Business World Vs Business Today

Business Today (BT) is anyday better in terms of looks, paper quality etc. But when it comes to content I believe Business World (BW) beats Business Today hands down. (My short stint at BW is not coloring my views – infact they never published my article and that may have prompted me to talk negative about them).

What BT does is that it provides news, while BW provides views and really good views. Regular column writers of BW are just unmatchable – Niranjan when it comes to economics (Swamminomics in TOI is an equal competitor), Ashok Desai when it comes to government policy, Mahesh Bagchi for management & leadership in corporate world, Mala for Technology and my favorite Mahesh Murthy for Entrepreneurship & Vision. BT doesn’t have even a single column writer who can match any one of them. What they end up doing is - hire some market research organization –data collection – number crunching – and lo the product is ready…Top ten banks, top ten companies, Top ten recruiters, Top ten B School, Top ten software company. …Come-on BT this is not journalism –its like selling soaps. And because this sells the disease is spreading to BW and others too.
Decide what you want to be – Ekta Kapoor & her soap operas or CNBC/ Discovery of the world.

My failures and how I feel about them now

Was just recollecting moments when I have reached very close to my target and then didn’t quite made it. Things I have worked hard for…meant a lot to me that time… and now what I feel about them

Getting into SRCC

Would have looked good on my CV….but KMC is something that made me…the initial adverse situations…hostel…ragging…politics…I don’t think I should have missed that learning….and man I relish every moment I spent there….and I have enough big names on my CV now …

Getting into IIM A

Well IIM I was the best thing that happened to me…I think I was very lucky to get into IIM I. And man I tasted my first 100% success there…I mag…I managed to do it as I have dreamt it….will exchange nothing for that one moment…Thanks God for I and not A. And few might agree the kind of people I made friends with at I, I am sure were not there even at A. Just watch out for our batch…It will make IIM I proud.

Getting into Jamnagar refinery

Well this is the funniest of all. I was told that my mother had wished that if my father clears his CA exam they would visit Tirupati mandir. So I also promised myself before my CA exam – If I get through I will go to Jamnagar refinery of Reliance (“modern temple of India”)
I stuck to my promise when I got through….within a week of clearing the CA exams I was off to Jamnagar…around 3000 kms from my place. Only to be turned away from the gates…still dream of getting inside…it still inspires me….its about to become even grander will planned doubling of capacity…will visit the temple soon…very soon…

Publishing my article in Business World

Man I had never been so close to my dream like that moment…I was almost there…I believed that one article of mine can open all doors for me in future…I would be able to prove my potential…I has a feeling that I have arrived….and then it came crashing down…the call from Reliance to my boss at BW…the project shelved…I admit I wept that day…I had worked very hard for that and had put my career at risk for that…I almost made it …but not quite…

But it gave me the fire – the drive to dream of I mag. And as they say failure is the stepping-stone to success…The I mag, which I am very proud of today, is the result of my BW failure …God give me such failures again and again!! During my SP Jain interview I defined success as “opportunity to dream bigger than the previous day”. At BW I was fighting to get one article published…and that failure made me conceptualize a mag…was that a failure??

Job at Reliance

This has been real hard nut to crack. After CA results, I made atleast 50 applications for job at Reliance. Visited atleast 12 Reliance offices in different cities and didn’t even managed to get an interview call from them. Went to the extent off getting into Reliance’s ‘walk-in interview’ meant for engineers, disguising myself as engineer…still didn’t managed a interview call. I think time has come to apply again…….Reliance here I come.

Moral of the story – “Aim for the Sun – You will reach the stars atleast” (in geography classes I have been told Stars are further away from Sun…unlike what was believed by people who wrote this phrase)