Paisa vasool

Totally! If there's one thing that counts as a return on investment of Rs. 12 lakhs at MDI, it's term 5 for a marketing student who likes finance (but doesn't want a finance job) and also likes graphic designing. Haha so yeah, it's just me. But it really has been my most productive, most value-adding, most fun term at MDI. I'd pay all of the fees I've paid here for this one term. It was probably the choice of subjects, but it was who taught the subject that made all the difference and makes MDI such a good institute (and no, that's not a Corpcommer talking).

I had taken three marketing subjects -

• Business Marketing, Prof. Vinod Kalia
• Issues in Rural Marketing, Prof. Sanjay Chandwani
• Customer Relationship Management, Prof. Dhruv Nath and Prof. Neelu Bhullar

And two finance subjects -

• Behavioural Finance and Business Valuation, Prof. Sanjay Bakshi
• Management of Banking and Financial Institutions, Prof. N. Bhusnurmath

Why it was so great studying these subjects was because these professors are authorities on the subject, and learning from someone who's had decades of experience (that is still continuing, through consulting assignments) adds a whole new dimension to the learning. If that's not all, the passion that these professors have in what they do makes it that much more compelling. And I say this for every professor that has taught me in term 5, even though I know that not all of my friends would agree with it.

That's just academics. Outside the classroom, it was organized chaos! I've been involved in graphic design work for a lot of clubs, member or not, and that has kept me busy the rest of the time, when I wasn't having fun with friends. And helping out gave me returns I did not ask for - Mahindra War Room, some recognition, some pats-on-the-back, invitations to invite-only parties (like the National Alumni Meet - what an experience!), and of course, more design work!

Imperium, Illumina, Delphique and Akshayam - no matter how many people say otherwise, this year's events were more fun than last year's. Probably because all my friends were here, and not at home, but these events have been particularly instrumental in forging closer friendships with friends and acquaintances.

And of course - trips! Agra, Lucknow, Mumbai, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. Could this term have been an better?

Why I wait for Mr. Postman

Resurrected an old hobby that I had to temporarily stop for almost 4 years because someone kept stealing stamps from the postcards that I received at the hostel during engineering. I've lost count of how many I've received since I started the hobby in 2007. Everytime the guy at the courier/post counter stops me, I smile instantly because I know there was a surprise waiting - a random postcard from goodness-alone-knows-where in the world!

And here are a few of the postcards I've received -

Postcards Snapshot

Midterms

With half the year gone, half of my life at a B-School done, it is time for a mid-review, or maybe even a mid-course correction.

Whichever half you take - half of 2012 or half of B-School life - it has been nothing short of amazing. Life's most eventful, most exciting, most happening time this period has been.

The juniors have come and in a small way we're living through our first year all over again through their induction week and other experiences. Second year of MBA has become a little bit of a challenge considering the level of study has suddenly shot up; the professors expect a lot more, the subjects delve deeper into concepts and have come even more application-oriented. And I still feel a little clueless about what I need to do with all this information. But then, all this is part of study and college life, so it's all ok. I'm sure the second year will pass in the blink of an eye and soon I'll be wondering why it all had to end. In fact, I already find myself wishing sometimes that this never ends and that I would never have to go through the drill of corporate life and work politics, and have very little to worry about.

As for the resolutions, I did do a pretty good job of no expectations, no boundaries, no rules for quite some time. I did things quite unexpected of me (nothing bad, if that's what you're thinking about), and when you don't expect much from life in general, life throws surprises - some good, some bad, mostly good - and it makes life a little interesting. That's deteriorated over time and now I find myself expecting, and hoping, and then starting to live in hope that something happened or something didn't happen. And this is where I think my midcourse correction comes. Life's become a little too predictable at this point, and to make it a little interesting, I'll have to make this mid-course correction and take life one day at a time.

Otherwise, life's just been wonderful to me, and I hope that it continues this way.

When workplace is fun

Albeit for two months... In the blink of an eye, the internship is over. I thought these two months would be a drag, and now I can't get myself to believe that it's over. Just. Like. That.

Of course, that obviously means that I enjoyed the internship. It was a great learning experience at a great company with an amazing team and a cool bunch of fellow interns from IIM-Calcutta and IIM-Ranchi.

Pictures from my travel to 6 cities over 10 days for the internship
Pune, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai

BD is a very good company to work for. PPO, or no PPO, BD definitely has set the bar high for my expectations of working at another company - with respect to the people, the work culture, the informality, the bonding within the team, everything. Working at BD was an absolute delight.

I liked my project too, which in itself was a huge learning experience. Things in the B2B segment are very different from the B2C segment (all the text book stuff). Talking to the customers - the middle/senior management from the client companies - understanding their concerns, the issues they're facing, their impression about BD, their needs, their expecations from a best-in-the-industry company like BD, has given me a firm grounding to build my future work on. That way, I've also been extremely lucky to have been accompanied by account managers and quality managers everywhere I went. Through out those 10 days of meeting with customers, I've had countless enriching conversations with them, both on the work front and on a personal front.

In all, these two months have been great. I've learnt so much, I actually want to go back to college and be able to relate all the learning with what we study in college. No wonder they say, work experience helps.

Am I going to be called a nerd now?

Anyway, I also want to get back to college to be able to see my friends again, have late night chats, the late night walks, cook some food, hang out at Arcus, crib about being back to the mess food, enjoy a classroom atmosphere, crib about assignments and projects, crib about placecomm sessions, talk about the new juniors about to join and also, use my newfound power as the creativity head for Imperium... There is so much to look forward to!

Can't wait!

Changing Perspectives

No matter how fervently I talk about sleep being such a huge waste of time, sometimes I do need that long peaceful twelve hours of sleep. And what I really mean by sleep being a waste of time is when I find myself sleeping during the day thinking I’ll be fresh and be able to work efficiently afterwards. But the result is rarely that. I end up feeling all groggy and unproductive for many hours after I wake up. So that, clearly, is a humongous waste pile of unproductive hours I could have spent watching episodes from The Big Bang Theory, or Yes Prime Minister.

So I slept for twelve hours last night – 10pm to 10am. I woke up, very fresh, had breakfast and went for my regular weekend morning walk. The weather was just perfect. It was cold and sunny at the same time. Absolutely wonderful. During the walk, I listened to Dennis Dalton’s lecture on Political Theory. And then I listened to Richard Feynman’s lecture on Physics. The contrast was intriguing, yet they didn’t seem too far apart either. There’s a thin thread connecting the two. And then I thought about the course I was studying here at MDI. And I wondered, surely there’s so much more to life than to learn how to “generate revenue”, or “strategize” to generate the most revenue. So what exactly am I learning here? Am I really learning business management? Honestly, it seems like I’m learning more about people management than business management. I’m not sure if my friends pursing an M.Tech/M.S. have similar experiences, but I have enough reasons to believe that life of an MBA student is very different from the life of an M.Tech/M.S. student.

I was told before I came here that I would meet all kinds of people here. And I thought that these so-called “all kinds” would be a small percentage. I was so mistaken. The small percentage actually constitutes the normal people who behave like er... normal people. And the rest of them are eccentric. Some are complete basket cases, and some are completely psycho. It’s not very easy to deal with them. In fact, it is in such situations you need to “strategize” your dealings with these people if you want to come out of this place sane. But of course, sometimes nothing works with them and you just learn to live with it.

I’ve never been more uncomfortable in my life before. I did spend four years in a hostel during engineering and there were difficult people, and not once did I feel uncomfortable. But here, at MDI, it’s a whole new world. You feel the discomfort tugging at you every moment of every day, and all you wish for is to get done with the course and run away as fast and as far as possible.

But in the light of all the reading and understanding of fields other than management, I’ve learnt to look at it from a larger perspective. If not for generating revenue, or helping the economy grow, or improving the standards of living of people economically, to say the very least, it’s an interesting insight into human behaviour and the application of this insight into conducting business transactions with people. And for that alone, I am glad I’m here.

And of course, no need to mention, the wonderful friends I’ve made here, and some very interesting people I’ve met.

Yet another fleeting year

My resolution for 2012 is to not have any resolutions. No resolutions, no expectations, no boundaries, no rules. It's probably going to be my last year of "freedom" if you know what I mean, though I don't see why anything has to change when "it" happens. Anyway, just in case, I've decided that for this year I'll drive my time-machine from the future, park it in the present and make the most of what the present lays in front of me - be a little impulsive. I've got to make my friends stop calling me "mom".

As for last year's resolutions, as with all resolutions, all of them were broken. Except one - do not get married. And with no boyfriend in sight, I can be reasonably sure that the resolution won't be broken in 2012 either.

2011 has been quite eventless, except for my getting into MDI which was, somehow, completely unexpected. Though eventless, it has been a year of self-awakening. The image I had of myself and of the world has faded to give rise to a new realization. And it is with this realization that I'm going to step into 2012 and be the best I can be.

Happy 2012!

Author in the house

We've now got an author at home! Mum's book about some god-alone-knows-what super-speciality topic is now selling on amazon and flipkart! She makes me so proud.

Long cold nights

The Thickest Meanest Fattest Blanket I've Ever Snuggled Under

And I'm loving it. Experiencing "real" winter for the first time ever in my life with Gurgaon's nights starting by 5:30pm and temperatures in single digits at nights adds to the whole "MBA experience". When winter was just beginning, people who had already experienced the harsh unforgiving Delhi winters had painted a you-will-not-survive-this picture of it. And I really thought I wouldn't survive it. But it hasn't been bad at all until now. I still manage to walk around the campus at 4am with just a sweatshirt on my regular wear and socks on my feet. But I'm starting to think that won't be possible anymore. The Gurgaon temperature forecast for the weekend says 2 degrees. Last night it was 4 degrees and I could just barely manage to hold the fork while eating maggi at 3:30am at Arcus. With the end-term exams starting in less than a week, I'm just hoping and praying that I'll be hold the pen firmly. And that reminds me, I need to start studying.

Experienced heavenly warmth last night

This is the life

It's 4:45 a.m. I'm very sleepy and half of what I'm writing right now may not make much sense. But tonight was the best night I've had in a very long time. The Director's Dinner in the evening was just an excuse for the guys and girls to stay out of the hostels. It was also the first weekend when we weren't assigned projects or presentations and would probably be the only such weekend. We decided to make the most of it. From casual talk to discussion to trading ghost stories to playing UNO to playing Mafia to playing Dumb Charades, from four of us at around 10pm to around 20 at 4:30am I don't remember the last time I was with so many new people having so much fun. The boys really are true gentlemen. I don't know if it was the effect of having to offer a seat to the lady when all seats were occupied during the induction week (much to their consternation) or the effect of simply joining a professional course, they are very courteous towards the ladies which is very nice to see. Life over here is very different from my life during engineering, the most astounding being boys and girls being able to visit each other's rooms.

It's been quite a joyride till now at MDI. The induction week that started Sunday evening and ended a week later felt like military camp. Torturous though it was, looking back at that week now brings back smiles, laughter and very fond memories. We couldn't have asked for sweeter or more friendlier seniors and that is what makes living at MDI so much more nicer. The professors are very friendly too and my, what patience and dedication they have. But what makes MDI most exciting, of course, is my own batch of classmates. I never thought I'd make such good friends just 10 days into the course. Of course, when you spend 18 out of 24 hours together it's bound to happen.

In short, it has been a great start and I hope I have a lot of exciting times ahead.

Chalo Dilli

Just when I was starting to love Bangalore, the journey of my life is taking me to Delhi where I know one thing for sure that an experience of a lifetime awaits me.

From this point on, I honestly have no plan. Well, except those do-well work-hard ones. But otherwise I'm just going to enjoy the ride for a while.

Dilli, here I come, ji.

A Moment of Silence

For all the colours you've brought into my life, for all the wonderful memories and in spite of all the tears, you will always be missed.

May your soul rest in peace, Punto.

Free! Free! Free!

And I thought this day would never come. I finally finish the last interview for the MBA admission process. Started with SP Jain and ended with MDI, though I wish I get into NITIE. I loved the campus, the seniors, the atmosphere and what more? It's in Mumbai, the place to be!

But then there's a part of me that wants me to get a job, something inside my head that tells me that a job is the best way to go. The idea of getting paid doing what I love is very exciting; so exciting in fact that I've had thoughts of bunking a few interviews. I'm glad I didn't, because those interviews were a whole new experience of their own, each completely different from the other, but each one just as enriching as the other.

As of now, it's a huge relief to get the whole process over with. I can now read that book without thinking of that current affairs mag I haven't read. I can now watch a movie without worrying about wasting time. I can now take all day to finish my animation assignment. On the flipside, I can no longer give excuses for not finishing assignments. That reminds me, I have a very lengthy assignment to submit on Thursday which I lied about having started. So while I go start the assignment, I give this, for you to ROTFL -

emotion. brain. art

I've been wanting to share a few things over here for a long time now, but lethargy (and well, laziness too, to an extent) got the better of me. I cleared up my desktop today, finally, and was scouring the internet for wallpapers of the movie Tangled when this expression of Rapunzel caught my attention. The expression intrigued me so much I was compelled to share it immediately. What intrigued me so much about it is that the expression conveys three emotions - fear, wonder and intent - with hardly any noticeable muscle or eyebrow movement, unlike most other expressions which usually show dramatic movements of the eyebrows and muscles. I don't know much about the Facial Action Coding System yet, but the intensity score for the action units that make up the expression is probably an A or a B. Maybe even a C. Think about it that way and the expression doesn't seem so intriguing after all. But I still am very intrigued. I'd like to believe that it takes a certain amount of expertise to get such an emotion on an animated face.

Tangled reminds me of a book I finished reading a week ago. What happens when neurons in our brain get tangled and crosswired? Lots of interesting disorders ranging from the familiar to the unbelievable. Some disorders make us think, wonder and question our own sense of being and our perception of the world around us. The brain is the most complicated and fascinating organ of the human body. One small damage to a tiny part of it and it can make you think your left arm is your brother's and not yours. Dr. V. S. Ramachandran explains it all splendidly in his book "Phantoms in the Brain". I've never found a non-fiction book so riveting before. Here's a very interesting lecture he delivered at UCSD on what is it in his brain that makes him like a certain kind of art. The video is an hour and half, but very engaging. But, I speak for myself. I've always been interested in all things brain ever since the day my biology teacher in school made me draw a picture of the brain as homework that had me wonder, this yucky thing is the reason I can think and feel and reason? Wow! If you feel the way I do, then go ahead and watch it. You won't be disappointed.

Art Thou A Nerd

If you are, then you are probably already aware of what makes today so special. Today is Pi Day. Yes, today nerds celebrate the mathematical constant pi.

All non-nerds out there, you have another day to celebrate. July 22nd. Because, July 22nd is Pi Approximation Day. A day to celebrate the fraction 22/7.

Or does that make you a supernerd?

Out of harm's way

The Libyan unrest will forever be etched into my memory, because for me and my family it was personal. My dad was evacuated from Libya only two days ago. Thankfully, he left Zawiyah just before things got worse. Not that things were good before he left; in fact, when I called him up two days before he left Zawiyah he told me that he could hear gunshots outside his house. I was so scared I thought it was best if he just stayed inside the house; getting out of the house even for evacuation could be dangerous. But yesterday's news showed what would've happened if he had stayed there any longer - dozens of civilians were killed.

Dad's evacuation would've been painless if his bag wasn't stolen on his way to Tunisia. Dad and his Indian colleagues were to go to an airport in Tunisia to take a flight back to India. The Indian embassy sent buses and trucks to Zawiya. People would take the bus, and the luggage would be brought in trucks to Tunisia. At the Tunisian border, he had to give up his simcard and his phone! This meant he wouldn't be able to contact us until he reached India. On reaching Tunisia, he found one of his two bags missing -- the bag that had his laptop (months worth of research!) and all the cash. His bag was stolen. Dad was now rendered phone-less and penniless. Dad could manage just one call back home explaining his situation and that he had a few friends helping him out. He stayed in Tunisia for four days until his name turned up on the roster of evacuees. By then all his friends had already been evacuated. His stay at Tunisia, however, seemed pleasant because he and all the evacuees were accommodated at a three-star hotel and were provided with free and unlimited food (both veg and non-veg) throughout the day.

On the fourth day, he boarded EgyptAir (apparently Indian Airlines wasn't the only carrier bringing back Indians) which brought him to Mumbai with one stop at Cairo International airport for refuelling. At Mumbai, the embassy gave every evacuee a free air/rail ticket to anywhere in the country along with Rs.2000 so they could reach home comfortably. Dad was given a 3AC ticket to Chennai that evening. He reached Chennai the next evening. My mum, sis and I were at our native place (Berhampur, Orissa) for my cousin's wedding ceremony all this while which, of course, we couldn't attend. We reached the morning after dad reached, but boy were we relieved to have him back and safe.

Dad is very upset about losing his laptop and all his research work in it, but he sure has kind words for the way the Indian government handled the evacuation process. Mum also agrees that the officials were very supportive when she had called the control centre at Delhi to find out what and how things were being done.

Wait. What? It's gone?

Wow. It's the end of one whole year. One whole year gone by in the blink of an eye. It feels like only yesterday that I graduated from college, that I moved into this house, like Avatar released only a week ago (2010 started with Avatar, for me). It's hard to believe that one year has passed. It's already time to replace that calendar on my cupboard. It's already time to retrospect and introspect while I feel like the year has only begun. It feels like nothing much has happened this year, yet I can talk for days about all the events that have happened in life this year. The realization that this year is at its end feels weird. Really weird. Like this is a dream. Like I'm in the "matrix".

Anyway, fact is a fact, no? 2010 has ended and it is time to look back at those resolutions. Now,

• Did I write that song or poem I wanted to write? Hehehe. That's a joke, right? Of course not. But I made music. That is something, isn't it? 
• Did I stop eating biscuits and maggie? Yes. I'm now eating more Dairy Milk Roast Almonds, more pizzas, more Chinese noodles and more roommate-made delicious food. Call me lucky for having a roommate who is about to get married and wants to "practice" cooking. 
• Did I learn to find the greater of two given fractions? Yeahhh. Yay to me. 
• Did I learn to lie? Well, not really, but I've been told I exaggerate a bit much (In my defense, doesn't exaggeration make a boring incident more dramatic and interesting?)
• Did I learn a new language? There was too much choice... Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Greek, Latin, Russian, Italian, Gibberish... I couldn't pick one.

As for my new new-year resolutions, here they are --

• Make more music
• Read all the books I bought last year
• Buy more books
• Draw more
• Make at least 20 elaborate 3D models
• Aim high, wherever I am, whatever I'm doing
• Do not get married

Looking forward to the new year. I'm excited. And a little apprehensive. A decision needs to be made. A decision will me made for me. Nonetheless, I know it is going to be a very interesting year.

Happy 2011, everyone.

Hope-oscope

You know what I'm hoping for right now? I'm not hoping that I get into a college of my choice. I'm not hoping that my exam tomorrow goes well. I'm not even hoping to clear any of my exams. All I'm hoping for right now is to have the worst horoscope a girl could ever have. I'm hoping to be rejected by every family that wants to match horoscopes. I am hoping to find a family that likes me for me. I am hoping to find a man who will accept my idiosyncrasies without judging me. I am hoping to find a man who will not let me let go of my dreams. I am hoping to find a man who will fall in love with me. I am hoping to find that man and fall in love with him.

Woohoo!

Mum's a Who's Who!! The certificate reads -

The Marquis Who's Who Publications Board certifies that Himaja Malipeddi is a subject of biographical record in Who's Who in the World Twenty-Eighth Edition 2011 inclusion in which is limited to those individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in their own fields of endeavor and who have, thereby, contributed significantly to the betterment of contemporary society.

I hope I can, someday, make mum just as proud as I feel right now.

So You Think You Can Draw?

Yes, said my DVD writer. My laptop has the LightScribe thingy. I've been waiting to try it ever since I got this new HP laptop two months ago. Today, I went to the mall, bought two LightScribe DVDs (cost me Rs.60 each), came home, burnt a DVD, turned it around and commanded my DVD writer to draw. It drew. This --

There, that's me on the right. A bunch of my friends and I had gone to an amusement park in Mangalore. We were immensely amused.

It took the writer exactly 26 minutes to print the picture, during which I watched an episode and a half of Friends. I wasn't sure how the print would look on a DVD, considering it was black and white, but gosh the DVD looks great. Takes labelling to a whole new level. I no longer have to label my DVDs like this --

As cool as the LightScribe DVD looks, it still is quite expensive. So I think I'll be using these only on occasions. Now that I've decided to use these for special occasions, I know just what to do with the second DVD. Where are thee, oh third week of November?

My Own Little Italy

I completed graduation in a place called Nitte. Nitte is a village, in wilderness, cut off by an hour and a half from the hustle and bustle of a city (Mangalore). There is nothing but tall trees all around the college, though we did have a hanging bridge, a waterfall and a beach close by in less than half an hours distance. But will nature suffice for the disco-going, beer-drinking college students of today? Obviously not. That is why I wasn't surprised when a friend of mine said one day, "What kind of a place is Nitte? What kind of a name is Nitte? Ugh. I hate this place. You know, my relatives keep asking, Nitte? Where is that? Never heard of it. The name sounds like no-man's land."

Now now, those of you thinking, "Yeah, me too. Nitte? Never heard of it." Nitte, as a place may not be heard of, but the college was famous in the state, which is the only reason people sent their kids to this forest to be trained to become engineers.

And then one day, Google Maps happened. "Nitte" was the first thing I typed into it, to test if it could find this place from the back of beyond. To my surprise, it did. "Whoa! This thing is cool!" I thought. I zoomed out to see if there were other places I could recognise. Nothing. "Hmpf. This is a forest. Maybe I don't know this forest that well" Zoom out. Nothing. Zoom out. Still nothing. Zoom out. Zoom out. Zoom out. Italy. "Whaaaat? Italy?" Google Maps had taken me to Nitte, a place in Italy. "Wow! I could go to Italy and say I lived in Nitte, and people would know." I dashed out of the room into the friend's room and said, "Guess what? There's a place called Nitte in Italy. Look." "Woww! This is going to be a slap right across my aunt's face."

Cut to today, I was reading about Maurizio Cattelan's provocative, satirical sculptures -- because of this --

A sculpture called "crippled hand" from Italian sculptor Maurizio Cattelan is placed in front of stock exchange palace in Milan September 25, 2010. Credit: Reuters/ Stefano Rellandini

Cattelan's bio read "Born in Padua, Italy". "Padua? Hey, that's a place in Mangalore! First Nitte, now Padua. I wonder what other places in Mangalore have Italian names."

Belman, the bus-stop before Nitte. Could easily be mistaken for Belmonte, a place in Italy and many other countries. In fact, I called the place Belmonte for a long time until someone pointed out it was "Belman" and not "Belmonte".

And how could I forget Valencia, where I spent over 12 years of my life and 11 years of schooling. [Valencia is not in Italy but in Spain (of course, you know that), but it appears it's a very common name for a place. There's a Valencia in Pakistan, also Columbia, Phillippines, Trinidad and Tobago, USA, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru].

So next time somebody asks me where I am from, I'm going to say Italy. *wink*

Come to think of it, Mangalore is a place with funny locality-names actually. But that'll be another post another day.

Update [April 26, 2011, 01:49 a.m.]
I cannot believe I missed mentioning something so close to my heart. My school - St. Gerosa High School - is named after an Italian saint, Vincenza Gerosa.

Vincenza Gerosa (born in the late 1700s), along with Bartolomea Capitanio, founded the Sisters of Charity of Lovere. Incidentally, Capitanio is another school a few kilometres from my own school. The buildings opposite to my school belong to the Sisters of Charity. They run an orphanage, a primary school for the financially weak and a day care centre, where I was sent for a short period, if I remember right.

I recall now, every once in 3-4 years, our teachers would announce the arrival of sisters from Italy, and when they arrived, we'd have a special assembly for them, with dances and songs and skits. It was a huge deal. We would go the chapel to pray (The chapel is inside the school campus. The building is out of bounds for students, per se, unless you say you want to go to the chapel to pray), but more importantly to greet the sisters from Italy. They were ever so sweet. The serenity and smile on their faces were only paralelled by Mother Superior who'd visit once in a while. I never missed an opportunity to greet her whenever I heard she was there. Her serene smile would make my day. The only other famous person with a smile like that is Mother Teresa. But, I digress.

I think my sister's school too - St. Agnes High School - is named after another Italian saint whom they call "Agnes of Rome", though it isn't run by the Sisters of Charity.

This Italian-ness of Mangalore intrigues me and makes me want to dig deeper into its history as to why so many places in and around Mangalore have Italian names. The Christians in Mangalore are from Goa and of Portuguese descent, not Italian. And as far as my knowledge on Indian history goes, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French and the British arrived in India before the British Raj was set up. So now it's even more intriguing.