There is a little bit of Economy in all of us (Part 2)

(Continued from Part 1)
...And thus started the Economic Cycles as we now know it.

The elements were there. Taxes, Money and its supply controlled by the government. Products and Services becoming more and more complex as individuals became more and more interested in showing off their wealth; Art, Servants, Architecture, Fashion, Land, Timepieces and a whole host of things unrelated to living life came into play. Wants became more important than Needs. At this point, Premium pricing was natural. After all, how can you price something which people didn't really need? And it was socially "ok" to still want it even with people demanding unreasonable prices. Using Debt you could acquire something that was beyond your normal means and pay for it later. Debt was no longer used to address basic needs. It was used to address wants and gambling on investments (wanting more money).

Greed grew. Greed flourished. Greed trapped humans into a cycle of wanting and guilty pay back. In some, greed drove them to search for more riches to be made theirs. The Spanish set sail exploring crying "for God, Glory and Gold!
GOD: I've purposely omitted this can of worms from this commentary. It would have come into play back when I said the first Services industries appeared. Shamans being able to 'understand' the mysteries of life and educate the olden Warriors.
GLORY: Humans would have heard about the heroes who were kings. Heroes who were brave in the early economic wars. Rich people who lived their life in luxuries. They would want that for themselves as well. Their name to be in history (and there were still many places to be explored in the world then anyway)
GOLD: Need I say more? Sigh...

They colonised lands. Taking local wealth back to their kingdoms in triumph, as what their patrons expected. They then sent labourers and convicts to the new world as pioneers to establish the rules and lifestyles from the conquering countries. As if that wasn't bad enough, a worse phenomenon was that expanding businesses in home countries sent products to the new lands to be sold. They didn't care about the need / want / relevance of the product they sent. What businesses knew is that there is a market and products must be mass produced and sold. Increasing production, and thus profits. Managers were encouraged; given huge bonuses. So, managers rinsed and repeated this ad nauseum. They had to. It was the only way Investors (ie: People who were earlier patrons with lots of money, who wanted more money, and would have fired any management who failed to deliver) could be appeased.
The process repeated until all markets got saturated. Nobody wanted to buy and everybody saved money instead. No amount of pestering convinced people to buy because they had whatever they needed & wanted. Yup, ladies and gentlemen!! Supply had FINALLY caught up with Demand and there was excess supply, with factories still mass producing. At that point, production lines came screeching to a halt. Warehouses were bursting at the seams. Consumers switched to cheaper alternatives. Marketing budgets swelled to hide poor forecasting calculations. Wages were cut, even though workers were being paid overtime just days earlier. Eventually many experienced loss of jobs. Leading to further decrease in consumer Expenditure, and a vicious cycle ensued where at the end, the economy contracted.

In finance terms, a particular country's economy is said to be in recession if contraction happens for 2 quarters consecutively. 6 months. In my definition, I think the recession starts the moment EVERYONE is making insane profits. This means consumers across the board are hoarding; which then leads to the fact that VERY SOON they are going to stop buying. This is where companies still make mistakes. While they have very aggresive ramp-up strategies; No one thinks about phase-down strategies. Everyone says the other guy is going to bite the dust and I am going to take his share so I have to STILL ramp-up in a slump time. Besides, that's the only way I can keep the profits from last quarter going strong. Greed.

But, a phase down across the board is what is needed at that point. A PRODUCTION phase down. A sales TARGET phase down. A marketing BUDGET phase down. A managerial KPI phase down. And yes as counter intuitive as it sounds, a WAGE phase down across the board. Think about it, how can a company go into survival mode in a slump time if the people want to be paid as they were being paid in the boom time? Can you imagine a ship crew experiencing storm in the middle of the sea eating their rations at the same rate? The other alternative is of course to lay-off workers. But, this is a very irresponsible way for businesses to deal with the crisis. "For a few to continue eating as much as they did before the storm, we'd like the others to walk the plank into the middle of stormy seas" ?
At the least, they should get to a port and drop the excess crew off. A responsible way of retrenching staff. Leave them in a safe place where it's more feasible to look for a job. This is where Government I feel can actually help by having a rotation of projects. When the economy is going into a slump, launching a flagship project where the Government hires workers to work on it would be a great boost. Money would go straight into the hands of needy citizens and there would be a demand for daily products that arise from their employed pockets. Companies can make it easier by actually helping their employees find jobs in batches, with the Govt.

Of course, those who feel they are not interested can always do their own thing. Sadly people would do their own thing because of the ultimate need of humans. To live and to be safe. To be cherished and remembered. To be ambitious and leave a mark. They would try their hand at entrepreneurship / freelancing to make lots of money. Again, this is a situation that can be avoided if people did not need to buy what they needed. The developed economies have got the right track in mind by having Social Security schemes. Citizens unable to work are paid Social Security money by the Governments. They just haven't went on to the next step. Instead of giving people money to lift their burden of buying, the people should in fact given those items they want to buy for FREE; thus releasing more and more people from the need and "trappings" of money. I am not talking about abolishing the concept of money. I am talking instead about humans having enough to live. Then, having money would purely be for pleasure and the pursuit of happyness (pun intended!). People would then look at money as the tool it really is. Economic cycles would not dictate our livelihoods.

As beautiful as it may sound, we are unable to move towards this Utopian idea, even in small phases, at least until 2 things take place...
(Continued in Part 3)

There is a little bit of Economy in all of us (Part 1)

Hey Guys,

At the dawn of time, Everybody had needs to be met to live (Demands). Everybody could contribute to get what was needed (Supply).

In the olden times, there was this barbaric act of just abandoning or killing lame / disabled babies. That was a way of getting rid of unwanted strains on the System. There will not be a Demand which is more than the Supply that it can give. In fact, a lame baby would not have been able to defend itself and thus create the situation where others in the tribe were endangered, while trying to protect it as well.
Eventually, love and compassion stayed the hand of some and these lame children grew knowing full well that they were not able to hunt/gather/carry as much as the others. They had time to apply their brains, observe, analyse and come up with better ways of contributing. They would always have had strong opposition from the Warriors who were physically contributing to the tribe. But, eventually by becoming shamans and medicine men and toolmakers, these drain on resources were suddenly suppliers for a different set of needs. Previously unexplored, and non-essential to life sustainment (Wants). Thus, the Services industry was born.

This could have been the first instance of a serious physical Demand-Supply gap in the System. The gap would have existed earlier when not all people got the food they needed in the earlier System. That would have drove them to their first fight for food, water and land (hunting grounds); the first economic wars for limited resources. Once both sides realised that it was mutually harming chances of survival, either one would have given way or both would have decided for a mutual cease-fire. Either ways, the first barter Trade would have happened at this point with a little bit of early Diplomacy / Alliances thrown in.
This developing serious gap though could not be solved with just fighting and winning. It also required more than trade, especially in a large locality where they were in total power, with no others to grab from. This scenario along with developing methods of farming would have set off the first Agrarian economies. People realised that they could get more done if each other found his own type of specialty farming and then traded with others his excesses. internal trade flourished within communities. Of course, when you Specialise you get more of a better product and markets were there to facilitate trade.

The first Markets would have sprung very soon after the first barter trades happened. Trading posts which eventually became centres for their empires or smaller points in between empires that served as Consolidation Points of that particular area's specialty merchandise. This is where true Marketing would have started as pricing, positioning, product and with manual promotions.
To control everything, the inherent power structure from the tribal era would have evolved to support Monarchy systems. This system along with the people who support the monarchy would have formed the first Governments. An important part of Governments would have been the introduction of Taxes. People who lived in one area had to give something to the local monarch as a token. This also would have been a carry over from tribal days where the chief was given the "lion's share". A real example, Siam's (present day Thailand) holdings had to send them a "Bunga Mas" every year. Bunga = flower; Mas = gold. It literally was a symbolic little tree and flowers made of gold. Another meaning for Bunga = Interest (as in the interest paid on debt) presumably for living on the "borrowed land" of Siam.

This of course led to an interesting point in the development of economy as we know it. The discovery and manipulation of precious metals, Monarchies, inequalities inherent to barter trades, the need for tax collection in a form where lots of vegetables didn't go bad in the Royal coffers. All these would have led to the introduction of the Currency system. Money.
And so now we had Supply & Demand for Specialised Products & Services focused at the Markets. Exchanges were being done using Money and Monarchs were being paid Taxes by everyone in their domain. They needed someone to keep track of everything and Accountancy was born. The day that happened, every transaction done outside the "books" became the Black Market. Untaxable, untraceable yet physically money flowed from one to another for goods/services that never really "existed".

But, traders were more preoccupied with the money that was flowing in to their coffers. They could not run around and carrying all thier wealth in precious metal coins. They became the source of money that fed the black markets. Most of them found themselves in a pool of their own blood at the end of such transactions. Banks would have been formed at this point. Strongholds that kept everyone's valuables for a Fee. Eventually, seeing all those valuables in there just lying being unused would have led some clever banker to go on a "shopping spree"; Investments. Or it might have led him to think it would be ok to give money to someone who needs it and ask him to repay higher later (before the original owner came to reclaim it); Debt + Interest. The art of managing all this would have been Finance, as it is a different creature from only record keeping like accounting.

Now, there is a little philosophical bent to my story. I feel that as humans until that point in History we would have had our natural greed. Greed to survive. Greed to eat more. Greed to live in better conditions. Yet without focus, there was no strength in this human emotion to trap humans. Once Money was there. It was easy to see, to feel, to hear its 'jingle' during sleep. Anyone who had money had everything. Monarchs being the prime example and then the traders (proving the common man could have it too). The presence of a focus for greed amplified the emotion. Humans (who are great hunters!) became trapped in the hunt for money; only for money's sake. Children picked up the wrong message from their parents. Instead of hunting for enough food, enough land to live on and enough security; they were driven to hunt for money not really knowing the reason. Not really enjoying the fruits of the labour. For having money is pointless if you don't know what you want the money for, right?

And thus started the Economic Cycles as we now know it.
(Continued in Part 2)

The current economic situation

Hey guys,

Yeah, it might be a little bit too cliche to talk about the economy when all blogs could be talking about the very same topic. In fact, I feel there could be a lot of financial experts, and others blogging about this with a vengeance... They could take the stance of:-

the Naive: It's not that bad...there's just a minor correction and things will pick up... wha..* ..!~ Another flying shoe and this one doesn't miss. People realising they get only two-shots to "shoe-boo" their favourite politicians accurately, have started practicing.

the Know-it-all: It's just as I've been telling all this while. Nobody listened to me yesterday when I started saying it. Nobody is listening to me today. The economy is so bad now that it can only get worse. It may get better on a short term (<-this sentence embedded, to be a loophole if situations suddenly pick-up). But, I still maintain.... bla bla bla...

the Politically Correct: It is a tough in these turbulent times for the employment-challenged. We see equity-challenged companies going belly-up(..oh? ..wha? ..sorry...) I meant, forced to take legal recourse to protect their debtors from the inability of the management to grasp reality.

the Management: Please understand that the multi-million dollar bonus I got is in no way related to the way the economy is behaving at the moment. That is for my past performance, ensuring the company behaved as it should. We would definitely have not taken the bonuses if we did not earn it (...using your blood, sweat and tears. Oh, and I am going to fire you now)

the Employee: ....

And yeah, the employee most probably got it right.

The Year is 2009...

Hey guys,

How are you all there? Well, it has been a long time hasn't it? I realise that it has been actually a year this blog lay dormant.

So, to what do we owe my sudden interest and effort to blog. The Season's changed. Yay!~ Recently, I was sitting bored, when for the umpteenth time someone wanted to be "unsubscribed" from the ISB-PGP YahooGroup mailing list. Enough was enough. The people on this list are all GMAT 700+ scorers or at the least people aspiring to get into ISB. They should have got the hint (especially the guy who was kindly requesting for the 3rd time) that there are no active moderators or owners operating in that group anymore. It had evolved to have direction of its own. A purpose of its own, with people free to join and to leave by themselves anytime. No permissions needed.

I had this smug smile on my face while I excitedly jabbed away at the keyboard that evening. You see, it's pretty easy to get yourself unsubscribed. You have a link at the bottom of ALL the mails. Obviously, people nowadays don't seem to read the fine print anymore. Everybody wants in, but nobody finds out how to exit when they've had enough. It's the same everywhere. Casinos, relationships, crashing economies, the Mafia, ISB-PGP groups... everywhere. When they need to exit, they cry for help. They ask people they know, etc etc.

Anyways, I just typed my mind and I had more than a few comments lauding my post. In fact, they asked for (yep, you guessed it!) my Blog Address!! I have to say, I never thought that I would get rave reviews for giving people a piece of my mind. Lol!~

This then led me to promising my new fans a regular update and well, this time I intend to keep up and well, build my presence online. I might need to get the help of some bloggers for tips and comments as to how I can improve the blog overall. Please anybody with bright ideas, come into my mind and throw my switch on!~ =). (No, NOT that switch damn it!~ All you one-track minded bloggers). Topic/theme suggestions are welcome too.

Ciao for now!~
-Mathanaseelan-

Kashmir, India - Part 2

Hey guys,

I guess i left the cliffhanger 'hanging' for too long. Anyways, i did make it on time. To the WRONG terminal. I didn't know that unlike in other places where domestic is one side and international is another side, delhi airport's domestic itself terminal has 2 buildings. Different buildings for different carriers.

I kept saying domestic and at one point i think i much have mentioned another airline name. The auto driver dropped me at the wrong building. Thank god the buildings weren't too far apart. Went to the correct terminal. It took me about 20 mins walking to get to the terminal and then i had to walk around looking for the entrance.

Then i got to the correct terminal and i didn't really know what to do since i still had close to about 60-80 minutes. Bought some food. Got myself the local newspaper. Looked at the people rushing to catch their flights. All in all, just a jolly time. Of course, i did think at that point i wouldn't be bored out of my mind if only i had some dragged some friends along. But, well i also realised that i had some stuff to do in Kashmir and i wouldn't be able to justify that to a bunch of people rationally.



Was admiring Lord Nadaraja at the airport. After all, i was going to the foothills of the Himalayas which is His abode.

Flight time came. Got checked-in and ready to start my holiday in proper. :) I have to admit that i was very excited at this point. Adding to my excitment were the stewardesses of Kingfisher airlines. I realised that the women who were hired at Kingfisher Airlines to handle customers in-flight and as part of the ground crew were all beautiful. Surprising that no Women's Right activist took this up as an agenda to fight for gender equality



This is where things started getting bad. The captain made an announcement that the plane was headed to Kabul, Afghanistan. I honestly, didn't know how else to capture this moment. So I took the photo of the screen. Of course i had to wonder. Either the plane got hijacked, or i got on the wrong damn plane since the pilot seemed to be talking with a very calm voice.

As you can see, the plane is very close to Lahore by this point. Thank god, he didn't want to go to Lahore and drop me in the middle of a damn political crisis. At the very least i could have had some place willing to accept HSBC credit cards in Lahore, and bought tickets out. I couldn't see that happening in Kabul. Either way, I was headed towards a war zone. Kabul...Kabul...sigh...

Kashmir, India - Part 1

Hey Guys & Gals,

In the usual tradition, the cab had arrived and i was still packing. Completely unsure of how the weather was going to be when i arrived up there, i took some t-shirts as well as long-sleeved sweaters, a jacket, 3-pairs of jeans (God. Please bless the man who invented the Jeans).

Got on the cab, and he dropped me off fairly early at the train station. I had decided early on, the LAST thing i ever wanted to do was to buy and eat something at an Indian Railway Station stall. I didn't want to fall sick even before my trip started. Checked out the First Class Compartments and i have to say that they're quite impressive! :). 4 people in a compartment and about 3 compartments in a coach. If you can't picture compartments in a train, picture Hogwarts Express.

Anyway, the guy opposite me was a Lt. Col. in the Indian Army. He was going to Jaipur. After awhile i striked up a conversation with this man and i realised that he was a treasure trove of information about the North-West. He had served at Kargill and had visited Srinagar and Pehalgam. So, that's about the point at which i really started gathering information about Srinagar and the current situation there. :) Yup, you're right. Otherwise, I would have went up into a former warzone completely oblivious. Ignorance is bliss i guess. Anyway, the more i heard about the place, the more i was interested to go there at that point.

The train ride itself was about 24 hours. At night, i couldn't resist the temptation when we stopped at a station. I joined the other 2 guys in the compartment and had a bread that was fried with egg all around it. Something like the "Roti John" that we get in pasar malam except that it was using a slice of bread instead of the long bread. Besides it was ONLY eggs, and none of the other condiments. Yummy stuff, and then i took some "puri" as well. Came back into the train to find more food. I had ordered for dinner and it arrvied only AFTER close to 1.5 hours. Oh what the hell, i had that vegetarian food as well.

Somewhere at this point, we found out that some Gujarat people living on the outskirts of Delhi were dismantling the railway tracks leading into Delhi in protest to an accident involving a Blueline (the state run bus company) bus and a bus-stop FULL of people (must have been predominantly Gujarati). One of the guys got this sms from a relative living in Delhi watching the news at that moment. I looked at him quizzically(?) He admitted he didn't know the connection between a bus accident and the Indian Railways either.

Anyway, we had been chit-chatting a lot at that point and were tired. I had a surprisingly deep sleep in a moving, clanking, whistling mechanical machine. Got to Delhi on time and realised the affected tracks were the ones western of Delhi coming from Bombay and not the southern tracks from Hyderabad. (Thank GOD for that, or my whole plan would have changed). The 2 guys were nice. They got me onto an auto and sent me to the airport at the best possible price. (This price bit i noticed on my trip back, as to how much the autos in Delhi cost especially if they know you're a foreigner)

Well, thus ends the rambling of the first 24 hours of my trip to Kashmir. We have just arrived at Delhi and i am speeding in a Auto to the airport where my flight leaves in about 2 hours!!

Will i make it? =O???

The Dragon has passed away...

Hey guys,

Today got an offline message from Jeevan saying that, Robert Jordan has passed away. Of course, he knows I love Robert Jordan's books a lot and it has always been a long standing joke of his, that this day might come to pass. The passing of the author before the completion of the Epic...

Of course, I hate myself for wishing he passed away "at least" after he completed this book. Just check the Wikipedia entry under his name to see the 'projects' he intended to do after this mammoth task. Just the same, it's a great loss to the realm of fantasy adventure to see the passing of one almost as talented as JRR Tolkien himself.

I couldn't help it, I checked out the website where his blog is. Left a comment.

Comment No. 2175 at his cousin Wilson's post after he passed away.

To the family of Mr. Jim Rigney,

I came to know the Wheel of Time book only in 1998,

The first day I left my home country (Malaysia) and reached a new place (Australia), a new beginning in my life. I marked it with the purchase of a book; The Eye of the World. Since that day, I grew up alongside Rand, Perrin and Mat throughout my 18th year and onwards.

The words of Mr.Jim Rigney reached me and the advices and worldviews that he imparted, moulded me as much as my new environment did. Probably more, since I prefered to sit inside and read that series book by book. I eagerly awaited the next twist in the story, slowly escaping whenever things were hard here, and then came back refreshed. Such was the power in those books.

It was always a dream of mine to 'tip my hat' to the man who created this marvelous epic and thank him for the important role it played in my life when I grew up from being just a "farmboy" to a Man. And now I guess, it shall always stay a dream...

Thank you, Jim for everything. In your own words, "There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of time..." Farewell, Mr. Jim Rigney.

My deepest condolences to the Rigney family and everybody here that has felt that Mr. Jim Rigney was "family" too in their lives.

-Mathan-

I'm not burning any bridges

Hey guys,

Heard this phrase recently. Got me thinking. How many bridges have we burned? How many beautiful relationships and friendships that we had in the past, that now has turned stale. We promise each other that we would keep in touch. Yet, it never happens.

More often than Absence makes the Heart grow Fonder, it becomes a case of Out of Sight Out of Mind! Sometimes when we really sit down and think about the past. Whole chunks of memories with certain people just disappear from the mind. Almost as if the person did not touch out lives. Yet, after a certain period of time we suddenly (luckily!) realise that there is something missing in the interpretation of our memories. Looking back at photos, the truth comes crashing down that "I had forgotten that person and the good times that we had!'

This of course happens to people like me who are very used to meeting lots of people, and making friends with a lot of people. Sometimes I have wondered if what i was doing was wrong in any way. But the truth is just that I cannot control, the need I have in making friends!! I cannot control the fact that I want to know as many people as possible!! And perhaps the worst of all is the fact that I want everybody to be happy!!

Then all of a sudden, things would have to end and then, people would move out of our lives. This cycle repeats so many times that eventually we would have to somehow remember everybody or forget some poor unfortunate soul. Sigh!! A bridge would have to be burned!!

Just some random thought in my mind. In fact there is something else that is plaguing my mind. I am writing this particular post to release the tension inside. Lol!~ Well until next time folks!! I am so proud that this post was fully written using QWERTY!!

Take care people!!

Confusion - Resolved

Hi people,

The title says it all. Been here for 3 terms now. Confusion is setting in. I really don't know what i am.

Oh yeah, you read right. My thoughts have gone that deep. I have no longer any interests in trying to figure out what job I want to get into post-ISB.

See, To know what job i want to do in future needs a lot of thinking. I need to know my interests. I have to know my needs and wants clearly; extrapolated into the future with a little bit of Monte Calro Simulation to take into account the randomness of fate and luck.

I have to put together my core competencies that i have built in life, for the last 26 years. Now, at first glance it looks like i have been doing nothing, learning nothing. But that certainly is not RIGHT! I actually have done something extraordinary with my life. I have done many things that most people have not had the time or chance or money to do yet. I am proud of it, when i actually sit down and list down the number of things I have done.

What makes me unhappy is this problem with my memory. I forget things. I even forget things that I said I have learned and that I will make sure to remember, to never repeat my past mistakes. Problem is I forget and sooner than not I would be repeating the same mistakes. It happened again here at ISB. I just forgot who I am and why I came here during the last term. the way I approached the assignments and exams were pitiful. Nothing at all compared to the focus and composure I had during the first 2 terms. I just got carried away trying to deal with friendships, inter-study group relationships, inter-section relationships, etc.

I went back to Malaysia thankfully. Back there for a few days, seeing all my 'nakama' was a serious dose of reality. It reminded me of how much my family and friends love me. It reminded me that I am not alone. It reminded me that I did not have to worry about anything other than achieving something at ISB.

So, now i am back. Screwed one sem up a little bit. But, there are 5 more to go. I'll just have to find out what can be done in those. So, now back to the earlier point. My core competencies are what I need to learn about. The LDP sessions have been a great revealing experience. Now, I need to work on them. More importantly figure out what kind of job am I willing to FIGHT for!

Oh yeah, another few terms and the Placement season will come up. I know for sure, I want to be in an International placement. The resume building exercises are starting up. I need to know how to approach all these things to market myself as the best candidate for the position that they're offering even though my credentials aren't as flashy as the next guy.

But to fight for it at that level, I need to be clear of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats that I would be facing at each job. Could I handle them? Would I remain motivated and interested in the offers? Would they actually give me what I want in terms of salary and job scope?

There is also the current thoughts of moving into the media industry. I have been in one part of the logistics industry. Should I just stay in this industry or bring the knowledge to apply elsewhere? =)

Well, I know that I need to spend a little bit more time. But, in the meantime thank you guys!! All of you in Malaysia that helped me so much to become who I am today, where I am today!

Luv,
-Mathan-

A Flight to Adventure...

21 and a half hours to go....

I'll be stepping on a flight. Connecting at Madras and ultimately arriving at Hyderabad. I gotta say. I have a lot of unfinished business here in Malaysia. Sigh. Too many people to meet. Too many words left unsaid.

I am not who i was in 1999 when i left the country for the first time. I have grown since then. I have realised the sorrows around me and the hardships around me. Yet, I've also seen the love that surrounds my life protecting me, nurturing me; and i am excited to take this step in my life now.

I want that love to reach all others around me. I want to be able to GIVE. These were resolutions that I did not have the first time. The first time it was all for ME. =) I left a boy; and i returned a man.

This time it is for everybody that i partake in this Great Adventure. I leave a man, to return a LEADER.

The Divine Move in Mysterious Ways

Hey guys,

Tuesday, April 26, 2005. Now if you guys look back in my posts, at that date there was a post called "The Divine Move in Mysterious Ways".

I ended that post with these 2 lines (Plus whether or not she realised it, she actually gave me an outline of what i should be doing in the next 2 years. Interestingly, this was my question during my prayers!!~ "What path should i choose now?").

Well, i totally forgot about that post until i was revisiting some of my earlier writings yesterday. The advice that i got from that lady, i had been following and my path was quite well-defined in Westports for the last 2 years.

And then suddenly, the whole ISB saga began. I mean i didn't think about it beforehand. But, now I realise exactly 2 years from that post I am entering the next phase in my life. I have about 2 years work experience, and now I am doing my Post-Graduate in Management. And I guess, this is where i will be getting guidance how to conduct my life professionally and socially in future. =)

The Divine move in Mysterious Ways indeed !~ (and it took me 2 years to realise this..)

Have a nice day guys!

Strange Palms....

Hmnn... I wonder if anyone realises how I am feeling at the moment?

I guess I am feeling just like how another 400+ Great Individuals out there are feeling. Yet, I feel there is a spring to my step. A bounce when I crash on the bed....(err, bad example), a croak to my voice that comes from knowing that soon I am not gonna be in this country anymore.

I am gonna take a flight from Gate 13 and a half, and then have horseless carriages take me to Hog-....(err.. ISB?) where I would be spending the rest of my year cramming up on studies. There would be points when I am told how to cast magic effectively(marketing), how to keep track of what i cast(finances), how to make others cast spells for me(human resources), how to be a good spellcaster(ethics), how to cast faster and spend no energy to lift the damn sword out of the rock when Arthur isn't around.

I know currently I just feel tempted to use the One Ring. I know at many points in the coming year I would feel the temptation of using it. Knowing full well it is wrong to do so and that it would corrupt not only myself but also everyone around me into using their own One Rings. It lets us become invisible and draw away from the world around us. We say it is to gather our thoughts and keep our sanity, but who are we kidding? In loneliness shall madness creep ever faster to claim its prize; the mind.

If only I could find my Fellowship that supports and nurtures me and encourages me to cast away my One Ring. My mind shall be whole. It happened once when I was not looking during my undergraduate years. One blink and there was my Fellowship standing by me. =) No matter Muggles or Ents, everyone was in it to make the other shine his / her best!!~

Let it happen once again!~
-from the disjointed memoirs of Frodo Potter-

An Ancient Riddle...

The lone wanderer creeped stealthily in the catacombs. Alert. He took great pains to step on cobblestones with the thickest layers of dust. Everything about this man was sharp edged from the broadsword on his back, to the look in his eyes that glowed blue. A look that betrayed an ancient intelligence, incongruent with his youthful form.

"This ancient labyrinth is empty. Nothing is alive here anymore. The SunMen wiped themselves out aeons ago...."

These were among the last thoughts of some of the still rotting corpses at his feet. He knew. Having been so close to Death himself numerous times, he could sense their last thoughts. The horrific realisation.

He made his way to the central chamber. By no means where he wanted to go. The Point of Origins. Yet, he needed to deal with this Threat first. The central chamber with its ambient lighting and tall, wide pillars all around could provide him with the cover he needed to fight IT. Reaching, he realised how big the Central Chamber actually was. You could have placed a small city in it. It could have hosted a large army. It still did. He was finally at the site of Arthur's Folly.

The entire human army was dead. Curiously, their heads were all stones. Some had been smashed as the bodies fell. In some, you could still see the petrified visage as the bones had turned to dust over the last 500 years.

The wanderer turned to glimpse slightly to his left. He half noticed a crowned stone. Turning back to the middle of the Central Chamber suddenly, IT was already in front of him. No warning. No movement. No magical residue. IT asked straight into his mind....

"How far has come thee, wanderer? Perhaps a certain treasure is what you need? Perhaps my friendship you have come to seek? Any is possible, for an Answer. An Answer that I seek. One that was asked of me and I did not answer wrongly. None of your forefathers could Answer me as you can see. I hope the Aeons have given your race the wisdom to Answer me..."

The wanderer couldn't think of an escape. He knew now there was only one way. Answering. Yet, something seemed strange with this whole situation. Something in the words uttered by the SunMen's Final Creation. Yet it had already started reciting the Riddle.

"Each of my sons have twice as many sisters as they have brothers. Yet, each of my daughters have as many brothers as they have sisters. Tell me now, o' wise wanderer. How many sons and daughters do I have?"

The wanderer's mind raced at the possibilities. The contempt in ITS tone was unmistakable. ITS glowing red eyes made him focus totally on the riddle at hand. He could not think of anything else outside the riddle. He looked for tricks. He looked for loops in the riddle. In the end, he realised. He just had to Answer it. With a smile, he realised there is only ONE right answer. Finally, he could breathe...

"You can ask me ONE question. After you have Answered me. "

Again, straight into his mind. The wanderer realised things are getting better after all. He could almost catch a sense gloating from IT, quickly hidden..

Step 3: The Interview

Hey guys,

Well, the interview was short and sweet. This is what I would like to say. But, we know that is hardly the reality with Interviews especially when it concerns admissions to a particular gaining-in-popularity Post-Graduate Programme. =)

I go the e-mail asking me to make the call at so-and-so time. I did call right on the dot. Unfortunately, my dear house phone that has consistently served any type of calls suddenly decided to give trouble. I could not Intn'l Direct Dial out to India. Sigh.

So, I ended up calling in 10 minutes late. I apologised to Mr. Sanjay Singh and then continued on to the gruelling bits. In fact, I would say I did have a very easy session as compared to what the other guys have been writing up in the Yahoogroups. In fact, I was in such a daze after the interview that I really cannot remember the questions that were asked of me now.

Maybe it was tough, but I did not feel it due to my utter and complete confidence at my success level. I have been blessed by Dato' Seri Guruji. Nothing else would be able to withstand or negate the power of a SUN now can it? Blessed Souls are like that. Nothing negative would be able to withstand their intent.

Of course, I won't be able to forget the last question. "Why didn't you get your immediate superiors to write you a testimonial? They have the time and position to see your current leadership skills. Your previous professors aren't able to do that. Can you get us your superior's comments?" I stammered badly as I had not expected a question about my application. I apologised and I promised I'll get it to them the following Monday. The reply i got was, "Send it in and we will give our answer in 2 weeks."

Asked them back a few quesitons, emphasising on the scholarships...and after that hung up! =)

Step 3: completed....

Step 2: Submitting the Application

Hey guys,

Now this was done last minute as the truest of Mathan's traditions. Honest to say, I really cannot remember what the Hell i was doing during August. But, I know I wasted my time a lot and took the whole application exercise lightly since the submission was by 3rd of October for the first round of Intakes.

September came and 2 weeks went by. It was about then I started everything. I realised at about that point that I had a LOT more to do than I realised. I was running around frantically. (My hair caught fire.Lol!~) There were 2 documents that I needed to get other people to write and submit. I chose Dr. Alan and Dr. Sagathevan to be my references. Took sometime for them to get the stuff written down and passed back. Had to get some copies and some documents verified.

Of course, the online site was a little difficult to navigate especially in trying to submit my educational background. I don't think ISB has had any students from Malaysia, therefore I could only submit best approximations to what I have scored. Sigh!~ I just prayed that my application would not be rejected due to the admissions team misunderstanding me based on the approximated results.

During this time, I would say Mr. Sanjay Singh of admissions was very, very supportive and cooperative. He took his time to explain in detail what I need and need not do through his emails. Honestly, his guidance helped a lot. Thank you very much, Mr. Sanjay Singh!

Submitted my applications online and couriered the hardcopies through DHL at end of September. Luckily, admissions team recieved my application package and updated the website promptly. Very happy at that time realising I've done the easy part and now the hard part was coming up. I was up to the challenge...Lol!~

I almost forgot the important part. I almost couldn't send the application on time due to being unable to find the bloody DHL office near my place. I found the area. It's just that the office was further in and I mistakenly thought, they being a prominent courier service would definitely set up their offices as close as possible to the main road. Oh BOY, was i WRONG!! It was so deep in I found it just as I was about to give up searching. Of course once I reached there, the guy there told me, they do document pick-ups at a little extra cost. Note to self: Definitely gonna use that service in future!! But, I did see a RPT Centre member working there. I was so happy to see her there. She briefly guided me on what I should do. Filled up the forms, put in the package for processing and left...

Step 2: completed...

Step 1: The GMAT

Hey guys,

This is the where the interesting part starts. Henceforth, the blog will cater to the general knowledge of all that come in to this site. Be it my family that supported me throughout these years, my darling best buddies, my dear Westportians or my new ISB batchmates.

I will be posting regularly to update everybody about my progress in life. Let's start with the GMAT. Paying for my GMAT was my very first HSBC Visa transaction. Not even 5 minutes had passed when a representative from HSBC called me to make sure I'm still holding the Card in my hand. Yup, it costs a lot in MYR. Close to 1k.

Following this, I got my follow-up materials a few weeks down the line just before my exam appointment. I got to complete one mock test after installing a specialised software on the day before the test. At that point, I was beginning to get a little befuddled due to the total new approach this exam was using to hammer at my mind. I've never tried for any MBA courses before this. I don't have anybody in my family who tried out the GMAT to attempt a Masters overseas. Nope, No cousins, no uncles nor brilliant aunts who stepped away from the shores of Malaysia. The friends who attempted are all already years out of contact after they made it overseas. (Sorry William, I know you're an exception ;P ). Effectively, no guide. I tried the second mock-test in between waking up and going to the exam in the afternoon. I have to admit I didn't complete the second mock test.

Arrived at the exam venue at KL Sentral. Saw a cute chinese girl that was holding a book and I surmised she would be the candidate before me. Took a quick glance at the wierd text book she was cradling. "GMAT" . I maintained an air of calm confidence, yet inside I was feeling the edge of an icy cold knife twisting. "GOD DAMN IT!! This exam has a TEXT BOOK??? And it's THAT thick?? These were some of the milder questions with the louder incessant background hum of " I'm so dead....I'm so dead...MY RM900+"

Well, I took the 15 minute time in between her going in and my time to go in by praying. HARD! Cleared my mind. Prayed that I won't panic and I would be able to attempt all questions at full concentration. Went in and attempted the GMAT. Of course I was quite confident I would be able to score along the mid-regions of 700 until before I saw that text book the gal was holding. After that, I left it to God and Dato' Seri Guruji.

End score 620/800. Requirements at ISB is 600+ (Whew!) I did score 5.5/6.0 for the Written part. It must have helped. I cannot remember the topic now but I do remember it being something that I could analyse well and provide strong viewpoints. I was still disappointed with my scores since my dad told me to score 700+ for the GMAT. The only consolation for that was when Duke University sent me a prospectus encouraging me to apply to their course. Coincidentally, my dad had just read a weekend newspaper report on the top business schools worldwide. Duke University was rated No.4 there.

I was focused though. ISB was my only choice and I sat for my GMAT only because ISB required the scores for an admission. So, at the screen right after my GMAT was completed I entered only ISB as the direct recipient of my GMAT scores....

Step 1: completed...

The Shape of Things To Come

Hey guys,

And after another half-year, I finally re-appear on the blogging scene again. Now I am determined to continue blogging again. Well, anybody who read my blog entry last would realise that I was in a predicament. Little did I realise that I was to be embroiled in a worse predicament. But, this worse predicament comes with a Golden Path. A path to Meteoric RISE!!

Hence the question arises. Do i stay in my little predicament that is about to be solved? Or do I step into raging fires knowing that I not only have a path to follow but, a also a Divine Guide to ensure I stay on the Path? The answer is almost a no-brainer. Any sane risk-taker would say run through the fires, but only I know the extent my failure would burn others. A whole generation may suffer the psychological impacts of my failure. If I fail... =) <--I smile because it is IMPOSSIBLE that I fail. Not as long as my Divine Guide blesses me.

A Divine Guide that is the most Powerful Sitthar in the world. How else would I be able to trust my instincts and go against my parents when they heard of the cost? A Divine Guide that they also have faith in. A Divine Guide that actually has in His Full Divine Grace granted me the opportunity in which I would be able to serve Him, by spreading my knowledge and experiences after joining Rajayoga Power Transcendental Meditation Society of Malaysia to the graduates and intellectuals overseas.

Yes, I do admit that I have dropped a lot of hints and haven't really fleshed out any of the details yet. In fact, in the coming days and weeks I am going to slowly recollect the last few months and the process of how everything has come into place for me. Please bear with me...

Life and how it suffocates normal people.

Hey guys,

Well, here i am posting up in my blog after a long time. I am not really sure what i want to write here anymore. Work is killing me in the sense of taking up my time and not really paying me sufficiently. Sigh. I have some ideas as to how i am going to overcome this. Of course, I am not really prepared and i think the best plans are those that twist and turn according to the times. =)

We do live in such times. Times that need constant change that allowes us to flourish. I know that i am capable enough to think it up. The changes that i need. But, can i live with it and can i follow through with the brilliant plans that i come up with? Well, I know that i need to save up some money at least to enable all these to happen. Unfortunately, i am now stuck in a deadlock where i seriously CANNOT save any money. If i have to wait ONE YEAR for a pay raise so that i can live a more comfortable life and start saving, I might just kill myself. Or would i?

Anyways, i have to survive it. I have to hope for the best in life. I already have a few blessings in my life that i have to be thankful for at the moment. I am sure with patience even the most hardest mountain would crumble. What's a year of revelling in the current blessings while waiting for the better stuff to happen in future right? ;)

I have a burning dream. I will live it. I will not die before it lives.....

-Mathan-

The beginning has ended...

Hey guys and gals,

Well, let's see. I had a hell of a New Years!! The guys told me earlier that they wanted to go to Bangkok Jazz. So i had taken off on the 1st of January. It was a great party that we had. Renu and Jane came so it made the whole thing merrier. Others were ME, Adrian, Pei Tze, Ping, Risdan, Ben, and Ping's fren Yvonne.

We went to Goucho Grill beside Bangkok Jazz for our dinner and unfortunately even though the food is highly recommended by Pei Tze's colleague during normal days, their special New Year's Menu left a LOT to be desired. They hiked up the prices and gave sucky food. Thank god we could go all out on their salad bar and that's what we did.

After dinner Pei Tze, ME, Jane and Renuka opened a Jack Daniels to get inside Bangkok Jazz and the rest paid the cover charge. Other than that, i have to say the music was good! The atmosphere was good and we were dancing all out after the New Year Countdown!! One of the better New Years i've had.

Whille having dinner i had the chance to make a call and celebrate with someone 3 hours ahead of me, since her new year was happening at that point. Happiest call i had until i told her that i missed her on the phone. Then everybody was laughing at me here and when she said she missed me too, her frens were laughing at her there in Australia.

Well, the night ended in a little bit of a bad note though. Our dear Risdan got drunk and started going around hugging everybody. Later when he reached the car park, he vomited a second time and was dragged to Ben's car. Everybody was tired but due to the road blocks we took a long time to get back to Adrian's place... especially with Ben not really knowing which roads were blocked and he kept going in circles. Finally, when we got to PJ my car tyres went into a big hole and got punctured. I had to stop in an unknown car park near Adrian's place to change tyres. Thank you to Pei Tze for jacking the car up while in a beautiful dress. Renuka for holding the tools while half sleepy and Adrian for walking all the way to us and helping me with the whole tyre changing process.

Anyway made it home the next day, just in time to go to centre with family in my new car. It was nice celebrating New Year's with family too. =)

On a last note, i just found out the date that's going to change my life. 25th of January, 2006.. I am dying with anticipation. I pray everyone would be happy at the end of the days that is to follow. Please everyone pray for happiness in my life too la.. thank you!!

-Mathan-

Well the END is here...Happy new one guys n gals!!

Yeap ladies and gentlemen,

It is the end of the year now. It has been about 4 months that i did not write anything in the blog. Sometimes i just had a bad day and i didn't want to write about it anymore. Sometimes, i really would have had a great day. It was so great that i did not want to share it with anyone actually. Sigh, strange how i at those times lost hope in the saying "Happiness shared is doubled ; Sorrow shared is divided" I just wanted to collect and keep what i had to myself, trying my best not to let it go even one bit.

Anyway, i have started to work in proper now. No more job skipping. No more training. Totally an employee of Klang Multi Terminals Sdn. Bhd which runs the best port in the country also known as WESTPORT...eheheh!! Working 3 shifts, i am attached to Group D and i am their Shift Operations Executive. This means during my shift i am totally in charge of whatever happens in the Container Yard. Most of the times i just have to make sure that the Yard is traffic jam free. Company is generous, bosses are understanding for the most part, career path is great with the upcoming expansions. All is left to be done is me learning my job and performing at it.

Next, i have to say my active life is sort off in the slow down phase. Need to change that and really try my best to find time to do sports. I am not going to blame busy working hours as a reason for not exercising and start to grow FAT like most people do. We HAVE a choice, and i choose to make myself MORE tired! Hahaha!!~

Hmmnn what else to talk about. Do i mention love? I guess i should. Since maybe one day i want to look back at these postings and remind myself of the changes that happened in my life. Hahaaahaah... These are the silly things that forgetful people do. Anyway to start off, the one lady that i was interested in the most for all this time finally jumped a cliff to her death. This is what happened in my heart la. She is alive but the one thing she could say to make me hate her, she said it. And thus my feelings that were growing strong for a year like a young tree in my heart just got dosed with Paraquat. Poisoned the whole system. And well, like any self-respecting male i tried to avoid her but she didn't let me. (Hahahaha...no surprise there seeing how silly she can be sometimes.)

Of course as i have seen happening in my life, every thing small or big that happens in my life happens for a reason. Seemingly, almost overnight another bright and beautiful young lady stepped in and we both happen to be crazy for each other right now. I have to say absolutely no traces of the earlier feeling is in my heart anymore. It just got wiped out and nothing triggers me to feel warm towards the earlier girl anymore. I tried my best to delve and make sure it is not some form of rebound that i am experiencing...

What i do know is the present is what counts. No matter what i have said or done. The NOW is what matters and now i think i am falling hopelessly in love with the lady that stepped into my life. She might think of herself as attractive and that she chose me among the bunch of guys that hit on her and try to get her attention (seriously it happens. I am not exaggerating here). But, i know how particular i am about my own choices too, and she fits into my life perfectly. Everything new that i learn about her just makes me realise how much more right she is for me...how freaky is that? =P.. well, anyway i know i am going to try my best! Since everything has been going right for me, in this matter i will fight for it.

Ok.. work, sport and love has been covered. Next up is about my family and meditation. Family wise there have been some strains between members. We all love each other and we all do not want to let go of each other or give up on each other. Just that increasingly there are more individual opinions and well, as is the case arguments are bound to happen. (Heaven knows what's gonna happen when i finally tell them about my relationship issue...=P) And every argument sort of stands in the way until it is resolved. I am trying my best to stay out of them so that i can help to resolve them. Hahahaha....Of course sometimes i am caught up in them too. Normal stuff between families la, just that its happening more frequently than i am used to.

Thanks to the fact that the whole family is in meditation i think we have this one common ground where we let go all personal issues and deal with it professionally and peacefully. It keeps the communications open and quite a lot of the times those of us with arguments would find the answer in our meditations as to what we are willing to let go and compromise.

Yes, this is the part i keep trying to tell my friends but they have NEVER listened to me. The meditation that i do whole-heartedly. The centre that i go to voluntarily. The power given to us there is REAL!! The power that our Guruji has is REAL and it is Divine in nature. (no magic involved and in fact no one with ANY magic will be able to penetrate the protection we gain) The true essence of a Divine Guru is in enabling His disciple to be able to achieve all the levels that the Guruji himself has reached. I have felt it since the day i took the course and i am still feeling it in the 3 years that i have been in the centre. There is a power within me that grows and helps me the more i do the meditation that i have learnt in the centre. The power even enhances my prayers making them come true most of the time. It is NOT in my mind...it is NOT just my belief...It definitely is NOT only for me or my family. About 100,000 people have taken the course in Malaysia and the centre grows rapidly. Yet i have one regret. Not even ONE of my friends listened to me and took the course to benefit from it themselves. They say money is a factor, yet they go shopping. They say time is a factor, yet they go to cinemas to watch movies. They say about not being interested and that it is too early... bla bla bla, yet the course is all about personal gain and advancement all the way. Why do you want to WAIT for that when you see that I am benefiting now?

Lastly, we come to the latest benefit that i have gained from doing my meditations. I prayed and got myself a car. Brand new. In my prayer i envisioned the number plate to be BHX 96. The number just lari a little bit. I got BHX 960 since the tendering for the BHX 2 digit numbers were closed before i got the registration card. Everything else about the car is as i imagined it to be. Even the repayment is lesser than RM 500, which is one of the things i wanted. If you buy the same car now, the repayment would be more slightly as there is no more purchase discount. The tuesday before i got my new car, in fact i got into an accident driving in the Kancil at my workplace (the Container Yard isn't a small place so i need it). Never knew what happened but at the end of it, instead of crashing at the back of a trailer and causing a funeral(mine), i just hit the tyres and bounced back. I know the protection i have took care of everything when i lost concentration at the wheel and looked off to the equipment on the right behind my shoulders. Foolish? yeah....but i'm still alive ain't I? :) Convinced yet? :D

Signing off for year 2005!! May we have a great and ACCIDENTLESS year 2006....=P

-Mathanaseelan-