Sachin's blog

If You Have To

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When I first saw the new face of this website, it was a welcome change in many respects. The content appears more compact and more akin to websites of the day. I was not glad to see the logos of the four universities go. They got replaced by pictures, which could just as well be all from Budapest!

Wrapping Up

This entry has been long due and in the making. In fact, by now, it combines what could have been several. Wrapping up affairs in Lund, bidding farewell to Sweden, the galas in Budapest, a short getaway, hop in Maastricht and leaving Europe from it's putative capital to arrive in the Indian one. Back in India, deep into introspection on what had changed in my perspective, if anything. And now back in the EU via Brussels again. This could get long.

The Class

Europe has been a time for many personal landmarks - cooking meat or flying minus airport counters, for instance. Another recent first, but by far more important was an officially assigned class. In the past, it has been I who offered lectures to an audience that was captive to various degrees. Last year's class on Policy Memos was an official affair, but still entirely my idea and counts less as it was to my peers, each of whom could teach me a lot back. No, the classes I gave that week meant more.

Bienvenue à Bruxelles

Naturally, I was happy to be in my first francophone country - able to read signs and ask directions in French. It is a city of sharp contrasts - the metro stations and glass highrises for one. There was little time for any deeper impressions than that. The arrival flight was late and I got late for the departure flight. Boarding the train to leave the airport, three of us realized we had flown together from Copenhagen for the same event.

 We arrived at the hotel just in time to leave for the venue. That was good in a way; the hotel declined to check any of us in.

Sachin Kumar BADKAS (India), Cohort II (2006-2008)

After Chemical Engineering and an MBA, I served as Policy Analyst with an apex environmental commission in the central government at New Delhi, for two years. The perks of the prestigious ministry position apart, the taste of the real thing - Policy Analysis for a country - left me with a set mind. That was all I could imagine a career in, and other options, including lucrative offers, seemed to matter little. I realised, however, with my technical and management background coupled, I was fit for a wider sector of policy.

Chain and Flag

Before today, I have spoken here of IIIEE and Lund helping live dreams. They have allowed more of my wishes to be fulfilled since. A supply chain sounded intriguing right from the time I was first introduced to the concept during management education. One can at best only imagine how far beyond items all around are connected to.

Lund, first impressions

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Handling four currencies in a day in the process - one of those uniquely MESPOM experiences - I arrived in Lund on an overcast, gray afternoon. This is a bit unfair to Budapest, of-course. While equally beautiful, much bigger and hence with many more sights to behold and marvel, Budapest did not get a blog entry when Sachin first set foot there last year. But then, this website did not exist and Sachin does not write blogs on lesser websites! It will be a bit of cheating to write first time experiences having spent an year there.

Kerepesi út 87

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Excerpt from a recent MESPOM Google group discussion thread.

For starters, this address is probably one of the few student residence facilities in the world that look like anything but : all floors wall- to-walled, 24 hour reception, central heating and cooling, tennis and basketball courts, swimming pool, sauna and gym, open spaces - all maintained and offered free. Every furnished room with broadband connected computers, its own temperature knob, hot and cold shower 24/365, and a view of the general landscape. It is cleaned and changed weekly without fail.

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