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!