Pak: Emergency Rule

All the news channels flashed that emergency rule/martial rule was imposed in Pakistan yesterday. For a moment, I couldn't help thinking whats going on in our neighbourhood and what's likely to be the immediate impact of martial rule on the country's economy. But then, just then, a sense of security engulfed me. Afterall, everyone in India has this impression (largely media creation) that all terrorist activities in India are Pak state sponsored and to an extent, the emergency rule may just help curb some of these activities in my home country for some time. I wish good for Pak and its people.

On the same topic, the headline today is 'Imran Khan escapes arrest, flees home in Pak'. Khan has his own small political party but what took my attention was the fact that he studies in Oxford as well. He was here between 1972-1975. I just searched a blog that details about all his experience. No doubt, he was a great cricketer in his time, but to be studying in Oxford and then becoming a legend in sport is a double achievement. Here, you can read more about some of his experiences in Oxford.

http://www.oxfordstudent.com/tt1999wk5/news/the_interview:_anything_he_khan

Taking a step back, I realize that this is my first posting on the blog for almost two months. Its not that I have been busy; on the contrary, I have been relatively free during this time barring a week in-between when the Capstone (final one week assignment at the business school) was running. The course ended on 14th September with a MBA farewell reception hosted by the school. It was a gala evening (Black Tie Dinner - just that i didn't have a black tie!). People drank a lot and they had good reasons for it - They drank because they wanted to get drunk.

I spent the next three weeks at home with mom n dad. It was so good to have a lot of time back home and do things which I had missed for the last whole one year - like having paranthas n lassi in the breakfast, talking to dad about so many things, riding in our very own dhanno and just being in chandigarh gives me that feeling which is difficult to describe. But like all good things, my stay at Chandigarh came to an end - I felt I should have had more time a home.

Things have settled down quickly in London, though. I joined Oliver Wyman on 15th October. It has been a steady going till now. As my advisor suggested, I have been focusing on keeping the basics right - not really trying to do anything very smart - just going on with the flow. The first project is kindda OK... not really great but its giving me valuable time to settle down and learn some tricks before taking on increased roles. Weekend's been busy - managing the move and getting stuff in the new place. Below are some pics - enjoy!

Punting in Oxford

This is a very famous sport in Oxford and Cambridge. Before coming to Oxford, I had read in one of the last year student's blog that your Oxford experience will not be complete if you leave without punting.

So, here we were - myself, Andres, Perla and Sunil - trying to master the art of punting. It looked very easy from outside but, to be honest, those 80 minutes were a lot of hardwork for all us. Below, some shots!

25 Gresham Street: 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM

The venue for the final SCP presentation - this is Lloyds head quarters. We reached London in the morning at 9:15 AM to meet Paul and Yuvraj (from the Lloyds team) and headed off to Building 25 which was just a few minutes away. I had slept off during the entire one hour ride on the train or atleast my eyes were closed and I was not thinking about the presentation. I could hear Angel, Cesar and Fernando doing some last minute discussion on the train.

In the presentation room, we were joined by Paul senior and a few members from the Lloyds strategy team. After a bit of a chit-chat, we began with our presentation. What followed was a long - long session where amongst four of us, we shared the insights we had gathered over the last two months. There were some questions from the audience in between, which I welcomed as they broke the monologue from our team. But to be fair on the audience, it is difficult to understand all the concepts on 'carbon markets' in just one session. Hell, we spent the first three weeks on this study just to understand the basics of it all.

The presentation lasted for around 2.5 hours. I was glad that it finally ended as 2.5 hours is definitely long for anybody sitting in the audience. But after attending three hour long sessions regularly at the business school, it felt nice to be on the other side of the table and see part of the audience struggling to concentrate (read, struggling to wake up :)). At the end, the effort was appreciated by all. Both the Pauls thanked the team for a fantastic effort and mentioned that this was much above the expectations they had. Paul Wylie commented that he was very happy with the interim presentation and never expected that we guys would be able to do so much stuff after the interim - and all this has made him even more happier.

It was good to know that Lloyds liked our work. And, we do feel that this will help Lloyds in one way or the other to shape up their future strategy related to the carbon market. After breaking out of the meeting, the Lloyds team hosted a lunch for all of us. We went to a great Indian restaurant. My Spanish friends relished every bit of it. And, for me, there couldn't have been a better place for a full course meal. Over the lunch, we had a chat on various random issues - it was all such a great atmosphere; these guys are really good.

The journey back to Oxford was tiring. We all had hardly slept for long hours for some days. After I reached home, I helped myself to a long nap. The morning after was much relaxed.

Golf - The New Sport

Hours ago, I took my first golf lessons. Awesome, it was!

Angel and I went to the Oxford Golf Driving Range. 5 minutes from the school. We had planned to visit it today just to enquire about the timings/prices. Luckily, we found it wasn't very costly. Get 50 balls and rent a club for 5 pounds. Costly but manageable - atleast, this added another 'First' in my Oxford experience.

I think, for a beginner, I did pretty well. After learning the basics from Angel, I was getting into a better swing with every shot. I counted and hit 10 balls very well - that's a good 20% hit rate. Pat on my back! Good job. I now know that swing is the most important aspect of the game. If you want to hit the ball long, the swing has to be perfect. Lots to learn, but I will improve. Now that I have broken the first-timer hang-up, I can visit the driving range on my own and work on my game. Once every week for sure. Stragely enough, I am coming to an end with my stay at Oxford and I am having some of my best days here. As they say, its never too late!

Day before yesterday, we made the interim presentation to the Lloyds team. We had done good work and they recognized it. I believe, as a team, we are doing very well. We complement each other's strengths well and that makes a lot of difference. One of the guys from Lloyds also mentioned that we seem to be very close to the final output. That was encouraging. More so, from our point of view, we wanted to be sure if our work is going to help Lloyds in some way or not. It appears that this piece of strategy work is going to go a long way in Lloyds' immediate business plans. Here, I paste one of the pics after the presentation (L-R: Cesar, me, Angel, Fernando).

Meeting Room 16

One white board, Three markers (1 each of Red, Blue, Green), Two flatscreen desktops, One Table, Eight Chairs.

This is where I have been spending most of my days off late. Not that we have been working hard on the project. But, its also true that I have not really done much of the random stuff. Life's been a bit monotonous these days - Wake up in the morning, get ready, eat breakfast, come to Meeting Room 16, thrash ideas, a lunch break in-between, conference calls with industry experts across the world (i feel i will be expert after this project gets over as well, really not many people who know about this business as of now), go back home in the evening, watch movies/tv serials, sleep. A bit of guitar in-betweeen and some tennis, squash on a few days.

Something's not fair. Here's why:
1. 4 MBA students (almost full graduates) working for 5 days a week for 2 months: Total Money Earned - GBP 8000 @ GBP 1000 per person per month
2. 4 MBA Full Time Salaries working for 5 days a week for 2 months: Total Money Earned - GBP 36000 @ GBP 4500 per person per month

GBP 28000 is a huge difference. This is a cheap way of getting things done. People say that you should utilise this opportunity to put into practice business principles that we have learnt over the last one year. But then, if its just another learning opportunity, why are we expected to come up with recommendations which can be implemented straight away. And why does the project contract mention the following,

"The Consultants undertake to complete a Project and prepare findings for Lloyds TSB Bank on the manner in which Lloyds TSB should enter the carbon emissions market and launch a carbon emissions trading business, which shall include, but not be limited to, researching, listing and analysing potential opportunities in the market. The results of the Project shall be presented to the Company in the form of a business plan. Upon completion of the Engagement, the Company may in its sole discretion agree to pay to the Consultants a fee of an amount to be determined by the Company."

I don't really like the last part of the above script. That really means that we are not even sure if we will all get our supposed GBP 2000 - Another cheap trick to get the work done. The Business Projects Office should increase the minimum stipend for the students - after all, it is almost the time for all of us to take life into the fast lane.

But, on the brighter side, the project is really interesting and making us learn lot of things about the Carbon Market which is definitely going to be the focus of attention over the next 5-10 years.

Meeting Room 16 is likely to see the same faces for the next three weeks (including the weekends, maybe). We've got our interim presentation two days later - That should separate Milk from the Water :)) Ok, what I meant was dhoodh ka dhoodh aur paani ka paani hona! Is there a better way to translate that in English?

Lloyds - Project Update

Our team just had a meeting with our project supervisor at the school. It is a funny and strange thing to understand why do we need a project supervisor for the summer consulting assignment. I believe its like all other things wherein you need a person at the top to resolve any issues that may arise. As Han (our project supervisor) made it clear in the first meeting, he will be here to oversee that all the team members work towards the project and none is a free rider. Given that the first meeting was just a 5 min session, I expected not much out of today's meeting as well. After we presented him the roadmap for the next two weeks, he appeared quite interested and started asking more questions about our work and research. The meeting was useful as he motivated us further stating that this project has all the ingredients to be selected as the 'Best SCP' this year and for those who do not know, this is a coveted recognition as this is our chance to work on a real-life business issue. End implication - Extended hours in the library and more team meetings in the next six weeks.

We also had the first full team meeting with Lloyds as we traveled to London this week. The meeting was successful as we presented our findings till date and chalked out the plans for the next couple of weeks. The good (or the bad) thing about 'Carbon Trading' is that there is a lot of interest (also read speculation) shown by all stakeholders and this has been touted as the next BIG thing. But, to be honest, once you go through all the published material and you realize that the industry needs more structure and regulations to move further, you feel that everything is like a shot in the dark. And why not, no body perceived that the carbon credit prices in Phase 1 of the EU Trading Scheme will fall from EUR 25 to EUR 0.50... If nothing else, people have started speculating a bit more. Mark my words - CARBON BUBBLE is not far away.

But, all in all, we believe that we have had a good beginning for this project. The next two weeks are going to be crucial as we dig deeper in our research and then start the process of narrowing down to one single business opportunity for Lloyds. Writing a B-plan will definitely be a difficult exercise but we all are looking forward to it.

Life's not just work these days, if you've got this impression after reading the above text. I recently purchased a guitar - local brand but good sound. Here are the pic - black always looks majestic to me.

I am beginning to get my touch back after learning a few new songs.. and this surely has added another dimension to my life these days. Of late, I have also been watching lot of movies - Bourne Identity, Shooter, Anti Trust, Silver Surfer... to name a few. Life's good!

Oxford Bhraman!

Feels like its so easy these days to be in Oxford. How much difference one change (read not being unemployed) can make to your life. I remember the last few months when I was always under pressure to get a job, any damn job. And now, it feels like a better and a totally different world altogether. I still have to do the Lloyds project but its OK.. don't really care much about that now.

Last Friday was Open Day for most colleges and people were allowed inside the college premises to look around. Myself, Ruchir, Saurabh and Vikar went around college hopping and clicked some memorable shots. I guess my Oxford holiday has just begun and will continue for the next two months - long holiday, I know. I plan to move around the town a bit and visit the surrounding locales as well. This Saturday will be a barbecue at Fernando's place and then on Sunday a club cricket match - lots of fun.

Below some pics of the Oxford Bhraman! Changed the colors to black and white to give it a more vintage look.

Clicked from University Church of St. Mary. At the backdrop is 'All Souls College'. This college was founded in 1438 and only about two guys are elected to fellowships each year. Fellowship of All Souls is regarded as the highest academic honours in the UK. Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Amartya Sen have been fellows of All Souls. Fabulous achievement!

At Magdalen College. Founded in 1448, one of the most spread out colleges amidst woodlands, riverside walks and lawns; the college also has the most hautingly beautiful buildings of Oxford

Built in 1749 to house the Radcliffe Science Library, the Radcliffe Camera (camera is another word for 'room') is now a reading room for the Bodleian Library. The distinctive circular dome and drum of the structure makes it one of the most recognizable and often-photographed building in Oxford. This building is not open to the public (its open to university students). The inside of the building is spectacular with brilliant art work. Will post some pics soon:)

Turf Tavern. The Turf is "probably Oxford's oldest pub". Its foundations date from at least the thirteenth century. The current timbered front part is seventeenth century. The Turf was renamed the Turf Tavern in 1805. The pub has been frequented by such likes of Bill Clinton.

One of the smaller lanes around Turf Tavern

Oxford High Street