And finally I did it…no no no wait!!! I am not talking about record breaking or anything in general, I just got myself registered for the CFA level 1 exam…now u must be wondering what’s so special to brag about registering for an exam..but that’s not the point I want to make here. In a moment I will explain that, but first of all, just for those who don’t know what CFA is, so here’s the information.
CFA stands for chartered financial analyst; it’s a 3 level self study program conducted by cfainstitute in US. The exam covers all possible topics one can learn during his MBA finance degree…in general if you prepare for CFA level-1, its equivalent to covering around 80% of your MBA finance curriculum… Some of the topics for instance covered in the exam are business ethics, financial reporting analysis, derivatives, quantitative methods, portfolio management etc. After passing all the 3 levels, one is eligible to become a charter holder. Although there are a few requirements prior to becoming a CFA charter like having a 4 year work experience in any financial industry and holding a suitable position related to finance etc.
Now the reason why I am talking about this is that the decision to register for CFA was very hard for me (at least initially), one of the reasons is that the exam fee itself is huge. I paid 990 USD as the exam registration fee and that makes close to 53,000 INR. Not just that, the exam is not even conducted in India, all the candidates in India who write the exam prefer either of Nepal, Colombo, Singapore as their exam centers. In my case I registered my exam centre at Manila, Philippines. The reason I will explain a bit later.
Okay so coming straight to the point, I am soon planning to do an MBA from abroad. Got an admit from a good university. Even that doesn’t explain the need for the CFA exam either as I can study all the subjects covered under CFA during my MBA, so here’s the story. The institute I am admitted is known for its finance program, in my case it just happened that I had always been more inclined to finance field and this one luckily came out to be among the bests in the world. The problem now is, around 70 percent of the admits to this institute’s MBA program opt for finance major which if you look from the institute point of view, it’s not possible. The program has limited seats for every specialization be it finance, marketing or consulting etc. So in order to avoid excess candidates, the institute has laid a few conditions before one opts for a finance major and one among them is clearing CFA level 1 exam before the first term (as specialization starts from the second year). Now being a little smart, I myself thought to clear this hurdle in the beginning itself just after a couple of months of joining the program. This way I will not only be able to alleviate some pressure due to mba studies, but it will also help me with my core subjects. I will be able to choose some good subjects (subjects that I think are easy to clear :D ).
Anyways the tough journey for me seems to have started although I am still talking baby steps towards the goal..the good thing this time is, I know where I am headed.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
This one is for you, Mom.
It was my mom on phone the other day. I was tired from the days work and was about to take a nap at my room, just then my phone rang. In a lazy manner I lifted up the phone to say hello and the conversation began.
Me: “Hello mom, why are you calling me at this time, when you know I go to sleep for an hour after coming from office. “
Mom: “I just called to ask you that I haven’t received any mails from you yet, I have been seeing my mailbox since morning, have you sent them.”
Me: (In a sloppy manner): “which mails mom, I have no idea.”
Mom: “The one’s which you told me yesterday, about your blogs.”
Me: “O mom..why are you so keen about seeing my blogs. Alright, I will send you tomorrow when I go to office. Bye mom.” And, I hung up the phone.
A day before this conversation, my mom had called me again and we had this little conversation.
Mom: “what happened to you, you have been writing blogs earlier but now you seem to have stopped doing it. Is everything fine there.”
“yes, all is fine and for your kind information I have written 2 or 3 blogs this week.” I replied.
Mom (in a cheerful tone): that’s great; send those across to my email id.
“Okay, I will” I replied.
After the first conversation, I went to sleep but somehow somewhere this weird thought struck my fancy and I started wondering why is that, my mom always feels so excited about my things. What I do, where I go, what I wear or like..i don’t know but she’s always making me conscious about my stuff.
I woke up an hour later, prepared myself a cup of coffee and sat infront of my study table. I started thinking for a moment. I then remembered a recent chat that I had with one of mom’s college colleagues a couple of weeks ago. She was online on Gtalk, when had I just opened my gmail account, a minute later I got a small pop up window showing my Aunt’s instant message.
Aunt: hello
Me: hello Anand Aunty..how r u?
……
(then some intro conversation starts…and so I am skipping this)
……
Aunt: your mom told me something.
Me: what aunty?
Aunt: that you are good at writing blogs..she showed me your blogs.
Me(looked surprise): oh..so you have also seen them.
Aunt: seen them…I have read them.
Me (I thought for a second “read them..how many??”): It was not a big deal aunty. I have been reading business articles since my college days and so keep writing anything that comes to my mind.
Aunty: but you do write well Beta…I am proud of you. Do meet me when you come to Yamuna nagar.
Me: sure aunty..thanks.
My mom had been telling her friends about my blogs…what else she would have told about me to her friends….”I thought for second”. And Aunty was telling that I write good blogs…I know she is definitely lying. My mom must have told about my blogs in her as usual exaggerated way even though they are pretty okay and nothing of a sort to make any kind of hype. I am sure this is the reason why my aunty is showing her interest over my blogs as if she likes them, whereas the reality might be different. She’s definitely hiding the truth. I was feeling really annoyed and was not in a mood to think of it anymore.
The next day I was about to leave to office from my room when suddenly my eyes struck at a greeting card that was lying flat over my study table. It was a b’day card from my mom which she had send a few days ago.
There was something strange about this card as if it was trying to say “look at me”. I stretched myself across the bed to reach for my study table; I took the card in my hands, opened it and starting reading the lines that were written on it. I was suddenly taken aback after reading those lines as if they are trying to tell me something.
Card lines:
”Watching you change and grow and become the special man, I always knew you would be.”
“What if you could see yourself the way I see you, then you’d know, how much I have loved…"
Suddenly several thoughts started flowing in my mind raising various questions and with them there respective answers. I realised for the first time that how much important I am to my mom. A day before I was really annoyed with her but suddenly I started realising something great. I was getting answers to all my concerns that i had about her on “What I do, where I go, what I wear or like”.
And i started analysing… May be she feels happy to see me grow up and become a special man. May be she asks me about by whereabouts every time I go out just to show how much she is concerned about me. May be she thinks that I write good and has much more faith and confidence in me than I think for myself. May be she wants to show the same feeling to her friends in college where she goes to teach everyday.
All happened so sudden that all my anguish started melting away and I felt a deep sense of affection. I took the card, wiped it with my hanky so as to remove dust if any and placed it right in front of my table, picked up my bike and the room keys and locked the door with a strange smile on my face thinking “well…that’s the beginning..”
Me: “Hello mom, why are you calling me at this time, when you know I go to sleep for an hour after coming from office. “
Mom: “I just called to ask you that I haven’t received any mails from you yet, I have been seeing my mailbox since morning, have you sent them.”
Me: (In a sloppy manner): “which mails mom, I have no idea.”
Mom: “The one’s which you told me yesterday, about your blogs.”
Me: “O mom..why are you so keen about seeing my blogs. Alright, I will send you tomorrow when I go to office. Bye mom.” And, I hung up the phone.
A day before this conversation, my mom had called me again and we had this little conversation.
Mom: “what happened to you, you have been writing blogs earlier but now you seem to have stopped doing it. Is everything fine there.”
“yes, all is fine and for your kind information I have written 2 or 3 blogs this week.” I replied.
Mom (in a cheerful tone): that’s great; send those across to my email id.
“Okay, I will” I replied.
After the first conversation, I went to sleep but somehow somewhere this weird thought struck my fancy and I started wondering why is that, my mom always feels so excited about my things. What I do, where I go, what I wear or like..i don’t know but she’s always making me conscious about my stuff.
I woke up an hour later, prepared myself a cup of coffee and sat infront of my study table. I started thinking for a moment. I then remembered a recent chat that I had with one of mom’s college colleagues a couple of weeks ago. She was online on Gtalk, when had I just opened my gmail account, a minute later I got a small pop up window showing my Aunt’s instant message.
Aunt: hello
Me: hello Anand Aunty..how r u?
……
(then some intro conversation starts…and so I am skipping this)
……
Aunt: your mom told me something.
Me: what aunty?
Aunt: that you are good at writing blogs..she showed me your blogs.
Me(looked surprise): oh..so you have also seen them.
Aunt: seen them…I have read them.
Me (I thought for a second “read them..how many??”): It was not a big deal aunty. I have been reading business articles since my college days and so keep writing anything that comes to my mind.
Aunty: but you do write well Beta…I am proud of you. Do meet me when you come to Yamuna nagar.
Me: sure aunty..thanks.
My mom had been telling her friends about my blogs…what else she would have told about me to her friends….”I thought for second”. And Aunty was telling that I write good blogs…I know she is definitely lying. My mom must have told about my blogs in her as usual exaggerated way even though they are pretty okay and nothing of a sort to make any kind of hype. I am sure this is the reason why my aunty is showing her interest over my blogs as if she likes them, whereas the reality might be different. She’s definitely hiding the truth. I was feeling really annoyed and was not in a mood to think of it anymore.
The next day I was about to leave to office from my room when suddenly my eyes struck at a greeting card that was lying flat over my study table. It was a b’day card from my mom which she had send a few days ago.
There was something strange about this card as if it was trying to say “look at me”. I stretched myself across the bed to reach for my study table; I took the card in my hands, opened it and starting reading the lines that were written on it. I was suddenly taken aback after reading those lines as if they are trying to tell me something.
Card lines:
”Watching you change and grow and become the special man, I always knew you would be.”
“What if you could see yourself the way I see you, then you’d know, how much I have loved…"
Suddenly several thoughts started flowing in my mind raising various questions and with them there respective answers. I realised for the first time that how much important I am to my mom. A day before I was really annoyed with her but suddenly I started realising something great. I was getting answers to all my concerns that i had about her on “What I do, where I go, what I wear or like”.
And i started analysing… May be she feels happy to see me grow up and become a special man. May be she asks me about by whereabouts every time I go out just to show how much she is concerned about me. May be she thinks that I write good and has much more faith and confidence in me than I think for myself. May be she wants to show the same feeling to her friends in college where she goes to teach everyday.
All happened so sudden that all my anguish started melting away and I felt a deep sense of affection. I took the card, wiped it with my hanky so as to remove dust if any and placed it right in front of my table, picked up my bike and the room keys and locked the door with a strange smile on my face thinking “well…that’s the beginning..”
Friday, March 20, 2009
Small things do matter…!!!
Its been 3 long working days for me from the last Sunday that now I have started feeling bad about not been able to complete a pending task.
Sunday was a special day for me…not just because it was my B’day but because this was for the first time I received wishes from so many people..some over phone, and a lot many through email, orkut community etc. My orkut scrapbook is almost flooded with scraps wishing me happy b’day and that’s what is giving me sleepless nights. I have not been able to reply back to all of them who took time to wish me. May be I should skip my lunch for today and spend that time at an Internet Café. Now I am feeling the need of an internet connection at my home.
Another thing that was bothering me for the past 3 days was the Sunday evening when I was having dinner with my Jeeju (sister’s husband). This was what happened that evening when I along with my Jeeju, my cousin sister and her 2 brothers went out to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Bangalore. Being my b’day I was suppose to treat them, as opposed to that when the bill came, it was my Jeeju who took the troubles to pay, despite me being continuously forcing not to. And it happens every time I go out with them. I guess he is always so nice to me, but this time I was not ready to accept that and so I did something that now I am not sure if it was right or not.
That day, after coming back from the dinner, it was getting very late so my didi asked me to stay at their place. We were about to sleep just then I stepped out of my bed to reach for my bag and took out an empty envelope. I placed two, (1000 rupee) notes in it and over the top of the envelope I wrote a small message “Sorry Jeeju, But it was my day”. I left this envelope over the top of the refrigerator so that no one notices. The next morning I was about to leave from their place, I started my bike and drove a couple of yards away, just then I paused for a moment and took my cell phone out from my pocket to send a text message on my didi’s cell phone. The message read “check, there’s something placed over the refrigerator..”. I felt somewhat nice after that.
Today when I woke up in the morning, my cell phone showed an unread message, the message had arrived yest. night when I had gone to bed. It was from my didi and she wrote “It was not okay, Princy”. Now I am feeling sad again. May be I have this childish or immature line of thought that always tells me to do small things. It makes me a little concerned every time some one does a thing for me and I remain restless unless I repent back.
Now I am going to call my Jeeju and cousin to express sorry for what I did that day and I am sure they won’t feel bad. This reminds me of Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) words in his speech at a graduation event where he addressed to the graduates to “Stay young, Stay foolish”. I guess it’s my foolishness that prompts me to say sorry every time I hurt someone, but guess what, its gives me a peace of mind too. :D
Sunday was a special day for me…not just because it was my B’day but because this was for the first time I received wishes from so many people..some over phone, and a lot many through email, orkut community etc. My orkut scrapbook is almost flooded with scraps wishing me happy b’day and that’s what is giving me sleepless nights. I have not been able to reply back to all of them who took time to wish me. May be I should skip my lunch for today and spend that time at an Internet Café. Now I am feeling the need of an internet connection at my home.
Another thing that was bothering me for the past 3 days was the Sunday evening when I was having dinner with my Jeeju (sister’s husband). This was what happened that evening when I along with my Jeeju, my cousin sister and her 2 brothers went out to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Bangalore. Being my b’day I was suppose to treat them, as opposed to that when the bill came, it was my Jeeju who took the troubles to pay, despite me being continuously forcing not to. And it happens every time I go out with them. I guess he is always so nice to me, but this time I was not ready to accept that and so I did something that now I am not sure if it was right or not.
That day, after coming back from the dinner, it was getting very late so my didi asked me to stay at their place. We were about to sleep just then I stepped out of my bed to reach for my bag and took out an empty envelope. I placed two, (1000 rupee) notes in it and over the top of the envelope I wrote a small message “Sorry Jeeju, But it was my day”. I left this envelope over the top of the refrigerator so that no one notices. The next morning I was about to leave from their place, I started my bike and drove a couple of yards away, just then I paused for a moment and took my cell phone out from my pocket to send a text message on my didi’s cell phone. The message read “check, there’s something placed over the refrigerator..”. I felt somewhat nice after that.
Today when I woke up in the morning, my cell phone showed an unread message, the message had arrived yest. night when I had gone to bed. It was from my didi and she wrote “It was not okay, Princy”. Now I am feeling sad again. May be I have this childish or immature line of thought that always tells me to do small things. It makes me a little concerned every time some one does a thing for me and I remain restless unless I repent back.
Now I am going to call my Jeeju and cousin to express sorry for what I did that day and I am sure they won’t feel bad. This reminds me of Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) words in his speech at a graduation event where he addressed to the graduates to “Stay young, Stay foolish”. I guess it’s my foolishness that prompts me to say sorry every time I hurt someone, but guess what, its gives me a peace of mind too. :D
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Reminiscence
I don’t know if this occurs to everyone, but for some reason I feel it does to me. Now I am quite sure that you guys must be scratching your head to figure out what I just said…okay so let me make this simple. There are few things that crave me to go back in past. Things that remind me of my college days, annual functions that were more important than our final exams as the preparations for that would start a month in advance, all the classes that we used to bunk and then later approach the lecturers when our attendance becomes short or all those trivial fights that we used to have at hostel on some weird issues. All that seems so much beautiful and I feel helpless for not been able to experience that again.
So here’s the reason for this misery. I recently got a good collection of Punjabi songs from my cousin, and one of the songs in that list really reminded me of my old college days. Just to tell you this, I did my Engineering from Punjab, although I am based in Haryana. So this particular song just reminded me of the true flavor of Punjab after long time and I must admit that after hearing that song I really had an urge to go back to my old days to experience the real place. Just for those who keep following Punjabi songs, here’s the name of this song that I am talking about. The song name is “Kaniyaan” meaning rain drops, and its sung by “Preet Brar” and “Miss Pooja”.
I remember a similar such experience when i had joined my college. The first time i entered the college hostel building, I noticed some guys dancing to the tune of “chadigarh kare Aashquie” That was a moment of joyous and I felt like getting involved with them and share the same joy which they had at that time. It was a real treat for a Haryana boy experiencing the true Punjabi flavour for the first time. :D
I know that sounds lil stupid or may be a bit crazy, but I have this flair for dance since childhood.
And for the time being, I am now concentrating on improving my dance skills (in gen. bhangra) for I am waiting for the ‘D’ day when my elder brother is going to tie the nuptial knot. As of now, I am trying to download some dance video’s from youtube just to explore some good bhangra steps and guess what none seem to have worked so far. :D
So here’s the reason for this misery. I recently got a good collection of Punjabi songs from my cousin, and one of the songs in that list really reminded me of my old college days. Just to tell you this, I did my Engineering from Punjab, although I am based in Haryana. So this particular song just reminded me of the true flavor of Punjab after long time and I must admit that after hearing that song I really had an urge to go back to my old days to experience the real place. Just for those who keep following Punjabi songs, here’s the name of this song that I am talking about. The song name is “Kaniyaan” meaning rain drops, and its sung by “Preet Brar” and “Miss Pooja”.
I remember a similar such experience when i had joined my college. The first time i entered the college hostel building, I noticed some guys dancing to the tune of “chadigarh kare Aashquie” That was a moment of joyous and I felt like getting involved with them and share the same joy which they had at that time. It was a real treat for a Haryana boy experiencing the true Punjabi flavour for the first time. :D
I know that sounds lil stupid or may be a bit crazy, but I have this flair for dance since childhood.
And for the time being, I am now concentrating on improving my dance skills (in gen. bhangra) for I am waiting for the ‘D’ day when my elder brother is going to tie the nuptial knot. As of now, I am trying to download some dance video’s from youtube just to explore some good bhangra steps and guess what none seem to have worked so far. :D
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