31/08/2014

31/08/2014; 05:54:
30th August, Saturday- the day of the Flash Mob had arrived. I slept through the morning and most of the afternoon, since I slept only in the wee hours of the morning & I had some catching up to do. At 3:30, we put together a team, to man the desk at T.I. The team was to reach T.I. by 5, but, due to paucity of space on the 4 p.m. bus, the desk was all up & running only an hour later than our fixed time i.e. by 6 p.m. instead of the usual 5 p.m. By 7:30, all the Flash Mob participants had arrived, the sound system had been checked & everyone, including TI’s Logistics & Security team was ready. 4 guys opened the performance, swaying to the tunes of the catchy ‘Baby Doll’. There were quickly joined by others in succession and they danced to 5 songs and an enthralled audience, who dropped everything they were doing to watch the splendid scene. I even saw two guys angling themselves, in order to get a selfie with the flash mob in the background. The flash mob closed with flashing the Atharv banner, high & proud, as the crowd applauded.

All the participants of the flash mob had been in Atharv T-shirts and its success made a lot of the audience decided to get themselves T-shirts too; this was brilliant for our Merchandise / Sunburn passes Desk.
By 8:00 p.m., a news article detailing the Flash Mob and announcing that ‘Adani Wilmar & IPM, IIM-Indore present Atharv is happening soon, on the 5th, 6th & 7th of September’ was ready. Add in the photographs (courtesy the events coverage team), and we have a perfect piece. The video (and photographs) of the flash mob shall be on Atharv’s FaceBook page, soon enough.

A successful event later, almost everyone sat at McDonald’s , eating. Since it is right next to the entrance at T.I., I’ve been there, each time, since we began this Passes/Merchandise selling business and, all the staff there recognizes me. And, it is a good feeling. Heck, their desert counter even remembers my order- one medium McFlurry- Choco Crunch!

Transport to & fro campus had been arranged & we were all glad to be seated & back to campus. Another meeting, discussions, clicking countdown photographs, gossiping, night mess food, booking flight tickets for all our guest speakers & panellists, Kurkure, drinking hot water and jokes later, I’m here, writing. All’s well that begins well, runs well & ends well. And, we ought to let it end well & not drag … well, END!

31/08/2014

31/08/2014; 04:02:

29th August- the night of no sleep. After a short nap, I headed to RM class. The lecture, on ‘Grounded Theory’ was conducted by a FPM participant who is doing her research based on said theory. This was followed by a rather interesting ‘Logic’ Class. There are all these paradoxes that are so intriguing; you want to sit & think about them, for hours yet, because you know that it is going to be quite a task, you just agree that it is mind-boggling and live & let live.

Afternoon was spent in the Old Audi, working on our play ‘Aadhe Adhure’ which is to be our end-term piece for the Drama course. Once this was done, we along with Atharv merchandise set off for T.I Mall. We set up our usual desk, taped 3 T-shirts to make for a beautiful display, placed SunBurn passes & got to work, selling passes & our newly-acquired Atharv T-shirts. Since we were all dressed in the merchandise ourselves, we simply pointed to ourselves and spun around, giving our potential customers a good view of the Atharv logo.
We sold a passable amount of merchandise & passes. We’re hoping that the demand rises, as we get closer to the actual event day.

I got back to campus, planning to have a nice, uninterrupted sleep. Of course, my-social-self had other plans. I ought to put my phone on Flight mode & have a long, peaceful sleep, one of these days. Well, who am I kidding? It shall be possible only after the fest. Fortunately, it is very exciting to be this busy. And, frankly, it’s encouraging too, for a lot of reasons – well, for one you feel like you are now prepared to take on any work that might come your way, since you have fallen into the habit of actually working and not merely pretending t do so. Secondly, it makes you feel like you are actually doing something productive with your time & life, and, that is a happy feeling.
So, I wandered off to see the Flash Mob practice. It was amazing to see almost 60 juniors (2013 &2014 batches) all peppy and dancing. The entire team (the 2012 batch boss people included) looked happy tired; and the enthusiasm, hard-work & dedication were palpable. As I walked back to my hostel at around 1 a.m. (since we all have a hostel-in-time extension up until the fest), I happened to see the Atharv Banner, posters & countdown all put up in front of Mess 1. And, was I delighted!? Seeing a public countdown makes reality sink in, in a really scary way.
Once back in the hostel, I wandered off to find people who were awake, in order to talk; mainly because talking is good fun. I was informed about the soon-to-be-submitted IGNOU assignments; they need to be handed in by the 15th of September. I racked my brain and managed to remember my IGNOU roll number; this let me find my subjects and hence my assignments. I was just surprised at the variety of subjects that I had managed to pick. One is a Foundation course in Science & Technology which is a compulsory course. Of my three electives, one is on European History, one is on HIV/AIDS and the last is a course under BSW (Bachelor of Social Work). I’ll have to get working, as soon as Atharv is successfully over.

29/08/2014

29/08/2014; 05:52:

All of 26th morning was spent watching the Business Etiquette presentations. People had come up with a whole lot of innovative ideas.
One group had background music, with live running commentary by one group member, while the rest of the group hilariously mimed everything that was being said, as it was being said, to demonstrate First Impressions, Elevator & Dining Etiquette.
Another group made the whole presentation in the form of a NatGeo show, complete with a host in camouflage gear. The host followed members of the Managementus Graduatus species and one member of the rare sub-species Managementus Graduatus Etiquettiu around their natural habitat- the cubicle-office & their mating ritual-performance location, the pub.
A video advertisement for a Cultural Sensitivity Seminar that offered to transform a person from being highly insensitive to different cultures to being very sensitive was a novel approach to the whole idea. It looked like the real deal- all with a host in a shiny shirt & successful reviews by past users of the product.
Short video clips, which showed an untidy, cluttered table, loud co-workers and gossipy cubicle-mates, accompanied by words of wisdom were well-appreciated.
One group focused their presentation on Dining Etiquette, following the story of a man, who by undergoing rigorous training goes from being ill-mannered to being the perfect dinner host to his clients. The highlight of their presentation was actual noodles making an appearance on the character’s plates, who attempted to eat these with almost-real chopsticks.
The presentations went on till 2 p.m.; the last group picked ‘Telephone Etiquette’ as their topic & demonstrated a series of small acts, which saw people munching while on the phone, people breathing heavily into the mouth-piece & people forgetting to identify themselves on an official call to a new person. The best part of this last presentation was the PowerPoint presentation which ran in the background- it was one single slide, which a group member typed & re-typed as the act progressed. It felt like a Tickr with Live Feeds on it.

Post all the presentations, I slept all afternoon & all evening. Atharv’s Core Committee met again at 11 p.m., to make important decisions. We seemed to have run into a slight bit of trouble & confusion was in the air. Discussions ran late into the night, shifting from a physical meeting to a conference call.

We had only 2 lectures on the 27th , both pre-lunch. There was then a meeting of Atharv’s Core Committee, at 1 p.m. Most of the previous night’s confusion was clearer & an optimal solution agreed upon, rather quickly. So, everyone was happy.
SunBurn is to be in Indore, on the 7th of September, at the IIM-Indore campus; the passes had just been printed! I set off for T.I. Mall, to spend my evening there, selling passes for the event. We set up a registration desk, stuck a poster, positioned our standee perfectly & got to work. We got a much better response than anticipated and an immensely better response than our counterparts at C21 Mall.
I got back by 10, just in time for the Freshers’ DJ Night. I believed that sports shoes were the perfect attire for the party. Fortunately (or not!), my friends were vehemently opposed to my genius plan. I was promptly advised to ‘dress up’. I complied. Scrutinizing glances, 3 outfits and 2 pairs of shoes later, I was declared properly dressed & permission to go to the party was sanctioned. I had the most incredible date to accompany me to the DJ Party. He’d called up & let me know, exactly 15 minutes before he showed up that I was obviously going with him & that I ought not to dress up too much. There was also a strict prohibition on the involvement of any pretty heels. The party had begun, when I reached. My incredible date hung around, complaining about the DJ & the atmosphere for exactly 10 minutes before he turned around & decided to leave. I might have followed him, but, I bumped into a bunch of batch-mates on my way out & we headed straight for the dance floor. The party was well organized, and all was good except that the Schezwan Chicken was too spicy & that the DJ had no English music. We got back to our hostel around 1 a.m. & since we were in the party mood, we were up all night, finally crashing only at 6 a.m.

28th morning was non-existent, for I woke up only by 12 noon, to find my room-mate missing. She had very nicely left me a note & I figured that she was out in Indore city, probably eating chicken.
I had a nice, long bath & prepared to visit T.I. again. This evening was less successful & someone very nicely informed me that Thursday is the least popular day with mall-goers in Indore.

Once back from T.I., there was the usual 11 o’ clock meeting at the FPM Block. A special meeting of all the boys of the 2014 batch had been called at 11:30, courtesy the Atharv Coordinator. They were all informed that their valuable volunteer services would be very required on the 5th, 6th & 7th of September, to ensure a very successful fest. The meetings, 3 cups of tea & some rain later, I was back to the hostel by 1 a.m.

We then gathered in the common room, to wrap up all pending fest-related work. There was a rather detailed Events Schedule to be prepared. Of course, expert advice from the head of the Events vertical was called for, so, I shifted myself & my laptop to her room. She sat working busily & this helped me get to work too. Well, the writing was fun & is finally all done; I shall probably put it on here, once it gets approval. Plus, the names of the judges of each event need to be added.

06:21 :

It’s now daylight out. I’m still at the desk of Ms. Events Vertical head, typing busily. Her room is on the first floor (mine is on the ground floor) and I can see a large green patch of land, beyond the institute boundary wall. It runs a great distance, before it gives way to trees and an endless expanse of blue-grey sky. There is one single white cloud in the distance. It hangs low in the sky, looming over the vast expanse of all-encompassing green nothingness.
There are a few other clouds, closer to the hostel building. One is particularly domineering. A shaded hint of sun rays poke their arms, as if trying to draw their way out from within & around. And, I see 3 lamp-posts & a tree with pink flowers.

26/08/2014

26/08/2014; 01:47:

My last night’s nap was suddenly interrupted by a phone call. I ran across half the campus, to return Harmon-I’s microphone. We’d borrowed it, for lack of our own equipment and they needed it to conduct the audition for PGP-I.
Our Sunburn passes are all ready to be sold and marketing strategies are being worked on; with all feasible ideas being implemented. There was even a meeting called, last night, to have a fruitful discussion about this.
Post-meeting, we stood around talking. The 2014 Batch has been instructed (by the organizers i.e. the 2013 batch) to attend the Fresher’s Night DJ Party, on the 27th, with a date, the condition being that the date ought to be a senior. So, there are junior boys asking senior girls and junior girls inviting senior guys to the Dance party.

Once back to the Hostel, it was back to work. The official Atharv invite, the one that is to be sent to the Institute, the Sponsors and other important people has been prepared. I spent a while making it, and I do hope that our efforts pay off i.e. the invite does what it ought to – make people feel like they can’t be anywhere but at Atharv 2014 on the 5th,6th & 7th of September!

I woke up this morning, took a bath and found myself in the Logic class. The course is being taken by two of our programme co-ordinators and is rather difficult, since it deals with Philosophy, Mathematics and Decision Making. Post-lunch, we had 2 Drama & Theatre classes where we had a stage rehearsal of our up-coming end of term play , a Hindi play titled ‘ Aadhe Adhure’.
I just finished writing & editing 3 radio advertisements, for our fest. They focus on the Sunburn Night with DJ (S)haan & DJ Sartek , which is happening on the 7th of September. Atharv will definitely close on a high note! In related news, I’ve been offered the chance to be the M.C for the Sunburn Night! I’m beyond thrilled. I just hope that there is no change in plan!

This evening was the Prize Distribution Ceremony- Chunauti ’14. I can now proudly display a shiny gold medal which says ‘IIM Indore – Champion- Chunauti 14’ in the centre! Right after the prize distribution, I found myself lying down, staring up at a starless sky, behind the FPM Block.
Post dinner, we discussed the PR & Marketing potential plan of action for the 5th, 6th & 7th of September. It involves a dedicated set of people, each of whom has detailed knowledge of one aspect of the fest – Panel Discussion, Management Events, Cultural & Literary Events, Guest Lectures, Informal Events, Workshops & Sunburn Night. Later, we pieced together a play, for our Business Etiquette Mid-Term, tomorrow. We’ve picked our topic to be ‘Office Politics’. Other topics vary from Dining Etiquette to Cultural Sensitivity and Cubicle Protocol. Hoping to see some interesting presentations, tomorrow!

25/08/2014

25/08/2014; 19:09

22nd August-- I woke up, ran to class and got to attend a revision session of RM. All that we’d learnt in the last 14 sessions was summed up and the bits and pieces made a sculpted whole.
At 11:30, I was informed that there was a Campus Outreach to be carried out, our very first Campus Outreach in Indore! We were to leave at 12, and while this was being conducted by the Informals vertical, a few (read two) PR & Marketing team members were welcome. Sindhuri & I gladly jumped on board. 8-10 of us, almost 300 Swad Candies ( Atharv’s Candy Partner!), prizes and a megaphone got on the bus. We stopped en route, to pick up batteries for the megaphone since we’d been unable to source them earlier. The megaphone had everyone excited. This soon turned to disappointment when the thing wouldn’t work. The microphone was probably damaged. Mentally prepared to utilize our voice boxes, we reached the college. After securing permission from the Dean of Student Affairs, which surprisingly took under 5 minutes, we made our way to the college Canteen. Finding a flight of stairs in the open, I climbed half a floor up, onto a raised landing and put my loud voice to good use. We spent almost two hours, conducting informal games – with the Arm-Wrestling Event being the most popular-, talking to people about Atharv, giving them details of specific events and letting them know about Madhya Pradesh’s biggest DJ Dance party – Sunburn- hitting Indore on the night of 7th September.
The 7th September Sunburn will be held on the IIM-Indore Campus, on the newly levelled ground here. We were a little confused on the pricing, but, a Premium (VIP) Section will be made. Holding a Premium pass will allow you to be within 20 feet of DJ (S)haan & DJ Sartek , i.e. right next to the stage! Now, that’s exciting!

Later, since I had no other classes lined up, I went off to C21 Mall, to ‘chill’. I really like the honey chilli potatoes that this place in Malhar Mall’s food court makes! There was a Basketball match, the Women’s Final, as part of Chunauti ’14, scheduled to be held at 7 p.m. Careful calculation ensured that I was on the 5:30 bus back to campus. Unfortunately, the bus was a tad bit little and, I literally ran across half the campus, to join the match in the middle of the second quarter. It was an IPM v/s PGP game; both the teams were good. Everyone played well and, we were victorious, with a score of 32 to 26. Luckily too! Call it overconfidence, but, I’d already bought a cake from a bakery in C21, to celebrate our win!

Back in my room, I found pizza on my bed; it had been ordered around lunch-time and I’d forgotten all about it, in the crazy scramble of a day I’d had!

And, then, of course, I got to work. There’s the official Atharv invite and the opening address of the Inaugural Function to be worked on!
Here’s hoping that we do a good job of both! And, of the fest too!!

23rd August – The morning session was free and I yawned myself awake at 1:10 p.m. I rushed to make the 2:00 p.m. class, which was the only class I had all day. I’d had beautiful plans of missing this one class and heading off to Indore city to get my phone repaired. Of course, I realised just in time that I cannot go without my phone for the week it might take to repair my phone, since the fest is barely 2 weeks away and I have a bunch of phone calls to make & receive.
I’ve gotten great help from a kid in the 2014 batch, with doing the write-ups of all our panellists for I-Conclave2014. This time’s idea in focus has to do with Sustainable- Building cities of the future & the like.

Once class was over, at 3:15, I had to get on the 4 p.m. bus to Indore, for there was a 5:30 meeting with Radisson Hotel, to talk about the feasibility of them being Atharv’s Hospitality Partner. I spent the 45-minute interval running around, getting print-outs of the Sponsorship Proposal, arranging posters that needed to be sent out to campus ambassadors and generally gathering all relevant information. 12 last envelopes of posters were to be sent out to Atharv’s campus ambassadors in various colleges.
Once in Indore city, I wandered from one DTDC Office (the nearest to the bus route) to another whose number I had, until I finally made some phone calls and figured out that I needed to be at their Regional Office which was a few kilometres away. Since it was already 5:30, I made my way to Radisson. It felt a tad bit weird, not being dressed in formals, when everyone I saw working there was. Well, nothing beats light-green V-neck T-shirts and so, the meeting was fairly successful and elegantly brief.
I finally (with a lot of help from their Assistant Manager) managed to find DTDC’s Regional Office. DTDC has 30 franchise stores in Indore and I thanked my stars that I came to my senses after 2 wrong visits. Our final pre-fest shipment was accepted and the final payment made. Further shipments & payments will be after the fest is over; sending prizes, certificates & letters of acknowledgements.

Happy with work well done, I decided that it was the perfect time to buy some much-needed formals. I’d never shopped in Indore before and was rather lost. I wandered into Shopper’s Stop, only to find the women’s section full of printed dresses & kurtis. Well, the disappointment called for momos & I was off to Chappan- Indore’s Khau Gali. Post-momo-eating, I wandered around, and spotted a store that had a lot of denims on display. Well, I found a nice pair of jeans, but, they were men’s denims. I decided to drop them & come back if I didn’t find anything else. Honestly, I was just clueless about shopping in Indore; it’s been 2 years here and I haven’t bought one item of clothing- courtesy term-break shopping in Mumbai. I spotted a store which proudly announced that they had ‘Big Sizes Available’. It was as if it had been placed there for me. I walked in, bought 2 pairs of jeans and left smiling. I decided that the cost of the jeans ought to be put under fest expenses, since, the fest was a large part of my reason for buying new black denim. Of course, the Finance team also decided that new black denims don’t qualify as fest expenses. Ah, well, life’s good anyway.

24th August- Well, the morning session had 3 classes and the afternoon session had the Film-Making Mid-Term. Since cameras are entirely not my cup of tea, I had the afternoon off. Dainik Bhaskar- our media partner-’s representative was due to visit campus, in order to get details of event locations, banner/hoarding locations and about the Atharv Advertisements that are to be in print soon.
After spending a sleepless afternoon waiting on him, I finally decided to take a nap, at around 5 p.m. My head had just hit my pillow, when my phone decided to ring. Yay, work calling.
I showed Dainik Bhaskar’s representative around campus, the New Audi- where all the cultural events are to happen, the Events Court- where all the informal games & stalls will be, the Amphitheatre- where the Acoustic Music Event will happen, the Old Audi- where our Flagship game-theory based event ‘Game of Shadows’ will be conducted and the Acad Block- where all the Management events will take place. Details of each event, Dainik Bhaskar’s posters & standees were shared.
Right after this meeting was done, I literally ran over to the Throwball Court, for Chunauti 14’s Women’s Throwball final. Having beaten the PGP team in the qualifiers, we were pretty confident. Unfortunately though, our front-line player (the expert at catching drop-shots) was missing and that proved to be our weakness. We lost a well-fought game and tried not to be disheartened.
We treated ourselves to popcorn and I went a step ahead and treated myself to a much-needed nap. There’s been a lot of fest work happening, and sleep is the first thing to be compromised.

25/08/2014

25/08/2014; 18:40
21st August-- After being up for most of the night, I had to be up at 7. By now, it was not an option. The children’s faces as they questioned why ‘doosri didi nahi hain?’ was not something I wanted to be responsible for. Explaining to them that my fellow teacher was missing was hard enough anyway, and explaining my own absence was not something I wish to do. Plus, it’s fun; there’s something for everyone to learn! I-Help is taking of successfully and how!

I was back to campus, a little after 10:30 a.m. Exuberance ’14 - the fresher’s introduction / cultural performance session was due to start at 10 a.m. I managed to reach the Old Audi by 11:10 a.m. Somehow, the event had begun only a couple of minutes ago and I’d missed only one set of juniors on stage. The first half of exuberance was an introduction session, organized by the 2013 batch, for the 2014 batch.
The entire event lasted for nearly 11 hours. I reckon that the details call for a separate post. I’ll write that, soon!

25/08/2014

25/082014; 05:28:
There was a time, a couple of weeks ago, when my complaint was that I had this strong urge to keep writing and not enough content.
Now, I have SO much to write about and so little time. The worst part about delaying writing about a day’s happening is the fact that the memories become hazy, over time. And, writing is less enjoyable, and the content less vivid, when reported after a week.

Well, I ought to try, anyhow.

19th August- Once I was back from the meeting with Dainik Bhaskar, which was rather successful, considering that both parties signed the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding), there was a 3:30 class to attend and zero desire to attend said class. But, well, classes are important.

A trial run of the ‘Game of Shadows’ Event was to be held on campus, at 6:30. Around 45 participants gathered, only for everyone in excess of 29 to be rejected, for the game had been designed only for 25 people and that was the maximum the organizers could do. The trial was part of our run-up to the main event, to be held during our fest- Atharv. The game was simple, there were 25 chairs hidden in a certain defined area. The objective was simple- to find a chair in the allotted time. At the end of the round, a leader was to be elected who would then eliminate two chairs. And, anyone who did not find a chair was eliminated. This continued until it was down to 4 people- the finalists. The best part of the game is that anything on the Rules that is not explicitly forbidden is allowed. Deciphering what that means is up to the participants!
Personally, I find the event rather intriguing. It’s based on the Game Theory & I’m not sure what to expect except that it will challenge and it will thrill!
And, we began a new trend of Fest Core Committee Meetings. From meeting every day at 10 p.m. to not meeting at all, to again meeting every day at 10 p.m. and then meeting as required, our new plan involves meeting every day from 11 to 1, when a good part of the populace is asleep. Our chosen location is the FPM Common Room, for it has this really nice wooden table – a round wooden table to be more precise- our meetings are now quite literally ‘Round Table Conferences’ and we couldn’t be happier! Also, work is being done at lightning speed, now that the fest is barely 2 weeks away!

20th August--

The practice for Atharv’s very own Flash Mob finally began, after days of anticipation! And, the megaphone I’d asked for finally arrived! Unfortunately, we didn’t have the required batteries and it couldn’t be used during the practice time. Hoping to get batteries arranged for, before 22nd, when we have a Campus Outreach to do!

The morning of 20th saw the very last session of the course on International Relations. In a rather novel approach, the second-last session was spent in going over the course material of the all the sessions and the last was spent in expressing our opinions on the course itself- the content, teaching methods and the theories involved.

We were supposed to go on an Industrial Visit to Bridgestone’s Pithampur Plant, as part of our Introduction to Engineering Course, on the 20th of August. We were to leave at 12 p.m. and I really did not feel like going. Honestly, I am glad that I did choose to go! The trip was well organized and very informative. We left campus, in two buses, and a 30-minute nap later, we were there! We were lead into a wooden-panelled conference room. There was a large oval table in the centre and chairs all around, in two layers, for, well, there was 70 of us. We were pleasantly surprised, since we’d expected only to be lead straight onto the shop floor. We settled in and were greeted with a video about Bridgestone’s vision & aim, followed by a presentation. Then, a technical presentation on the manufacturing process was given, which ended in safety instructions. We were to visit the plant in two batches. The first batch went off, while the rest of us ‘chilled’ in the board room. Another one-hour nap later, it was our turn! Replete with safety shoes & caps, we marched down the stairs onto a waiting bus. We alighted quickly. Suspicious, teeming with excitement, we made our way into the manufacturing area. We’d been instructed to walk only on the ‘green lines’ i.e. on one side of the work area, since fork-lifts and the like were humming around the area. We were shown lots of scary looking machines, most of them were semi-automatic- one step in the middle needed human intervention. It was nice to see so much automation and it was nicer yet to see that the need for human touch hasn’t been lost. Machine parts moved busily, stopping once in a while, as if in greeting. I felt like a kid in a candy store, and touched everything that I could lay my hands on! (everything that didn’t look too dangerous, that is!). The vulcanization process was SO cool- it was like watching tyres being baked at very very high temperatures. It takes about 15 minutes for one small-sized tyre to be baked and we reached the machine just in time to see it opening, its giant jaws pulling apart in a slow swirling motion, to reveal a freshly cooked mass of black rubber. It was perfectly round and the treading shone against the yellow light of dangly overhead bulbs in the workshop.
Our last stop was the area where tubes were being made, complete with titanium valves. We left the plant, after about an hour and 10 minutes, in awe, our curiosities mildly quenched.
After the visit, their Hospitality team had arranged tea & snacks for all of us. The other batch had already gone off to campus and we left the site at around 5, but, not before a group photo was clicked, with the Bridgestone logo in the background.

Once back, like everyone else, I was rather sleepy. But, of course, it was all taken care of. Lots of fest work ensured that I had something to keep me occupied, all evening!
It’s nice, being all important and busy; feeling like you have a purpose, for once in life.

19/08/2014

19/08/2014; 17:57:

17th evening saw a rather grand Janmashtami celebration at the Radha-Krishna Mandir, near the Faculty Quarters, courtesy the PGP Cultural Committee.
There was a Rangoli-Making competition organized the previous evening and the winner got to make the Janmashtami rangoli at the mandir for the big day.
Evening saw a host of games, fun for all being conducted in the garden near the temple. The saree-tying game was rather amusing; here participation was in pairs, preferably with a partner of the opposite gender. The task was simple; the girl had to dress the guy up in a saree, within 90 seconds as a cheering audience looked on! Another game, which involved a blind-folded partner and another seated on the floor with a matki on his head, ended in a lot of wet people. The blind-folded partner had to fill up the matki with water while the audience was in splits.
The much-awaited ‘Matki Phod’ event was the highlight of the evening. Just like last year, the IPM boys’ team successfully smashed their matki on the very first try and then also smashed the PGP matkis, once the PGP guys gave up!
Once the clock struck 12, signifying the birth of baby Krishna, appropriate religious rituals were carried out and everyone left with a bright red tika on their foreheads.

The evening was really well appreciated! It’s lovely how all festivals are celebrated with equal vigour & love, on our IIM-Indore campus!

All of 18th was spent playing & viewing the 'Chunauti '14' matches! 18th was Day 1 of Chunauti. We mostly won Women's' Throwball; however the last set of the game is pending, for the game had to be suspended due to low visibility as the game went on for over an hour & a half.
Chunauti's first round is being played between IPM & PGP-I ; the winners in each game shall then face the senior-most PGP-II in the finals! There's Women's Throwball, Badminton, Table Tennis & Basketball. The guys have Cricket, Football, Table Tennis, Badminton, Volleyball & Basketball.
Playing Throwball was all good; but, somehow, my name had found its way onto the Table Tennis list. Now, this was both disturbing & puzzling. Now, I was bound to lose, but, was okay with playing, for well, the spirit! Luckily, the other members who'd also been equally pleased to find their names on the Women's Table Tennis Team B list all mutually agreed that IPM must be represented by only one team. It was after all a question of putting the best racquet forward and compromises were both unnecessary & uncalled for. Phew! That took care of itself well enough.
Here's looking forward to the yet-to-come, coming-soon day 2, 3 & perhaps more of Chunauti.

All of 18th night was spent gossiping! It was all going great until some nice person realised that it was 5 a.m. Everyone promptly began to be sleepy and the session was disbanded. I trudged myself to my room and sat in front of my laptop, busily pretending to do a whole lot of Fest work. I managed to finally fall asleep at 7:30 a.m., but, my rest was short-lived. I was dutifully woken up at 9:15 a.m. and informed that there was a meeting with Atharv’s (our fest) media partner. Dealing with the media does of course fall within the domain of PR & Marketing and attending the meeting was the right & interesting thing to do!

The time spent waiting for the designated person to show up was considerably longer than the meeting itself. Our largest solace is the fact that we got a final agreement signed & it ended well for everyone! Walking along the busy A.B. road, waiting for our institute bus to turn up was all an activity that I enjoy, especially when I have company. Well, it’s the walking that’s enjoyable, not the waiting.
The worst type of waiting is the one where it doesn’t come with an upper limit! Waiting on a friend, to attend a concert together is a good kind of waiting, for the upper bound exists & a happy evening awaits. Waiting for the signal to turn green is an acceptable kind of waiting, for it isn’t going to be very long & it’s the same to everyone else; the fact that there are a hundred other people who mirror your instantaneous belief somehow makes the waiting better! Waiting for an undefined moment is both the best & the worst, for everyone, even though the reasons are never the same.

17/08/2014

17/08/2014; 15:48:

We had a double RM-Research Methodology – lecture, on the morning of the 13th, where we learnt how to run the basic commands on SPSS- a statistical analysis software. Each term, there is at least one course, where you cannot afford to miss even a single class, coz well, the faculty is that good and the course that relevant. This term, it’s got to be RM.
Then, there was an e-mail, sent sometime in the day, announcing 'vertical heads' for the i-Help programme, since we've been making plans to increase scale of operations. I can now go by the title of 'HR Head- i-Help'. Sounds good; our job includes preparing the schedule, each week and arranging transport & packed breakfast for our volunteer visits to the schools.
By evening, the main entrance to the Acad Block was beautifully decorated, in colourful lights on occasion of the 68th Indian Independence Day.
Independence Day celebration on campus was rather grand. The The morning of 15th saw the Tricolour being hoisted, followed by the Director’s Address and a tree plantation on campus, courtesy Pragati- the PGP Social Committee. Trees were planted for some distance along the road leading from the under construction staff quarters to the under construction IPM hostels.

Once this was over, we received news that Atharv’s postponed Tree Plantation Drive, which was to take place at Treasure Fantasy, Indore was scheduled to happen at 2:00 p.m. aka in a few hours.
Transport, members of the Events Coverage team (along with their cameras) ,refreshments and an Atharv banner were arranged. The area itself is an under-construction housing project site and is rather green. There was a temple, half-completed, around which saplings- Rudraksh, Champa and Calendra – were planted by the Treasure Group MD, his team and our very own Atharv team. It was fun, fixing saplings in holes, adding manure and watering them. Post event, we sat by a waterfall which was by a lake, on the premises for around an hour. It felt like a perfect picnic! Were we glad we came!

Once we were back, we decided to do some ‘on-campus’ publicity for Atharv. Since we already had the Atharv banner- a decently sized 10 X 5 foot banner, we decided that it must be paraded around campus, which is exactly what we did! At the Pi-Shop, we saw that they had used the auspicious occasion to inaugurate a new ‘Grocery Section’. The Pi Shop now sells rice, daal and dhaniya powder, in addition to ice-cream, coffee and stationery. Also, I hear that they have expansion plans!

15th was rather eventful and it wasn’t even over yet!
Chirag, our IPM e-magazine was in the process of uploading their monthly release on their blog. A Cover Story was needed and I promptly sprang into action, penning a poem, that more or less fit their theme, ‘Patriotism’. Chirag had also organized a Donation Drive, for the benefit of war widows, on our Independence Day. Donation boxes were placed at 5-6 prominent locations on campus.
That night, two Chirag members and a donation box went around the girls’ hostel, collecting contributions.



16th & 17th August saw 2 seminars being organized as part of our course on International Relations. The topic on the 16th was ‘Oil is the main cause of the Middle East conflict’ and ‘Globalization is a blessing’ was discussed on the 17th. There was an introductory presentation made both for and against the topic, by one batch-mate each, this was followed by a healthy classroom discussion where people shared opinions, asked questions and added new dimensions to the discussion.
Later, the evening of 16th, was spent writing two Hindi articles, one about the Tree Plantation and one about Atharv in general, forDainik Bhaskar, Atharv’s media partner. Getting an article composed in formal Hindi (mainly done by Shruti) was easier than typing the thing out, using an online tool.

There is a series of events, scheduled this evening to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna! I love how India is a land of festivals!

14/08/2014

14/08/2014; 01:38:

Today was rather exciting!
It’s probably been one of the first days of the term (well, over half of it is through, now!) when we had classes all day long.
Somewhere around lunch-time, we received an e-mail announcing an Inaugural Basketball Match, on the evening of 14th August, on the newly-made yet-to-be-played-on basketball court. I was pretty excited; we had been planning, waiting for this day for a while now! And, then, I read the last bit of the mail. The Sports Comm. had very conveniently left the best for last; the matches were to be for Boys only.
I was aghast. Anyway, our resolve only got stronger. We decided that we must go through with our plan to inaugurate the Court, Monika inaugurates one basket, I the other. The Boys had been asked to assemble on the evening of 13th August, 2014, probably in order to ‘audition’ for the Inaugural match. As soon as class got over, at 4:45, we rushed to our rooms, pulled on our sports shoes, raced across half the campus and got to The Court. We look- green & red – so inviting! To our absolute delight, the gate to the court was finally unlocked, after months of waiting! We spotted the Chair-HSA (Hostel & Student Affairs) and the Basketball Coach standing at the gate, admiring the court. We decided that the best course of action was to dash straight in, lest someone stop us, since the court was due to be inaugurated in less than 24 hours, by the Director of the Institute. The HSA-Chair, on the contrary, welcomed us to the court, happy to see such excited faces!
As per our agreement, Monika dribbled onto the court, passed the ball to me and I shot! It was a clean basket! I can’t even begin to think how it would’ve been if I’d missed the first-ever basket the court was to see! Then, we ran across to the other basket- it was Monika’s turn now. She shot too! We were ecstatic. We had done it! I love small victories.

The rest of the evening was spent making phone calls to people in various colleges, inviting them to our fest, cooped up in the FPM Block Common Room, again. The whole event lasted over 3 hours; our Bhopal Campus Outreach plan was also finalized, our team shall be going to Bhopal, on the morning of 14th August. Due to sudden glitches, no saplings could be made available for the Tree Plantation Drive and it’s been shifted; it shall most probably happen on the 18th- Janmashtami.
So, tomorrow’s mostly free. Also, it is our i-Help day! I’ve been scheduled to teach English, this time around, after what happened last time. Last time, I was scheduled to teach Mathematics but, I went ahead and taught English anyway. It’s my personal opinion that the children do already know a decent bit of maths and it is Spoken English that we ought to focus on, especially given the children’s ages – class 3 to class 8. I shall be teaching class 7, tomorrow.

Soon after our calling session was at a close, I found myself perched atop a random cement structure by the side of the road. There was a strong breeze, which progressively went from being refreshing to cool to chilly. So much so that we had to abandon our stronghold for an alternate location- the OAT (Open Air Theatre) which is walled on three sides and thus permits no free flow of chilly winds at night, or ever.

Around 11, as I walked to the hostel, there was a gaggle of girls chasing the hostel warden as she left for the day. A brand new attendance register has been installed in the girls' hostel. Each lady is required to 'make an entry' , everyday, between 8 to 11 p.m. Nice safety measures, to add to the newly added grills on the ground floor. Well, it so happened that the warden was rather annoyed with most of us filling in the register after it was past 11 (only barely!) and had decided that the best course of action was to take the register with her when she left, at 11 p.m. It was usually handed over to the warden who had the next shift, so this change in the sequence of events caught the girls by surprise. And as I soon learnt, the gaggle was only chasing after the warden to put in their entries, for the day. It was rather funny, anyhow, to see 6 girls chasing after one uniformed warden , who was escaping, armed with a register.

Our new history sir LOVES watching movies; every lecture he recommends at least 4 movies that he believes we ought to watch. Most of these are the kind of films that have deeper meanings, need patience and inclination to understand and are actually enriching. He has promised to screen at least a couple in class or share them with us; either way, there's some good learning in store!

11/08/2014

11/08/2014; 19:22

There is so much to write about and so little time. I just returned from a batch-meet, that was organized with the purpose of spurring everyone to work hard, these last 20 days, to make the fest a roaring success. Okay, I’m going to try to maintain a chronological order as far as I can manage.

On Wednesday, 6th of August, after the Logic Mid-term, I spent about 3 hours at the District Collector’s Office in Indore. We were all set to have a Clean-Up Drive in Rajwada, Indore, on the 9th of August and needed permission for the event. Luckily, I anticipated the wait and was all prepared with a novel. The best part is that they are really nice to IIM-Indore students. The A.D.M. walked into his office at 2:00 p.m. I was allowed in at 2:03 p.m., my document was signed by 2:05 p.m. At 2:07 p.m. I walked out of the office after getting the seal marked on my document. The thrill stemming from small victories in life led me to almost skip the whole way down to the main road. I ate ‘Chhole Tikki’ in the rain and got myself back to campus, just in time for the 3:30 p.m. class.

The PGP Sports Comm is all set to organize Chunauti ’14 – the intra-IIM Sports Event, on the 15th, 16th & 17th of this month. There shall be 2 teams each, from IPM, PGP-I and PGP-II for each sport. The sports include Basketball, Throwball, Badminton and Table Tennis for the ladies and Badminton, Football, Cricket, Volleyball and Table Tennis for the guys. There were trials to be conducted, to select the teams, on the 6th of August. Due to incessant rain, everything except the Table Tennis trials was conducted on the evening of 7th August. Teams have been more or less finalized and we are all eagerly waiting for the 15th.

i-Help, an IPM Student-Initiative, that entails spending a couple of hours a week teaching students of local government schools received approval and our first trip (not counting the pilot visit) was organized on Thursday, 7th August. We paid a visit to 2 schools near campus and taught English and Mathematics to students of class 3-8. It was a rather nice experience for everyone involved. The children were all too happy to have someone almost their own age acting as instructors, and really insisted on all of us coming in again, as soon as possible. Of course, we promised to be back, the following week and left amid smiles and learning.

On the night of 8th August, we sat planning our Bhopal Campus Outreach. On a crazy impulse, we decided to leave at 6 the next morning and go around Bhopal, conducting games and putting up posters in different colleges in Bhopal. Luckily, we were advised to hold our horses and put the plan on hold until we had a more concrete one. We re-made a plan for the 12th, only to realise that most colleges would be closed or empty on Saturday. We’re currently making another plan, probably for the 14th; hopefully, it shall materialize.


On 9th August, we were all prepared, with brooms, garbage bags and banners- 2 large printed ones and several beautifully-done hand-made ones, to carry out our Cleaning Drive. We left campus at 4 p.m., with volunteers from both my batch and the very enthusiastic new 2014 batch. We reached Rajwada and began vigorously cleaning the streets, sweeping, scooping garbage into the bags and flashing our banners. We soon began to shout out slogans along the lines of ‘Swachh Indore, Saaf Indore’ and ‘Indore ki sadkein saaf karo’; also, we locked people in an inspiring, powerful glance and chanted ‘ Aapka Indore, Hamara Indore- Saaf Karo!’ in order to instil a sense of responsibility and instigate people to work for something that is their own. A few students from the 2014 batch did a great job of the slogan-shouting and I’m sure at least 3-4 people lost their voices for a day or two after the event. About an hour into operations, we were greeted by the media who asked for a couple of details and took photographs. There was even a local news channel, who took an interview, asking questions on the lines of our action plan, our motivation and our fest-Atharv. The event went well and everyone was glad to return to campus, munching on hot samosas.

Later in the evening, lots of enthusiastic juniors and a few people of my batch gathered in the FPM Block Common Room, to make phone calls. We sourced all the contacts we could manage and sat in a large circle, making phone calls and confirming event participation and campus ambassador registrations.

Yesterday, i.e. 10th August, was Rakshabandhan. We had a promotional event lined up at Treasure Island Mall, Indore. We got there by 5, had a set-up ready by 6 and began to execute what I thought was a great show. It began with a musical performance by three talented guitarist-singers of my batch. This drew a fairly large crowd around the stage. We began with a simple game, where a song was sung, the participant had to identify the movie, the hero/heroine of the movie and sing another song of the same movie. This game was fairly enjoyable and every participant was able to correctly identify and sing! This then seamlessly merged into an on-audience-demand song dedication. Couple of people came forward to sing and dedicate songs to various loved ones. We then had a Push-Up competition- the first round of many more to follow. The winner managed a staggering 64 push-ups and left with the grand prize. We then had another round of the music performance. We then had a Rakhi-Themed game. The participant had to complete the phrase ‘Mera bhai sabse shaitan bhai hai kyunki…’ or ‘Meri behen sabsi nakhre wali behen hai kyunki…’. Then, a short shayari event was held, with one man stealing the show with his rendition of love shayaris! We then had at least 5-6 rounds of the surprisingly popular Push-Up competition. The 64-record was first broken by a school-age boy in a black shirt. The highlight of the evening was a young man who kept going at the Push-Ups well after 64. Once he had done 70, the crowd joined in the counting. He did a 100 and then another one for good-luck! He received loud applause and cheering from the crowd! We closed with a singing competition, which saw our youngest participant- all of 5 years. The evening was well-enjoyed and fruitful. All the while, our team at the registration desk kept talking to people, telling them both about our fest-Atharv and our EDM Dance Party to be held on the night if 7th September. There was also an on-going Lucky Draw with 5 free Dance Party passes to be won! We garnered well over 100 registrations and were very happy with our efforts!

Today was pretty uneventful apart from the batch meet in the evening. The idea of an ‘ideal type’ in social science is rather intriguing. An idea, born of the human mind, yet free of any external influence, an idea in its purest form.

07/10/2014

07/08/2014; 23:35:

There really is a whole lot of fest-related work in progress, right now!
Also, there has been SO much happening.
The new batch, the 2014 batch is finally here. They probably do not know it, but, both our batch and the juniors have been really looking forward to having new people on campus- new IPM students to be more precise; honestly there really is a strong feeling of unity and mutual love & respect among all the students. I’m not saying so only because it sounds grand, but because that’s what it actually is.

The Registration for the new batch was on the 1st of August; their Induction was on the 2nd. By 29th evening, people had begun to arrive on campus. I walked myself to the Hostel Reception Centre, to look over the list of the fresh arrivals. Around 8 of 120 students were on campus already. I dialled a few random numbers and got myself a meeting with a guy who is from Mumbai. I promptly informed him that I was part of the 2014 Batch too. Of course, this game gave itself away much sooner than I would’ve liked, courtesy my juniors who happily greeted me as I walked from the HRC to the FPM Block, with my new friend. Mumbai was good grounds to begin a conversation.

Over the next couple of days, I met quite a few of the 2014 students. Most seem pretty excited and nervous. There was this boy who missed lunch because he could not find the Mess, the first day he was here! It’s interesting to note how varied people are- some so carefree that the sky would fall and they wouldn’t move half a finger, others so worried that a breath of air would not pass them by without being questioned, some already so at-home at a place they’ve just arrived at, others visibly confused as to how the roads are straight and curved; but, everyone is happy in their own way, and that’s probably what is important.

On the night of the 30th, since I was dressed in formals, for the SAC-Coordinator task, I got my hands on a room-allotment list and made a visit to the junior girls’ rooms. Most were still off campus but, the few that I did encounter were rather chirpy, even late in the night.

02/08/2014

02/08/2014; 19:01:

The whole SAC-Coordinator & SAC-Treasurer process was rather long, pretty interesting and very tiring.
On the first day, all applicants were asked to send in a Résumé and a Statement of Purpose. There was wonder as to how the short-listing would work, since most applicants seemed to have similar documents.
Three days later, a mail greeted the applicants at 8:16 p.m., dividing them into three groups for Task #1. An 8-slide PowerPoint presentation had to be prepared, pitching the IPM to the academia and HR managers of certain companies. This had to be sent in by 11:30 and be presented in front of the panel (comprising the 2013 SAC-Coordinator, Treasurer and Committee Coordinators) at 11:45. Each presentation itself was an almost 45-minute affair, with cross-questioning and arguments taking place. All applicants waited till the end of the presentations after which each applicant was asked to rate all of his/her group members on 4 different parameters – Team Work, Cooperation, Leadership and Communication.
Just as the applicants returned to their hostels, presentations presented & questions fended off, at well-past 2:00 a.m., another e-mail popped up at precisely 2:58, announcing Task #2. A list of all activities conducted by the SAC-Student Activity Council from September 2013 to July 2014 was to be compiled, complete with detailed analysis on the efficiency, strengths, weaknesses and possible improvements. Secondly, research work was expected on the activities undertaken by the SAC’s in other undergraduate colleges with suggestions as to how some of these could be adopted here. All this had to be compiled as a word document and a PowerPoint presentation on the topic was also expected. All of it was to be submitted by 8:00 p.m. with an individual presentation of your work to the panel at 9:00 p.m.
The presentation process began at 9:00 p.m. and went on till almost 2:00 a.m. The luckier applicants got done earlier while the rest sat around till well beyond midnight. Just as all the applicants were settling in to sleep, an e-mail greeted them, informing them that 8 applicants had made it to Task #3, for which they were expected to show up , without delay at 2:25 a.m. Frantic phone calls and scurrying around later, the 8 showed up. Task # 3 was a Group Discussion, the topic being ‘Is MBA Education Expensive?’.
Then, unsure of whether there were any more surprises to be expected, the 8 crept away to bed. The final task, Task #4 which was a personal interview was held on the evening of 1st August. 6 applicants made it to this. The interview mainly tested how the applicants would react in certain situations, once they were SAC-Coordinator.
Post this, 4 applicants made it to the final round- the election for SAC Coordinator. The applicants for SAC-Treasurer had had a similar experience, facing mainly accounting related tasks and finally faced with an interview, after a single elimination. 3 applicants made it to the final election round. Each then had to send in an election manifesto, which along with the Tasks grading was shared with all the students, presumably to allow everyone to make an unbiased decision.
The election was held from 11:30 to 1:15 a.m. A student-designed online portal was used for voting, though every student had to make a trip to the voting booth- designated rooms picked by the panel.
The results were declared less than an hour later. There is now a brand new SAC-C , Oshin Goel and a brand new SAC-Treasurer, Govinda Bhadada.

I’m sure that the whole process was a very enjoyable one, despite being extremely hectic and surprising (not always in a good way!). There was a lot learnt, since the PGP Committee selections happen in the same way. Committee & Club heads are to be appointed, a process which will follow a similar procedure.