my poetry (నేను వ్రాసిన కవితలు)

I am great fan of the Telugu language and no surprises here as it is my mother tongue. I wrote my first Telugu poem way back in my 8th class , but unfortunately don't remember it any more. However , I have kept track of every single poem (except one) after that and I post them here. Some of these poems are really good , as most of my friends have agreed. I know that there is a risk of plagiarism involved , but I wish to believe that people are ethical enough to acknowledge others' works and I like to trust them.

Here they go .

This was a kind of parting gift to one of my friends during my last semester at college.

సిగ్గులమొగ్గ పెదవి పై చిరు మందహాసం మన స్నేహం

పసిపాప బోసి నవ్వులోని లాలిత్యం మన స్నేహం

వసంత కోకిల గానం లోని మాధుర్యం మన స్నేహం .

తొలకరి అలంకరించిన పైరు అందం మన స్నేహం

ప్రాతః కిరణాలు సంధ్యా సమీరాల అనిర్వచనీయమైన అనుభూతి మన స్నేహం

ఆనందింపజేసిన బాధ పెట్టిన అది ఈ స్నేహానికే చెల్లింది

అటువంటి సుందర సుకుమార సుమనోహరమైన ఈ స్నేహం ఇలాగే నిలిచి ఉండాలని ఆశిస్తూ ..........

Volga resturant , pilani

The next is a combination , half of which was written by a close friend of mine and I completed the rest.

కలలోని కనబడిన కమ్మని కలవరమా ..

నా ఎదుట నిజముగా నిలిచిన ఓ వరమా ..

నిన్ను చూసిన పరవశమున

కనుల నుండీ వెల్లువాయే వెన్నెల వర్షం

నా పసి సంబరం చూసిన ఆ క్షణమున

నీ పెదవంచున విరిసేనొక చిరునవ్వు ముత్యం .

అద్దం లో నేను నీవుగా కనిపించిన వేళ ,

నీ మాటలే నా తలపులయ్యి , నీ శ్వాసలే నా నిట్టూర్పులయ్యి ,నా మది లో పొంగినదొక ఆనంద కెరటం .

వాన చినుకు నునులేత స్పర్శ నిన్ను గుర్తుచేస్తుంటే , మధుకోకిల కమ్మని గానం నీ పాటని తలపిస్తుంటే

నన్ను నేను మరచిన క్షణం అద్భుతం , అనిర్వచనీయం .

ఏమని చెప్పను ఎన్నని వర్ణించను , మది నిండా నీ ఆలోచనలే , రేయంతా నీ గురించి కలవరింతలే .

నీవు లేని క్షణాలను గడుపలేను , నిన్ను చేరి నీ ఒడి సేదతీరలేను .

మేఘ సందేశం లిఖించ కాళిదాసును కాను ,హంస రాయబారం పంప దమయంతిని కాను .

నా ఊహలకి అక్షర రూపం ఈ కవిత్వం , నన్ను నీకు చేర్చి నా మది నీ ముందుంచేది ఈ కవనం .

3 ) The first two lines are that of a song in Telugu and I wrote the rest. Of course the song is much better , but this is just an inspiration.

చిగురాకుల లేఖలు రాసి చిరుగాలి చేతికి ఇచ్చి ఎపుడో నే పంపించాను నువ్వు చూడలేదా ...

నా మనసే పడవగా చేసి కలలన్నీ అలలుగా చేసి ఎపుడో నే పంపించాను నిన్ను చేరలేదా ..

ప్రొద్దు గుక్కే వేళ నా మనసు నీతో ఉండాలని , నిదరోయే వేళ నా పలుకులు వినిపించాలని ..

పడమటి అరుణిమ నన్ను వెక్కిరిస్తోంది

గూటి కి చేరుతున్న గువ్వ నన్ను ప్రశ్నిస్తోంది

నీ జాబు రాక సన్నగిల్లిన ఆశ నన్ను వీడిపొతోంది ....

రాగాలు పలికే నా మనసే మూగబోయిన వేళ ,

అరవిచ్చిన మల్లియలన్నీ సొమ్మసిల్లిన వేళ

నీ తోడు లేక రేయి సాగనంటున్న వేళ,

నిశి కన్య నిద్రలేస్తున్న వేళ

మాటే కరువైన మౌనం ఇది భావం నిండిన భాష్యం ఇది.

4 ) తళుక్కుమనే తారలు ప్రశ్నించాయి వాటి దరహాసానికి సాటి ఏదని , నీ మందహాసం తెలియకనేమో

వయ్యారాలు పోయే మయూరి మిడిసిపడుతోంది తనకి పోటి లేదని, నీ నడకల సొగసులు చుడకనేమో

రాగాలు పాడే కోయిల వినలేదు తేనెలొలికే నీ గానం, సుకుమారులైన పూబాలలకు తెలియదు నీ స్పర్శ లోని లాలిత్యం

హంపి శిల్పం ఎరుగని హొయలు, అజంతా చిత్రం కనని వర్ణాలు ఉన్నాయా ఈ సృష్టి లో అనే ప్రశ్నకి సమాధానం

నీవే నా చెలివే

5 ) ఎవరివో నీవెవరివో

---------------------------------------------------------------

అజంతా శిల్పాల గ్రంధానివో , బాపూ చిత్రాల ప్రేరణవో

తెలుగు వారి ఎంకివో , నా మదినేల వచ్చిన సుర కాంతవో

కాశ్మీరు అందాల చిత్రానివో, తెలుగింటి లోగిళ్ళ మణిదీపానివో

ఎవరివో నీవెవరివో , ఏల ఈ దరి చేరావో, నా మదినేల దోచావో

ఏ దేవత దీవెనో ఈ కలయిక, నా మదిని ఆనందడోలికలాడించింన సుర గీతిక

వసంతమై వచ్చావు నా దరికి , శిశిరమై పోమాకు ఏనాటికి

నీ అధరామృతము చవిచూచాను ఈనాడు , నీ విరహాన్ని ఓపలేను ఇక ఏనాడూ

వాసంత సమీరంలోని చల్లదనం నీ మందహాసం, తారల కాంతుల కలబోతైన ఆ దరహాసం

నీ సాంగత్యమే నా జీవన గమ్యం , నీవు లేని నా ఉనికి ప్రశ్నార్ధకం

ఈ విరహానికి ఆవిరవుతున్న మంచుబిందువును నేను

నీ వలపుల చల్లదనానికి ఘనీభవించే వైనాన్ని చూడు

For those of you who can understand Telugu , I hope you enjoy these.

Prasad

Humility in my life

I was watching Joe Dummars speaking about his career as a player and now as an executive with the Detroit Pistons. During a largely interesting presentation , one point that stuck to me the most was how Joe's father used to tell him to be firmly on the ground and show humility despite his many achievements. This is a value that I had lived all through my life , thanks again to my parents , who despite their rise in economic stature and their kids being the first to make it to the best undergrad universities in India amongst the family , made sure that we didn't get over board with the achievements.

Coming from a traditional South Indian Brahman family , an emphasis on education and getting a government job were always stressed up on in my family , so much so that people thought good colleges were out of reach for us. My parents however encouraged me to think big which was just the motivation I needed. After getting into BITS-Pilani, one of the best universities in India , the first advise my mother gave me was to go out share the news and enjoy an evening with my friends. I didn't understand why she was stressing on that but I realized it's importance only after I met my friends and some family members. They were all of the idea that the success would have made me a different person. But I was able to clear off their apprehensions and make them feel better. It was my first lesson in humility.

In my professional life, I have had my fair share of success and encountered the challenges that I faced 10 years ago - making sure that people realize that I am still the same person. Reaching out to them resulted in friends for a life time. People trust me a lot now and believe that my core values and I remain the same even to this day and way into the future.

One of the values I would strive to add to any place , organization or person that I encounter is humility because irrespective of the amount of success we achieve or the prestige , position or power it is who we are that defines us in the society. For me, Humility is at the core of that definition.

Tribute to Veturi

one of the legends of Telugu movie industry and my favorites Veturi passed away a week ago. Here is my tribute to his poetry ...

నీ రచన అమోఘం , నీ అలోచన అపారం

మధురం నీ పాట లోని భావం, మది మదినీ ఓలలాడించిన నీ గీతం

తెలుగు చిత్ర సీమ మణిహారం నీవు , తెలుగు వెలుగుల దీపికవు నీవు

నీ కత్తి కి రెండువైపులా పదునే , నీవు లేని తెలుగు పాట కళావిహీనమే

ధికరీంద్రజిత హిమగిరీంద్రస్థిత కంధరా నీలకంధరా అన్నా

పోక పోక తోటకెళితే .. ఆకు చాటు పిందె తడిసె అన్నా అది నీకే చెల్లింది

ఎందరో మహానుభావులు , కాని వేటూరి ఒక్కరే అనిపించిన నీకివే ప్రణామాలు

Why an MBA

The most fundamental of questions. Without having a clear answer for which you cant expect to get an admission. When I apped to ISB, I should honestly say I was bit confused , wasnt really clear on what I wanted to do or where MBA fits into my plans. May be that was the problem with my app and led to a rejection. Last week I had a chance to speak to adcom from Rotterdam and it was my first chance since ISB to explain to anyone where I come from , where I see my career going and where I want it to go , what is the gap and where an MBA fits in. I felt pretty good after that conversation and even the adcom lady agreed that I require an MBA to diversify my skills to attain my goals.

So here is how the conversation went:

Rotterdam adcom (Maryke): " So Prasad, why an mba and why now?"

me : let me explain why I made a few career choices that I made and use it to answer your question.

Maryke : OK

me : "Computers have interested me since my high school. So it was natural for me to choose information systems at BITS-Pilani. However, after getting into college I realized that there is much more to computers that just programming. For ex : During a course called MIS, I was exposed to the concept of decision systems , supply chains and how both are inter related. Learning about how companies like Walmart made good use of these systems to make profits created a huge interest in me to learn about the field of supply chain. Thus I chose i2 Tech, a leader in the supply chain management domain. Over the last 4 years that I have been with them , I have had a chance to learn not only the software part of the job , but also the business side of the problem. For ex : I implemented and maintained software to help a client reduce it's in-transit inventory and improve customer satisfaction. However , the way I see my career going I shall be a solution developer than a consultant who would understand the client's problem and suggest process improvements to solve it. That is where an MBA comes into picture. I want to make that career transition from being a IT Product consultant to the real world of consulting. However to do so I see that I require a lot of analytical skills , a perspective of various business problems and the possible solutions. Additionally , I need a chance to interact with the people in this business and learn from them. Lastly, making such a career change is not possible without an MBA. I wouldnt even get an opportunity to interview with the top consulting firms. An MBA would solve all these problems , provide me with the skills I need and also a network that I can leverage."

Maryke: Agreed , I see that you want to diversify your skill set and you need an MBA. But my suggestion is when you write your resume , be a bit more elaborate and tell us what you did in each of the roles. I see that you have been in Finland and South Africa, that is a good point , but we need to know what you did there.

me : Sure , I will keep that in mind.

After some additional discussion about the school , opps in Europe and across the world we ended our conversation with a small informal talk about Capetown ,SA. Maryke grew up in the cape and I have fond memories of the place. It was a good conversation overall. I discovered a bit about myself and hopefully made a good impression on Maryke.

Some random thoughts about b-schools

I had a lot of time to think about my bschool application strategy , especially after the ISB rejection. Here are some points that I think are important. This post is intended both as a memoir for my future reference as well as a general gyan :)

1 ) Liked the analogy of bschool and a beautiful chick. If you want to date her , you wouldnt say that she is great because of so and so attributes. She must have heard it a thousand times. You would say , you have dreamed of a person who had those beautiful eyes like those of megan fox or the lips of a Angelina Jolie. Some one who carries attitude and at the same time not arrogant, whose smile is as sweet as honey .... and so on....

I made that mistake at ISB. I openly wrote that ISB is good in this way and that but never said why it would suit me.

So trying to relate my personality, goals to a few schools that are already on my list.

Darden : This is the first that comes to my mind. Relating it to my personality , I want to go to a school that stresses on teamwork and helps me develop / enhance my leadership skills. My reason behind wanting to go to a bschool is to gain a diversified set of skills that would help me make a transition to consulting. While this sounds mundane , the difference is how Darden fits into this scheme of things. After four years of work and having seen people of different types, I am sure that an attitude and interest to work in teams is the best culture. Darden develops that. Additionally , during my consulting assignments I had observed that stimulating discussion is what leads to an effective solution. It covers a wide variety of angles , concerns and helps to identify all the corner cases for a problem (excuse me for the software terminology). Here is where case methodology fits in. I feel I will fit perfectly with the kind of environment Darden has and it's teaching style.

Duke : Having worked in Finland and South Africa , I have the first hand experience of how diversity in professional setting helps you to grow both as a professional and as a person. For ex, I heard first hand the brutal effects of apartheid in South Africa. I understood the difference of work cultures in Europe and India, explained a lot about India to a German team mate of mine in Finland , learned about Czech culture and had stimulating discussions on various topics. In that way , Duke ranks at the top of my school list simply because of the diversity that exists in the class both professionally and culturally.

Secondly , Operations and strategy leadership is something that I am looking for through an MBA. Having designed and developed software to improve various operations parameters , for clients , I am of the firm belief that supply chain consulting still has a huge role to play. Given that India is rapidly growing economically this leads to a lot of opportunities in various sectors where best operations practices would help. In that sense I want an education that has good courses in operations , supply chain management and strategy. I went through the course list on Duke's website and it has a well rounded set of courses that would surely come in handy.

Duke is young and vibrant as I understood from it's alumni and additionally Dean Shepperd created a very good impression on me. Attend his conference last year and was truly attracted by what he said , especially about Duke trying to develop an international outlook. Their expansion plans are a testimony to the same. I hope these exercises have a ripple affect on the curriculum and culture at Duke.

Ross : Again international Diversity and hands on experience. Simply an action packed school with so many options like tauber , MAPs and WD institute . Being someone who wants to work in India in the longer run , I feel WD institute would provide me with the necessary contacts. A look at ross website shows how much of a team oriented school they are and they have an excellent program in General management covering the ares of operations and strategy. No doubt I will be apping to Ross in R1. Ross again has some awesome courses for Supply chain management along with a very active club and the internships Tauber can offer are an incentive. Ross has very good descriptions of the various courses on it's website and it is certainly worth looking at. MAPS are a definite plus and for people who want to move to consulting , they are sure to enhance your skills.

Kellogg : What gives you a chance to interview with top tier consulting firms ? -- brand and that is exactly what Kellog has. You can choose this school simply for it's value but the buck doesnt stop there. Team culture is something that Kellogg breathes day in and day out. Additionally , it has excellent courses in strategy and operations along with some very well known names in the management field - Sunil Chopra , Deepak Jain. Another dimension of Kellogg is it's international perspective through GIMs. Infact Kellogg is the first school that helped me get a very good idea of what operations consulting is about. The ops club at Kellogg organizes leadership series and site visits which help gain a fist hand perspective of operations.

Johnson (cornell) : Class size , very good focus on consulting, responsive alumni and students. Infact cornell, ross alumni have been highly responsive to my emails. Spoke to Christian P , the consulting club president at Cornell and his enthusiasm was evident even through the mails. The immersion programmes appeal to someone like me who likes a more practical learning that class room based teaching. Immersion in strategic operations is a program that I would surely look forward to if I make it to cornell. The bigger advantage is the Cornell experience , with a strong alumni network cornell should rank among the top 5 for my app.

Kenan flagler : Met their adcom in a meeting in Bangalore and have been thoroughly impressed. Not only by the school profile , but also by their strength in General management and operations. They have quite a few good courses in this area and in my research I found this to be the only school that gives high importance to Sustainability. Given that my long term plans are to start my own consulting firm in India, sustainability is an aspect that would be core to my plans. Learning about creating sustainable enterprises would certainly help. Again a small class and tight knit community

That kind of sums up ....