When we got the list of the people with whom I am supposed to do MAC-I and MACRO projects i was a bit petrified coz i knew none of the people in the group(considering it had been only 1 month of college at that time and i interacted with very few).But as we started working with the group i was bit surprised to see the contributions a little girl brought in..no guesses dude.. it had to be Lakshmi.I felt at ease from the first day itself and the zeal she had to push for things was amazing.The energy she carried in everything she did from assignments to Abhudaya sponsorship kept us on our toes.Know what!!! the best part of all these things were..we often used to fight over certain mundane things while preparing presentations and assignments and boyyy i enjoyed it..but we always patched up in the end :)...the only thing i did not knew is that the fights are gonna end so soon.. We are goona miss you my friend..
If its your b'dy and you happen to be at IFMR ,there is a hell lot in store for you..from cakes and kicks..b'dy celebrations are a way of life and considering we are a closely knit community(somebody might disagree to this) you can't run away from your share of kicks..even if you are close friend of the person celebrating his b'dy.Right at midnite people will assemble to wish the b'dy dude/dudette and more importantly get a big share of cake :) (considering we have dinner at 8.30 pm and feel pretty hungry by midnite).Then starts the most awaited kicking cermony and the tables and chairs at the canteen has suffered a lot due to this madness ;) The kicks start flowing in from every corner and its hard tomake a difference between your best friend and your worst enemy.The gals are lucky in these respect..they are spared from the kicks :( ..... Many times the b'dy boy turns up to college late next day after getting manhandled by the entire batch..Then in the evening it is a process of treats and parties ..thanks to the bdy's many are spared one night of traumatic experience with the canteen food..as goes few lines by Pink Floyd "The grass is greener, The lights are brighter, With friends surrounded Nights of wonder...."
Phew!! Ahoy Amigos..back after a long time(one and half month to be precise)..partly due to assignments nd mostly due to my laziness.Sitting quietly in the ganapathy lab now(its almost 12:30 am) when i think of the last month that whizzd past in front of me all i can think of is the freshers's party and Bipasha Basu..now don't get me wrong ..i just came back after watcng Bachhna e Haseeno ;) . I had my Accounts mid term exam today and thanks to highly efficient invigilation i could'nt copy.. and in short i screwed it up.I turned up late in the exam center (i takes some time to have the 'HIGHLY' delicious canteen food) .And as i warm gesture to my arrival ..i was offered the seat at the first bench much to my apathy. The questions paper looked more like Hibru to me than nythg else and my long and futile efforts of askng my fellow batchmates was put to rest by the person guarding.Seeing my desperation to copy the invigilator turned all his attention to me as if i was the only person sitting in the room.But this did not put his mind to peace for a long time coz soon he told me to change my seat and put me in the most desolate part of the room :( !!!@@### !!!.And then and there was my destiny written Life in Chennai is seems to be on roll.This place has many posh malls and nice beaches.. and of course the nice and greedy auto-walas .Today i saw a traffic cop who had big moustaches and looked more like somebody from a b-grade horror movie than a traffic cop.AM sure he would have made more money acting in some lousy movies than getting baked in the roads of chennai giving directions to the clueless traffic.Not knowing Tamil is defn a disadvantage in chennai but so far i have managed good wid my 'tuta-futa' linguistic symbols..and am sure thngs would get better eventually....signing off for nw..will be back for more(very soon)........
Today had the opportunity/bad luck to sit in the first row for the accounts class. It was a great experience sitting in the VIP row. JLo kept on looking at me as if I had the answers for everything while I even didn't have the book itself. Had to borrow the book from Binit and made a lot of scribbles as ordered by JLo. Sitting at the first Jlo's lullably were starting to take a slight effect upon me. So after the successful completion first hour I switched back to my regular last row to mingle with the sleep deprived people. Second hour geared up and my fellow row mates began their quests in the dreams of which i took quite a few pictures.
Vaibhav was absorbed in the ET and BL whereas Praveen was trying to sleep with eyes open.
people getting charmed and sleepy by JLo's speech
Other side of the last benchers
physically present , mentally absent
And now the hero of our class . . . .
soja soja mere munna jojo jojo mera naam JLo......
Every time when a student enters into her/his first year in whichever course, there is always one fixed dish in her/his menu. That is the freshly fresher’s party. But for the batch 9 of IFMR this was served late and cold. After a accelerating first month of regular MBA workload the batch9 finally got it fresher’s party invite scheduled on 4th August 08. Like they were separated in groups for the subjects, here also they found a divide but interestingly on the basis of ethnicity. A ‘selective and (un)biased’ random grouping was made and people were put in so called groups of Mallus, Punjabis, Haryanvis, Assamees, Tamillas, Gujjus, Marathas, Biharis, Bengalis and Rajasthanis. The U.P. waales, Kannadigas, Kashmiris, Oriyans and Andhrawalas became angry as there was no quota for them and there was uproar in the sansad regarding this allocation of machos and babes to the various states.
Without bothering these outside problems the batch9 people started thinking on a macro level and were excited, trying to find the solution to the following major critical questions which were affecting their micro heart
To whom shall I dedicate what song? ( by the lovebug affected ones)
With how much make-up should I paint myself? (by the beauty conscious ones)
What will be menu for the dinner? (by the gastronomical ones)
The d-day arrived with quite a few people having found answers to the above questions and lots having multiple choices for the questions. Classes went on like a bee-buzzing for a lot (except the fans of PKV). Few students started their preparation before the lunch itself, taking the risk of bunking OB classes expecting high returns in the evening (or in the forthcoming encounter with the churning Sherry). The afternoon computer 2 hours of computer works came with a debt waiver ½ hour (rather than the promised 1 hour) for the make-up-ically downtrodden people. Having just 1 hour for the start of the party the seniors and the less beautiful genders of the batch 9 got ready and were beginning to arrive at the venue. Having forgotten as how to read time or unable to spot their watches and clocks or getting stranded in the city the darlings of the batch9 arrived about 1 hour late to the venue. They were escorted to the party hall with due respect by the elders. It was like a state function and the babus being waiting impatiently for a lately arriving political guest not minding the presence of the recipients or audience.
After the arrival of the ‘busyness’ models the party kick started with the ethnics ramp walking and being interviewed. People spoke out their well practiced dialogues in their respective languages and ramp-walked gracefully1. There was a Gujju Goyal and his koyal in their traditional dresses dancing all around. The Haryanvis were bit ruff and tuff with their dandas and dr.goondas. Marathi manoos were too good with a changla mulgi. Luckily they were in a small numbers, or else the biharis and the tamilians would have been attacked. The mallus were too ooaabvious with theirs oas and their plain (g)old dresses. And there was a mallu born, american brought up Punjabi with the mallus. The tamilians girls were homely and the guys like eM.eS.Dee rascals. This time the Biharis babus weren’t bhikaris, but rather in a full-flow of their fhasht, afficiyal and melliphuous bihari. The assamees didn’t show up their dance, the Bengalis missed to do the ‘korbo lorbo jetbo re’ song and the Punjabis weren’t that body-shoddy.
In between the ramp(age) walk there were few known dedications being exposed off and the respective heroes and heroines danced to the romantic tunes (not to mention a sentimental bhai-behen song). A lot of dedications weren’t unearthed due to the time constraint (hope the ‘senior’ spokesperson releases the list through mail).
After the dedications there were around 1+1+1=3 events conducted showcasing the creativity of the elders2. Then the Mr.Freshers and Ms.Freshers were announced with the honours going to the Bihari babu and the Marathi Mulgi respectively. Dinner was announced and the eaters filled up their stomach while the beauty conscious ones changed gear from ethnic to western. The party floor breaked open with good music and the odourless smoke spreading around. Some danced gracefully, some normally and some carefully as to protect their legs being stamped upon3. Music rocked for two hours and all the permutations and combinations of grouping, energy of the dancers were exhausted. Then a bakra was brought to the center and he was anointed with cake. After finishing the remaining cake the party broke up and the people left with memories of the fresher’s party being remembered as a delicious, memorable and sweet ice cream served late and cold.
1 – except the author who was spitting all over the place.
2 – The author punctured his butt to win a chocolate in one of the events.
3 – Though being careful the author eventually got stamped upon many times.
Proactive defense statement: The author wrote this post around the time when he should have slept. So there may be quite a few mis-statements about the fairer sex or about the elders or about the ethnic groups due to inconsistent brain performance at the time of writing. Hence please ignore the mistakes which the author has made.
Vanakam... Seeing back the 3 weeks am here, at 24 Kothari Road, placed among the posh localities of Chennai, at Nungumbakkam…at IFMR…rejuvenated again from the all the work load…just trying my hand briefing my little experience…
A perfect day to start will be something like getting up at 4 in the dawn, getting refreshed and start studying…keeping up to expectations of all…and perform better to best with high hopes…and all the ‘goodie goodie’ words… But its quite different for me…
Day starts at 8 or even late…getting ready…with shirt tucked in…all set ready for breakfast followed by the classes…
With excellent good faculty, classes at IFMR are very interesting, sometimes learning extremely tough concepts…but sometimes work load taking its toll on me…I manage to continue the classes till 1. But luck running out on some days when there are post lunch sessions…it becomes extremely tough for me to keep my ‘shutters’ on… At last the classes come to an end at around 4 in the evening…grey cells all saturated…
Back from the classes, with a brief time to spare and with impounding work and studies, it is really a pleasure to wake till atleast 3…Cuko to give sweet alarms every hour of night starting around half past 1…really a ‘Silence Breaking’ session…
Oh….how not to mention the ‘Ice Breaking Sessions’…it was(hope it has ended) a very interactive experience for me…barring a few late night sessions…seniors really came close…well appreciated by all…the best being with the drama session…and also switching off the mobile with eyes closed…legs and arms raised…as if ‘Moon Bhangra’…
Friends are always a part of ‘success’ journeys…not an exception here…with a batch strength of around 85…the class really acts as a close unit…with a new CRs leading the roles in their respective departments… the best part of our batch is that it is well integrated with people coming from varying disciplines…and some too extremes to my imagination…
With all the efforts to clear up study lag and learning the art of preparing fine presentations, life really moves too fast…hours blink by...days fly by…trimesters always at your door thumping hard with a frowning face…program of two years seems to get completed in 2 months…
With a bit mixed experience at IFMR, life is really good and enjoyable…provided one can make time out…but again I find some contingent events weird to my thoughts…So I leave you with a statement to comment upon…
'Do we ever look back at the steps that have been a part of our journey, giving support to the risk of taking the next step? May be the hunger for looking forward has made us forget it…’
Guy: ‘Hello viewers today in our studio we have Prof.PKViswanathan fondly called as PKV with us. (Turning to sir) Good morning sir’ PKV (checking the collar mike): ‘Thatharina thatharina sasa magamaga sa ri ga ma pa dha ne saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa vanakkam’ Guy : ‘Sir for the next 30 minutes we will be asking you few questions expecting answers from you and your expert views about it’ PKV (gleaming): ‘Aah yes. But instead of going through the routine question and answers we will try to experiment this show through a case. We will have a change. At the end of this session I will also ask the viewers some small questions like choose the correct answers, fill in the blanks etc to make it more interesting. What say?’ Guy: ‘Ok sir; let’s take the case of the Left stance on the nuclear deal. What is your opinion Sir?’
PKV: ‘See east or west, north or south, left or right, if the left is still in power we won’t develop.’
Guy: ‘So then what will be your remedy for this situation Sir?’
PKV (gets animated) : ‘I say give the left a 3 hours test full of fill up the blanks then throw them and their results in the Bay of Bengal or Arabian Sea whichever is nearer.’
Guy: ‘Ok sir, you seem to have a strong point of view over the left. How about Mr.Advaniji and his new book My country My Life ‘(and the guy flips over a few pages through the book)
PKV (snatches the book from the guy): ‘You people don’t even know how to open a book. Let me show you how to open a book. (Cradling the book) First hold the book perpendicular with your hand (the camera zooms to PKV’s hand) and then slowly open page by page. And don’t ever scribble or mark with pen or pencil. It’s a disgrace to Lord Saraswathi. See someone has already scribbled in this book’ (pointing out the preface page)
Guy: ‘But sir that is a print of Advaniji’s hand written preface’
PKV: ‘Oh ok ok. But whatever the thing may be. These books can be made pretty small. The content is worth only one third of the pages. But these people give lot of stories and unnecessary explanations to make profit’
Guy: ‘Lets move on to the business world. What do you think of the Microsoft’s continuous trying to overbid Yahoo!?’
PKV (disgustingly): ‘I tell you. Microsoft is the worst company in the world’
Guy (puzzled): ‘Sir?’
PKV: ‘yes I say. They invented this copy paste method. All you need to do is chick chic copy from one place, chic chic paste in another paste. Such a shameless operation. But I will show you some tricks if you permit me. I see the time is already running out. But you should permit me. Is it ok?’
Guy (in a dilemma): ‘Ehh’
PKV: ‘Ok here it is. Chic chic. You copy. Chic chic ‘(suddenly the computer’s power goes of) ‘I don’t know how all of a sudden these things go wrong. Ok anyway next do the chic chic, you will get the results beautifully tabulated’
Guy: ‘thank you very much sir for your presence here.’
PKV: ‘now I am not going to speak. I want the answers from the viewers. It is my -------re to be here. I thank the --------tor for --------ing to the show. ------k –u. –ye –ye.’
Guy (sighing): ‘That’s it for the day viewers’
(In the back drop PKV’s mike is being removed by a girl. He starts talking to her)
PKV (with a smile):’ You were there during the presentation last week right.’
Girl (surprised): ‘No sir’ PKV (smiling too much): ‘No I remember you. You were during that CEO’s presentation……… (And he goes blah blah)
Scene 1: Its 8:30 in the morning, my roomies n me all still in their dreams of well suited manager and glued to their bed as if a Sunday morning waiting for a room service of continental breakfast…still could’nt come out of last days hang over…suddenly realizing that its just the middle of the week…atleast 3 days away from a week end…’Oh My God!’ Its 8:35 in the morning, just 25 min to go for the first class…now its another decision…may the toughest decision for a manager…which one to choose… classroom or washroom? Bt I played safe…
Scene 2: Grabbing the dhosa like a chicken role…stuffed as much as it can be…hurrying through the red tiles of the campus…its 9:05…hoping against all the odds…hurrying over the stairs better than Olympics gold medalist…finally reached…‘The Bhagirathi Hall’… Micro Sir already with his graphical expressions…Just squeezed in my chair…1st row…couldn’t make out what the hell is going on…Then seeing the projector…its an ‘Indifferent Curve’…but my eyes quite indifferent to it closes itself frequently…just to taste a sweetness………. Suddenly feeling the presence of someone in front…heads down, eyes blossoms again, sir in front with an explanation to someone’s unique query…my head starts nodding as if knowing the answer before hand…. Scene 3: 1st interval of the 1st period…stretching myself…yaaaaaawning…bigger than the ‘Use Me’…as if the only break of the movie ‘Kanchanjonga’…desperately needing a face wash…But of no use…the period goes on and my yawning…both as if ‘Complementary Goods’ like ‘Left nd Right Shoes’ sometimes shamelessly…thinking of the cartoon ‘Tom & Jerry’ where tom desperately needing a bed to fall upon…uuuuufffff
Scene 4: The best part has just come…with a new CR efficiently making an announcement of an extra class in the afternoon session of such a subject that just adds a pillow to slumber…Oh my God! Desperately needing the lunch break for mornings bath…waiting for the 1PM stand…at last it comes…shouldering my new laptop…striding for the hostel with a post pone lunch (Unusually)…
Scene 5: After munching the lunch, with most displeasure, heading again towards Hall, this time determined not to dose again…reached the class…within 10 minutes class gets filled…along with the resp prof…with renewed vigor eyes widely opened…trying utmost to understand a ‘System’…and also analyzing it…with an ‘ICICI bank’ example being audible…trying to gather as much ‘Information’ to ‘Manage’ it….But suddenly I could feel a System fault in me…eyes closed again …my information system unmanageable, collapsing…zzzzzz!!!
I leave you with question to comment upon… Why are there first benches??? Zzzzz!!!!.....
sorry to snatch the honors from everybody but, after witnessing THE MAGNITUDE OF TRAUMA(due to assignments) that I went thru in the last 3 days, just , cudnt resist the temptation to open a thread abt life@IFMR. A typical day at IFMR starts wid two options fr me…taking bath or breakfast(I hate getting up early in the morn nd I consider 8 am very early).Choice is pretty simple as am in Chennai and can’t do away wid a early morn bath. Classes start sharp at 9 and then it’s a process fr me to fight my innate habit of dozing in class.But surprisingly some of the teachers have woken me up from my slumber..nd am not making any bones abt it we do have some of the best teachers around. I wouldnt harp on that much more but only thing I can say in the 2 weeks here that a great prof can make a difference between going over a subject & really liking it.
Life finally seems to be settling into B School ways When I first came to this place, all I heard was that life would be hell. MBA is not for weak hearted, blah blah blah. Dont think its that bad. Lot of it is hype. Ultimately it all boils down to simple things like managing your time well. There would always be people who would excel in acads, participate in extra cirriculars & not miss on the other learning aspects as well. Only thing is ... they operate at better efficiency levels. & I think a B School punishes you for not being efficient. Its not an option
The campus is small but beautiful ...many trees...n many birds...only issue they might bomb u .so u gotta watch out for that .
Learning curve is now starting to look a li'l too steep now .. (atleast for me) .. dunno whether I will be able to handle the dilemma of advance reading for next day v/s revision for today's classes. v/s chill out. v/s indulge in a intangibly beneficial gyaan exchange session with a fellow classmate Parties are a way of life and 2 weeks into IFMR we already had two bd’dy celebrations…the last one being yesterday and wid the club activities all set to roll things r getting pretty excitingbut let me remind u...its not all fun n games hre....we hve got 6 subjects...n the diff level is bad...n even worse is the competition level....as mentioned we ve got guys from even frm IIT....
But all in all, last 2 weeks at IFMR was an experience to remember. Pretty sad to note that I'll be experiencing it just once in my life. It is THAT fun (and spirit)
