Initially, you could enter the parking lot and go to arrivals without having to pay any parking charges since the first 15 mins were free. On one of my recent visits however I saw that they have changed that policy and if I need to take my car to arrivals I have to pay a minimum of Rs. 30!!!

Now that’s a pure rip-off! If my passenger is already waiting outside arrivals and I only have to drive up to pick them up why should I be paying at all??? I’ve not seen this happen at any other Indian or international airport. While I understand that GMR needs to recover its investment, I’m sure there are better ways of doing that rather than use dirty tricks.

Anyways, I doubt any amount of ranting is going to help, so here’s the trick to pick up your passenger without having to pay the stupid parking fees. Ask your passenger to come upstairs to the departure area. There is an elevator as well as escalators which the passengers can use. Driving up to the departure area is free. It might still be inconvenient for the passengers, esp. if they have lots of luggage, but atleast there’s an option.

Firefox 3 has got a ton of new features and is awesomely fast. Especially sites that use a lot of Javascript (like gmail) are much faster than FF2 or IE. I’ve been using the Firefox 3 release candidates for some time now and its great. Here are some links that go into detail about the new features:

• Top 10 Firefox 3 Features
• Why You Should Download Firefox 3 Right Now
• Field Guide to Firefox 3

And if you’re already using Firefox 3 here’s a Power User’s Guide to Firefox 3.

Now if only we could get our hands on the download and help Mozilla set a world record!

Edit: 0020 hrs IST – Its downloading!

Airport Disaster Drill
Visit to the New Hyderabad International Airport

The new airport is one huge thing and unlike anything you would have ever seen in India. The current structure is supposed to be designed to handle 12 million passengers a year (current Hyderabad traffic is around 7 million passengers). When the whole airport is completely built it would be able to handle 40 million passengers a year, but that’s still quite a few years away. They’ve built loads of check in counters and huge baggage claim areas, so I guess long queues should be a thing of the past.

The only problem is the distance of the airport from the city. Currently it’ll take about 1 to 1.5 hours from Banjara Hills to reach the airport. The expressway is going to take ages to be ready. So if you’re planning day-trips to Hyderabad, think twice!!

Update: Right after the inauguration they announced that the new Airport’s launch will be delayed. It seems that the airlines are not ready to tie up with the new ground handling agencies since they are charging a bomb! Well whatever the reason, atleast I’m happy that Begumpet airport is open for a little while longer

Some photos:

Apollo’s Airport Medical Team:

The airport:

The departure area:

I like its software – the calendar, email app, etc. However, I do wish the alarm would have a longer snooze function! The current 5 mins is a little too short for my liking. I’ve been playing around with Wi-Fi and GPRS both. I like Gmail’s little app which I have downloaded. I’ve also got quite used to the keyboard and can tap out a short email/SMS pretty quickly.

The camera’s decent too, but after having used my Nikon dSLR for so long it feels really slow…

I’ve been looking around for some cool little apps for the phone but haven’t found anything interesting yet. Any suggestions?

But if we see today Google seems to have one of the best known brands on the Internet. And I think there are some really clever marketing ppl behind this. I’m really coming around to the view that Google’s slow roll-outs of Gmail and its newer versions and invitation-only betas to new products are all smart marketing tactics to create buzz around these things. Further, I refuse to believe that Google has no hand to play in all the speculation that happens around their upcoming launches.

Take for example the two most recent releases – OpenSocial and the Android/OHA mobile phone OS. I must have read hundreds of blog posts (on what else but Google Reader ) about these 2 over the last couple of months. Should I really believe that this is all speculation and is not being fuelled by Google? I find it a little too hard to believe that.

Gmail was the first “big” launch that I remember from Google. I can still remember searching all across the Net for an invite to Gmail till I finally got one. The amount of buzz that was generated then was awesome and I think Google has successfully re-created that around OpenSocial and Android/OHA.

But whatever you say I like the things these guys are building. And if you missed the update that is being rolled out across Gmail accounts now, look out for my next post. My wife’s Gmail has been updated to the new version and as a result I spend more time in her mailbox than mine

I’ve taken this opportunity to make my blog mobile ready and this post is coming from my phone!

Work has started to become extremely busy – I haven’t had a single day’s break in the last 10 days now – nope not even Sunday and Dussehra! Its fun though, lots of challenges…

Been getting a chance to meet up with a lot of ISB alumni and current students when they head down to Apollo. It was also great to be back to ISB for the dandiya night. A lot of people from our batch turned up so it was great. (Got a chance to dust off my camera, will post the pics soon!)

I’ve also decided to start blogging about new interesting stuff that I read/find on the Net/etc. Look forward to that…

Disclaimer: This info is not officially from ISB and is what I understand of the admission procedure here. If after reading this, you don’t get in, don’t blame me!!

Q. What are the opportunities available to doctors after an MBA?
A. After an MBA a doctor could get into one of the following industries:

• Healthcare services delivery (hospitals, hospital chains)
• Pharmaceutical companies
• Biotech companies
• Healthcare consulting
• NGOs

The functional areas where you could get in are (by industry):

• Healthcare services delivery (hospitals, hospital chains)
  • Marketing and customer relations
  • Sales
  • Operations – This is where I’ve got a job now with Apollo Hyderabad
  • Business development
• Pharmaceutical and biotech companies
  • Marketing and customer relations
  • Sales
  • Operations
  • Business development
  • Licensing
  • Discovery project management and evaluation
  • Medico-marketing

Q. How should I prepare to get into a B-school?
A. I’ll concentrate on how to apply for ISB. These points would generally apply to most US & European B-schools. IIMs is a different ball-game and I suggest talking to a current student or alum from an IIM. Send an email to one of the IIM’s alumni association. I had a pleasant experience there and got a lot of responses.

ISB will look at the following parts of your application to decide whether you fit in or not:

• Essays
• Work Experience
• Recommendations
• GMAT
• Interview

Your application will most probably be compared with people from similar backgrounds, for e.g. techies will be compared with other techies and doctors with other doctors.

At the outset let me clarify that GMAT is not the only criteria for admission. Each of the above points will be weighted more or less equally, so concentrate on all of them!

Essays
ISB will ask you to write 4-5 essays as part of your application. The topics vary from year to year so take a look at the application and write. Ensure that there are no spelling or grammatical mistakes and above all be honest. An interviewer can usually find out if you are dishonest! I guess it might be OK to discuss the essay with family and friends, but its definitely not OK to get a professional to write it for you. ISB will definitely find out if its written by a pro.

Work Experience
Here you tell ISB about what you’ve done in your career till now. On the basis of this ISB assesses what skills you possess or have acquired. Tell them all that you have done, don’t be shy, but don’t write anything you have not actually done!

Recommendations
ISB requires you to send 2 recos with your application. According to me the best recos would be from your supervisors/bosses at work. It’s a pretty comprehensive document. Make sure the person who writes the reco knows you well. Don’t try and fudge the reco or fill it up for the recommender! Ask the recommender to fill it up, sign it and give it to you in a sealed envelope, with their signature across the seal.

GMAT
Last, but not the least, the GMAT. ISB’s average GMAT score has been rising and our batch (2007 batch) has an average of 706! If you get anything below 650, then you might wanna retake the exam, unless you have something exceptional in your profile, essay or work experience.

While I was preparing for my MBA admission, I was also taking coaching for CAT. This helped me a lot with the Maths. Then, I took a short course at Kaplan for the GMAT, did some questions and full-length tests, and went and gave the exam. Got decent marks and that was the end of it.

You should also read this excellent article – 10 secrets for getting into a top B-school
I agree with all the points in this article, except point 4. I agree with the part about not rushing your application but not with the part about round 1. I think you should apply for round 1 only, but ensure you start your preparation and application process well in time so that you do not rush the application. This will especially be true for MBBS grads since they might take more time preparing for the maths parts of the exams.

Q. Does ISB consider my MBBS internship as work experience?
A. Yes! (IIMs don’t) Not anymore.

Q. Does ISB consider my 3 years of MD/MS as work experience?
A. Gray area-ISB did not consider it till now, but that seems to be changing. Call or write to the admissions office for clarifications.