LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

No No.. I am not going to present my reviews on Roberto Benigni's classic "Life is Beautiful". But I decided to borrow this name for todays post. This movie has always remained amongst my all time favorites (after 1998, ofcourse). Any time, when I have strange emotions, the scenes of this movie flash before my eyes.

Ship R was launched today in yard H. I have attended so many lauchings, but I have never felt this kind of emotion before. There are so many things we do without realising that we are doing it for the last time. But today is a different story. By most likelihood, this is the last launching I will be witnessing. Now that I have mentiond the word "launching", I will write a couple of sentences about launching. In the lingo of a Naval Architect, launching is that stage of a ship's construction when she enters into the waters for the first time. No, not to sail. Construction work is still not over. But the hull is ready and ship neednot stay in the drydock. After the ship is fully launched, the machineries which are installed on the ships are tested. But she is strong enough to stay in the quay side, half of her body inside the water and wait for further co-operation and warmth from all the people who are involved in her birth.

Well, now let me get back to analyse the question "Why MBA". This is a very complex question mostly because we human beings are inherently different from one another. Have you ever thought why you dislike some particular food (lets say water melon) while your friend cannot live without that? Why is it that each of us have a distinctive choice of books, music, movies and more importantly people?There is no clear answer to this question. The inference is that we are all different from our neighbour in our ideas, aspirations, passions, profession and similar abstract nouns. So my idea of pursuing MBA is strictly based on my ideas, aspirations, passions, profession........

Now after spending time in some wonderful yards, why do I decide to pursue an MBA. There are people who say-" if you wanted to join an MBA program then why did you join IIT, and why did you join shipping and what not". I feel that there are lot of people who think that MBA and technical skills are mutually exclusive to each other. You can either possess one of the two skills. But is this really the situation? I guess not. I strongly feel that in the kind of profession in which I am in, technical background is a big plus. And I do feel that the same logic holds good for other professions also. If I donot understand how MEPC 107(49) (those who belong to different professions, read MEPC as the governing authority which dictates rules to prevent maritime pollution) is going to affect the fleet and hence the trading, then how do I decide to make the most logical budget planning for the marine environment protection department. Just to reiterate, a single instant of marine pollution by a single ship has the potential to create unprecendented economical and environmental disasters.

Now that I have mentioned the need of technical knowledge, I must admit that nowadays the decision making role is often assigned to an MBA who may or maynot have technical background. So here fits in my decision to knock the doors of an MBA school. If it involves pure financial decisions like bonds, equity etc. then technical knowledge doesnot matter. But if it involves decision making that can affect the safety of people, trade ambience, operations and the marine environment, then I feel the MBA must be backed with sufficient technical knowledge. Having said this I give due importance to all the hard core finance, marketing MBAs who are equally effective in creating the wealth of a company. Also MBAs develop decent soft skills and proactiveness (not that non MBAs dont have it) which is extremely important to remain competitive in the fast pace business world. Thus I feel MBA will be a great learning experience. Also one should not forget that going back to any school is the quickest and the most effective method to gain contacts.

Having said this, I must agree to the fact that there are amazing individuals around us who are in the peak of success without an MBA. After all it depends on one particular individual what way one chose to make one's life beautiful. Isn't it? With MBA, if required; without MBA if possible.

OK guys, I think enough of blogging today. Time for me to switch over to a different work (trying to practise the so called "time management").

byebye