It is 6:23am on Feb 25th. I'm in Hyderabad, a little jetlagged naturally (which is why I'm up writing a blog). I landed hours ago, and am still getting used to the idea. I'm tempted by habit to open up my browser and go check out NYTimes.com or cnn.com or Reuters' US news section - but am strangely uncertain if I should be interested in Hillary v/s Barack anymore. (Of course I'll stay interested just as I was deeply interested in BJP v/s Congress during my first few months in the US). For now, I'll have to start getting used to a new set of news and finance websites.
I thought I should capture what I did over the last few weeks, after I left California and my job, and what has going through my mind.
It was a little difficult getting used to not having 50 emails a day from work, and another 50 overnight from the engineers in Taiwan. For the first week or so I couldn't sleep beyond 730am even though I was not working anymore. I temporarily assumed charge of the kitchen for a couple of weeks, and cooked while my wife went to work. I actually didn't mind being the "househusband", actually :). I found out what shows are on TV during the day - Re-runs of Tim Allen's Home Improvement, mostly. I used my time to catch up with lots of "technology reading". Solar energy, biofuels, and the like. I'll write separately on my thoughts about solar energy.
I spent a lot of time thinking about this decision. Here are the answers I came up with. This was sort of a reality check, and it was good to discover for myself that my thought process was still consistent.
(Q) Why MBA?
(A) Too much technology goes waste because it developed for the sake of itself, rather than to serve a need. Engineers make things because they find it cool, and because they can. I'd like to approach technology from the other side. What solutions will people pay for? That's what, I think, matters. And as an Engineer, I don't have the tools to answer this question. (Just as an example, I don't believe Hydrogen fuel cell cars will sell, because that's what they are - engineer's cool toys).
(Q) Why in India?
(A) IIMA is a great school. Regardless of what the global rankings say. It is like IIT - not ranked, but clearly very high quality. But more importantly, because India has palpable and contageous energy. When I visited my hometown in interior Andhra in April/May of 2005 and 2006, I realized that it was the middle of the exam-result-admission season. There was only one topic on the minds of every youth around me - their educational path. The 15-year old son of the rickshaw puller wanted to know what specialization to follow in the local Polytechnic school once I helped him look up his SSLC scores on the internet (!). The neighbor's 17-year old son was busy studying for IIT and EAMCET exams, and came to me for advice on how to prepare and what coaching material to focus on. Then there was this other neighbor's daughter who went to a local degree college, and wanted to know what computer course to take. "Anna, is C++ better or Java or Oracle?". Since her dad couldn't pay for her computer course, she had saved up some money and worked hard to get into the computer institute with a discounted fee. All this - I miss the excitement of an Indian education, and the Indian focus on academic achievement and performance. That's why I want to study in India.
(Q) Did I really want to quit my job or was all I needed a 1 month vacation?
(A) This was an interesting question. 3 weeks into my "retirement", I felt refreshed enough to take on the stress of my old job again. This reminded me of a couple of things. (1) Every job will have aggravations; I should not be running away from one job hoping that the next will somehow be better. (2) Long vacations indeed help get re-energized, more so than short vacations do.
(Q) What will I miss most about the west when I return to India
(A) Good, clean public restrooms.
Well - I'm looking forward to the next year at IIMA and more years working in India...
Sunday, February 24, 2008
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