The Return- "Lehman(y) Snickets"

It has been a long time since I have written something here.. A lot has happened since then...
(Well..at least for Lehman (Bang)Bros and Merrill Lynched!!.. )

A lot of ink and time has gone in writing about and reading how the global scenarios have affected us at IIMA..and rightly so - an entire business function - Investment Banking is on the verge of obliteration!!..and companies in that field are huge recruiters of talent at WIMWI..
but it's all cool... this place wouldnt be what this place is, if a few companies going bust would affect it colossally...

What bugs me these days is this - I met a couple of students from other B schools.. A common friend introduced us.. He said - "Oh. meet these guys- They are IIM A " ( Mind it- not "these guys are from IIM A" but " these guys ARE IIM A" ) ..
and suddenly- the room is filled with EXPECTATIONS!!..it was as if I am expected to just open my mouth and suddenly all would be right with the world!!...

Wherever we go.. our brand precedes us ..we arrive - we are greeted with superhuman expectations... and you ought to see the disappointment on their faces when they discover that we are really normal human beings- replete with Foot-in-the-mouth tendencies AND a normal Sense of Humour..
(some of them were suprised that we could appreciate a good joke too!!) ..

The piss off is that we cant compete with superhuman expectations.. if we try - we get stuff like " What !!.. you guys ARE IIMA ..this fourier analysis on quantum generated business reports should be like a cakewalk for you!!" ... (yeah.. maybe we should even start running the RBI and the Fed !!)

And if we dont bother, we are labelled as arrogant suckers... Fantastic, na ?

Had gone to a local radio station... it was interesting to see how even a small radio station that caters to just a few lakhs takes its branding so seriously.. had an intense session on Branding, Consumer preferences and a lot of other stuff which I should have taken notes on... (not my fault- the RJ was hot !! )

Today- it was a special day - every class has its SLEEPER's Club- it is an honour to be a member of this club- Members often take on tremendous risks and sleep off in the class..
Apart from risk taking, members need to be quick thinkers- We are often woken rudely out of our beautiful slumber and asked questions -difficult specific questions pertaining to the case we are studying at that point...
and mind you, the guy was asleep at that point.. so the chances that he had not even heard the question are pretty high...
This where the member's skill kicks in.. sample this -

Case 1
Prof: " A***, so do you think that Nirmal Rayons should double its capacity ? "
A*** (startled outta his brains) : " Uh... Sir.. this is ...uh ... IT DEPENDS !!!"
Prof : Good..Morning!!..join consultancy!!

Case 2
Prof : "R***, what is your opinion about the current situation of Smokey Valley ? "
R*** (Kicked into consciousness by his concerned neighbour) : " I...I ..think...uh..
Prof : "Hurry..I havent got whole day"
R*** : "Sir, I believe that Smokey Valley is in bad shape"
Prof: "Why? "
R*** : "Otherwise, we wouldnt be discussing this case!!"

The difference between a Sleeper Cell Member and a normal student at WIMWI is this-
Sleeper Cell Members are just a bit more smarter and often luckier if they are not caught!!...
Our President of the Sleeper Cell got caught THRICE in THREE lectures.. a first in the history of either WIMWI or Sleeper Cell!!!

..going over to his dorm for an emergency meeting !!.. We are selecting a new President!!

Vastrapur Main Vastra haran!!!- its that kind of a year

It's 1.19 am on the clock in the classroom… The last four days have been a whirlwind of activities... There are a few of us here, who haven’t gone to their rooms for over two days… a few of us have not had a morsel of food in the last 48 hours…. And right now after our last performance, I see my batchmates have to clean the classroom… (We will be penalized otherwise... hehe)…Yet, strangely, it doesn’t feel that bad…You need to see the look on some of their faces – there is a strange joy… I think – we are all a bit neurotic to devote our sleep, our food, our thoughts, and more importantly our holidays (Trust me – at IIMA, holidays are a luxury)… for what? … For some concept that was totally alien to us 4 days ago...- I present to you – T-Nites… and more importantly- T-Nites and Section B….. It is a love story – a love story that apparently has taken 20 years... B’s Saal Baad…

So what the hell is T-nites? … T-nites are basically a show put on by the first yearites... for the second yearites- Four days spread over intense competition, bizarre themes, crazy section names… and lot of fun…

This is what happens – We have four sections – A, B, C, D and there is the PGPX..section X… so we have 5 sections competeting for one coveted prize – The Talent Nite Trophy.. At WIMWI, everyone is good at writing exams, mugging stuff, doing everything acad oriented- but the thing at this place – highest respect is reserved for those who excel outside the classroom- for those who believe that life has something more to offer than just CG and marksI am section B... we named our section Bichoos... the others were - Absoluts, C'kanders, Danga Bol and Xtrados- for A,C,D and X sections..

The four days were really fun.. people say that section B ke bacche are 'give-up'... that is we dont even put in a fight..
I remember our senior telling us that
" Main yeh toh nahi bol sakta , ki jeetna kaisa lagta hai...
Lekin main yeh bol sakta hu , ki haarna kaisa lagta hai.."

And from that point onwards, it was like a few of us decided, that here was a chance to create history...it wasn't that the most talented class would win .. but it was more like - the most "enthu" wala class will win...

The four days were hectic.. I had to go to mumbai in between for the documents and certificates...
The day i came back - I found that we had done miserably- we started well on the first day.. then on the second day, I left ..and on the third day when i returned - i found we were last on day 2... and lot of us had started given up hope.. I think I perform really well when everyone around me is tense/depressed... so I was all super Enthu.. started motivating the people around me... was positive in terms of my body language.. was ok...you learn to find out who can work ..and those who can but won't..

End of day 3 - we were back in the game !! not that people around here would admit it ..but deep down i know that i was at least responsible for some of the winnings.. The next two days were high -profile and required a lot of class participation - there was a special CLASS ACT - wherein the points given to a class depended on the number of the students turning up in the class act.. it was fun..

Then there was a One act play - wherein we put up a play of the pandavas losing the game to kauravas... it was fun ...
there were some classic lines which were like
"Vastrapur main Vastra haran !!!"

Then.. Lord krishna comes to save Draupadi from the the saree unwrapping and finds draupadi is crying .. so Krishna asks
"Arre!! Main toh theek time pe aaya - 12 baje bola tha .. na !! "
and Draupadi says
"Kya Krishna- idhar 12 pm ki koi value nahi .. deadline toh 11.59.59 ki thi!!!"

the whole crowd went mad!!!

It went like for the last day... on the last day.. we had just exceeded everyone's expectations... tucchas would go like - "This is section B..? "

We are lucky that in our section ...we have had great characters - people who actually dont take themselves seriously.. and when it comes to the final analysis - the Juice was Worth the Squeeze..
....
P.S : It was B's saal ... and the day we won - India won its gold at Olympics.. i guess it's that kind of a year...

Naach Meri Jaan... NAMED !!!

For an institution, that been around for half a century, there are bound to be certain traditions...and certain rituals...
Ladies and Gentlemen... Welcome to the Dorm Name Culture...
the dorm name culture has been around for more than 4 decades.. Rest assured, that Harsha Bhogale, KV Kamath and so many others-all have been through this ritual...
Every single IIMA student is given a dorm name by his dorm mates.. This is a way of interacting with the seniors... and bonding with them.. simply because - from this day forth, till your last dying breath, you will have this dorm name with you... It is part and parcel of being a WIMWIan... so accept it...

So, how does one go about getting a dorm name... There are 24 dorms on campus.. all of which have evolved their own dorm culture and dorm naming ceremonies.. Some dorms have a tradition where all the fachas put up a skit ... some dorms ask the the fachas to submit a 2 page report filled with original content.. The more saucy , the better... and some dorms have story telling sessions... So it is a mixed bag...

The trick is to get a decent dorm name... something your mom will not blush while addressing you with... I mean, no self-respecting girl would like to call her boyfriend as 'Dildo' or 'Brasak'...
But Alas... the sadists Tuchas that they are... they will not let us live in peace...
Anyways... I had very high hopes of getting a decent name... ok!! I was not looking at being called "Jock", "Guru", "Nawab" ... ( would have been nice though)....
Anything that would not raise eyebrows ....
With such noble intentions , I went to the dorm meets... Through a series of interactions at these dorm meetings.. the name is concocted....

After cleansing myself of all my past sins, and taking a vow of allegiance to my dorm... I was given the proud name of "Mujra"....
(10 millions words in the universe... and I end up being called a brothel!!!... There goes my sex appeal...).. I can already see my future next year- An imaginary conversation with a hot fachi..
She says :"Hi.. I am a super hot girl in PGP1... "
I say : "Hi.. I am Mujra !!!" ....
(sigh......)

Quizzzzzed...

At IIMA, quizzes are an integral part of life... Every subject has quizzes... Well, you may think-" blah!!..what's the big deal ? " ... I personally feel the same way about it..
So, this is what happens.. Quizzes are never announced before hand. There are surprise quizzes..Right outside the mess, there is a notice board...
At precisely, 13.30, some kind soul will come to the notice board and put up the following
"All PGP1 - Please note -there shall be a Maths/MANAC/any subject quiz scheduled today at 2.30 pm in the respective classrooms. Students are requested to be seated in their seats by 2.25 pm" ...

So, you will often find all fachas enter the mess with a feeling of anticipation, dread and hope...
The Tuchas, on the other hand, also enter with similar feelings - except the dread part..
They WANT the fachas to have quizzes... Of course, we fachas, can do quite well without them..

What follows in the mess , is quite an interesting sight.. once the quiz is declared ... the Tuchas do a little jig...and start screaming "Muggo Facho !! Muggo !!" ...
The fachas started banging their steel glasses and plates to drown out the chants...
This is the place where one can see synchronised cacophony in motion...

The quizzes suffer from a CAT hungover...lots of questions, very little time to solve and negative marking and relative grading.. what a perfect recipe for disaster..!!
Last year, there were a few quizzes, where not attempting a single question would have gotten one a C grade...!!! Thanks to the negative marking and relative grading..many students ended with a negative mark... thus, the guy who didnt know anything was better off !!!... That's life ...

Eventually.. the quizzes start ruling our lives... I am ending this part with two quotes ..
" It is not the quiz which kills you.... It is the FEAR of the quiz that gets you... " -OralB (2008)
"Eventually, it is not a question of IF you will give up or not... but a question of WHEN you will give up ... " -Jhappi (2008)

A Crazy W(h)ac-ked day

Let me introduce you to Written Analysis of Case.. lovingly called WAC... no IIM A's life is complete without this wonderful experience...
This is what happens in brief- we are given a case. The student has to study the case thoroughly.
and then prepare a written solution to it. This usually comprises 4-5 pages and is expected to be a professional report complete with Situation Analysis, Options , How to evaluate those Options , Final Recommendation , Contingency plans, references... the works...

What follows is the chronology of the last 24 hours before a WAC submission :-
1320 : Class gets over. PGP1 runs to rooms/mess.
1330 : Maths Quiz announced.(This is an unprecedented event - a quiz in the FIRST week and that too - a WAC week !!) . Quiz will start at 14.30 hrs
15.30 : PGP1 come back to rooms... what a fantastic way to begin.
16.00 : I start my report writing..
The next 10 hrs goes in writing, surfing the net for inputs, dinner, ATP (associated time pass).
02.30 : I show my final draft to a couple of PGP2 seniors for their input. One started abusing me for writing a newspaper report !! and the other couldn't give much input cos he was too busy laughing his guts out as he read my report...(sigh!! ..and I had hoped for a nice 6 hr sleep)
So, after completing degrading my writing skills, my analytical skills, my formatting skills, (intermittently, they were kind enough to focus away from the report and started abusing me) and in general- all my skills, I sat down again to re-write my WAC report.

On my way back to my room, I bumped into a familiar face- my batch mate.. He kinda looked smug. This is never a good sign.. A facha has this kind of look only in cases- a) He has finished all the home works/assignments and maybe even front logged. b) He is so badly screwed, he is beyond the stage of despair... and is close to lunacy.
In Either case, one must be cautious when one sees a Facha smiling for too long... (It is absolutely acceptable when u have crossed over to become a Tucha )

So, I asked him - "What happened ?"
He showed me the most hideous sight ever to anybody re-writing a WAC report, 8 hours before submission. He showed me his completed WAC report- all neatly typed and stapled. For some reason, I felt sick and repulsed by his show of exhuberance.

So, without saying a word, and silently cursing him and all his future generations, I came to my room and sat down to restart my WAC.

Submission is scheduled at 12.30-1300 hrs.... It was 0314 in my watch.

After working for 6 hours on the trot, I managed to get done. Come hell, or high water or heaven, I am not editing a word any more!!!
It was then, that I discovered a few principles of report-writing
a) Errors will only become visible in a report after you have wasted 4 pages printing it.
b) A new error will be become apparent after your 2nd reprint.
c) The more you read your report, the more you will be tempted to edit/refine/polish it.
d) And lastly, for every 1 hour of writing, you will spend 10 minutes to run around searching for staplers without pins in them, pens that will empty out, replacing printer cartridges. The number of such idiotic things is directly proportional to how important that report is.

12:43 : I submitted my WAC...

There is a tradition at WIMWI- its called the WAC run . Students are often seen running with their WAC reports at 12.58.. rushing to submit before 12.59.59. Our ever-helpful Tuchas will often gather around putting road blocks in the way. Sometimes, they lock up poor unsuspecting fachas in their rooms and open the room only at 12.56 to see him dash out of the room to submit the report.... They say- You have not done justice to the WAC report if u have not run the WAC run.... I have no intentions of finding out.. Given my prior track records with deadlines, I will need a WAC miracle !!!

1300 - crash at my room.. doze off till 8 pm
12 in the night - RAMP party- to celebrate our first week at this place... and our first WAC...

It's a crazy life.. I tell you...

Class Participation

I saw her... she was pretty... Suddenly, this place was not that bad..
The PGP office allots every student a particular seat in the classroom. The seat will have your name on it even before you attend your first class. This is the seat/place that you will adhere to for the rest of the year... Basically, you can't sit as you wish , or where you wish... You are confined to your seat for the next 10 months...
If you ask me why, for most hours of the day, I will say - cos it helps the Teaching/Academic Associates to assign grades.... However, for a few hours everyday, I believe that all this is an evil trick to prove that at IIMs, we do things so differently, that it becomes a different things altogether!!!... In my case...a bloody joke !!!

Anyways.. she was pretty..and she was going to sit next to me... Suddenly, I thought there was hope after all in this world ..
On the first day, we didn't talk much.. in fact we didn't talk at all...
Second day, I tried to overcome my emotions.. but nope.. still no talk...
Third day.. I really tried my best to talk to her ...I mean, I really focused on my controlling my emotions... but all in vain...
On the fourth day... I gave up...
You know why ? ... Cos the Girl just wouldn't stop talking in class!!!...
Welcome to the world of Class Participation... CP as it is fondly called..
CP is a concept that once upon a time, formed the cornerstone of Case Based study approach..
Today, it is basically the 10 % weightage that is given to students while evaluating a students performance...Do note, not all subjects give weightage to CP... Only a few subjects where the prof is a someone you don't want to mess with... or the when the subject is something you don't want to bother with .... often its both...
So, back to our heroine... This otherwise specimen, would just not understand that CP was limited to 10 % at the max!!.. and not all subjects needed a CP!!!... But noooo...she would just not stop... She would "like to add on the point made", or she would like to bring "another perspective that might have been overlooked" or she "believes that the class could concentrate another aspect of the case". She is consistent in the superfluous content of her CP, she is dedicated to the concept of CP all kinds - so you will have senseless,arbitrary, eccentric, global - all types of CPs coming out of her mouth and lastly - she is loyal to all subjects..So,even if the subject does not have CP marks, she will still be ready with her CP....
and I think " OH... MY.... LORD !!.... Heeeellllppppppp"


Now, most of you who know me- also know two facts about me
a) I usually finish my backlog of sleep IN CLASS...
b) I really like and I really mean it - I like talking to people...
Ever since, my existence has been the host to this unique organism...
a) I CANNOT SLEEP... cos the Prof is always looking here...
b) I CANNOT TALK to her or anybody for that matter....

90 places in the whole class.. and I get one of the two seats Bang next to her !!!... what are the odds??

This is my first painful lesson in Positioning... For no fault of mine, I will have to suffer the pains of someone else' sins.... Why is it a sin ? .. Well, participating in the class with a comment or two is one thing... but competing with the Prof for getting in more words - well, that plain criminal!!!...

The optimistic lining of positioning is I getting stuck in a lift with Warren Buffet for 45 minutes...
The other extreme is I getting stuck in same lift for 15 minutes with the girl I have just written about...

In the end, I believe that CP is the most effective weapon to destroy all people sitting besides you . As you stand there beaming that toothy smile of yours and others around you die. They die becuase of the exasperation since you started a discussion on elasticities of information 24 seconds before class is supposed to end !!!!....

Death to all CP makers...

First Day...

Today was the first lecture at this Well-Known Institute of Management in Western India (WIMWI)… We were introduced to the case-study methodology of studying management.
The thing here is that students are given a case to read and are also given all the relevant theory needed to solve the case as deemed fit to the best of the student’s ability. The next day, you will have around 50-70 bright kids who would have prepared for the case. In Enters the Instructors/Profs who would have more knowledge about the case than all 70 kids put together.

It is not unlikely that very often the case we are studying is going to be discussed by the same Prof. who was the consultant to the company at that time…

The discussions are often intensive and the value-addition is entirely dependant on how much effort one has put in the case.. The Prof. will not give answers. He will make you think…and if you want to add something to the discussion, you have to be well-prepared…
Sample this –

Student: “ Sir, I believe that this biscuit-making company is making a loss because it is
not a house-hold name.”
Prof: “Ok..So ..if it was a house hold name, everyone will buy this biscuits…?”
Student: “Yes Sir…”
Prof: “Hmm… So according to you, since the Al-Qaeda is also a Household name, you
will also have thousands of people flocking to Al-Qaeda for recruitment!!!”

Life in Binary

There is a system at Wimwi... it is a simple system...It functions in binary code..

If Submissions have to be made before 1.30 pm, it means exactly that...
1.30 and 01 seconds is not acceptable..

If classes begin at 8.45 am , you are welcome till 8.44 and 59 seconds...
Beyond this, you are pushing your luck..

You are either in time ...or you are late..
YOu are either in ..or you are not..
You have either passed... or you have failed..

In exams, your answers are either 100% correct.. or 100% wrong...

Nothing is considered grey...

You are either good...or you dont count...


This is the concept at IIM A... This is the system...

Sure, the system is not perfect.. But it works..and it works bloody well..
There is Zero-tolerance for being late... for being inefficient....or for your excuses...

I am getting increasingly worried about my well-being... You see, I thrive on excuses...add in my tendency to procrastinate, throw in my absolute disdain for punctuality and I am on a roll !!!...

So far, 2 alarms clocks, 3 friends from Mumbai with cell phones and one dorm-mate are intricately involved in ensuring that I wake up just in time to attend my classes...

Gawd!!! I am not liking it one bit...

Anyways, this is just the perfect recipe for my Misadventures... dont worry.. I will keep you guys posted...

..And dont worry...
At WIMWI, Everyone of us will count...!!!

Excel-lent

I am sitting in the computer centre right now...

It is 10.50 pm right now...

Under normal circumstances, I would have been sitting here for the love of Orkut, Youtube and associated time-pass browsing activities..

But noooooooooooo....
We are fachas in IIM A...
Trivial things like time pass is not for us mortals...

Me and the other 14 people sitting here are breaking our head on writing Excel programs that fall in that irritating realm of problems that just almost elude us...
Its like - sit here , look at the screen, look at the problem statement, look at the screen again, make faces at the screen, look around you and repeat the entire cycle...
It is like almost waiting for the solution to hit you... It been like that for the last 3 hrs !!!...

Everyday we have Computer classes at 11am to 1.30 pm and then 4.30 pm to 6.45 pm ... This is when we find out how much can we push our luck with Excel sheets... By the way, the timings are the official timings - that is when we have profs in class.. for the other 9-10 hrs , we try figuring out what the Profs were saying !!!...

Like all other things.. the prep class has its share of over-zealous characters who were earlier making a living out of writing these very programs at TCS,infy etc... Nothing wrong with them ..it is just the way, they will gloat over their Excel sheets... like some mama goose looking proudly at her gooslings..

These guys will complete the problem in 15-20 mins.. (This is the average time for normal people to UNDERSTAND what is happening in the problem...!!) Then, Mama Geese will flaunt their excel sheets - all replete with neat colour fonts graphs, and other 99 formatting tricks...

The conversations will go something like this
Me (Average Joe) : "This is one of those problems where we will first try to find the salaries of the employees and match them with their bonus incentives. Then somehow, get the highest paid employee and display his name..."

Enter HOT SHOT COMPUTER ENGINEER FROM HOT SHOT INSTITUTE AND WORKING AT HOT SHOT COMPANY USED TO WRITING HOT SHOT PROGRAMS
Hot Shot : "Duuuudddeee... You dotn have to bother with all that trouble. Just put a VLOOK on columns, using the INDEX and MATCH , get the columns and rows . Name your RANGES, and Put in a DSUM on the whole array with MAX condition on Salary Range and Display it... "

This is where Hot shot sees 7 people .. 4 with blank faces , 1 looking at the ceiling, and the other two looking bewildered beyond belief..as if they were just electrocuted or struck by lighting ...

It is kinda comical when such scenes unfold.. One guy will have all the gyan... and will try to explain to seven other people.. Usually two things happen
a) The enlighthened One while explaining the fundas , will lose his way...and lose his halo and become mortal again..
b) Seven ppl will think that they have understood the fundas, will solve the problem... next day, the prof. will ask 3 fundamental basic questions and we will end up back to SQUARE ONE...

I have to go now...
EXCEL-Lence awaits... and I want to play frisbee too... Waiting for others to come back from the movie...

The Prep Days..

I woke up at 8 am today..

Had a lavish breakfast - Cornflakes, Lime Juice, Bananas, Omelette, Aaloo Parathas ..

Turned up for Maths class..

After a disturbing insight of things-to-come like Probability distributions Curves, 4 hours , one coffee break and 15 pages of written notes later, We were free ...

Headed straight to the nearest mall.. turns out Levi is having a sale of buy one-get one free!!..
So splurged as usual

Ahmedabad has decent malls.. there is no single international/national brand that is not represented here.. from Ruf-n-Tuf jeans to Exclusive BOSE boutiques... they have everything here...

Returned at 6 ... had a yummy double cheese chicken sandwich...
Then went to play Football... had fun...

The Footers here have this ritual here :- The team which allows the first goal to be scored, have to remove their shirts.. so it is a common sight to find fat, overweight guys running around bare chested, puffing , panting, yelling like small kids..

Post dinner.. we head to Dorm 9.. we play carom, table tennis or pool...depending on what is available... it is around 9.45 pm and we are just warming up...

Then comes the event of the day - FRISBEE..

A simple disk , 14-15 over-enthusiastic fachas , and a well-lit empty LK plaza... and we are ready for a game thats been played on this campus for generations... Frisbee..

The game is pretty similar to basket ball..
You have two sides of 7 players a side...
No player can run with the Frisbee in his/her hand,
No player can possess the Frisbee for more than 5 seconds
The objective is to pass the Frisbee and score.
If a player drops the Frisbee, the other team gets possession ..

Thats all...
The amount of fun , the commitment of all the players, the masti, the spirit.... Its unbelievable...
You will have fat lazy sloths diving around, you will find players arguing about the millimeters by which a goal was scored/missed... we played from 10 pm to 2 am, stopping only because the cramps were killing us...it was fun... real fun
and the best part of it all was the camaraderie... genuine bonding ...

And in the final analysis... I guess... most of us preppies, wont remember much about Poisson Distributions or Little's Law.... But the one thing that we will remember is the spirit of the 35 odd students who were lucky to be called a preppie... uh, sorry.. make that an IIMA Preppie...


P.S : Later, we saw the new Indiana Jones DVD...hehe!! yeah baby!!!

The Basic Principle of Fuchadom

"Right now, you are like towels in a bucket filled with water...
Soon you will be squeezed ...and twisted...and stretched...and then the whole cycle will be repeated till you think you are at your limits....
And then..
you will be stretched once again ...and then once more..
But this time, you will prove that you are capable of working far beyond your perceived self-limits...
And that will be greatest learning you will take away from IIM-Ahmedabad..."
                                 
       - Sidd (Yum Yum) - IIM A passout... currently one of the most prolific  entrepreneurs in India...

People... and Interview Questions

This is a typical setting one will find at IIM A..
You will find four people outside Cafe Tanstafl (CT)...

One of them is a Professional Wine Taster from Mumbai
Second guy is a serial entrepreneur from Delhi who has opened and closed 3 companies including a dotcom in the past 9 years
Third guy is a professional Event Coordinator from Dubai
And fourth one is a Agriculturalist from Kerala..

And people say that IIMs are filled with Engineers... ( Yeah Right!!..and Cows will fly)

Trust me, the last thing you will be asked is what have you studied.. No body is interested in where you are coming from .. They do rather know where you are going!!!... 

So far I have come across a Doctor, a Sailor who travelled around the world and then gave it up to start a Apple Farmyard, a guy who made helicopters at Hindustan Aeronatics Limited , an editor from PricewaterhouseCoopers and lots of interesting personalities..

The Tuchas are yet to come back from their Summer internships. The remaning 200 Fachas will join ard the 20th June.. So I am expecting to bump into a lot many interesting characters... 

One of the batchies was narrating his interview experience - 
"Suppose there are 5 parachute jumpers in a plane. At an altitude of 14000 ft, they all think of jumping out of the plane. However, one of them changes his mind. How many jumpers were there in the plane at 14000 ft.. ? 

"Sir, There will be five jumpers still in the plane... There is a difference between thinking of jumping,  and actually jumping...!!" 

I was impressed.. I had gotten it wrong... So thought of asking the same question to other batchmates.. I asked 14 guys and 2 girls...
16 of them got it right...

Damn!!!

So far So Food...

 Its been a week now at IIM A...

More than anything , it has been the food that has been impressive..
Sample this ..(no pun intended)
Ras malai on Monday
Hot n Sour Soup - Tuesday
Chocolate Pastries- Wed
Srikhand - Thur
Vanila Ice Cream and Gulab Jamun- Friday
Vadilal's fruit Paradise Ice Cream - Saturday
Sweet Corn Soup - Sunday

And this was only the dinner that I was talking about...

The Breakfast is another thing that impressed me - Everyday there is a special dish prepared in addition to the Lime Juice, Cornflakes and Bananas that are kept ...

All this happens in the Student's Mess... Right outside the Mess, is popular student hangout...
Cafe "There Ain't No Such Thing As Free Lunch"  popularly condensed to Cafe TANSTAFL
 
 At no point in the day, would you find this place empty... For most people, this is not just a cafe.. it is a live saving device... The Student Mess closes at 9 pm ... and trust me, you will be awake for a lot longer after that... and the only place for food at 3.46 in the middle of the night is Cafe TANSTAFL.... so you are better advised to respect this place...

I continue meeting different people... Today evening, all of us were sitting on the LKP ( This is the Luis Kahn Plaza- named after the Architect-Genuis who designed the IIM A campus..)

Met a batchmate limping..
"What happened?" I asked

"Bloody Football!!.. "..(note- This guy is a 5ft 10 inch guy, about 90 kilos, the chubby jovial kinds..)

"What about it?"

"Learnt a few lessons today-
a) Over enthusiasm for the game after a gap of 3 years is not a good thing..
b) Respect Gravity
c) Respect your Body and most importantly, your body's limitations.. And lastly
d) Trying a never attempted cycle kick without considering prior experience, gravity, and Body Mass is the most Stupid thing one can do on the Football field!!!! "

With this, he limped off, clutching his back while we all laughed our lungs out...

I hope I keep meeting such specimens... Its the people at IIM A , that makes this place IIM-A..






 

Architecture, Weather and Water...

There are MBAs, and then there are IIMs and ..then there is IIM-A.

In the next few months, my life will change... along with me, there would around 250 others who too will share this experience.... We are PGP1.. the batch of IIM Ahmedabad 2010...

This is my story as it unfolds... The WIMWI reports...

I shall take try to make sense of the chaos that is ever prevalent here...

This year onwards , the syllabus is different... More on that -later..

Lets get this started..


The first thing that stikes one about IIM-A is the Architecture... (actually, it is the ridiculous heat and the humidity..but that kinda hits you at Ahmedabad station and remains with you all the time!)

The entire campus is divided into two parts - the old campus ( the one they show in magazine pics) and the New campus... There are 20 dorms in the old campus..and 8 new dorms in the new campus..

The entire IIM A is like a big city... it has schools, playgrounds, banks, tennis courts, fitness centres, gyms, residential blocks, offices , it has its own courier office!!

The first few days will go in exploring the campus, if the heat allows.. It is mindnumbingly hot and humid... so the heat will make you sweat...while the humidity will ensure that you remain sweaty all the time...
But trust me- I have not met a single person who has walked away unimpressed... This is the temple of learning..and the architecture never lets you forget that.. There is an awe when you look at these magnificent structures... It makes you WANT to come in...

The water here is queer... it tastes funny... Of course, a few ppl have no sense of taste ..and look at me when I tell them that the water tastes different.. They ask me - How would I know when water is tasteless to begin with??... duh...

The new campus rooms are bigger and more spacious... The old dorm rooms are more abt prestige and heritage...

Depending upon one's luck, one has to calculate the time taken to reach the classrooms... you would hate to be 7 minutes away ...esp when those 7 minutes could be used for sleep... more so when you know that for some people, classrooms are 30 seconds away!!...

I guess i have covered the architecture.. the weather...the water...
Next stop - the classes... the people... the return of Tuchas (second yearites..or the lucky people who had lost paradise...and regained it..)