IIM S Infinite

From Nature’s Bounty to Rock Music to IIM SHILLONG

noreply@blogger.com (Krittika Chakraverti) — Fri, 03 Jan 2014 05:51:00 +0000

Landlocked within the barriers of the Khasi Hills lies this wonderful place, nature’s manifestation of subtle beauty and an enchantment that prolongs itself and lingers around your comprehension. Shillong, it is, the enchantress and the tantalizing beauty that leaves you bewildered with her awesomeness. This place credits itself to a plethora of offerings. One such typical feature being the fickle weather that is so susceptible to change and yet amazingly pleasant.

Culturally diversified with a tremendous flair for art and music, this place remarkably houses the most charming and happy people. Happy enough to actually leave the mundane metro and pro urban crowd green eyed. One must not be surprised to find this place leading the list with the highest Happiness Index. However, it would be sheer injustice, not to mention the love and passion people have towards music. Walking through the streets one can hear the loud rumbling of boom boxes, the sweet sounding choirs and the energetic crowd humming to the tunes of their favourite track. For all those who love to stay connected to music while travelling, there is nothing better than a cab ride in Shillong. They present to you a huge diversity of foot tapping tracks that tantalizes you to the core and leaves you with no option but to shake a leg the moment you get out of the cab. The twirling roads and the undulated terrain that traces itself to the infiniteness of the mountains at the backdrop is contagiously tempting. Beautifully crafted bamboo huts and the intricate designs stand a proof to the indigenously innovative genius that lies within the craftsmen out here. Every inch, of every single handicraft found here reflects pinnacle standards of precision and accuracy, with a tinge of subtle creativity, fit enough to set a benchmark for the best in the business. This place houses some of the most diverse and the rarest of flora and fauna. Few of which attribute themselves exclusively to this place.

Sports is religiously followed, one of those few places in India that breeds soccer and has produced some of the finest players at the national level who hold the potential to make it big. Shillong Lajong FC the stalwart football club that has taken this magnanimous leap towards popularizing the sport in the region and training the youth in football. All soccer enthusiasts who are reading this, it is nothing less than a paradise where you get the opportunity to learn the game being closest to the lap of nature. Typically the kind of setup many of us fancy or dream of. A brilliantly crafted eighteen hole golf course stands witness to nature’s genius. A game of golf here would indeed be a lifetime experience, to take home with.

Amidst this bountiful setup stands tall, Indian Institute Of Management, with a promise to inculcate and propagate the best practices for a sustainable future tomorrow. Indian Institute of Management, Shillong is the seventh IIM in the country and is presently in its fifth year of operations. Being the only IIM in the Northeastern region of the country, it is making rapid progress in terms of academic quality, extra-curricular activities, corporate visibility and social impact. The institute has credited itself to a plethora of achievements in such a brief span of time since its inception. The very visit of Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam speaks volumes about the quality and depth this institute has to offer. IIM Shillong credits itself to hosting one of the most unique events and the first of its kind, the Golf Cup. There is nothing better than a game of golf to socialize and network. However amidst all these achievements the institute stands rooted to its vision of sustainable development. With an interactive course structure the institute has shown tremendous faith and confidence in interactive learning. Special focus being laid on practical implication and application of takeaways from these learnings.

As the students of the institute grow to become the change agents of tomorrow, it is essential that great minds inspire them to embark upon this journey.

noreply@blogger.com (poulomi) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 07:23:00 +0000

Life's Lesson from North-East

As people bustled about in the Chennai Airport, I sat at a corner cross-legged in deep reflection. I was finally on my way to an IIM! The truth had not yet penetrated my consciousness. I had succeeded in accomplishing a feat which over a million people only dream of. My joy knew no bounds. I had no clue of what the future held. All I knew was that I would be happy. While I was waiting, a lady walked over to me and asked me where I was heading to. “Guwahati”, I said without interest. I was simply too engrossed in my own thoughts. “And what takes you there?” she probed further. I cleared my thoughts and replied “I am on my way to Shillong”. She looked at me inquisitively. “I will be joining IIM-Shillong”, I added swelling up with pride. Her attitude to me got even friendlier and she asked me if I would like to travel with her to Shillong from Guwahati. She was a native of Shillong. I was nonplussed. Someone I had met 5minutes ago had offered to help me. What did she want from me? My mind started wondering involuntarily. I felt skeptical and suspicious. At one point of time I even wondered if she was going to kidnap me! However since it was my first trip to the North East and I hardly knew the place, I agreed to travel with her and it was indeed a pleasant journey.

The lady’s selfless generosity and my doubtful attitude set me thinking. We live in this materialistic world, not caring about the feelings of people around us. However even today there are people with this spirit of giving without thinking about at their personal gains. North East is full of such people and I am overjoyed that I live in such a community. The busy metro life gives us no time to ‘stand and stare’. We have no time to wave hi to our neighbors or politely nod at our janitor. We help those who can help us in return. Shunned by the society and treated as an outcast the underprivileged and needy have nowhere to turn to. Urbanization has transformed us into self-centered, prejudiced demons.

It is a wonderful feeling to see that altruistic people are still alive and kicking. In the north eastern hills of India there live people with the humane and friendly nature actively participating in their day today routines. What sets them apart is their character of not expecting returns for their good deeds. These people live together in harmony with nature showing consideration for their fellow human beings. Each one of us has a lesson to learn from them in order to make this world a better place for the entire human race.

Selflessness…something one ought to take back from the evergreen North East! May their tribe increase!

Niveditya S

PGP 12-14

I am In Mad (I.I.M) love.....

noreply@blogger.com (poulomi) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 12:27:00 +0000

Is it alright if everything in life goes according to a plan? Is it fine if life was just a replica of our thoughts about anticipated future? If so, where is the thrill of living then? Where is the joy of life? This is a peculiar story about one of my journeys, where I never reached my destination yet I was very happy about missing my train for the destination.

I missed the last train for my final destination. I was very tired after a grueling journey and it was raining cats and dogs in the place I was in, I was at my wits end unable to desperately needed a shelter for myself, Running from one house to another I saw the perfect silver lining for the darkest cloud of the night I saw her, her glowing smile blew me away off my feet!!!. She was the real beauty personified, the most serene being I ever saw. She was very benevolent to give me a room to stay for. Her house was a galore of excitement and enjoyment, everyone was very gleeful. She had a really interesting lot of neighbours, very inquisitive, initially I was apprehensive about mingling with them and how would they accept a newbie from an alien land? How could I mingle How could I spend the entire night in such a commotion? Wait a minute, suddenly I realized that I lost the track of her, my eyes started to glide from one corner of the house to another searching her. I started searching her sparkling eyes, searching my new found destiny, searching the answer for the loneliness in me which was troubling me for a long time. Searching for a glimpse of her, searching for myself in her and wandering aimlessly throughout her house

One of her neighbours said “Hi, buddy, you seem lost. Where are you from? Tell me something about yourself?” I was irritated about this interruption in my quest of the special someone. However, reluctantly I replied my introduction in a concise yet precise manner. When strange people talk it is a sight to watch for the normal ones, and when a stranger opens his mouth about himself in a dispersed gathering the gathering becomes a congregation with the stranger being the center of people’s attraction. There were promptings from someone, encouraging comments from one end. This excited me for the attention I was receiving from these anonymous people whom I met a while ago. I totally forgot that I was in the alien in the mob and I started to sing. I wanted to steal

this moment of joy and treasure it forever by doing something crazy. Eureka!!! An idea clicked. I decided to sing a song which was from a language I did not know but I barely managed to by heart its lyrics. Fortunately, I did not play a spoil sport and gave a decent performance. Her neighbours who were my strangers a while ago started to cheer me up, started to pat my shoulder, I felt relived, I felt that I have found new friends in the weirdest of the circumstances. The rain has not abetted it is still driving the entire night crazy with its fury and so were my thoughts about her. The only point of concern was “Where was she? “

Tired with this fruitless search ,my eyes have gave way to sleep and I choose the warm corner of the cozy little room in her house. The next day morning I was awakened by that sweet voice of her “Good morning” she said. After having my breakfast, I could see an apprehension on that cute face of hers. On my enquiry she said “The bridge which connects this place to the rest of the world has been damaged very badly because of the heavy downpour in the yesterday night. People around are saying it would take them two long years to bring it back to normal. I am afraid you have to stay here for two years”. I was shocked by this abnormal turn of events; I was nonplussed then came a strange and splendid thought. Here I am with the most beautiful woman I could ever imagine, I was with the happiness I was searching for my entire lifetime. So should I treat these two years of my stay here, as a burden or as a perfect opportunity to pursue my happiness? I decided to stay back in this alien land, full of green pastures, lovely weather, and this part of my life I wanted to call it as Madly Behind my Angel (M.B.A).

Then I hear words from the other end of the house “Go get yourself registered at the town auditorium before it gets very late”. I decided to follow her words, and there I walk to the auditorium counting my footsteps and hoping for a day when we can stay together forever and the world would say I am In Mad love (I.I.M) for her….. (cont.)

Chandrsekhar Susarla

PGP 12-14

IIM Shillong participants turn 'GodSellers'

noreply@blogger.com (poulomi) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 08:56:00 +0000

GodSeller 2.0, one of the most awaited intra-college events at IIM Shillong organized by the marketing club,recently concluded with huge participation and unprecedented enthusiasm. The four hour event where participants in teams put up stalls in the college managed to earn a whopping half a lakh of rupees as revenue. The event kicked off with a truly professional touch with teams playing their stake in a bidding process to book their stalls. With a total of ten stalls, the event saw huge footfall from IIM Shillong and its neighboring institutes like NIFT and North Eastern Hill University to name a few. The guests gorged on the delicacies on offer to their heart’s content and tried their luck at the variety of games that were organized by the teams. Spicy corns, parathas, chocolate sandwiches, shakes and other mouth watering stuff that a student away from home craves for, drew the crowd like magnet. people could not help but try their hand at the various games that tested their aim, their wits and their luck with friends challenging each other and having a time of their lives. Elegantly designed stalls offering customers a unique way to deliver messages to friends, foes or a secret crush drew people in hordes with their artistically designed hand-made flowers and cards. Song dedications kept the guests in a constant groove and the usual quietness of the night was replaced by an air of festive enjoyment. The event on a whole was a tremendous success that left the teams and the guests in eager anticipation for the same in the coming year.

Poulomi Pal

PGP-12

THE TREK I CALL LIFE

noreply@blogger.com (poulomi) — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 17:20:00 +0000

Have you had those times in life when life is just rushing by and suddenly someone up above pushes a button and life switches over to slow motion, not for much long, but that is when you appreciate life and the beauty of it. It was that July morning when after about seven restless days and seven sleepless nights we had our first outing. As we gathered at ‘the ramp’ and waited for the entire batch to arrive, there was this one line from a senior the previous night that kept ringing in our ears, “We’ll show you how beautiful Shillong is”.

All geared up, we were fed with instructions to trek up a mountain being shown only the tower at the top, no routes prescribed and no milestones marked. However, we had the one choice to ourselves that would define the journey we take. We choose our own path. The fact that we were in groups made it all the more challenging as we all had the same goal but different ways to approach it. Well it’s a pretty good analogy to life, I thought. At the bottom of the hill, as you are staring at your goal, you have a million options to choose from, several paths you can tread upon. You know they are all going to lead you to the top, but it’s the path you choose that defines who you are. As you clear your head and are about to take the first step, you realize you are not alone. There are strings you are tied with and you can’t afford for them to snap. Any path you choose, these forces are going to play a part. And you stride along taking them in hand.

The paths were all different, some long yet easy and some short but steep. Some were rocky and firm, some wet and slippery. But It was all in our mind, I realized. They were a reflection of the values we live by and the flexibility we are ready to exercise upon them. You couldn’t say which trail had been treaded upon and which was the road less taken. You walk uphill conjuring all the strength and stamina you possibly thought you had, realizing on the way that there are no shortcuts in life.

The thing that drove us in the first place, that sight of the tower, was what kept us going even when we were down and thought for a second that maybe this wasn’t worth the pain. But the first time you see it within your reach and sprint towards it as if you’re afraid it would disappear in a jiffy, you know it then and there that this was all worth it. And that you wouldn’t want it any other way. The picture you take there stays with you forever, in your camera and on your mind.

Yet the story doesn’t end there. As you walk down the hill, measuring your steps and taking care not to fall flat, you realize the journey downhill is as beautiful as the one uphill. The beauty of life takes you by surprise. That is the trek, the trek I call life..

Sushree Lipsita Tripathy

PGP 12

The Podium - Interaction 8: Dr. Sunil Kumar

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 12:28:00 +0000

General Details

· Date – 31 July 2012

· Time – 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm

· Venue – VC room

· Designation – Dean, Booth School of Business

About The Speaker

Dr Sunil Kumar, the Fred H. Merrill Professor of Operations, Information and Technology is an expert in operations research at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He is currently been appointed the dean of the University Of Chicago Booth School Of Business.

More info on - http://www.chicagobooth.edu/news/kumar/index.aspx

About Institute– Booth School

The University Of Chicago Booth School Of Business is a graduate business school located in Chicago, Illinois, at the University of Chicago. Formerly known as the University Of Chicago Graduate School Of Business, Chicago Booth is the second oldest business school in the U.S. the first such school to offer an Executive MBA program and the first to initiate a Ph.D. program in Business. The school was renamed in 2008 following a $300 million endowment gift to the school by alumnus David G. Booth. The school has the third-largest endowment of any business school.

More info on - http://www.chicagobooth.edu/about/index.aspx

Flow of Discussion

He started the session by introducing the concept of dynamic pricing and its necessity in adding to revenues by cashing on willingness to pay. He said that price discrimination and dynamic pricing is the future of most industries and then touched upon first and second degree price discrimination. He said that dynamic pricing is not necessarily good for every customer, but in a system of supplier and receiver, it only adds value. He went ahead in speaking about the aviation landscape of USA. The fact that air ticket pricing is transparent though the number of seats being a secret gives them both a constraint and strength to play with prices without colluding with each other. He mentioned that the two most difficult tasks in setting the most optimum prices are estimating future demand and also, the expected marginal seat revenue.

He cited the instance of the season of college football which would cause a sudden spike in ticket demand by the playing team and that most airlines are using data consolidation which considers these aspects in deciding price based on such demand aberrations. Current systems use iterative processes which keep working towards setting prices at regular intervals and ensure maximum value through dynamic pricing. He also quoted that, given the scale of data and the integration of several news sources, the ability to come up with the best price should be automated and not human driven.

He then spoke about the newspaper problem and drew a parallel in the airlines industry. The fact that current methods focus more on the mean value instead of the variance is incorrect in his opinion. He said a linear programming model which considers current state as erroneous and works towards perfectionism is a theoretical stronger model and is developed in the Booth School. He then cautioned that ‘Customers do not like it when they realise that they are subjected to dynamic pricing’ and they get a notion of being fooled for having to pay different prices for seemingly same product / services.

He then opened the discussion for questions which ranged from dynamic of pricing when multiple carriers display prices at the same time, the development of calculation algorithms, birth of such intelligence system and on the loss making nature of the airlines. Dr Kumar answered each question with impeccable clarity and explained the nuances of the model and the industry.

He ended the session by thanking the participants and commenting on the importance of the Alumni of IIM Shillong and in building the strength of the college in the corporate world.

The Podium - Interaction 7: Ms. Shaheen Mistri

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 12:19:00 +0000

General Details

· Date – 30^thJuly 2012 (Monday)
· Time – 7:00 pm
· Designation – CEO, Teach for India

Flow of Discussion

Ms. Shaheen Mistri, the CEO of Teach for India is a vivid example of beauty with brains. With an international upbringing, and Masters in Education from University of Manchester, Shaheen founded Akanksha Foundation in 1989 with the vision to provide excellent education to underprivileged children.

Ms Shaheen is the true leader of modern India who is a source of inspiration to people of all ages. Being a woman with a heart of gold, she enthralled the audience with the vision of Teach for India (TFI). She brought alive the story of Pinky and Jyoti and enlivened the dream that nothing is impossible. She kindled in us the spark to become Aditi and Srini, the fellows of TFI who changed the life of slum children who were separated by age long gaps of education and gave them confidence and character to lead an empowered life. Ms Shaheen taught us the golden circle of life which is woven around the three basic questions – What? How? and Why? And out of these, she reiterated that the biggest driving force to sustain an endeavour is the WHY of doing things. Taking real life examples like Martin Luther King and the Apple story, Ms Mistri instigated us to dream and aspire for change. The eloquent speaker mesmerized the audience as we sang Thumbelina and played together to learn the purpose of life.

Key Take Away:

कौन कहताहै आसमान मेंछेद नहीं होसकता, एक पत्थरतो तबियत सेउछालो यारो!

Highlight note: O Thumbelina, when your heart is full of love, you’re nine feet tall!

The Podium - Interaction 6: Mr. Rajnish Kumar

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 12:04:00 +0000

General Details

Date – 29^thJuly 2012 (Sunday)
Time – 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Designation – Chief General Manager, State Bank of India, North East Circle

About The Speaker

Mr. Rajnish Kumar, Chief General Manager, State Bank of India (North East Circle) carries with him a rich combination of both knowledge and experience owing to his more than three decades stint in the banking industry. A M.Sc. in Physics, Mr. Kumar joined the Bank as Probationary Officer in 1980 and has the distinction of holding a variety of challenging assignments both in India as well as overseas. Prior to taking over as Chief General Manager of the Circle, he was posted as the Regional Head at SBI, London.He has vast experience in credit and has worked as Vice President (Credit) in Toronto, Canada Branch and in big commercial branches like CAG, New Delhi, MCG, Mumbai, etc. He also held the charge of Deputy General Manager and General Manager (NW-II) in Pune.

Flow of Discussion

Mr. Rajnish discussed about the history of the bank in general, and the growth of the State Bank of India from a bank serving a select few to a people’s bank. The bank traces its roots to British India, being founded in 1806 as the Bank of Calcutta, making it the oldest commercial bank in the Indian Subcontinent. The Imperial Bank of India came into existence in 1921 when the three Presidency Banks of colonial India, the Bank of Bengal, the Bank of Bombay, and the Bank of Madras were reorganized and amalgamated to form a single banking entity. He talked about the differences between commercial bank and central bank, and how the State Bank of India transformed over time and took so many roles according to the need of the country, from Imperial Bank of India performing all the normal functions of a commercial bank and In the absence of any central banking institution in India until 1935, also performing a number of functions which are normally carried out by a central bank.

The Imperial Bank of India was then christened as the State Bank of India in 1955 when the Reserve Bank of India acquired controlling interest in the former. Since then, SBI has transformed itself into one of the largest financial institutions in the world. It truly personifies “the Banker to Every Indian.”

Key Takeaways:

India has the most sound foundations of banking regulations that has helped thrive through the tough times plaguing the world economy.

For a financial institution to survive, it should keep itself abreast with the technology along with redefining roles at every step.

The Podium - Interaction 5: Dr. Gautam Naresh

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 10:01:00 +0000

General Details

· Date – 25^th July 2012 (Wednesday)

· Time – 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm

· Designation – Public Financial Management Advisor, PricewaterhouseCoopers

About Him

Dr. Gautam Naresh is a full-time retainer with the Public Finance & Public Enterprise reforms practice of the Government Reforms and Infrastructure Development (GRID), PwC, India. Dr. Gautam Naresh holds a doctorate in Economics from Banaras Hindu University and has over 30 years of experience in the field of public finance. He has been the senior economist at National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), New Delhi which is an autonomous Institute of Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

Post this; Dr. Naresh joined PriceWaterCoopers (P) Ltd. India. Dr Naresh has held the position of Honorary Principal Economic Advisor to the Second State Finance Commission (Union Territories), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. He was a member of the Expert Committee on Property Tax Reforms in Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Government of NCT of Delhi. Dr. Naresh was recently involved as the public expenditure expert in the ADB supported Advanced Project Preparedness for Poverty Reduction under the Meghalaya Public Resource Management Program. He was the team leader for the Study on Electricity Charges for Provision of Water Supply by Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in Madhya Pradesh under the DFID supported Strengthening Performance Management in Government (SPMG) Program in Madhya Pradesh. He has also contributed towards developing the North East Region Vision 2020 with focus on the issues of local self-governments based on findings from detailed field visits.

Flow of Discussion

The discussion started with Dr Gautam Naresh giving a brief overview on urbanisation and the spurt in demand for civic services in India. He compared the scenario of urbanisation in India over the past 100 years and highlighted the constitutional role of urban centres as infrastructure provider in India and urban sector issues. He also highlighted some of the major urban issues faced in India: water supply and sanitation, urban sprawl, pressures on natural habitats, urban waste management, climate change and air pollution and public health problems. He then further spoke on the extent of investment requirements needed in the urban infrastructure development.

Dr. Naresh emphasized that the government alone could not take full responsibility of financing the huge investment requirements. The Government of India could take the leadership role while at the same time, facilitating and encouraging the involvement of the state governments and municipal governments. He referred to this cooperation as ‘public - private partnership’. He also touched upon some of the different PPP models supported by the government. Dr. Naresh concluded his talk by pointing out it would be preferable that capacity building interventions precede the implementation of programmes for infrastructure development and governance reform, rather than the present situation where they may be implemented either simultaneously or separately.

The Podium - Interaction 4: Mr. K.S. Ramdas

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 20:38:00 +0000

General Details

Date – 24 July 2012 (Tuesday)
Time – 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Designation – CEO, Janalakshmi Financial Services Private Limited

K. S. Ramdas is a senior professional banker with over three decades of experience in Indian and international financial markets. His areas of expertise cover emerging growth companies, midcorporates, international trading companies and debt financing of global projects. Starting his career with Bank of America in India and the Philippines, Ram went on to do corporate and syndicated debt financing at the National Bank of Bahrain. He joined the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York in 1986, which was the start of a 17-year career with the JP Morgan Chase group. Ram rounded off his 22-year stay in the US with the Toronto Dominion Bank, as Head of its flagship Mid-Atlantic small business banking group. Ram was recruited in an international search to join DCB Bank’s senior management team in Mumbai. He returned with his family to India in June 2008, and served as Executive Vice President & Head of the Small & Medium Enterprise Banking Group. In March 2010, Ram relocated to his hometown of Bangalore and joined Janalakshmi Financial Services Private Limited, a new-age “bank” for financial inclusion (NBFC-MFI), as CEO of the micro and small enterprise business. In just under 2 years, his team has built a scalable MSE loan sourcing model and a robust credit system, backed by an innovative use of cloud based technology.

Flow of Discussion

The discussion started with Mr Ramdas addressing the gathering about the broad terms used in microfinance, such as financial inclusion, ‘missing middle’, priority sector lending, etc. He spoke about the concept of the social enterprise as well as the key challenges and decisions faced by the company. He also explained the unique organisational structure of Janalakshmi Financial Services, which was a two-tier structure, with separate for-profit and not for profit sections. He also mentioned the four-pronged approach to servicing the needs of the urban under-served through: affordable housing, savings, personal credit and business loans. Mr Ramdas ended the session with an interactive question and answer session. He answered queries relating to the choice of an urban focus over a rural focus and the challenges that urban microfinance institutions face. He also shared his personal views on ethics in the banking sector.

The Podium - Interaction 3: Mr. Jyotindra Vaccharajani

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 20:26:00 +0000

IIM Shillong inaugurated The Podium, the first of its kind guest lecture series being organized at the institute, on 23^rd July 2012. In an attempt to fully capitalize on any kind of opportunity of having a rewarding interaction with luminaries of industry or academia, the event has speakers either coming down to campus or interacting with the students through the video-conferencing format. Since the commencement of The Podium, the participants at IIM Shillong have already had the opportunity to interact with Prof. Anil Gupta, professor at IIM Ahmedabad and founder of organizations such as Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI) and Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network; Mr Chender Baljee, Chairman and MD of Royal Orchid Hotels Group and Mr. Jyotindra Vaccharajani, General Manager, Corporate Relations, Essar Energy.

The first on-campus interaction of The Podium with Mr. Jyotindra Vaccharajani, General Manager, Corporate Relations, Essar Energy proved to be an enriching experience for the participants of IIM Shillong. Mr. Vaccharajani shared his learning about the way forward for overcoming the challenges that the future managers of India have to face.

Some of the other eminent personalities who will grace the event are Dr. Sunil Kumar, Dean, Booth School of Business, Chicago, Mr. Basant Shroff, Partner, Ernst &Young, Mr. K S Ramdas, CEO, Janalakshmi Financial Services, Dr. Rupali Basu, CEO (ER), Apollo Hospitals, Ms. Shaheen Mistri, CEO, Teach for India, Mr. Sandeep Tyagi, Director, Haier India, Mr. Arvind Bodhankar, Corporate Head, Cadbury Kraft and Mr. Mayank Pareek, Executive Director, Maruti Suzuki.

Indian Institute of Management, Shillong is the seventh IIM in the country and is presently in its fifth year of operations. Being the only IIM in the North-Eastern region of the country, it is making rapid progress in terms of academic quality, extra-curricular activities, corporate visibility and social impact. As the students of the institute grow to become the game-changers of tomorrow, it is essential that great minds inspire them to embark this journey. Through its endeavor to host several pertinent and thought provoking discussions in the days to come, The Podium is an initiative in this very direction.

The Podium - Interaction 2: Mr. Chender Baljee

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 19:55:00 +0000

General Details

· Date – 23 July 2012

· Time – 4:00 pm to 5:15 pm

· Venue – RN-5

· Designation – Chairman and Managing Director – Royal Orchid Hotel Group

About him

Mr Chender Baljee an MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad is the Chairman & Managing Director of Royal Orchid Hotels. His experience in the industry spans across over three decades. He is currently on the Managing Committee of the Bengaluru Management Association. In the past he has served as the Chairman of the Tourism Committee, both at Greater Mysore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GMCI) as well as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). A certified Hotel Administrator from American Hotel and Lodging Association (AH & LA), he is also featured on IIM's list of top 25 entrepreneurs.

About Company – Royal Orchid Hotels

The company operates 21 business and leisure hotels in 16 popular destinations. It is also having 17 unique hospitality concepts in the offing. The Royal Orchid Group of Hotels is amongst India’s fastest growing hotel groups. It has a vision ‘To be the preferred group of hotels for the discerning global traveller.’ The group has won accolades on the fronts of energy conservation, best emerging domestic hotels etc.

Flow of Discussion

Mr Chender began the interaction by talking about the scenario of Hotel Industries in India. He explained that higher land costs and lower Floor Space Index contributed to the fact that hotels are expensive in India. He also mentioned that the cost of borrowing, being around 15%, made it more difficult to provide cheaper services as it affects profitability. He then went on to comment on the difficulty in opening a hotel in India. The fact that plenty of clearances and government permissions are required made it a tedious task and served as an entry barrier. He also mentioned that project management capabilities were very poor in the Indian landscape and that time of completion generally goes much beyond projection.

He then moved to the topic of terrorism, the 9/11 incident, tourism and how that affected the hospitality industry. He said there was a lot of learning for all players in this industry, which faced a stiff money crunch. Basing his setup in Banglore, he hinted that the I.T boom witnessed in Banglore gave him a tremendous opportunity to grow on his idea since floating population was on the rise. Owing to the absence of a reasonable Privet Equity Fund, he decided to go public in 2006 and said that was the start of the expansion phase. He said that since the world became increasingly connected and volatile, any short trigger could set off an alarm and cause an imbalance, esp. in a sensitive industry like hospitality.

He commented that India lacked skilled manpower, although the manpower per se was good. He advised that there be more private players in the Hospitality training industry, which is the only way to keep with the increasing demand. He said that the hospitality service industry had very courteous people and were subjected to being pinched-off to other service industry like BPO etc. He also commented that attrition rates of around 50% prevail.

He finally encourages the students to take up entrepreneurship as IIM Students are capable in productivity and in employability. He did caution on the need to set up one’s own firm only on interest and not for the blind chase for money.

The floor was open to questions which were aske on the lines of sustainable practises, need to merge with the tourism industry, pricing model and plugging the skill shortage. Mr Baljee answered each question with patience and depth and the session concluded after a hospitable evening.

The Podium - Interaction 1: Prof. Anil Gupta

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 19:44:00 +0000

General Details

· Date – 22 July 2012 (Sunday)

· Time – 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm

·         Designation – Coordinator, SRISTI
                        Founder, Honey Bee Network
                        Executive Vice Chair, National Innovation Foundation

About Him

Prof. Anil Gupta is a Professor at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and conducts courses on Creativity, Innovation, Knowledge Network and Entrepreneurship (CINE) and Globalising and Resurgent India through Innovative Transformation (GRIT). He established Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI) and Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN), two voluntary organizations to support the Honey Bee Network, and to scale up and convert grassroots innovations into viable products respectively.

Flow of Discussion

The discussion started with Prof. Gupta, addressing the gathering about the importance of unfolding creativity and innovation in a student’s life. He mentioned that the way forward for this is to share ideas. Prof. Gupta motivated students to learn from four teachers – the one within us, our peers, the nature and finally the common people. In line with his view about sharing ideas, Prof. Gupta told the gathering about the three principles of the Honey Bee Network – cross pollination i.e. exchanging ideas, acknowledging the ideas of others, and thirdly giving due credit to the idea of another person when it is used. Prof. Gupta also talked about the inverted model of innovation, where children come up with pioneering ideas, which are built upon by engineers and finally the ideas are taken up by the corporates. Prof. Anil Gupta prompted the students to think of new and original concept and stressed upon the fact that the onus of coming up with breakthroughs is on the students of today.

Finally, Prof. Gupta encouraged the students to be open to ideas and be the change agents of tomorrow.

The Podium 2012: Possibilities unlimited. Potential unlocked. Power unleashed.

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 19:29:00 +0000

Indian Institute of Management, Shillong is the seventh IIM in the country and is presently in its fifth year of operations. We are a young and vibrant institute, the only IIM in the North-Eastern region of the country, and are making rapid progress in terms of academic quality, extra-curricular activities, corporate visibility and social impact. Here, at IIM Shillong we believe that a very essential part of the IIM learning comes from interactions with leading business executives. As a part of this endeavor, Indian Institute of Management, Shillong, is hosting “The Podium: Guest Lecture Series”.

The Podium will invite eminent management personalities to share their perspectives on relevant issues in the field of business. These guest speakers would interact with the students of IIM Shillong, arguably some of the brightest minds in the country. The series format gives the speaker a feeling of architecting an integral part of a whole, while the students get intrigued and motivated by the array of radical ideas.

As these students grow to become the game-changers of tomorrow, it is essential that great minds inspire them to embark this journey. With speakers coming from across multiple domains, from the industry and the academia, the series is aimed to capture the essence of a holistic burst of ideas. The Podium will certainly be an enriching experience for the speakers & the students and the take-away is only for those who experience it.

Some of the eminent personalities who will grace this event are:

· Dr. Sunil Kumar, Dean, Booth School of Business, Chicago
· Mr. Basant Shroff, Partner, Ernst &Young
· Mr. Jyotindra Vachharajani, GM, Essar
· Mr. K S Ramdas, CEO, Janalakshmi Financial Services
· Dr. Rupali Basu, CEO (ER), Apollo Hospitals
· Ms. Shaheen Mistri, CEO, Teach for India
· Mr. Sandeep Tyagi, Director, Haier India
· Mr. Arvind Bodhankar, Corporate Head, Cadbury Kraft
· Mr. Mayank Pareek, Executive Director, Maruti Suzuki

Flipkart or the Roadside book cart?

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 09:58:00 +0000

The new Flipkart ads paint a clear picture that ecommerce is the next big thing. With COD delivery and one month return policy along with other services, there is almost nothing that can stop e-commerce.

A few days back I was in Mumbai for my internship. Owing to my graduation there I have roamed around quite a lot on the streets and I have always loved to walk around the fort area, near Kala Ghoda, or towards Crawford market through CST; checking out the roadside hawkers, looking at buildings, cricket grounds and armies of people.

One evening when I got free early, I went there to take a feel of the good old days. When you walk towards CST from the Bombay Highcourt, a lot of hawkers sell books on the footpath. I have frequented these markets a lot and have also befriended one uncle who sits outside the Deutsche bank building. This uncle not just sells books, he reads them and understands them and he will tell me which book to read based on his experience of reading almost all the latest books he has. Also he gets to know your taste first by asking which books you have been reading lately. Another interesting thing is he is not hungry for money; he is there for the sake of reading and helping others find good books and promote reading.

When I reached his stall, some guy was negotiating with him for the price of the biography of Steve Jobs. Uncle was selling it for Rs 100, he wanted it for Rs 60, uncle got a bit irritated and said thank god Steve Jobs was not born in India, this situation would have been more painful for him than being thrown out of his company or his cancer. After the guy left I talked with uncle about the situation of reading habits of my generation people.

I started looking at a few books and asked him about his opinion on them. I picked up a book “Emerging India” By Bimal Jalan, uncle gave me a history of Bimal Jalan, his working as the Governor of RBI, India representative at World Bank and Member of Rajya Sabha. He said the accomplishments of the author speak a lot and also he had read the book and found it undoubtedly good. He asked me why I came there after so long, I told him about my MBA course and then about my summer project. Straight away he got interested and asked a lot of questions, especially he asked a lot about China, about the cities, people etc. Then he suggested me two-three books related to my project.

First one was a book called “Inventive Indians”, it’s a collection of real life stories covered by the magazine Civil Society; these stories are of people working in the rural development space. The 23 stories cover almost everything in this space, from water harvesting to building bridges in villages and from organic farming to rural health. It is one of the best compilations I have ever come across. Next he asked me to read “Breakout Nations” by Ruchir Sharma; the book is on analysis of the growth prospects of an economy, demystifying a lot of myths. The author analyses the economies of almost all the emerging nations in the book and also teaches the readers to take an educated decision based on the future of a territory.

I bought a total of 4 books from him for which he charged substantially less than the price printed on the cover. Comparing between buying from Flipkart and this uncle, I would any day prefer buying a book from the latter. But one thing needs to be given a deep thought, here is a business opportunity, with the increasing number of companies in the ecommerce business, companies would have to differentiate themselves, the reviews available on the websites right now are very basic and cannot trigger a sale, as the online shopping market grows, there will be a lot of things on sale and so there is a need (opportunity) for an reliable authority for commenting on the value for money of a product. Something like the Lonely Planet guide for travelers.

Until then this uncle will remain as the address of book shopping for me.

Mudit Agarwal

PGP 2011

Random guy with a specific note

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:18:00 +0000

As a part of my internship project, I am required to conduct terse interview sessions with consumers of certain products. These people are chosen in random and well, with randomness, surprises are aplenty.

Responders, after the purchase, typically keep walking off and would hush an iota of truth in passing or would either hurl abuses for intruding their privacy; in either case, the customer is always the king and this helps making it all impersonal. Ok, the point is not of my marketing learnings but something beyond.

There was this young man, aged 28, who had purchased a product I was to make a study on and that made him a candidate for an interview. Based on the small visual things that one picks up, I intuitively felt that he would be comfortable in English and requested him to pause for a minute and answer few questions…he politely obliged ; one of a ‘kind’ hitherto. I started the drill and just after two questions he retorted saying it was his turn to ask me questions. The first thing he asked was ‘Are you from an IIM?’ At this juncture I’ll tell you I had no id card on me, no golf-cup t-shirts or anything remotely indicating an IIM affinity. For the smart ones, neither did I say I was an IIM student, here to interview him. I did not display my bewilderment and wanted him to go on...which was worth it. He paused and then said, “You are either from Rohtak or Shillong”, BEAT THAT!!! Either I’ve stumbled upon a Desi Sherlock Holmes or some mind freak who’s having his evening dose of fun with me. Whatever it is, I couldn’t help but gape and ask him how he had narrowed down his observations to this extent. He replied ‘I see a sparkle in your eyes…..I have friends from other IIMs, your nature is different, it is open …..you couldn’t be from the older ones’. I have nothing against my sister institutes, but at that moment, call it irrational, I felt proud to be from IIM Shillong…I am after all a product of the culture of my college. He smiled and said he was a poet and a singer as well. I dint feel like asking him anything else but just stood there. As I kept staring at him walking off, my linguist helper who assists me with the questions told me ‘Sir, enough staring at girls sir, it’s getting late’….The poet had a pony tail which danced to the evening winds, I couldn’t blame the linguist in his remark.

One last thing, about his age, that was a part of my questionnaire…no magic there!

Keshav S

PGP 2011

Life @ MBA

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 09:17:00 +0000

[This was written on our farewell night, when emotions were running high. Understandably, it turned out to be far more "sentimental" than I'd anticipated. But now that the final nail on the coffin has been hammered in (read: our Convocations are done with), I thought I might as well post it now - against my better judgements, as some might remark]

I’m not an overtly emotional person by nature – at least not where its outward depiction goes. In fact I don’t even remember the last time I made use of my tear glands. When most people are howling or weeping in public, I’d rather stand with an impassive face. But I sure have felt strong emotions at a few junctures of my life where I’ve come closest to experiencing a stream of salty water through my bespectacled eyes – and this is undoubtedly one of them. Melancholy can be a fascinating partner to have when you’re sharing the last few words with the people you’d love to carry a part of in your already over-packed heart or you’re alone in your den reminiscing on the times good and bad. Yes, I’m melancholic now, feeling the blues that one ends up being engulfed by when one is at the cross-roads of one’s life, experiencing a significant part of one’s life slowing giving way to another.

Life at IIM Shillong has been one that even the loftiest or choicest of adjectives can fail to completely capture. When my engineering days got over and I entered into a short stint into the corporate world I don’t really remember what went through my mind. Tata Consultancy Services, the de facto recruiter of the planet, didn’t disappoint me when it had come down to our campus in the same way that it has never disappointed so many other engineering graduates like me. I therefore became part of the bandwagon effect by following the afore-mentioned trail, and was part of the same once again when three years later I decided to spend the next two years of my not-so-different life striving for a postgraduate diploma in management studies. But how did I know that instead of continuing to be part of the morose and the mundane, life would certainly start looking so different and strange and singularly out of the ordinary – for better or for worse.

During the initial few days of my journey in this quaint, and for most Indians, godforsaken hill-station somewhere in the north-eastern region of our country, the only thought that I had in my mind was to somehow get through all the grind and the so-called MBA life and get back to where I’d come from – the corporate world. But little did I know then that these two years would not just pass by in a whisker, they would turn out so spectacularly far removed from anything that I’d been expecting and anticipating. Now that I’ve lost two years of my life from the timesheets and the performance appraisals and whatnot, I feel it would have been so much better that I lost a few more.

Most associate management studies come with hectic schedules and undiminishing competition and unending stream of assignments and presentations – the kind that rarely allow you time to ponder or pursue your abstruse passions. Yes, life did start on the stereotypical path that I just described, but it was also so much more. Bunking lectures in order to take a much-needed siesta or to watch a movie, sleeping or reviewing films in classes, doing last-ditch work to get assignments submitted on time, filling presentations with ‘GAS’ and ‘general funda’ and some smart designs, hanging out with intelligent minds who’d rather not exercise their brains for the daily rote, making instant decisions for dining out, sharing booze without ice (and yes, smokes too) with like-minded aficionados of the tagline ‘make it large’, cringing over the food served in mess, making some truly wonderful friends, and yes, falling in love too (I’d never expected that I’ll end up walking on that bittersweet path once again) – this has been two of the most enervating yet incredible years of my life.

Shillong gave me faculties to curse and friends to cherish, experiences to forget as also moments that have left indelible imprints in my mind, batch-mates to share jokes and laughter with as also to debate and discuss with on a plethora of subjects (both serious and funny), half-smoked cigarettes and songs quietly playing on the background, dirty ashtrays and scattered alcohol bottles, unending walks to and from class and traveling in over-packed taxis, cursing at others who are always prepared and cursing myself for rarely being so, dreaming of rosier futures yet forever living in the present, and so much more that my limited vocabulary or nostalgia-laden gray cells are failing to do complete justice to at this moment of reckoning and transformation.

Johnny Walker ads famously beseech us to keep walking. One must therefore not miss a step while moving on and keep traveling in this complex journey called life. But, as my heart is being taken for a ride like a sucker on a rain-drenched night by a damsel with a mesmerizing smile, all I can do is to allow myself to be melancholic in my solitude and hope that Einstein had found a few tricks for escaping this inescapable flow of time – at least for a few precious moments.

Freeze frame!

[p.s. I've decided against divulging any details regarding the contents of the above sob-inducing post]

Shubhajit Lahiri

IIM Shillong, Class of 2012

Side Effects of Strategy …and Life

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:42:00 +0000

It was the finale of the Strategic Management class. The two professors who had guided us through the course wanted our feedback and also decided to instil some sustainable, philosophical gyan into us. Needless to say, when the two sections of a batch come together for such a session, it resonates with merriment, laughter, remarks and what-not! This was exactly what was happening as the faculty inched forward with their doctrines.

When they decided to question us participants on few dimensions they were touching upon, their eyes began screening the last rows (Why, oh why!) and the class began yelling my name!!! Me? Of all the gyan guns…. My shhhs only made the chorus louder…what was I thinking. Now imagine, amidst this frolic, I was asked about my opinion of the course, any random thought. As I remained mum, unable to talk sense, the Prof. continued and asked me this “How does it feel when the first rays of the sun strike you?” I really doubt if anyone would even consider this serious, but to me, it was too powerful. It stirred up my thought processes so much that I shifted to becoming pensive for a while and this is to be mentioned, I HARDLY THINK AT ALL…Probably, the unexpected corner from where it came from added to the intensity.

Clearly disappointed with my silence, the Prof. moved on with the session. Here is where the Calvin in me began his vivid imagination….’ In early 2011, I was in Kerala, Kottayam to be precise, to attend a friend’s wedding. While at the guest house, I trekked away to a hillock nearby at around 4:30 in the morning. Replete with greenery, the place also happened to be quite and brimming with solitude. As I ascended, the sun’s rays tickled my neck gently…I turned back, to get not a glimpse, but to take it all in…the moment and the life, there. As the ephemeral moment sunk into me, metaphorically, a feeling of bliss rose within much like the sun rise. Of gyan, I remember this, ‘what is real is now, what is happiness is now and what is 100% true and sure, is now’. The depth of that sentence is priceless as an experience’.

This was what I wanted to reply, but the context was not right. How is this strategy you’d ask and I will only go into another mental expedition!

Keshav S

PGP 2011

Straight from the gut

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 16:31:00 +0000

This is the title of the autobiography of Jack Welch, Ex Chairman & CEO of GE. While surfing the racks of our library I came across this book and ever since I started reading it, I have been fighting to find time in between tight schedules to read it.

The book is a narrative of Jack Welch’s journey in GE, starting with joining GE as an engineer, one among many other engineers, frustrated by the bureaucracy at a big organisation. A very typical situation faced by most of the engineers of our country also, but Jack differentiated himself and climbed the ladder to become the Chairman and CEO of GE group, which at that time had revenues of around $27 Billion. By the time he retired, he took the revenues of GE to $130 Billion.

Jack shares a lot of his experiences as boss of one of the biggest companies in the world. Just after joining, he started promoting the philosophy of being #1 or #2 in a particular industry or else leave it. To reach these goals he started firing the bottom 10% managers of the company each year and gave bonus and stock option to the top 20%. Quoting from the book “Any company that thinks it can guarantee job security is going down a dead end. Only satisfied customers can give people job security. Not companies.” This is one very important lesson to be learnt by our age managers.

Six sigma implementation; making GE a truly global organisation; Boundaryless culture; successful entry into E-business for a hundred year old company, are his biggest achievements at GE, of which he talks passionately in the book. He believed it was people who made GE and during his 20 years at GE as CEO he kept on repeating that getting the right people in the right jobs is a lot more important than developing a strategy.

Quoting Jack on being the CEO of GE “A whole jumble of thoughts come to mind: Over the top. Wild. Fun. Outrageous. Crazy. Passion. Perpetual motion. The give-and-take. Meetings into the night. Incredible friendships. Fine wine. Celebrations. Great golf courses. Big decisions in the real game. Crises and pressure. Lots of swings. A few home runs. The thrill of winning. The pain of losing. It's as good as it gets! You get paid a lot, but the real payoff is in the fun.”

After reading the above paragraph most of us will feel that this is what we want in life. While reading autobiographies I start picturing myself as the protagonist (might sound childish) and that is when I get kicks out of it. At some point I get disappointed thinking that he has accomplished so much that I can never be like him, while sometimes I take pride in myself, thinking that even I would have acted like him in that situation. Funniest part is when I start thinking what Jack would have done had he been in my place. Recently when I had to select electives for next year, I tried to think what subjects Jack would have taken. :D

Most important part about reading autobiographies of business leaders is they give a lot of inspiration. After finishing the book the first thought that comes to your mind is, when would I be able to write a book of my own.

A few of my favourite Autobiographies are: Idli, Orchid and Will power by Vithal Kamath of Kamath group of Hotels, Iacocca by Lee Iacocca of Ford & Chrysler and Loosing my Virginity by Richard Branson of Virgin Group. Reading these books along with business education adds a lot, because we get ideas on what decisions some of the best business leaders took in practical problems and then we relate them to the theoretical solutions taught in our classes, which make all the more sense.

Mudit Agarwal

PGP 2011

Someone I Used to Know

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:37:00 +0000

There was a person

I used to know

Who used to be afraid

Of what others would say

Who used to hide & escape from the world

And was often always thought of as a nerd.

There was a person

I used to know

Who used to cry while saying goodbyes

Who used to yawn

Every morning at dawn

Who used to feel shy

About the dreams of reaching the sky.

This person was disillusioned with life

As the doors that had been knocked on

Had led no where

And the dreams were gone.

And then one day this person

Met someone

And that someone

Changed this person’s life

The person I used to know once

Was no longer to be recognized

This person now awakened with grace

And greeted the world with a smile on the face

This person wanted to know more

And eagerly anticipated the future in store.

This person was no longer scared

Of whom, what, when & where

This person now sincerely believed

That anything was possible

And could be achieved.

This person was no longer bored

And eagerly waited to hear the story told.

This person now had opened the eyes

To a world of possibilities and surprise

This person was now able to see

This person once was and is now, me.

Dhivya Ravikumar

PGP 2011

You might be in an IIM if…

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:16:00 +0000

It’s funny. The amount of preparation one does to get into an IIM. All those mock tests, hours of analysis, hundreds of quants problems. Your single-minded focus finally paid off. You find yourself in an IIM. A dream come true. But it seems surreal at times. Am I really at an IIM?? In one of those revered and worshipped top management institutes in India?

After two terms at IIM Shillong, the fact that I am at an IIM has not really sunk in. You don’t really think about it, I mean, you don’t really get time to think about it. Nevertheless, I’ve devised a quick and easy method to check whether I’m at an IIM, based on my experiences here so far.

You might be in an IIM if:

1) Your first week was comparable to a stay at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

2) You use terms such as ‘social loafer’ and ‘perceptual error’ in your daily vocabulary.

3) You’ve spent an unreasonable amount of time defending the greatness of the city you come from, on the basis of its economic growth and HDI, vis-à-vis other unworthy cities.

4) You’ve awakened from deep sleep with a jolt at 8:45 am to rush to a 9 am class. This is after your head hit the pillow at around 3:30 am.

5) You do not know the concept of a quiet, calm and peaceful birthday celebration.

6) You’ve studied all night for a ‘surprise’ quiz only to find out the next day that the ‘surprise’ is that the quiz is not today.

7) You’ve entered a class all revved up, only to find an incomprehensible surprise quiz staring you in the face.

8) You’ve perfected the art of talking for 5 minutes on any topic, using terms such as ‘synchronised modular time-frame’ and ‘parallel organizational flexibility’.

9) You’ve found yourself deep in conversation discussing the deficiencies of the supply chain of the hostel mess.

10) You’ve shouted random numbers in finance and/or accounts class, just to get noticed for class (desperate) participation.

11) You’ve sat at a study group meet to discuss an important term project. Two hours later the only conclusion that the group agrees upon is that ‘the work must be divided equally’.

12) You’ve opened Facebook at 11 pm just for a ‘5 min break’ to get your mind off the next day’s Marketing end term. Next thing you know, it’s 2:30 am and you are still on Facebook, marveling at the number of ways in which a lungi can be tied.

13) You’ve been reminded by professors that you are not in engineering college anymore and to ‘simply get out of the engineering mindset’, while asking for an extension on the 30 page case analysis due tomorrow morning. You fail to see the connection.

14) There are days when you think that 2 minute Maggi is the greatest food ever invented.

15) You’ve never dared to think ‘beyond the IIMs’ and hence, consider yourself ‘not deserving enough’ to participate in ****’s business fest.

16) You’ve attempted the concept of ‘business lunch’ with your committee members, only to find out that the term is an oxymoron. Still, you continue these ‘business lunches’, hoping that someday you will be successful

17) You’re deep in concentration in the middle of a thorough analysis of the HBR article “IT Doesn’t Matter”, only to have the net connection give up on you. You find yourself unable to work, conclude that the analysis is pointless, wonder why you are even studying MBA and decide to vent your frustration on the helpless basketball.

18) You’ve recounted your ‘Tell me about yourself’, ‘Why MBA’, ‘Why Finance, etc.’ answers so many times in your various committee/club/placement interviews, that you are starting to believe what you say.

19) You use terms such as ‘matching concept’, ‘going concern’ and ‘entity concept’ in philosophical discussions and debates.

20) You think that everything in economics can be explained with the ‘law of supply and demand’.

21) In spite of everything, amongst the headaches, heartbreaks, torture and sleepless nights, there is excitement, fun, friends and adventure. Every day is an unforgettable experience. At an IIM.

Dhivya Ravikumar

PGP 2011

Some Typical B-School Moments

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 06:28:00 +0000

I have been restless since morning, lying on my bed or surfing the net for random things, maybe because I have just came back from my cousins wedding, two days of full masti and delicious food. Food I always miss but there is something else that is itching me from inside. I started questioning myself about what am I doing in college, I should have stayed back only; everything seems useless, my contribution to group assignments seems irrelevant as they were done even when I was not present; everybody is busy with their own things, where are the friends I made in last six months?

After talking to a few people who came back from home after short visits I realized this is a common feeling, felt by all B-School students at some point of time. Drilling more into the matter, I noted down a few typical B-school moments which happen to most of us.

On a weekday morning, 10 minutes before the class you wake up to your wing mates gaali, get ready in 5 mins and rush for the class. On the way to class you cross the mess, its just that the mess comes in your route, there is no intention to waste any time there. The smell of Dosa makes you stop for a second and then comes the moment of internal conflict, whether to go for the class or have one Dosa. Profs are mostly strict about timing and after initial calculations you figure out it’s a mutually exclusive case, either have Dosa or go for the class. Typically a B-school student eats a Dosa and sends SMS to his friends in class about his feats.

Now this thing happens more often than others; you have a decent week going on with not much workload and decent time to sleep, certain things need to be done but the deadlines are not nearby so you decide to relax and go for dinners and spend time on cleaning your room and decorating your linkedin page. Then your study group allots you an assignment and you accept it, thinking that you have not done much in recent past. On the day of this deadline, comes another assignment which is in the subject that you are expert at and you don’t have any choice but to do it. Your club has an important task lined up and your committee calls for an urgent meeting. You also have to go out for a friend’s birthday party or to buy some essential stuff from market. Add the irresistible daily dose of socialization (social loafing) on campus. What do you do, how do you manage all this? This is when the maximum learning happens, we learn efficient utilization of resources, we use all the networking that we have done, we delegate, we slog nights, we divide work but we somehow make the ends meet.

At a B school the measure of your efficiency is done on the basis of number of hours you sleep. To catch up with the trends you try to match the number of hours you sleep to the batch average, which is somewhere around 4-5 hours a day. One evening you come back to your room from dinner, you have some work to do but that can be postponed, you feel you have worked hard over the past 3-4 days and you sleep, you sleep for 8-10 hours, snoozing your alarm infinitely. When you wake up there is this feeling of guilt which would not leave you until you attend boring classes the whole day and realize you had slept for good only.

B school life is full of such moments, the happy one when your friends get internship, the sad one where you are not getting your dream internship; the one where you laugh like crazy on faculty mimicry and the one when you feel low for no reason and want to be in your room whole day. The best part is these moments are like simulation games, they make you realize how corporate life will be and prepare you to be a better manager.

Mudit Agarwal

PGP2011

Arteries of Asphalt

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 03:50:00 +0000

Being the early-to-bed types, I hit the bed early and decide to run a marathon, in my sleep, for 12 hours. The bed forces me out at 5 a.m and no amount of twist or counting sheep could help prolong my sleep. Just when the campus life begins to rest, I decide, this would be the perfect time to talk a walk outside.

I would follow the wind

And walk its path

Unless there is a dead end, deadened in asphalt

I take an unorganised, non-patterned route, through narrow lanes packed with lovely, petite houses. The daily chores have begun in few of them and I see kids and pups playing outside. The cold weather would not deter these guys from enjoying the outdoors... or maybe it isn’t all that cold, am from South India and 26 deg is deep frost to me!!It’s actually a nice sight, a kind of colony with geographical closure, untainted much by the advances of technology.

There are few issues with these by-lanes. They take you to places you can’t even spell; I almost had a tongue fracture trying to read one such. Next, the inclination; Roads decide to start trekking and what seemed flat would shoot up to pouncing steepness. Finally, entrances to houses would have broader paths than the actual road; I ended up twice going to the porch and then being guided out….sometimes by the family dog. Just a note on the dogs out here…they are generously built much like the foliage here! Fortunately, the locals here are quite welcoming and half as intimidating as those canines. A whiff of all the local condiments rattles my brain of sleep. The dogs get excited and I get worried.

Its winter and the trees are showing their true colours. It’s breath-taking! The cold (South Indian here!) winds slide across my tonsured head and that tickles. This really is a fantastic place to be when you wipe the cloud of education clogging your eyes (blasphemy!!!!!). As I encounter a V shaped road split, The Robert Frost in me says:

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.…

Indeed, the marketing case that lays waiting is sure to suck what’s left of the day!

Keshav S

PGP11

Of Football & Dirt

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 07:10:00 +0000

Sundays are the most cherished days for any student in an IIM. The promising 5+ hours of sleep is a dream, while we dream. To skip this bounty and get to play football in the scenic landscape of Shillong is better; it’s pure bliss. The alarm goes off at 6 AM and I know that getting out of the bed is the hardest part, probably next to Greece getting out of its financial mess….probably. As 18 of us assemble to reach the field, which is nearly 15 mins from campus, groggy eyes lighten up on a synergetic burst of enthusiasm.

The fresh air, the sun behind the clouds encourages us to get into the athletic mode although most of us haven’t been much active and I don’t mean mentally. Passing sloping houses and petite creeks of water, we reach the vast openness centred with the precious football field. The happiness translates to all communications being in vernacular viz. Hindi, Bengali and Tamil (?????, three of us)..oh yeah! a solitary Mallu (talking to himself though).

There are no Messis amongst us, we were just..messy. With no strategy or formations, we stormed each other’s’ sides and had only one objective, to kick the football; to whom, where or how did not matter. Slowly, the better sense of the game prevailed and it was more organised or so we thought until an ‘own goal’ reminded us of our status quo. As the game picked heat, the scores became quite skewed (for the sake of my life and self-esteem, the score isn’t revealed). This triggered a need to play as a team and that’s when the game really did catch up to us (talk about optimism) in the eyes of the locals who were seeing the plight of football under our hands …legs, of a mini representation of India.

After giving it all we got, getting up from the slips that hurt and being smothered by dirt, we decided to call it a day. Our legs begged us for some respite but the post-mortem of the game drew our attention. Thanks to the reallllly steep roads out here, playing football was half the effort: We had never missed college this much for on our way back, the thought of good food and a cosy bed awaited us. If you are out there picturing the situation, we were NOT covered with sweat. You can survive here without much of water in such an intense game, the weather is that cool. No wonder the North East has some of the best football players and places.

All in all, it was an awesome experience and would like to do it again. As the winter slowly sets in the heat of the game is picking up. The word is spreading and the ball is our court now.

Keshav S

PGP 2011

IIM Shillong Wins Inaugural Edition of X-Biz at IIMA

noreply@blogger.com (Dhivya) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 10:22:00 +0000

Team InnoPreneurs from IIM Shillong have won the inaugural edition of X-Biz in a grand finale hosted at the IIM-Ahmedabad campus. The team was shortlisted after tough competition from over 60 participating teams from across the country. IIM Shillong was shortlisted amongst the top three teams along with IIM Bangalore and IIT Chennai and was invited to present their plan to an eminent panel of judges which included Mr. Sandeep Nair, President and Managing Director of Emerson Network Power (India) Pvt Limited. The sponsors of X-Biz 2011 were Prof Arvind Sahay, Professor of Marketing at IIM-Ahmedabad, and Mr. Pranay Gupta, Joint CEO, CIIE-IIM, Ahmedabad.

The team which consisted of Mr Jayant Kejriwal and Mr Salil Choudhary, second year students at IIM Shillong, detailed their innovative plan which considered the opportunity of massive agricultural mechanization in India. Their plan is to set up a manufacturing plant for tractor mounted hydraulic equipments for agricultural, industrial and construction purposes. They plan to distribute these products across the country initially through tie-ups with tractor distributors and later on through our own outlets.

INNOPRENEURS (IIM SHILLONG)
Salil Choudhary	Jayant Kejriwal

The participants were judged on multiple factors including uniqueness of the plan, “thoroughness” of analysis in capital planning and working capital management, marketing and operating plans, risk identification and mitigation plans, impacts on environment and society and robustness of strategy and growth potential.

The winners received a cash prize of Rs 75,000 and an opportunity to incubate their businesses with CIIE at IIM-Ahmedabad.

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IIM Shillong Wins Inaugural Edition of X-Biz at IIMA

INNOPRENEURS (IIM SHILLONG)