Sojourn -I

a bunch of monkeys called the yearbook team wanted me to pen down in 400 words my experience of IIM I. I tried, but failed miserably as there are a lot of things to write about I couldnt just decide what to leave out....Hope you will find this an interesting read...and remember most of it is worded humorously to increase the readability .....so pardon me if by any chance you feel that I have inadvertenly taken humor a bit to far...




Sojourn-I

Sojourn-I

The overture
Someone like me, who hated managers to the core, for their incessant non value adding interference to every productive operating activity, should have a lot to say about their sojourn at this management institution, popularly called “Planet –I”. I had always wanted to do an MS, and in all honesty can say that management for me was the last resort of an extremely desperate self. (My score in GRE was not extraordinary, neither is my academic career. September 9/11 just added to my woes, with scholarships for Indian students drying up considerably). Desperation, as I have found out, can be a double-edged motivator. I prepared very hard for the entrance exam, refused a couple of on-site opportunities and an early promotion, took a couple of months of forced leave, put my job at stake for this pursuit. However, as luck would have it, I found myself dumbstruck in the examination hall, attempted only 74 questions and scored a measly 94.8 percentile. The journey from that point on to the time when I actually landed here on Planet-I is beyond the scope of this article. So, believe, when I say, that “The story of my life (as most lives here) is not for the faint of the heart. (That’s one reason, why I choose not to tell it to any counterparts of the fairer sex. I spoke once, for 15 seconds after, 14 minutes were over in the 15 min long Group Discussion and stuttered for the first couple of minutes in the interview. I think I will leave this interlude to the Planet-I story here.

First Yard: The Inception

Planet-I is an experience, which cannot be communicated: it can only be experienced. The bakra was one hell of an experience, and I was convinced that I had come to the right place. If these people could really push me to jog and exercise, every day at 6 AM for a good amount of time, I would surely achieve one of my long time goals of losing some weight. After going through the first reading on BTO about organizational metaphors (psychic prisons, jazz musicians and chimpanzees tea party), I was convinced that I had arrived at the right place. Friendship, with everybody around, took some time, as I was never very sure that they would accept someone not so suave, and slightly dumber as a confidante. However, sharing cigarettes and drinks helped me in socialization with a certain set of people very fast. It was then that I decided that I wouldn’t’ refuse either of them to whosoever chose to ask them of me. (Definitely has paid dividends in the long run, I think). Most girls, however, seemed convinced that the company they kept was the only reflection of their self, chose to be selectively friendly and made the institute appear like an engineering college. I found this pretty funny, and rather inappropriately chose to care a damn. (Friendship with most of them, has improved almost drastically with the passage of time). Not one of those to be constrained by fictitious boundaries( the dilli wala’s, the IITians, the people with experience, those from DU), I chose to befriend all kind of people: the intellectuals(are never out of their room once the sun goes down), the CA’s(believe that accounting entries and accompanying standards are the panacea to all evils plaguing the human race), the ultra-cool (read care a damn), the sophisticated (like to communicate in English as they believe that the Hindi-speaking have no future in India), and the cribbers.(believe that words speak louder than actions and that awareness about issues is more important than any perceptible changes). These sets are not mutually exclusive, by the way.

The whole Nine Yards

I tried to find a larger-than-life reason for my existence at “I” and choose to major in Finance. It turned out to be an enlightening experience; frustratingly difficult at times, pleasantly rewarding at others. Characters were tested and formed during events such as elections, placements, IRIS and Utsaha. Miraculously, we chose to stuck together, and were able to pull off a stupendous show each time. (With scope for improvement, as it the case with successful completion of any event). The best time, of course, used to be within the classroom, what with intellectual games such as word CP’s being played all the time. There were those who had something to say, those who had to say something because their 10 percent were at stake, and those master CP-makers whose contribution, was contrived to throw the discussion into a wild pandemonium, for everybody to bask in aftermath. Many an intellectual tongue was forced to die a painful death by the collective criticism of the class. For some however, the class had nothing but bountiful praise at any given time. These were the chosen few, me included, for all of the two years. The fun did not end with the classes; god-send holidays were enjoyed to the hilt with shameless sleep throughout the day and drunken revelry in the parties organized at night. Group work was a fascinating exercise and what transpired in several of Group IV interactions is well known to most of us. Group work reaffirmed my belief that the best way to lead is by example and not by direction. Despite the challenges that we faced in dividing up the work or taking individual responsibility for the abstract entity called the “group”, we managed to ensure that our efforts were more or less synergistic in nature. Though Group IV ceases to exist formally at this point in time, the memories of group 4 feedback sessions, reunions will remain with all of us for quite some time.

The second year was quite different from the first one. It brought with it, the respite that most of us were desperately seeking. With a lot lesser classes on hand, most of ended up being confused no end and couldn’t figure out what to do with the spare time that they had so desperately been seeking. The spare time inspired many to gym and jog, watch interesting movies and television and in general spend time doing activities that were closer to their heart. A lot of people seemingly decided to get over with most credits as soon and possible (this brings to mind the one-night stands and instant gratification that most of us are so desperate for); I, however, decided to spread them across terms to ensure that I never very free. (An empty mind, as they say, is a hornet’s nest). And then it happened, quite unexpectedly too. The fine morning that we returned from our 4th term vacation, we saw them: They were the French. Yeah, we had heard rumors that all the six exchange students were femme fatales, but the experience was quite unlike what we had hoped for in our wildest dreams. All of a sudden, we found the suitable boys shaved and dressed up for their meals, in hope of a rendezvous with these women. For someone like me, who is not quite a woman’s man, they were the kind of necessary evil that Planet-I couldn’t do away with.(what with a B-Schools ratings being decided upon by things such as student exchange programs) Difficult as it was for them, they mingled and soon became one amongst us. I was forced into friendship with them by our very own Goyal, as he, being busy with IRIS, had no time to entertain these women and by virtue of a trip to Panchmari, which was organized by common friends. I tried to maintain my distance with them (familiarity breeds contempt, don’t you know?), but was amazed at the humaneness of these earthly French beings. Most of them turned out to be extremely simple, loveable people, who were in search of their destiny in life. The time spent with them, was fun-filled to say the least. They taught us drinking, partying, swimming, a little bit french and assorted things such as french-kissing to some lucky ones amongst us. All said and done, there was never a dull moment with them around us.

IRIS 2005 was a trailblazer, in more ways than one. As always I decided to things which I hadn’t done before. Here’s a sample.

Chose to organize a case study named “The Chief Underpants Officer” as a part of I-RISING, rather than the rote and uninteresting strategy-based case studies being organized by B-Schools all around
Donned the hood of paparazzi for IRIS-newsletter, i-balls, dedicated to bring the truth to the forefront
Asked to become an internal judge for the Spot game, Meet the press, and given the mandate to ask difficult questions, asked questions such as “How much change is good change?” and “Do you think that this is the right time for the Indian women to burn their bra’s as a lot of people feel that the they seem to be tying the Indian women down…?”
Met Dr. Palash (of Euphoria fame) and enquired whether all of his band were full-time professionals

And these last couple of months can most appropriately be described by the comfortable numbness that has dawned upon most of us. It’s the kind of feeling that dawns upon you upon the end of an era, the era that that was almost too surreal to be true. There are so many things, that still remain to be done; meet the people whom I haven’t yet been able to spend time with, thank my friends for being there for me when I needed them most, preparing for that job which would be perfect sinecure that I am desperately looking for et al. I too have been feeling too dumbstruck to do anything these days. I guess it is one of those times when I am waiting for things to happen to jolt me into something new. Till that time however, I would do well to live through this without any guilt. (ek lamha jee lene de…)


kamar baandhe huye chalane pe yaan sab yaar baithe hain
bahut aage gaye, baaqii jo hai.n tayyaar baithe hain

na chhe.D ai nikahat baad-e-bahaarii, raah lag apanii
tujhe aThakheliyaa.N suujhii hai.n, ham bezaar baiThe hai.n
basaane naqsh-e-paa-e-raharavaa.N kuu-e-tamannaa me.n
nahii.n uThane kii taaqat kyaa kare.n laachaar baiThe hai.n

najiibo.n kaa ajab kuchh haal hai is daur me.n yaaro.n
jise puuchho yahii kahate hai.n ham bekaar baiThe hai.n

kahaa.N gardish falak kii chain detii hai sunaa 'Insha'
Ganiimat hai ki ham-suurat yahaa.N do chaar baiThe hai.n

What is SPAM ?

[Arun Singla] Below is a copy of the message that I sent a couple of days back on what SPAM really is. I now hear, that is did not reach most of us. All are invited to comment.

Dear Comrades,

Tis nice to hear from you. Reminds me of that last time, when we played this game and has unquantifiable fun.

After all that I have done for you each one of you – you decide to start spamming at that exact moment when I was not present. Without caring to tell me about it. Well, this is least unexpected of. IT breaks my heart, you know. Today this very day, the 6th of February 2005, I resolve not to pardon each one of you for playing this dirty trick on me ;-)

Now then, this is a very relevant question. I think all of you should know about it – sooner rather than later.

Quality SPAM has various definitions. But from that parts that I come from, it is characterized by the these characteristics-

It is spontaneous. If flows, emanates rather. There’s no stopping it. It’s an irreversible force (so called juggernaut) that subsumes everything in its path. It does not discriminate on the basis on quality, content, simplicity or complexity. It is like that flutter of a butterfly’s wings which leads to tornados in Texas. It inspires. It MOTIvates. Further, It is just like Hinduism – it is all encompassing. It enlightens and is usually a parallel thought process. In its sublime form, it’s a metaphor. (The jazz musician at work) It’s like development – its multidimensional, as opposed to the concept of growth which in one-dimensional. It is like that picture which conveys 1000 words. It is the unfathomable 1st part of the public puzzle which invades and pervades the life of most of us IIM Indore participants. Last but not the least; it is like that first step of a 1000 mile journey which leads to instant gratification and long term sustainable competitive advantage for those who choose to practice it. I hope this suffices.

“Bowing down, while exiting the scene”

[Arun Singla] P.S.: All in lighter vein

Delivery of the decade

It was angled, bowled from some height and aimed at the base of leg stump - or was it really? Am not pretty sure about the former but I do know that it did knock the defenders fort down. And pretty ecstatic were all of us - it seemed to us that history had been made. The warriors, meant for this very battle had fought their heart out. And though the enemy did manage to take our lives (in the finals) they never could take our freedom, nor the pure joy of going out there and fighting for our cause. Some of the warriors,I am sure were immortalized today - at least in my books. Might as well make a note of the fearless warriors the the battle engendered :

Dhaval
Arun Singla
Saurabh Rungta
Yogendra Saraogi
Ashwini Tank
Pratik

And this one is dedicated to all those who had and continue to have the spirit venture forth whenver presented with the slightest chance?Thanks guys...

When was the last time you did something new?

Almost famous

An increasing empahsis is being placed nowadays on finding valid and reliable indicators of job performance. Never did I think that I would be out on a "job" for these two years. However, I did hope and expect to perform. It was tough to decide which committee or club to stand for in the recently concluded elections for the Students Welfare and Activities committee and the various other interest clubs that have just concluded.

I had stood for a post on the Media and Publications committee earlier and lost ( albeit gracefully, I should say). There is this something about the mirror that stops most of us having a deep hard look at ourselves. A passing glance ,now and then, off and away, is all the we like of ourselves. It is almost fascinating -this desire to avoid change and the consequences of change. Its just like the story of Peter pan - the boy who refused to grow up. Also similar to the human being a prisoner of his own creation. ( the so called psycic prison). I thought long and hard once again and concluded that the time was right for me to take a good hard look at the mirror. Though I still do not really like what I see, it does help in ensuring that I do not wake up one fine day to find out that the path which I had consciously chosen many years back has not come to merge with the one that I had so desired to avoid.

One this however is sure is that is not possible to fake such test advanced tests such as the peer performance evaluation tests. (This pertains to those votes that I would have loved to get, but did not. The only possible explanation is that I didnt deserve them. This leaves, as always, something to take in future; hopefully before I run out of time :-).

And yeah, I forgot to tell you - I lost the election for the post of the secretary, but did get elected to the post of a member on the committe for which I had chosen to contest....

marketing jargon

One of things they identify a clan is by its lingo. we , prospective future managers, are encouraged to be jargon-free as managers are deemed be people who are supposed to deal with complexity by simplifying things. Simplication, however, does entail a knowledge of the jargon before we set about managing by simplifying. Here's some jargon for you to munch over.

shotgun vs rifle approach to marketing segmentation
gorillas vs guerillas
built-to-order Vs built-to-stock
upselling, cross-selling and customerization
natural market segments and Concentrated marketing
brand-dominant heirarchy vs nation-dominated heirarchy
customer cloning

In case you do get to find out the meaning of any of these jargons, plz do write-back/comment ;-)

Of marketing and management

Marketing is(was) one of those subjects which I was clearly did not look up at. It seemed to me to be much too devoid of logic. Further, this was a subject with no right or wrong answers ( and I sure like to get my answers right)

It started on Day I when the marketing prof came hard at me. He had come looking for the person with 33 months of Infosys experience. He barraged me with questions, lots of them ; I tried to ward them off with my humor and wit, but aint sure about how successful I was

Example of a typical exchange that day

Prof : How does Infosys market itself?
Me: Well..by the time I joined Infosys, it was already pretty well marketed...So I dont know much about that.

However, I sure was complelled to be prepared for the next sessions as I did not want to be caught on the wrong foot again..( further, my wit really comes to the fore when I am well prepared)..At the begining, of the semester I had decided that if I were ever pressed for time, marketing would the subject I would have to ignore...Well...I ended up reading all but one of the chapters covered this term ( dont ask me about cases though)

Post some gyan from kotler in my next blog,

Lonavala, Amby Valley and Imax

Decided to go on a holiday this summer rather than go home. ( frankly I had been plain lazy to book tickets to home, though I haven't told this to anyone). One of my mates had come back from frankfurt on a holiday, another one from cincinati..(so then, what did you think...all of my friends have gone places by now). Finally however, I packed my bags to mumbai with one of my mates here. Had good fun in Mumbai for a day or two and then moved on to mumbai to visit some of my college mates.

New year a good time with us dancing our hearts out to "Dhoom"...The next day we visisted Lonavala, Amby Valley and other places that we came across.

Great that both my friends still had all the time in the world and it was like old times again ( perhaps better)...Friendship sure is old wine, in my case is seems to mature with time....

will post some of the pics as I receive them,

Summers - Not so haat after all

had taken 3 books home this time ( with the intention to read them of course, not with the inention to sleep over them as some of my friends may erroneously presume).However, history repeated itself. Did not open two of them, and read just a single chapter from ( dividend policy - M & M model ) the remaining one.

Had intended to read a little bit about companies and industries, while at home and also set up a portfolio in consultation with dad. that didnt happen either. (and yeah, I had borrowed 200 Euro from a friend just for this purpose). didnt give my suit for dry cleaning too( and what does that tell you?)

Came back, presuming that summers would come and go as any other event.( easy come, easy go?) This however, was not be the case. I didnt not receive too many shortlists but managed to reach the interview stage in most of them. ( that was reassuring). It were a tough 3 days and most of us hardly got to sleep at all . Learnt a lot by attend lots of GD's. ( this was I had not done before as I seldom ever had to try too hard). I got placed on the second day, and was thus relatively free for the next couple of days. Learnt a lot during those 3 days. ( guess thats why they say that adversity brings of the true characters of human beings). It was intriguing to watch and be with my own mates. It was dificult at times, as I have traditionally been considered as a insensitve fella. however, I tried my best to be with my mates.

And yeah, about the GD's....they were an awesome learning experience. I learnt once again that knowledge cannot be superceded. Further, some of the GD's brought out ( to the fore, need I say ) the real personalities of some of my mates ( so there was a lot of learning on that front).....

Most of all, I got the opportunity to spend some time with some of my mates with whom I have been unable to interact much....( the world may the global village, but the distances somehow remain).....In totality it was and experience in itself and a lot of bonds were formed......:-)


Till I feels the heat once again?

Group Dynamics

Something happened today that was another first timer in my life..( when was the last time I did something new? Keep exploring...that's what they say...and I accede to their wishes) Guess what...? I was the subject of a mail....wonder whether I should find it weird, awkward or amusing. However, as has always been the case I choose to be amused ( with just a tinge of bemusement too)...The case that we are talking about is "The mysterious case of Group no 4 " ( as Uddu so succintly put it). I wonder how many PGPian's have got to know about this...all the girls in our batch I am sure ....:-( Good that the second year is not here.

And what was the problem. It seemed that the female member of Group #4 was not happy with my written communication skills. Now this one, I havent really heard before. I know there's room for improvement, though and that would be the endevor henceforth.

I have gotten into all kinds of tangles with girls before, but nothing of this kind.
What ensued was a pretty good exercise. Uddu suggested that we take some time out to get this over with. We got together and for a discussion wherein each memeber of the group gave his feedback on others. Twas really very useful...I have always wondered about what goes on in other people's mind ( sometime I am not even sure about what goes on in mine :-) and have foudn that it is really more or less impossible to read most individuals mind. ( especially at this level). I got to know a lot of areas for improvement....about myself...am blogging them so that I do not forget about them and can evaluate the progress any progress that I do make the course of time . ....

• Introducer of Radical ideas- which is good but need to ensure that they do not lead the group in the wrong direction ( The more radical the idea, the tougher it is to implement :-)

• Need to ensure that, I market myself right...else no one may be willing to buy my arguments. ..

• Rememember that authority does not flow only from one's positional status. If you are good, people automatically follow you/ believe in you. ( Lead with example I guess, leading by direction is NOT something that is appreciated too much)

• Ability to handle feedback in a positive manner.....( probably whatever I have learnt after the Infy debacle has been ratified today..) this feedback was rather pleasent...

• have the responsiblity to ensure that I do dissemeniate any knowledge that I have ( I did promise to contribute to the the group learning, when I filled up the interview form for IIM Indore, I couldnt agree more on this)

• My quest for knowledge is not that bad after all, there are others who concur ...about this approach to life..

Long time since I would reach the accounts class unprepared. guess this is a part of the job....

Till something interesting happens again,

Rookie

End Term Blues

Got some spare time, after a long time...we have MOC tommorow ( managerial oral communication..wherein participants have to make ten minutes presentation) ....probably the last MOC that we are going to witness for some time to come.....
Guess there will be lot of fun tommorw as well...what with the the last round having presentations on child abuse and ..infant feeding.....there are high expectations from tommorows round........

Mid term results have started coming in...am sure not sure if my aim of being in the top 60 would be fulfilled.......guess it will take some doing....

Then there the guest lecture by Adi Godrej on Sunday.........


With the end-terms not to far away, I may as well....get my share of sleep this weekend.......:-)

had intended that all the posts to this blog would be funny...however, am not feeling not that humorous today....
yeah, also found out how, difficult it is to get a CAT Bulletin after the last date has gone....just goes on to prove that people here do take their job reasonably seriously...


Signing off,

Retro- spection?

Originally Posted on 18th aug.....got posted in the wrong section by mistake:-)

guess what..?had a party last saturday..and that too of the retro variety..everyone had to dress up as oldies else they were not being served the drinks...;-( Yours truly thought hard and fast since his mouth was getting drier by the minute...An initial attempt at breaking the rules....was proved futile...Grey cells working,,,yours truly decided to walk back to his room and return to the retro, this time dressed in a kurta and bootcut jeans....and with guys going the whole gamut..( dhoti, padgi,,,the original bootcut) yours truly did not make a splash..but did manage to get some photos taken...plus the bacardi that he was so sincerely after...came back at 4..AM..what with friends in Cultural Com who never stop entertaining me with an extra peg or two of bacardi....Roger then,Till the sun shines on this island once again..(Enter night exit light?)Someone tells me that bhainski has set the stage afire with his presentation on aliens..got to contact him and get info...on aliens..got to keep updated..god knows when the humans might get dated..what with technology and all spreading like wildfire ;D