Where do the MBA students disappear after class?

This is a question that has recently been perplexing the crowd around the Mochtar Riady building that sees most MBA students purposefully walking out of the b-school after class. It is definitely not the well-stocked library or the recently constructed U-Town (the University’s new residential complex where most MBA students stay) that these students go to. With dog-like determination in their stride and ninja-like focus in their eyes, these MBA students must surely be up to something really important.

Some investigation into the matter unearthed a few surprising facts. These students rush to a room called RIGOUROUS inside the MBA Student Lounge (a lounge with meeting rooms, study desks, and other modern amenities for the exclusive use of MBA students). But what happens inside RIGOUROUS? To find out more, I stepped into the MBA Student Lounge one day.

Locating RIGOUROUS inside the lounge was not difficult—there was an excited noise, dampened by the closed door that led me straight to it. On entering the room, I saw a large group of students huddled around. Jostling my way through the crowd, I found myself at the edge of something unexpected. A foosball table!! A game was on: it was Vincent and Jitendh versus Neha and Hoang. Despite the well-functioning Air Conditioner, I could see the sweat on their brow and could smell the adrenaline in the air! The battered look of the table and the war marks on the foosball players (or maybe American football players now, being all taped up) bore testimony that I wasn’t witnessing the first battle to be fought on this battlefield. After Neha and Hoang, with their powerful and strategic play (respectively), made an otherwise long game, short, I decided to catch up with the foosball crowd.

 

According to Vincent, who Ashok calls a foosball fanatic, “Foosball is a way of life. You win some and you lose some but in the end what matters is the spirit with which you play. For me, the moment I hear the word ‘foosball’, I subconsciously start rotating my wrists.” Akhil, another avid foosball player, says, “Apart from all the usual group studies, meetings, and networking dinners, a good place to build friendships and develop camaraderie is sports—in this case foosball.” I agree with him. It has long been proven that team games, among other things, help develop long-term bonds. Along with being a good stress buster, after a long day of lectures and assignments, foosball helps students from different batches and nationalities team up and play on each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Realising this fact, Mohit, our Sports Club President, has been actively involved in the process of arranging various sports events with other business schools and corporate teams.

It is interesting to observe how certain unobvious and ‘seemingly inconsequential’ things like foosball can go a long way in fostering friendships and enhancing the MBA experience. While Jose, the President of our Student Council, a foosball enthusiast himself, is repeatedly being urged by his classmates to request the MBA Office to sanction a new foosball table, it is only time that will show when his efforts bear fruit. Till then these foosball junkies will continue to slog it out on the existing one. See you at RIGOUROUS!


Devmanyu Singh (Indian)

Full Time MBA student, Class of 2013

What do Jobs, Departures and the NUS MBA program have in common?

I am obviously still hung over from reading Freakonomics, especially after following it up with Superfreakonomics, where seemingly unrelated things are unified by something; ergo, my question.

Here goes my attempt at answering it:

In medias res

I encountered the phrase in Steve Jobs’ sister’s eulogy, where she said “we all die in medias res - in the middle of a story, of many stories”.

I am not a big Apple fan, which is probably an understatement since the only Apple product I own is an iPod classic, which I bought several years back. In fact, I am a technology-challenged individual, who has been a frequent customer of the IT help desk in my previous companies. But, surprisingly, I got hooked on learning about the life of Steve Jobs and how he sadly died in the middle of his story.

I just finished reading his biography (the Kindle edition - I’m not that out-dated), sacrificing a lot of readings at school in the process. After shedding a few tears (okay, not just a few), I contemplated on the thing that struck me the most - what drove him to do the things that he did. He had this belief that you have to contribute something to the world, like the people before you, and since he wasn’t a mathematician, nor an athlete, nor a singer, he believed his contribution was inventing these great things – the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad – and he did it with such passion and care and intensity.

This got me into thinking about what I have contributed to the world. I’m also not a mathematician (I do like math though), nor an athlete (I don’t think I have to reiterate the number of sports I have attempted, and failed, to learn), nor a singer (if I can only convince everybody else to change their taste to listening to my kind of singing). Worse, I am under constant pressure by the fact that I have two doctors as my siblings (while one is searching for a cure for cancer in the U.S., the other is saving the lives of numerous children in my home country).

Is what I’m already doing meaningful enough to count? (Let me qualify – I’m actually not doing anything right now except go to school, but I meant the question figuratively, rather than literally.)

This brings me to the next item on the list…

Okuribito
My professor in my Asia Business Environment class, following his belief that not everything you learn are found in textbooks (I second the motion), scheduled a series of Saturday sessions for the class to watch a movie produced in the Asian countries we were studying.

I was able to watch the Japanese movie, “Okuribito”, which means “Departures”. The film won an Oscar award in 2008 for Best Film in a Foreign Language.

In as much as I liked watching movies, and reading books, I somehow find the combination (i.e., watching a foreign movie while reading subtitles) unappealing. After watching the movie, however, I suddenly want to watch more foreign movies, despite the subtitles.

“Departures” is about Daigo, a young cello player who lost his job when the orchestra he was playing for got dissolved. While searching for a new job, he came across an ad for “assisting the departures”, which requires no previous experience and offers a high salary. It turned out that the job description in the ad was a typo error – it should have read, “assisting the departed”. Daigo thus became an encofinner, who cleans and prepares the body before being cremated. In the process, he realizes the meaning of what he does, and he does his job with great care. Towards the end of the movie, his wife asks him to quit his job for others view it as dishonourable, but he chooses to keep it. The last few scenes show his wife finally accepting what he does, and him being given a chance to be reunited with his estranged father as he prepares his father’s body for cremation.

I was trying so hard to quickly wipe away my tears for I was watching it with the rest of the class. But I later saw my tear-stained cheeks in the bathroom mirror.

Personally, I don’t think it’ll help me to be an encofinner for I’m afraid of dead bodies, I never watch horror movies and I almost failed high school biology. This time off from work though does give me the chance to watch movies such as this, reflect and think about what I have done and what I have to do and what I want to do.

Which brings me to the last item on the list…

My pause button

After so many years in the workforce, I felt the need to hit the pause button, take a step back and just breathe.

I did.

So here I am, taking a step back. And breathing. And reading several textbooks and cases. And writing several project reports. And studying for several exams. And yes, still breathing.

(Maybe I should have written this blog much, much later.)

Seriously, nearly one semester into this program, my views about the world and my perspectives have changed, not radically, but enough to get me out of the myopic way I used to think. I’m not expecting a light bulb to suddenly go off in my head and illuminate my way into a meaningful life, because I would like to believe I am already there - living a meaningful life. I would also like to believe that these three seemingly unrelated things – Jobs, Departures and the NUS MBA program – will inspire me to live a more meaningful one.


Charisse Rossielin Cruz (Filipino)
Full Time MBA student, Class of 2013