mbajunction

Swami Tales Shall be back Soon?

2009-03-13T23:17:00.002+05:30

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

2007-08-31T13:28:00.000+05:30

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!

2007-08-31T13:25:00.000+05:30

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!?

2007-08-29T14:01:00.000+05:30

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

2007-07-08T18:41:00.000+05:30

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)

2007-05-23T15:40:00.000+05:30

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!

2007-05-11T20:38:00.000+05:30

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

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

2007-05-02T14:48:00.000+05:30

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.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

A Trip to Remember

2007-04-08T16:32:00.000+05:30

End of March, after the SAS exams, placement treat and farewell party a trip was planned by Shrenikk (known very well for his organising skills, led the annual Management fest NEEV) and 17 of them were more than willing to participate.....

Dandeli and Devbagh in Karnataka and Goa were the locations:- This time around I wont write, the photographs themselves can do the talking....All in all a trip that none of the 17 people who travelled would ever forget.

In the meanwhile, with Convocation on 22nd April, the rest of the junta is either chilling at home or on campus and the juniors are away for their Summer Internships.

The gang @ Pune railway Station to catch Goa express for Londa Jn

The Train Journey

Total Masti-

The Housie game which got the gang together

Reached Londa Jn @ 3 Am, which also ensured that no one slept in the train, not only the gang but the others too..

First Sight Seeing Spot

Hornbill Resorts-The River experience-Non Swimmers followed Swimmers with lIfe jackets

Rappling @ almost 40 Ft

The Jump @ Morning Safari, trying photo stunts

Rafting @ Kali River

Scooter @ Devbagh near Karwar

The guys who returned to join the gang back at Goa

Roomies at Palolim Beach

All in all a trip-never to be forgotten

Rendezvouz with Mani Ratnam @ PIFF

2007-03-17T00:24:00.000+05:30

Yes, It is .....Day one(16th March) of the 5th Pune International Film Festival(PIFF), Seen three movies already for the Day- "Falling Sky"-A Norwegian Movie, "The Axe"-French Movie and "Double Life of Veronica" from Poland....about to catch the Fourth Movie- Tamil Movie-"Kannathil Muthamittal"-(meaning a Peck on the Cheek), and Lo behold you have Director of the Movie Mr. Mani Ratnam himself at Inox.

He addressed the audience before the movie on the theme- a movie set with the LTTE Civil War in Sri-Lanka as Background. He also promised to stay back to take queries from the audience once they finish watching the movie. The audience was a good mix of Indian as well as International movie buffs!

"Kannathil Muthamittal"- revolves around the story of a young child who is abandoned by her mother (played by Nandita Das)from Sri-Lanka in a Refugee camp in Rameshwaram. The child is brought up in Chennai by a Tamil writer and his wife(played by Madhavan and Simran), when at the age of nine they decide to tell the child that she is adopted. Hell breaks loose after this, since the daughter is adamant to meet birth mother and so begins the search which takes the plot to Sri-Lanka amidst the Civil war.

A Tale well told, woven well with emotions and songs which has also made the movie commercially attractive. The emotions of a 9 year old have been captured well and so is Simran's love for her adopted daughter. Nandita Das plays the role of the birth mother and comes across strongly during the climax. The movie ended to thunderous applause from the audience who were captivated by Director Mani Ratam's movie mastery.

The movie was followed by an interaction with Mr. Ratnam as per his word. Our gang too luckily got hold of seats amindst the people present there and I did ask him a question on his favourite movie which he has enjoyed making till date. His answer:- Movie making is a struggle and hence is a pain, ya but he has struggled(read enjoyed) most with Anjali and Thiruda-Thiruda.

The inspiration for the particular movie which we saw, was from multiple sources ranging from a Time Magazine story of a child searching her mother after a war to instances like the Sri-Lankan problem. He explained how he could show the emotions between the adopted daughter and her mother through the title song,thereby dispelling any apprehensions if he had included songs in the movie under any commerical pressure. He remarked that songs in his movies was by chocie.

On a lighter note to a question on whether he holding an MBA degree has helped in movie making ,he remarked that having an MBA degree had empowered him to take questions from the audience efficiently and that if ever he is thrown off films, he can go ask for a job based on his degree.

He was mobbed by the small crowd at Inox for autographs and we just could manage a snap with him just before he left. A memorable first day @ The PIFF

Meanwhile-I could see many juniors in campus struggling with their hectic schedule and wondering when wil they have the time we seniors are having right now!....Well I too went through that and my only word is patience.

Perfetti-India Chairman @ SCMHRD

2007-03-16T01:53:00.000+05:30

Monday Morning-- 12th March-Got up early in somedays......and voluntarily went to a Guest Lecture arranged for the Juniors ....Well the guest was Stefano Pelle-Chairman of Perfetti Van Melle India Ltd, and author of the Book"Understanding Emerging Markets"-building BRIC by Brick.

Also had a small interaction with him at the end of the Lecture as a propective employee of the Organisation, ...........

Here is the Press Release:-

http://www.coolavenues.com/bschools/070312/scmhrd-stefano-1.php

Holi@ SIC Campus

2007-03-07T02:42:00.000+05:30

Morning!!...My hostel door is almost brought down to get me out and colour me up....Mohit, Prabu, Subbu(Who ran away when i came out, fearing backlash),Subhash were there with colours......

Well these are the only remaining folks on campus for their Live Projects from the Senior batch, while the junior batch faced music for missing classes to play holi!!

One of the main highlights of Holi was .....Myself, Dinesh and Mohit hunting down Subbu Jr. from the Cafetaria .....and carrying him literally to the fountain behind the hostel and painting him with all type of colours...He tried his best to escape....even climbing a ladder attached to the wall in the cafetaria:)....even he did not know, where he was heading through the ladder.

Special Water Tankers were brought outside the campus by the college authorities to support the event, where we guys and gals had a bash!!...The Mess food too was awesome that day!....

In the meanwhile on the anvil is the Farewell and Jobbers Parties.........As tradition goes Juniors give a farewell, followed by a Jobbers Party from the senior Batch to celebrate their placements....

So SCMHRD is soon to witness these parties!!

Life after Placements-A Glimpse from Symbiolympics!!

2007-03-01T04:26:00.000+05:30

Placements done! Senior Batch placed and exams to the fourth and Final Semester announced, thats the Status in Mid Jan!! The junta had already.... had a ball during the Lohri Celebrations on campus when the DJ went on till 3 AM in the morning...The Scrambling for notes and collection of essential photocopies is always a sure sign before exams, but this time ...the urge was missing..the rush was missing.....the interest lay somewhere else!!......

The SIC aka Symbiosis Campus was privy to a Sports meet titled "Symbiolympics" between three Institutes namely SCIT, SIIB and of course SCMHRD!!....

Matches predominantly in the nights..late nights to not disturb the schedule of the colleges!!....One memorable match.. from ... the matches is the Women's Throwball match-Finals between the SCMHRD girls and SCIT counterparts....a memorable one....

The match had got delayed from abt 9 in the night to as late as 2 early morning...on 21st...on which day..almost many of us had exams...in the morning and in the afternoon...(depending on the electives!)...infact the first day of exams...

so after a late wait..the stage was set....a small and sporting crowd of 30 people was there to cheer the SCMHRD girls who were happily sporting the Black NEEV T-Shirts!! and seemed ready for the kill..... moi was also among the crowd..thrust with a digital camera to click memorable moments...(rather I volunteered to..)..by no chance it seemed like 2 am early morning ....the enthusiasm of the audience should be seen to be believed....

The early to bed junta had hit the sacks, while some were up with their books preparing for the early morning exams, part of the football team members were seen with their notes around the ground..since the Football finals was slated next and could well go uptill 5 in the morning....

The rivalry was killing...and so was the cold ..and most of us were wrapped up in the "Journey is the reward" Sweat-Shirts...winning was crucial to the overall winning tally of SCMHRD.

So the girls started the warm up and just ...before the start whistle, they went into a small huddle (bilkul Team India Style!!..but I prayed these girls not repeat Team India results though!!)...I also leanrt from my fellow batchmates in the audience that this game is not played at the national level..but some of them in our team were great at it...

After seeing a few shots in the warmup..I had decided one thing..never mess with these girls ..ever...since chances of blows were more likely then slaps..:) ...one sure needs strong arms to play the game!!

Some of us through the entire tournament had acquired mastery in the technique of hooting, sledging and instant sloganeering......Every single opportunity to show the opposite team in poor light was never missed..and we were up to the task at all times....

Some of them actively involved during the match were Karan,(Have no words to describe his sense of humour and wit),Vibhor(is awesome with his instant slogans), Vinay(referred to as chutki among the match since he is the youngest), Santosh, Samir, Sharad and yours truly with a few contributions here and there...but my personal award for that morning would go to Sumeet for it...for every time he screamed..the girls of the opposite team missed and dropped the ball...
Infact during the last few points of the match..he successfully did it .with 100% success rate...The junior cheer gang was led by Anand aka Saraf...who had this typical jingle of his everytime..which i have no idea ... what it meant...(Or may be it was not meant for any understanding at all!!)

Few minutes in the match..and I clicked few pics..with the girls in action..and suddenly one of the junior girls complained...saying she was getting distrubed with the flash!!..well..i hence sensibly stopped the clicking....the wrath of my mates was too big a price to pay for the pics!!

Every point and service break was subject to thunderous applause and louder hooting....which made some of the studying junta to peep from their hostel room windows facing the court....The hooting team was also excited about the results of the swimming meet, where one of the junior SCMHRD girls had beaten all who contested*(Boys included)..and this was being constantly referred to during the exercise ....

The girls were at their task..and Sindhu(my junior and part of the team)..too invited continuous cheer from the audience for her on field aggression and play...and so were the other members of the team namely Suchita, Rashmi, Reema, Prashanthinie, Neha Takshak, Radhika and Gauri...(These include two substitutes).

The crowd also made sure on a lighter note to heckle the refrees from SCMHRD ...who gave decisions in favour of the opposition....all in a lighter note....

Voices like "Kill them, Butcher them!!"were eminating at intervals of successful times....the SCMHRD junta sure had every trick up its sleeve to make the situation lively with the momentum built up in the match...the girls did not disappoint either... they wrapped up the match in no time..straight winning 3 sets to 0 for the best of five game.

As the winning shot came through, the team was mobbed by the crowd and the girls enjoyed very bit of their victorious moment!! Slogan shouting was at its peak with the hooting gang having a field day!!

P.S- I was promised pictures of the event since I wanted to put them along with this post, but unforunately have not been able to lay my hand on them. All this inspite of clicking good pics!!

One more set of... Murphy's Law @ SCMHRD

2007-02-22T01:32:00.000+05:30

P.S-The laws have been formulated not only keeping my personal experiences in place, but also that of all my friends and my roomates.

1.The Laptop law:- Just when your laptop is not working and you want to get it repaired... that is precisely when the HP service person on campus decides not to come for sometime to campus!!

2. The Breakfast Law:- The Day you get up precisely on time and sacrifice your sleep to get hold of your favourite breakfast ....you discover that they have changed the menu for the day...

3. The Attendance & Results Law:- Just when you want to make sure your attendance is allright or check your results ...the Local Intranet is down with some problems!

4.The Law of late night Hunger:- Just when you are very hungry while being up late in the night (in hostel), you end up searching for food in all the rooms where people are awake but end up with nothing....

5.The Law of the last class:- You attend all the classes, .....Miss the last class..thats when the attendance is really low in class, ....the Professor gets angry and decides to set 80% of the final exam paper from numericals done in that class, .........which you come to know a day before the exams!!

6.The law of Sleeping in Class:- Just a day when you doze off in class, the Professor points at you during the class. Worse follows....the Professor precisely remembers the moment and marks you the lowest in class participation !!...still more embarassment...the time you go and argue with him against your low marks..citing examples of your contributions..he reminds you of this very sleepy moment !!

7.The Law of Mobile:- The day you carry your mobile to class, the director decides to makes a surprise raid for mobiles and you have yours confiscated but ...your neighbour saves his by using your bag as a hideout for his phone. The story does not end here, you retrieve yours back by paying a hefty fine while your neighbour happily flaunts it!!

8.The law of the Notice Board:- The day you dont check the notice board before the final exams ....the notice for a change in exam schedule is put up and the exam is pre-poned ..worse still....you discover all this on the day of the new date .....that too....on being informed by your friend.

9.The Law of "Dil Chahta Hain":- Just a day when the entire section decides to get naughty and catches on to "Dil Chahta Hain"Movie on the Class Projector during a free lecture, that is the moment the Director walks into class and the whole section spents the next month in the library with compulsory library hours to clock in.

10.The Roomies Law:- You are a cleanliness freak and your roomie is not one, ...the day when you are not in the room, the director turns to inspect the hostels and praises your roomie for keeping the place tidy.

11.The Class Participation Marks Law:- The day you decide to miss the class for one reason or the other, ....is also the day when the teacher decides to mark the students for Class Participation Marks

12.The Law of the Lift:- The time you decide to take the lift to the the fourth floor of the academic block and thats when the door on the fourth floor... opens for you to find the Director standing in front of you!! (The particular lift is not meant for students!)

13.The Law of Wi-Fi:- Just when you dearly want the rooms facing the academic block for want of wi-fi connection 24X7 for your room, you discover that all those rooms have been taken and you are left with rooms facing the hillside, .....which you defend round the year saying that you love natural beauty more than anything else and the whole world knows you are a net freak!!

14. The Law of orkut:- You find a new proxy everyday to access blocked website orkut...only...to discover that the particular proxy has also been blocked by the system administrator.

15. The Law of Backlogs:- You decide to flunk in one of the tougher subjects to concentrate on others, since the system has no backlogs exams till then...thats when you discover the director has changed the rules after the results....and has decided to conduct backlog exams with immediate effect!!

16.The AICTE Rule Law:- You curse the college for the first year for not being AICTE approved and also ruin the fact that your degree will not be AICTE approved, and thats precisely when in the second year the college gets AICTE approval,implements AICTE rules of not awarding degree to students with more than two backlogs in two years and lo behold...you discover you have more than two backlogs with your degree itself in jeopardy forget any AICTE recognition for it!!

17. The Law of Plagiarism!!:- Just when you finish writing such a blog, you discover a similar blog like this has been written by your junior titled Murphys Law from his experiences...!! But you boldly decide to post this still....citing that his blog was an inspiration for you to write this one!!

Victory at IIML-HLL Marketing Strategy Competition

2007-01-21T00:35:00.000+05:30

The New year has begun!!..and what a start it has been with respect to Personal achievements!!

The highlights:-

--Got Placed with Perfetti Van Melle

--Team of Five(Dinesh, Mohit, Subbu Jr., Tarang and Me) won the HLL-IIML Marketing Strategy Competition for the Fair and Lovely Brand.(The competition included IIMA, IIML, XLRI, FMS and SCMHRD).

The Live Case Study on the Consumption increase of Fair and Lovely-FAL ......... one of my biggest learning so far......the application of significant part of what has been learnt over the last one and half years.....the joy has been more in the process of doing the research and suggesting strategies......the Victory was an affirmation of what was done......

The project took all five of us to places(Like Rural Hinjewadi, Meeting girls at Pune University, Online Questionniare filled in other cities outside Pune, approaching ladies in middle class societies, outside malls and supermarkets, also door to door calls, in beauty parlours, conducting Focus groups among women of various age groups,.... and what not!!)..... and made us meet ladies and girls of all hues.We stretched ourselves to the limits..at all the times.......

Being an all guys group made life more difficult with respect to getting the urban women to talk on fairness creams to us.....getting them receptive for the Questionnaire was a big task indeed..... The limited time frame ...we had....made ...finding the respondents a challenge..which was met by going all out for it......and effective planning...

Our marketing professor Mr. Prantosh Banerjee was also very helpful with his timely inputs and comments on our work at all times. His approval of our work has been a big boost throughtout all the interim submissions we made...and always made us believe we could do better...So were other professors, whom we interacted with for the project.

Sitting all night, debating and discussing the project and going to Infosys Canteen in the morning nearby at around 6 AM or so became a habit of sorts.......for somedays....the body clock had almost changed since most of us preferred working in the night........

All in all..a Project spanning almost 2 months.........650 odd respondents....across the Target group......in urban and rural areas........with strict deadlines......and a regular meeting room .... the 4th Floor-Syndicate room..which we have renamed as the Markstrat room....and in mohit's lingo..."our den".

Some moments which will always be treasured, like Subbu Jr. Bursting out in an animated discussion on what "Market Pulse" is all about.....Also the frequent dozing offs..from his side made up for lot of fun during all the debates and discussions.....

Tarang standing like a rock amongst all of us and anchoring the boat for us, dinesh with his exhibits of sheer brillance and mohit with his enthusiasm and sheer smartness.....were great mates....

One of the most...important things in the group was..every ....point ..well... debated threadbare and made sense of with all perspectives possible.....Also not to forget the inputs we got from all our fellow batchmates mainly girls during pre-testing of the questionnaire and its administration.:)

The icing on the cake was Prof. Prantosh Banerjee's talk to all of us after we told him about the victory. His nuggests of wisdom will always be treasured and thought about during all important events in life.

The Victory has been Sweet, the efforts have been rewarded, and this is one event ...all five of us will treasure as part of our B-School memories dearly.....

Memories @ Third Semester!!

2006-12-20T01:39:00.000+05:30

As the year draws to a closure...some memories...from actions in the third semester @ SCMHRD:-

Alumni Meets...across major cities ..the pic is of Calcutta....Meet...

Indian Ocean Performing Live on campus during NEEV-2006.

Decorated Campus during the recently concluded Annual Management Festival -NEEV 2006.....saw participation from across all major B-Schools....and supported by number of Corporates....

The Convocation of Seniors.....Kumarmangalam Birla gave the convocation address...enjoying their moment of glory as seen,....

The Director ...Prof Subbu.....at the conclusion of Milaap....an event done by the juniors done for Seniors..to welcome them after Summer Jobs stint...and also appreciate the welcome they game the juniors....

More to follow.........

Life @ 90% on the rocks

2006-11-21T15:51:00.000+05:30

Famous Line:- 1

Famous Line:-2

Its been long, I personally have been awaiting it, blogging with the latest on campus!!

From the Famous "Knoooooooooooo....."(An Emphatic "No"...) of the director to one of the most important and famous questions of the season:) in a batch meet......to the latest rock band on campus called "90% on the rocks" .....to the Annual Inter-B-School Fest "NEEV-06"( returning back after a hiatus of 5 years.)...a lot has happened. .........also at the same time three most competitive teams are vying for the prestigious Marketing Strategy Competition of IIML. Two competing in the HLL's Fair and Lovely Brand Category while the third in Cavinkare's Chic Shampoo category.

Many Fair and Lovely users on campus are tired of answering questionnaires after questionnaires from these teams answering the how. why, when, if and god knows what more........the interesting thing to note here is ....one is an all girls team and one is an all boys team........

Meanwhile NEEV .....on 24th and 25th November......promises to be the most promising time ever for a blast on campus with participation from all B-Schools across the spectrum also.........Indian Ocean and DJ nights ..set to rock the party scene in the night after the events.....

Amongst all this fourth semester has begun with Classic Classes from Prof G D Apte for Strategic Marketing....and Prof. Banerjee with Marketing Engineering.........

The Admissions season is also at its peak, with batches of students covering 18 cities across the country to answer queries and apprehensions of potential aspirants( in person) in colleges and coaching institutes in these cities.

The one important thing to note here is that they are not promising solution to queries ........over a cup of coffee, unlike other colleges, but are keen to solve queries as buddies.......

Apart from these, Two more food joints have joined the others on campus, both in the vicinity of the girls hostel ...one right below the girls hostel......wonder what more do marketers need to attract crowd to their joints:)

So Six most noticeble scenes on campus in the last two months!!

1. Senior guys trying all tricks under the sun to help the junior girls with their Market Research project.....

2. People flocking the Coffee shop after 11 in the night near the girls hostel..........

3. Every Second person wearing the Six Sigma t-Shirt in the morning during breakfast....after they were distributed free the night before by the organising team of the event.

4. NEEV getting awesome help from both the senior and junior batches with excellent industry support.

5. Great Summer Placements for the Junior batch..,......with the biggies lining up on campus to recruit on Day Zero......and the sleepness nights for the placement team organising the solid event....(all wired up with full tech support like walkie talkie, etc.)

6. The Director's Batch Meet with two famous sentences-" I have no daughters, Sons, uncles and aunties and grandsons in the batch of 220 students" and "On April 20th u(i.e Batch of 2005-07) will be history but, I so far, SCMHRD will remain and we need to maintain relations"........along with lines like "there can be only one dream wife:)"...pics have been provided above, clicked by students after the batch meet.....the sentences were wrote on the display board.

thats it for now....Adios!!

P.S-"90% on the rocks"...the rock band derives its name from the 90% attendance requirement for academics and non-academic courses.:(

Can I ask you Out?***

2006-09-07T19:18:00.000+05:30

Rains and Intermittant exciting events like:-

Aarambh-(The Inter-Institute Competition where students put up dance, fashion and music shows),
Milaap-(Welcome to the Seniors, by the SCMHRD juniors to campus after Summers, also a precursor to the Freshers Party which the Seniors subsequently do for them),
Freshers Party:-(Attraction being Guys and Gals from both batches asking the opposite sex from the junior/senior batch for a date on the dance night livened up with a DJ),
Onam Festivities:-(Organised with the traditonal flower decoration competition, Delicious and Sumptous Kerala Style Lunch on Plaintain Leaf followed by Tug of war and a Malayalam Comedie movie in the night) ,have kept the SCMHRD campus alive.

Milaap,....got a mixed reaction intially, with the seniors (i.e. my batch) getting on stage at every available opportunity when the music/performance was not to liking and performing along with the juniors, sure was a big time masti, but the juniors put all this to rest with the final punching performances to the latest song from Golmaal and few other thrilling performances. The junta did not spare the director too.....on the night and got him also on stage and he too shook his leg in true spirits.

Prof G D Apte who was mimicked by a junior on his speech delivery style was very sportive when he acknowledged the crowd by bowing down to us in true Mexican Style.

The juniors indeed came back with a strong performance in Milaap after receiving a lot of flak from the us (seniors) for their Aarambh performance.

Next in Line ......with increased interaction between both the batches ..........was the Freshers Party!!which surpassed all expectation with the immense hype and hoopla behind the match making exercise!!.........

Let me explain:

Original Funda:- One got to have a date for the DJ Dance night, with A senior guy typically asking out a Junior Girl and Junior Guys asking the Senior Girls out!!Concept followed since long for Freshers Parties......

But the Funda Changed ...........

Revised Funda:- The junior girls went overboard when few senior guys asked out the most sort after girls as soon as the Freshers Funda got announced.........Perhaps peer pressure started catching up .........and then the came the real fun...they took the initiative and started asking the senior guys out.....and boy!!.that was it.....

The freshers became the topic of all conversation on campus apart from the mundane dicussion on the assignments and presentaions.....the famous questions on campus were .....

"Whom are you going out with?" or "Whom did you ask out for freshers".....this excitement was compounded by Self Appointed Selfless (So called) match makers emerging among the senior batch ....prominent among them ...guys who were well connected among the junior girls to fix up senior guys with interested junior girls.

Modus Operandi unfolds as below:-
Characters- Mr.A (Senior)

Mr. B( Senior and B's friend)

Ms. X (Junior Girl)

Ms. Y (Ms. X's roomate)

Now with Mr. A apparently ....cannot see Mr. B single for the party....so he calls up Ms. X and asks her if she is okay with Mr. B and then Mr. B' consent is sought.....if the acceptances are positive, ...the match is made.....A has done it...and his account has been credited with the Match....(Since later on...these match makers started making claims about the no. of people they got fixed..or should I say hooked....!!).

The craze and hype did not end here, but the boys hostel was buzzing with rumours of Full placements before the end of Day Zero....superb analogy to B-School Placements....the organisers of the event also put a mail on the group email address, naming official placement co-ordinators for the event who were "well linked in the junior batch"....but it was the unofficial placement co-ordiantors who ruled the day...and the took away the cake....from introducing friends to juniors through orkut profiles and pics taken earlier or some reference and description.....

The hype got overboard, when almost everybody started getting placed before the D day, with many juniors going down on their feet ....(Literally!!) to ask the Senior girls out......:)

All this ...did not end at this...a day before the freshers, some seniors and juniors went on "Pre-Freshers date"....boy o Boy!! LOL........ new concepts ruled all throughout this grand event....

.......and then the day..arrived...where the party rocked ...with arrangements like awards for junior junta based on the voting amongst their batch(Conducted by Seniors) on titles like Ms. Virgin Mary, Ms. Bloody Mary, Mr. Arrow Head....

though the DJ got some curses for being unimaginative with his selection of music, the junta just went crazy on the dance floor.........Food was a big improvement on the previous year...

Thus all.....in all...an event to remember on campus.....

B-School Rankings-A Perspective

2006-07-09T16:09:00.000+05:30

The latest topic to hit the campus apart from the discussion on Brazil's exit from the WC, is the Business Today/India Today (July 16, 2006) Survey B-School Rankings.

The survey sure has thrown up surprises, with Symbiosis being ranked as No.4 ahead of the lower IIMs(If I may use the word "lower"). There has been a lot of hue and cry with SIBM taking the Symbiosis cake away!! (For the records, scmhrd did not participate in the survey.)
Agreed Symbiosis is a bigger brand than the individual institutes and somewhere down the line there is a bit of confusion among the junta with respect to the colleges under the banner!!

SIBM and SCMHRD the two institutes stand out in terms of education, SIBM more on account of the alumni and the history while SCMHRD in a short span has come a long way.

SIBM has indeed,as expected started shouting from all available roof tops on the new ranking! {Times of India Advertisement-Pune Edition-9th July 2006), and why not any B-School apart from the IIMs, XL and FMS does that to attract the Best talent.

On the Sidelines, PaGaLGuY.com, a portal boasting of 65000+ registered users amongst the MBA aspirants of India has an online voluntary survey on its home page:- and the results?..

Which B-School Ranking Survey you Believe in?

Business Today-22.70%
Business World-22.80%
None-----------46.20%
Outlook---------8.30%

*Sample Size of 1626 people who chose to answer the question.

A few things that come out of such surveys.

1. The Best judge of any B-School are the students that it is catering to :- So talk to B-School students for their views on aspects like Curriculum, Admissions, Teaching, Placements etc.

2. Leading magazines have always given ranking at this time of the year, point is they sell by creating news, but how many do actually buy the rankings is the question!!

3. The small sample of 1626 at PaGaLGuY.com and results of which I have put up is also a good pointer!!

4. With respect to "Top of the Minds" perception, The IIMs, come what may will rule the roost, atleast for some years, news will be created when they will be dethroned.

5. Fact is all B-School students know where they stand vis-a-vis the other once they are on campus and these comparisons happen at many important points during the two years at the B-School.

6. Its important to note how the recruiters perceive this survey apart from the potential aspirants, a clue, on the potential aspirants views-(http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/other-exams-xat-fms-jmet/16694-business-today-2006-rankings-they.html) This discussion thread was in the end locked by the moderator after the discussion got nasty.

Instead of drawing up conclusions, I decided to set the minds reading this piece of blog post, rolling......conjuring up interpretations.

View from the Campus Hostel!!

2006-06-25T22:03:00.000+05:30

Back to campus after summer internship and boy!! the view from my hostel room just looks awesome. This is the view from the room, the road to eternity perhaps!!....In the month of February the batch was taken to a trek on a sunday by the Director, Mr. Subbu for a "kick", motivation in management lingo as he would like to call it!!

These fields form an integral part of the village of Hinjewadi, where the chowk is one of the busy areas. The campus hostels (Boys) overlooks these scenic views, which sure is a visual treat to the eyes.:)

Part- II My Chennai Days

2006-06-25T21:06:00.000+05:30

Chennai- Erstwhile Madras, The sultry Summer Weather, the Drinking Water Problem, the impending elections and the roadblocks on account of the high profile campaigns, the pick pockets at public places and Buses and the greedy and demanding Auto drivers...the things I need to look for here in the city and I had got enough talk on all of these from whoever had heard that I was going to be in the city for the initial part of my Summer project.

MY office on account of being located at the Ambattur Industrial Estate, 45-55 minutes from Vadapalani, from where I was put up consumed lot of travel time. I started almost at 7 am everyday only to return back by 8 pm on an average in the evening. The project concept, roadmap and output were things I had to concentrate on and once the groundwork was done, I could move off to various locations to meet customers/prospects and generate data and information, as well gather market intelligence.

The one problem I did not face in the city was the language problem since Tamil is my mother tongue and I speak somewhat understandble language, the people around could be well handled. English is used extensively in the city on Bus boards (Which was a great relief, since I cannot read and write Tamil) and at all major locations which helps non-Tamil literates to understand the messages.

On a lighter note, I used to wonder though in the monrings, why at all need to take baths at 6.30 in the morning, when I am almost drenched(with perspiration!!) when I reach office at 8 am. The purpose to reach at 8 for 8.30 office was primarily to catch up on the awesome breakfast available at the office cafetaria. The kerala and Tam style preparations made me remind of my young summer vacation days at Kerala and I really loved them.

I hardly got any time to explore Chennai with office consuming lot of time, but got one sunday to see the great Marina Beach, and few other top locations like the Spencer's PLaza at Anna Salai.
Evenings in chennai were spent on catching up with North Indian food and with Saurabh being there, it was almost necessary!!.

The first half of My Chennai days ended abruptly when my guide sent me on a one month tour from 19th April only to return on 17th May to Chennai.

Then started my Great Indian Tour, Stop One==being Coimbatore and Tirupur- the Knit City of India, with a chance to explore Business for the company. The company, my guide especially treated me damn well, which motivated me to try and go that extra mile with my assignment and in the end it really made a difference.

Chennai though at times left a bad taste in my mouth, with the local people especially.... highly reluctant to learn Hindi and appreciate people from the North. It is surprsing that Chennai is a part of Hindustan or India. I sincerely believe that Chennai has a lot to pick up in terms of Changing its attitude towards Hindi and North Indians in general. The Politicians in the state have not helped the cause either.

The politicians need to rise above petty politicking and work for National Integration and should make efforts towards unifying rather than division. Tamil Nadu also had a ridiculously high 69% reservation for the backward class and one of the few states which ws having pro-reservation rallies when AIIMS in Delhi was burning with agitation.

Due to unavoidable circumstances the post got deleted, hence am posting the comments made to this post below:-

-Raghav-hehe nice..will check out the go pagal thing when i got time!!

Anonymous:- I resent your comments about chennai.. regarding Hindhi and N.Indians.On what basis have you come to this conclusion, after barely stayingfor a month or so in chennai? I am surprised! Pray why should we learnHindhi, just because it's our national language? How many fromthe Hindhi belt have even tried to know and learn any south Indianlanguage and here I am talking about common people like you found inchennai. If people feel they can survive day to day with their locallang and mother tongue tamil and a smattering of english ( thanks dueto colonial hangover ) they certainly don't feel the need to learn Hindhi, just to please the likes of you. Yes the Dravidian partieswere against Hindhi and maybe they took the hatered a bit too far,which is not the case anymore. Sadly these days children in most cityschools opt for Hindhi or Sanskrit as their second language andhave forgotten their mother tongue even to the extent of not beingable to speak fluently, and you are a prime example which is a shame!When you look down upon your mother tongue it's like disowningyour own mother. Tamil nadu has always welcomed people from other partsof India and they have lived and prospered in our city withour any fear.When tamils and other south Indians go to north for a living theymake an effort to learn Hindhi purely for survival, though the northIndians who come here never try to learn the local lang and wantthe locals to understand their Hindhi! And there you go saying thatwe have an attitude towards Hindhi and N.Indians. Yes there is a pro reservation in T.nadu but we forwards havelearnt to live with that, but that doesn't mean anti-reservation isright. Hope fully everyone can have their pie and eat it too.

Shankar:-

Dear Anonymous!!

Thanks for sparing time and writing a feedback on my blog. I do not wish to respond to your comments. I have said all that I wanted to. I would be thankful if u can mention ur name too on ur comment. btw its Hindi and not HINDHI as u spelt it.Cheers!!

Win free airtickets from GoAir - The GoPaGaL blog tag contest!

2006-06-19T22:19:00.000+05:30

## Start of GoPaGaL Tag ##

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My Summer Diary:- Part 1.(Mumbai-Chennai Journey)

2006-04-29T19:41:00.000+05:30

Its March 28th,I remember the day precisely.... the day ..end term exams came to a close, the first year at scmhrd has come to an end!!Phew...and what an year it has been, the year in which acquaintances fostered into great friendships, a campus which has become very dear and a life which I now miss..... when away from campus.

I hardly had 4 days at home after which I landed in Mumbai, The location-Vikhroli at the huge Godrej Campus for my induction. There were 21 other trainees from IIMK, IIML, IIMI, IMT Ghaziabad, SIBM apart from 9 of us from scmhrd. The day went on quite well with a cute Godrej Mug as souvenir along with a group picture taken during the day.

The induction ended with a get together at the Club house atop a small hillock in the Godrej Campus. The Corporate HR took us through all the Gyaan about the company, its history, the next set of growth strategies, plant visits, brief introduction of the divisions of the company and also the CSR initiative of the company through the mangroves maintained over a huge plot of land. The watch tower atop the magroves area gave a view of the Hiranandani's in Powai besides a view of the Mankhurd bridge which links the city to the Pune road.

The day ended pretty late at about 10 p.m after which I had to take a local train to Dadar to vacate the guest house where I was put up and then reach my cousin's place at Santacruz, closer to the airport .....to facilitate myself boarding the flight to Chennai next morning.

Next morning as I was dropped at the airport by my Jiju, I bumped into the famous Page 3 Director Madhur Bandharkar, seen waiting eagerly outside the airport. Meanwhile, the IC 671 to Chennai was delayed and with the Airport authority not making any announcements the passengers started exchanging heated arguments with the Indian Airlines ground staff... near the gate of entry.

It was sad to see the executives finally accept that since they were a government run airlines, the state of affairs with respect to the announcements was this bad. Meanwhile during the 40 minutes wait at the airport on account of the delay I saw how Mr.Bandharkar was busy reading the newspaper ..while... suddenly ..... the TV in the waiting lounge started showing a scandal of an Aaj Tak journalist discovering the vagaries of Page 3 life and ..then we have Mr. Bandharkar on Tv himself. This interested our Mr. Bandharkar, seeing himself on TV and he then got glued to it. Narcissism was at its very best!! He had changed his hairstyle a bit, had applied some brown colours in real life unlike on TV where he was looking a through gentleman. I guess must be a way to hide his identity, and had worked too successfully since not many people apart from myself seemed to have recognised him.

It was quite interesting to see him behave in the flight too, where after the take off he was seen walking and inspecting the entire flight, perhaps for a change of seat. It was itching for me to ask him, " Are you looking for Page 3", but then I resisted myself from any such antics. Godrej had made the flight journey possible since they could not manage a 2 AC tickets to Chennai for which I was entitled, but then at the end of the day it turned out better for me!

We soon landed at the Kamraj Airport and then started the Summer Days for me!! I got a first hand taste of the Chennai heat and it was precisely 12.30 in the afternoon. The whole lot of Greedy auto wallahs and Taxi drivers seemed determined to strip me off whatever little cash I carried in my wallet, before I finally settled for one. After a quick bite and freshning up, I landed up in the office situtated far away from the main city and reported to the HR Head. The evening went away in meeting both the HR head and my guide discussing about the project and expectations. I reached home late just in time to catch up with Saurabh (My college junior, in whose house am put up) and we had a Gujarati Thali for the night.

Next Part on:- The Chennai Days

First year coming to an end.....

2006-03-19T13:54:00.000+05:30

Class participation-Part II, the one topic for which I could not find time to write on account of the amazingly hectic schedule of the last few days.The enormity of the Submissions like the Market Research Project, Sales and Distribution Assignment and Six Sigma presentations kept me busy along with the long class hours. I have been appearing for quizzes left right and center, the regular ones as well as the reconduction of some which I missed earlier during my winter project. Last but not the least also appeared for exams on Non-Academics. (that is Yoga, Art of living and Gymnasium Exercises.) The description of these exams is what I have got this time........

It was Monday, the 12th of March, after hitting the bed at some 1.30 am in the night with my sales and distribution subject book in hand(preparing for the impending FCQ which was scheduled next day only to be later postponed on account of a hurriedly arranged high profile guest lecture). The alarm on my mobile rung precisely at 6 am in the morning, indicating the need to attend art of living "examination" (I always thought it was Yoga untill I reached the campus to find out it was AOL...mind you dont confuse this with America Online, its Art of Living)in the morning. It was one of those rare occassions when I saw a major chunk of the junta from the bOys hostel getting up for non-academics and running in half sleep to the campus-academic block.

I too, pulled up my sleeves for an interesting session in the morning, and girls too had turned up in big numbers for the session. The Workout Hall was Full, all possible mats on the floor were occupied!! It was a rare sight, one which I only remember seeing in the first few months of the PGDM course. I also saw a lot of new faces to this session and surprise came later when I saw Sriram walking in too, my god the guy was just walking into his first session this semester. Surekh, was at his usual best and was all set to conquer the exam with an A grade. He always comes across as someone who has mastered all these courses at some early point in life and could very well pass of as someone who can even teach a few tricks of the trade to the chap who comes to teach us.

The session began with the usual "kapalbatti" breathing exercises. Three rounds of pretension by the students and the chap knew it all that most of them were faking it.The sound of breath was mixed with laughter and giggling. Some of them had just no idea on what they were doing. Next came the other variants of the breathing exercises, which only brought up some silly comments and giggling from one of the corners. Seemed like Giselle (my classmate known for her sarcasm and giggling ) was out there in one of them passing Under the Breath Comments(UTBC).

The session soon ended with the "Omkar"(Chanting of OM) at the conclusion of it and the chap started grading each one of us after personally observing each one of us. And guess what, I get an A grade, more than for my "performance" it was my regularity to the sessions in the morning some time ago before my winter project which made the difference for sure.

The day was followed in the afternoon by the guest lecture, wherein the vice-President (HR) of a top MNC addressed us on Employer Branding. The stage was all set next day morning for the funniest of all exams I have ever given.

It was Yoga, wherein we had to perform one "asan" of our choice and one as per the instructor. As I reached I see the stage was set and again was surprised to see Sriram,he had promised that he would not come, but then his friend who had come to meet him was leaving early morning and had woken him up. There was Giselle(all set to give her commentary and pass comments on the proceedings) Priyanka(the most sincere girl in my section A, called by her surname as Kohly, she was all enthusiastic for the exam after having seen through the handout on Yoga, figuring it out what asan is done in which way), and a few people huddled here and there talking amongst themselves and wondering on how the entire stuff will be. My morning efforts to get Subbu and his roommates Kunal(Giselle call hims an HR Pfaffer) and Vikram were in vain as they simply refused to get up. The sleep was too overpowering for them to sacrifice.

So coming back to the yoga, groups of nine students came on to the scene and the first group was the funniest with people doing 5 different things for the same exercise being told. The entire group of people were seen laughing at them with Giselle passing all sort of funny comments, it was just impossible to control the laughter at the moment.

Abishek(chap from Coimbatore) had two of his feet in the air while Meetu(an ex-Wipro employee) had turned upside down while all others were deciding on whom to emulate on the exercice.All of them were supposed to do the same exercise. The cheering and the laughter of the onlookers was on its peak.

Group after group, same things happened,... to the extent that in all fun Kohly just forgot what assan had to be done and in their group people, who had banked on her were feeling doomed.
My group nobody knew anything and we all kept staring at each other looking whom to emulate.Since noone of them even turned themseleves..leave apart turning upside down and all..
Then it was a CA chap of our class called Dhruvv who tried to steal the limelight by performing an amazing feat, since no one in the group he was knew any exercise, he did one of his choice at a speed of 5 sec, within which he finished it by raising his legs 90 degrees to the floor and immediately getting it down without any control, for this he was also using his hands to suppport the back, .......that was one sight, and then he begges the yoga chap for grades saying he had done it.

Moi then had to rush back to the hostel since had classes from 9 and had to get ready too so left the place, all in all one of the most funniest morning sessions of all times.

The gymnasium exercises too will be never forgotten since the pain in my legs and hands has still not subsided with all the Sit ups, Squats, weights and flexibility test taking its toll on me. This is the same with many others and I see many of them taking the lift instead of the stairs.
With end term exams from monday exam fever is getting across campus and moi must be the only one blogging now. The GPA's for 9 subjects of the first semester is also online...and I dont think I should write about it here.....

The farewell for the seniors too is due today evening by the poolside and that should be a great takeaway for them.( As I post this it is over and the they really had a nice time)

Sales and Distribution classes too ended with Mr.Prantosh Banerjee giving his characteristic speech and a class photograph followed it at the instance of one of the students(whoc carried a camera)His classes have been a good source of learning and so has been Mr. G D Aptes, another IIT-IIM. Mr. Apte has been known for no-nonsense attitude with amusing lecture talks during the consumer behaviour sessions, recounting his experiences of 35 countries which he has travelled till now. A professor who does gets his cycle to college, rides it from the city ....to college ....mind you and who is part of the club which recently undertook a cycling journey till Kerala.

It is hence that time of the year, where I am completing an year at B-Skool with end terms and then Summer training to follow. The elective selection for the next semester is already on and the concept of sections(A,B and c) will fritter off since there will be more of electives and only 3 core subjects.(The batch is divided in to three sections namely A,B and C)

On this note I sign off for the semester.

Adios.

Classroom Antics Part-1

2006-02-27T10:36:00.000+05:30

Some classroom incidences over the course of last two semesters......

Among the more practical ones was an Organisational Behaviour class, wherein I remember students of the entire class running helter skelter in the academic block, around the juice bar and Sweety stores(both on campus stores) to get together 12 specified items like Soaps, Cotton, College Brochure etc. at one place-the objective being to understand group cohesiveness and group dynamics. The aim being, whether people make a plan and run or they directly come in the action mode.

The Chief Learning officer, who teaches the subject also makes sure that she sends the person who is caught napping, to wash his/her face mid-class by publicly pointing out. My batchmate Subbu, who is among one of the people who, 6 out of 10 times is in deep slumber, was caught a couple of times by her. LAter I think even she has given up on him.

The classes brought to limelight people who have perpetually slept in class and it has many a times has been a tradition that these intellectual brains would immediately get up from their deep slumber and ask a brilliant question to the professor. One of the senior guys of the class, Gaurav has achieved some sort of mastery over this technique.

Marketing and Market research classes were one where the professor, an IIT-IIM, made the class rather interesting and addressed us as "Kindergarten students and potential CEO's', with the use of cryptic names for well known entities, some eg, being RELTOK for KOTLER, GKK for HLL and also some acronyms like UBTC- Under The Breath Comment for which I had been jokingly accussed quite a few times.

The class also makes me stretch my memory to the one wherein I learnt concepts of segmentation, targeting and postitiong. The professor really gets excited teaching such fundoo topics---and I distinctly remember his lines-"the market leader will never segment the market, it is the no 2 or the challenger who will try to segment the market."

Also the classes of the subject-government and social influences, reminds me of the presentation that one of the grps made using photos of mates from my class(included me too) to explain on what topics they were talking abt. As in..They showed pics of "marus from calcutta" of the class, to explain how this particular community had migrated to this city.

Some of the class presentations were really the ones, we in class waited for, as in for one of my friends Sriram, who perpetually has the habit of using the F word, as in WTF! The way he carries himself in front of the class during ppts, made everyone in class forget everything else. People use to rise from deep slumbers, introspection and all other modes to listen to what he had to say, since people were sure of some funny incidences or lines to happen.

Among the people who sleep in class, Subbu(who shares the name with the director too) tops the charts. Afternoon Sales and Distribution classes are the time for him to catch up with some siesta. He has a knack in this too, the strategy being, get hold of one of the seats in the last three rows, make sure he has his laptop so that he can nicely position himself behind it after opening the screen fully. This made sure that he does not have a line of sight with the professor. The professor though was one step ahead, after sometime he would point out this saying "Subbu has nicely gone away to sleep"

The professor though has given up on him and the other day while giving instructions for Viva exams for Market Resarch made sure he tells Subbu to not fall asleep while he asks him questions in the Viva, since he would not repeat it for him.

These are nothing, the moment that took the toast was when The elder Subbu(aka the director) caught the "chota subbu" napping in the third row during a guest lecture on rural marketing. During the break the guy really had it from the director and became the laughing stock for the entire batch present there......with our director asking him sarcastically If he even knows the Spelling of Dabur (The company where he is going for Summers!!).

Technically speaking,Classroom sleep hangover is normally on account of sleeping late nights after some assignments,presentation preparation or may be even after a late night movie on the laptop.

To be continued....
Next a take on the "Class Participation record makers"

~My Mumbai Winter Days~

2006-02-22T02:19:00.000+05:30

Bombay- The land of dreams, the city that seldom sleeps, the city of the Gavaskars, Tendulkars, Manjrekars etc...that is where I was based for my Winter project with South African Breweries Ltd, a.k.a SABMiller Ltd. (Makers of Castle Lager, Haywards 2000 & 5000, Knock out and Royal Challenge)

Travelling was a dominant component of the Project to retail outlets across the suburbs..my area covered Bandra to Andheri, which included Khar Road, Santacruz, Juhu and Vile Parle. I must admit that the public transport system in the city is really commendable and definitely needs accolades.

Travelling in local trains at peak hours and reaching newer places in some time span was a challenge in itself apart from the task of meeting retailers and culling out all the information that I need from them.

The weekends though were spent in Pune, on campus giving the weekend FCQ, i.e. the quizzes, which though are surprises in terms of subjects but are predicted with Six Sigma accuracy by my batchmates out here. Rarely has the prediction gone wrong on the subjects that appear and I really pity those Professors, who are constantly bugged by us to know whether they have submitted the test papers to the exam department for the weekend.

In the midst of all this, one more Valentine's day went by, seldom making a difference to singles like me. I also caught up with Ashish (my ex-room mate and close buddy during my Torrent working days in Ahmedabad) at Andheri. I am really happy for him, since he has come out with flying colours, infact topped at from Shipping Corporation Of India, Cochin and will soon board the Ship for his first 9 months on sea.

The hectic schedule and travelling in Bombay made sure that the one fondest thing I do after reaching back at my cousins place is to eat well and then catch up with sleep. Inspite of this, I somehow managed time to get online and get to my favourite addiction PaGalGuY.com and the latest rage amongst the batch~~orkut.com.

PaGalGuY.com is a passion with me now and It really feels satisfying after I started off with a genuine urge in me to pass on the right information to MBA aspirants.

I was pleasantly surprised and taken Back when our Market Research and Marketing faculty, Mr. Prantosh Banerjee, referred to moi in class as being online on PG a lot and giving Gyaan to people.

Well, but jokes and fun apart am really glad how PG.com has come abt and how scmhrd aspirants were at ease this year. My batchmates all put in their best and the admissions process went on very well at all the GD/PI centres, the reviews on PG, said it all.

All said and done, as far as myself am concerned, am adjusting back to the campus life after travelling the length and breadth of Mumbai, having seen life at Pali hill and also at Dharavi Chawls.

The kind of experience that the project generated was unparalled with respect to the kind of buying and selling taking place across different segments. To hear and read is another thing, but being there in person when all this happens is an all together different experience.

With mid term exams declared for the weekend within a notice of 3 days, I am the only one writing a Blog at this time, others if not studying are atleast catching up on something important, i.e Sleep.

Cheers!!

Victory at MDI !! & PaGaLGuY.com

2006-01-21T11:22:00.000+05:30

Its been a fortnight since I posted ...and after my last post here, moi received a phone call from MDI, Gurgaon that myself and Subbu(my batchmate) have been awarded the second prize in the DHL paper writing contest organised by MDI. It was a call at midnight, and moi was really thrilled.....FMS stood first and MDI third....surprsingly the IIM's did not figure in the list...
Add to all the thrill....we are getting 4000 bucks for the same...

It is a real high to win the contest after all the effort that was put in to it.....a moment to remember .......

In the meanwhile, moi have been spending the last few days without my mobile phone...and life without the phone is really tough....any message which needs to be passed on to me in college is done through word of mouth..and boy its surely has its effect.....I have atleast ten people telling me the same message when I reach the academic building or the campus......

I just hope that I get my mobile phone back ..so that life is back to normal...

Life also took an unexpected turn, when I finally decided to do a Winter Project .......and now have got through SABMiller, with a posting in Mumbai. The project looks really promising .....so moi expecting to spend the next one month in Mumbai visiting Wine shops (will be doing a 100 odd in person) and preparing a report on the visibility for the company and its brands.....Life is really going to be a "royal challenge"(pun intended)

apart from all this ...the campus has been buzzing with the admissions activity.....scmhrd also gave away GD/PI shortlist calls...and with the calls being on selective mertiting....a lot of PaGal's(thats how members on the online MBA forum PaGaLguY.com are referred to) went berserk..on the forum ..complaining abt not getting calls inspite of their believing that they surely would get calls....

There were PaGaL's talking abt lack of morals, ethics, allegations of gross irregularity...just because things did not go their way...makes me ask one question to them? Would u have said this If u would have got a call? If things dont go our way, will we try to defame the system by slandering and mudslinging? Are these the ppl who will become the future managers? How will they react to myriad business situations?

We talk of Morals and ethics, but are we really holding some values for us to cherish and hold on? When tested and pushed to the walls, do we live upto our cherished values?
Inspite of my appeal..some people on the forum did not relent...they have just gone hammer and tongs..at the institute and their way of selection...hardly anyone shows the confidence to understand the system and listen to what some seniors on the forum have to say!!

Withsome 48,000 odd registered users and lot of passive guests visiting the website the site is the next big stop for anybody and everybody in India on the verge of pursuing MBA.

Ya, though the college got some brickbats as well as bouquets, moi managed some appreciation from certain corners for all tha appeals that I made on the forum for PaGaL's to post with dignity and sense. Having said that, winning an appreciation has never been an issue for me on the forum, its infact a personal commitment to myself....to pass on correct information to future MBA aspirants...but then I believe PaGaL's must also stand up and show the right attitude for it...having the right to speak does not mean a blanket license to shoot abuses from one's mouth....

Well those are purely my views and everyone is open to their's....

moi will be leaving for Mumbai tomorrow and will be there here on campus for the weekend quizzes....will be a damn hectic month for sure..... but surely looking forward to the excitement

Adios!!

Wecome 2006!!

2006-01-04T21:34:00.000+05:30

2006, and boy!! we welcomed it by partying till 3am in the morning on new year's day....scmhrd had a blast at the nearby Party plot.....combined party for the seniors as well as the juniors..the seniors had all the reason in the world to party ...really hard with the brilliant placements on campus this year, which I am sure will break all records.....and we juniors were ushering in the "the most important year for all of us"........Its my life, Summer of 69, Papa Kehte hain....and all the punjabi dance numbers...were all there to rock us through the five hour marathon party......this apart I also made it to the 10 am Competency mapping class on sunday morning......(thats what a B-School teaches I guess..).....

As the clock ticked twelve, there were handshakes and hugs all around....and the music only got better and faster after that.....and most of the people danced away to glory.....very few people were ready to leave the dance floor when the party was called off at 3.

The day before the new year I also had my first stint with the Andhra Mess food ......nearby our new boy's hostel...must confess..the food was really upto my hunger...

Today was another pleasant surprise....... when I received a call from Pilak( My college time friend, was in the US doing his MS from North Carolina State University) ....was really happy to hear from him..and all the more when he mentioned that he will be here only in India handling his dad's business.....

Life here in Hinjewadi only promises to get hectic with regular classes from tomorrow.....and with an assignment for submission tomorrow and the compulsory Gymnasium in the morning...What am I doing? Blogging......Man...will sign off for the moment....and continue the news from scmhrd laterz.....

The Great Escape!!

2005-12-24T17:07:00.000+05:30

Sales, Distribution, Retailing,Branding, Capital markets, supply chain, presentations, assignments,... a 24 hrs holiday for all of them ...and 9 propective managers embark on a trip to Kashid and Murud-Janjira, on the Konakan coast, @ 30 kms from Alibaug in Maharashtra.

The gang consists of Amit(a Bangalorite,loves to be referred to be as the devil), Anish( Malu born in Delhi,lovingly called Unni-Cola, for he worked in Coke before joining B-School),Chirodeep(aka Chiro, an IIT-Kgp architect, his brain is faster than most others in the batch),Dileep(lovingly called "kanna" by his malu friends and an ace striker with the football),Dinesh(aka Hawkeye, loves being photographed, can crack some heavy doses of "masala" jokes),Subin (an agricuture grad from kerala, can easily pass on as a gentle giant),Sunil(Electrical engineer from Manipal, never ever seen a guy with as great a sense of humour as him), Surekh(a proud malu computer engineer, who can talk on just about anything ranging from prawns to astronomy),and myself.

Thus the gang of 9, settled into a qualis at midnight, on a 180 kms trip, from Hinjewadi on the outskirts of Pune.The low temperatures ensured everyone was protected to the core in their warm clothes and the prospect of travelling through the night was quite thrilling. This also meant that we sure will cut on boarding expenses and instead spent the money somewhere else if not save it!!

Guys who sat with the driver on the front seat had the tough task of staying up all night to make sure that we are on the right track and dont loose our way. The way to kashid off the expressway was almost deserted and our vehicle was the lone ranger along the way.The moonlight road, coupled with guys cracking jokes along with the usual leg pulling and vibrant music playing ensured we were awake till quite long. Just as it looked a few of them were almost about to sleep, it was time to stop by the highway for a quick cup of tea. The wind was chilly and the passing trucks ensured that we are subjected to some cold blows of wind along the highway.

After the tea stop our qualis just raced away and before we could realise the sea was in sight along the road. The sea formed the periphery of the roads for quite a stretch which prompted us to stop our vehicle and catch a glimpse of the shores. Nature had blessed the place with serenity and the only sound was that of the waves with a tinge of cool breeze around. This was the last stretch of our journey before we reached Kashid beach at 5 in the morning...and this was some sight, white and fine sand, rising waves lashing the shores with no evidence of human beings around the vicinity ......

The cold within tolerable limits, we made ourselves comfortable on the beach gazing at the sky decorated with stars. As we were left admiring the scenes, few members of the gang preferred to catch up with some sleep while it seemed the sun was slowly making its entry and light was piercing its way through the night sky.

The morning saw us play beach football which saw me give away perhaps the fastest ever goal to the opposition in the history of the game.

As the sun shone brightly, the sea water got a bit warmer and all of us ventured into the sea, with everyone trying to dip the other . I too became a victim and got the taste of the salty water.
The session was followed by a clamour for food, but it was decided to skip breakfast and rather proceed to Murud about 15 kms from the place for lunch. Murud had been featured on lonely planet and we booked a room at a place called Bamboo nest along the sea shore. The place had hammocks tied to the coconut trees and this served us a welcome siesta after the heavy and delicious lunch.

In the afternnon, we were on our way to the local fort situated on an island off the coast in a sail boat. The journey was mesmirising and so was the fort whose history dates back to some 900 odd years.

The digital camera ensured we clicked pictures at all landmark locations untill we return back to our room to pack off.

The sun was about to descent and our journey too was about to end. A bicycle ride along the shore coupled with cold breeze mildly blowing made it a perfect evening.

The journey back to my B-School ensured that it was among the fastest and most enjoyable 24 hrs I had ever spent and will probably rank among the top getaways from the fast and hectic life at scmhrd

Article on JAM

2005-12-24T11:21:00.000+05:30

Check this out! The article is copy pasted from JAMMAG.com. The comments underneath are the ones ppl posted after reading it....Had initially put the link to the article here, but after a new article was pu up there, have put the same here..

Campus Buzz: Gyaan @ FMCG Conclave.

Shankar Iyer of SCMHRD soaks in the speakers at the CII FMCG Conclave and returns duly enlightened.

Classroom B-School education had taught me the Kotler funda for marketing, but I was always eager to hear from our own Indian biggies of FMCG marketing who had made it big and executed strategies to perfection. Well, I had a chance to witness the 4th National FMCG Conclave organized by the Confederation of Indian Industries in Mumbai on 19th Dec.

The last minute approval of my director and timely arrangement of tickets by my friend made it possible for nine guys from SCMHRD, all dressed up in suits (our college uniform for special occasions) to travel by Qualis, early morning from Pune to Mumbai. In spite of a tyre puncture on the way we managed to reach early and get hold of some ringside chairs for the conclave.

The glitter of the occasion and the chance to interact with the who’s who during lunch and dinner was exciting for all nine of us. Stalwarts from Marico, Godrej, Rasna, P&G, HLL, Johnson & Johnson, Kelloggs India, Nestle, Coca Cola, GSK Health Care, Vadilal Industries, Britannia Ltd along with knowledge partners ATKearney were present in full force.

One of the best parts of the conclave was it brought together all stakeholders of the sector with participation from the government (Chief Guest, Minister Subodh Kant Sahai for Food processing Industry and Jayant Patil, Finance minister of Government of Maharashtra), legal experts from Pantaloon Retail, Nestle India and GSK Health Care, advertising agencies like Lowe, Leo Burnett and Equus Advertising, retailers and distributors apart from the major FMCG players.

Khimji Ramdas Group from Muscat, a growing player presented how the retailers had grown in the Middle East lending an international perspective to the conclave.

I had slept only three hours other night, but I did not even wink during the conclave, that was the magic of the speakers!

For the uninitiated on the sector, the FMCG sector over the years after liberalisation has grown mainly on two impulses, the rural sector and creation of value for the middle class, but growth for the sector started drying up after 1996, for which depth initiatives were needed.

Many of the speakers were quite crisp and passionate about their views and I hope they are able to translate all that they believe. I was also reminded about how my personal shopping experience to has changed with growth of organized retail and gone are the days during my childhood days when I used to accompany my mother to the local Kirana stores.

Dilip Sahgal of HLL started the post lunch session, “I have a difficult job, the job of the seventh husband of Elizabeth Taylor on the wedding night, to make it interesting and exciting!!” He showed us a movie on Project Shakti of HLL and how it had transformed “Rojamma” a lady from rural Andhra Pradesh. It was really touching to see how HLL had empowered rural Indians with project Shakti.

The conclave also deliberated on the ATKEARNEY- CII FMCG survey 2005 which has given five growth mantras for the industry namely:

* growth with organized retail

* rediscovery of rural

* better customer offers by improving operational efficiencies

* create differentiated, innovated next generation products with strong brand investments

* globalization.

FDI in retail also crept up during the discussion on Modern Trade segment (organized retail) but the forum was quite divided on the timing of the FDI and its implementation.

The audience were also treated to some visual delight with R Balki, National creative director of Lowe India presenting advertisement clippings, which had worked well across the rural and urban segments. Balki surely was a welcome change since he was the only one who was casually dressed for the occasion in jeans and T-shirt but he sure made some interesting points.

Balki’s advertisement clips included the Dabur advertisement starring the Big B and a TAFE Tractor advertisement featuring Raghuvir Yadav. The lack of mass media with adequate reach and under utilization of the national channel (DD) was sighted by Balki as one of the prime reasons for lack of reach in rural areas.

Apart from all this I felt the best was preserved for the last: The CEO session with the panel comprising Adi Godrej, Vinita Bali of Britannia, Narendra Ambwani of Johnson & Johnson, Piruz Khambatta of Rasna, K Venkatachalam of Kellogg India, Suhel Seth of Equus Advertising and moderated by NDTV profit editor Shivnath Thukral.

Suhel Seth was at his eloquent best when he said, “Rural, innovation and Breaking news are the three most abused terms in India”.

I also had my chance to question the panel regarding Talent Management in the sector to which they agreed that the FMCG players need to look beyond the I’s namely the IITs and IIMs for longevity of the employees in the sector. It was a wonderful feeling to get your question answered by a CEO! All in all, an event to remember!

--------------Comments posted on www.jammag.com for the post--

Subject: CoolGyaan

Good work roomie!!! i knew abt ur writing capabilituies but was the 1st time i am exposed to such eloquent & crisp lingo ..kudos
sumeet jain on 2005-12-29 15:28:19

Subject: congrats!!!!!!!
ur article s really great. gud work
divs on 2005-12-28 21:50:47

Subject: Cheerio
Very nicely written, u feel as if u are viewing the meet by yr own eyes, all the other comments hold true
Saurabh on 2005-12-28 15:17:09

Subject: Interesting !
Iyere... kalakkura! Indeed I should say thanks for taking us there to the event through your narration. You have enlightened us. So... what did the director say once you are back? Am sure, that would be an interesting anecdote as well!!!
Prabu on 2005-12-27 22:12:30

Subject: Nice report
Try your hand at reporting...send in your resume to newspapers..they're looking for nice young reporters.
Abhivandan on 2005-12-26 20:11:49

Subject: Good One
Hi dude, Performed as expected from you. Description is lively & crisp. Good indepth details. Keep it up.
Gaurav Maths on 2005-12-26 16:25:11

Subject: well written
i wonder how u got me to read an article on smtg as boring as FMCG sector..i think it was jst ur writing tht kept me rivetted..i like the way u write.
Sriram on 2005-12-26 09:34:05

Subject: fmcg conclave
Great! It was a pleasure reading your very mature writing. Shows you have grown.
Radha Iyer on 2005-12-24 21:39:51

Subject: FMCG conclave
well done. SCMHRD is proud of you.keep it up
Shweta Poddar on 2005-12-23 12:45:37

Subject: grt article
a very well written article which makes u feel that u ahve missed somethign worthwhile if u ahve nt attended the conclave. keep it up
Prashanthinie on 2005-12-23 12:43:40

Subject: That's a cool article!
Dude,that was a well-documentedcommentary of the conclave! Congrats! Keep it up!
surekh on 2005-12-23 12:41:58

Subject: fmcg conclave
dear mr.shankar your article is simply great keep it up
sv and mrs svs viswanathan on 2005-12-21 21:34:52

Ganguly and the sleepy weekend....

2005-12-18T15:31:00.003+05:30

It has been a real sleepy weekend here at Hinjewadi's STPI...(Software Technology Park of India).....decided to come today to the computer laboratory in the acedemic block..inorder to avoid the afternoon siesta....have done well so far in the objective....

No classes..meant I actually spent some time in the library gaining some Gyaan on some important topics which every management strategist talks of ...Balance Scorecard and 36o degrees feedback.....also caught up with the book ..Snapshots from Hell..the making of an MBA by peter robinson.....its been long since I wanted to read the book...is an easy read and moi finished 70 odd pages b4 going to bed.

Is similar to Five Point Someone in the interest that it maintains throught...or may be ..moi have a feeling of emphathy while reading such books....

The news that caught my attention during the week was of Saurav Ganguly....how his sacking from the team led to a major public Debate ...with our politicians taking up the case during the question hour in parliament. What amazed me more was how the current speaker Mr. Somnath Chatterjee made a remark on the incident and admitted the question.

Sharad Pawar, the agricuture minister and and more importantly the BCCI chief, quicky distanced himself fromt the sacking, and made sure they he does not have to bear any political fallout of the issue. Inspite of the BCCI chief not having anything to do with the selection committe matters, he made sure he did not get involved in this mire.

I surely must admit......Politicians are really seasoned in their game....meanwhile one good development was the appeal from the ex-skipper to all his fans on the public outcry of emotions and the need to support the Indian team in the last and final test against Sri-Lanka at motera in Ahmedabad.......

meanwhile moi caught up with an article in the Indian express(today, Pune edition)....on the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project and how architect Bimal Patel is transforming the picture along the banks of the Sabarmati..the picture showed some real transformation...am sure people at my old office at Torrent Towers, will find out the difference in the time to come.....

Hope I visit Ahmedabad to seen the change in the future......

How can I help You?

2005-12-15T15:02:00.000+05:30

Well...Well.....its a literal holiday for all of us ...from the junior batch here at scmhrd ..atleast in terms of classes...the final placements have started for the fresher batch....its a tense tense time for them..and moi can understand the situation very well..after what i underwent in graduation at Nirma (during engineering) and during my summers here .......

Yesterday was a free day for me since ..electives which i had not selected were scheduled for the day...and had no volunteering work with the PLC(..i.e placements team )..so went out with Subbu(..the guy who shares his name with our director).....to the city.....

Got a much needed haircut and did some good shopping....(long time I did that......)

And as I was away in the city........ Intel was on campus for my batch (marketing)....we got the news in the city that ...Pranjal, Adesh and Neha Takshak(resembles.......Sania Mirza..) had got thru the GD stage and were giving interviews......at the same time we in the city had finished our work and had missed the bus at 7.30 p.m...so with the next bus only being at 8.30 we went to "Chaitanya" on F.C Road ...moi... earlier...... had ...Aloo Parathas there....and man.,...they are "awesome".... as Subbu rightly put it.........also VFM( Value for money) ..since they were only 25 bucks.......
We finished and got the 8.30 p.m bus to college and directly landed on the floor on.... which the interviews were happening....

The Scene..the last interview was going on.....and the scene was tense...got hold of the three of them....Pranjal told me that she was asked to sing her poetry to them(she writes them!!).....just had the gut feeling....that she would get thru....after what Sunil had told me abt the way his interview had gone(...on his backlogs in engg, his girlfrnds..etc...).....

Just then.....the results came out..two ppl from Marketing..and guess what ....they were....Adesh and Pranjal......man they were happy and so were we....and we pulled both of them below to the fruit shop ...where we were joined by a load of other ppl......
Ate ice-creams as a treat from them.......

Must say....they are going to a really good place..hope the best for them..meanwhile..had to get up early for today mornings work at the Help Desk......man ..and this is a job......7 Companies on campus at the same time...and ppl rushing everywhere..for logistics, shortlists, information on venue, time of arrival, quesry on pay packages, mobilising ppl, ......and the center of attraction is the Help Desk.........The one question of use there at the desk was "May I help you?"..

Chiro(the IIT architect of my class) had arranged things well the other night and so it was much easy....could get things done well......just finshed my shift at 2 p.m..with others taking over....(expected to go on till 3 in the night).......

meanwhile its become.....difficult to get out of campus since there is attendance three times a day......

at present..... am hanging out in the comp. laboratory..answering questions on pagalguy.com(for admissions to scmhrd this year)...

Adios!!

Its Party time!!!

2005-12-12T13:55:00.000+05:30

Ya it really was, on Sunday night!!

Class Party...., the venue was Tammanna (the local executive hotel at Hinjewadi) roof top......one of the reasons..to have the blast was ..celebrating the birthdays of 15 odd ppl of the class....
that is all those who had their birthdays falling in September to December..

moi too..danced..and danced after a long long long time........the last time i remember was during Jayal's surprise Birthday party , when I landed up in Baroda.......with Swar, Vaishali...etc..

The class representatives who had organised the party had also arranged for a DJ ...and oh ..boy...ppl really rocked......apart from five of them .....the entire class turned up in full strength..and everyone shook their legs...and boy...it was damn.... fun.....

The party unfortunately ended..as the girls left...(they have a time limit to stay outdoors......oh the rules ..i say...)...some of the guys did hang arnd though clicking pics....till late...

all in all..it was a night to remember and the attendance in the morning art of living class ....just proved how everyone had really....freaked out........

Classes as usual from today ...getting to the same old routine .....

Come Back continued...

2005-12-08T14:17:00.000+05:30

Surely i missed a few things in my earlier come back post...one of them being the famous line "Success is getting what you want"and "To want what you get is happiness". Amazing line which actually catches life's reality, well that was a line given by Mr. Prantosh Banerjee, (our marketing and market research professor ) in his last lecture of the first semester when he said that he has had an amazing time teaching us all...and remembered the times also when he has been on the harsher side..by throwing people out of class in case they were not prepared for the lecture...... all in all....was a kind of senti speech..and may of us were really touched ....

This semester ..... have two more subjects that he is taking namely Sales and Distribution (an elective)...apart from Market Research.

This Semester has also seen lot of holidays on account of the electives that each one of us have selected.....ya with all my pledges of utilizing the time well...have only been sleeping a lot in the afternoons..with no signs of getting up before three hours if i hit the sack....

The other night (Sunday night)had stayed up doing my Operations research( the teacher's get up reminds me of George B Shaw..) assignment for submission on 5th morning....was a real challenge ..and it all the more was a challenge when many among the peer group had given up on it...attended the yoga session in the morning..inspite of staying up all night....but it was really worth it.....

The week also saw a guest lecture by the vice president (sales) of Bunge India ltd. ..unknown..is it not? actually the company that bought the Dalda brand from HLL...was really interesting...and showed the real power of our rural consumers..for whom the product is specifically marketed....
a 70,000 crore market it is..whooping figure indeed.......

Apart from this the weekly quizzes a.k.a FCQ's have started with an E-Business quiz on Saturday....can well look forward to a few more of these in the saturdays to come......
signing off for now....have to attend the Deutsch Unterricht(German Class) in a few minutes from now....

Aufviedersehn!!!!(Good bye)

Repositioning moi Blog!!

2005-12-03T19:05:00.000+05:30

Its been a long long ..time sinc e I blogged just checked ..the last was on the 6th of August 2005. Almost four months and man..what a transition in these four months.....It was a Trekking trip to lonavala....Vipassana followed... , Summer placements soon after, term end exams later....a short trip home in between for Diwali......coming back to appear for the two remaining exams...then a quickly arranged trip to bangalore as soon as the exams were over....and the new semester ...from 7th November.....then the Art of living in the morning ...(at 5 am that is....)

Being held up with work , work and more work ...well not finding time is what ppl say an MBA is all about....

and but finally I have decided to come back on the blogging scene ..and ya a come back with a new blog spot to solely focus on activties that are shaping around my MBA....(or rather PGDM to be precise...)

...got an opportunity to do this..since my CMM( short form for Capital and Money Market) class got can cancelled......

Also I have hence named my comeback on the scene as repositioning(one of the hundred jargons that I am on the verge of mastering...) my blog....a new name...a new URL.....and a promise to come back often..as often as possible....

also the semester promises lesser classes and more time for self study..so ..in theory should find enough time to come here often.......

On this note will sign off....

Cheers!!