singing the argentine national anthem for a very special "leo"

back to bapigiri
desi week rocks!!!

pg18
a publicity stunt by my balkan classmates to promote the balkan week
who are the balkans afterall?

a clear effect of OVER-DRINKING ;-)

matki phod the traditional way. my section wins the competition hands down!

amphi b ... we'll miss ya as classes get over in a week and we head to singapore

kicking my ex-mckinsey classmates' ass the dilbert way ...

i know most of us are not very fond of religious places. but when it's a part of history, and specially related to something as intriguing as the da vinci code, the curiosity peaks. this is an atypical church from a city called strausborg on the border of france and germany; strausborg, a city controvertial in it's own right ... a french town with a (very) strong german influence ... the people, their dresses, dialects, food and last but not the least, the architecture.

and this is the most contovertial part of them all ... if you have read the da vinci code, you will know it ... symbolizing astronomy, chistianity, jesus, and (well!) the holy grail

the church is a rare piece of stone and glass. it is 5 stories tall with just one ceiling. the tainted glasses are huge (about 1.5-2.0 stories) and were meant for natural light to (en)lighten the church in the era of no-electricity. night or day, nature lits up the interiors (the physics reminds my geeky side of the chapter "light" in the book of resnik and halliday ;-)

finally the dude for whom the church was made, the jesus himself. the gold, silver and everything used in this gaudy setting is (the davinci followers believe) "priceless". priceless or not, with the appretiating value of gold in eurozone, i couldnt help thinking of the discounted cash flow worth of this place that can feed a poverty stricken african nation for quiet a few months; me just trying to quantify an estimated net worth of the place with no intent to mix religion and humanitarianism. religion, like faith, "they" believe is priceless ...

as the freezing winter bites through flesh and blood, every heart screams with the adieu of the beautiful fall

and now the eiffel tower herself .... the only beauty in an otherwise subzero paris night!

have been, on most occassions, too busy or, in rare situations, too lazy to write. but here's some pics of paris from eiffel in the night!

while the french people are too particular about how they present their food, the germans have a more casual and simplistic approach. what surprises me even more is the fact that any french dinner takes about 2hrs (and that's why all the banks/shops in france have two hr lunch breaks!). a french dinner is a gaudy extravaganza of wine, full course meal, champagnes etc. and quiet ironically, most of french entrees have little or no taste. people say it's hard to "get" what french cuisine is all about, but once you "get" it, u will like it. but my point is why think when u eat? specially when u are so buzy. so the french cuisine has recently become a target of curse for all students and for most of us, the usual joke it "it indeed takes a lot of calibre to cook tasteless food like the french ;-)"
but then, look at germany. a neighbour of france, yet such different approach to eating. during my stay in munchen and germany, all i ate in the four days during my stay was sausage and beer. nothing gaudy, just simple sausage with mashed potatoes and ginger, with a tinge of mustard ... so simple yet one of the most tasty sausages i have ever had! and talking about beer, well! they dont even seem to have the slightest competition

(to be continued ...)

Here comes the twin towers the munich way. these are the tallest structures in munich (the only other one that comes close is the olympic tower ... remember the 1972 munich olympics fiasco?). what's truely amzing is the fact that these towers are really tall ... so tall that i had to take 3 shots and stitch them using my canon photostich. sometimes i wonder what the f were the german kings thinking when building such tall a structure in 19th century with just ladders. obvious presumption is they had too much time or money or both. whatever that be, these are awesome sticks in vintage munich skyline. another aspect to notice as you walk past the munich dwtn is the increasing gothic influence. the other pic i have is the entrance to the dwtn, built much later with the gaudiness of gothic architecture, yet as beautiful as the traditional german style. btw no cars/moving vehicles are allowed in dwtn (for a typical american it's a wow!) ... all u see is people, loads of them! and ofcourse the street performers and musicians!

a rather brut-force attempt to take a panoramic view of the beatutiful downtown MUNICH (munchen as they call in the bavarian part of deutchland). had a blast here during my period 1 break. lots of stories to write about germany, who impressed me more than france. will post more pics later with more stories when time permits ;-) now back to period 2 studies and boredom

reuters: fontainebleau, france 22nd oct 2006.
developing news: eric, a student, "integral"ly hangs himself in exam and peer pressure. this grim-tigger strategy can lead to further defection in actions of participants in the mba program. following defection, the city police is worried that a subequilibrium is impossible at this stage because unilateral game theory behavior will lead to only a short-term payoff of a nash equilibrium. In the midst of the positive externalities between exams and "integral" hangings, the situation is going out of control. more so because the only evidence that eric has left is incoherent. so this will be a long night for all mba participants and our news correspondent will update you on any further escalations.

life in hell as exams start tomorrow. sleep time per day streak has reached an all time low of 3.99hrs. but there is always room for some humor. and to fit the occassion here's a nasty nerdy one that our "sadist" econ prof sent us on the eve of the exam!

Another classic log-off email ...
the competition for classic log off mails is heating up big time :-)

Dear all,
I have a confession for all of you. You the people of INSEAD are all my brothers and sisters, and I cannot hold this for long. There is something strange going on with me. Something I do not understand. Something bizarre, yet pleasant.

I feel the feminine part of me arising.

Secretely at night I try my wife's lipstick and I think it makes me prettier. I do not know how to take it, yet it's a fact. Thanks you for listening. Now I feel much better. I feel much relief. I feel like I just dropped a huge burden.

Kisses to all