Wednesday, May 23, 2007

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?...

Friday, May 11, 2007

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

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

The Story of How "Vi-passed-Na"**


Warning:- Some incidents described in the post should not be copied/repeated during normal times at SCMHRD. If copied, the author(Shankar Iyer) shall not be held responsible for the consequences of the same.

Request:- Please generously hurl bricks, bouquets to the post in the comment section if you have any!


Circa 2007- Date- 22nd April

Venue:- Plot No 15, Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park, Hinjewadi

The Guest:- Leader of Opposition:- L K Advani

The Occasion:- Convocation of class of '07

The prime Attraction:- Wearing the coveted robes and Hats and signing off in style and also for the "last time" listen to the Directors "exciting" speech.

Much Awaited Release:- Release of the Batch Yearbook Titled -"Plot no-15"

Much Awaited Event:- After two years of rules and regulations, girls to be allowed in boys hostel and vice-versa on the day before the convocation.

One Important concern:- The robes were of the same size and how the hell are they gonna fit Saloni (One of the shortest members of the batch) and also GPS.(the opposite!!).

One Disclosure:- Apparently one of the smaller members in the batch did confess that they had worked on the robes in the night

Arrangement for parents:-Parents of girls are put up in Girls Hostel and that of Boys in Boys Hostel.

The Previous Days:- Campus is unduly Calm during the day time,since parents start arriving and "disciplined" students take their respective parents to guided tours around campus. Everyone at their behavioural best!!

The Night scenes:- Post 11PM in the night ......the scenes change....some memorable instances do happen

The Director and Faculty busy with the preparations and the college is being decked up to every extent possible. Apparently they stayed on campus till about 3 AM.

A troop of unruly and excited girls about 25-30 in Nos armed with Cameras, Video Cams break into the boys hostel precisely around 12.15 a.m. and try and break in all rooms in which there are guys. Some of the rooms though were shown by special guides(read boys) who wanted their rooms to be graced by this unusual crowd. One could hear screeches of laughter and shouting girls in the corridors of the boys hostel-a rare sight indeed at SCMHRD. I am sure Vishnu AG, Deb, RG, Swetank who were chatting in one room were too surprised to see these girls at this hour. The girls like some alien objects in a museum checked out these guys in their “normal” attire.

Seeing the Boys hostel get invaded some eager 15-20 guys too sneak into the girls hostel with special guides(read girls). The excitement lies in pointing to the lady guards (who have relentlessly ensured that guys dont venture near the girls hostel) that the girls hostel is being invaded. Memorable pictures were also taken on the beds of some memorable girls. Idea Courtesy-Mohit Arora

Some observations:- Girls hostel-Thoroughly clean and one can even see one's face on the floor in the corridors. Nicely decorated rooms with nostalgic birthday decorations in many rooms.

The parties and time pass went on till wee hours of the morning since everybody had by this time realized that this was the last night when everyone was together. The Infosys tapri was also a favourite hangout at late hours(3-4 AM) with Tea and Maggi along with Gup-shup.

Early morning:- All decked up in Full uniform and the robes are worn, The photo clicking starts right away with everyone keen to get a snap of his/her.

The Moment:- The batch is ready on the specially made deck for the batch photograph. The wait in the scorching heat for the Chief Guest (who by this time was late by half an hour) was unbearable but the Aptes (Sivaram Apte and GP Apte- Professors of Marketing) made sure that we have our share of liquids by running and getting some Mineral Water Bottles and throwing them generously at the crowd standing on top of the decks for the pics.

Kunal, Karan (the guys who on most occasions have made the batch laugh) were in blistering form, which ensured that everyone stays entertained.

The Click:- Soon a sight of Diro Subbu running and approaching us with signs of the Chief Guest having arrived...the car surrounded by Commandos arrives very near to the deck. The guests (Advani and S B Mujumdar)get down, get seated and then the grand photo.

Ten Minutes and everyone is seated ( as per the roll numbers) in the grand pandal made specially in the basket ball court with Display Screens, Coolers and Fans.

The Speeches:For Advani's Speech:-Please use the link as follows covered by some leading media houses

http://www.indiadaily.com/breaking_news/88802.asp

http://www.hinduonnet.com/holnus/486200704221962.htm

But the speech the batch was eagerly waiting for was of the Director and he too surely did not disappoint addressing the Batch as the "Chosen Ones"***. He had some important points for us to remember along with nuggets of wisdom. Also he mentioned that he knew the abilities of many in the batch to sore high but it was important at the same time to have fun in life and a lot of it!

The End:- The Degrees and Awards given away..............................."Journey is the Reward!"

Lunch and distribution of yearbooks follow:------------


The sight:- People winding up and many of them engrossed in reading the yearbook, perhaps trying to remember those moments...the golden ones.

Earlier in the day:- Subbu released the first copy of the much awaited yearbook.

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Acknowledgements:-

**Title Courtesy-Sriram Rajaram from his Short Story Vi-Passed-Na in the Yearbook after Vipassana, which I have generously borrowed.

*** The Batch was selected finally by a round of Director's Interview during Admissions-2005. Hence the name.