As the vehicle takes a turn to the left, a hillock gets uncovered. Far from city pollution and noise, in a calm surrounding, over the unwinding roads, behind the lush green trees, lies my college; The Indian Institute of Management, Indore. One glance, and you simply get mesmerized by the look and feel.

            The hill is officially known by the name "Prabandh Shikhar". Quite an exotic name for an exotic place to be in. We know it by the name, "the hillock that never sleeps", and that's quite true due to the inhabitants of this place, buzzing with all kinds of activities, submissions, deadlines till late nights.

The gate is a grand one with the name carved on one side of a wall. It seems so magnificent. As we enter the gate, a line of flowers awaits you. Dancing and swinging in the wind, it gives a feeling of nature to the onlooker. The flowers are of many colors; yellow, red, orange, violet… each one of them so beautiful and elegant, the leaves do not seem to be noticed at all. The road takes us to the foot of the hill where the road keeps moving around the hill to make you reach your destination. But wait!!! Didn't you notice the scenery on the way? If not, you better go and have another look. As the road climbs up the mountain, the world seems to be a bird's eye view. Down below, you can see the road coming from the horizon and vanishing into the horizon on the other side. Lush green fields, full of agricultural activities, small huts at a distance, vehicles moving up and down the road… Sometimes I feel as if I am not at my college but at a hill station. In the morning, if you are able to get up really really early, you can be the lucky one to see the sun rising among the clouds during day-break. In case you are not a early person, you always have the sunset to mesmerize yourself with.

After a small distance, one can see magnificent building awaiting the onlookers. That is my college. The circular structure and grand arches provides it a picturesque image.

            Further down the road, you will find a block of buildings. That's the place I live in. That's my hostel. That's the place which will have a special place in my heart even decades after I move out of this place.

Rahul Banerjee (PGP 2007-09)

http://storiesnfundas.blogspot.com

           He's the man. He's got the marker. He's the "MAN WITH THE MARKER". Thank him, despise him but you cannot ignore him. 'Cos if you ignore him, time will ignore you. Yes, you guessed it right. He is the official time keeper of the class.

           Official time keeper, huh…. I wonder how he got this name. I think that was one time the CR of the class mentioned this to one of the teachers. I don't know if he likes his designation. Seems like a time table. Keen to bang you up when your time is finished. People try to bribe him, intimidate him, threaten him but he has never defaulted on his time (at least he claims so).

            Lets go back in time and see what made him what he is today. It's a long story, consisting of more than one full term of chipped markers and banged desks and yes, some scary looks and frozen faces as well. It all started when senior faculty of the college came to a conclusion that there should be a Oral Communication class in the curriculum of the first term. The name seemed a bit mundane. After some consideration, it was renamed as Managerial Oral Communication (MOC). It is supposed to be a support to the start of a life where you will be looking at the projection most of the time while the people in front of you will try hard not to go into a deep trance.         

            With so many presentations to be dealt with, the subject needed a volunteer who could fight all the boredom and moments of desperate sleepiness to keep a track of the time during the presentations. There was this little guy with high ambitions sitting at one end of the class just under the AC (how he survives there, that's a separate story). He likes to keep a digital watch with him as he likes digits. Surprisingly, this watch turned out to be the only watch in class which had a timer. Don't know if the watch was happy to know that it was so lonely. After all, it had been more than 10 years since it came out of the factory. Wonder where it began its journey.

           This guy did not know what he was getting into. Time is a flowing concept. How can anyone keep it? He wondered. Due to lack of other volunteers, the task was assigned to him. "Great!! At least I am doing something for my class", he thought. He did not know what to do, when to do, how to do. But with experience, comes deftness. With the Watch and Marker as his two well known tools, he had set forth on a journey of the time and terms. A journey, where he has to be the reference point to others.

            About the marker, it was a rather fat one; chosen as a tool to bang as it was robust and had the highest conversion factor of kinetic energy to sound energy. The bang of the marker was enough to stop speakers in between their sentences and bring out "Thank you" from the mouth of the professor. Sometimes it was softer, sometimes it was louder but it was always there to put forth a reference point in the short life span of the presentation. The Man preferred the Marker to be RED. Not sure if he liked red color or if he chose it as a sign of danger, the danger of crossing the stipulated time and losing out on marks. At least he was kind enough to give a warning bang and a hand gesture to indicate "Your time is almost up buddy!! Pack up as soon as you can". Even videos are not spared from the time keeper. He times them all and sends it to the professor. He also notes down the time of each speaker so that no one may escape the heat (at least he himself escaped it under the AC :) ).

            One question which comes to my mind is that who kept the time when he was out there, stripped off his role as the time keeper, pointing at the presentation and trying to keep the audience awake?? Well he has got a few friends with whom he keeps sharing his responsibilities to provide them with valuable experience and expertise in the art of time keeping. Sometimes they take away his watch and marker anyway, but that's what he considers his achievement, making the dull and boring job seem so interesting. I think that deep inside, he feels happy to be absolved of his duties for some time at least.

            Terms may come and terms may go but he and his team of friends will continue to bug each presenter, whatever topic the presentation may be. MOC has never been a boring subject in the presence of them who wake up the whole class with each bang of theirs.

            Finally, special thanks to the watch, the marker and yes, the big fat OB book (which had given a deep thud on being banged) which helped the time keeper in his efforts and made this blog a possibility. I think each one of us have a time keeper inside us, just waiting to be awaken. Do you have it in you? Kar lo MARKER mutthi mein!!!!

Rahul Banerjee (PGP 2007-09)
http://storiesnfundas.blogspot.com

It is usually the start of a new day for the rest of the world when we humbly accept the simple law of nature that once in a day, we should sleep. However by the time we just realize this fact, it is the time for lectures. Worse is the misery of people with heavy F.Q. (i.e. Finance course Quotient).

So we sleep during lectures. This is an age old phenomenon at IIM Indore (and may be at other IIMs and B-schools as well) to sleep in the classrooms and it has been a tradition that has stood the test of the time. Everyone sleeps in the class, sometime or the other. There is no denying this fact. For those who state otherwise, well, go get a life dude!

Here is just a humble attempt to understand the deep mysteries and dynamics of classroom sleeping.

Sleeping in the classroom is a complex but vital concept and there are several laws that govern the same. Let's discuss some of those.

1. First law of sleep: Life is not fair and so is seating arrangement.

By default or by design, some people always do have better opportunities than others. If you are sitting in the back rows and you have a relatively taller and broader person giving you a cover from front, nothing like that. Basically all the rules of camouflage and covering that works in military set up are equally applicable.

2. Second law of sleep: Even professors don't have perfect eye contact.

It is not just the participants who have a problem making eye contacts with those sitting in the extreme corners. Even professors (at least most of them) have an issue with the same. So if your seats are in the extremes of your row, you just have the best chances of being neglected by most of the speakers during MOC presentations and so by the most of the professor. Enjoy the slumber.

3. Third law of sleep: Not all fingers are alike, and so the professors.

Not all professors realize the importance of sleep and hence it is fatal to try to enjoy this otherwise harmless gift of nature during their lectures. Participants are strongly advised to refrain from all sorts of temptations to sleep during the same. One must try to maximise the value of his or her sleep function during the lectures of the better lot of professors. (Oh yes! Please give good feedback to such professors at the end of the course so that even the batches to come can have their necessity of sleep fulfilled.)

Rules and definitions are for masses but as an old saying at IIM Indore goes, where there is will, there is sleep. It is, like every other thing in life, depends completely your ability to be able to have this incomparable pleasure of life.

Remember! Life is at its best in our hostels. Don't waste those moments. Sleep in class. Happy sleeping!

(The author has been practising the sacred art of classroom sleeping for last two months and has decided to devote his time at the institute to follow the tradition with body, mind and soul.)

Saurabh Shrivastava (PGP 2007-09)

http://puraani-jeans.blogspot.com

There was a girl i knew.

She was beautiful. She was ambitious. She was intelligent and articulate... and she was in love with life.

I used to see her often, and wonder what she was always so happy about. She always looked as she had some little secret which she alone knew and no one else knew. And she walked like she wasn't going to share that secret either.

Now I never did talk to her much. But lots of folks around here did. They used to tell me a lot of things about her. Things which I never suspected. She had a crush they told me. She wanted to take that somewhere. She had plans for the future. She had faith you see.

They told me she could make you wince with her acerbic tone. And she would cry just as easily when you didn't talk to her for making you wince. She was just a sweet  li'l girl you see.

 yeah, she loved dancing. I remember seeing her dance at a party at 2 in the morning. And then suddenly rush off to her room . The project was due at 9 you see.

They told me she would throw a big tantrum if you didn't team her up with the best player in a badminton 'doubles'. And then she would giggle the game away until her partner would be forced to concede and carry her away to the canteen. She just wanted to have fun you see.

Life was a carnival. And we all thought it would never end………………..

I wish now that I had talked to her more. I wish now that I had known her better. I can't do much, but I can  hope with  all my heart that she is happy. And safe. And content.

I hope she is in a place where the sun always shines, the birds always chirp and there is neither  sorrow nor pain…

I hope I shall see her again..one day. And then , I will talk..

I will tell her that we all missed her so. I will tell her that we all were very brave. That we stood together, we grieved together.

I will tell her that we didn't blame anyone, but god.

I will tell her that for all of us, things began to seem all right after some time, but nothing ever would be perfect.

I will tell her that we all were very proud of her, and some day, we would make her very proud of us.

I promise that. I will tell her all that..

And until then, I shall carry on with my life.

I shall cry and be sad, I shall laugh and be happy.

I will  work, and love, and be loved..

Just like her.

In everlasting memory of Neha and Nitesh…

On behalf of the entire IIM I family.

Mairal…

The mood at IIM I is significantly lighter & happier since the past  5 days. The despo I bankers  and quant/ FIN gods  who reside at this little hilltop (who tortured only  Ross and Jaffe and murdered no one except Messers Brearly and Myers) , have suddenly come out of their dark lairs and donned their bright and light running shoes( as used by all top athletes)   have found a new passion.

Salsa.

Its fun, its hip, and its not traded on Dalal street . Reason enough for me to join up too.

The first day was tough. Couldn’t get the hang of it. I just longed to go back to the pure and beautiful and uncomplicated bhangra. In Bhangra you see, just  flailing your arms around and saying  “aaho” about 10-12  times per minute safely does the job. This stuff however, is different.. this stuff, is  DEEP…

First of all of course, you need the space. ( convert the first floor mess into a dance floor. Move some tables, bring up a laptop and speakers, and you are set.

Secondly, you need a girl. That’s a hell of a job here at IIM I ;) ( trust me, I’ve tried) however, brilliant managers that we are, we just asked the girls to see the bigger picture and dance for twice the time we guys did. They grumbled at first, but once we threatened to continue with our Bhangra at parties, they relented.  

Things seem to be going well… I have not stepped on my partners toes for the past two days straight, and my partner is happy that I have finally started to appreciate that bhangra is not an act of god. Keeping my fingers crossed. Meringue on my  radar next..  :P

Watch this space for updates. i'll be uploading snaps as soon as we start looking  a li'l better at doing this thing! ;)

Peace

Out

Mairal>

The first thing I would tell anybody about Indore is its climate. Though closer to extremes, it is pleasant for 10 months out of 12 (except for 2 months of summers). It is pretty dry with good monsoons and has a wind that is known by a special name (shab-e-malwa). For a person who has spent a lot of years in Bangalore, Indore came as a pleasant surprise coming very close to Bangalore w.r.t to its climate.

Another thing I recount is the sweets and namkeen shops with the amazingly huge variety. I was totally overwhelmed by the sheer number of different kinds of mixtures. Mixture itself is a mix of most other namkeen kind of things, and I thought there could be just one mixture; and here are shops (Om, Apna, etc.) selling atleast 15 different varieties. On the sweets side, if you taste one sweet a day, you will spend atleast 3 months in Indore! The people enjoy the food, and the business of Sweet is good. Being students of management, a question immediately rose in our heads, then why is there just one Haldirams? One Indore localite comes up with an answer: The cooks of Indore themselves can't produce the same taste elsewhere because the secret of the taste lies in the water.

Speaking of water, close to Indore is The Narmada; I met Narmada at Omkareshwar, she was intimidating to the say the least. After the experience of Kerala Rivers in my childhood, Narmada was like a goddess in rage (maybe at people erecting dams on her!).

Coming back to food, there is one other thing that really cannot be missed. And it is the ubiquitous but the simple and humble poha. It is called 'avil' in Tamil, and I for one don't like the way it is made in south. It is mainly liked by old people. But here, it became my favorite breakfast (and many others' too).

We are done with the climate, the food, and the water. Next comes the landscape. This is something of a specialty to IIM Indore. Our institute is on a small hillock and the landscape around our institute is fields and more fields. The view from the hill in the monsoon season is absolutely heavenly. Photos can't describe it (atleast not my photos…). And the sun, everyday during the winter season, we are treated to a surreal sunset; all the 'national geographic' type pictures come alive in front of you. All those "wisdom from heaven" type pictures are also replicated in this clear winter sky. I mean the ones in which sun rays come out from in between the clouds like a shower of rays. You may want to check out pics of sunsets at Joe's (2007 batch) flickr page.

Finally, we come to my interactions with the Indore people, thanks mainly to our marketing projects and Utsaha. The people of Indore are nice, honest, gentle, slightly innocent but open, progressive people. They seem to maintain a cool attitude to life.

After the niceties, the bad things about this place, are the usual complaints of infrastructure, transport, non-availability of things and shops (similar a metro) etc.

There are more nice things about Indore than what I have recollected here, and I still have more than 6 months left in this city, and I am sure to find many more.

  - Vignesh V J (PGP 2)

It's a time when many people all around the world are mesmerized by magic. It's the time of the final battle between the Boy Wonder and the Bad Guy. Everyone knows who is the favorite to win the battle. The only question that remains is how. When fans and critics alike are waiting with baited breath to know how Rowling unravels the plot in the last book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, some smart asses (allegedly) steal the book and reveal the entire plot. Millions of dollars that went into the marketing has gone down the drain. Millions of fans have been left with the feeling of frustration. And then there are people who actually paid to be the first ones to read, who are now left behind in the race by their more radical, geeky and unscrupulous peers. Shame, really, isn't it?

Let us suppose that the (leaked) book is really the original. So what are the ramifications? A loss in sales… That eerie feeling that nothing intellectual can be protected now.. Or, just frustration for the loyal fans of Harry Potter… Being the last book, most people who hold Harry (and hence Rowling) dear would want to buy the book. For many people, the last book of the series is kind of a souvenir. For some others, a book is a convenience. I guess these people cannot be stopped from buying the book (if they haven't done it by now). So where does the loss in sales come from? From the people who would prefer to read the book on their laptops or desktops? It does not seem that their population is significant enough to cause any harm. This population would consist mostly of young adults, probably the least of Rowling's fans. They would have read from downloaded pdfs anyway.

Now let us suppose that the leaked book is not the original… To make it look pretty much the original, someone must have put in a lot of effort to just print that book. I guess the intellectual property is well protected in this case. Frustrated fans will breathe a sigh of relief. The impatient and unscrupulous ones have been fooled. Good triumphs over evil. God is still alive. Everyone will laugh at the people who took the trouble of printing the book for the little pleasure they have had.

That's not the end of it though. Let us look at another scenario. What if Bloomsbury and Scholastic print a book (with a different story) and leak it? Now that's interesting! But why would it do that? For many reasons… An important reason could be that by coming up with its own fake version, it would preempt many people who would want to leak it. In fact, the timing of the release of the book is indicative. The books have been transported to the stores; the chances of leakage are high now. Two, It is just more advertising isn't it? It would reinforce the idea of Harry Potter being the most sought after series. Catches the eye of people who still haven't been 'spellbound'. May be, we can have a few more of those young people reading the books. Three, there could be two different endings now. Choose the one you want. In fact one would expect the marketing folks to be creative. After all, this is the last one.

However, there are some (ok there are many) weak points in the argument that the leaked book is a fake. The book is good (guilty of reading it)… Really well written… Definitely a treat for a Harry Potter fan… You also get that feeling that it has been written by Rowling (it very well could be). Then, the question of why Bloomsbury would go all the way to protect a book hat would hit the streets (and very soon the web also) in a couple of days. The sales lost don't appear to be so much. It seems too much effort. May be it is. If anyone else has written the book, then the person is definitely a big fan. Why would such a person harm the prospects of the book?

However, it is worth pondering over the fact that a couple of things that were (supposed) to happen in the book seem to be missing. And there is this lingering feeling that this IS THE book, although, its always fun to develop conspiracy theories. That's one way of weaving stories. When you are sitting idle not knowing what to do, some crazy thoughts race through your mind and you blog... Wish I had a pensive.

Like all good, decent & obedient IIM grads, I have come to view life in terms of

2 * 2 matrices.  A lot of matrices have whizzed past me over the  past  one and a half years.

 I know a lot about cash cows and stars and dogs and what-not…  I  fell in love with the beautiful yellows and purples of the Opportunity and threat matrices ( YES, we do have original color print textbooks  at IIM I.. HAH ! )…I remember sniffing in a marked manner  when I came to know  about Ansoff and his penetration ( into markets of course..  :O )    and I almost cried with joy when informed about the Group performance – Group Cohesiveness matrices…

I am amazed at how we are taught to resolve every  situation, every  relationship and every  idea into these beautiful thingies…And I am even more amazed at the fact that we actually start to believe that life and its problems CAN actually  be so easily and conveniently  classified into  4 boxes( or 9 for that matter..)

…High-high; low-low…  We calmly, dispassionately dissect the situation, and classify it into 4 boxes,.. high-high, low-low…. High-low, low –high. And boom ! problem solved. Amazing insight delivered, pat(s) on back accepted, and  collars ( pristinely white of course,.. pun intended) turned up .

So here I go with a creation of my own. This baby here explains ‘future prospects in life’ for a typical B- schooler.

 I don’t know if this is original ,…but what the heck….

The AMBITION Vs COMPETENCE Matrix for Life Analysis©

( To be used indiscriminately and widely by all )

Rationale:

If you fall into:

Box 11-( Very Unhappy)-  You are an incompetent moron who aims  to be a millionaire. Unless your Last name is Gump, you will be firmly entrenched in this box forever.

Box 12- ( Never happy)- This is a poor bastard who keeps getting rich with no time to spend.  Classic ‘ no time to stop and stare’ case.. never happy.

Box 21- (Unhappy)-  This dumb chum is a vegetable. How on earth will he ever be happy? And how on earth did he get into an IIM anyway? :P

Box-22 ( Indifferent) – Underachiever for life. What charms can life possibly offer to this soul?

Therefore,  we see, according to this brilliant matrix and its equally ‘brilliant’ creator , MBA grads can pick and choose a number of templates for their lives. They have all the options… they can actually choose  between being ‘very unhappy’ to being merely ‘indifferent’…. A very pretty and encouraging picture. J

So we can finally understand the craze for MBA nowadays.. they all aspire to be unhappy you see. …

For this revealing insight, I should be feeling happy and smug, but I do not…I wonder why…

 something feels wrong here…. something feels  VERY wrong here. You see, the only ‘thorn in my side’ here is that I met  an IIM  grad a couple of weeks ago, and he happened to be   rich, successful , and ….happy!!   ( I know ,I was shocked too ..)

what was more,.. .. he actually told me scary stories about other MBA grads that HE had met all over the world. They too, he told me, were rich, successful and …. Happy.

That doesn’t make sense. The matrix clearly says that MBA grads are not supposed to be happy. something wrong here….  There MUST  be something wrong somewhere. The matrix never lies. It never leads us astray. It never lets us jump to stupid, hasty conclusions… or does it?.....

It is rooted in classical theory. WE KNOW for a fact that all human beings can be put into 4 boxes, and  their emotions in 9.

WE KNOW for a fact that life can be ‘resolved’ and   labor & IR  problems can  ALWAYS be cleanly and clearly ‘analyzed’ .

Even to think for a moment  that perhaps  life and people , can be bigger  and perhaps too important to classify into 4 boxes is preposterous. That is what uneducated morons think. Not us. J ( smirk)

Crap.. I must rethink…maybe… I think … something’s wrong with the way I have been taught to think ,…or  maybe, something’s wrong with   our education system… or hey,  maybe there is something wrong with life itself.

You figure it out.

:P :P

Peace.

Out.

Mairal>>

( P.S--  I think it is option (c )- something’s wrong with life.  It refuses to be classified into 4 boxes. Bitch.)

Life here at IIM I gives you a lot of time to think if you are so inclined. Dopey discussions about  life& girls often precede heated arguments about why you  came to this place in the first place. Amongst the various reasons I have read/heard, the most common of course is the standard issue 9mm  reason- "I always wanted to do an MBA because I want to get a " manager's view point" on business, ( or more colorfully, get a " bird's eye view') I of course, think that is  pure bull %^&* , as do a lot of other people .

Of course, as I go around armed with sarcasm, I too am not spared the question and often, people ( parents, relatives, CAT aspirants, Indore junta, ) ask me how I can say that I always wanted to do an MBA.

To be a nice ( read politically correct) guy, I obviously palm off a hasty " bird's eye view " ..  sagely nods follow and conversation drifts to our 'unfair' pay packages. As the congregation gets more comfortable with an IIM grad amongst  them they become more forthcoming and honest, and conclude in view of my inscrutable expression that the prime purpose of my life , ( and everyone else's too) is to make money, and I should not be apologetic about it. Money IS  the motive force, and  how could I say that the purpose of my life is to sell soaps & oil to groups of naked, hungry children & their mothers in some god forsaken village 60 Kms north of Darbhanga ( or wherever the hell of rural marketers is)

I of course , could not agree with this more, but I don't argue. I walk away.  I never tell them a darker secret.

I am a control freak. As are, I suspect, a lot of other chaps at B schools.

Money does not turn me on, power does.

Think about it.

Aren't we all  taught that It's all about mindshare and TOMA and what-not…. We are taught to make sure that what people see is only us, what they hear is only us, what they experience is only us. So that what they end up buying, (no prizes for guessing)is of course, .. only us.

We are taught to cocoon them in our communication. For god's sake , we even talk about conditioning their behavior and vie with each other  to see who's the best modern Pavlov. We reduce consumers to dumb suckers who should salivate when we ring the bell. ( this of course, is a  very horrifying image and very  extreme, but it  is just an illustration. My apologies to all  genuinely  gentle souls. But I   hope I made myself clear :P :P )

Now,  If THIS is  not seeking control and domination, if  this  is not seeking power, If this  is not what control freaks do, I would like to know what it IS actually that they do. ( apart from the padded handcuffs stuff of course ;)  )

To put it a bit differently, I say that after 2 months of summers, I have come to realize that the prime purpose of my life here IS to sell soaps and oil. See, it's not so much about the actual selling of soap,( I won't be doing that anyway)  its more about making people think the way I want them to do. It's about controlling their lives, about permeating their consciousness. It's purely about  love and lust of power and control.

Real power comes not from money, it comes from influence. It comes with that knowledge that you are the 'architect'. It comes with that wonderful feeling that only you get  when  people around you  think that they are in control, but they are not .you are.

I wonder how prudent it would be to say all this stuff when  reasons for doing an MBA are discussed in an actual GD/PI. You would get kicked out summarily I guess. (at the same time however,  they might tell you how they appreciate your 'out of the box thinking' and laud you for being a revolutionary thinker, but,…. no thank you.)

Further, imagine if this were the topic for a GD !!

I am sure there will be many 'holier than thou ' men/women who would pooh pooh all this as mere driveling and say that the reason why THEY want to do an MBA because of how they actually want to serve the poor and kiss lepers or whatever.

There might be a few honest chaps who will say they want to do an MBA because they want to make money fast, and easy. Fair enough.

There will be a few people who actually are in love with an MBA and were fortunate enough to be so from their 'formative years' !

But I don't think we will come across many people who will admit to being control freaks and tell the real reason that they want to do an MBA  is that they want control.

Control, influence, is what gives me a kick. I of course, would not be so cheeky to suggest that I knew this all along , but I have come to this conclusion after long deliberations.

Now if it  is egoistic  to claim that control gives me a kick, then I plead guilty. But the truth remains. Money does not excite me, power does. I am here to learn how to influence, control & dominate. Period.

I shall now go and study marketing FMCGs or something,  and of course think about how I can garner more mindshare and go about my mission of dominating poor unsuspecting idiots of all races and color.

:P :P

Peace.

Out.