mbajunction is back!

mbajunction....quite decently read blog on campus 5 years back...used to get quite a few comments and feedback on what is written...good bad and ugly(rarely has it happened!! though) iS finaly back this time after an effort to revive sometime back...

I have finally found the time to revive the blog, after a gap of almost 3 years now inspite of an attempt in between!! I probably got lost in the speed that life takes you!!

Coming back to Swamy the young mba from a b-school somewhere in pune, life had made him travel across the length and breadth of the country and settle down finally in the Southern city of bangalore, untill life promises him something different, exciting this time but, there is a pause....

A Quick recap of where I left you all with this character 3 years back,

Lost between Delhi Stations, but discovered himself in Kanpur During the Sales Stint, interesting opportunities to visit rural towns and finally had his last stint in Vizag. This was not before he got a chance to work and stay in Bihar as well. Swamy was asking himself, whether he was destined to cover the BIMARU States?

Swamy had landed in Vizag for his last stint before he hope to become an Area Sales Manager onces the bosses in Confetti deem him fit to  be one...probably in some god foresaken place of the country!(Atleast thats what he thought Confetti might end up doing to him!).

Vizag located along the bay of Bengal was scenic with its breezy and pleasant weather in end September while Swamy reached there for the first time. The prospect of living on better allowances of a Manager made him stay at a 3 star hotel, which had better comforts compared to many other hotels he had ever stayed in!

The Challenges in Vizag were interesting, no local sales person to assist(the person had just left before Swamy came in), sales only going one way, which was downward, distributors mostly knowing only 1 Language well, which was Telugu and Swamy had hardly any clue in Telugu. It was as good as Greek for him!

Swamy quickly understood his most basic problem of communication since actions, expressions, gestures, having a facilitator in between, to make up for lack of language only worked in person, while all telephone communications atleast required him to have an idea of basic telugu. Hence he invested in Learn telugu in 20 Days!

But how did he realise this? day1, at work he gets a call from his Area Manager that a Cheque had bounced in Vizag,by one of the Distributors of Vizag.

Swamy had to meet the distributor to resolve the problem! He instantly reached the spot after a few hicups to find the place! Mind you..at this stage Swamy is a Management Trainee in the company, and Swamy being Swamy doesnt want to leave any stone unturned to do his best!

He reached the Dealer point only to find the person hardly understands anything but telugu!

Swamy tried explaining the seriousness of the Cheque Bounce of the said invoice to the dealer from the company. He uses actions, gestures, drawings but all in vain. The dealer is too dumb to understand why Swamy is struggling so much when one can explain whatever he is trying to in Telugu. This really frustrates Swamy as the dealer seems to be a person who fails to understand that there are people in this world who dont know Telugu!!

But there is hope in this despair and frustration!! he finds a young kid in the house reading an english text book. He seemed to be sgtudying in an English Medium school and this got a relief on Swamys eyes.

Swamy catches hold of the approximately 8 years old kid and explains him the situation in English. The young kid is taken aback by details like Cheque Bouncing! (He till now thought only Sporting fixtures use this terminology).

He thankfully in turn translates whatever sawmy says to the dealer who in turn is quite calm post the kid finishes the topic! This stuns Swamy. Did the kid actually say what was meant to be explained? Has he totally miscommunicated whatever had to be communicated?

The kid again translated back what the distributor had to say, which shocked Swamy! The distributor said he was aware that he might face this situation since he had no money in the bank and he could not help it.

Swamy explained through the kid, on how this might end his distribution agreement with the company and that he might land up in a legal case. After enough explanations, the distributor finally was driven sense by Swamy.

The Distributor agreed to pay up the money in a couple of days. Swamy thanked the Kid for its help and resolved to learn basic Telugu to deal with the locales since communication seemed to be a big bottleneck for him in the times to come here..

Swami Tales Shall be back Soon?

Its been little more than a year and a half and ....Swami has not updated us on his FMCG adventures!!

After a lot of people writing in to revive the Blog...and on demand from some close friends. mbajunction shall come alive again to relive memories and applaud the present.

Swami visits Rura

A weeks time in Kanpur and Swami met a number of retailers and Wholesalers in his beats some prasing, some complaining, some reciting stories and some even abusing! The endeavor during the beats used to be to do maximum sales and at the same time pacify angry retailers and visit retail outlets which the salesman otherwise was skipping for some reason or the other.

Meanwhile Vajpayee had planned for Wednesday as his weekly off and since Swami was on a Shadow sint he too was following the journey plan and this effectively meant that Swami would be working nine day in a stretch.

Swami noticed that retailers in city had big expectations when a company official was visiting them and some even enquired with him on whether there is any special retailer scheme in the offing. Vajpayee meanwhile was now entrusting responsibilities on Swami and was asking Swami to make sales call with the Salesman at outlets. Swami duly used to come back to Distributor points and give his feedback to the distributor on the salesman's working in the beat.

Swami wan getting into the saddle well now and now his first upcountry visit took him to Rura, a town in Kanpur Dehat District. Swami was quite excited at the prospect and was eagerly looking forward to the interaction with people there. The mercury in Kanpur and adjoining areas was only rising higher in the meantime and the heat had no signs of reducing. Swami dressed in simple formal attire, with a Perfetti Bag hanging on his shoulders(which had a bottle of mineral water all the time) started for Rura by Etawah Passenger early morning. This also meant Swami caught up with Breakfast at Kanpur Central Railway station, the menu being Puri and Sabji which was very popular all around. The other omnipresent dish used to be Samosas, which was turning to be Swamis Favorite. Swami also made sure that he does not miss on the Famous UP Lassi served in Kulhad(Earthern ware) at a point called Tiwari Lassi near his hotel.

Vajpayee had suggested Swami Hotel JaySiyaRam serving Pure Veg. Food near the station,(Area near the station referred to as GHantaghar, on account of a clock tower) and after a days meal Swami fell in love with the homely food there. Lunch vanished from Swami's daily meal dictionary and hence he made sure he has a good breakfast which cann keep him going through the hot days and come back to Jay Siya ram for good food.

Swami's train to Rura passed through rural settings and he was quite keen to see Rural Uttar Pradesh and its beauty. It was indeed true that Uttar Pradesh had a lot to offer than politicians and Swami was very happy that he was discovering the place.

After an hour and half's journey Swami and Vajpayee landed at Rura. Having got down at the station he along with Bajpai walked about two kms to reach the distributors residence. Swami could gather the impression that the town was centred around the main road which he walked across and the only mode of transport there was a moth shaped tempo which was stuffed with some 15 odd people. Swami was keen to try this mode of transport sometime and even made his desire known to Vajpayee. Vajpayee informed him that the moth shaped Tempo did not travel via the the place they wanted to go and hence they cannot board it.

Swami and Vajpayee after their 2 kms walk reached the distributor point and were treated to cold water and then hot tea. Conversions with the distributor revolved around the same dialogues,"Saheb Dhanda to Manda hain, Abhi to school Band Band hain na...to Bache to Nani-Dadi ke ghar pe hain". On a lighter note, Swami thought that Rura definitely would be having Nanimas and Dadimas living for grandchildren to visit, then why the flawed reasons. He decided to check it himself when he goes to the market.

In the meantime the distributor salesman arrived and he was introduced as Naresh to Swami. Swami was quite amused at Naresh's Hindi, it had a rural touch and for the first time in his life Swami had to concentrate to catch his words. Naresh had also named Confettis's smaller SKU of Chewing gum as "Babua"(in English means Baby) to sell it to retailers in Rura.

Vajpayee duly asked Naresh to make a sample of some slow moving products to carry it along in the beat and instructed Naresh that they would not skip a single outlet.

This commenced one of the most interesting days till now for Swami! Naresh had an excellent connect with the retailers and wholesalers and he cnahged his style with each outlet. Almost every call was a productive call that day. During the course of the beat Naresh enquired with Vajpayee on who Swami was. Bajpai told him that he had done his MBA. Naresh was someone who had never been out or Rura in his life and he failed to understand what an MBA was!

He asked Bajpai for an explantion of the term "MBA" which he referred to as "MCA". Vajpayee then asked Naresh whether he understood was Standard 12th was, to which Naresh nodded. So Bajpai told him, " After 12th Swami had studied till 16th Class(meaning his engineering) and then again studied for two more years to complete 18th Class." Naresh was thrilled to see that someone could study for so many years when people he knew used to drop out well before standard 10th. He immediately retorted, "Agar Saheb itne padhe likhe hain, to kya humme woh passwale Akbarpur ka area bhi dila sakte hain tofee bechneke liye"?

Both Vajpayee and Swami smiled at his question and Swami could see Naresh's passion for his work. Naresh was quite motivated that day with two company officials accompanying him and they visited every outlet possible, selling sugarfree chewing gums at Medical Outlets, opening new counters at Sweet outlets, which had problems of coinage of lower denominations.

Be it the FreshMints or the Liebe candies of Confetti, Naresh, Vajpayee and Swami sold the entire range. The respect and patience with which retailers heard the company officials was quite different that the city. Swami was duly impressed and at the end of the day they did make a point to the distributor on how they had done sales inspite of all his excuses.

The trio had walked all through the town and had now walked for some 6 hrs at a stretch. Bajpai and Swami had already missed the train back and now they had to settle for bus. This made them travel through the moth shaped tempo to reach the Highway Bypass to catch a bus to Kanpur. After a forty minute journey they reached Akbarpur Highway bypass to get on to buses coming from Auraiya and Etawah to Kanpur.

The highway was deserted, with very few vehicles. There were jeeps carrying people to Kanpur and Swami wondered why Vajpayee was waiting for the bus when they could easily take the jeep. He suggested the same to Vajpayee, that is when Swami also spotted people travelling on bikes with rifles hanging on their shoulders! Vajpayee told him that these jeeps were risky and were not safe mode of transport.

Sometime later Swami again saw a group of people walking with rifles!...Swami wondered whether they were common people or police in normal dress....He checked with Vajpayee and he was informed that they were indeed common men.....

Swami's next question-" Why are they carrying guns?...whats wrong with them..Vajpayee's reply-"Just like you and I carry mobiles, they carry guns!'"........Yeh hain Uttar Pradesh...
Next Update:- Swami visits Farukhabad and Kannauj

DaY One in the Sales Beat!

Swami quickly got refreshed and called up the S.O.(Sales Officer) for Kanpur, Prasad Vajpayee so that Swami can join him and get working as a Sales officer for Confetti.(For the uninitiated, every FMCG company makes their future Area Sales Managers work like a Sales Officer whom they manage in the future, Each SO has a territory assigned to him to take care of).

Prasad Vajpayee was a Sr.Sales officer for the company and had a good reputation amongst all senior executives of the company on account of his work. Many Area Sales Manager Trainees like Swami and also Sales Officer trainees were always sent to him for training from the North branch. Vajpayee on the other hand was quite fed up with trainees who were not keen to soil their hands and go the extra mile and rightly so since he put effort behind trainees. He had made up his mind to put Swami through some rigorous training and check his urge and desire to learn.

Swami on the other hand was quite hungry since he had to skip his dinner on account of non-availability of food, while it was too late for breakfast when he reached Kanpur. Vajpayee was busy on the streets of Kanpur in Raiway Bazar Market when Swami called him. Swami was duly given directions of a Pan outlet near the Railway station to meet up with Vajpayee and the Distributor Salesman in their beat. These directions reminded Swami of his words to his fellow FMCG mates while parting at college, that they can bump into each other at some retail outlet or pan outlet during their careers.

Meanwhile, as designated they met up and Swami duly introduced himself and inturn got introduced to the Distributor Salesman Ashwini. The day passed by with Swami observing the selling at each outlet and tactics used by Vajpayee and Ashwini at each outlet. Kanpur was simmering hot and monsoon here was next to negligible every year. It rained somewhat in end July, but it was only second week of June now.All in all... Swami was ready for a scorching sales stint in Central Uttar Pradesh.

By mid afternoon, Swami, Vajpayee and Ashwini had covered number of outlets and now Swami was feeling the heat of his hungry stomach. It was almost 24 hrs and Swami had not had anything except some liquids in the form of water. That is precisely when he, Vajpayee and Ashwini decided to take a tea break and Swami gulped some "Bun with Maska Marke"(Bun with Butter, served with Tea in many parts of India). This small break did wonders for Swami's stomach and he was quite charged up again.

Swami was duly impressed by Vajpayee's working and his efforts to place Confetti products at all possible outlets in the beat. Places where retailers had thousand excuses of not buying a product, Bajpai had 1001 reasons for them to buy it, while at places where retailers were willing to buy three products Vajpayee made sure that they try two more products with the ones they already wanted. Be it Variety selling or being one step ahead of the smart retailers in UP, Swami was making a note of things to watch out for. Ashwini the distributor's sales man was playing second fiddle for the day in the presence of Bajpai, while Vajpayee also made it sure that he stays motivated at all times.

Swami had always heard about the aggresion of people in north and he was now a witness to it in the form of some retailers. He was reminded of his Senior's(in Confetti) words who had asked the Trainees, their opinion on whether there was a difference in the behaviour of people to the north of Narmada and South of Narmada. He saw retailers in all moods, some dejected, some excited, some happy and some whining about poor sales, while some literally pouncing with anger and some not at all in a mood to talk. He began hearing lines like "Sahab ab to sanata laga hain"(Sir there is absence of activity in market).

At the end of day's work Vajpayee did enquire about where Swami was put up and why he had not stayed in the hotel suggested by him. Swami smartly put away the question since he did not want to tell him that a junior Summer Trainee who had just returned from Kanpur had warned him not to stay there.The reason being:- Rats abounded the Hotel and hence everything from baggage to clothes was subject to danger.The end of the day also saw Swami taking a new mobile no in UP to stay connected and at this moment he was realsing how handy and important mobile phones were! This was especially for folks in Sales like Swami and who travelled alone!

Vajpayee while leaving also told Swami that they would be visiting upcountry towns Rura, Farukhabad, Kannauj and Chibramau during the week and Swami was quite excited and thrilled at the prospects of seeing the Hindi heartland!

Next Update:- Swami in upcountry towns of Central Uttar Pradesh

Swami Tales- Part Two--The Delhi Kanpur Journey!?

Swami was cursing his luck when he found himself in the Railway Station goof up, but he was quick enough to realise, he had to do something . How far is the other station from New Delhi station? How much will the Auto charge? Will he get one now at a decent price or even they will be trying to rip his wallet apart?....What alternatives to train does he have? some questions running in his mind..

An idea struck, he called his B-School buddy who was also living in Delhi, Jyotirmoy Banerjee. Banerjee had got into a BPO firm after B-School and was at a senior position owing to his vast experience. It was hence very possible that he would be awake. Swami called and to his good fortune, Jyotida(as he used to be called by Swami) guided him and asked him to take an auto immediately to Delhi station and also told him an approximate charge, the auto might ask.

Swami quickly ran with his suitcase and Laptop bag outside the Ajmeri Gate side of New Delhi and got hold of the first auto insight. Without much haggling the autodriver agreed to reach Delhi station quickly at hundred bucks.

Swami was cursing his stupidity, the money which he could have easily saved had he told the Confetti arranged Cab to drop him at Old Delhi station. He soon reached Delhi station and took his luggage and ran towards the Platform, in the meanwhile also enquiring with coolies whether Rajendra Nagar Special had left.

It was already 12.30 am and the scheduled departure was at 11.55 PM. Looking at his hurriedness and worried face, a coolie told him to chill and informed him that the train had still not come. Infact on further enquiry with people on platform One waiting for the train, few told him that there was no fixed time on when it would come. A day before the train happened to Start from Sarai Rohilla Delhi station in the morning it seems! Swami thought just when he had seemed to got out of a mess, he seemed to have entered one more. So inh short Swami was in for some more wait......

Swami was now hungry and thirsty. The evening Dominos Pizza besides the office was history. By this time during his stay in Delhi, Swami was also taking strict precaution and was only drinking mineral water, which he found was totally absent from the platform shops.There was alos nothing worthwhile to eat. He helped himself to some "Coke" Cola drink .

Swami then waited in the humid weather amongst several other passengers of the train eagerly setting his eyes on the track. Finally at 2.30 am it was announced that the train is making its entry into the platform. Swami was relieved and as soon as the train came, he made himself comfortable in the AC Coach.

Tiredness put him to sleep, only to find early morning that the train was running quite late than it had started and would reach Kanpur by 10 am.

Finally at about 10 in the morning Swami landed in Kanpur. It was simmering hot and Swami got an idea of what he was in for. Monsoon in this part of India was months away which he found out after talking to a few fellow passengers. A fellow passenger helped him drop at Kanpur Palace Hotel in Moolganj area and Swami checked in with his luggage. On further talks with him Swami found out that the fellow passenger too was an MBA from a School in Pune....

Next Update:- Soon

Swami Tales- Swami in New Delhi... oops rather in Delhi

Series Opener and Introduction:- Swami is a character from the figment of my imagination and we take a look at his adevnhtures during his FMCG career after he passes out from a famous B-School in Pune. The events depicted as part of Swami Tales have no resemblence to any reel life event and any similarity is purely accidental.

Swami had passed out from a famous B-School in Pune and was all set to join Confetti Confectionaries Pvt Ltd. It had been his dream to join the FMCG sector from B-School and he was quite thrilled to have fulfilled his desire. His friends from the Konsultancy episode (http://mbajunction.blogspot.com/2007/05/kahani-paanch-konsultants-ki-story-of-5.html)at B-School had already joined and were having a gala time at Bangalore. Be it Excel Raja, Rang Joyal, Dubbu or Arihom Arora.

It was June, and Swami's joining too came close, he soon landed in Delhi for his induction into Confetti and drove to the palatial Confetti Guest House in Gurgaon lovingly called "Gurgava" by Haryanvis.

Swami coming from a conservative Tamil family was quite god fearing and prayed everyday. His prayers nowadays revolved around the location Confetti would send him to. As per Confetti policies, getting his home zone looked difficult atleast in the training period for Swami, but Swami was only praying for a safe and sound location, where he can get a glimpse of his friends once a while.

The weather in Gurgaon was quite hot for Swamis comfort but the Air conditioners at Office ,guest house and in the pick cabs ensured that he hardly encountered them. The management meanwhile had ensured that all trainees are prepared for the worst of locations, by narrating thrilling experiences during the induction program.

The first stint Swami had to negotiate was sales and now after hearing the folklores from the HR folks and Top management Swami was scared. He felt he might be banished to far-fetched locations with little to do besides work, but then he was quite brave enough to wade through such temporary fears. He conviced himself that situations might not improve but he might get used to it!

In the meanwhile Swami gathered good knowledge about Confetti and also visited the gum factory. He made good use of the visit by tasting the different candies in office and factory. Confetti amazed him with its Unique distribution Network, marketing and advertising functions. His friends had already started booking their quota of freebie candies and Swami was hence interested in finding out policies for sample quotas for employees.

The Management Trainee party at Confetti ensured Swami gets a hang of free Booze and though he did not make much use of it, his collegaues from other B-Schools made sure not a drop of booze was wasted.
By the time he found out about the free samples schemes, the induction period at the Corporate Office was coming to an end and Swami was alloted the North Branch. Swami was quite relieved that the location suspense was finally coming to and end.

Swami soon travelled to the North Branch office to meet his Boss along with his colleagues Sneha and Indu for specific location and orientation of sales function. After much wait and gyaan Swami was finally alloted the state of Uttar Pradesh and Kanpur as his location. Swami was thrilled and at the same time apprehensive since he had hardly travelled to India's largest state.

He had only heard of the state for its politics and criminal records and it being an Uttam Pradesh. But then he remembered the Adverisement where Big B of Bollywood himself vouches for safety in Uttar Pradesh. Swami thanked his Boss and left office with plans to enjoy the Sunday before he left on Sunday night for Kanpur. Just as he was getting ready to leave office, one of the seniors called him and his mates to his office. After the customary gyaan Swami was given a big book of rules and regulations which he must follow while at Confetti. Swami was also instructed to finish reading the book before he left else his tickects would be There was no way Swami and his colleagues could say no and inspite of repeated questions on whether they were scared by the Book size, Swami was saying No to his senior.

Swami was petrified!, rules and regulations had somehow never spared him be it graduation college or B-School and just when he thought work would be without reading regulations, here he was handed a big book of it. He looked at Sneha and Indu, both of whom were also having similar thoughts about completing the book. The Sunday plans had gone down the drain since there was no way they could finish it before office ended on saturday, not even if they sit till late as would be the case now.

It was already six in the evening by this time.This did not dither the enthusiasm to learn though, Sneha, Indu and Swami began reading the journal.They even decided to come on Sunday afternoon and complete the same.

Swami and Sneha did finish reading the journal and were ready for their departures to Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, while Indu was set for Punjab and was keen on checking out girls in Punjab. Swami's reservation ticket Read "Delhi to Kanpur" and he made sure that he consult his freinds which station in the city was it, since in the little he knew about Delhi, he had an idea about the multiple stations there.

His royal treatment at Confetti ensured that he had cabs to his service all the time for travel in Delhi on official work. He was soon dropped at New Delhi railway station at around nine in the night.He landed on the Ajmeri gate side of New Delhi Station.

Swami has arrived much earlier to his train timings and hence moved around the station. Time passed and as the time of his train came near, Swami kept a track of the display board at the Station. Fifteen minutes for the train, but there was no sign of his train on the board.

Swami now was nervous, what had happened, he moved up the staircase and saw the name of the train on the platform on which it was supposed to arrive. The name was there!Rajendra Nagar Special train....Rajendra Nagar was a place near Patna in Bihar. He moved on to the platform,but he was quite perplexed to find only himself at the platform 5 minutes to the train time.

He was confused and now feared if the train was on time! On enquiry a police officer told him that no train was scheduled there. This really scared him and he ran near the display board where the train name was written, where to his worst fear the time read 15.30 next day and not 23.55 in the night. He approached the ticket checker at the corner on the stairway.

The ticket checker asked for his ticket and pointed to the blunder, the train was from "Delhi" Station and Swami was at "New Delhi"! Swami was taken aback. It was already well past the train time, and the ticket checker too told him " Bhai sahab, ab toh aap Mauj Karo"........Swami realised how he was misguided and was now in the lurch!

Next Part:- What does Swami do next to reach Kanpur? Keep logging on to mbajunction for more on Swami's Adventures and his stint in Uttar Pradesh!

Kahani Paanch Konsultants ki:-( The Story of 5 Konsultants)

This post is dedicated to all the budding managers (read:- recently graduated MBA's)who after passing out from a B-School feel, they have conquered the world.

Disclaimer:- The story is purely a figment of my imagination and bears no resemblance to anyone or anything living or dead. Any resemblance still if exists, if any could be purely intentional for which the author bears no responsibility and is not accountable.

The Venue:- A renowned B-School in Pune

The Konsultants:-

Rang Joyal- A Delhi born and brought up, IT engineer who is adept at MS-Excel, allied softwares and Market Research. Rang loves sleeping and strongly believes that he is at his efficient best while sleeping.

Dubbu Choomaswamy :- Dont go by the name but the man is quite adept at judging market pulse and comes from a previous experience of working with an Oil FCMG company. Forget the name, "handsome" girls just fall for Dubbu.

Minesh Ram:-A happy go lucky and stylish guy, born to sell and gifted with good marketing creativity. Failure to join a konsulting company let him to join a big Sutta( aka Cigarettes) company.

Swami Nair:- A calm and hardworking engineer turned MBA, with good market research and presentation skills and he eats, sleeps and drinks marketing. His only dream after getting into an MBA course has been to get into an FMCG company, which he duly achieved by joining Dentos Inc.

Arihom Adoda:- A smart and suave guy, who took up management soon after his engineering but can challenge the best in the business. He is quite spirited when it comes to work and was set to join a Spirits Company.

The five of them had a great common freind named ExcelRaja, named after MS Excel since the first thing he asked for after he started speaking was for MS Excel and it was also the first word he spoke. ExcelRaja was a constant source of discouragement for all of them, since he finished all his work whenever the five gathered to work and lured them into all sort of temptations. Excelraja had himself got into a konsulting firm unlike the five and was on his way to konsultancy fame. ExcelRaja was a connoisseur of Somarasa drinks and Suttas and he savoured them all the time.

The five had some months before they joined their respective jobs and were flying high on their recent success at a B-School competition organised by the largest FMCG company in the country-Beaver Brothers.

Arihom suggested that they use the victory at Beaver Brothers in a good way and do a konsulting job to gain experience in the field. The other four nodded . Swami too was supportive of Arihom's idea and he made sure Minesh, Dubbu and Rang are party to it.

Soon one day Swami got a call from Aakal Newspapers, the largest daily in India to come and make a presentation on their Business Future. Swami was so excited that he readily agreed on the phone for it. He told the others about it and they too looked keen. Arihom suggested that they present and show the Beaver case first and woo the client on their expertise and then make use of the famous GE and Mckinsey templates to predict the future.

Hence began the work, a day was fixed for the presentation. The five of them worked. Rang made sure that every piece of information from the net is made use of while Dubbu at the same time dated many a girl friends to ensure his mind functioned better.

The D day arrived. The five were ready and they reached Aakal headquarters to meet Mr.Power, the MD of the company. Mr. Power was an MBA from the Tantan Business School in UK and was a smart and suave business man with excellent business acumen, but all this was not known to our poor Konsutlants. Dubbu was nervous and had smoked 3 Suttas in the meanwhile and he was one who had vowed that he would never smoke.

Mr.Power welcomed them and made them comfortable in his plush office. Arihom briefed him about their victory and started the presentation. He went on and on and on.......then came Swami..he too went on and on and on....Mr.Power looked bored.....Rang, Minesh and Dubbu pithced in between.....That was it....Mr.Power....tore them apart left, right and centre from there on..he went on and on and on..and told them about his achievements and about his stint at Tantan Business School and his hand at entrepreneurship. He told them that the Mckinseys had bombarded him with enough templates and he had forgotten the 4P's of marketing. He termed the presentation rubbish and told them that B-School students should think "out of the Box" or rather "out of templates".

The ordeal went on for long, Rang had already fallen asleep and was thinking of better things, while Dubbu was dreaming about his date on the weekend. Minesh was bored to death and was cursing Swami and Arihom for taking up the assignment, while Arihom and Swami were trying to counter Mr.Power with facts. Little did Arihom and Swami realize that Mr.Power had no interest in giving them any project and was bragging about his Achievements.

The five came out of the office and wondered whether there really was an "Aakal" for knowledge at the office or whether they were too good for him!.....they came back a bit dejected though and told ExcelRaja about the mishap. Dubbu meanwhile again smoked a lot and Minesh too gave him company this time.

ExcelRaja told them not to worry and forget about their maiden Konsultancy Venture. The five too agreed and based on a suggestion from Excelraja went on a trip to Sonavala nearby their B-School. ExcelRaja also ensured that they take with them his favourite brand of Somarasa and Sutta.

Moral of the Story:- Young Konsultants need to understand their clients well and should not assume that "if aunty has a moustache then she is an uncle!"...oops...does that make sense?...

Picture Perfect-Class of '07 signs off!

Seated First Row(from Bottom, L to R) Director, SCMHRD-Prof K S Subramanian (aka Subbu), VC of Symbiosis International University, Mr Raste, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and Chief Guest- Shri L K Advani, Founder Director of Symbiosis-Mr S B Mujumdar and Director of Distance learning at Symbiosis- Ms Swati.

Second & Third Row(from Bottom, L to R):- Faculty and Staff

Fourth Row onwards:- Students of Class of '07