Reading between the lines

Time stands still; rather does a crazy somersault in your head .You wake up from your reverie to find random words, scribbled in your notebook, words that are not even remotely related to what the professor seems to be saying. It takes a moment to dawn upon you that you are in the hallowed portals of one of the country’s best b schools: And you are precariously hanging to the edge of your seat, almost falling off it (and it is not quite the regular “edge of the seat” excitement that we are referring to here). And to top it all off, the professor is benignly looking down at you, nodding sympathetically, to your utter bemusement.
Flashback: The world was supposed to be your oyster; the rest of your life was supposed to be a cakewalk, and all it would take was a patient wait for two years till your fat paycheck would be delivered on a platter.
Pre induction shattered these illusions and robbed one of any kind of complacency. Initially the intensity of indignation was matched only by the overpowering urge to close your eyes and the equally challenging task of trying to pry them apart. The transition from pre induction to induction was smooth: with presentations, write ups, group discussions and debates following up the regular assignments and the topics growing more cryptic with each passing day. People waited with growing dread as if waiting for the hangman to come, begging, hoping, and praying furiously for the dreaded 2 o clock deadline to pass. And inevitably you would be bombarded with a slew of half a dozen write ups and ppts at 01:59:59 sharp. And if you were unlucky you would be picked up for some special assignment by what I hope was a random roll number picker (or probably some senior fond of Russian roulette).
But after almost a fortnight of induction, it hit us that we didn’t gape half as wide as we used to when there was say financial jargon hurled mercilessly at us. We realized hedging wasn’t about gardening anymore, and dogs, cows, stars and question marks were not random objects thrown together as a joke in the marketing test. We didn’t look flabbergasted every time there were questions being shot after the ppt; we realized we had made the grade; of being positively brazen to field questions we had no clue about! It wasn’t always smooth sailing: there were minor differences of opinions here and there: the tone and the reason varying from the Righteous to the Reasonable and sometimes bordering on the plain Ridiculous. Yet the activities like the Outbound and finally the fresher’s party did a lot to break the ice between the two batches. The class also gelled together, helped a great deal by the Treasure hunt, e cell activities and such like. When you confront a stranger in the street to ask if your buddy can paint her nails for ten bucks or challenge him to arm wrestle with your friend, chances are it will forge a kind of bond (though it might be one with embarrassment as its common factor! )
The induction was officially over after a long day of ‘fake’ photo shoot in the midday sun with a ‘fake’ photographer (who probably was deprived of the pleasure of playing Chinese checkers as a kid and thought it’d be more fun playing it on 50 people dressed to the hilt in suffocating business formals!) who to his credit did an awesome job of fraying already frayed tempers. It all ended with buckets full of water being poured down on the hapless juniors as they posed for the nth picture of the day. For a moment everyone was aghast and wondered if it actually was what they thought it was, and the water poured down like Relief.
The fortnight had its high points and plunges: the indignation; the misunderstandings, let downs, on either side was something that might have a left a bad taste in the mouth but there were those little magical moments that redeemed the whole process. All said and done the tremendous effort of the seniors might not have been articulately appreciated yet we sincerely hope you guys did notice the decreased extent of our gaping mouths as the induction progressed (slight though it may be, it was a tangible at least)

KNOWLEDGE SESSIONS: NOTHING MORE?

One of the most important aspect of the induction programe was the knowledge session conducted by the various societies. The days started and the nights ended meeting the deadlines .
Ranging from the finesse society which discussed topics ranging from basics of microcredit, IPOs, vat, hedging, futures, options, swaps etc. to the persona society hitting all abstract topics, the journey was indeed long and tiring !! The students made presentations on books such as the liars poker, “The Mc Kinsey way”, “fortune at the bottom of the pyramid “and “the fountainhead”. Some even got abstract topics such as only the paranoid survive, managing existentialism and empty spaces make little sense.The other interesting topics included “the art of peace” and “The road ahead after Bill Gates”.
Written assignments not only aimed to help the students learn about the important issues,such as the sarbanes – oxley act, the bric report, or on core concepts such as marketing myopia, but they also served to help improve their writing skills.

Adding feather to the cap was the session on “the art of making presentations”, given by an alumnus, Maneesh Pherwani. Apart from the direct knowledge building sessions , the induction aimed at development of individuality and team working skills of the person. It aimed at considerable improvement in soft skills of the entire batch and the aim has well been achieved. Numerous presentations that the students were required to make during the induction, be it a presentation on themselves, or on a conceptual topic, helped them to learn the art of making presentations. At the same time it helped them to get accustomed to and be comfortable with making presentations. The feedback given to each, by the seniors,on their presentation skills was invaluable. To summarise, the knowledge sessions however they may be cursed were really informative. Words will fall short to appreciate the tireless zeal with which the seniors went about conducting it.
FMS gives enough reasons to party !!!

PS: Couldn't have thought of a better paradox than the topic :)

The Moolah makers

The Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), University of Delhi, South Campus organized a business contest on Ms. Kalpana Sinha. The event was organized by the Entrepreneurship Cell, popularly known as E-Cell at FMS. The guest of honor was Ms. Kalpana Sinha, a prominent member of National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) . She introduced NEN to the students of FMS. The whole gamut of information ranging from its conception to the initiatives was discussed in brief. Ms Sinha also urged the students to develop the skills required to excel in the field of entrepreneurship. She also enlightened the students about a paradigm shift the industry has been witnessing in terms of the characteristics the organizations look for in a potential manager. Over the years, traditional management has given way to the new management persona that organizations yearn for and that includes the ability to take risks as an entrepreneur. She encouraged students to adapt to this change which is possible if the students dare to take measured risks in context of setting up their business ventures in the time to come.

After the introduction to NEN and entrepreneurship Ms Sinha took her seat and the dais was overtaken by the members of E-Cell who introduced the business game to the students. The rules of the game were discussed and the students were then divided into teams and each team was allotted a supervisor who would look into the way they conducted trade with other parties. The teams were supposed to trade with other teams using the paper money they were provided with before the start of the game. The teams were divided into two countries and a virtual boundary was assigned between the two groups. The members of the E-Cell were playing the role of the government who were in charge of placing regulations on the way the parties conducted their businesses. E.g., placing import duties on intra-nation and inter-nation trade, taxation policies, etc. Once these restrictions came into action, the whole scenario changed in terms of the way the students did trading amongst themselves. To put it in simple words, it was a simulation of the business milieu that one could expect as an entrepreneur once he/she sets up a new business venture. To add to it, there were heavy monetary penalties levied on the trading members in case they did not adhere to the policies of the government.

The theme of the business was based on a jigsaw puzzle that needed to be completed at the end of the game. Each of the teams was given a set of puzzle pieces and they had to trade between themselves the pieces that they thought would help them complete the puzzle. Once the game started, all the team members rushed around looking for pieces that resembled their pieces the most. The whole game had come alive as people wandered from one nation to other nation across boundaries doing a health check on their business.

The students got a real-life simulation of how business happens and what all obstacles one has to face. The organizers had prizes for teams that were able to make the most of the moolah at the end of the contest. There was another prize for the team that was able to complete the jigsaw puzzle the most amongst the groups. There were few teams that stood out in terms of the way they made strategies. For instance, there was a group that was quick to realize that they had the most disparate pieces under the sun and that is what prompted them to rather shoot up the prices of their pieces in order to make the most money. Inevitably, in the end that team was able to make up the maximum amount of money. It was their out-of-box thinking that led to their success. They were quick to realize that opportunity that lied ahead of them and they made the most of it. Likewise, there was enough learning for the students in terms of how business world works.

It was an enlightening session for the new batch of MBA-Management of Services students that provided them exploring new vistas and broaden their horizon in terms of the vast learning that beckoned. To put in two words, it wouldn't be wrong to say that it was an eye opener for the budding managers that would lead the businesses in the time to come.

Ramblings galore!!!

It’s the small things that are nigh,

When you are about to fly high.

Those pats on the back,

The unfriendly warnings from the friendly faces.

The hardships, the toil,

The rigour that depletes the midnight oil.

That elusive hunger for smiles.

Cramped for time, treading on the edge of deadlines.

And always ending up on the wrong side, of that which is sublime.

Is this a prison?

No its not!

‘Cause you are the fuel, which ignites this melting pot!

Ready for the zing, to do the “in” thing!

Welcome to the F-Life, that starts with this ping!