23/12/2014

23/12/2014; 00:00:

Christmas preparation is in full swing, on campus. A beautifully decked-up Christmas tree sits right outside the main mess and decorations adorn parts of the campus.
Also in order for Christmas are a play and Christmas carols. The IPM Drama Club has been working hard, for almost a month now, on a Christmas-themed play- it features Wonderland in all its glory- with elves, Noddy and Santa Claus! Dances and dialogues are being painstakingly gone over, multiple times.
Props and costumes are being arranged to make everything feel magical.
Meanwhile, the Music Club has been planning to get everyone to learn and practice Christmas Carols in under a week.

A Special Christmas dinner has been arranged for, for the night of 24th December. Of course, there shall also be cake!
The call for presents, as part of the Secret Santa game, has been sent out; the deadline to ‘submit’ your gifts to the representatives is end of day, 23rd December.
i-Help has been planning to hold a Christmas Celebration for the kids of the schools that we are engaged in teaching.

In other news, the 2013 Batch went on a ‘Happy Trip’, on the 18th of December, as part of their course on Positive Psychology.
The 2014 Batch, meanwhile, is busy with exams till the 23rd, post which a large number of them are heading to Mumbai, to participate in IIT-Bombay’s Cultural Fest, Mood-Indigo.

I intend to give my secret ‘santee’ some food for Christmas, just like last time, when my gift to both (we had a separate ‘girls only’ Secret Santa too!) my ‘santees’ was a buffet lunch at Sayaji, with me for company, of course!

21/12/2014

21/12/2014; 00:47:

And, after a week at home, thanks to a long break between two IGNOU papers, it was good to be back on campus!
The place is buzzing with activity, what with the PGP Placement season having begun and Christmas just around the corner!
I tried and abandoned a blog post, on the 15th, right after I was back on campus; it sure was a busy few days!
10th Evening saw a guest lecture by Dr. A Sivathanu Pillai, Founder-CEO-cum-Managing Director of BrahMos Aerospace; he spoke on ‘India’s Global Leadership’. Later in the evening, the Activity Club arranged a screening of the 1952 movie, ’12 Angry Men’.
On 11th December, a third visit ,since the Social Committee has undertaken various projects this year, to Aastha Vridha Ashram was arranged. The arrangement was expanded to include the orphanage, the juvenile home and the home for victims of abuse; IPM students guided by the in-house counsellor Dr.Prarthana Sharma spent time with the inmates, spreading positivity and learning outside of their sheltered environments.
12th December – Rajnikath’s Birthday was celebrated, with a mass movie screening!
Saturday (13th) evening saw the prelims of ‘In-Quiz-itive’ being conducted, by our very own Literary Committee. 6 teams made it to the finale that was held a week later.
I was back on campus on 14th morning and spent a busy day talking! A part of the afternoon was spent trying to study for the next day’s paper; there was a SAC-EC meeting in the evening, where a proposal for a seminar on ‘Innovation in Management Education’ along with the Music Club’s proposal for a campus radio were discussed. Also certain ideas dealing with increased student safety in the light of the recent Uber-Delhi incident were chalked out.
This meeting was followed by a team-bonding exercise organized by the interim I-Help team. A treasure hunt which had a series of interesting clues to be solved with the team in tow went on for a good two hours. The interim team business, which has been set-up to help finalize the team for next year is a rather useful idea. Practical experience at running the operations is a better judge than any interview or essay can ever hope to be.
Later in the evening, a Chiraag meeting was held where the idea for the year’s ‘Secret Santa’ was discussed. ‘Secret Santa’ as the name suggests entails a random draw being made from the entire set of people participating. Each participant receives a name- of his to-be ‘Santee’, for whom he must act as a ‘secret’ Santa, leaving a trail of clues, leading up to a grand gift on Christmas Day! Apart from being great fun, the Christmas spirit is felt in all its glory.

It was a rather mundane paper, on the afternoon of the 15th- mostly because I sat all alone in a classroom meant for 60 students, writing a paper on ‘Introduction to HIV/AIDS’; so much for opting for random papers when everyone’s pursuing either a BA(Economics) or B.Comm.

16th was one crazy day, most of which was spent planning for the first Media Comm. ‘Event’ of the year, the ‘Journalist Face-Off’. From preparing questions for the Quiz round, to picking the best set of pictures for the finale, everyone worked hard at what they do best. One of the members who was looking after the visual round of the quiz managed to turn up with an entire series of impossible-to-answer questions. It was heart-breaking to explain to him that most of us have absolutely no knowledge of the topics that are so dear to him and that he ought to pick simpler (well, more mainstream) questions that dealt with the Russian Economy and Hollywood instead.
We spoke to IIM-Indore’s PRO, Dr. Akhtar Parvez and our cool English faculty, Dr. Shweta Kushal, both of whom consented to be the judges for the event.
Some volleyball later, we’d also spoken to the media, arranging to send them a report and pictures as soon as the event was over. We were excited; a Media Comm. Event definitely called for media coverage! Plus, it was going to be the best event, ever; the happy moment was when one newspaper we’d left out actually called us – ‘There’s an event happening, right?’. ‘ Yes sir, there is’. ‘Do give me the details’. !!

After a frantic morning of trying to get through at least half the syllabus and a rather decent ‘Drug Abuse and Counselling’ paper, I got working on the event that was to begin in under an hour! Round 1 entries were marked, final run-throughs of the Round 2 questions were done, Wildcard entries were watched and the lucky winner decided and soon enough , the event began.
The event had three rounds and culminated in a charged finale. The first round had the contestants write out an op-ed, an opinion piece, on a topic of their choice- writing a coherent editorial piece is the mark of a good journalist. The second round was a quiz that tested how up to date the contestants were with the currents news, for every journalist ought to have all the current happenings at the tip of his tongue.
The Quiz happened in three parts- one with visual clues, one set of MCQ questions and one Audio-Visual round where news clippings were shown and the news piece in question was to be identified.
There was also a wild-card entry round, where the students had to cover an event on campus, make a video and send it across. The winner of the wild-card round received a direct spot in the finale! 8 teams qualified for the finale, on the basis of the scores of Rounds one and two. The finale was a Face-Off, a show-down of sorts, where one team was pitted directly against the other, in a live-TV presentation round. A series of pictures that depicted the story in question were put up on screen and the teams and to run a live coverage of the incident. The final show-down saw one team impersonate the perpetrator of the crime in question, all with a funny accent and everything; other fun bits included a reporter reporting live from a comet, dazed by the diamonds that she found there; a reporter who became part of a zombie apocalypse and one team who had their very own ‘Snow White News’ channel.
The event made the students aware of the hectic schedule and the crazy demands that every journalist has to meet- it’s not all glamour and glitz, but a lot of hard-work.
The event had large participation and was successful- prizes were given out to winners, runners-up; there were also two consolation prizes and two separate prizes for the winners of Round 2; audience prizes were handed out too!

We left for Khargone on the chilly morning of 18th December. After the successful workshop on job applications, résumés and job interviews, a second edition of the workshop was held for a different set of students. It saw much larger participation than the first and it even had a small entry fee for the participants! The Digital Literacy campaign was also kick-started in a big way, with two schools being reached out to, on the very first day! The first topic that’s being covered is PowerPoint Presentations, mainly for their wide scope of use and the fact that the pictures and everything make them very attractive.
I left campus that night, getting on the late-night train home, courtesy tickets booked by my parents. I’d surprised them earlier in the month, by showing up at home, unannounced; they surprised me by informing me one night before that my tickets were ready and waiting.

Around this, the Secret Santa process began; ‘santees’ were matched with Santas by 19th night and the game is in full swing. I’ve been sending clues to my ‘Santee’ too! I haven’t received anything from my Santa, yet, though.

In other news, Canara bank has agreed to offer loans to IPM students, without a collateral, unlike the mandatory ‘with collateral’ loan offered by SBI till date.

On 19th evening, the finale of ‘In-Quiz-itive’ was held; the event was won by a team which goes by the name ‘Victorious Secrets’!
On 20th evening, a panel discussion on ‘Innovation Challenges’ was held on campus, for both faculty and students to benefit from; the discussion was moderated by our director, Dr. Rishikesha T. Krishnan.
Also, keeping with the directive on ‘Good Governance Day’, a solo speech event was organized for all IPM students, at 6:30 in the evening; the topic for the same was ‘Use of Technology and Innovations in Promoting Good Governance’.


Also, Christmas preparations are in full-swing; that ought to be another post!

10/12/2014

10/12/2014; 00:50:

An IPM 2013 v/s 2014 Football League began, on Friday. The highlight of course was the girls' game which the 2013 batch won, 4-1.
On the evening of 7th December, a guest lecture was organized courtesy the IPM E-cell. The founder of Housing.com. Mr. Advitiya Sharma delivered an inspiring talk, speaking of his journey as an entrepreneur and the obstacles he encountered.

In other news, Religare securities shall be on campus on the 10th, 11th and 13th of December to offer a special scheme on Demat accounts for IIM-I students, courtesy the Finance & Investment club. They also organized the first round of Bazinga- the online Finance quiz, on the 9th. Another two rounds are scheduled, later this Wednesday & Friday.
Karwan- the Poetry Club of IIM-Indore, mentored and run by our Economics professor, Dr.Rastogi held its first session of the season on 9th evening! It's a perfect platform for budding poets- language no bar- to come, express themselves and share their poetry with like-minded, enthusiastic participants.

As a close to the day, the IPM Constitution that the SAC-C has lovingly drafted and the SAC-EC has pored over was shared with all the participants. Wow, we have a constitution now. Way to feel important!

A trip to NM's fest, Vaayu - on the 17th to 20th of this month- had to be cancelled, courtesy upcoming mid-term exams for both the junior batches. Plans to attend Mood Indigo in the last week of December are still in place, even though they are rather shaky.

05/12/2014

05/12/2014; 00:13:

Right before people left to go home, on the 30th, there were meetings held, to come up with parameters to evaluate the SAC-C and the SAC-T. Each club coordinator had to come up with a set of parameters according to which the members would be evaluated in the future. The club members had to come up with a similar set for the evaluation of the coordinator. All this is being done as part of the efforts to draft the IPM Constitution. It feels good to be in the Drafting Assembly!
The selection process for selecting next year’s Atharv team was discussed in another of the series of meetings that evening. The final meeting of the evening detailed the recently approved Sports Fest proposal. Ranbhoomi- the IPM Sports Fest is set to happen in the last week of February, tentatively from the 27th to the 1st of March. We hope to draw in participation from across the country! Almost all of December shall be spent planning!

It’s been a leisurely four days, with the December vacation in full swing. Some people (like my room-mate) had a paper on the 1st; I didn’t. I spent most of Monday (1st) sleeping; evening was spent playing volleyball and then having dinner at Pishori – we ate mostly Tandoori Chicken. An institute-wide initiative has been undertaken, in the form of Oscar Wilde’s play ‘The Importance of being Earnest. Auditions were called for, at 7 p.m. on the 2nd of December. Practice is now in full swing!
At 8:00 p.m., the Activity Club had arranged for the screening of the movie ‘Inglorious Bastards’. I have no clue why they suddenly did so; people did, however enjoy the movie.


After sleeping in excess on Monday, I was up in time to get some breakfast, on Tuesday. The FST- Foundation in Science & Technology paper is on the 6th- it’s the only compulsory paper as part of the BDP (Bachelor’s Degree Programme) 2nd year curriculum. I pulled out the books on Tuesday, mainly to ascertain their number. There are a total of 8 books; hopefully, we’ll read through them all, before the paper. We did read them in bits and pieces to solve the assignments, but never once through.
After the All-IPM meet, where the Khargone project was discussed, a volunteer form was sent across to everyone. Later in the evening, the music club sent out a mail detailing its newest idea- practice groups- to hone different talents including singing and playing different musical instruments.

On Wednesday, we put together a 3-member team to conduct the skill-building workshop in Khargone. Another set of volunteers was organized to interact with the children at Aasthagram.
By mid-night, we also received a good number of entries for the Journalist Face-Off event that Media Comm. is planning to hold.
i-Help has been in the process of picking out the team that shall call the shots, next year. Basically, we’re getting old and it’s time to hand over the reins to the junior batch! As part of this, every week, a different set of interested juniors are appointed to interim coordinator roles – 2 coordinators and one vertical head each for the HR, Media & PR and Academic verticals. Everyone is thus being given a chance to actually put their skills to a practical test, because that’s what is finally needed! Everyone is taking their roles seriously and working really hard; the Academic vertical has been meticulously preparing worksheets, Media & PR has been preparing weekly reports and HR has been working and re-working the time-table to get the perfect fit!

We left for Khargone at 7:30 on Thursday (4th) morning in a white ‘traveller’. The traveller was also unique- the last row of seats had been replaced by a bed! Of course, since it was early morning, to people immediately settled in to sleep! We stopped en route for poha-jalebi and once to click photographs. Once at Khargone, we split into the two assigned teams. We headed to open the registration desk for the workshop while the other team headed straight for the kids! The workshop covered the whole job application process – finding the right job, filling out an application, preparing a résumé and facing the interview. The participants included students of the Government P.G. College at Khargone. Their feedback (after an almost 5 hour long workshop!) suggested that we did manage to do a fairly okay job of making them aware and guiding them.
Meanwhile elsewhere, our other team visited the Sports & Cultural Competition that was being organized for the differently abled children, on the occasion of World Disability day which was on the 3rd of December. They also spent time with the other children, playing games like Fire on the Mountain and Dog & the Bone.
The whole Khargone experience just makes everyone who goes there so happy; by the end of the day, you’re tired and yet unwilling to leave, promising to come back; of course, on the way back everyone falls asleep (except my room-mate!). We were back on campus by around 9 p.m. post which dinner was had. A large amount of vanilla ice-cream followed! We took good advantage of the newly launched sachets of Hershey’s chocolate syrup while we were at eating the ice-cream!

While we’ve been having a gala time, what with the vacations and everything, both the junior batches have been writing an assortment of quizzes and mid-term exams! And, a play is being prepared for Christmas Eve, by the junior batches! Christmas Eve is fun time, with mid-night carol singing, cake-cutting, movie screenings and even a theme-based play, this time around!
In other news, Chiraag, our very own IPM E-magazine has sent out its monthly call for articles. They seem to have this thing for all the unusual themes that one could possibly come up with! The theme this time is ‘Hard to get’. It’s been rather hard to get what exactly this latest theme could mean; I’ll probably figure something out and write out a piece!

01/14/2014

01/12/2014; 00:47:

It’s now been a whole week of crazy. 28th evening was scheduled to be AMPLIFIED- the biggest music event at IIM-Indore, organized by Amplif-I- the IPM Music Club.
The event began at 7:00 p.m. but, of course, preparations had been in progress for a long while. The event had heavy logistical requirement and over 12 hours and a small lot of human resource were spent getting a stage put together, getting mikes, speakers, a mixer, lights, karaoke versions of songs and musical instruments.
Talented guitarist, Mr. Aishwarya Dhoble had consented to be the judge for the evening. The event was aimed at getting everyone involved and feeling the music- providing a platform to the bathroom singer in everyone. The first event of the evening was ‘Tune-in’ where a tune was played and the participant had to identify the song in question and sing it- the more lyrics you got right, the better!
The next event was a Theme-based singing event, with themes ranging from Death, Violence and Rebellion to Love, Forgiveness and Freedom. This was followed by a Jingle Making event- with topics ranging from Smokin’ Joes Pizza to Indore and IPM. The best part was that prizes for all events were food- courtesy the Smokin’ Joes Pizza and Buddy’s Café stalls that were doing brisk business all evening. The other events included a Music Quiz and a much enjoyed Face-Off.
The evening was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone present; with the food (including pancakes at JAM) and array of events on offer. I had the privilege of being the MC for the evening and, did I have a gala time! I even tried my hand at playing the drums! It was nice to see so much undiscovered talent come forth and find a platform.

And because one crazy, event-filled night wasn’t enough, another immediately followed it. 29th evening was Lit-Night, courtesy Literar-I- the IPM Literary Club. The events for the evening included hourly scrabble matches and word games. The first event was fun- a picture was to be identified, and the interpretation and its anagram found! A total of 30 pictures had been procured. The event was intellectually challenging and fun! The next event was called ‘Rhyme & Time’- all contestants sit in a circle, a syllable is declared and sentences that rhyme are stated one after another. Inability to come up with a new rhyme results in elimination. The last man standing wins it all!
The third event for the evening was called ‘What’s the good word?’- it took place in 3 stages. The first stage was a set of 10 jumbled letters that had to be unscrambled to arrive at the correct answer, in accordance with the clue provided. The second stage included correctly identifying the word that met the prescribed criteria, a total of 15 such words were to be found, with a different, interesting clue for each. The final stage was challenging- a set of clues, one after the other were given and you had to identify the word using the least possible clues.
The last event for the evening was a Spelling Bee. The evening was very enjoyable and it wasn’t all done! The event concluded with an online crossword round that began at 12 a.m. and added the last dash of awesomeness to it all.

We were out for dinner, on the evening of Sunday, the 30th of November. The evening ended with a walk around campus, ice-cream and a birthday celebration in the Girls’ Hostel.

The month of December is off, for the IGNOU exams. A lot of people left to go home, on Sunday evening. A few shall leave this morning, in a few hours. Others who are in love with this place shall give the exams in Indore, with the IIM-I campus functioning as their exam centre. The first paper is tomorrow; of course, since IGNOU has a very large variety of subjects on offer, not everyone has the same exam schedule. My first paper is on the 6th of December- the compulsory course titled ‘Foundation Course in Science & Technology’. The B.Comm. guys have 7 papers while I have only 4.

28/11/2014

28/11/2014; 13:59:

It’s been two busy days. There was one class on the morning of the 26th. We then went out for lunch, to celebrate a batch-mate’s birthday. Lunch was very enjoyable. I waited around after lunch to meet a friend who was visiting.

I was back on campus, just in time to make the 9 p.m. meeting. A meet had been arranged by the social committee, for our batch to interact with the seniors and hear about their social internship experiences. About a dozen seniors turned up to share their varied experiences- they had interned at NGO’s, CSR-wings, CSR Consultancies and taken up individual project under different foundations. More than anything else, it made us aware of the options on offer.

Right after the meeting ended, there were interviews to be conducted, 10:30 p.m. onwards, to select associate members for the Media Committee. A 5-member panel sat, taking interviews, for 5 hours. A successful night was wrapped up at around 3:30 a.m.

I was up in 2 hours, at 6 a.m., for there was a visit to Aasthagram, Khargone as part of the project being undertaken by the Social Committee. We reached Khargone at around 10 a.m. Post- breakfast, we split up into our assigned teams and set off. One team was to work on Financial Literacy- enlightening class 11 students about the working of a Bank, fixed deposits, NEFT’s and ATM’s. Another was to work with the students in Aasthagram, engaging them in games of Chess & Carrom. A third – the team composed of the senior members of the Social Committee was to sit and chalk out detailed plans for a working long-term model. And, lastly the Media Team was to be everywhere they pleased! Aasthagram Trust houses about 80 hostel students on campus, has 30 day scholars and also supports other schools in the area through different programs, like the one our team conducted on Financial Literacy. On campus, their school follows a policy of inclusive education, where differently-abled students study in the same class as all other students. I sat with a group of about 9 girls, telling them how chess worked. It took me a while to realise that 5 of them were deaf & mute- the kids had perfect coordination- the ones who could hear had been signing everything that I was saying, as I was saying it! It was perfect- I did not even notice the gap; only an obvious signing when one of the girls was making a wrong move made me aware of the happening.
By 6:00 p.m., everyone was tired but happy! And, we’ve all made plans to go back as soon as our schedules permit. I’ve taken up a project to conduct workshops for the local youth on job applications, CV’ and interviews. This shall keep me occupied, during the December break. Of course, all plans to visit home or elsewhere had to be cancelled. We left Khargone a little after 7 and were back just in time for a bath before the SAC-EC meeting at 11 p.m.

The SAC-EC meeting was called, to work on the IPM Constitution. It’s like the Drafting Assembly. Most of the Constitution has been put together by the SAC-C, using the PGP Constitution as reference. We’re just working on changes and clarifications before it is made open to all to propose changes/ seek clarification. The meeting ended with us having read through about half the document. Another meeting is in store.

Today evening will see AMPLIFID – the music event that has been put together by the Music Club, AMPLIF-I! The evening promises an array of competitions, an open-mic session, an open-Jamming session and Karaoke! And, the prizes for winning the various events – theme-based singing, musician face-off and jingle-making- are all in the form of free food from the Smokin’ Joes and Buddy Café stalls that have been roped in for the event. Looking forward!

25/11/2014

25/11/2014; 23:38:

And, after the week which went by in a blur, we had a nice relaxed weekend. After a few classes on Saturday, we sat around twiddling our thumbs. The weather was nice and we set out on a walk, walked out of Gate 2, past Rau Railway Crossing and ended up at S-47’s new ‘Hill View’ Restaurant. They had a Punjabi food festival going on and we enjoyed some good food. They’d served us lassi in giant kulhads. We left for campus with two earthen kulhads in our hands and plans to use them, for milk, the next morning!

Once back on campus, there were interviews for Chiraag’s Art and Graphics departments in progress. I sketched all three members of the panel as well as the interview room as part of my assigned task. The interviews for the editorial board were held earlier in the week.

Later, at 11 p.m., the IPM Cricket League final began. It was a nail-biting finish, with Rishi Rowdies needing two runs off the last ball, to successfully chase the 76-run target that Akshay Aces had set. The bat struck the ball, it didn’t go too far; one mis-field and some furious running later, all of the Rishi Rowdies were on the field, pulling up wickets and dancing. A trophy, cash prizes, celebratory drinks and shutterbugs were soon everywhere.
I walked back to my hostel, staring up at the sky. We traced out Orion in the night sky and walked towards the North Star. It was then that we heard wailing. There had been a litter of abandoned puppies on campus, that I’d remembered spotting a few days ago. Heading towards the source of the noise, we spotted one puppy, whimpering. Working on instinct, I called up the self-proclaimed animal activist of our batch, who confirmed that he’d gathered up the puppies, fed them and put them in the cardboard box, earlier in the day. I then only asked how many puppies there were. Peeking into the box to see all three, who were understandably freezing, we acted quickly, transporting the box indoors and arranging milk. Wrapping them in a warm jacket, we stayed up most of the night. A veterinarian was nice enough to come in the next morning and take a look at the tiny things. Two animal-lover batch-mates carted the puppies to a shelter, in the evening.

Most of Sunday morning was spent sleeping. There were two post-lunch classes after which we got ourselves on the bus and headed out to eat. We ate at a new Mexican place in town- Meximus- the interior was red, simple and replete with sombreros and pictures of chillies. And, the food was rather good! Sunday evening saw a cook-off at JAM, organized by the E-Cell. Pancakes, pasta, French toast, sandwiches and more were whipped up by enthusiastic participants. The results of the cook-off are awaited. We’d meant to participate and prepare but we conveniently forgot to fill in the ‘ingredients required’ form.

The Social Entrepreneurship classes saw very meaningful guest speakers come in; both organizations are working in rural areas in Amravati and the North-East, providing medical aid and training.
On Monday evening, a workshop by the Krishnamurthy Foundation was held. The topic of discussion was ‘Mundane Issues’. The workshop however was unlike its name and was enlightening.

25th November was the birthday of one of our Media Comm. team members. We decided to call a ‘meeting’ and surprise him with cake.
The plan was beautifully executed and the cake was good. Media Comm. floated a mail, like most other committees, to get new associate members on board. Interviews for the same shall be held tomorrow. We’ve also planned a rather exciting journalist face-off! It shall happen in 3 stages and the final round will be held on the 10th of December.
After the meeting, we wandered off to go see the new hostels which are nearly completed. They look rather different from all the existing hostels which are square in shape, with an open central area and rooms on four sides. The new hostels are rectangular, and much longer than they are wide. There is a single long corridor, in the centre, with rooms on both sides. All doors open into the central corridor. The common washrooms appear to be on both ends of the building. The hostels are currently being furnished and shall be operational tentatively by January.

Night was spent trying to spot stars in the hazy sky. One of these days, I’m going to catch someone who has a good idea of all the constellations up there and have a whole star-gazing night.

22/11/2014

22/11/2014 ; 02:04:

The week just went by in a blur, with the mid-terms and the cricket matches.

15th evening was the last day of IRiS. Coke Studio had been contacted and Agnee – the band- set the stage on fire, true to their name.

A kid from the 2014 batch decided to record a video of the raita in the mess, since its consistency did not live up to his standard. He then mailed the video to the Infrastructure Committee and his whole batch, complete with hashtags including #raitamainpaaniyapaanimeinraita and #boondikaraita.

On the evening of the 16th, the MM professor was nice enough to hold a doubt-clearing session, on the eve of the mid-term.
17th was the Mathematical Modelling mid-term. 18th was the Human Rights mid-term and 19th was the Geography mid-term.

Right before the Human Rights mid-term began, there was a bunch of wailing puppies, near the classroom; no one could quite understand why they were wailing, though it seemed obvious that they were hungry. By the time the mid-term was over, a bunch of the classroom attendants had organized milk and warmth for the puppies, much to everyone’s satisfaction.

The IPM Cricket League is in full swing. We’re just back from watching the semi-finals! The final is set to be Rishi Rowdies v/s Akshay Aces – both teams from the 2012 Batch!

On the 17th, we were greeted with the happy news that 3 of our batch-mates had done the institute proud by winning a National B-Plan competition that was held in Mumbai, with their plan for Roof It- roofing solutions.

The week also saw a couple of newspapers/magazines including the Business Standard and India Today writing about the IPM Programme as an innovation in education. Each of us was really proud to see our course receive such positive coverage.

On the 18th, we received an e-mail from the Literary Club, regarding the revival of the hugely popular ‘Writer’s Den’ event from last year. It’s essentially a creative writing competition, with a 500-word limit on the entries and a new theme each week. The topic for the first week is themed on Harry Potter & reads ‘I AM THE WAND THAT CHOSE TOM RIDDLE’.

Mirage- the Creative Club held its first event for the year – BrandMaster – Logo/Advertising Quiz. It was a rather quick, 10-minute quiz and was fairly interesting. We’re looking forward to solving a second edition, soon!

The second half of the batch went on the trip to SPS, in Dewas. It was hotter and their trip was a lot more tiring than the first group’s!

The Media Committee is doing a good job of sending out a weekly newsfeed for the benefit of the IPM Community- the newsfeed ought to help the IPM kids keep track of what is going on the world around them!

A SAC EC meeting was held on the night of the 20th at 11 p.m. The proposed Gaming SIG (Self Interest Group) has been given a go-ahead and the idea of a data sever which houses all academic material relevant to the IPM course is being actively looked into. The Social Committee plans to pick up a rather extensive project in Khargone district, working with an NGO called Aasthagram that has been working in the area for over 25 years now.

In other news, the IGNOU Hall Tickets are out and a couple of exams have been rescheduled from the original plan, courtesy the State Elections in Bihar.

Also, JAM-Juices & More- has announced plans to hold a Cook Off, sometime soon. The prospect of innovative food looks rather promising.

15/11/2014

14/11/2014; 12:18:

11th & 12th November went by in a blur, with the Indian Politics & the Econometrics Mid-Terms.

IRiS- the PGP management-cum-cultural fest, began on the 13th. It’s a three day fest that will culminate in a performance by Agnee, presented by IRiS in association with Coke Studio.

Yesterday was also the field trip for the course on Social Entrepreneurship. We left campus at 6:30 in the morning, after we sat around waiting for over half an hour for everyone to turn up. We were to visit SPS- Samaj Pragati Sahyog, Dewas. We reached their Bagli Office at 9:05 a.m. where we were greeted with a warm breakfast of puri-sabji.
We were then on our way to Kevatipani, which I estimated to be about 10 k.m. The drive through the hills was refreshing. We were soon at the nearest site where watershed management had been implemented. A mud dam had been constructed by the village people, along with a large pond to harvest rain water, since the area has always been drought-prone. We then attended a lecture by Mr. Mihir Shah, the head of SPS, at their campus in Neemkheda. We made a stop at their Women’s Empowerment Cell and the BMC - Bulk Milk Cooler- site, both of which have contributed significantly to providing employment in the area, before starting our return journey.

15/11/2014 ; 03:00:

Meanwhile, thanks to IRiS , the campus is buzzing with activity. A stage has been set up in the Central Lawn, the one in the centre of the Acad Block and all events are being held there! 13th evening saw the Group Dance event while 14th evening saw the Fashion Show and the other Dance events.
The Management & Quizzing events have been going on, through the day, in various classrooms. Afternoon saw a Guinness World Record attempt at making the world’s largest soap mosaic, in association with HUL, in support of their ‘Help a Child Reach 5’ campaign which aims to create awareness on the issue of children’s health. Paintball & Gaming events have been going on, through the day as well.

Chiraag- the IPM e-magazine recently opened applications for new members in their various departments- Art, Photography, Editorial, Management and Graphics. I decided to try my hand at things other than writing & management and put in my name for the Art & the Photography departments. The pre-process for the Art department includes creating a sketch/painting on the theme ‘Elegance & Spice’ and interpreting a given work of art. The pre-process for the Photography department entails capturing a picture that fits one of the themes- Patriotism/ Another Brick in the Wall / Supernatural. The Editorial guys have an article to write and another to proof-read. The Management – Executive Team- had a written test; I assume that other rounds will follow. The Graphics guys had a logo to design and a story to illustrate. The Tech guys have an interview to give.

I sat, completing the pre-process, a little before the 12 a.m. deadline, a few hours ago, after which we were off to see the day’s cricket matches, for the IPM Cricket League is in full swing!

10/11/2014

10/11/2014; 17:02:

The weekend i.e. 8th & 9th of November was rather interesting! The IPM Cricket League began on Saturday. A bidding process was held in the Old Auditorium, at 10:45 p.m., on the night of 7th November. Seven teams have been made, three from the 2012 Batch, two from the 2013 Batch and two from the 2014 Batch. The names of the teams are most amusing- each is named after the captain- ‘Utkarsh United’, ‘Lalit Lions’ , ‘Dhananjay Dragons’ , ‘Rishi Rowdies’, ‘Akshay Aces’, ‘Sehera Serpents’ and ‘Saurav Sharks’! The first two matches were played on Saturday night with a large audience cheering!

Iris – the PGP cultural-cum-management fest begins on 13th! Excitement in the air is palpable. There are e-mails announcing new events being sent every day! Paintball, a Salsa Workshop, Finance & Marketing Events, the Fashion event and the pro-night which is all set to feature Coke Studio!

The weekend also saw the PGP batch host ‘Footprints’ – the annual alumni meet! Lunches, meeting with the faculty, a DJ party an performances by Vibes- the dance club & Harmon-I – the Music club ensured a fun weekend for all the alumni.

The IPM Finance Cell began the third edition of their ‘StockHunt’ event. The event is fairly simple - a fact sheet is sent at 11:30 p.m., the sheet contains clues about a particular listed firm. The first three people to correctly identify the firm are in to win! It is a week-long event with daily as well as an overall prize.

All these activities have been interspersed with a few classes. There’s a mid-term, tomorrow and another one , the day after.

07/11/2014

04/11/2014; 16:08:

And, there are a couple of pending things to write about- our experience at Spardha, the fun at BITS-Goa and the on-campus happenings in the last few days.

Let’s begin at home i.e. at IIM-Indore. Our term 7 Grades greeted us on the evening of 30th October, much to our terrible delight. 31st of October saw the launch of a Seed fund competition on campus – the event is an initiative of certain IIM-Indore alumni along with Hiranandani Group and promises up to 25 lakh seed funding to well-thought start-up ideas. The music club is all set to organize a Guitar Workshop for all the interested participants, starting somewhere in early December. They’ve also put a Guitar Bulk deal up on offer.
31st October also saw the celebration of Sardar Patel’s 139th Birth Anniversary as Rashtriya Ekta Divas, as part of which, there was an oath-taking ceremony in the afternoon and a movie-screening along with drama & music performances in the evening.
Planning for a Children’s Day event has begun, courtesy i-Help. The tentative plan includes fun events for the students of IIM-Indore’s adopted schools, both on our campus and in their classrooms!
The Sports Committee circulated the third edition of SportsPulse- the monthly Sports Newsletter on the 2nd of November. This edition encompasses the details of the Asian Games, EPL 2014 and the Women’s Volleyball World Championship 2014.
3rd of November saw a guest lecture by Miss Debolina Dutta, Head of Human Resource, VF Corporation, organization courtesy our E-Cell.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, we reached Banaras station at around 11 a.m., on the 30th of October. We were then whisked away to the IIT-BHU campus in a couple of SUV’s. We were on campus close to lunch-time. The BHU campus is beautiful; it’s no wonder it is talked about! We strolled around, discovering campus. A replica of the famous Kashi Vishwanath Mandir has been built on campus by Maviyaji, the founder. The campus is actually like a city in itself, buzzing with tourists even!
We sat around, watching a couple of matches that had started; the boys won a Badminton match. A couple of people went shopping / mandir-hopping. We went off to see the sunrise, early the next morning, at Ravidas Ghat. The sun simmering gently, rapidly where it hit the water kept us staring in silence. Two Girls’ Volleyball matches and a Basketball one followed. There was also a Boys’ Cricket Match, 2 Volleyball matches and the Power-lifting event. A kid from the 2014 batch had taken part in the Under 60 kg category and he won gold, lifting an impressive 270 kg. There was an opening ceremony at 4:00 p.m., where we participated in a march-past, dressed in jerseys, carrying the IIM-Indore flag and all.
Night was spent discovering the IIT-BHU canteen. Saturday was spent playing one match each of Volleyball & Basketball. We went out in the evening, hoping to get some Banarasi pan and chaat too! Sunday morning saw the Girls’ Basketball semi-final which we unfortunately lost to the home team. The Badmintno boys narrowly missed a shot at Gold while the Squash team won Silver.
The rest of the day was spent sight-seeing- the Ghats, the temples and the markets! Some people even went to Sarnath, which is about 10 km. away. Monday morning was spent trying to get a little more sight-seeing in, before we made our way to the railway station, to catch an 11:20 train to Jabalpur; we changed trains at Jabalpur and reached Indore at 10:45 a.m., on the 4th i.e. earlier today.

The team at BITS-Goa definitely had a better time roaming around the place than at the actual fest. The dance team made it to the finale- the top six! And the Drama team finished fourth. A couple of people picked up prizes in individual and pair events- Press Corps, Finance and the like. Bikes, beaches and a well-maintained new campus kept people happy over the weekend. My batch chose to travel by train, while the juniors preferred to book a bus. Sun, sand and sight-seeing pretty much summed their trip up!

07/11/2014; 01:15:

The team from BITS-Goa was back to campus, in two installments- on the night of the 4th and on the morning of the 5th. 4th was an Institute Holiday and we ended up going out for dinner- we also ended up going out for dinner on the 5th and the 6th, but, that's a different story!

5th & 6th of November was Utsaha-the Annual Rural Market Research Festival, the 'Kartik Purnima' mela of Janav Kutti Village, attended by the PGP batches of IIM-Indore. It was the 7th edition of an event which spans two days, reaches out to over 50,000 rural people and involves engaging the rural audience by designing games, events and shows structured around the research objectives, thus lending the whole experience an element of fun along with learning.
It was rather successfully organized, with Unilever, ITC, Pepsi, Mondelez (Formerly known as Cadbury), Vodafone and Pidilite on board as the market research partners.

An industrial visit to Signet Industries was organized by the E-Cell for students of all three IPM batches, on the 6th of November. Interested students went in two batches and had a wonderful learning experience. We got to see the manafacturing process that goes into making various agricultural implements, from micro irrigation pipes to those used in bore-wells.

There's a Mathematical Modelling Quiz, scheduled to happen at 10 a.m., in a few hours. Also, the Newspaper Bulk deal is to be renewed and new subscriptions taken, for all the IPM students.

The 2014 batch is all back from a relaxing first term break and they appear all geared up to take on the world! Most of us, the 2012 batch, are looking forward to the month-long break in December- the break is planned, in order for us to be able to write our IGNOU end-year exams well!

There's a report to be submitted as part of the course on Social Entrepreneurship, by the end of today. The report ought to document each of the three guest lectures that we've attended as part of the course- each guest lecture was delivered by the founder of a well-established social enterprise.
There's a lot of good learning to happen! A site-visit to an organization in Dewas has also been planned, on the 13th of the month.

The Principles of Management classes just get better and better! There have been videos and engaging discussions galore! Last class, sir handed out blank sheets, paired us up and asked each of us to sketch our partners! This was then followed by a test of creativity, where we were given 30 blank circles to convert into meaningful objects, in the least possible time! It was great to see imaginations soar!

The most important thing to remember during a brain-storming session is that one ought not to reject ideas outright, but, one is only to collect all ideas that are being suggested at the moment; criticism and the feasibility of ideas is to be taken up only at a later stage- this allows ideas to flow freely and ensures that the best ideas surface!

30/10/2014

30/10/2014; 02:56:

The last couple of days have begun with early morning MM classes. It’s fascinating how the beating of the human heart, the spread of epidemic diseases and species ecology can all be drawn into differential equations. I remember reading somewhere that ‘Maths is the language of Nature & Physics its poetry’. A beautiful quote which reads, now, truer than ever.

We managed to squeeze in a couple more volleyball / basketball practices on the 27th and the 28th.
The faculty mess has relocated itself, albeit temporarily, to the first floor of the Academic Block, from its usual ground floor site. It now sits in the room orthogonally adjacent to the CAO’s Office. Of course, they still continue to serve dahi kachori, Maggi and fruit juices.

There was an Econometrics Quiz on the afternoon of the 27th. There has been a certain tinge of excitement in the air, with lots of IPM students going to participate in one of two fests that are happening at the same time-BITS Goa’s Cultural Fest ‘Waves’ & IIT-BHU’s Sports Fest ‘Spardha’.

28th Night, 10:00 p.m. saw an open-air performance, on the basketball court to be precise, by the team going to perform a Nukkad Natak at ‘Waves’. The drama is titled ‘ Sex-Sex Shh-Shh, Sex-Sex Shh-Shh’ and deals with the taboo associated with the word as well as the inadequate state of sex education in India. The other team’s play too, is centred around rape, female foeticide and abuse. So much for non-taboo, conventional themes. Other participants include the dance team, the Fashion Show team and the literary events teams.
The Boys’ Cricket, Volleyball, Badminton, Squash, Power-Lifting and the Girls’ Basketball & Volleyball teams make up the contingent that will represent IIM-Indore at Spardha.

We left, the afternoon of the 29th, at 12:30 p.m., to catch a 2:00 p.m. train to Banaras. The train takes about 21 hours to get from Indore to Banaras. The mess packed us lunch to go & a well-equipped first-aid kit was arranged; all month long, the hostel office has been nice enough to arrange for sports equipment and permission for late-night practice.
We’re now on the train which will soon halt at Kanpur. I’m really looking forward to getting some hot food at Kanpur station.

Here’s hoping for a win at the Sport’s fest!

26/10/2014

26/10/2014; 03:20:

The highlight of the 24th was the successful rescue-mission that we undertook. Our 3 basketballs that had landed into construction pits were gallantly rescued by 3 of our team members working in tandem. This activity was undertaken at around 5:30 p.m. and was successfully completed in about 20 minutes. We then treated ourselves to Keema parathas and ice-cream in the Food Court.

Volleyball practice followed soon after. And of course, our post-dinner exploits continued uninterrupted, on the basketball court. This was followed by writing late into the wee hours of the morning, while watching the latest season of Grey’s Anatomy.

25th saw the very first SAC body meeting for the new academic year. Core members of all the committees and clubs were present, in a meeting chaired by the SAC-Coordinator. Unfortunately however, the 2014 Batch is on vacation and the kids missed the very first meeting. The main agenda of the meeting was an introduction session, to ensure that every member of the SAC knows every other member. The meeting began at 9:00 p.m. and lasted around an hour or so.
Immediately after, the SAC EC- Executive Committee, met for the first time too. The SAC EC comprises of the SAC-Coordinator, the SAC-Treasurer and the coordinators of the 5 committees- namely the Sports, Media, Social, Academic and Infrastructure Committees. Matters discussed in this first meeting included a proposal to start a Laundromat service in the institute, the formation of new Self-Interest-Groups and the idea of conducting a Sports Fest in the last week of February.

We rushed off for Basketball practice as soon as the meeting was over. After practice, we ended up at our usual post-practice haunt- the Night Mess. Diwali sweets, courtesy one of the team members was a perfect close to the evening.

Now, IRIS- the PGP cultural-cum-management fest is just around the corner. E-mails containing details of the various events are being sent out, periodically and, life is interesting!

24/10/2014

24/10/2014; 06:50:


Okay, now I ought to fill in the days in between.
Most of this time was spent in piecing together the Media Comm. team which, yay, is now complete!

18th was the deadline for the 2013 Batch to send in their pre-process tasks. The pre-process task for the 2013 Batch was the same one that had been designed for the 2014 Batch. We read some of them as they came in and read all of the others during the day, on the 19th.
Classes done, all of 19th evening, from 6p.m., all the way till 2 a.m. was spent taking interviews, for we called in each of the candidates for a one-on-one interaction unlike all the other committees who’d prepared shortlists.

The elections- the final stage in the selection of the members was conducted on the morning of the 20th, while we were in class. Post-lunch, I sat around with the SAC-Coordinator, counting out the votes. The results were sent out, soon after! The night was as has become routine spent playing Basketball.

21st morning began with a Mathematical Modelling class. Sir somehow manages to make everything sound so very fascinating; it is a pleasure to listen to him!! There was then a session of ‘Principles of Management’. Sir is very nice! Every new topic begins with a song being played! And, the song is even relevant to the topic! Like, when he was to begin the topic on ‘Evolution of Management’, he played the song ‘Dheere Dheere’; this clearly brought out the difference between ‘evolution’ which is slow & gradual and a sudden, rapid ‘revolution’! Also, he incorporates different movie clips into his teaching!
We then played Volleyball in the evening! Our team is getting better; I’ve also managed to pick up a decent bit of Volleyball, so, life’s good. Basketball was played from 10:30 p.m. to 3 a.m.; there were a couple of guys who joined us, we started a match and went on playing until everyone was exhausted! This was followed by some ‘team-bonding’ time and cold-drinks at the night mess before everyone filed into their respective rooms, showered and crashed!

Okay, and, that’s that, pretty much! The campus is kind of deserted, with the 2014 Batch home on vacation, PGPII not yet back from their Himalayan Outbound Programme and a lot of PGPI & IPM-2013 & 2012 home for Diwali. Hoping to see the campus buzzing with life, soon!

24/10/2014

24/10/2014; 03:43:


And, Happy Diwali, everyone!!
The build-up to Diwali began a little before the 22nd, when we made plans for the 22nd! There was a three-day break lined up from the 22nd to the 24th; a lot of people made good use of this opportunity and spent Diwali at home.

After a meeting the previous night, I was woken up at mid-day to put out plan into action. We were to visit an Old Age Home in Indore, in order to share the joy of Diwali with the residents. A bus was scheduled to leave at 1:00 p.m. Usually, there are more seats in the bus than people willing to go, but, this time around, there was one bus and loads of people. The first instalment of people was sent on this bus- the guys who were to perform and everything- and a second bus was soon arranged for the rest of us. We reached Aastha Vradhaasram at around 2:30 p.m. All the creative ladies got to work on a rather beautiful rangoli. Some people immediately set off to interact with the senior citizens, sharing stories and life histories. Others, the performing & organizing teams went about, arranging their guitars, music system, sweets that were to be distributed and handing over the monetary contribution ( and a carom board!) that had been raised back home at IIM-Indore to the managing committee of the trust. I walked around, watching the set-up guys at work, admiring the handiwork of the rangoli ladies and smiling and greeting everyone I came across. My friend and I walked into the ladies’ residence, for the interaction team seemed to have missed that, smiling & gossiping. We then settled down to play carom with one very talkative uncle and his friend.

At around 3:30, a large troupe of enthusiastic senior citizens trooped into the main hall, where the performance guys were all ready and waiting. They began with singing a few rather emotional songs, followed that up with dances to a few trendy numbers, added another song and closed with a very well-received old number. Sweets were then distributed to everyone, while we sat around in groups, talking & sharing laughs. One uncle spent a considerable amount of time reciting shaayaris- the crowd around him kept growing! He brought his performance to a close with a ghazal!!
A few of our kids had gotten really sentimental, were missing long-gone grandparents and had begun to weep. Of course, all the love pouring in from the new ‘nanis’ and ‘dadis’ we’d found solved all that. In the middle of all this, the press made an appearance- and insisted on clicking photographs in the oddest of poses- an old lady playing the guitar and a group of them staring at the rangoli- all while the (well-dressed!) kids were made to stand around and watch!
Shruti had complained about the press coming in, even the day earlier! She felt like it made the whole effort seem like it was done only to draw publicity. And since that was not our aim, anything which projected it that way was a strict no. Of course, I had to explain that no press meant that my Media Comm. would be rendered redundant! And, well, since she hadn’t voiced her opinions loud enough, the press was welcome!
Blessings, smiles and reluctance later, we were on our way – some on their way straight back to campus and others, like me, on their way to roam around.
I ended up in the food court on the top-floor of Malhar Mall, eating Honey Chilli Potatoes from my usual shop. They now recognize me as the ‘honey-chilli-potato-lady’. Well, at least it saves me the effort of choosing and placing an order! I was then in More, shopping.

Back on campus, a stall selling diyas had been set-up outside the Pi Shop by the i-Help volunteers. The diyas had been painted by the kids that the i-Help volunteers teach. All proceeds from the sale are to go to Goonj, to the aid of the Jammu & Kashmir Flood victims. i-Helps’ earlier initiative- the Daan Utsav had managed to help raise almost 50,000 rupees for the same cause.

Once I was back on campus, write-ups and accompanying pictures were sent to a couple of newspapers who hadn’t turned up at the event. Our first press release since taking over the IPM Media Comm! We then played Volleyball, before turning our attention to Basketball practice. We only played for a short while, since a lot of the team members were out, celebrating Diwali with family. We decided to take a shortcut on our way back from the Basketball court to our hostel. Since construction is underway, we encountered a couple of pits. Now, none of our members were lost in transportation, but, 3 of our 5 Basketballs found their way to the bottom of 2 pits. Annoyed, snickering, surprised, we made a mental note to return in the morning to rescue them and went on our merry way.

We ended up outside the main mess, where 3 of our fellow IPM girls were at work, making a beautiful rangoli. We wandered into the night mess and ate a couple of paneer parathas. I then walked around the rangoli, feeding the now 4 ladies at work, since one of our team-mates had joined in!
Once back in the hostel, we spent some time, ‘chilling’.

I woke up late in the afternoon and it was Diwali! We then headed to the first event lined up as part of the Diwali celebration on campus- Diya painting at Mess 2. While everyone was hard at work, meticulously painting diyas in an array of colours and adding designs, I picked one up and painted it bright neon pink. And, it looked beautiful; it stood out alright.
I then made my way to the Pi shop where Rangoli making was in progress. I joined in, trying my hand at something I’d clearly not done any of, before. I was then hungry. We poked the food court at Mess 2, where we were informed that no food would be available till 7:30 p.m. We hung around, ate chicken curry and parrota and then walked up to our hostel where a few of my friends took it upon themselves to get me better dressed for the occasion than the T-shirt & shorts I was in. A new kurti, which was a recent birthday gift, was unearthed and new earrings off of a recent Kashmir trip emerged as well. Once the new look was approved, we made our way to the mandir, to join in the Diwali Pooja.
At around 9:00 p.m., arrangements were in full swing, on the football field. A music system and speakers were in place, blaring dance tracks! I spent half an hour, trying to get someone to join me, dancing, but, gave up, after an entirely failed enterprise. By 10:00 p.m., crackers were being burst, a bonfire was lit and sky-lanterns were floated.
A little gossiping and a lot of selfies later, Diwali night drew to a close.
And, it’s now light outside. Since we forgot to go looking for the Basketballs, courtesy Diwali, we shall be off now! Here’s hoping for success!

18/10/2014

17/10/2014; 03:37:

And, finally. The irony of the blog continues- when you’re free, there’s nothing to write about and when there’s loads of stuff to write about, there’s no time!
Let’s begin where I left off and work our way to today.
11th October- After pestering the SAC-C all night and all through the day, the votes had finally been counted, tallied and the final result prepared. The e-mail with the results made its way to the inboxes of all the IPM students at around 9 p.m. I was in the Mess, eating dinner, blissfully unaware, when a phone call from a 2014 kid alerted me to the good news. And then, my phone wouldn’t stop buzzing. I got to thank everyone and admit that I actually did need to thank them, for it was the election result which got me the post of Coordinator of the Media & PR Committee.

The happy announcement was immediately followed by a mail requiring all the newly selected coordinators and members of the various committees to report for a meeting at 11 p.m., in the FPM Common Room. The meeting saw an inspirational speech being delivered by the SAC Coordinator, with the SAC-Treasurer in agreement. There were instructions given that stated that members from the two junior batches were to be selected at the earliest. The selection procedure to be followed was the same one by which all the members and coordinators of the 2012 batch had been selected. That, and a tentative calendar of activities for the year was to be prepared by each committee. The Media Committee was also assigned the extra task of preparing the content for the IPM Brochure. The Brochure is the one that will be used for Placement purposes. The design is to be the responsibility of the Creativity Club.

Soon after I was back in my room, I designed and sent out the pre-process tasks. Media Comm. was the first one to do so. Efficiency is good, most times. The task was kept rather simple; apart from an SOP & Résumé which are required parts, an article on any topic was to be written up along with a few ideas on how to propagate IPM in the industry. The task was kept short, since the 2014 Batch were to have their end-term exams from the 14th to the 18th of October. The selection for 2013 was to begin once they returned from their term break, on the 17th.

12th October- Well, by virtue of the 1 2o’ clock rule, all the work on the pre-process ought to be dated 12th, but, well. Most of 12th October, Sunday was spent attending lots of classes.
The course on Social Entrepreneurship began on the afternoon of 12th. The course seemed rather interesting; at least it is going to be very different from all the others; a refreshing change.
We went out for dinner, to Taas Lounge in TI Mall. Taas has good Chinese food but atrociously slow service. There was a previous instance when they just could not get our food prepared in time (for the last bus to campus is at 10 p.m.) , but, this time, we planned ahead and were there by 8 p.m.! As observed by my friend who is a regular, Taas is over-staffed outside the kitchen and under-staffed inside the kitchen. Her observation made a lot of sense to all of us. Anyway, the food was good.

18/10/2014; 04:03:

13th October- The day began with all the pre-processes being sent in by the deadline, which was 8:30 a.m. We then sat around, reading the pre-processes; not marking them yet, for we wanted the process to remain fair for everyone.
Post-lunch, there was a Social Entrepreneurship session, where one of the long standing members of ‘Caring Friends’- an organization that helps dedicated NGO’s fund their causes by being a perfect interface between the supply and demand- addressed our batch.
Then, a certain kid from the 2014 batch sent in a mail to the SAC-C, informing her that he had filled in the Nomination Form, to apply to the Media Comm. and the E-Cell, but, he had not received the pre-process as of then. I was asked to look into the matter, which was hard considering that the deadline was over and that all pre-processes had already been sent in. Since real conversations are a lot better than e-mails, I asked for & offered a phone number. The kid apparently forgot to submit the form; we sent him the pre-process promptly, after which he called up, explaining and more so to check what would become of his peer review. I offered to award him the average, which he refused. I then offered to scale his own scores, which he refused too. Another mail had to be sent, bothering all the other applicants to fill in an additional peer review.

My neighbour had been unwell for a while; she also very successfully passed on her cold to an already coughing me. The unwell neighbour wished to go out for dinner and we found ourselves at Chick’n’Serve, which as the name suggests prepares chicken in various forms- Barbequed, Grilled, Tandoori and in Shawarmas. We were back on the last bus from Indore city to the campus, just in time for a previously scheduled meeting. The agenda of the meeting was to reach a consensus on the mode of transportation that the contingent going to represent IIM-Indore at IIT-BHU’s fest, Spardha, was to use. Spardha is on the 31st of October, 1st & 2nd Of November. Banaras is over 24 hours of travel time away from Indore, which is our largest problem with attending the fest; though, all these trivial problems have been overcome and we are very much going! And, going to win!
I was escorted to my hostel by a junior who spent an hour elaborately explaining why the Media Committee was useless. I also spent the same hour scowling and arguing with him, convinced that the kid was just trying to act smart. We reached a rather unexpected, happy conclusion and all was good again.
Later, the Media Comm. Core Member from my batch and I sat holed up in the common room, marking the pre-process. This was successfully accomplished only by 4:15 a.m. Post this, a beautiful e-mail which was the Call for Interviews for the shortlisted candidates was drafted and sent out. I finally managed to go to bed only post 5:00 a.m.
14th October- The day began with two sessions of Social Entrepreneurship, where the founder of ‘Dilasa’- an NGO which has been working in the farmer-suicide affected district of Vidarbha in Maharashtra- came in to inspire the batch with his story.
This was followed by an array of classes. A new course on Principles of Management was to begin on the 15th, and a group assignment had been assigned to us, even before the first session! While some groups worked diligently on the presentation, our group quickly whipped up an acceptable assignment which featured random words and phrases interspersed with images on a few slides.

Post 11 p.m., we finally began our Basketball practice. We played for about 2 hours. By the end of it, everyone returned to their rooms, happy and content.
15th October- When the clock, uh, on my phone struck, uh, displayed 00:00, I called up my father to wish him a Happy Birthday.
After a very enjoyable first session of Principles of Management, where we were shown clips from MunnaBhai M.B.B.S and Rocket Singh, there was a meeting to be attended at 3:30 p.m.
The meeting entailed a discussion about an upcoming SAC Activity- one that we hope shall be the first one to be undertaken by the newly formed body. Plans include spending a day with children at a local orphanage, celebrating Diwali- all with song, dance, drama, a pooja , sports and a few crackers. Work has been divided as per the domain of each Club/Committee. Our Media Comm. gets to invite press to the event.
I rushed back after the meeting, to get the Interviews for the 2014 Batch started at 4:30 p.m.
The interviews went on till 7:30 p.m. after which we took a break. I spent the break at an Atharv success party thrown by the Director of the Institute for the core team of the fest. It was nice to interact with Director sir in an informal setting, with the party taking place in the garden adjoining his house. We talked about our take-away from the fest, the reaction of the faculty and guests and our learning for the next edition. We then spoke about HR Managers, the internet and sir’s time at IIT-Kanpur, where he was more actively involved in organizing SPIC-MACY concerts than studying. He also told us of how he happened to end up doing a Ph.D, after deciding that he wanted to do something different than get a job- his options being the family business & further studies. We’re glad that he picked the latter, for sir is a wonderful person to have as Director of IIM-Indore.
The dinner party was wrapped up by 10:00 p.m., post which there were interviews to be returned to. The second edition of the interviews began at 11:00 p.m., and ended around 2 a.m.
16th October- Early morning was spent on our usual i-Help trip. This time, I taught Class 8 girls the basics of percentage, as covered under their Mathematics syllabus.
Once I was back on campus, I was asked to join the SAC-C to meet some person who was visiting campus in order to gather information about the IPM Programme. After a rather formal meeting with the class-12 IPM aspirant, our SAC-C and her room-mate excused themselves while I offered to show him around campus. I was joined by a kid from the 2014 batch, who enthusiastically gave the new kid good advice about the course and the entrance test. We walked the kid around campus, feeling rather happy as he marvelled at the beautiful campus.
I then fell asleep for a million hours, waking up only close to 10:00 p.m. Our first volleyball practice followed, at 11:00 p.m. While the game is rather intriguing, it is being broken down into easier steps and I might just be able to learn how to play, hopefully. Since we are participating in the Women’s Volleyball as well as the Women’s Basketball events, we hope to have picked up most of the basics by then.

Late night was spent finishing up all pending work, including finishing creating the content for the IPM brochure- the one which shall be used for placement purposes.

17th October- We sent the scores of the short-listed as well as the other candidates to the SAC-C. There was an election held in the evening which was the final step in determining which kids of the 2014 batch make it to the positions of Core Members of various committees/clubs.
The results were sent out in a few hours. This was followed by speculation and celebration.
We spent an hour playing Volleyball and then another 2 and a half playing Basketball, all up till now i.e. 2:00 a.m.!

10/10/2014

10/10/2014; 23:35:

The term began well, with 2 Econometrics classes on the first day of the term i.e. 7th October. The Econometrics professor is always laughing and class is good. The evening of the first day was spent writing pre-process tasks for the various committees and talking all night, swapping vacation stories and home-made food. I returned from the land of Garba, Ahmedabad, with a carton full of khakra for everyone to enjoy.

The 2014 Batch has been having a Section A v/s Section B Sports event. Basketball was won by Section B, as was Volleyball. Section A took Football & Cricket. It’s come down to the Girls’ Throwball Event!

9th October saw interviews take place, as part of the selection process for the members/coordinators of the various clubs and committees. The interviews for most committees/clubs were taken by the coordinators (and in some cases the core members as well) of the corresponding PGP committee/club. The interview for the Media & PR Committee was very enjoyable; the PGP Media Comm Coordinator and his team-member were both rather sweet and were actually eager to listen to ideas that the candidates had to offer in response to their well-thought questions. Almost all applicants for the Dance Club are members of Vibes, the PGP Dance Club and hence the interviews were mostly informal, given that the coordinator is friends with all of them. The Creativity Club received only 2 applications for 2 positions, yet, the whole procedure is being conducted as is. The Finance Club interviewers were on top of their game, cross-checking all responses over the internet in real-time, as they deemed fit. The Entrepreneurship Cell surprisingly had only one female applicant, as did the Sports Committee. The guys doing the Sports Committee selection went all out, getting the applicants to make power-point presentations, prepare a plan for a full-fledged Sports fest and even conducting group discussions. Pragati- the PGP Social Comm. members seem very dedicated to their cause, meticulously reading all the pre-process tasks and conducting detailed interviews for each of the 12 applicants.
All interviews began late at night and went on till past-mid night. Satisfied, unhappy, triumphant applicants returned to their rooms to more chattering, sharing interview experiences and speculation.

The pre-process tasks (including a peer-review) as well as the interview carry a 35% weightage each, in the selection process. The last 30% is the votes, in an election where all three IPM Batches get to vote. The election was held this evening, i.e. the evening of 10th October, from 6:30 7:30 for the 2012 Batch and from 8:30-10:30 for the 2014 Batch. The scores of the pre-process & interview had been used to short-list 4 applicants for each committee, for the election. Each applicant was given a minute and a half & the opportunity to present his ideas to the batch. This was pretty unnecessary with our own batch, for everyone ought to know everyone by now, and well, perhaps everyone’s votes were already decided. Of course, with the 2014 Batch, this was rather necessary, for most of my batch-mates haven’t interacted much, with the batch as a whole. Mine of course is a different story. I got up to speak, and was greeted with loud applause and cheering. My ‘speech’ consisted only of me stating my name & ‘Media Committee’, smiling & receiving more applause & cheering. The new junior batch is actually full of very nice kids! (Even though they do not really like being thought of as ‘kids’!). The 2013 Batch is not on campus and an online form has been e-mailed to them, in order to allow them to exercise their right to have a say in the elections.
After the election, there was pizza to be had, for the girls’ hostel had gotten together and ordered in, for Dominos had a 50% discount running; a lot of restaurants in Indore are willing to take the effort to come deliver their wares, all the way to our hostels, in a campus that is 16 k.m. from Indore City centre, which is rather nice.

We’re now looking forward to learning the results of the election, to know who the new coordinators for 5 committees and 8 clubs will be! Once that is done, members, 2 each from each of the junior batches will be selected; the interest form has already been sent to the 2014 batch, for the selections need to be successfully completed before their end-terms begin on the 14th; they then get to go home, for 2 weeks, on the 18th. . The selection for the 2013 Batch will be held soon after they are back on campus after their term break, on the 15th.

06/10/2014

06/10/2014; 23:59:

And, it’s great to be back on campus! I reached at 7:30, this morning. 35 minutes later, I was sitting at the breakfast table with my batch-mates, sharing vacation stories. The 35 minutes were spent shifting my stuff back from the ‘Cloak Room’ to my room, unpacking and laying out a fresh bed.

An hour of gossip later, I made my way to the FPM Common Room where an i-Help meeting was to be in progress. So much effort is being put in, with the objective of raising funds towards Jammu & Kashmir Flood Relief. The meeting saw a menu being planned for the stalls to be set up in the evening. The menu included bhel, sandwiches, fresh lime soda and desserts. The menu was then beautifully written out on pink chart paper.
By the time the meeting was over, the laundry was definitely open. I collected my clothes- the ones I’d dropped there the day before I left for home and was glad to finally have my towels back. A hurried bath later, I was in the library, reading the latest copy of Reader’s Digest. If I had to pick a favourite magazine, this had to be it! Well, it’s pretty much the only one I read, so there’s not much competition there, really. I was grateful for my news friends in the rather enthusiastic 2014 Batch, for it was because of these guys that I began my new term with this visit to the library!

The stall was set up outside our very own Pi-Shop and began to do brisk business by about 5:00 p.m. There wasn’t much of a planned celebration for Eid, so, the i-Help stall was one way to join in the festivity while contributing to a good cause.

Post & during dinner gossip sessions pulled the day to a close. The various committee/club pre-processes is pretty much what everyone’s talking about, after sharing vacation stories!

And, the new term, term VIII (wow!) begins tomorrow morning at 10:15 a.m. The term registration was very efficiently carried out online, during the term break. A total of 30 credits were on offer, in the form of 7 4-credit courses and one 2-crdit course. 16 of these 30 credits are to be in compulsory courses namely Econometrics, Indian Politics, Principles of Management and Social Entrepreneurship. The electives include Mathematical Modelling, Introduction to Geography, Human Rights and Contemporary Social Issues. Looking forward to all these courses!

05/10/2014

05/10/2014; 20:37:

And this is another first. I'm on a train which is making it's way to Indore. No, not the train ride; this blogpost holds the honour of being the first one that's being composed in a train.

Recently, on the 4th of October, pre-processes to select the members/coordinators of various committees & clubs under the IPM SAC, were sent via e-mail. The hopefuls had previously signed up for a maximum of two clubs/committees, before we left for the term break. The process will first be carried out for the 2012 batch and then be extended to pick members from the two junior batches. The selection process for committee and club coordinators has been redesigned from this time forward. From being an open election, it is now a 3-step process- written pre-processes, followed by an interview and finally an election. Each club/committee shall have 2 members from each batch. From the senior-most batch, one of the two selected members shall be the coordinator.

One question which appears to be common across all committee pre-processes is one which deals with making the industry aware of the IPM programme. Being a new programme, it is necessary that the industry is made aware of its merits at the earliest. This was one of the aims we had in mind when organizing Atharv too. A resume that states your credible achievements and relevant positions of responsibility as well as a Statement of Purpose is required of all the candidates, across committees/clubs. A rather novel introduction as far as IPM SAC selections go is the Peer Review Form, where you are required to mark, on various parameters your competition i.e. all the other people who are applying for the same position that you are.

I-help volunteers ran stalls selling lemon soda, chocolate muffins and ice-cream sundaes, this evening. Plans are in place to expand the variety on offer, tomorrow, it being a festival and hence an institute holiday and all. All proceeds from the stalls shall find their way to the fund being collected in aid of those affected by the Jammu & Kashmir floods. An association with Goonj is already in place and they will ensure that all that is collected reaches those in need.

Looking forward to being back on campus amidst all the fun & chatter!

4/10/2014

4/10/2014; 19:57:

It’s been really, really long, fuelled partly by the vacations, and partly by my
feeling a little off the weather, being disconnected from everything.

I could either write about all the days that have been missed or just pretend that they were uneventful which would not be very untrue.

Little before we left campus, for our term break which began on the 21st of September, i-Help (as well as Pragati, the PGP Social Committee) received an e-mail from the Director, asking us to go ahead and plan a series of events for the week of 2nd to 8th October. The week is being observed as a National Joy of Giving week, ‘Daan Utsav’ and this year, all top B-schools of the country have taken it upon themselves to join the ranks of those who are striving to make a difference. Our Director Sir very obviously wanted IIM-Indore to participate whole-heartedly in this magnanimous endeavour.

It was unanimously agreed upon that the PGP Social Committee’s contribution would be limited to the Indore Marathon that was organized on the 2nd of October- this is an annual event and was not being specially conducted for the ‘Daan Utsav’.
Each year, the Indore Marathon, organized by IIM-Indore picks up a social cause that we believe needs to be addressed. This year, it was a run for the benefit of the Homeless. A week-long, city-wide donation drive was carried out and everything was handed over to the needy, by our IIM-Indore volunteers. The event itself began with our volunteers preparing the set-up at Dusshera Maidan, on the night of 1st October, a few hours before the race was to begin. Registration counters for those who wished to register on-the-spot opened shop at 5 a.m. The 11 k.m. Run-for-A-Cause was flagged off at 7 a.m. It began at Dusshera Maidan and the finish line was the IIM-Indore Campus.
There was another version of the Marathon, the 3 k.m. Dream Run which began at 9 a.m., on campus. This was soon followed by the Prize Distribution and loads of appreciation poured in, for a good cause unites like no other.

i-Help’s first event began as per plan. After about 2 weeks of planning, picking up an association with Goonj , getting 92.7. BIG FM on board and getting a series of permissions from the A.D.M and S.D.M of the district, it was amazing to see everything that had hitherto been only talked of and imagined actually happening. All of the work had been put in by the rather enthusiastic 2014 Batch. A Nukkad Natak was performed on the streets of Indore, right in the heart of Chappan, Indore’s Khau Gali, on the 2nd of October. A strong appeal, asking people to come forward and support those wrecked by the Jammu & Kashmir Floods had an overwhelming effect and people contributed generously.
The 3rd of October saw a replication of the Nukkad Natak, accompanied by song as well as dance performances in the New Auditorium, as a run-up to the Foundation Day Celebration which began at 3:00 p.m. The 18th Foundation Day was made more auspicious by the fact that it was on the same day as Dusshera- the day that celebrates the triumph of good over evil. As everyone, faculty, staff and students proceeded to enjoy the Foundation Day Dinner, they gave generously for the cause, dropping their contributions into a strategically placed donation box.

At 11 p.m., Raavan was scheduled to burn. This event too saw a rendition of the Nukkad Natak which was well appreciated by the student community.

In between all this, Dandiya Night was held on campus, on the 29th of September. Dancing began at 9 p.m. and stretched well into the wee hours of the morning. As always, the evening began with Garba and ended with everyone swaying to the latest Bollywood numbers.

I’m scheduled to return to campus, by the Indore-Gandhinagar express which leaves here at 7:45 p.m., on the evening of 5th. I’m rather looking forward to going back and catching up with everything!

23/09/2014

23/09/2014; 23:09:

Yay, the date and the time match. That, and I'm finally home! This whole term just went by in a blur, with the coming in of the new batch and all the Atharv work. Looking forward to focusing my energies on different things, once the new term begins!
Let's start with writing about the Birthday which was on the 20th.

I had a good mind of writing a Birthday post which would essentially consist of celebratory statements revolving around how I'm 21- the age to be and blowing my trumpet. Luckily, I did not get around to writing that post. Next year, possibly.

Anyway, as it struck mid-night, I made my way up to the hostel terrace, found a chair already placed in the perfect spot and sat down to watch my friends at work, arranging my birthday cake-cutting. It’s just this hostel tradition now, there’s a cake, a cake-cutting, a face decorated with cake, people singing and hugs, for each person’s birthday. It is a rather nice experience, for everyone involved.
Almost all the batch-girls were assembled in my room, most presumably for my birthday. After 10 minutes were spent looking for me, I made a grand entry down the stairs, to less curses and more cries of ‘Happy Birthday’. Grinning from ear to ear, I proceeded to blow out the magic re-lighting candles which were mostly stumps, by now. Wishes, hugs and lots of love later, everyone disappeared since a history mid-term was in the offing.
I received a couple of cards and I hope I’m able to keep them around, for some time at least. Knowing me, this will be quite a task. That, 2 kurtis and lip gloss- all stuff that I wouldn’t even think of buying- my friends do know me too well. Oh, and a ‘365 reasons to Smile’ calendar.

The night was spent gossiping with my room-mate, since we both agreed that birthdays are more important than History end-term exams.
The history end-term was surprisingly good. Well, I can maintain that at least until the results are out.
A cab had been called, at 11:30, right as soon as the paper was over. My room-mate was leaving for home on the 4p.m. train. Lunch, ice-cream and one room-mate dropped at the station later, I was on the Institute Bus, heading back to campus.
Once back, I rushed to submit my IGNOU assignments which I had finally managed to complete. It had been quite a task, mainly because I’ve picked random subjects which no one else in the batch has, which meant that the assignments had to be worked on by myself, from beginning to end. I finally made up my mind about the month-off in December. I’ll stay on campus and give my IGNOU exams here. The date-sheet appeared which made my decision easier. Unlike almost everyone else, who have one paper on the 1st, another on the 6th and the others all scattered, until the 30th, I have one on the 6th and the others one after the other between the 15th and 20th. Also, while so many people have 7 papers, I have only 4. Plans include a week at home and then leaving for Bombay on the 21st- Christmas, Mood Indigo and New Year’s, all in Mumbai. This decision made, I also submitted my examination form, registration form and DD’s.

A dinner plan was soon in order. On the invite list were the few batch-girls who were still on campus. Half our party was already in the city and there were only the 3 of us who’d planned to get on the 7 p.m. institute bus. Unfortunately, our junior batch too decided that a party needed to be held. The lot of them happily waved at us from a full bus, also adding birthday greetings for good measure. Attempts at the next two buses proved futile mostly because of a no-show and we slinked away to the food-court in Mess 2 and got ourselves burgers and ice-cream. The ice-cream was good. The next two hours were spent lying on the footpath behind Mess2, talking about odds and ends and how being 21 is awesome.
Once back in the hostel, everyone had to leave by 10 the next morning- everyone seemed to have rather early morning flights!- and was packing frantically, since order had come in only a few days ago, asking us to vacate our rooms before we leave to go home. My train wasn’t until the night of the 22nd and packing my stuff was the least of my concerns, at that moment. I ambled around, offering help and generally talking. Shruti gave my ambling some purpose and I sat around in her room and moved a few cartons around.
Even later that night, we had a non-veg food party where we gossiped until everyone dispersed one by one.

I’m not exactly sure when I fell asleep and how; at least I was in my own bed and everything. I woke up at around 2:30 on the afternoon of 21st. I was actually woken up at 2:30 on the afternoon of the 21st to be more precise and well, honest. A junior needed the shuttle bus schedule explained to him. And, the library was somehow the best place for this exchange to take place. It had to be my first library visit, this term. Evening was then spent ‘bonding’ with the juniors, since almost all of my batch-mates were either at home or en route to home. This juniors thing reminded me of a ‘confession’ about me on the IPM Confessions page. That page is also another story. It started, then, it disappeared. It then came back in a new avatar which too was short-lived. This re-birth & death process then repeated itself. Apparently the current page which exists is the original one, revived. Unfortunately, I did not realise when it was revived and could only read the confessions because someone sat across from me and read it out to me. I shall now try to follow the page again; but, I don’t really understand half the things that are posted on there.
Late evening, a beautiful bouncer was thrown at me, courtesy the Income Tax Office and the rest of the Atharv Core Committee. I was to apparently accompany the PGP SAC Treasurer and one of the Institute’s CA’s to the ITO, early on the morning of the 22nd. So much for all my plans. Hopefully, there would be something new to be learnt. And of course, there were Atharv Cash & Bank books to be read and tried to be understood.
And, I remember falling asleep, post 1 a.m., complaining about how the whole hostel was empty. Well, not technically, since the junior batch girls were still on campus, but no one else from my batch was around. Anyway, an early morning and busy day were in store, so I coaxed myself to sleep.

I more or less willingly got myself out of bed, early on the morning of the 22nd for there was a lot of pending work to be competed, courtesy mostly the fact that 20th was the birthday & that 21st was spent lounging around. I then proceeded to have an unhurried breakfast, whilst waiting for a certain phone call which was to give me further instructions on the ITO trip.
The PGP SAC Treasurer had been sent a summons by the IT Commissioner of Indore and was due to appear in person at the Commissioner’s Office at 11:00 a.m. on the 22nd, with certain documents as evidence. We left campus on the 10 a.m. bus. We were in the office by 11:15 and out by noon. The ITO scene was handled well, mostly by the Institute CA, who is now going to be the AR (Authorised Representative) at the ITO for all future meetings and documentation of evidence, including Cash & Bank Books and TDS Deduction Sheets. We were informed that this was the first time that the ITO had called IIM-I to visit, in connection with an event; it seems that Atharv managed to do enough publicity to get the IT department aware too, or so our CA believes. The EDT (Elements of Direct Taxation aka Income Tax) course that we had last year seemed so relevant the whole time I was sitting in the Commissioner’s office. Random terms like AOP, assesse and the like were being thrown around and it was good to be in the know. Our PGP SAC Treasurer had looked really nervous the whole time. Later conversation revealed that he only sweats a lot and bites his nails as a hobby. We managed to be on our way back to campus, on the 12:20 bus.

Post lunch, I began packing my stuff. All my stuff was soon packed into 1 carton whose main contents are my IGNOU books and my rucksack, 3 suitcases, one suitcase for my clothes, one large plastic box whose contents I shall never be able to decipher, my laptop bag and a large bundle which is essentially my quilt and pillows wrapped in a bed-sheet. I then mailed 2 Atharv-related write-ups to Nupoor Ma’am, the IIM-Indore’s website’s content editor, following which I went to pay her a visit, to discuss any further requirements. The content was approved and we had a generally long chat about Atharv, the IPM students and other odds and ends. This was interrupted by a rather frantic PGP student who was wondering if anyone knew how to use the Solver tool in Excel. While Ma’am hurriedly excused herself after being mistaken for an IPM student by said frantic guy, I was stuck there, smiling awkwardly, and then before I knew it, he was explaining a problem and scrolling through random excel sheets. I taught him how to use the Solver tool and gave him step-by-step instructions on how to solve the problem at hand. The whole exercise was apparently for a competition where the grand prize is a PPO. Glad to know that I have a shot at that!(if it comes my way).

I then rushed to the IPM Office, for there were leaves that needed documentation. I slipped on the way; I think I need new shoes or the Acad Block needs new floors (not that I caused any damage, only for the slipperiness).
Composing a blog post on a (okay, multiple) piece(s) of tissue paper whilst sitting in Chappan is an experience that has no parallel. And, it is also the first blog post that’s ever seen real actual paper (well, almost).
After filing leaves for the term, I sauntered off to the laundry, collected my clean clothes and resumed my packing & shifting. Packing was mostly done and shifting was in order, when I left to make a delivery. A dress was to be returned to a friend’s friend and I ought to be the courier service. I ran back and wound up my shifting- moving said bags and carton to the cloak room aka the ground floor common room where they will remain for the duration of the term break. I then locked the room up and handed the keys to an InfraComm member who was only glad to have the additional responsibility.
Before I left campus, there was this new friend to say ‘good-bye’ to. He wanted to keep my basketball for the duration of the term break and I obliged only for this might mean that he learns to play while I’m gone & then I’ll have company!
I picked up my bag- not a suitcase or anything, just my regular college bag & left campus on the 8p.m. bus. I feel asleep on the way and woke up just in time to get off at Chappan. I then ate momos and wandered off to Eat N Treat- one of the shops at Chappan with real seating and everything and ordered their white sauce pasta which never fails to delight!
The restaurant list is pending, but, I’ll probably just put it up in parts, as an addition to the regular blog posts; or there’s Zomato for that! The Exuberance report is pending too, but, I think I threw that sheet out, whilst packing. Ah! Well… and the Atharv final day report awaits my writing too!

16/09/2014

15/09/2014; 19:49:

With the day-wise fest reports, I’ve definitely missed out & missed writing about the other small things, which are important and truly worth re-living.
Although my views on this idea of re-living memories and the like … well, let’s not go there now.

Well, after the IR end-term on the 10th, a long nap was called for. And, while my attendance in the last 6 terms has been more or less impeccable, it’s been pretty messed up, this time around, what with Atharv & all. All post-lunch sessions (in my defence, it was just the one lecture) were thus passed over, for a long nap.
The junior batch had a movie screening as part of their course on ‘Business, Government & Society’, in the evening at 6:30. The course is being taken by the Director and must be rather awesome. For once, we do envy the juniors. Our senior batch, too, had a course which was taken by the then-Director. Looks like they decided to skip us, for reasons yet unknown.
We’d sent out a form, to the 2014 batch, to allow all those interested to sign up for i-Help. Almost 50 responses were received; adding all these students would take the total strength of i-Help to over a 100 members. Each applicant was then required to send in both an SOP (as an individual task) and a PowerPoint presentation on a given NGO (as a group task). I got to read each SOP (and see the ppt’s) and, more than anything else, the variety and enthusiasm was rewarding! I made it a point to reply to each one, individually, for feedback (and acknowledgment) on writing of any sort is just a given.
So, this task-process done, a meeting of all the eager juniors was called at 9:30, on the 10th of September. A more detailed idea of i-Help along with volunteer experiences was shared with the new members. A few of them also put their two cents in, talking about their expectations and excitement. A highly detailed Excel Sheet, which had a minute-wise plan for the 11th, along with the names of volunteers assigned to specific tasks was flashed on screen. The sheet itself looked like too much work to have been made possible; but, it did make the actual execution a piece of cake. It’s surprising how well things can be managed, when everyone’s working for a cause they believe in or simply something that they are interested in.

16/09/2014; 03:40:

Come the morning of 11th, the 6 persons who had the task of getting on buses from campus, alighting at the children’s school, filing them into buses and getting them to campus safely, left campus at 7:15 a.m., perfectly as per plan. The children of class 7 & 8 were to be brought to visit the IIM-I campus, as a special treat. Class 6 had to be left out of the plan for they were too many in number & a little too naughty to be handled. My batch being left out of all the fun things in school suddenly made infinite amounts of sense. Once there, the children were split into 4 groups and filed into 4 waiting buses, after their morning rendition of ‘Vande Matram’. It was such a sweeping flood of memories; I’d sing the national song too, every morning, in school! The ride to campus was short, about 15 minutes or so. Our bus took a different route from the one in front of us, with the driver promising that we’d reach earlier. We enthusiastically participated in the race; unfortunately, we were met with disappointment. Once on campus, at around 8:40, there were about 15 of our i-Help volunteers, waiting to meet the kids and get started! The kids were briefly shown around the Academic Block and then filed into two classrooms for a short interaction with some IIM-I faculty. A while later, sports equipment was arranged for and the kids frolicked, playing different games, running across the lawns and generally hanging out with our volunteers.

During this time, another set of volunteers were at the other school, picking up kids of classes 3, 4 & 5. By 10:30, they were all on campus and were taken straight to the auditorium. The other kids too were directed to the Audi and ‘Chak de India’ was screened! Lunch was served, as soon as the movie was over. The kids who’d come in the morning were bid farewell as they filed into waiting buses and the new kids were given the Acad Block tour and then directed to the faculty-interaction session. Sports & games later, they too were on their way back, tired but happy. The whole show was managed actually without any glitches and I still think it is a wonder. Well, miracle or the meticulous planning which actually managed to scare me with its elaborateness.
So, 11th was a day well spent, with the kids and the successful execution of such a large plan and all.
The latter half of the day was spent visiting Jail Road, in Indore city. Indore has these clearly demarcated markets for everything- there’s Khajuri Bazaar for Books/Stationery, Kothari Market for clothes, Dawai Bazaar for medicines; there’s even a whole separate market for motorcycle seat covers! Jail road is the electronics, more the electronics repair road. My phone’s been acting up and needed to be check; Jail Road was easier to find than the LG Service Centre, for the website gave an address but no phone number. Of course, my trip was futile, except that I did manage to find out that since one part of the screen (read the home/back/recent apps buttons at the bottom) is not working, the whole touch-screen needs to be changed. And since the display and touch are integrated, basically everything needs to be replaced. Deciding to just visit an LG Service Centre, perhaps the next day (since they close at 5), I wandered off the Kothari Market, looking for clothes- I needed a saree, blouse & petticoat, the works, for the upcoming Drama End term. Of course, Kothari Market deals mainly in unstitched fabric and my trip was pointless. A Chinese dinner later, I was back on campus, promising to make a more successful trip in the near future.

And, the near future was very near. On the afternoon of the 12th, I set out again, this time armed with the location of the correct market- the other clothes market; there was this whole lane of saree shops and this other lane of blouse/petticoat shops. A little decision-making later, I had everything I needed to look pretty for the Drama End term. Accompanying me was my neighbour’s friend from Hyderabad! And, we tried a lot of the street food and even visited the old palace which lies in the centre of Rajwada(market!). For the first time since I’ve been here, I felt like Indore was my city; I felt proud, showing it off, showing our guest around! We then headed to the Service centre, for I’d learnt that it close at 6:30, not the 5 as I’d thought. We did find it, only, it was closed. Cursing my luck and deciding that my phone shall get repaired only at home, with all this happening, we set out to find interesting dinner. Our quest led us to Chick-n-Serve, which as the name suggests is a chicken lover’s paradise!
I managed to be back just in time to catch the second round of the Vibes Audition for the 2014 batch. Vibes is the dance club here; the first round of auditions- the prepared performance one- was just over and the second was in progress- this round was an impromptu one. Music was played; you had a minute to listen to the song and then the floor was all yours! It’s a rather daunting prospect to someone who cannot dance… well, not on stage at least.

Most of the 13th of September, which missed being a Friday the 13th by just a day, was spent sleeping. I slept, woke up, attended one history lecture, and fell asleep again, only to wake up at 8:30 in the evening. Night was spent worrying about the ITE (Introduction to Engineering) project due the next day. An EVM (Electronic Voting Machine) was to be made, using IC’s, Bread Boards, Mirco Controllers, LED’s, Counters and the like. Also, evening saw the last round of the Vibes Audition, which was the choreography round- a set choreography was taught and needed to be best replicated.

On the morning of 14th, ITE projects were presented. One group in particular seemed to be very interested in cross-questioning the other teams. Of course, everyone had their revenge when said team came to present their project. Our team had managed to conjure up a decent model as well as a C++ programme, overnight! Post-lunch were the last two classes of the term- History classes which were well spent, watching a rather intriguing or as someone put it ‘absorbing’ movie titled ‘To end all Wars’. It revolved around the lives of a contingent of Scottish soldiers, taken prisoner by the Japanese, during the Second World War and placed in a PoW camp, in Thailand where they constructed a 432 k.m. long rail-road. The movie begins with their capture, deals with their life and struggles and ends with their liberation which came with the end of the war.
15th was the day of the Drama End-term!

04:35:

The Drama End term was rather nice. It was nice to see everyone in costume and in action, on stage. Some batch-mates were so good with their acting, that, we did indeed, if only for a few moments, forget that they were our batch-mates and saw them as only the characters that they were portraying. The play ended in celebration and a photo-session.
My learning for the day was the fact that I can both almost drape and also walk around in a saree. Also, I apparently look good in one too! I now plan to ditch all my ‘we shall get skirt-suits stitched when we’re in the MBA batch’ plans for a couple of elegant sarees- Indian formals have their charm, and, the saree is truly a miraculous article of clothing.
Evening was spent trying to decide which of two sports fests ought to be attended- there’s Varchas at IIT-Jodhpur and Spardha at IIT-BHU and they’re both on the exact same dates! Also, there’s Waves, BITS-Goa’s Cultural fest on the very same dates! Plans to attend Antaragini at IIT-Kanpur and Rendezvous at IIT-Delhi are in the pipeline too! Unfortunately, mainly due to lack of a complete team owing to the junior batch’s exams, our plans of winning at IIT-Kanpur’s Sport Fest, Udgosh, had to be shelved.
Night ended with the nomination form for the coordinator/membership of various clubs and committees being floated. Each person can nominate themselves for two posts, but, can hold only one. That, and there’s the Research Methodology end-term paper in a few hours now. Studying or at least an attempt at the activity might be a wise decision to undertake.
And, now, with the annoying mosquito biting my left elbow might be a good time to end this mammoth post!