The MBA Song?

This is a ghazal I am particularly fond of, but today i just so struck me, it says quite a lot about the MBA life right now and after...

See if you find a link too...

Safar mein dhoop to hogi, jo chal sako to chalo

Sabhi hain bheed mein tum bhi nikal sako to chalo

Kisi ke waaste raahein kahan badalti hai,

tum apne aap ko khud hi badal sako to chalo

Yahan kisi ko koi raasta nahin deta,

mujhe gira ke agar tum sambhal sako to chalo,

Yahi hai zindagi, kuch khwaab, chand ummeedein,

Inhi khilonon se tum bhee bahal sako to chalo

I've been working hard

Sachchi!

Sleight of Mind 2005

Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (Deemed University) celebrates 25 years of phenomenal growth and exceptional contributions to the industry in a variety of disciplines. One of the premier B-Schools of the nation, NMIMS is known for nurturing young minds into thought leaders of tomorrow. NMIMS has played a significant role in conjunction with the industry to develop innovative solutions for management problems & socio-cultural issues for over two decades. This high degree of industry interface is a catalyst for putting management theory into practice.

Keeping this thought in mind, the institute enters its Silver Jubilee year with its Corporate Event -'Sleight of Mind’ - an annual Biz Simulation games’ event. Since its inception, Sleight of Mind has proven to be a platform for the students to interact with young executives who not-so-long-ago were management students. For the participants the management games are an arena for testing their managerial dexterity & perspicacity in simulated and unconventional business environments for the much-coveted title of intellectual supremacy.

In 2004, Sleight of Mind found participation from the likes of TCS, PCS and CA, and was judged by representatives of Infosys. In 2005, Sleight of Mind returns with an array of games - “Management Ladders” and Champion“Ship”.

Set on a snakes and ladders board - Management Ladders is a real time business simulation game involving strategic decision making, teamwork and innovative answers to atypical management challenges. The second game Champion-ship takes you to a futuristic setting, where most natural resources have been exhausted and survival on earth is a daunting task. Executives are entrusted with the mission of building spaceships with as few materials as possible to transport people to another, safer celestial body.

Sleight of mind will be held on Saturday, the 3rd of September 2005 at the NMIMS campus. For participation contact: Shruti Sachdeva at 9322935566 or Nithya Balasubramanium at 9819395050 or email : nmims_sleightofmind@yahoo.com

yeh dekho ji!!

Of the many pics i clicked in Manali 3 months back, this is the one i like most. yeah its late, but there is nothing i could have done about it. Was away frm the net and a decent comp for all this time. I even have this one as the wallpaper on my comp AND my mobile. I SOOO want to go back to the hills!!!!!!!!!!!

Man in the Glass.....

Woke up late, very late. In the Afternoon that is. Rushed to college. Running after people and myself to get work done on the press releases. Watched Bunty aur Bubli for the first time coz it was being screened by SRF for Fund raising for street children's education. Good timepass, the movie....

Oh By the way, 4 guys placed with L 'Oreal for summers. One of them being dear friend Anish. Aur isi ke saath NM 1st years ne apne khaata khola ek chauke ke saath!!!!!!!!!

Excuse please...........

Anyway, Came accross this poem at a fellow blogger's page. Liked it. So here it is

When you get what you want in your struggle for self

And the world makes you king for a day

Just go to the mirror and look at yourself

And see what that man has to say.

For it isn't your Father or Mother or wife

Whose judgement upon you must pass.

The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life

Is the one staring back from the glass.

Some people may call you a straight shooting chum

And call you a wonderful guy,

but the man in the glass says you're only a bum

If you can't look him straight in the eye.

He's the fellow to please, never mind all the rest

For he's with you clear to the end,

And you have passed your most dangerous test

If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may face the whole world down the pathway of life

And get pats on the back when you pass,

But your final reward will be heartache and strife

If you've cheated the man in the glass.

- Dale Wimbrow, 1895-1954

Vandey.............

Mataram!!!! is what i wanted to shout out loud when the movie ended, but my throat had a huge lump. It usually is when i witness that artiste squeeze out every bit of emotion he has.
I dont know what makes TOI give it a 2 and a half rating, OK its not a Lagaan but it definitely deserves better than that. I think if you quit the commercial aspect and only look at it as a depiction, i think Ketan Mehta and Amir have done a brilliant job and the detailing is amazing too.
Another thing i noticed and wanted to talk about was, that every theatre i have been to in Mumbai, still plays the National Anthem before the beginning of every show. And this incidentally, doesnt happen in Cinema Halls in Delhi. Wonder if the Delhiites are any less patriotic. I for one, still get all the goosebumps when i sing the anthem as i used to when we sung it in the morning assembly at school some 5-6 years back.

Anyway, the show got over past 12 midnight at G7 and then we went to Fat Kong's on S.V. road to munch on some chinese grub. And the discussion on the movie and other things continued. We wondered why we had so less literature on Mangal Pandey in our CBSE History text books. May be it had something to do with the fact that he wasnt affiliated with either the RSS or the Congress. The discussion then veered to, whether his fight was only about the Fat-greased bullets or was it really about freedom from the Raj. The movie would definitely want us to believe that it started with the grease which was only the trigger for the suppressed masses to revolt. Anubhav suggested something like, that the raj wasnt all that bad and it did something FOR India too. I most definitely didnt agree. I think even the Brits hadnt been on this land for more than 200 years, we would have found our destiny.
There can be a zillion would have beens, but i love the one we have right now. Some one also suggested that Gandhi made the wrong choice by picking Nehru over Sardar Patel....for a variety of reasons...

Work on the biz Simulation Games Even - 'Sleight of Mind' is going on and i expect the press releases to come out sooner than later.
I will also be posting a testimonial over here. So keep tuning in.

Let the games begin

Ok. I am back in right earnest. I have a comp (a laptop, to be more precise) to call my own. Access to a high speed net connection. Speeds which i have been addicted to, ever since i got broadband at my home some 18 months back. It is such a relief, its been 2 months since i did anything vella on the net.
Life at NM is happenning. Especially when it has, by default, become a residential program for me, and for some 200 out of the 240 strong batch. Enter the library at any hour of the day and you will find some heads dug into the Robbins/Kotlers/Myers or some hands ferociously typing some project report or the other or most others doing nothing remotely academic but still enjoyin their time. The fact that the library is AC and hostel is not, makes it even more attractive to be the place we do our self study at.
And when we're not studying in the library, some are dozing in a gassy lectures and others are running around to make the events happen. There are at least 3 meetings of a zillion interest groups happenning in the quad every evening at 6.30. that is when all the scheduled classes end.

Of the many, i am a part of 3.
1. Not Just Marketing (NJM)
2. Social Responsibility Forum (SRF)
3. Nepathya ( i dont know what that means, but that is the extra-curricular activities cell)

The run up to the blood donation drive concluded on the 16th, when it actually happened.
I, for one, donated blood for the first time in my life. Funnily, it's one of the many things that make me feel as an independent adult now. I say many things now, because many have happened recently and thats coz i have gotten out of the secure confines of my home and finally living a life fending for myself.

The other cells, at least the ones i remember right now are, Finomenon (the finance cell), AdVerb (advertising), HRuday (HR cell), Info-hub (this is an amazing venture, where all sorts of Data regarding previous exec and summer placements is collated and analysed and inputs are given to candidates applying to companies which have a history at NM), the Entrepreneurship Cell (this is a new cell created by the 1st yr guys and i am not a part of it, so i dont know much),
Mantavya (another hard sanskrit word for a cell name, but it is the one which organises debates and quizzes).

O, i dint mention the PlaceCom and the Alumni Committee coz i took them for granted. I purposely dint apply for these coz i know what work these cells demand and i have a prior experience of the same at MIB, and it wasnt a really pleasant one, and also makes it difficult for me to manage acads and committee work.

Achha, we also had a tarot card reader the day we had the blood donation drive, as a novelty for the ppl who donated blood. I too queued up for predictions. Of course i aint talkin abt them over here. But according to her, life is gonna get happenning after november this year.
O yeah, what is it right now?

Today, the seniors breifed us about their summers in dream companies, right from the selection process to the execution of their projects. The companies we got to know abt....L 'Oreal, BNP Paribas, Carat Media, Pepsi, Greaves Cotton, Titan, Dr.Reddy's and may be a couple more which i dont remember. It was a good 2 hr long session and very informative too. And its important coz the 1st set of interviews happen in a week's time. The first one on the blocks is L'Oreal. The guy who worked there last year said, among the many good things about the company and its culture is, that 51% of the employess are women. But unfortunately i dint apply.
Anyway

Next up is Sleight Of Mind. This is an NJM initiative, of which i am a member. Sleight of mind is a biz simulation game event in which, we the students devise the games and then invite young corporate executives to play them. I hear, the event last year was a great success and all of the invitees went back loaded with prizes and a productive sunday. I am working on the Media and PR exercises for the event. So more stuff about it will be put up later on the page.

Meanwhile, my hostel wears a deserted look for this week coz most of the guys have left for home for Rakhi. And my rakhi's havent arrived, altho sisters say they have mailed em some 10 days back. Although everything seems to be improving in the hostel, but the number of guys falling sick keeps increasing. Jeet came back from his relative's place in Vashi, where he'd gone a couple of days back when he was feeling feverish. he came back to hostel only to pack his bags and go back home to Kolkata. Poor chap has been diagnosed with Malaria AND Typhoid. that aint nice. Another guy, Makhija has reported Lepto, ran up a bill of 10 grand at a hospital and today left for his home in Allahabad. One is trying hard to keep anything of this sort out of my room, though my roomie Ankur has a persisting fever for the past 3 days and it has now gotten us worried.

Today morning when i left the hostel i saw insect killers being installed, and a new fruit juice counter in the mess. The Wi-fi should be operational by the next week, that would make life so much easier. All research and googling would be possible from my comfy bed.



Most of which i write now has no structure, but that is coz i am blurting out all that has not been done up on the blog in the past 2 months.
But the next time you come, you wont be reading a month old post. Promise.
Keep coming.