in the pursuit of being an MBA...

Don’t you get carried away from what was written in my last post…that was just the beginning and as I had mentioned there, those two were the only days where we had our ‘last laughs’ @ scmhrd!! I’m not kidding for the fact that we’re studying 18 subjects this semester says it all!! The day actually starts at 6.00 A.M with compulsory attendance for the non-acads forcing us out of our beds after a late night sleep. However, God has showered his grace upon us and Subbu (our director) has come up with some kinda option for us guys. We’re supposed to clock-in 5 hrs of non-acads in a week. Be it Gym, Yoga, Aerobics or Swimming…it’s entirely our choice. It’s an idea our seniors are envying upon.. So, that has brought about a bit of slack in our attitude and working hours. After been used to sleeping early at home (by early I mean 11 P.M), it’s hard to stay awake for any longer after that period. No matter how hard you try, it simply doesn’t seem to work! Putting the non-acads aside, the classes usually begin at 9.00 A.M. and run till 8.30 P.M in the worst case. It’s been a rough journey so far and we’re assured that it’s only gonna get worse as we progress…

That’s the general view of life @ scmhrd. There is buzzing activity at Sweety Stores (the only departmental stores in campus which caters to the needs of all the students on campus) once the classes get over. People are seen sitting with their laptops open and their heads buried under the screens giving an impression of working on a very important presentation or something but a slight peep reveals the truth which everyone knows, gtalk!! I happened to ask a few of my batchmates if we really needed to have the laptop and what people always keep doing with their laptops open and sitting in every nook and corner of the campus. I got a very amusing answer with the local touch of words. One of the guys replied it’s just for the sake of ‘tashan’ (something like a showoff!!). To give people a feeling that you’re an MBA, a laptop was a basic requirement in their view.

I guess I’m still talking only about the little bit of fun that exists at this place. Let me tell you, it’s not such a nice place to be for those who are quite a bit lazy like me. This place demands a lot from you. You need to be really strong both physically and mentally to take the torture and pressure which they put on you. Let me tell you an example. We have an exam scheduled on the 24th of this month which is at 6.00 A.M. Yes, you heard it right, 6.00 A.M. And did you notice that it’s a Sunday?? Yeah, we have the bulk of our classes on Sundays!! Incidentally, once you’re at scmhrd, you tend to not realise what day of the week it is. Like our marketing professor Mr. Prantosh Banerjee says, it’s a Sunday everyday for us out here at scmhrd!! I forgot to mention, some of our profs are quite good. Two are IIM-A pass outs and the marketing one I just mentioned is just awesome. Would you believe if I tell you that the tagline of bajaj pulsar ‘definitely male’ is his brainchild?? And we’ve got a course called ‘Written Analysis and Communication’ which is offered only by IIM-A and scmhrd in the entirety of India!! Now that’s something great, isn’t it?? Well, whatever, how much ever great it is, its hard when it comes bundled with a package of 17 other hard nuts to crack. I had never imagined that I’d be facing 18 subjects in a single semester in my life!! Just to give you an idea of how tough a task it is, it’s hard to even remember the names of all the subjects. In the first week I had a really tough time recollecting just the face of the prof who had taught us in the first class, put aside remembering what he had taught!! That’s enough of exposure I guess…

Now there are selections going on for various committees in our college. The likes of Placement Committee, Guest Lecture Committee and Alumni Committee have been conducting interviews to shortlist people. Considering the workload and my capabilities, I had applied to none of them. However there are a lot more Committees lined up for recruitment and once I feel like managing my stuff, I’ll try to sneak into one of these! I had actually wanted to get into the admissions committee, selections for which are still to take place but then when I had expressed this idea to one of the seniors whom I knew, she simply said ‘are u crazy??’ Now what the hell was that supposed to mean? Whatever it meant, but it really drained off the little bit of interest I had in joining these committees.

Hmm..feel like sharing more with you guys but don’t have much time for all that now. Will sneak in as and when I find time and feel like writing. There are actually a lot more things to share but I don’t have my own laptop as yet. Well, I’m planning to take a Dell Latitude D630. Once I get that, I’ll probably have more flexibility about my posts! By the way, I’m learning Spanish as well!

Adios Amigo!!

a new halt in the course of my journey...

Hi People,

First of all, the latest news for you all! I'm at SCMHRD (Symbiosis Center for Management and Human Resource Development), Pune right now and will be for the coming two years!! Now for those of you who must be thinking that this guy has grabbed a once in a lifetime opportunity and all, let me tell you, I'm in a sort of an exile in an abandoned island. Life @ SCMHRD is not so bad as I'll be telling you but for a guy like me who is quite reserved and one who takes some time to settle down, its a bit tough to enjoy life out here. However, the college is quite good. It has got a very good reputation and the campus is excellent. It has got all the facilities that a good MBA college would need to have and its definitely on the journey to reaching much greater heights in the near future!!!

Now, let me tell you what all happened on my journey to SCMHRD. I managed to get my train ticket confirmed at the very last moment after lots of struggle before the day of journey which made sure that there was little time left for me to finish my assignments and presentation which I was supposed to submit upon joinin the college. The journey was rather uneventful but a bit tiry. I had a tough time keeping myself awake at a late hour or else I would miss the station (the train that I was travelling by would arrive at Pune at 12:00 in the night). Luckily for me my cousin had come to the station to pick me up and I stayed at his place for the night. Getting sleep was tough because I was wondering how the college would be, what kind of roomies would I be getting and about the life @ SCMHRD!! Putting an end to all the speculations and doubts, we set out to Hinjawadi, a place about 20 kms away from Pune city. After travelling for about half an hour on the Bangalore-Mumbai expressway, we reached Hinjawadi and made our way to the 'Symbiosis Infotech Campus'. I felt really good upon looking at the college building for I had always wanted to study in a college which had all the qualities of a good college, good campus, good infrastructure, good facilities etc etc. And with the very first sight, I could realise that this college had it all and I was being very lucky!! Registration done and then went to the hostel and found the room to be quite good. In the later part of the day, both of my roomies arrived and was very much happy with them as well.

Day 2. Induction. The chief guest of the day was Mr. Jagadish Khattar, M.D of Maruthi Udyog Ltd. The chancellor of the Symbiosis International University, S.B.Majumdar and the Director of SCMHRD, Subbu were also present. The event took off sharp on time and everything was going as plan. This was probably the first time in my life that I was watching an event go on as per schedule!! Truly, SCMHRD was really good at that. There were so many presentations and as we were nearing the end of day, the incharge of the SIC had to speak a few words. Col C.V.Mohan, tore apart the parda and disclosed the life @ SCMHRD in a subtle and user-friendly manner. His description of the director and his rather dictatorly activities was much fun. We were also told that that would be the last day for us to be laughing on campus as the Diro was supposed to make sure he took away all the fun from our lives!! The way he called the diro 'D' and 'Don' etc was really funny. The induction ceremony concluded sometime after his speech.

The next day we had somehthing called Out Bound Learning where we were taken to a nearby farm and we had to play some games involving stategy building and all but it was all quite fun. Got to interact with a lot of people and the whole day was quite fun but with disclaimers that this was probably going to be the only day @ SCMHRD where we would have no work and all play!!

Ok guyz, I think I've already shared all the interesting things with you and I got to stop it now because I already have exams coming my way!! Yes, I have exams from this Wednesday so got to go now. But I'll surely keep all you guys informed about all the happenings out here...

Keep visiting!!

SAMSKARAM '07

The mobile lying in a dark corner of my bed sounded the arrival of a 'good morning' message and put an end to the bliss of my soul! I know it won't be so good on my part to curse the poor soul that cares to remember me every morning and most importantly, wake me up (thro the sms). And just as I open my eyes I see the entire house buzzing with activity and I realize that I was really very late in getting up. Then I suddenly remember why all this has happened. What had made me sleep so late into the morning?? I coolly snuggle in my bed recollecting what all had happened and for all those who want to know, read on!

On a day when the whole of Andhra Pradesh was observing a bandh in protest against the 'stay' ordered by the apex court against the implementation of reservation for OBC in educational institutions, and at a time when the srilankans were firing on all cylinders to overwhelm the Englishmen in the Caribbean islands, the final year students of Electronics and Communications Engineering of GITAM were busy honouring their faculty and the support staff at Hotel Green Park, Visakhapatnam!! The important thing about this get-together was that it was the first time the two sections of the final year ECE had come together to host an event. There were initial speculations, as usual, about whether we'd be able to strike a good rapport with each other and make the event a success. But everything had to begin at some point of time and so did our event.

It all started off one fine afternoon when we heard rumours of our juniors not hosting a farewell for our batch. We felt dejected but we thought that we should not be waiting for such a let down to strike us. We wanted to host a party ourselves and felicitate our teachers. Initially it all appeared like a prank to a few of our classmates but it was only later that they realized we meant serious business. Then we heard some good news. One was that our juniors were hosting a farewell for us. It went on quite well as can be inferred from my previous post. And the other good news was that we were going to carry on with our idea of felicitating our teachers.

In a few days time, after a lot of math and inquiries at the venues, we came up with a figure to be collected from the class. Our section was at an advantage in finance terms in that we had some 'reserve cash' which was the remnant of our previous hostings and tours. I had taken up the job of pooling the money and it was the first time for me. I enjoyed the job, going up to all people and reminding them of getting the money on time, getting onto the stage, announcing events and that sort of things. It was a great feeling holding so much cash, making note of contributions and planning expenses. We had a great time in deciding what gift to be presented to the faculty! Also, the rounds we made to the hotels in town for the right date and food and most importantly, the price, were amazing!

It was time for SAMSKARAM '07 (brainchild of Mr.Bharat Jhurani) to be flagged off! The event was scheduled to start at 6 P.M. Well, the time was decided keeping the 'Indian Punctuality' factor in mind and we were not wrong in doing so - the first guest arrived at 7.30 P.M. Sticking to the 'xtreme casual' dress code that we had mentioned in our invitation, our Head Of the Department arrived. Then others slowly followed. The event started off with a song by one of my classmates. Then there were felicitations as usual and some rocking dance performances by Pavan & Vamsi Murthy from my class and Kiran & Ravikanth from the other class. My classmate Shrikant was the host and Spandana from the other class was the hostess for the evening. I did not really have much to do except when the hotel guy called me in between to decide upon the time for starting the dinner, to check the number of plates and finally to pay the bill!! I had actually wanted to make my presence felt by donning the role of an anchor but because of the lack of enthusiasm or whatever, I couldn't do it. Wait a minute, I did get onto the stage, not for speaking or anything but to present the memento to Mr.G.V.K.Sharma, the youthful faculty member of our department. The event went on and finally it was dinner time. The hotel guy had already called me twice by that time to warn us about the shortage of time as the dinner was to be served only till 11 P.M. I ran back to the hosts and made sure that they'd wind up the event in a short span of time. After the Vote of Thanks was proposed, it was dinner. There were cameras all over the place. The students were so very enthusiastic and ecstatic that they even did not let the faculty have the dinner peacefully. Every time the HOD puts a spoonful of pulao into his mouth, a new batch of students would be ready with a camera. And since I was on the organizing side this time, I had to eat at the end and make sure that the dinner was served properly. I went round asking people about how the food tasted and all. After making sure that everybody had dined or had started to dine, it was my turn to hold the plate and enjoy the delicacies. The food was excellent and I was quite sure we had struck a great deal with the hotel with regards to the price. I was quite happy about this especially because I was involved in finalizing the deal. Then we had some last moment group snaps. I felt I had missed out on the photographs front this time. May be because I was busy ensuring that everyone was eating or because of anything else, I missed out so many photo sessions. That's the only drawback I had felt. After all that, the bill was cleared and the gathering had dispersed for the night.