MBA Manual.,

Considered to be one of the most prestigious degrees around the world, Masters in Business Administration (MBA) is a post-graduate degree awarded to those who learn and master the skills of managing a business. As it is related to any business and not just a specific field, it attracts students from varied backgrounds.

In an MBA program, students study various applications of management principles, which are sure to be helpful in real life business situations. More than half of the MBA course concentrates on general management applicable to any business. The other part is a specialization in an area of one's choice.

Primarily one can specialize in the following areas in MBA:

1. Marketing

2. Finance

3. Human Resources

4. Information Technology

5. Operations

Now, what really makes MBA special...

1. Money: For many MBA aspirants, joining the course is nothing but an investment. They simply calculate the ROI before hand and then decide to join any college. In these cases, the main reason to join MBA is the pay package you are likely to get.

2. Education: It’s not just a matter of money; you can also see a drastic change in your own personality. You can feel the difference once you complete your MBA. You will get to learn a lot. Of course it depends on how serious you are while you are doing your MBA and from where you are doing it.

3. Launch pad for a great career: People say that there is no shortcut for success, but I think that MBA is a shortcut for your career. Simply put, a graduate with half decade of experience will hardly be given as much preference as a person with an MBA degree.

Now, let me list reasons why you really must opt for a course of this sort. But before I go on to list reasons of my own, here are a few I managed to accumulate from a sizable group of students who are pro-MBA. Some good, some not so good, here are they nevertheless:

• I want to pursue MBA because my dad asked me to do so
• I want a very good salary and I am told that I will get one once I finish MBA
• Just because everyone is doing, I am also interested to join
• I think there is a huge demand for people with MBA in the market
• I have nothing to do so thought to finish my MBA
• For the sake of an additional degree.
• I am too young to go for a job so I want to do MBA and then look for a job
• The Return On Investment (ROI) which I will get on MBA is higher when compared to the other degrees
• There really will be many more reasons, but reasons such as these aren't really enough. One should really understand what difference an MBA degree can make in one's career path and personality.

There really will be many more reasons, but reasons such as these aren't really enough. One should really understand what difference an MBA degree can make in one's career path and personality.

What recruiters look in an MBA grad?

If you are applying for a job on your MBA degree, then you must understand what exactly companies expect from MBA grads. The main reason why companies recruit MBA grads is to maximize their profitability with minimum resource utilization. Be it any specialization, an MBA grad is expected to use his management skills which he/she has learned in college and fine tune the business.

The following are some of the qualities which recruiters look for in an MBA grad:

Fast Learner: MBA grads are expected to be very fast learners. It is not necessary that one will get a job in the field of his choice. For most MBA grads, the role and industry they join as soon as they complete their degree is a complete new world. But the two years education behind them is sure to give them enough understanding about the general management in any business. The key lies in quickly understanding the business and industry to produce maximum output.

Resource Management: Once you join an organization you are expected to utilize the resources effectively. The mantra is 'minimum resources and maximum output'. One must have the ability to utilize the resources well. The subordinates are also resources of the company; one should also have the ability to manage people.

Business Development: Be it any specialization (HR, Finance, Marketing) MBA grads are always expected to be working towards the growth of the company as a whole. If you are an MBA grad hired by a company and you are not contributing much for the growth of the company, then there will not be any difference between a normal graduate and an MBA. So your presence should always be felt in the organization.

Ready to Accept New Challenges: Every organization prefers a person who readily accepts challenges. For a fresher, it is very much important to understand his role in the organization. As soon as the training period ends, the entire focus comes on performance. The more successfully you complete challenging tasks, the more you are valued in the organization.

These were some of the major things recruiters look for in an MBA grad, so if you are joining an MBA course make sure you concentrate on all these things and work on these lines to get an edge over others.

The Deadly Swine Flu....

Swine Flu….

Swine flu is an acute and highly contagiously disease, this disease is more common in swine or pigs. It is a contagious disease and can spread from one human to another. This virus was first detected this year in human beings in United States in April 2009. Since then we have a lot of cases of people who are affected by Swine Flu. Those who have heart and lung diseases are more prone to Swine flu.

The symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of normal influenza or flu:

• Cough
• Sore throat
• Severe Headache
• Body aches
• Fatigue
• Chills
• Fever
• Weakness
• General Discomfort

The swine flu in human beings is most contagious during the first five days of illness and for children it will be contagious for the first ten days. There are various ways by which this swine flu spreads. Between humans it spreads through sneezing or through cough. It also spreads if you happen to touch a surface of any thing which has the virus on it and then touching your own nose or mouth. It does not spread through food if properly cooked. The swine flu virus can stay live on a hard surface for 24 hrs and on a soft surface for 20 minutes.

Precautions to be taken to avoid Swine Flu:

• Frequently washing hands with soap can reduce the risk of swine flu, especially when you are in a public place. Washing hands with soap may kill the most of the germs.
• Keep your home clean with daily wiping it using bleach especially your wash area and your kitchen.
• Clean the surfaces of everything like TV, Refrigerator etc….. to get rid of the germs
• Do not touch your nose or mouth frequently unless you wash your hands properly with soap.
• Use tissues whenever you are sneezing or coughing and throw the tissue in the dust bin immediately after using.
• If you do not have a tissue handy, turn your face and put your hand covering your side while sneezing or coughing and immediately wash your hands with soap.
• Maintain basic hygiene, and try to get a minimum of 8 hours of good sleep so that your immune system will be intact to fight with it.

If you are already a victim of the virus:

• First contact your doctor so that he can take the samples and send it to the appropriate lab where the swine flu testing can be done.
• Avoid frequent contacts with your family and friends.
• Take a leave and be at home, do not go to the office/school/college.
• Cover your nose and mouth so that while sneezing or coughing the virus will not be transmitted.
• Everyone in the house should make a habit of washing hands frequently.
• Take complete rest so that the immune system of your body can fight well with the virus.

Papikondulu Trip.... A day long Cruising

After a month long discussion and research, we zeroed down on a place called Papikondulu in Andhra Pradesh. We started to plan an office colleague outing in the month of June. We thought of going out in the first week of July. Initially everyone was very much excited and thought that we will go for a week long tour to Kerala. We did an extensive research of the Kerala trip. We planned completely how to go, which all places to visit, and even what to wear on each day. But slowly out of our group of 10 members, people started saying no for the trip and finally we had to cancel the trip.

Then we changed our destination from Kerala to Vizag and again the same thing, we had to cancel the Vizag trip as well. Finally we thought of going to Papikondulu and we booked our tickets on the day of departure.

Papikondulu: It is a series of lush green hills, located on the bank of river Godavari in Andhra Pradesh.

To reach Papikondulu, we need to go to a place called Pochavaram which is 70 km away from Bhadrachalam (Bhadrachalam is a place where we have this famous Rama temple). We have a direct train to Bhadrachalam from Hyderabad (Machlipatnam Express). Bhadrachalam is around 282 Km from Secunderabad. The fare for a second class ticket in a train from Secunderabad to Bhadrachalam would be Rs. 147 per head. It is the cheapest mode of transport. But as we finalized the trip on the day of departure, we could not get confirm tickets for that particular train. So we had to select another mode of transport. For those who are going from Hyderabad, make sure that you book your tickets at least one week before. We booked Volvo tickets and finally were ready to go.

We started our journey on Saturday at around 11:45 pm. from Lakdi-ka-pool, Hyderabad. I guess there is only one Volvo bus to Bhadrachalam from Hyderabad. The bus was supposed to reach at 5:30 am on Sunday, but we reached to Bhadrachalam at around 7am. The Volvo dropped us near the RTC bus stand. As we did not book our hotel room in advance we had to take a single room just to fresh up and proceed. The charges for a single person to fresh up were Rs. 50 per head.

By the time we took bath and came back, the bus which could take us to Pochavaram was already left. Actually the Launchs start from a place called Sriramagiri and go till Papikondulu and come back, but since the water level is less many of the launchs shifted their starting point to Pochavaram.

As we missed the bus, we enquired about a taxi for both onward and return journey to Pochavaram. They were asking some where around Rs. 1600 for pick up and drop. Then we asked the three wheeled taxies popularly know as autowala and he was ready to drop us at the starting point of launchs and again pick us from there and drop back to Bhadrachalam. He charged Rs. 600 for 5 members.

While our journey to Pochavaram, we saw many small villages in between. Most of the houses in the villages where single storied huts. And while on our way, the morning breeze was so good and we felt so fresh that we forgot the complete strain of our journey from Hyderabad to Bhadrachalam.

We were not completely sure whether we will be able to catch a launch as we were very late. We enquired about it to the auto driver and he said that he will take us to Sriramgiri, from where we can expect launch.

We reached Sriramgiri at around 10.30 am, and luckily one launch was available for boarding. We took tickets and entered into the launch….

You can book a package tour from Bhadrachalam as well to avoid inconvenience. They will charge some where around Rs. 400 per head (including pick and drop from Bhadrachalam and the boat ticket). These people have some kind of boat owners’ association and the fixed rate for a complete Papikondulu trip from Sriramgiri was Rs. 250 per head. This includes a 6 hours boat journey and a lunch on an island near Papikondulu. A P Tourism has a package tour from Hyderabad. I personally found the A P Tourism package a little expensive and thought of going on our own.

Before going on the Papikondulu trip, we did a lot of home work. We tried to find out the best way to go and thought about booking an AP tourism package from Hyderabad. AP tourism offers a two day package tour including stay in a cottage on an island near Papikondulu and also complete food. But could not book AP tourism because of lack of time.

The launch which we entered was double decked. The lower deck of the launch had wooden flooring and cushion seats on all the sides of the deck. They also kept some plastic chairs and stools for sitting in the lower deck. We went straight to the upper deck as it is open and you can enjoy the entire scenery from there. The cruise in the launch arranged beddings to sit and there was a mesh covering more than half of the launch.

The launch started at around 10.45 am. Initially most of the people entered in the launch came on the upper deck as it is open and you can have a clear view of all the scenery. Somehow we came earlier than others so were able to grab a place in the upper deck. The Papikondulu trip is not just about the Papikondulu hills, it is also about the small islands which you can see while on your way to your destination.

Our first stop was at “Perantalapalli.” It’s a very good place with a small but beautiful water fall. We reached there and the cruise told us to come back within half-an-hour. You need to climb around 30 steps to reach a Ramakrishna’s Math.

When we reached there we saw water coming in from somewhere upwards. We thought of exploring and we went to find out the origin of the water. We reached to a place where there was a small water fall. The water here is very clean and cold and you can even drink it.

We played in the waterfall for a while and then remembered about the 30 minutes time. While we were coming back to the launch we found the cruise members in the mid way, they were searching us as the entire launch was waiting for us. We could not even see that Ramkrishna’s Math. We came back to the launch and it started immediately for the next destination.

Our next destination was Papikondulu Hills. I expected these hills to be very different from what we normally see, but there was not much difference. Not to mention, the scenery was un-describable. You need to visit once to believe it. As ours was a one day tour, we did not land on the island near the Papikondulu Hills. I guess the AP tourism cottages were there on one of the island near the Papikondulu Hill.

The Launch took a complete U-turn in Godavari and we started our return journey. We were told that there will be a lunch near the Papikondulu Hills. As everyone was very hungry we were just waiting to land on an island to have our lunch. We saw that all the launches were stopping at one place and there was a huge crowed. We reached this place and everyone got down to have lunch. There was a long queue for lunch. I remembered my college days when I used to stay in hostel and use to stand in similar queues for my lunch and dinner. Soon we reached near the counter and they served all the items. The food was good, we had rice, dal, sambar, cabbage curry, pickle, a sweet and butter milk.

After lunch we boarded the launch once again and were on our way back to Sriramgiri. On the lower deck, on one of the extreme end there was some place to sit. We sat there for a while by leaving our legs outside the launch. Due to speed of the launch and the flow of the water the water was touching our feet. I guess there we have two different rivers meeting each other. We have a river called Sabari and another is Godavari. River Sabari merges with River Godavari near Bhadrachalam. We were clearly able to see two different colored water.

While our return journey to Sriramgiri, most of the people on our launch slept. We reached back to our starting point at around 4:45 pm. Our autowala was waiting to pick us and take us back to Bhadrachalam. We asked him to drop us at the Rama temple of Bhadrachalam. We reached the temple at around 7:15 and took darshanam and once again took an auto to reach the bus stand. Our APSRTC bus was at 9 pm. We spent some time there at the bus stand and finally boarded our Supper Luxery bus for our return journey to Hyderbad at around 9 pm,……

Call Cabs in Hyderabad

Previously, I use to think that Hyderabadi autowalas are very rude and they do not listen to you. If you have an emergency you end up paying more to these greedy autowalas. But later on I discovered that it has nothing to do with Hyderabad city. Almost every city will have similar autowalas. They work on there own wish. They will be very rude by nature and will rarely agree to come to a nearer distance by putting the meter. They will ask much higher amount to travel a very little distance. One has to be always on the mercy of these autowalas.

But now the good news is, we have cabs which would cost you may be some times less than an auto. Thanks to the ever changing dynamic competitive environment. Lot many cab player have come up in the last five years. The most easy and affordable way to book a cab is through the apps of different cab providers. Few of them would give the first ride for free. It would be as simple as download the app, register with the cab provider and book a ride. The free ride would range from Rs. 100 to Rs. 600.

Few of them are charging as low as Rs. 25 as the minimum charges and then per kilometre it would be Rs. 10. For example: Taxi for sure would provide you a nano at Rs. 25 as minimum charges and Rs. 10 per km. But remember they would also charge something called trip charges at Rs. 1.25 per minute. Which means for example you are travelling a distance of 10km and the journey took 30 min to complete then the total fare would be 25 (Min Charges) + 100 (10x10) + 37.5 (Trip charges 1.25 * 30 min) = Rs. 162.5.

In future, maybe like other metro cities, in Hyderabad also the autos will be banned to enter into the main city. Government may also plan to give easier and cheaper loans to Autowalas to upgrade from an auto to a cab.

The following are the numbers of various Cabs who operate in Hyderabad:

1. Meeru Cabs :    040 - 44224422
2. Orange Cabs :    040 - 44454647, 66315555, 66325555
3. Dot Cabs :    040 - 24242424
4. Green Cabs :    040 - 24606060
5. Yello Cabs :    040 - 46464646
6. Cel Cabs  :     040 - 60609090
7. City Cabs  :    040 - 66206620
8. Easy Cabs   :     040 - 43434343 
9. Zee Cabs : 040 - 42424242
10. Sky Cabs : 040 - 49494949
11. Cab One : 040 - 71111111 

Apart from the above mentioned numbers, there are three more cabs which you can book which are very famous these days.

1. Ola Cabs : 040 - 33553355  
2. Taxi For Sure: 040 - 60601010
3. Uber Cabs : You need to download the app for uber. 

Simple go to the play store and search for uber app.

To get first ride for free please give the invite code as 

 
                                                           "amitk3738ue"
Uber and Ola are competing for the most economical cabs slot. Make sure you book a cab well in advance, otherwise for shorter distance these people would give some reason and say that the Cab is not available presently in the area which you mentioned. 

You can also know and compare the approximate cab bill before hand by using sites like https://www.cabdekho.com/