End of first leg of the journey @ scmhrd

After a long break, of course! The happiest news is that we got to go home!! Haha and yeah, it’s true! It couldn’t get any happier than that for all of us here at scmhrd. The icing on the cake was that our biggest threat turned out to be the silliest lollipop – I’m talking about our last exam, Operations Research. The first semester exams ended on 31st of October. The initial declaration was that we’d be having holidays from 4th to 11th Nov. I had made travel arrangements for the night of 3rd. Oracle sessions were scheduled between 1st and 3rd Nov. However, after the exams got over, I discovered that the finance batch had nothing to with those lectures and immediately changed my plans. I went out to the city, contacted the travel agents to find if I could find any train for Vizag. Though I couldn’t get any direct train, I got a bus to Hyderabad. I grabbed the ticket, went to the railway station to cancel the ‘confirmed’ ticket. The reason why I put the word ‘confirmed’ in quotes is to emphasize the importance of ‘confirmed’ tickets in today’s scenario. If you read one of my previous posts, you’d understand how mush difficulty I had faced in getting to Pune to join this institute. The lady at the reservation counter asked me twice before she punched in the entries to cancel the ticket. It was quite a tiresome proposition for that I had to stand in the queue for about 2 and half hours.

Finally, the time had come for me to set out to home! Yes, it surely gets exciting when you are going back home after a break of 5 big months. Another part of the excitement was that I’d be landing in Hyderabad – a place I’ve been to only once that too to give my CAT exam last year and I hadn’t stayed there for any longer than just a day. I had heard a lot about it and it’s actually a kinda shame telling people that I had never been to my state capital. Now was the chance to silence all the critics out there (sounding as though I’m that renowned Sachin Tendulkar consistently getting out on a NOT, am I not?). So after some high-drama while boarding the bus in Pune I finally reached Hyderabad at 10.00 in the morning while the bus was actually supposed to reach at least 2 or 3 hours earlier. I didn’t waste any time and immediately set out to the imax theatre. Met some friends there and watched “Happy Days” there. It’s a really well made movie and an ideal match for guys like us who have just passed out from engineering. It made us feel really nostalgic and we only hoped that we could relive those wonderful and amazing experiences we had had in the four year period. Though I later found that the movie was not to the liking of many from the parent community, as a recent pass out from an engineering college, I cannot resist but appreciate the way the director Shekar Kammula has crafted the movie!! Some of the best scenes are the ‘campus placements time’, ‘class bunking moments’ and all the songs have been excellently shot. Then the same night I caught a bus for Vizag and reached there early in the morning. Back, after 5 months.

I was in some kind of a jail at Pune, having not gone out more than just twice or thrice. I was actually expecting Vizag to have undergone a drastic change but all was normal and same as before. One day later, Mr. Puvvadi landed in Vizag for collecting his certificates and I had the pleasure of meeting him, accompanying him to the college and all. (For those of you who don’t know Mr. Puvvadi, he’s my best friend and he’s working for Mindtree Consulting at Bangalore). That Mr. Puvvadi was a little too busy to spend any quality time with me except for a few hours that we spent sitting at the beach road discussing life on the night before he was leaving for his house. After he left, it was quite boring for me. I had a good time with my bike which I got to ride after a long gap. It still felt the same way as it used to before I had left Vizag for Pune. I wish I could have the bike with me out here. I seriously miss it a lot! I had a wonderful time with my bike in the final year of engineering. Then on the 8th day of November, I bought a new mobile for myself, THE SONY ERICSSON K550i. It was amazing to have a camera phone for myself. It had all the features to satisfy all my needs and make my sister jealous. Took so many snaps, videos, transferred them onto the lappie and had a great time. Finally, the time came for me to leave. The vacation was over. Time to get back to the prison. Took the same route to come back to pune (Vizag – Hyd – Pune). Landed here on the morning of 12th. You know what, as I was walking into the hostel, I saw people running to the college saying “Subbu Sir’s batch meet!!”

Ciao!

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!!