Bindu's sister

Prithvi (Pooja as she is fondly called) Mavilla recently had an accident that led to a head injury. This led to a blood clot in her brain and she is now paralyzed for the left part of her body. The doctors have confirmed that she had a stroke. She is only 26 years old. The doctors will not release her until she is transferred to an acute neurological physical therapy. Time is of essence for her to recover fully and start the physical therapy.

Pooja is a very active, intelligent, outgoing and lively person. She is very athletic and is a certified open water scuba diver. She is on a student visa and does have full employee medical benefits yet, due to her visa status. While the student medical insurance from India covers her hospital stay, her acute physical therapy is not covered. The expectation is that this physical therapy will cost around $50,000 per month. She has to be kept in the institution with round the clock attention from the medical staff.

Please visit http://www.giveforward.com/poomavillarecovery for updates on her recovery status and to donate money online. You can also send donations to

Prithvi Mavilla

15 Poppyfield Ln,

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688

After a 2 month hiatus...

I'm back.. Sorry that I have not been able to blog. Early January, I was hit by identity theft. Some dude purchased credit cards and cell phones in my name and it was quite a rude awakening for me when I came back from Egypt..I am still trying to sort it out and boy, what a mess..

I am heading to Wharton in Philadelphia. It would be quite interesting to go back to the US after a few months in Europe. It is bitter sweet because I do indeed miss some aspects of the US but I've come to love living in Europe. Maybe it is the student life. I am looking forward to meeting a completely new set of classmates and it should be fun...

Meanwhile.. Healthcare reform, economy, mid-term elections... this year is going to a busy one...

Happy New Year

2008-2009 has been transformative years for Terry and me. Terry graduated with honors from Cal Poly Pomona and found an exciting job at Bosch Siemens Home Appliances in Huntington Beach. She was already interning there and they chose to, in a moment of insanity, offer her a full time position. Just kidding.. of course. They love her there.

I decided to take the plunge, of course, with Terry's support. An MBA was indeed a lifelong dream and we decided to go ahead with my MBA. Applications were in to INSEAD before Thanksgiving and then we waited. When I got the call for the interview, I was relieved because mentally, Terry had already visualized living in France. It would be a great disappointment if we did not make it. After an eventful Christmas and New Year, I was ready for the interviews. Both of my interviewers were amazing individuals and I knew that INSEAD was the right choice for me.

When I got the email, one early morning, on my blackberry, I knew that our life would change for ever. After reading the whole email 3 times, I woke up Terry to tell her that we were moving to Fontainebleau in August. She was ecstatic. We called my parents, her parents and then emailed friends, recommenders and interviewers. It was one heck of a Friday. In the meantime, Terry was offered a unique opportunity in Munich to undertake a Trainee program. This way, she would not have to quit her job. It actually worked out great.

The year has been a whirlwind but a totally unforgettable year for both of us. We will cherish this year for ever...

40% into one of the most unforgettable experience of my life

We finished P2 yesterday. Just briefly, we have 5 periods at INSEAD.. each about 7-8 weeks. This period, P2 was particularly intense and short. 7 courses with 6 exams within 6 days including a day off on Sunday. The fact that I made weekend trips to Amsterdam, Loire Valley, Brussels, Frankfurt and London in the 7 weeks of the period did not help, of course..

This period also had some sad moments. Just before the period started, I heard of some layoffs at my previous work. And then, towards the middle of the period, we heard about the untimely death of young Selvam. Here is a link to his memorial website. Selvam was born just a few months after Terry was born and they grew up together for many years. He passed away in a road accident in India out of no fault of his own. What a shock for us and in many ways, I don't think that we've actually realized it and gotten over this. May his soul rest in peace and we'll always miss you Selvam. His parents spent a few weeks with us in the US and are slowly recovering from this event. Selvam is survived by his parents, his brother Ravi and his girl friend Sandra.

Terry and I then met in London. The Eurostar journey was quite interesting in stark contrast to the recent experience of other Eurostar passengers. A hop, skip and a jump from Paris and we are already in the heart of London. We had the pleasure of spending the weekend with my first cousin, Vinya, her husband, Amuthan and their darling daughter, Riona. Riona is so cute and we had a ball with them on Sunday, the day that we decided to ditch going to London and just staying in Woking. Not to mention that I had exams coming up in 3 days. Saturday in London was awesome but the weather was really crappy. Rain and more rain. Piccadilly circus and street was awesome. So, many people and so much entertainment.

My exams was a marathon event. Thursday's exam was on Marketing (I've got to say that Marketing is quite exciting). Friday was Strategy, another interesting subject. Saturday was a group exam on Leading Organizations. Monday brought about Corporate Financial Policy and Managerial Accounting. We finished with Process and Operations Management.

I then went over to spend the rest of the day and the next two days with friends in Paris. I also managed to see Vin Diesel in the Nike Store and also managed to freeze my butt off at the Eiffel Tower. Meanwhile, I scrambled to get the Egyptian Visa. We are indeed going to Egypt in the beginning of the year.

Thursday and Friday saw one of the biggest snow storm to hit Paris in recent times. As pretty as it can make the countryside, it does cause amazing hassle for drivers and pedestrians alike.

I drove to Frankfurt during a short break in the bad weather on Saturday and am going to be based here until it is time for me to head back to Fonty.

Christmas is here and I want to write about a dilemma that I have about what I would call home. Is it the US, Germany, India or France!!!

It did get busier in Period P2

Whoa!!! That reflects my thoughts 3 weeks into period 2. Last period, during one of my interactions with a bunch of seniors, I was told that P2 would be much busier than P1. I thought that he was exaggerating thinking that it could not humanely get busier than P1. Well, I was wrong!!

But, I am having so much fun though. It is so awesome to attend talks of so many individuals who speak about their experiences, thoughts and vision. Our classes are all pretty good. Marketing where we learn how to "sell" to customers, process and operations where we learn what makes a process work well, Corporate Finance where we are learning about derivatives and options (An extreme case of this was what apparently caused the financial crisis), Leading Organizations where we learn ..well you know what it is, Managerial Accounting where we learn more accounting and Business Ethics where we learn what not to do. It is all topped off with a course in Strategy.

In particular we are learning about this new concept (relatively new, I suppose) called Blue Ocean Strategy. The idea is that there is no point in competing against established players. It will eventually end up on war just like where sharks fight against each other and bloody up the water. Instead, head to a part of the ocean where the big sharks will leave you alone until you gain a foothold. Think about Xbox and PS3 fighting against each other while Wii just came along and looked at a different set of customers and is now laughing its way to the bank.

Take care all.

Happy Diwali and End of P1

As some of you know, next week is finals week. We will have 5 finals in 2 1/2 days. Monday morning is a 3hr 45 minute group assignment for Leading People and Groups. We will have a 3 hour exam in the afternoon on Prices and Markets. We will then have "Uncertainty, Data and Judgement" finals on Tuesday morning and "Financial Accounting" in the afternoon. Finally, Wednesday morning will be "Financial Markets and Valuation". Wednesday afternoon, if things go well, I will head out to Amsterdam with some guys here.

As P1 winds down, I am indeed getting nostalgic. Our group won a bottle of champagne for playing the market rules in an economics market game. We then actually beat all 15 teams outright in another market game that we all played across the two campuses of INSEAD and folks at Wharton. Another bottle of champagne. We've done work together as a group and as a class. Here are some pictures from our last day at class for this period. It has been a great learning experience but P2 promises to be even busier. I want to attend more seminars and do other club activities in P2. It is getting very cold here on Fontainebleau. It is only going to get worse. Goodie...

I will leave you all with this thought that I have been thinking about. "Never settle for something less than what you deserve". Always keep looking to realize your full potential. Step out of your comfort zone. You never know what you are missing by continuing to do what you do. If you do not like what you are doing, do something about it. Don't wait for things to change. Change it yourself!! You will not regret it.

Meanwhile, here are some thoughts from our professors at INSEAD. Prof. Pekka told us that the secret to a happy marriage is the 5 things that you do not say every day to your spouse. He suggested that if we are able to keep the top 5 criticisms of something or somebody else to ourself, the world will be a happier place. He also said that our goal in life should be to create value to our surroundings.

Prof. Theo told us that "We are all messed up" and that "We do not know the extent of our ignorance". As depressing as that sounds, he is absolutely correct.

A final thought!! Happy Diwali to all. The happy festival almost slipped through without me noticing. Enjoy your time with friends and family. You do not know what you have until you do not have it anymore. Enough Philosophy for today. Go Angels!! Go Dodgers!! Go Lakers...

Last weekend of Period 1

Boy, finals are around the corner and we've already finished 20% of our program. Like KPW said, I am almost 20% MBA!! All the warnings about the program being very intensive is very true. Man alive.. I am still in orientation mood but we've written so many papers and are now getting ready for 5 exams...

What am I doing nowadays. We just had to write a self-reflective paper about our group for this course called "Leading People and Groups". It was supposed to be a 2000-3000 word paper but I ended up with almost 3800 words. I must have had a lot to bull shit...We finished evaluating 3 cases for Financial Markets, numerous cases for Financial Accounting, 3-4 cases for Statistics (nicely named as Uncertainty, Data and Judgement), played market games with Wharton and INSEAD Singapore for Microeconomics and watched many different movies for LPG. It has been an awesome period P1 and I do not think that there was even one lecture where I was bored.

But here at INSEAD, academics is not everything. I am involved in some club activities as well. I am part of INDEVOR, a club involved in social business activities. I've been assigned to be the "Events" stream coordinator. I am involved in a pro-bono consulting project for Grameen Creative Labs as part of the INDEVOR consulting club (ICC). I am helping ICC get organized on the back end. I am part of the Real Estate club though it appears to be very dormant right now. I am signed up for the Rugby Club but have not played a single game yet. Hopefully, P2 will bring some activity there. I am attending many different lectures/seminars after school. I learnt about "Doing Business in Emerging Markets" the other day. I learnt about "Sustainability in Supply Chain" last week. This is what INSEAD is about. You can learn from so many different people and gain so many different perspectives.

Some of you might be wondering about my plans to go to INSEAD Singapore. I chose the path most suitable for my career by sacrificing INSEAD singapore for going to Wharton in the US during my 4th period. So, mark your calendars, I am coming back to the US in March for 2 months. But, my groupies are already planning trips to Bali and some other private islands.. Sad but true. I will be stuck freezing my "you know what" in Fonty. I do have to say that I am loving living in France. I do not know how it would be to work here but living and studying here is awesome.

We do have a whopping 4 days break before our next period starts. Most are heading to Morocco but with an Indian Passport, I need to get a visa which takes 3-4 weeks. @#@!$#@. So, some are going to Amsterdam and some others are going to the South of France. I am seriously considering going to the South of France. I will upload pictures if I manage to do any of these things.

In addition, career planning is going to be the focus from now. What is the point of getting an MBA if you do not have your dream job after this!!! Meanwhile, here is a link to pictures of where I am.

Wish me luck for my exams while I spend the next 10 days studying Statistics, Microeconomics, Finance and Accounting. Am I the only one scratching his head wondering what Obama did to deserve a Nobel Peace Prize!!!

I will end this post with a brief mention of two deaths in my family. Sujatha aunty's father passed away a few days before my birthday. Mr. Chipre was one heck of a guy and I will certainly miss him when I go back to India. Terry's uncle who lives in my native also passed away. He had a daughter and a pair of twins. Please pray that her aunt is given the courage to raise these 3 kids by herself. May both these souls rest in peace.

Godspeed all.