A month old

Time flies, isn't it ?? It seems just yesterday that I was at the Pune Station, standing at the door of my compartment, waving my friends and mom dad goodbye......smiles on the lips, anxiety in the mind and pain in the heart.
And here I am now, one month old at WIMWI and when I look back now, it all seems to go by in a flash !!
The week was comparatively lighter on load than the last one. We had two quizzes as compared to four last week !!! But I have now stopped bothering so much about the load......That is something taken for granted here so U got to live with it. I am trying to enjoy the entire process now and am realizing am under much less pressure this way.

I had gone to the library yesterday and saw the latest issue of Business Today, that contains the annual survey on B-Schools. WIMWI was, as expected, ranked first but there was something else too that got a smile on my face. The cover page showed our director with a group of the 2007 graduating batch, thats our seniors, the tuchhas. Even inside the magazine, where theres was a special report on the college, there were few other snaps of various tuchhas. It felt absolutely great seeing those snaps. These are the people whom I meet everyday, I know them personally, know their names and some of them are even in my dorm. To see all of them in the magazine is a thrill of its own. Also, the magazine had a photo of the Vikram Sarabhai library and mentioned how its one of the most comprehensive libraries in the country. I was sitting inside the same library and reading about it in a national magazine. Another moment of thrill for me !! The magazine also mentioned CT, Cafe TANSTAAFL, where we regularly hang around....( It stands for "There Aint No Such Thing As A Free Lunch")

Interviews have started for the various clubs this place has. Its a very formal procedure and gaining entry into any of these clubs is indeed a big thing. I have given couple of interviews this week and hope to get shortlisted for few others in the days to come. There are going to be laods of events happening here in the coming months and the preparations for the same have already begin. For the first time I will be persoanlly witnessing what it takes to organize events of such huge scale and prestige. Most of these events are the biggest of their kind in Asia Pacific and attracts big names from the industry. It will be exciting and I will keep this place updated as and when these events occur.

The weeknd is going to be hectic. Lots of catching up on studies front. Plus we have th complete the Operations Mgmt project work. For that we will be going out of campus tomorrow and then preparing the report. And yeah, the Mid-term exams start from 31 Jul, next monday. So we will all be tensed about them throughout this week I guess. But with all the quizzes and regular studies that we have been doing, its not gonna be like our engg college days when we would sit with the bools at the 11th hour and mug.......Here its gonna be more of a revision of what we have been studying till now. But its a huge syllabus and am not sure how much I will remember of what we have studied so far :)

The elections for various posts are taking place today. For a change, i did not stand for any post. Till now in my life, I had always served posts like the school captain, class CR, and other such leadership roles. But this time I opted out. I will, nevertheless, be actively involved in donning any responsibilities that the class and the batch needs me for.

Just after the mid terns will begin the much awaited T-Nites....There is not much time to prepare for them and thats why my class has started work on it. Its gonna be an awesome week when the T-Nites happen.....will keep this place updated. But uske pehle deadly mid-terms hai :(

The classes are going great as usual....Each class is enriching. Thankfully, we get samosas and Coffee/tea after the first class, at about 10.15. For the new campus souls like me who skip the breakfast, this is a boon !!

And the ritual of crowding on the PC after the last class for the dreaded quiz notice continues........But the non-academic action of this place is slowly coming to light as the days progress and I am looking forward to it.

"If I tell you the average depth of this river is 1m, will you cross it by foot ?"

The HR prof asked us in a commanding tone to make us understand that averages do not give the true picture and its the spikes that practically determine a course of action. The class was silent and suddenly out of the blue the prof looked at one guy and signalled him to answer.......We all were expecting an obvious answer, and the guy said "No sir, I will not cross it by foot.....I will get wet " !!!!!

The entire class burst out laughing....We all couldnt control ourselves....amidst this serious discussion, here comes a whacky answer that lightens the mood. The prof too joined in the laughter and we all laughed for quite some time !!....The prof also amused by the answer doled out to him....ha ha ha !!

This is how the week started for us....The first class of HR on Monday !! Actually these HR classes are really great….I never thought this subject would be interesting…but the prof is so great, he makes the subject so lively…he gives us anecdotes, cracks lots of jokes and is really an expert on the subject…Makes us analyze seemingly simple things in great detail. You have to be really alert in his class coz he randomly picks up people to answer stuff…..and if you haven’t prepared for the class, you are in serious trouble. But even then, the classes are good fun coz of the exciting way he teaches….

Monday went fine…..Accounting classes take a toll on me and I as usual struggled to keep pace with the class. Tuesday afternoon after lunch we reached the mess and the deadly notice board awaited us…”There will be an OM quiz today at 2.30 pm in the respective classrooms”……Bang !! There goes my lunch……Came back to my room to refresh for the quiz. I wont go into the details of how the quiz went. In a nut shell, tough is the only way I can describe it.

Little did we know this is gonna be the trend for the entire week. For 4 days on the trot, till today, we had 4 consecutive surprise quizzes. A quiz notice is put up on the notice board in the mess and also a mail is sent at about 12 noon informing all the students about the quiz to be held at 2.30. So what happens in the class is that once the class gets over at 1.10, everyone flocks to the computer kept in the class and one guy checks his mailbox to see if there is a quiz notification mail or not. So its become a ritual for the class now…everyday at 1.10, gather at the PC to check for the quiz mail !!!

Ha ha ha….I have in a way started enjoying this entire ritual now….The quizzes are super tough is a different thing…..How I fare is a another thing….But this entire excitement, this uncertainty…I have got used to all this now and we have started expecting a quiz every day now……I think the surprise in the “surprise quiz” is now redundant….In fact we get surprised if there “isn’t” a quiz anyday!!! J

So it has been a tiring week that went by in a flash…it seems only yesterday that I had gone to my uncles place !! We have now experienced the pressure of having 4 continuus quizzes now…..so it all is a great learning experience !! We are surely learning how to handle extreme pressure, how to stretch ourselves to the limit…And I tell you, you wont realize how much ur body and mind are capable of !! We always underestimate our capabilities……this place makes u aware of them.

This week also continued my changed attitude towards life here. I am much more relaxed about things in general. I know I am bad in Accounts , but I try not to get too perturbed coz of it. I have been talking to people regularly on phone and realized it’s a great stress buster….I am getting used to this life now and have stopped cribbing about the load….On the contrary, I am enjoying the process now and trying to understand its tremendous benefits. The load and pressure is here to stay…its upto me to decide how I look at it..And I have decided to be positive and take every load, every quiz result, every pressure in my stride….And I can already see the effects !

There was a birthday in the dorm early this week and it was great fun…..There is a great tradition at this place to celebrate every birthday in the dorm in style…..It a wonderful experience, u tend to forget all ur load and just enjoy the celebration !! There is an elaborate procedure that is followed to celebrate every birthday, and it ends up being a great affair !

My sleep hours varied vastly this week. One day I felt so sleepy at 12 only and went to sleep, only to get up at 5 to complete my prep for the next class……Another day I was awake till 4.30 and was fresh enough to carry on more…..yesterday however, I slept at 12 and didn’t have the stamina to get up early…….Got up at 8…….My longest ever sleep at this place…..I felt so so guilty….I compromised on studies to get some more sleep…..U generally don’t so this here…..And I know I probably wont be able to afford it anytime again !!

We have got an Operations Management group assignment where we have to do a study on a service based organization and analyze its operations and suggest changes….The report is going to be submitted next Monday and I know its going to be a tough week ahead to manage the regular studies with this project work. We will be going out of campus to complete the assignment..And we have to manage this in our non-class hours…So its gonna be one heck of a job…..But its also exciting and I hope we make a good job of it !

Whenever any prof teaches in the class, he invariably gives practical examples from his consultancy experience or his stints with high profile firms…and you can’t help but admire the competency level of these people….They are gods and every word they say is full of weight and wisdom….and humour too. I have noticed this..they all have funny side to them which makes their sessions even more interesting !!

There are going to be elections for various posts here next week and early next month, there will be the much awaited T-Nites, about which I will tell as the time comes….So all in all, lots of exciting stuff in store for us apart from everyday’s study load and the no so frequent quizzes……Nearly everyday is a quiz day now !!

LKP is the famous landmark in the campus, which usually occurs in all the photos of IIM-A in media…..Its surrounds huge lawns and the sight of LKP and the library with huge circular arcs is awesome when u sit down in the lawn….I sat in the lawns few times in the night to study and the feeling is awesome…..u feel so powerful to be sitting at this historic place, yet so meek to realize the big names that have sat here and in comparison, your own miniscule self worth !!

Its weekend now..and no WAC report submission J But theres the OM assignment for which we will have to go out tomorrow….and then there is lots to catch up on studies front….lots of backlog to cover…..But its still a bit relaxing ! Theres no immediate pressure….u can always catch up on sleep….people are relaxing right now….some are playing football, some badmintion, some strolling, some gone out to shop or some r just pure sleeping !!!

Whatever it is, we are all bonding now. Bonding as a family, understanding each others woes, helping them out, sympathizing on the quiz load and smiling together in spite of all this, chatting and relaxing on the intranet and doing all sorts of masti!! That’s the only way we can sustain this load…..

Going back to that Monday morning HR class…..one statement the prof said stuck me….He asked a guy about the world cup and he didn’t know anything abt it….the prof said “ Mugging all day is one thing, but if you guys as budding managers do not keep pace with whats happening the world, what good r u achieving in life……So be aware of the world outside this campus…..spend time in other activities…don’t have a ontrack focus only on studies……and if u want, u surely can balance ur time for other activities”

And since then I have realized…..it isn’t really that difficult to spend 15 min a day pouring over the newspaper and another 15 min chatting to a friend…..

Its all time management….and whether u like it or not, this place teaches u this in the best possible manner !!!

Two weeks at WIMWI

A 2 week veteran at WIMWI now….
What a time it has been once the classes have started ! It seems as if I have been here for ages but when I look at the calendar, reality dawns on me that its just been two weeks…

Lemme first describe how a particular weekday goes here for me. I get up at 8…the worst moment of the day….I have started hating that alarm ring tone and have developed a fear of it..and hence keep on changing the alarm tone often !! After great difficulty I get out of the bed with my eyes all red due to the unending mugging of the previous night.

Classes start at 9 and three lectures take place, each interspaced with a 20 min break. Since I am in the new campus, it takes me time to go to have breakfast at the mess which is in the old campus and then come back for the classes to the new campus….I prefer to send those precious 15-20 min in sleeping extra !! Hence skipping breakfast has become the norm……At 1.10 the classes get over and we all trudge to the mess with a constant fear in our hearts….the dreaded quiz notice board !!
This is the NB that’s placed outside the mess and whenever theres a surprise quiz at 2.30 pm, a notice is out up there. And on an avg, u have abt 2-3 quizzes every week…..so u can do ur maths to find out how many times u have to skip lunch. Now its not necessary that u skip lunch when there a quiz at 2.30, but then somehow u feel its better u go back to ur room and study instead of munching your time away. There probably are two kinds of people who still have their lunch when a quiz is announced…..One who are studs and are ever prepared for any quiz and hence who don’t need to go back to the rooms for a last ditch revision. The other who have become so immune to the system that they know ki last minute padh ke bhi kuch zyaada faayda nahi hone waala…..so might as well relish the tasty mess food !! I belong to neither of the categories till now but am somehow pretty sure of joining the later very soon. J

I usually sleep for an hour after coming back to the room so that I have some strength to sit late in the night. And after the sleep, its study time till as long as your eyes permit you to stay awake….Haan, include the dinner trip to the mess in between which provides a good break from the monotony….

The entire teaching methodology is case study based. Every subject hardly has much theory, unlike our engg days. We discuss a practical case and apply our studies and theory to crack the case. Every student is expected to come prepared to the class with the case going to be discussed. We have been given a detailed schedule for the entire term that specifies on which day and what time, what is the case going to be discussed and what prior readings the student needs to do for the same. Hence, everyday, we have to do the reading and prepare the case for the next day’s classes. This activity takes about 2-3 hours for each subject, so with 3 lectures due the next day, nearly 8-9 hours goes in this prep. And apart from this is the backlog studies u have to do, the group assignments and other arbit stuff……And that’s precisely the reason why fachchas are awake mugging till late into the night or early mornings at times, depending on circumstances. In general, a sleep of 4 hours or more is surely bliss……

But I am slowly getting adjusted to this schedule. I had problems in the first week, where I was in a sort of trance, not being able to respond to the frenetic activity taking place around me….But the second week saw a change in me which I cautiously made an effort to implement….I was much more relaxed, realizing that the work load will always be there and hence theres no use getting worked up and tensed about it…..So I started taking things in a much more relaxed and mature manner…..I started reading the newspapers, started talking to my friends n family on phone and in general keeping a cool mind. All these things might look mundane to anyone outside WIMWI but trust me, in our first week here, we felt as if we are completely cut out from the external world and are living a life of our own…..its still the same case but my mindset of responding to events has changed…

We have had 3 quizzes till now….two went pathetic, one was quite decent….But am already getting immune to such vagaries…..My funda now is to study as hard as I can, Take time out to do simple stuff that relaxes ur mind and then not bother too much about whats gonna happen…Am sure things will take care of themselves.

However, life at WIMWI, as I am realizing slowly, is extremely rocking and fun filled apart from the mugging that the fachchas have to do….There are loads of other activities happening…The dorm culture is absolutely awesome and we have frequent dorm meets and dinners where all the dorm tuchchas and fachchas basically chill out and have fun. So there is lots of stuff to rest ur mind when u r down and out with the workload….

It’s a great learning experience….When I sit back back think of the kind of stress and long hours that I had put in, it makes me shudder, but then I also realize that in the end I do manage to come out of it and hang on…..This is what makes this place so absolutely great….You pass through fire and then come out rock solid to take on anything in the world…..this is probably just the beginning and there are many long tiring days ahead of me, but I have now started enjoying this place and this schedule and am confident that even though I might curse every morning about the lack of sleep I am getting, but in the end its gonna make me super tough, ready to withstand anything……

One great thing that makes this place rock are the tuchchas…They are all gem of people and have great enthu….They always help us out, understanding very well the kind of stress we go through… and they ensure that we have our share of fun as well….All in all, it’s a close knit family here…one large family..

The second thing that rocks here is the mess…..Awesome food is all I can say…..The mess is managed completely by a student committee, as is the case with everything else at campus….students do everything. There is great variety in food everyday and it tastes yummy…I never expected the hostel food to be so good and that provides a great relief when u come down to the mess after a tough day.

There are loads of other great things happening here and will list them in due course of time..
Yesterday night was a long one….I slept at 6 am…..Had to submit our first WAC (Written Analysis and Communication) report today…..This WAC submission takes place 3 times in the term….all on Saturdays….today being the first one….But the next 2 Saturdays don’t have it, so that’s good J

I am going to my mamas place after the submission that will take place in the next half an hour…..The post submission time today will be a chill period for all of us….We all have studies to do but are all so tired after the hectic week capped by the report writing, that this Saturday evening/night is fun time…..We will party, have fun, sleep , watch movie and basically relax ourselves…I will go to mamas place to get a break and a change of environment….have to also catch up on my sleep !!

Am leaving now for the submission and then for a relaxing evening……..Will be back soon !!

The welcome speech

Written on : 22 june
Am sitting at the CC right now as seniors have taken our LAN cords for the time being. The net connection will be provided in our rooms in 4-5 days. But this is the best place to sit to escape from the heat. It has been terribly hot here and I have rarely seen this much heat in past few years of my life. Waiting eagerly for the rains now.

We all (students+parents) assembled in the auditorium at 5 PM for the welcome address by none other than the man himself, the director of IIM-A, the man whom I have seen millions of times on TV, the man revered all over the education and industry world...Prof. Bakul Dholakia.

Its a huge auditorium and when he stepped on to the dias bearing the IIM-A logo, the sight looked so awesome, so overwhelming, filling you with pride and fear at the same time. In the next few days, we will be meeting professors who are gems in their own field, who appear on news channels, who write in econominc times and business magazines.....we had only heard about them, to meet them personally and interact with them on a daily basis is a nerve wrecking prospect indeed.

Anyways, the welcome speech started by making us realize how fortunate and deserving we have been in sitting there today at the best management institution in the continent. After briefing us with the history of this institute, he went on to give us some facts about the standing of IIM-A vis a vis other institutes across the country and the world.

Just to give a brief update: IIM-A was started in 1961, the first management institute in the country along with IIM-C. It has been rated as the "toughest B-School in the world to gain admission into" by the Economist, beating places like Harvard and Stanford. In the past 5 years, more than 15 rating agencies have conducted surveys and all have continuosuly rated it as the Best B-School in India without any exception in every ranking.This place is very strict about academics and you just can't afford to slip up at all. Anyways, we were all expecting this.... After all, thats what makes IIM-A what it is.Towards the end, the motivation level increased again. He reminded us that in these seats sat the likes of MS banga, KV Kamath, Harsha Bhogale and Jerry Rao one day, and look what they are today. They have carried the name of IIM-A to the peak and thats what we will do in the coming years. The institute owes its success to these greats and it is in our hands now to carry on that tradition. With this, he ended, wishing us luck for our tenure here.

I felt rejuvinated. I felt honoured. I felt priveleged. I felt the weight of responsibility on my shoulders. I am in an institute that has produced real life heroes. The mere thought sends a shiver down the spine
The lecture was folllowed by tea and snacks for all students and parents. I was talking to the mother of a frined of mine and telling her that today she is here with all the students and parents at this first day on campus.....and 2 years down the line she would again be here when all of us would be wearing our graduation robes, laughing away in the glory of finally being a product of IIM-A. I dont know about her, but I certainly could feel my eyes getting moist at the mere thought of that day.

But all that is far away now. A gruelling shcedule awaits us starting this monday. In fact, there is a practice case study discussion this saturday itself for which we have to prepare beforehand. Ha Ha Ha.....the countdown begins.

PS: The entire teaching here is case study oriented. Will post the details when the classes start. We have already been given the entire course material and I just cant fathom how on earth are we gonna finish that in 2-3 months. Anyways, will give the details of the subjects n all in the next posts.