29/07/2015

29/07/2015; 22:01:

27th morning was spent listening to a couple of guest lectures at the last day of Colloquium 2015. In the afternoon, the finale of the PayU Case Study Challenge was held; the event ended with a closing address by Keynote speaker, Mr. Vidmay Nainiof eBay India fame, the Valediction Ceremony by our very own director sir and a vote of thanks.

Application for the i5Summit junior team were thrown open, later in the evening; it's going to be one awesome event! At 11:45 p.m., all of us settled in the Old Auditorium, for our 'Rèsumè Iteration Batch Meet'. The members of the Industry Interaction Cell briefed us about the Rèsumè Iteration process for our summer placements. There will be 3 rounds of iteration before our rèsumès are frozen- of these, two will be with our student mentors from PGP2 and the final one will be with a member of the Placement Committee wherein everything on our rèsumès will be verified.
Applications for membership of the remaining 7 committees were thrown open on 27th night and everyone quickly marked in their preferences to apply! One can be a member of one club/committee and two interest clubs, at most. Positions in the fest teams are separate.

28th morning was as uneventful as the night was happening! Section E, in their relentless pursuit of getting at least something together for the Section Wars finale on Sunday met up in the FPM Common Room. Post this, everyone headed to the Old Audi to participate in 'The Beer Game'; now, the name was perhaps just to lure people- it was an event by Kaizen- the Operations Club and had appropriate content! The finale goes on, tonight, with the top 6 teams! Between 11:45 and 12:30 a.m., the PlaceComm handed out Mahindra War Room T-shirts to everyone who'd attended the launch of Mahindra War Room!

Committee pre-processes were sent out on 28th night too! This morning, I got to enjoy three rather interesting classes- the course on Operations Management has just begun and we spoke about Process Flow Diagrams; in the OB class, we self-administered a psychometric test and discussed the different resultant personality-type classifications; and of course, the Accounts session was as interesting as always- sir has a very distinct, pleasing teaching style- you learn without even feeling like you're in class! Post lunch, I got working on the Media Committee pre-process- there was a guest lecture to be attended at 4 p.m.and the deadline for the pre-process was 7 p.m., unlike most other committees which had a mid-night deadline.

I sent out my pre-process and proceeded to get all dressed up- black, small-heeled formal shoes, brand new (black) formal pants, a brand new pink formal shirt and best of all- a brand new black blazer! It was my first time in a blazer and everything and honestly, I felt awesome! The Old Audi was buzzing with excited new MBA students getting themselves shot; evidently, I wasn't the only one who felt that way! The talk began by 4:30 and went on for over 2 hours- it was a very interesting talk- mostly interactive, with students asking relevant and not-so-relevant questions- each was handled beautifully by the speaker! I even took down notes!

We sent our rèsumès out to our allocated mentors; I have my first iteration at 1 a.m. i.e. soon!

Right after changing out of my attire and putting it away safely, we were eating chicken rolls at Globe@I- they've recently gone all healthy- rolls made of atta, with fresh veggies and the like! There's a QT Quiz tomorrow; I should probably attempt to understand some Probability!

27/07/2015

27/07/2015; 03:21:

And, it's been three eventful days, here at Planet-I!

24th morning began with classes as usual; Trois- the start-up by 3 students of the PGP-2 Batch- held the second day of its exhibition of suiting and fabric- they had the option of both custom-altered ready-made suits and tailor-made suits stitched to order.
The Sports Committee meanwhile prepared and uploaded a video that brings forth the idea that sports are an essential part of life and can be very well managed in sync with academics and everything else that goes on at Planet-I.

Branded- the most awaited event of the Marketing Club was held at 10 p.m. in the Old Auditorium. It consisted of two rounds- nearly half the batch turned up to participate- the auditorium was nearly full! The first round was a written 20-question quiz that tested mainly general awareness in the marketing space- including logos, taglines and new products. The top 6 teams (including ours!) qualified for the final round where in a news piece had to be used as the basis for building an advertisement for any product- the sample shown depicted the infamous incident where Suarez bit an Italian player during a game and the subsequent advertisement that Snickers developed- ‘Tastes much better than Italian’. Similar news pieces including the one where parents scaled walls in Bihar to hand out answers to students writing their Board exams and a corruption scandal were part of the challenge. The top 3 teams were picked, based on their idea and execution- these three are now required to get FaceBook ‘likes’ for their video-taped performance- and, there’s prize money being handed out to the winners! The event was very interesting and well-conducted- I’m sure that the number of interested applicants for the Marketing Club has gone up at least 2-fold after this!

25th morning began with classes; post-lunch, we headed to attend the afternoon session of ‘Colloquium- The Annual Business Conclave’. The theme for this year’s event is ‘E-commerce in India: From Bricks to Clicks’. There was a rather interesting Panel Discussion centred around the idea ‘The advent of Omni-Channel Retail in India’. Nearly everyone agreed that it is but an inevitable happening that is likely to take over retail space in the near future even though a lot of challenges still stand to be overcome.
This was followed by ‘Elevator Pitch’, the B-Plan event with a difference- the participants had just 2 minutes - the duration of an elevator ride’ to put forth their ideas to a panel of judges- the ideas ranged from a rental website to a price-comparison website to an adventure-tourism website. Of course, given the theme of the event, all the ideas were e-commerce based. The event ended close to 5 p.m. post which I headed to my room and proceeded to fall asleep. I only woke up early on Sunday morning, right in time for the next session of the Business Conclave. Meanwhile, I missed out on a practice for the performance that we’re preparing as part of the Section Wars. A couple of sections have performed flash-mobs to increase their visibility, in the run up to the event. We’re looking at having something, sometime soon.

26th morning began with Day 2 of Colloquium at the Old Audi. There were 4 guest lectures- a personal entrepreneurship story; the future of affiliate marketing; the websites in the travel-related e-commerce space and the importance of Big Data Analytics. A panel discussion on ‘Price wars and discounts: race to the bottom or the ultimate winning strategy’ and a workshop on Big Data Analytics were held after lunch. A Business Quiz was held at 6 p.m. The winners of all the events will be announced and felicitated during the closing ceremony that’ll be held on 27th evening.

Section E (or some part of Section E to be more specific) gathered in the FPM Common Room to work on our dance & music performances for 2nd August- that’s when the final showdown for Section Wars is due to happen!

Evening was spent discussing Atharv’s progress and trying out Globe@I’s new ‘healthy menu- for their rolls, they’ve shifted to using atta instead of maida and they promise extra fresh ingredients.

At 10 p.m., the Merchand-I Club held their event, ‘Retail Saga’ which was very well-received. Some dinner and some gossip later, I headed to my room and inaugurated my new laptop! (the same one that I’d procured about 10 days earlier, as part of the InfraComm bulk deal).

And, the keyboard is very nice and here’s to my first piece composed on it!!

24/07/2015

24/07/15; 05:38:

And, this place really never sleeps! Been out nearly all night, and even now the place was buzzing with activity- people exploring a new place, getting used to campus life, out meeting people, eating at the Night mess, sitting by the stairs atop ‘Patal-lok’ (SR-13/14), wandering aimlessly, taking a long stroll along the lit & not-so-lit by-roads, watching the world go away- soaking in life, here at Planet-I!

This morning began with an Organizational Behaviour lecture where we discussed organizational citizenship and the mimetic self- the part of you that deals with emotion, the intangible and its importance to a healthy workplace and promoting reform where it’s needed and cannot always be directly broached. Right after was a QT (Quantitative Techniques) lecture where most of the class was asleep or almost so; I’m not sure why though- we discussed the idea of joint probabilities. The Accounts classes are going well, with most of the engineers catching onto the ideas of debit, credit and balance sheets.

After lunch, Section E gathered in the centre of the Acad Block to have a practice session for a section photograph. This is all part of the run-up to the Section Wars that everyone’s looking forward to- in other news, one section dressed all in white and another burst into a flash mob.

At 9:15 p.m., we all filed into the Old Audi to hear out our batch-mates who made it to the election round for the selection of the Junior Placement Committee- all of them presented their manifestos- including their plans, their achievements and goals. After all 33 of them had been heard, we headed to pre-assigned rooms (section-wise) to cast our votes. The voting process ended only by 3 a.m. by which time I must’ve consumed a lot of chai. At 3:30 a.m., the results were announced and the remaining half- the chosen ones- made their way to the Academic Block for the final few stages of the selection before we have our JPC in place!

And, there’s 8:45 class, I really should be sleeping, but, there’s always something more exciting going on! There’s honestly just so much to do and nothing to get done!

23/07/2015

23/07/2015; 03:46:

Tuesday rolled by rather quickly, with a few classes in the morning session and a rumoured quiz (that never materialized) in the afternoon session. At 6:30 p.m., we headed to the Old Auditorium, to attend a guest lecture- Mahindra was all set to launch the latest season of Mahindra War Room. Season 8 promises to be new, more competitive than ever before- of course, the innovation depends largely on the participants.
We received an official e-mail stating that the IPM SAC had been officially handed over to the junior batch i.e. the 2013-18 batch now that all paper-work & documentation was complete.
Later in the night, at 10:30 to be precise, Mercur-I (the marketing club) held a guest lecture on Marketing- the first in its series of ‘MasterClass’. Prof. ATP Ramani. Spoke about the fundamentals of read world marketing.It was both interesting and informative.
Mercur-I also announced 'Branded'- the most awaited event for all PGP-1's. It shall take place on the night of 24th July.
Wednesday aka 22nd July was spent mostly discussing and watching other people discuss their ideas for Section Wars- we’re trying to decide on a tagline, some dance & music performances and some marketing strategies to ‘promote’ our section. We’re planning to have a flag, a mascot and even a logo!
Tomorrow, there shall be a Section Photograph- the most popular section photo wins!

Late in the night, Voyage Capital (the investment club) held ‘Stock Mania 2015’ to crown the King of Financial Markets, here at Planet - I.

Colloquium, the Annual Business Conclave shall be held from 25th-27th July- the theme for this year is E-Commere- ‘From bricks to clicks’. A bunch of events are already underway, including ‘Elevator Pitch’ where you can pitch an idea to a panel of judges in literally the duration of an elevator ride- 2 minutes is all you have to get your idea across; the PayU case study challenge is open too; a workshop on Big Data Analytics and a Business Quiz along with a series of guest lectures and a panel discussion are in order. A lot of big names in the E-commerce space shall be on campus; hoping to pick up some valuable insight into the ever-expanding enterprise that is e-commerce.

21/07/2015

21/07/15; 03:20:

Just when I thought campus life couldn’t get any more busy aka happening, the 2-year MBA happened to me!
It’s been just 24-hours since I was last on my laptop, writing, but, it really feels like atleast 3 days have gone by!
The morning began with 2 classes- Microeconomics followed by Critical Thinking. After lunch, we had some free time and since the weather’s continued to be beautiful, we headed out on a long walk. We headed out of gate 2, walking the perimeter of the campus on the outside and drinking copious amounts of chai on our nearly 4-hour long undertaking!
Once back on campus, we got ourselves ice-cream from the mess, pakodas from JAM and yet more chai from Poha Point!
Close to 5 p.m., we received an e-mail that of course we’d been expecting- the next task in the series of tasks that are lined up to select the JPC. The task seemed simple (just the way a lot of rather complicated things in life appear at first glance, or even a second perhaps!) We were to draft a ‘pitch mail’, inviting recruiters on campus, under different scenarios- IIM-Indore alumni work at the company/ the company’s been a past recruiter/ the head of the company’s been on campus for a well-received guest lecture/ we’d like them to visit campus.
We began thinking about the letter as we made our way to NC-2 for an IPM 2012 Batch meet, with the Director, the PGP Chair, the IPM Chair and the Chair, Placements. The meeting was about an hour long, and was mainly aimed at letting us know that we’re now grown up and things in PGP ought to work differently from the way they did in the last 3 years.
Right after, I got down to writing the aforementioned ‘Pitch Letter’; at 10 p.m., we headed to the Old Auditorium to participate in ‘Grey Matterz’, the rather fun Quiz conducted by the Consulting Club. It had three rounds- the first had a mixed bag of strategy/consultancy-related questions, the second had us classifying companies into categories based on the Delta model, the last round was a guesstimation- we were to make logical assumptions and come up with the closest estimate of the number of phone calls made in India, each day. The event was very enjoyable; it was a learning experience that I’ll definitely remember! Post the event, the Consulting Club members gave us a brief insight into what the consulting domain entails- it seems so fascinating; I ought to explore more!
Some Thums Up and a cake-cutting later, we were in NLT-12, as part of the JPC selection process. The main purpose of this was to get to eliminating people who hadn’t made the cut, as per the scores of the last few tasks gone by. Out of the original nearly 150 applicants, only 70 had stayed put, duly submitting in all the tasks. By 1:30 a.m., I was no longer part of the JPC hopefuls and headed to the Night Mess to get myself some food.
Meanwhile, the hunt for the JPC continues; perhaps the team will be selected by the end of this week.
The announcement for Section Wars was made today; the final event shall happen on the 2nd of August- each section will put together a bunch of dance/music/drama/stand-up comedy acts; of course, the best one wins bragging rights for the next 2 years! In the run up to the actual event, each section shall be up & about, promoting their section, replete with a tagline, posters, flash mobs and more!
It’s going to be an exciting two weeks!

20/07/2015

20/07/2015; 03:51:

It’s the middle of the night and I can hear the rain relentlessly pounding against the ground, outside, just like it’s been, all day long. It has been over 2 weeks since I got back to Indore and only now do we finally have rain! And, it’s beautiful- the smell, the sounds, the sights, the sensation!

Let’s pick up right where we left off- the intro session for the JPC applicants at 6 p.m. was held in the Old Auditorium. The main purpose of this meet was to encourage all the applicants to give the selection process their 100% since it is optimal to have the best people of the batch working on the Placement team.
At around 8 p.m., Task 2 for the selection of the JPC was thrown open- each applicant was allotted a sector ranging from IT & Construction to Consumer Durables & Consulting. One had to scour (mostly online) resources for details of & likely contacts in companies that fell under his allocated sector.
At 9:45 p.m., Quriosity, The Freshers’ Quiz was held in the Old Audi, courtesy the Quiz Club- the participants were quizzed on TV Series, movies, current affairs, sports and more, all until one team emerged victorious. Right after, a batch meet had been called for by the I5 Summit coordinator- to serve the dual purpose of getting the PGP-I Batch in the know about the details of the event (and the details of Hack-a-thon- the event promising a shot at a wild card entry to Venture-I) and getting us all enthused enough to sign up to be on the organizing team for the event that’s set to happen on the 22nd & 23rd of August. Preparations are in full swing- a bunch of big names, including Mr.Ronnie Screwala of UTV are on board, as are a sizeable number of well-known angel investors/venture capitalists. Venture-I is to be the ‘pitch you idea event’- it’s open to start-ups that are less than 2 years old; a total of 15 teams from across the country will be shortlisted and will get 15 minutes to pitch their idea to a host of venture capitalists/ angel investors- $25000 of funding is on offer! Another interesting event is the ‘Walk with the Entrepreneurs’ where participants get an opportunity to interact informally, one-on-one with successful, young entrepreneurs. A host of Key Note speeches, a discussion on ‘The 360° view on funding’ and an ‘I5 Summit Prize’ that’s up for grabs for the audience members all promise to make this the hub of entrepreneurial thought & action.

On 18th July, the Raymond outlet continued to remain open for a second day, allowing those who dared to brave the rain and make their way to the FPM block to select themselves fabric for a suit that’ll be stitched to order. By late morning on Saturday morning (i.e. 18th), the last task for the JPC selection had been sent in. Close to 3p.m., the next task was sent out- this was to be a group task- we were to identify news relevant to placements. For this, we could scour whatever resources we wished to and find & identify news pieces published in the two weeks gone by. We had until 11:30 p.m. the same evening to get this done. At 11:00 p.m., Currenc-I, the economics club, held the online round of Clued- The Treasure Hunt. Results and further rounds shall follow soon.
A little after mid-night, we headed to the night mess to get ourselves some tea – I think I drink a little too much tea- the night mess guys spot me from a mile away and begin to pour out a cup of tea, smiling, even before I’ve actually asked for some. This was followed by us attending an interaction session for all JPC applicants in the Old Audi, at half-past might-night. They warned us that the details of our next task would find their way to our inboxes in the next two hours. And sure enough, a little before 5 a.m., we received an e-mail that had a list of groups and an industrial sector assigned to each group. We were to prepare an Industry Analysis Presentation on our allotted sector, which again ranged from FMCG to Automobiles & Logistics. Seeing as this was to be sent in by 8 p.m. of 19th July, most of us fell into a fitful sleep, promising to be up soon & get working. And, that we did.
At 1:15 p.m., an interaction session was scheduled with some IIM-Indore alums who’ve been actively working in the areas of sales & marketing- they spent over an hour sharing their experiences and fielding questions from an enthusiastic bunch of new people.
By 2:30 p.m., all the JPC applicants had received e-mails that contained details for a Group Discussion that was to be held early in the evening. Group Discussions done, the final presentation for the Industry Analysis was compiled and sent in by the stipulated deadline.
At 9:30 p.m., all the groups assembled in NLT-7 in order to actually present the presentations they’d prepared- to an eager audience in the senior team & a slew of questions.
Our presentation was rather well-received and we headed back to our rooms via the night mess, stopping for over an hour to savour lots of tea.
The Media Committee has meanwhile announced a writing competition- all of PGP-I has been invited to document their 1st week, here at IIM-Indore. The best write-up gets to feature on insideiim and of course, he/she gets bragging rights!

A rather interesting case is to be read for the Critical Thinking Skills session, tomorrow- here’s looking forward to an exciting class discussion!

17/07/2015

17/07/15; 15:20:

And, it’s been over a week here already- it doesn’t really feel that way though! It’s Friday and we’ve had a whole week of classes!
7th July aka Tuesday remained pretty uneventful, except a small number of new PGP students pouring in. We walked around campus, trying to meet all the people that we could. Most of 8th July was spent around the PiShop, where all the new guys were picking up ‘IIM-Indore Survival Kits’ as christened by the Pi Shop guys themselves. It was essentially a bunch of essentials that most people would need on campus- a bucket, which would then be filled with notebooks, cloth clips, stationery, rope, a LAN cable, bed sheets and even a towel and stapler!
9th July was D-day- registration day. The new PGP guys were to head to an assigned NLT classroom in slots, with their documents in tow. We headed to NLT-09, for we only had to fill out the registration form and hand in photographs. The Placement Committee had also turned up at the registration, with an excel sheet that demanded filling- grades and achievements. This process began in the morning and ended only by 3 p.m. Post this, we collected reading material from H-102 for our new subjects Organizational Behaviour, Quantitative Techniques & Operations Management. The MediClaim guys were also in the next room, talking everyone into picking up a medical insurance policy under some special group scheme that they run exclusively for IIM-Indore. Wow, we were officially a part of the PG part of the course now- registration done, spiral bound reading material collected and new batchmates seen.
And, the mad-scram, the packed time-table, the crazy schedule that we’d been warned of began right from the evening of 9th July. Now that everyone was registered and officially a part of the PGP course at IIM-Indore, there was nothing to stop the influx of deadlines and sleepless activity. It began with everyone being divided into groups and being handed an assignment. Now since the official e-mail ID’s hadn’t been handed out to the new guys yet, the Mess 1 notice board had a chance to display its full potential- of course, it could only exercise this control until the e-mail system was up and running- post that, the poor board will have to go back to its perpetual state of ignorance and being ignored. Of course, I’m sure it has gotten used to this treatment in the last 15-17 years that it has been around. The list detailing the groups as well as the assignment were duly put up on the notice board. Further, a 1-credit Yoga course was announced. Once the assignments had been looked, a batch meet was in order, at 10 p.m. The main purpose of this batch-meet of course was to give people an idea of what a batch meet at IIM-Indore, with our new batch-mates would look like. This was followed by a bunch of classes- Microeconomics, Strategic Management and Marketing, as per the allocated sections. Class began by 11 p.m. and ran for about an hour. And of course, the introduction to the IIM system of classes would’ve been incomplete without a surprise quiz- and there it was- just as class ended, a set of questions made their debut appearance in the PGP 2015-17 Batch class. This was followed by everyone returning to finish the assignments- each group had been assigned a mentor from the senior batch- to dole out advice and to collect the completed assignments.
Some people managed to catch a few hours (or minutes) of sleep and everyone was unceremoniously woken up for the Yoga session at 4:30 a.m. Now, Yoga is all good, what with June 21 being celebrated World over, but, nothing feels too great at 4:30 a.m. and most definitely not when you’ve been up and relentlessly working! By the end of the Yoga session, I felt happy- perhaps it was the endorphins stemming from exercise, perhaps it was the morning weather, perhaps it was the happy people or perhaps it was just the prospect of a warm shower. Soon after, an early morning (read 7 a.m.) class on Strategic Management was held. The highlight of course was the breakfast soon after!

10th July began with the Director’s address at 10:30, welcoming in the new PGP batch! He spoke of a few changes in the PGP curriculum, which include mainly an increased focus on communication-related courses and the introduction of elective courses in the first year of the PGP itself (as opposed to elective courses being made available only in the second year as was the norm). It was nice to see the new auditorium fully occupied- by excited new students and some parents! This was then followed by an hour-long commencement address by Mr. Madan Padaki, Co-founder, CEO & Managing Director, Head Held High Services and Co-founder & Director, Sylvant Advisors. The faculty introduction followed- most of the faculty members spoke a line or two about themselves and their department. It was all very exciting- the start of a new journey always is! Post lunch, a book launch was followed by an address by the PGP Chair; a talk on gender sensitivity drew the day’s programme to a close. 5 p.m. onwards, student interaction with their respective mentors was in order. Each group of 6-7 students have been assigned a faculty mentor- to guide them through the course of the 2-years here, at IIM-Indore.

A couple more assignments and a second batch-meet went on late into the night. 11th morning began with a tree plantation drive- what better way to begin a new phase in your life than by furthering another! We were then back at the New Auditorium for a session on the perils of ragging & plagiarism and a briefing about how the facilities on campus including the internet/intranet and the library work. The campus has been working on being more disabled-friendly. An enlightening session by V-shesh led us to realise that we’d probably been viewing disability wrongly and how we could better ourselves. A guest lecture by Mr. Giri Giridhar, Senior Director Finance, MSD Pharmaceuticals Ltd. drew the Induction/Orientation programme to a close. Everyone then moved to the Academic Block for a session on the Case Study method of teaching- this was held as per our respective sections and it was of course the first time everyone settled into a classroom along with their new section-mates. Strong bonds must exist among everyone who’s in the same section, for this will be put to test during the Section Wars which should happen sometime in August.

12th morning began with a Zumba session again at 4:30 a.m. The day closed with the freshers’ party in SR-10, replete with a video and taking of the oath, wherein everyone pledged to uphold the integrity and pride of the institute.

And, 13th morning began with a slew of classes which was of course going to be the norm for the rest of the 2 years. Oh, I’m in Section E- our term began with a Microeconomics class, followed by the first class of the Critical Thinking workshop. It’s a rather interesting concept that aims to allow us to explore the need for, the way to and the barriers to critical thinking- for critical thinking is essential to evaluate a problem as objectively as possible and come up with the most feasible solution- a skill that is a must for a decision-making manager. Later in the day i.e. at 4 p.m., there was a quiz on the preparatory course on Probability & Statistics that we ought to have completed. Right after, there was more reading material to be picked up for the courses on Financial Accounting & Marketing. Log-in ID details were also shared, right after the quiz- everyone was now equipped to handle the slew of e-mails that the next two years will see! I find the endless array of e-mails very pleasant, to be honest- it’s awesome to be informed about the details of every little activity that goes on, on campus!
At 10:30 p.m., a batch meet was scheduled- the agenda of this meet was to disseminate information about all the clubs and committees on campus- part of the reason was to allow us to make an informed choice when applying to be a member of any of these.

Right after the meeting, the Academic Committee sent out an e-mail explaining, in detail exactly how we are expected to dress, when a dress code is specified- Smart Casuals mean a collared T-shirt/Shirt with jeans is good, while Business Formals need you to go all out- blazer included. Soon after, applications for the Academic Committee were thrown open. There shall be 8 candidates- one from each section- who shall be selected. Their role includes, in addition to being the interface between faculty and students, analyzing course structures & suggesting new courses, being the Class Representative for their respective sections.
14th morning began with classes too – well, that is how the week ought to be! Later in the day, one of my section-mates sent out an e-mail suggesting that we form a section WhatsApp group. This was soon followed by someone else sending out a Google Sheet wherein everyone was asked to key in their phone numbers to facilitate the process- we were finally aboard the WhatsApp-Group train- the other sections had up-and-running groups even before classes really began. The book vendor was on campus, as he had been on 12th & 13th too- most people picked up all the recommended books (9 in total, for the 1st year) while I concluded that I since really would never get around to reading them, I’m better off without them.
At 6:30 p.m., I headed to the IPM SAC Office to complete the official ‘handing-over’ process. New coordinators had been selected before we left for the break and it was now time to hand over the clubs/committees! Making a ceremony out of it just added some glamour to an otherwise routine process. Documents were signed, handshakes traded, e-mail ID passwords shared, wishes & advice doled out!
The Pi-Shop announced a Calculator bulk deal and Voyage Capital (the Investment Club) announced the first event of the year- Stock Mania 2015!
On 15th July, there was a new addition to our classes- the seating arrangement! My seat is just perfect- second row, centre! The selection process for the Academic Committee took off in the evening!
Later in the evening, my new laptop- the one I’d ordered as part of the deal the Infrastructure Committee had offered- arrived. It looks rather nice; I’m yet to get around to working on the new machine though.
At 11:30 p.m., we had our first batch meet with the Placement Committee- those guys work really hard, tirelessly, round the year to get a lot of great work done! They gave us an insight into the composition of the batch, an overview of the work we need to put into building our résumés and a brief about the working of the Committee. Soon after, they sent out a form, inviting application for the Junior Placement Committee team.
Trois- the new start-up on campus- announced their new offerings- business suits- which as the Placement Committee informed us shall be a necessary part of our wardrobe over the next 2 years.
16th July saw classes too. The Pi Shop too announced a bulk deal for business suits- the new batch now has multiple business suit options within campus! A separate portal on the intranet is being used for the JPC selection process. All applicants were required to upload sample word/ppt/excel files onto the portal to familiarize themselves with the portal.
The first task for the JPC Selection was sent a little after mid-night.
After class on 17th July i.e. today, I sat down to compose an SOP for the JPC selection and quickly uploaded that and my résumé onto the portal. A talk about the i-Bus in Indore which now runs routes upto Rau Circle (which is pretty close to campus) was held in the Old Auditorium at 3 p.m. The IPM Office sent out an e-mail with our consolidated CGPA for the last three years- this shall be necessary when we draw up our résumés
The SAC Fund payment has been made online to make the process easier for everyone involved. An intro session for all JPC applicants is scheduled at 6 p.m., today. Looking forward to that!

06/07/2015

06/07/15; 20:26:

And, it’s great to be back on campus after a long hiatus, the longest in fact, since the day I stepped into this place. There’s just something about this place- no, it won’t leave you longing when you’re away, no, it won’t have you reminiscing on a u warm, windy day; and no, it will not pull you back when you’re leaving- that’s not what it is. It is that feeling, once you’re back- you just feel like you never left; it just lets you pick up from the exact moment you left; an instant frozen in time, untouched by the fast-paced glory of what we call the 21st century; and, it is yours to have, without ever letting you feel the need to lay claim.

I got here early in the evening, yesterday. A warm dinner seeped in paneer and conversation. I was up at 7 this morning, watching the world go by, or not. I walked slowly but surely to the HRC (Hostel Reception Centre)- the room allotment list was made available and I wrapped my fingers around a light blue, almost hazy keychain that read SR12-307. I had to wait a little before I could settle in- the room had managed to get itself locked on the inside- it took three men, a ladder and a long pipe to get the door finally undone, after pulling out the glass pane on the ventilator over the door. We then headed to ER-2 to pick up the belongings that we’d hurriedly wrapped and stashed away in the cloak room for safe-keeping- transport had been arranged and nearly 90 minutes later, our belongings were lazing about in their new surroundings. Hot momos at JAM was then followed by a trip to the Pi-Shop and cold coffee at Mess2. It’s always the little things that matter- whatever be the larger picture!

The junior batch was back on campus a little earlier i.e. on the 1st of this month. The lists for the IPM2015-20 batch were drawn up in the last week of June post which I spent time trying to answer queries- for information is necessary to make a decision and this is one rather major decision. Earlier this afternoon, I met a quiet, curious kid who’d made his way to campus, to look around and speak to people before he took the plunge. Talking to new people (and their parents) always gives you a new perspective to things!

We’re now looking forward to the 9th of July which is when the registration for PGP-1 is scheduled. It’s a funny feeling- anxiety, excitement and the idea that you’ve grown up, all at once!

Here’s looking forward to an eventful year and beautiful batch-mates!