getting rid of those which were not up to the mark, beyond first few episodes. Hence, this list will be periodically updated with the list of new shows as well as my feedback on the ones which I unsubscribe. Over the next few days, I will curate this list a bit more by arranging them by categories, and adding more details about each one of them.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOZV9_IbSMrSH2kEX0fVmL6sAVp7OqiWK9mYe4hyTJBHBUGtHGmrl0eivsBs17j_bKa7P105caGm1VQMxeV5PA3Xqy8mBNuFkPqHZAfZOD_sJUXMRLFx43GWhyphenhyphenlqpRDst9SNr2NN3tBM/s1600/earphones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOZV9_IbSMrSH2kEX0fVmL6sAVp7OqiWK9mYe4hyTJBHBUGtHGmrl0eivsBs17j_bKa7P105caGm1VQMxeV5PA3Xqy8mBNuFkPqHZAfZOD_sJUXMRLFx43GWhyphenhyphenlqpRDst9SNr2NN3tBM/s640/earphones.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pic credits: https://unsplash.com/photos/TMOeGZw9NY4</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
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1) <b>Non-fiction Storytelling</b> - <i>He came in for the storytelling, but stayed on for the content</i></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://serialpodcast.org/" target="_blank"><b>Serial</b> </a>- Season one of the Serial Podcast was probably the most famous podcast in the history of this planet. A thrilling narrative, mixed with investigative journalism, of a murder mystery. Season two was a dud.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://gimletmedia.com/show/startup/" target="_blank"><b>Start up</b></a> - Story of and narration by Alex Blumberg, of 'This American Life' show, about starting his own company (season 1). Currently on Season three, this show makes up for a good background chatter while working</li>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
2) <b>Business & Finance</b> - <i>My favourite category, with a very high entry and purge frequency</i> </div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/money/" target="_blank"><b>Planet Money</b></a> - Mostly economics, sometimes financial concepts, explained in bite-sized 15-30 mins episodes. Good storytelling, and a huge archive to delve in. I usually download 20-30 episodes in one go before long journeys</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/" target="_blank"><b>The Investors Podcast</b></a> - Mostly talk about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-net-worth_individual" target="_blank">HNWI</a>s and their habits. More importantly, I listen to it for the crisp book reviews and recommendations</li>
</ul>
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3) <b>Others</b> - This category on my app has seen everything from Game of Thrones discussions to Monday morning inspirations. Usually, subscribe them for lazy Saturday afternoon background noise.</div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://gimletmedia.com/show/reply-all/" target="_blank"><b>Reply All</b></a> - Broadly categorised as a show about the internet. Some of the episodes are really interesting, discussing the internet culture, people of the internet world and a lot of other things </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://99percentinvisible.org/" target="_blank"><b>99% Invisible</b></a> - From the show description, "99% Invisible is about all the thought that goes into the things we don’t think about — the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world"</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="https://radiolingua.com/coffeebreakfrench/" target="_blank">Coffee Break French</a></b> - Bonjour! </li>
</ul>
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That's all from my side for now. I will keep updating this list. Meanwhile, let me know your podcast recommendations in the comments!</div>
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<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>The links I have provided are to the official websites of these podcasts, it will be better if you search for the show name directly in your app and then just press the subscribe button. </i></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-57869509513446015872015-12-23T10:11:00.001+01:002021-03-16T21:41:25.859+01:00End of the MBA Program<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Update: As it turns out, I was not able to complete this post in one sitting. Hence, there is a mix of past, present and future tense in this post. </i></div>
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<br />
... and just like that, it's over! It is hard to believe that this is my last week at HEC Paris. After 16 very short months, I will attend the last class of my MBA program this Wednesday.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzj0RVF22yKwad6hd3K6_TdceHu0yADReimkm2AR-99DH-6ql6I6OzW26F_dcC4Pfxw8US8hxBfzxZGm0V542HwzFNltgaErAjyygZ5f26VLgDk3_BJNGwOGSHL7G4cdY_aTfxcCO0Pt8/s1600/expansiel+residence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzj0RVF22yKwad6hd3K6_TdceHu0yADReimkm2AR-99DH-6ql6I6OzW26F_dcC4Pfxw8US8hxBfzxZGm0V542HwzFNltgaErAjyygZ5f26VLgDk3_BJNGwOGSHL7G4cdY_aTfxcCO0Pt8/s400/expansiel+residence.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saying Goodbye! </td></tr>
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The reality of the situation hit me this Sunday when I put up an advertisement to sell the small possessions I bought for my home of 16 months - 143, Expansiel - on our campus Facebook page. It feels that 4 Sept 2014 was just yesterday, when I created a video of my empty room, to send back home showing my family a glimpse of my new life. <a href="http://blog.abhishekkhanna.in/2014/10/time-flies.html" target="_blank">Time flies</a>, really! </div>
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As I sit here and think about the time gone by, I must say that the past 16 months have been a humbling experience for me. An international, top-tier school does that to you. From being a top performer for years to realizing that every other person in the class has an unparalleled knowledge and breadth of experience took me just 4 weeks. And I believe, this early realization helped me grow both personally and professionally in a short period of time.<br />
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While an inherent benefit of an MBA is a large, global network that helps you mutually grow in the future; I will more than treasure the bunch with whom I was able to develop lifelong bonds.<br />
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As of finishing this post on 22nd December, I have had my last MBA class, went on a sojourn to Amsterdam, and finally returned back to my home in New Delhi! For the next month, I will be found in front of my X-Box, when I am not hopping across the country for short trips!<br />
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See you guys on the other side! Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!<br />
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com2 Résidence Expansiel, Jouy-en-Josas, France48.7586536922583 2.1721735596656848.7584901922583 2.17185855966568 48.7588171922583 2.17248855966568tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-69022669638274361632015-07-26T15:06:00.000+02:002021-03-16T21:42:18.025+01:00For the love of writing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Over the past year and a half, I have developed a certain fondness for writing with fountain pens. The affair started in late 2013 – when I started working on my essays for submissions at various <a href="http://blog.abhishekkhanna.in/2014/10/time-flies.html" target="_blank">b-schools</a>.</div>
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Back in 2007, fresh out of college, I started my first job. As with most jobs, I was completely dependent on my laptop for office work; hence, I started losing touch with everyday writing using a pen and a paper. The only remaining interaction with pen and paper was to scribble notes and comments in a fast, barely legible handwriting during office meetings. With increasing dependence on laptops, there came a day when I was able to type faster, and in a more legible format than I could scribble on my notepad. Post-2009, the only times I used a pen was to either sign on cheques or write small messages on the greeting cards being passed around at the office.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credits: https://unsplash.com/alejandroescamilla</td></tr>
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Circa 2013, I started writing my college applications. Soon, realization dawned upon me that most of the essays take much more than one-two straight sessions to properly convey the message. Hence, I started keeping a journal in which I used to write ideas/few paragraphs as and when I found myself in an appropriate frame of mind required for the task. Years of using ball pens to scribble notes or write small pieces of text made my hands go much faster than I was trying. I was in actual physical pain if I tried to write slowly concentrating on my handwriting. It was then I stumbled upon the world of fountain pens with the help of a friend, who himself is a pen connoisseur. There was no turning back post the day I bought my first fountain pen! Though, I must mention, my first fountain pen was of an unknown Indian brand and costed just shy of 3 Euros!</div>
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How to select a fountain pen</h2>
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Selecting a fountain pen depends upon a lot more factors than you would usually imagine. Typical questions range from 'what is the purpose of buying this pen?' to 'what is my writing style?' and 'how often would I be using this pen?'. For starters, following are the few basic selection criterion </div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>Body style</b>: The options range from clear body pens to translucent and opaque ones. Body weight ranging from feather light to extremely heavy, further depending upon body material being plastic, metal or a combination of both</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>Grip</b>: Holding a pen and writing for a few minutes is essential before making a buying decision. Fountain pens are generally long-term purchases and the owner should be very comfortable using them.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>Nib</b>: Depending upon the size and style of your handwriting and the overall speed of your writing, you can choose from extra fine to broad nibs. While fine nibs are suited for small handwriting and slower writing, broad nibs are mostly suitable for faster writing / note taking especially for classroom uses</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>Filling mechanism</b>: Broadly, you can choose between piston mechanism and cartridges. Pen manufacturers usually provide one default mechanism, but it is relatively easy to switch between the two.</li>
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Epilogue</h2>
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Simply put, I like the scratching sound which the nib makes while writing on the paper! The scratching feeling indicates some idea / thought is getting transferred from me to the paper via the pen! Also, slowing down the writing process also helps me think well while putting ink on paper and at the same time helps me in getting back my writing to legible, sometimes artsy levels. Currently, I use an entry level Lamy with a polished steel nib and a cartridge ink filling mechanism. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMkbpzdN30KGonZZWV9Zbqvir3NHfASZYjiqXV3vrmGuBn4Vwvu7EvJa9t-J62f7-sn5cTaFPCKOj6TtCZtU_-v2HwIeeG_Kfi0Cf-I84DP61z-AnFXR1y57uLANXGNCi6LvAawLdRxw8/s1600/fountain_L18_safari.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMkbpzdN30KGonZZWV9Zbqvir3NHfASZYjiqXV3vrmGuBn4Vwvu7EvJa9t-J62f7-sn5cTaFPCKOj6TtCZtU_-v2HwIeeG_Kfi0Cf-I84DP61z-AnFXR1y57uLANXGNCi6LvAawLdRxw8/s640/fountain_L18_safari.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image credit: http://www.lamyusa.com/</td></tr>
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My wishlist of fountain pens is currently growing in a secret bookmarks folder, with most of the usual suspects from Montblanc and Cartier. But, I guess, any action on it is adjourned till I exit my student status and enter a full-time job! </div>
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Keep writing!</div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-51653284034491691172015-05-28T12:00:00.003+02:002021-03-16T21:42:11.297+01:00Internship Diaries<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As a friend jokingly said the other day – you should call this part of life partially employed!</div>
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Jokes apart, after spending eight months rigorously studying courses from various disciplines of management, I am currently on a short sabbatical from the academic life. End of April marked the beginning of my 4-month internship at the Paris-based office of a reputed multi-national organization. I will be working here as a full-time intern till the end of August, and then go back to the university to complete my specialization phase from September to December. </div>
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MBA program at HEC gives you the unique option of either doing 8 elective courses (and then a month and a half long internship), or doing a 4 month internship (technically it is called fieldwork) after the completion of fundamental phase. Although, I thoroughly enjoyed most of the courses taught in the fundamental phase of the MBA, but from the bottom of my heart I was craving to go back to the office life, projects, deadlines, jam packed outlook calendars since the first month in Jouy. Hence, I made my decision to go for option 2 – the longer internship (fieldwork!)</div>
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As a large chunk of visitors of this blog arrive from various GMAT forums; hence, I thought I should detail out some of the challenges and best practices prospective candidates should be better prepared for, regarding internship/job search, before they dip their toes into the MBA life. The experiences may vary based on the type and geography of the company you apply to; however, the pointers below are an average of experiences a job seeker would face / is facing. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Challenges</b> </span></h3>
It is not a hidden fact that most of the European states are currently facing tumultuous economic conditions. In comparison with the students from past intakes, finding an internship or a full-time position this year seems to have been especially tricky. Some of the most common roadblocks I personally witnessed during my internship search were:</div>
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<li><b>Work permit</b> - This usually is one of the initial filters and is a limiting factor unless you are applying to a large conglomerate. Due to various cumbersome steps and costs involved, companies seem to prefer candidates who already have the authority to work in the country under consideration</li>
<li><b>Local language</b> - If you are looking for a client facing role, such as in consulting, knowledge of the local language of the office you are applying for is an absolute must</li>
<li><b>Length of the internship</b> - A lot of Europe based offices expect an intern to stay with them upwards of 6 months, which can be a limiting factor as a lot of b-schools do not provide this large a gap during the MBA </li>
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<li>This one is a negotiable issue basis what value you can add in the time you have, and if you can stretch the period by working part-time for a while</li>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Best Practices</span></b></h3>
I knowingly didn't call this part of the blog post as 'the solutions.' Job/internship search is never a one size fits all game. The challenges may be common, but the solutions are unique to every individual. However, one needs to be very aware of the importance of the following:</div>
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<li><b>Network, Network, and Network</b> - There is no need to highlight the importance of networking in today's world; especially, in the world where we all seek to move post-MBA</li>
<li><b>Solid research about the companies and the profiles</b> - Contrary to what some people suggest, I recommend that one should apply to only a handful of companies, and not spray and pray! </li>
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<li>Apply only where you really want to go or to a company which does what you really want to do </li>
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<li><b>Work on your pitch</b> - Make your pitch, not a 30 second elevator pitch, but a concise summary of who you are, what have you done, and what is it that you bring on the table for the job/project under consideration</li>
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<b>But don't forget... </b></h4>
… there is always a component of luck in every good or not-so-good thing that happens in your life. I am a firm believer of ‘whatever happens; happens for a reason’ camp. So, fingers crossed and wish you luck for the search! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">London Eye</td></tr>
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Serious stuff aside, April and May have been really good to satiate my wanderlust! I had a two week long trip to India, two trips to London and one trip to Amsterdam! And of course, visited some new places in Paris. Over the next few days, I will write about those trips as well. Keep watching this space! For select pictures of my European sojourns head over to <a href="http://instagram.com/furobiker/" target="_blank">my Instagram page</a>. </div>
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Till then, as they say in French, à bientôt !</div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-47324633065747447902015-05-04T11:57:00.000+02:002021-03-16T21:42:02.984+01:00There are no superheroes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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But then there are no tasks that a cross-functional team, with proper coordination and a good leader, can’t successfully execute. </div>
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As a part of the MBA program at HEC, we have to participate in a two-day <a href="http://www.mba.hec.edu/The-HEC-Difference/Leadership-in-Action/Off-Campus-Leadership-Seminar" target="_blank">off-campus leadership seminar</a> at St Cyr <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecole_Sp%C3%A9ciale_Militaire_de_Saint-Cyr" target="_blank">military academy</a>. It is a well-known fact that the military is unparalleled in its processes and logistics. However, before embarking on the 2 day sojourn at St Cyr, it was a question in everyone’s mind regarding if it was going to be a commando training or a lecture on leadership skills at the academy. It was none. </div>
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Days at the academy start at 0500 hours and continue till the evening – packed with exercises and simulated scenarios that army faces on a regular basis. Albeit, some activities required physical strength, the focus was on fostering clarity in thoughts, communication and execution, and in-turn leadership. Based on the speed of execution, each group had an opportunity to do 10-15 tasks. The activities included saving a snake-bite victim from another side of the lake, to finding an injured colleague in the wild and aid air rescue by taking the victim to a safe flat land area. Obviously, no one was bit by a snake, and the injured friend was a cloth filled dummy saved by an imaginary helicopter, but the rest of the activity was done in near real scenarios. </div>
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The tasks were similar to nothing that we have done in our professional lives, and the team had members of which most of them hadn't worked together extensively in the past. As a result, we were unsuccessful in executing first 2 time-bound high-stress tasks. From the third activity onward, our mentor, the representative from the army, appointed one leader and suggested some ways and methodologies for a better team performance even on tasks on which no team member has any experience, whatsoever. We saw an exponential improvement in team performance with each additional task, as the next leader utilized the best practices and learned from the mistakes of the previous leaders. </div>
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For each task, we had to follow the concept of ‘leaving no man/woman behind.’ Implying, the task is not complete if a prodigy from your team walks on the rope and reaches the other side, you can use such a talent to your advantage, but the task is only complete when the whole team crosses the said water body in allocated time. The second best thing about these tasks was the debrief session post the task. It was the best learning experience, where your peers provide you feedback, as well as, you also introspect that if we start from scratch, what can be done differently. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My team building a 'X bridge' to cross a small river</td></tr>
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To be a good leader, you need to be able to think swiftly, motivate intrinsically and delegate appropriately. Secondly, for problems of unknown nature, sometimes the leader needs to step out from the execution zone, and focus on adapting/making decisions and guiding his specialized teams.<br />
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There's a simple formula for success as a leader. Know the tasks you can delegate, find the right person, <a href="https://biz30.timedoctor.com/delegation-managerial-skill/" target="_blank">delegate the tasks</a> to him / her, move upwards towards more challenging tasks, repeat. Once you master this formula, you will see yourself, your team and your organisation climbing the ladder of success.</div>
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Certainly, as our senior batch mentioned, St Cyr. is one of the most memorable events of this <a href="http://blog.abhishekkhanna.in/2014/07/hello-world.html" target="_blank">MBA journey</a>. It journey not only provides a great outlet to practically apply concepts learned behind the classroom doors, but also helps in trying out some adventure activities which you will most probably never come across in the day-to-day life. </div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com1Paris, France48.856614 2.352221900000017748.6894645 2.0294984000000178 49.0237635 2.6749454000000177tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-8437504689248731982015-03-17T17:07:00.000+01:002021-03-16T21:41:55.231+01:00Littlefield Simulation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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If you were to ask me about the best aspect of academics at HEC, without batting an eye, my response would be experiential learning. Let me elaborate a bit on that: Right from the beginning of core 1, every few weeks, we take part in a simulation game. The simulations are competitive in nature, and allow you to practically utilize the concepts learnt in the class. You can also improvise on the theoritical strategies to achieve what we call in financial terms an 'alpha' to emerge as the winner. </div>
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We have had several such short games till now, but my top three are <a href="http://blog.abhishekkhanna.in/2014/10/time-flies.html" target="_blank">Negosim</a>, OPEC game, and the latest addition to the list - Littlefield Simulation. Littlefield was a part of our Operations Management course. </div>
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Littlefield Simulation</h3>
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(<a href="http://littlefield.responsive.net/demo/littlefield.html" target="_blank">Click here </a>to read the complete description of Littlefield. The following two paragraphs provide a Tl;Dr version)<br />
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The simulation is about managing a virtual factory with multiple workstations and a defined process flow. In terms of control variables, you can change the number of machines at each workstation, order of processing on certain stations and inventory levels. One thing which you can not control is the demand. In our version of the game, the demand followed a constant mean with sudden fluctuations on either side of the mean. I have heard that some versions of the game have increasing or decreasing mean demand as well. </div>
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What made the game really interesting was that you could see the net cash position of each team, as a point function, and had to optimize your factory to achieve maximum cash-at-hand at the end of the simulation. It was an interesting experience to witness that starting from the same position, how various companies could take entirely different paths, just on the basis of a handful of management decisions. Additionally, even if two companies make the exact same set of decisions, the swiftness in making those decisions could create a large gap in the intrinsic value of the companies.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPnRosBbe65GhnRSZBBNlZzQlkkEiRQ8BwsLMJY-v0Gbt-U8Endgl3VaYEBw-rRc61uYLf30AI6jWfpAVbbbah32W-lA50DisEShgZ-93TOvw3nW9Q6kpqy5uIxjeKWH3-WiuekRne06k/s1600/littlefield.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPnRosBbe65GhnRSZBBNlZzQlkkEiRQ8BwsLMJY-v0Gbt-U8Endgl3VaYEBw-rRc61uYLf30AI6jWfpAVbbbah32W-lA50DisEShgZ-93TOvw3nW9Q6kpqy5uIxjeKWH3-WiuekRne06k/s1600/littlefield.gif" height="392" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Credit: http://littlefield.responsive.net/demo/littlefield.html</td></tr>
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I will not spill more beans about this game, as to satiate the true nerd inside you, it is mandatory to play this game first hand. If you guys know of any similar operations related simulations, do drop a note in the comments! </div>
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In other news, it is exam time at HEC! The second term (also referred to as Core 2) is about to end in a couple of weeks! Implying that I am already done with 50% of my MBA! Time really flies at b-schools! </div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com2HEC Paris, 78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France48.7577502 2.166857199999981323.235715699999997 -39.141736800000018 74.2797847 43.475451199999981tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-63527789044215222332015-02-13T21:18:00.000+01:002021-03-16T21:41:46.956+01:00Is it a bird, or a man! Wait, it is a Birdman! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The second term at <a href="http://blog.abhishekkhanna.in/2014/10/time-flies.html" target="_blank">HEC MBA</a> is comparatively more hectic than the first one. Not only, we have an additional course, but the number of readings and assignments have grown at an exponential rate. That pretty much explains my absence from the blog for so long. Nevertheless, we have a mid-term break of one week, which based on your preference can be used for treks, networking or touring around the globe. While most of my classmates have flown out of France for one or more of the aforementioned reasons, I am sitting in my nearly-deserted hostel, waiting for an embassy to process my visa. </div>
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I have decided to utilize this opportunity to cover some of the most recommended movies, basis vox populi, on my to-watch list. During the past 48 hours, I have covered <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RY85CQI?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393185&creativeASIN=B00RY85CQI&linkCode=shr&tag=delhidecom-20&linkId=XJJ2DUMLG7XQADS4&qid=1423855760&sr=8-2&keywords=imitation+game" target="_blank">Imitation Game</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RGZ94SG?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393185&creativeASIN=B00RGZ94SG&linkCode=shr&tag=delhidecom-20&linkId=BYHGYHIYSYJD5GMB&qid=1423855988&sr=8-2&keywords=american+sniper" target="_blank">American Sniper</a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RO49JEI?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393185&creativeASIN=B00RO49JEI&linkCode=shr&tag=delhidecom-20&linkId=HBCWZXLID43PR3SC&qid=1423856015&sr=8-2&keywords=birdman" target="_blank">Birdman</a>. While the first two are really good, Birdman belongs to an entirely different genre and amused me much more than the first two. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a dark comedy, about an erstwhile actor famous for his superhero role (as Birdman) struggling to make a place in a world of viral videos, Twitter and an audience with the attention span of a goldfish. </div>
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While Keaton, tries to gain back his fan base, prestige and fame through one last shot at making it big by acting in and directing a play adapted from a Raymond Carver love story, the Birdman (a blast from his past) becomes his shoulder critic, mocking and invigorating him, in the most vulnerable moments of his life. There are, essentially, two worlds in the movie - first, when Keaton is with Birdman, and the second, when Keaton is with everyone else. In the Birdman world, Keaton has the powers of levitation, telekinesis, and unassisted flying! </div>
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And the best part was the movie, except for the last 10-minute shot, appears to have been shot in a single take! I must give credit to the cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, famous for his work in Gravity, for the whole movie looks like a single shot. The camera chases the actors on the stage of the Broadway theater and the green rooms and hallways attached to the theater. It also follows Edward Norton and Michael Keaton around the New York town in pubs and streets. </div>
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Birdman ends on a mystical note. It ends at a point where the two realities of Keaton's life somewhat fuse together, and makes you wonder "What the hell just happened?" I actually spent an hour reading varied interpretations and possible endings based on the last 5 seconds of the movie, where Emma Stone is shown looking out of the window, and giving a metaphorical smile! </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Pic courtesy: www.liveforfilms.com</span></div>
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Birdman is not a typical drama. It is meant to get extreme positive or negative reactions - you can not watch the movie and have no opinion on it. From my side, it is a highly recommended movie! </div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com1H.E.C. Entrepreneurs, 78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France48.7577502 2.1668571999999813-3.4665293000000048 -80.450330300000019 90 84.784044699999981tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-85908745523002610792014-12-31T20:56:00.001+01:002014-12-31T20:56:28.493+01:00The year that was: 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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On the last day of 2014, as I sit down and dwell on the year that rushed by only two words come to my mind - changes and experiences. But before we come to that, let me quote some very interesting lines from one of the movies in my must-watch list - Good Will Hunting.</div>
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So if I asked you about art, you'd probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life's work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I'll bet you can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You've never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that. ... And I'd ask you about war, you'd probably throw Shakespeare at me, right, "once more unto the breach dear friends." But you've never been near one. You've never held your best friend's head in your lap, watch him gasp his last breath looking to you for help. (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119217/quotes" target="_blank">source</a>)</blockquote>
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2014 for me was the year when I focused on gaining experiences through travel and interactions with people from very different backgrounds to augment the academic and professional knowledge. The year started with the amazing news of acceptance of my candidature at <a href="http://blog.abhishekkhanna.in/2014/07/hello-world.html" target="_blank">HEC </a>and it has been a roller coaster ever <a href="http://blog.abhishekkhanna.in/2014/10/time-flies.html" target="_blank">since</a>.</div>
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I consider myself lucky to have got the opportunities to travel across India and Europe during the year. During the first half of the year, I went on several trips across India, covering Hyderabad, Jaipur, Nainital, Manali and Rohtang Pass, among others. Those who know about my love of driving, would have easily guessed that most of these were road trips.</div>
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September came, and the big relocation to Paris happened. Its actually to Jouy-en-Josas, a town about an hour away from Paris, where my college is located. The next three months were filled with weekend trips to Paris, where most of the exploration of this beautiful city was done by walking through the streets filled with majestic dernier-millennium architecture. December 20 was the big day when the wife arrived in Paris. Over the next 10 days, we hired a car and drove over 3,500 km in France covering Paris -- Champagné -- Bordeaux -- Avignon Provence -- Nice -- Grasse -- Cannes -- Nice -- Paris circuit. I must say everyone should once in the lifetime do this road-trip for the views, roads, amazing driving etiquette and the small towns on the way. Though, please be warned that the toll charges will burn a big hole in your pocket! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj76HU4HddXwegnJs72_5CPuAp6FfPYOVEzSO1U3Qfc8ZY2CbCwXJiO8BKohBg1S20ci1Eidxj3tBtIKD1eK6f3eRfOSIVlk3fxGe48qEuRHsif5Uauc8dNp72fp1YFpUKsxogeM4CyRs/s1600/2014_road_ahead_2015.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj76HU4HddXwegnJs72_5CPuAp6FfPYOVEzSO1U3Qfc8ZY2CbCwXJiO8BKohBg1S20ci1Eidxj3tBtIKD1eK6f3eRfOSIVlk3fxGe48qEuRHsif5Uauc8dNp72fp1YFpUKsxogeM4CyRs/s1600/2014_road_ahead_2015.jpg" height="428" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Photo credit https://unsplash.com/bec_brown</span></div>
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Last but not the least, last four months of 2014 have been really amazing courtesy the stunning bunch of people in my intake at HEC. Have a look at some of them in this video on Youtube (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nATTz6vrfM4" target="_blank">link</a>). Only after coming to an international B-school you realize the importance of mingling with people from backgrounds so different that you would not have come across in your existing professional life. </div>
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All-in-all I am happy to say that I am very content with the year 2014. Having said that, I have started jotting down to-do lists for the first quarter of 2015 - as they say an MBA student's calendar is never empty! I have a feeling that it is going to be a very busy quarter, and an year by extension. Even though, I am not a big fan of new year resolutions, but I have decided to put my health on top priority for the next year. Eventually, there comes a time in life when you realize the weight of truth held in the cliched proverb 'health is wealth'. </div>
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<i><b>I raise my glass to the amazing year that went by, and to health and happiness of everyone that is reading this blog. Cheers! </b></i></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com2Eiffel Tower, Champ de Mars, 5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007 Paris, France48.858370099999988 2.294481300000029523.336335599999988 -39.01411269999997 74.380404599999991 43.603075300000029tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-1964068837459245092014-10-03T11:24:00.000+02:002021-03-16T21:41:39.654+01:00Time flies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Yes, it does, and that too at the speed of light!</div>
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As I sat down with my laptop, in the solace of my cozy hostel room, my eyes glanced at the bottom right of the screen - 3rd October 2014, it said! It has been one full month since that teary farewell, since those anxious moments, since the last time I hugged my family and departed from the Delhi airport to begin the next phase of my professional journey at HEC. </div>
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I must say, what a journey it has been!</div>
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The first two weeks at HEC are more or less aimed at warming up the students for the 16 month journey ahead. Math camp, improv classes, ice-breaking sessions, presentation skills and Negosim help you brush up the concepts learned over the years, while helping you make new acquaintances and friends in a short period of time.</div>
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Negosim, a three day business simulation game, wins hands-down as my favorite session so far! Even a 5,000 word essay would not be sufficient to express the fun we had, while learning international trade/business concepts, during those three days!</div>
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Thereafter, fun gave way to the core subjects that we are studying during the first phase of our MBA. Statistics and business analytics; financial accounting and management; financial markets, managerial economics and marketing have filled our days, and sometimes nights as well! Plus, there are french classes too! And then how can you stay indoors during weekends when you live so near to the Eiffel! Well, not so near, its about 1.5 hours from my campus.</div>
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I guess Robert Frost was doing his MBA when he wrote the most epic lines ever written "the woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep." Someday, and the day might never come, I will switch off my alarm, and sleep for 8 hours at a stretch! Hey, I am not complaining! Tight schedules, measured breaks, running to keep yourself abreast with the flying time - it all reminds me of the amazing 2007-10 era, when I first stepped into the corporate world! </div>
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I can not help myself, but to quote C&H while signing off, "It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy... Let's go exploring!" </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBZJb0YqtR8JeHQQPEuWBoi5bxXkUsO5_Kbwk0ZTMHZLxCwXjjfmkDFVwGHdjdYRRX7F8Ja4YF1oC4zTI-Nh3gLkpnwyoYf3E0VOZ7qfy1E3lLOqDRubTokRDez-MoFIsrjAR5r52mOqI/s1600/explore_the_world.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBZJb0YqtR8JeHQQPEuWBoi5bxXkUsO5_Kbwk0ZTMHZLxCwXjjfmkDFVwGHdjdYRRX7F8Ja4YF1oC4zTI-Nh3gLkpnwyoYf3E0VOZ7qfy1E3lLOqDRubTokRDez-MoFIsrjAR5r52mOqI/s1600/explore_the_world.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Pic credit: https://500px.com/toddquackenbush</span></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com2HEC Paris, 1 Rue de la Libération, 78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France48.757887 2.169416299999966248.747418999999994 2.1492462999999664 48.768355 2.189586299999966tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4752714503045567148.post-51412224937676593062014-07-18T14:25:00.000+02:002014-12-30T11:25:59.062+01:00Hello World!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hello, Bonjour, नमस्कार, <span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">ਸਤਿ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">నమస్కారం !</span><br />
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That pretty much summed up greetings in all the languages being spoken around me on any given day!<br />
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Let me start this website with a little introductory post about myself. As you can notice from the masthead, my name is Abhishek Khanna, and I welcome you on my website. This is technically neither my first blog or blog post as I have written on several blogs and websites in the past, with my personal blog getting most of the attention and love over the past decade. </div>
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Over the past few years i have had an itch to start a professional website/blog of my own, where i can present my point of view and analysis on the topics of my interest and expertise. However, paucity of time and professional contractual terms have held me back from doing the same. But that is about to change, as I progress towards the next phase of my life as an MBA participant at the prestigious HEC Paris! With that, I will finally have conducive circumstances to go ahead and get started with my own website! And for getting a domain name for one of the most common names in India, I call myself downright lucky!</div>
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I am in the process of setting up the template, post categories, menu buttons et al for this website. I believe I will start getting regular with the content part by mid-August. Yes, that is when I take a sabbatical from the corporate world after continuously working for 7 years and 1 month! Come to think of it, that is indeed a very long time, with no break exceeding 4-5 days!<br />
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Anyways, a new beginning to a joyous future ahead! Do let me know if you have any comments or suggestions for this website! </div>
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<a href="http://eepurl.com/YAWHD" target="_blank">Please click here to get email alerts for new posts on this blog!</a></div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09493145577793249262noreply@blogger.com1