Reflections about MBA - 1

Our first semester is over and I have finished half the MBA in three months. What do I think about the course so far?

I learned a few things. I especially liked finance and one regret I have is that we had only one financial accounting course. I guess I loved the course because of its logical and numerical nature. Leadership, HR and Corporate Social Responsibility courses were pretty shitty though. I was especially disappointed with leadership and HR because I hoped to gain at least something in these courses. I learned more about leadership from HBR publications than in class. HR Professor was more interesting, but I thought he talked only about firing people and managing politics successfully to your advantage in an organization. The course seemed like Machiavelli’s version of HR.

There was one interesting session of leadership I forgot about. It was about ethics and we were supposed to choose one person, out of a mother whose kids would become destitute if she dies, a socialite turned philanthropist, a rehabilitated drug addict, who is running an NGO now, a smart little girl and four others, to award a kidney. There is only one kidney available and all of them would die if not given the kidney. There was a heated discussion about whose choice was right and for my part I was pretty undecided, so I wrote couldn’t decide. Most people chose to give the kidney to the mother. Drug addict was the last option by most people though most benefit to humanity as a whole would be from the rehabilitated addict as he is running a successful NGO now.

Ethics is an area in which we don’t seem to have an answer.

Two of the best courses were decision sciences and negotiation skills. We were taught principled negotiation and this means that when you are negotiating you need to keep in mind the interests of the other party, avoid victimization and work towards a mutually win-win situation. The course ended with a show of the movie “12 Angry Men”. I really liked the calm and rational protagonist.


There was another course I used to like till the professor gave me an average grade for my paper: Managing Across Cultures. Its amazing how you can change your opinion without any change in perception. It probably has to do with defending sense of self-worth. 

The life of an Indian is worth less than that of an American

It’s been three months since I got to Belgium. Belgium is the rich world. Even though people here are as stupid and as intelligent as they are in India, wealth disparities between the west and India are pretty wide. We were supposed to give a presentation related to Business and Law as part of the course exam and our group chose the Bhopal Disaster. After our presentation the Professor said, referring to the meager and pathetic compensation, the words I used for the title of the post. Our conclusion for the presentation was that accidents of this type keep happening especially in undeveloped countries like India because nobody gives a shit in those countries. 

There is another difference between India and Belgium. I once saw an ad here by an insurance company with a nude man showing his ass in all its eternal glory. If this happened in India, Shiv Sena (a right-wing extremist political party) would have made sure the man didn't have his cute butt to look at any more.

Belgium Visa for students

Getting a Belgian visa is a complicated process. Having gone through the process, I will offer some advice on how to get the visa. This post will especially help applicants from Andhra Pradesh, India.

One needs the following documents to apply for a Belgian student visa.

1. PCC (police clearance certificate) 

2. Apostle for Degree certificate
3. Proof of financial support
4.Medical certificate


PCC: Getting PCC is the toughest and most time consuming part. I had been living in Hyderabad for a few years at the time of my application, so I had to apply to the regional passport office in Hyderabad. After 10 days of inactivity at the passport office, I realized that it was better to get the PCC from Cyberabad Commissioner's office and applied there. I got the PCC within 8 days of applying here. (Some areas of Hyderabad fall under Cyberabad and the other areas under Hyderabad).   So, it's always a good idea to try to get from the Commissioner's office rather than the passport office (at least in Hyderabad. In other cities in India, passport office might be a better option. One of my classmates got his PCC from the Delhi passport office in one day and another got his in a week from the Chennai passport office) . After getting the PCC, I went to A.P Secretariat and got the Apostle done. Apostle is some kind of authorization by the Indian government that the documents are legal and can be accepted. The concerned office has branches in Hyderabad and in other major cities.


Apostle: I did my under-graduation in Orissa (NIT, Rourkela), so I had to go to Orissa and then probably Delhi. Instead I paid www.attestation.in a few thousand and they did the job for me. The entire process took around 15 days.


Proof of financial support: I took a bank loan to cover my tuition and living expenses and the loan sanction letter was all that was required to serve as a proof of financial support. I think it's not enough if you have enough balance in a bank account. You need to show support from a guarantor or a bank loan.


Medical certificate: In Hyderabad, Appollo hospital is the designated hospital for issuing medical certificate. One can find the authorized hospitals in other cities on VFS website. I went to Apollo and met a beautiful doctor who asked me to test for 7548 diseases. After giving blood etc, I spent two days worrying about the outcome and on the third day, I was told everything was fine and was issued a medical certificate.


Once I submitted all the required documents in Mumbai, I got the visa in one day. 


As I didn't have much time, I had a tough time getting all the documents on time. If you are considering applying for a Belgian visa, bear in mind that collection of documents alone will take up to a month. There are no agents available for Belgian visa and it's advisable to submit on your own.