26/08/2015

26/08/2015; 00:48:

It’s been a wonderful two days!
24th morning began with a few classes; we had two business communication classes post-lunch where we indulged in a learning-based role play session, group-wise! The idea of these permanent project groups (for the whole 1st year, as assigned by the PGP Office) seemed a little scary at first, but, now that we’ve gotten comfortable with our group-mates, it is a rather nice proposition.
Right after class which ended a little before 5, I made my way to my room to go change, for there was a personal interview at 6 p.m. Somehow, things were running a lot off schedule and my interview was over only by 8 p.m. post which we headed to Mess 2 to eat. There was a group assignment to be submitted for the Industrial Visit course which we then worked on; it was a fairly simple assignment that dealt with organizational profiles.

25th morning began as usual; we got to see our accounting mid-term papers and had a second session of the Industrial Visit course- we’re having a few theory classes before we venture out into the field.
25th evening was grand- Onam was being celebrated on campus, and in such a grand fashion too, all courtesy the Malayalam community on campus, supported by the cultural committee. It all began, early in the evening with a tug-of-war and other games! A beautiful rangoli of flowers had been created, on the first floor of Mess 1- an intricate pattern, with ‘Happy Onam’ written around it, in both English and Malayalam- clearly, a lot of effort had gone into making it! A traditional Onam feast had also been arranged- hospitality was in full swing and the food was delicious! It was a wonderful evening indeed!

25/08/2015

25/08/2015; 01:00:

It’s been a while since my last post. So, 19th, right where I left off. We had a marketing class, early in the morning, where we continued to discuss the case, again, from right where we’d left off! Our group got to present the stuff we’d been working on, the night before, namely studying a paper on Marketing Myopia- that’s what happens when a marketer looks at his industry too narrowly and might fail as a result of this incorrect interpretation.
It was also Day 3 of Chunauti and matches went on, late into the night- here, everything, sports included must happen only after most normal humans are fast asleep! Singh’s restaurant was on campus, with biryani and chilly chicken.
Meanwhile, the Media Committee launched its new initiative, titled ‘All Things’- the theme for the week was E-Commerce and a couple of things, including interesting articles, pictures, videos, quotes and more were shared! This is in a bid to give students a platform to showcase their creativity while getting some relevant content on the official page.
We had a guest lecture to attend, at 11:30 p.m. (Like I said, there’s just something about these odd hours that has everyone falling head over heels in love!) Right after the talk, everyone headed to the night mess- that’s probably more routine than anything else!

20th again began with a bunch of classes- a new course, titled Industrial Visit began on the 20th. The first session was rather interesting- and very interactive! We’re being given an insight into how to make the best of an industrial visit before they throw us right in- all through the first year, we shall have a bunch of industrial visits to (hopefully) interesting places! The idea of an assembly line is just so fascinating!
Later in the afternoon, at 3:45 p.m., we had an OM quiz. Now, we’d all anticipated a short, 15-minute quiz, but, this went on for a whole hour! It was a very interesting quiz- designed to test both, one’s logical thinking skills and the subject knowledge. That, and the case dealt with tomatoes- lots of them- and, I do really like tomatoes!
The only downside of the quiz was what came after it- an e-mail announcing momos at JAM. Now, this e-mail itself was beautiful, the disappointment came later- when we headed to JAM to enjoy some, only to be told that they were all sold out! Fortunately, I did not have a lot of time to dwell over this minor disappointment, for I had a GD at 6 p.m. The GD was a case-based one, dealing with a classic religion v/s progress debate.
Soon after, as per the Chunauti schedule, we had a Basketball Match at 8:30. Somehow, we managed to collect enough women to have a PGP1 Women’s team! Considering our practice (or the lack of it- the players were introducing themselves to each other, right there, on the court!) we did manage to put up a decent show against the IPM team, losing only by a small margin. Meanwhile, a lot of posters arrived on campus- someone had run a bulk deal a few days ago and, clearly, a lot of people wanted to personalize their new spaces- TV shows, sports personalities, scenery, quotes and the like.
The Men’s final began right after our match- it was amazingly intense- with PGP1 beating PGP2, 32-31! After being down by 8 points by half-time, the guys put up a really good fight, not just coming back into the race, but, walking away with the title too.
Since it was Thursday and that’s our beloved Night Mess’ day of rest, we got ourselves some food at Mess 2. ‘Twas also the last day to apply to be a member of any of the interest clubs- I spent a while debating over whether I should apply to DebSoc (the debating club) before finally deciding against it- they conduct very interesting events and I enjoy participating in them too much to want to be on the organizing side.
Around mid-night, the junior teams for the various fests were announced- I get to be part of the organizing team for ‘Voice of Indore’ and that’s something that I’m really looking forward to! I also get to be on the media teams for both IRIS and Utsaha; the piece on the three fests is still due- maybe sometime when there isn’t a week-long break between two posts!

21st aka Friday began with some interesting classes- we dealt with a monopoly market and then a new marketing case- that of an online health services provider. And then of course, preparations for the i5 Summit were in full swing! We had a media team meet and then an all hands meet! Just the term ‘All Hands’ is enough to get people motivated to work their hardest! The Volleyball Final, again as part of Chunauti, was held at 2 a.m.! And, what a brilliant match it was- the third and final set hit 24-all and finally swung in favour of the PGP2 guys.
Perhaps, the i5 Summit days ought to get their own post!

19/08/2015

19/08/2015; 03:36:

It’s been a couple of sleepless days (and nights!) for nearly the whole PGP-I Batch! There’s just so much going on; and, of course, you want to be involved- something must be compromised, and most often, that something ends up being sleep. The whole ‘you can pick two of the three- academics/ social life/ sleep’ theory seems to be truer than ever before.

16th aka Sunday began early for everyone who was working on their pre-processes for Utsaha/Udaan for the deadlines seemed to be mid-day instead of mid-night which is the usual norm. A rather interesting case was to be read, for the first-ever Marketing class, scheduled first thing on Monday morning. It was about a company that’d ventured into making ‘herbal, healthy cigarette replacements’ that were an entirely new concept.
Management Canvas, the student-run business magazine held a written selection round at around 6:30 p.m. It was an interesting bunch of magazine-related write-ups, including drawing up an interview questionnaire for one of the three given personalities, some editing and an opinion piece. It was an hour-long and post successfully typing out our ideas, we headed out to eat- tandoori chicken mainly.
We got back around 11 and that’s when Voice of Indore sent out a call for interviews. My interview was rather interesting, with the whole panel in a jovial mood. Some more food at the night mess later, I headed over to my room to fall asleep, close to 4 a.m.

17th August, i.e. Monday morning began with a spectacular Marketing class! The class was really interactive and I managed to propose some random theory regarding the case being discussed. The rest of the class quickly caught onto the random theory and built up a detailed class discussion around it; perhaps we missed the main point, but, a follow-up reading made us believe that we’d paved the way right for it!
A MicroEconomics class that dealt with Market Structure followed.We had an Operations Management class next where a surprise quiz was in store!
Some lunch later, everyone headed back up to the Acad Block for a Spreadsheet Modelling quiz at 3:30. The quiz was a single, large question that needed to be read three times before one could make any sense of it; the quiz was only half an hour long and was rather exciting!

Pre-processes, this time for Utsaha and Udaan were to be sent in by 2 a.m. and most of us got working on those. Reverbs- the gala show put together by Vibes (the dance club) and Harmon-i (the music club) was held at 8:30 p.m.- it aims to introduce the new batch to the charm of both these clubs and of course, a grand performance is the best way!
I made it to the interview round for the Management Canvas team selection and gave an interview at 9:30 p.m. It was a nice interview; unfortunately though, I did not make it to the team; it’s a great magazine and I’m now looking forward to the next edition (it’s a quarterly publication) that the new team will help put together!
An IRIS Media team interview at 11:30 was next in line- the panel was happy to listen and very encouraging! A Group Interview for the selection of the Udaan Operations team was held at 1 a.m. with three different panels working in tandem for there were a lot of applicants. Most other IRIS interviews were held through the evening/night.

18th morning began at 8:45 a.m. with a very interesting QT class where we discussed population, parameters and sampling distributions. A few classes later, late in the afternoon, I headed to my room to get working on my rèsumè for summer placement season is right around the corner! Chunauti- the annual inter-batch Sports challenge which’d begun on 17th evening led the whole evening to be one non-stop line-up of matches- Men’s & Women’s Badminton, Men’s Cricket, Women’s Throwball, Men’s Volleyball, Football and Basketball! The matches began early in the evening and went on till past mid-night! Meanwhile, interviews for all IRIS events and verticals were wrapped up by mid-night for the teams need to be finalized. Interviews for Udaan and Utsaha also made an appearance. I ought to do a write-up on the three fests, sometime soon, perhaps tomorrow! In the midst of all this, we also had to get a Marketing Assignment done (other groups had OM assignments to get done instead while some groups had nothing at all, but, then again, it’s all just a matter of time (or the lack of it!))
Definitely been one of those periods when you really feel like the day needs to have more than the 24 hours that it does!
And, I’m sleeping at odd hours again, but at least this time around, everyone else is too!

16/08/2015

16/08/2015; 04:51:

13th August saw the MicroEconomics mid-term which was a shocker for most people, what with the negative marking- we’ve all heard and accepted +4/-1’s as the norms, but, I’m talking +2/-1’s here!
I fell asleep, right after the paper; I then spent two hours in Mess 2 (mostly eating while pretending like we were getting some studying done!). Post this, I proceeded to fall asleep again and for the first time in a long while, I got to see the sunrise by waking up to it, rather than getting to bed once the sky lights up!
The QT mid-term on 14th morning was a lot easier than everyone had anticipated! And, then, there were a whole bunch of (rather interesting) readings to be read for the OB mid-term which was scheduled to be held on the same afternoon. Our professor sent out an e-mail, wishing us good luck for the paper, right before it!
Later in the evening, we had an awesome guest lecture- the speaker was both innovative and informative- a perfect mix of relevant ideas that needed to be disbursed and a sense of humour!
Most pre-processes for the selection of various event teams as well as the different verticals for IRIS ‘15 were sent out by 14th night. Of course, given that our mid-terms were just over, everyone spent the night catching up with either friends or some much-needed sleep.

15th was far from being a day off- it was rather happening! The 69th Indian Independence Day was celebrated with much gusto, here at the IIM-Indore campus with a flag hoisting ceremony that began at 9 a.m. followed by high-tea for everyone.
Soon after, we had a photo-shoot since everyone’s going to need passport sized pictures, through the year. The occasion called for dressing up and everyone gladly followed ‘suit’! The real photo-shoot, of course, began once the passport sized pictures had been clicked. My section is awesome! One person would begin to pose for a picture with their best friend, a third would join in, then a fourth and every picture was essentially a section photograph!
Some food and cold coffee in Mess 2 later, everyone headed to their rooms to get working on the various pre-processes.
A batch meet was scheduled at 11:30 p.m., to disburse information regarding Udaan- the rebranded Indore Marathon, Utsaha- the Rural Marketing Fest and the various Interest Clubs and Self Interest Groups. Applications to be on the organizing team for both Udaan & Utsaha as part of one vertical or another were sent out, soon after the batch meet. One can apply to be a member of at most 2 interest clubs and any number of the 4 Self Interest Groups. Since the Management Canvas (the business magazine of IIM-Indore) team will be covering the i5 Summit that’s happening on the 22nd & 23rd of the month, they’ve thrown open applications early; all the other interest clubs shall throw open applications only after the selections for IRIS/Utsaha/Udaan are done with.
Right after the batch-meet, as is the case with every batch meet (for they must all be scheduled to begin only after 11 p.m.!), all the PGP1’s headed straight to the night mess for food and tea (and other beverages perhaps, but, tea!)

While the submission deadline for some of the pre-processes was mid-night, others have allowed time until late morning on the 16th and hence a lot of us got the midnight oil burning.
And, some others got midnight oil burning for entirely different reasons- like yours truly, working on this post for instance!

13/08/2015

13/08/2015; 04:10:

Another 3 interesting days- 10th morning began with a bunch of classes- we picked up a new case in the Operations Management lecture and spoke about the trade-off between labour and leisure in the Microeconomics class. A business communication class followed where we discovered the nuances of effective e-mail writing. Post-lunch, we learnt a couple of new, interesting functions on Excel. Right after, we headed to a guest lecture, but, not before we’d gotten ourselves some bhel from the Faculty Mess. The guest lecture was interesting- the speaker was very enthusiastic and enthusiasm is very obviously contagious!

There were a bunch of birthdays celebrated, that night- we wandered from SR9 to Mess 2 to Mess 1, watching people get doused in coke, soap water, cake, ice-cream and whatever else their friends could lay their hands on!

11th morning was mostly non-existent; at 2 p.m., I headed to NC-2- an introductory session on Counselling, Psychology and Mental Health was being held for the IPM 2015 Batch. The main aim was to introduce them to the availability of counselling services on the IIM-Indore campus. The secondary aim was to introduce and incite them to be a part of Zephyr- the Psychology Interest Group that we’d started, some time ago. The session was a bunch of group activities that brought forth the need for and busted myths related to counselling and therapy. By the end of the session, there were quite a few new kids interested in being part of Zephyr.
I then headed to check my marks in the Accounts quiz held the week before- not too disappointing!

Some attempts at studying MicroEconomics were in order, in the evening; then, I decided to fall asleep rather early and got up just in time for the Accounting mid-term; of course, I sent in the pre-processes for the selection of the various teams for IRIS 2015 before I crashed.
The mid-term was two and a half hours long and not too difficult- a single case, for which balance sheets, an income statement and the cash account were to be prepared.
At 2 p.m., a Sweden Nobel Memorial quiz was held in the Old Audi- 'twas a large event, with teams coming in from even Jabalpur to participate; a qualifier was held to select the team that'd represent IIM Indore in the final stage round - unfortunately, they did not win the quiz, that honour went to the team from Jabalpur!
After spending a considerable time weighing my options- I needed to get my clothes to the laundry and, now, with the Xpress-o-mat giving the dear old, traditional laundry some competition, I had a choice to make- and I made one too! I fell asleep and got up only post 7 p.m.! I’d set a (rather useless) alarm for 3 p.m.- it did not manage to wake me up for good, but, did give me a scare! I awoke with a start, close to 4 p.m., cursing myself- ‘Damn! I missed the accounts paper!’ I’d just begin to question my life choices, when I finally came around, and realised that I’d only fallen into my blissful state of trance After having written the accounts paper!

Some food later, I was at my table, attempting to study MicroEconomics. I made a rather successful trip to the night mess, around 1 a.m. and got around to doing nothing.
And, a good use of my time was really called for, hence, the blog post!

10/08/2015

10/08/2015; 04:00:

The club-selection results were announced early on Saturday morning; I had an 8:45 class to attend which I (despite waking up at 8 a.m.) decided against for, as sleepy-me declared, I am the master of my own destiny and those classes did not need attending. I then proceeded to sleep until 4 p.m. when some repeated banging on my door finally woke me up.

That evening, as we sauntered up to Poha Point to get some chai, I concluded that it was indeed the most useless day ever, in my last 3 years here! Never has there been a more lazy-feeling day. The best part of the day was the tandoori chicken that we ordered in. An Accounts Remedial class, conducted by a PGP2 student was held at 5 p.m. The PGP2 students have taken it upon themselves to hold such remedial sessions for all courses that are deemed difficult by the general populace of the 1st year.

Then, an e-mail arrived that made it seem like there was still something in store- there was a slight chance that the day might just be saved. We had an IRIS Batch meet at 11:30 p.m. where we were given details about IRIS- including its inception, the various verticals that will be working towards making IRIS ‘15 a success and all the different events. We were then told the specific needs and benefits of being associated with each vertical/event. The application form for the junior team was thrown open somewhere in the wee hours of the morning. One gets to be a member of at most one event and one vertical.

Sunday began only at 5 in the evening; ‘twas filled with regret too- mainly at missing the QT Tutorial Session that’d happened at 11 a.m. We then headed out to Sayaji for our first-ever PGP Media Comm party! We got back just in time for a batch meet at 11:30 post which everyone headed to the night mess.

Pre-Processes for the selection of the IRIS junior team members were sent out around mid-night, for most events and verticals. And, the mid-term exams shall begin on 12th August, but, that’s not really a story!

8/08/2015

08/08/2015; 03:53:

And, I’m back to writing at oddly curious times; clearly, all my efforts at establishing a normal sleep schedule have been futile!

Let’s get right where we left off- the morning of 5th August which began with a mid-morning MicroEconomics class where we’ve now moved over to the production side, having dealt with the consumer front to some extent; an Operations Management class where we discussed the rate of production of shirts, followed. A form announcing Chunauti ‘15 - the annual inter-batch sports extravaganza - found its way to our inboxes at some weird hour of the night (or morning’d be more apt, perhaps!)
We later received some rather terrible news- the institute boundary wall, unable to bear the brunt of the relentless rain- had, in part, collapsed- right next to Gate 3 and there was certain irreparable loss. Honestly, there is never a right way to deal with such a situation; an overwhelming feeling of helpless sorrow is the best anyone can muster.

Later in the night, once I was back from my rèsumè iteration session,we received an e-mail offering the opportunity to participate in an IIM-Indore private league on the Fantasy Premier League portal; with playing season due to start soon, this opportunity was immediately seized. I began to curate a team, until an error message informed me that I’d selected way too many players from Chelsea! What! They’re a brilliant team; I can’t help but like them all! Anyway, some compromise had to be made and I soon had a team- looking forward to the start of the season!
After a few morning classes, there was an OB quiz to look forward to, at 3:30 p.m.; the quiz was fairly straight-forward and only 15 minutes long!
Toastmasters held their open session at 8 p.m., to let everyone know about the concept and the power of good public speaking skills! Membership has been thrown open on FCFS basis- they have space for only about 50 members- that perhaps being the optimum group size to allow for positive learning. What I find most interesting about the whole set-up is the ‘uhm’ counter- one person’s designated role is to count the number of unnatural pauses that each speaker manages in their (usually) 3 minute speech! Someone actually listens with rapt enough attention to catch every little ‘umm’ and ‘ah’ you utter!

Some attempt at getting the hang of journal entries, balance sheets and depreciation followed- the biggest success was definitely the chicken biryani we had (since our venue of choice was Mess 2!) Meanwhile, all clubs held the final round in the selection process- a bunch of interviews!

7th morning began with us continuing our discussion on the production of shirts. We then proceeded to wander around, waiting for the MicroEconomics Quiz papers that were to be shown at 2 p.m. My marks look fairly okay, what with a rather disappointing class average.

At 4 p.m., everyone filed into their designated classrooms for the Accounts quiz. It was an hour-long and easier than what we’d expected! Section A & B had had their quiz earlier and had us all prepared for a difficult, impossible to finish paper! Those guys meanwhile got to attend a guest lecture!

Right after the quiz, we made good use of the 1+1 offer that Domino’s was running. Meanwhile, all the prospective candidates for the various clubs wandered around campaigning, having sent in their manifestos.

Basketball Trials for PGP-1 with the main motive of forming a team for Chunauti were held at 10 p.m.; less ladies than the requisite for a team showed up! We then spent an hour playing before heading off to vote for our favourites from among the club-hopefuls! The voting began at 11:45 and continued till nearly 3 a.m.- interspersed with a Media Comm meeting where we divided our work for the year and multiple ‘chai visits’ to the night mess!

Once everyone successfully cast their votes, I sauntered back to my hostel and decided to get writing!
The results should be out anytime now! Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to the SpreadSheet Modelling class at 8:45 and some sleep might just be a good idea!

04/08/2015

04/08/2015; 22:00:

Today morning, I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed at around 8:15 a.m.; it was only when I began to reach for my toothbrush that I realized that I had class only at 10:15 and dove right back into bed!

Some depreciation and some pie charts later, we headed to the Old Audi for a guest lecture at 3:30 p.m.; there was also another guest lecture that Voyage Capital (the Investment Club) had arranged, at 3 p.m.

Right after the guest lecture ended, we rushed to the New Auditorium- The evening of 4th August saw IIM Indore come alive- with the stars down here, to touch Planet-I. The cast/crew of Manjhi The Mountain Man - Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Radhika Apte & Ketan Mehta (Director) visited campus to interact with the students. Manjhi- produced, marketed & distributed by Viacom 18 is the story of one man and a mountain- a mountain that he brought down, single handedly, over a span of 22 long years.

The interaction began with an unexpected entry of stand-up comic Daniel Fernandes who had the audience in splits, with his appropriately-timed inappropriate jokes!
The cast/crew were soon on stage, talking about the importance of continuing to work towards whatever it is that one wants- one can certainly break down metaphorical mountains when a lone man with his sole power of determination sliced down an actual one- armed with only a hammer, chisel and his undying spirit.

The audience had a gala time, throwing questions, mainly at Nawaz Sir. He shared the story of how he needed a whole month to come out of character after the shooting of the movie; how his mother’s letters kept him inspired on his faltering path to success in Bollywood; and even how his training at NSD allows him to shoot multiple movies with varied characters at the same time.

The theme for the evening was the power of Do-It-Yourself ventures and inspiration. 3 social initiatives from within the IIM Indore community were felicitated by the stars- including our very own i-Help!

The show ended with Nawaz Sir giving in to audience demand to recite a few dialogues- both from his past movies- Badlapur & Gangs of Wasseypur as well as from Manjhi--“Hum tumse itna pyaar karte hain, itna pyaar karte hain...’’ “Shandar, Zabardast, Zindabad”

An awesome evening definitely- we then got pictures of Team Media Comm clicked and had chai with all the journalists who'd come in to witness the event! I then headed up to my room and wrote out the report for the event while I waited on Domino's.

And, I shall get working on that human sleep schedule with immediate effect! Good Night!

04/08/2015

04/08/2015; 05:06:

I really, really should start sleeping at some human hour!

We had our first SpreadSheet Modelling class, this morning. Since most of the class is familiar with Excel, class was mostly the professor teaching us more efficient ways of getting things done. Mainly, I learnt that Excel comes equipped with its very own camera tool that diligently snaps pictures of the working area of any excel sheet!

Once class was over, I retreated to my room and promptly feel asleep; I only stirred after repeated banging on my door, and, that only at 7 p.m. Other than my door-banging friend, I also woke up to a flurry of e-mails- announcing quizzes, guest lectures and the daily list of absentees that the PGP Office sends us. It is a very thoughtful move- one is immediately made aware that one missed class and that the leave request form ought to be filled out. This definitely saves one from facing problems later on, when unauthorized absences are called up and result in grade cuts.

I then strolled around campus and got myself bhutta (corn); I then attempted to work on my rèsumè before heading over to the Sports Complex- with the very first Media Comm event that's being held after the junior team's been selected, we decided to make ourselves useful. Not too much though, we just put up banners for the event on the evening of 4th August.

Some food at the night mess later, I finally got around to incorporating all the changes that my mentor had suggested- my rèsumè looks understandably better now! Also, the pre-processes for the clubs have begun and all the Merchand-I aspirants have been sending out surveys related to different classes of FMCG products- they perhaps need the data for some analysis! I dutifully filled out all the surveys and even suggested edits to some of 'em! I fill out all surveys that are sent out for mainly two reasons- the guys sending out the surveys definitely do need the data for some reasonably necessary purpose and I feel that if I ever sent out a survey, I'd appreciate responses- do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That thought really drives most of my social interaction and it'd be nice if more people subscribed to it! Also, some of the surveys are fun!

Well, nobody really cares what I (or anyone else for that matter!) think; what I could (well, should) really care about is my sleep schedule, but, that's a dilemma for another day!

03/08/2015

03/08/2015; 02:02:

It’s been an eventful half week, with the committee selections in full swing!

30th began (well, technically at least- it was 1 a.m.!) with me heading over to my assigned mentor’s room for my rèsumè iteration. I gained good advice on tweaking a few simple things to make my rèsumè look much more impressive; I was also advised to add a couple of things that I wasn’t too sure about!
We then headed to the night mess to get ourselves some food- I think we’ve been in the night mess a lot more often than is necessary, over the past three weeks.

30th morning began as usual, with a flurry of classes- afternoon was not willing to be left behind this time around and we had a QT Quiz. The Quiz was fairly simple and even had the exact problems that we’d solved in class! At 11 p.m., an information session about the FLIP National Challenge, 2015 was held for all interested participants.

Since it was Thursday, night mess was closed for weekly maintenance, perhaps and Globe@I has been quick to cash in on the opportunity, deciding to stay open post mid-night on Thursdays.
Around 1 a.m., I headed for the Group Interview round for the Media & PR Committee selections- the group interview was a rather interesting concept and we even sat and discussed ideas for an event that the Media Comm can hold in the near future.

31st morning saw a few classes post which I headed over the NC-1 /2 where the IPM2015 Batch registration was in full swing! I wandered around, meeting the new kids! I then headed back to the hostel and attempted to fall asleep. Somewhere around then, we were greeted with messages from our CR informing us that Section E would withdraw its participation from Section Wars since there hadn’t been any activity or even inclination to produce any activity from our end. Perhaps that’s what we’d been waiting for, to spring into action. I spent the evening meeting the new IPM 2015 Batch participants and their parents too! I showed a bunch of them around campus and generally doled out (hopefully, not unsolicited!) advice on everything from academics to the food in Indore!

At 10:40, AIESEC held a workshop on Ópportunites at Planet-I’ where a few PGP-2 participants shared their experiences- how to bag live projects, how to win competitions (there are a multitude of competitions that are thrown open to us periodically), how to maintain a work-life balance i.e. managing POR’s along with academics, and how best to continue to pursue your interests, here at Planet-I.

At around 11:30, I headed for the Personal Interview round of the Media Committee selections- around 20 people had been called in for interviews- post this, I made my way to the FPM Common Room. Inspired perhaps, by the turn of events in the afternoon, we got busy putting together a Flash Mob. We later also worked on a couple of funny 30-second videos, to get some Section-E activity on the CulComm FB page. Finally, we wrapped only after 3 and then sat around in the night mess drinking lots of chai.

All through classes on 1st August, everyone was just itching to get out of their seats and start dancing- our flash mob was finally ready to be unveiled to the world! Right as class ended, we headed to Mess 1-all dressed in red! With increasingly loud chants of ‘Section E, Section E’, we got the mood all set and burst into dance! Our flash mob was very well received- that the mess was very crowded definitely worked in our favour!
All through the day, the Orientation for the IPM2015 Batch was in progress- one part of the orientation was handing out Academic Excellence certificates to the top 5% of our IPM Batch!

By afternoon, the short-list of candidates for selection to the various committees was released- all candidates then sent in their election manifestos which were then circulated to the batch (understandably, no one really went through them, but, that point is moot). An election was the determine the final bunch of candidates who would make it to the different committees. All evening, the hopefuls could be seen wandering around campus, making themselves seen and heard. The actual voting process began at 11:45 p.m. and ended after 2 a.m. The results were to be declared at 3:20 a.m., at the Melting Pot (that’s what the area in front of Mess1 is fondly referred to as). We sought to kill time by striking pointless conversations about Tspiras and the Eurozone, the zodiac calendar and campus life. A large amount of chai was also consumed in this process!
By 3:20 a.m., we had set up camp outside the mess and were waiting on the result announcement. By 4 a.m., the results were declared- the PGP SAC Coordinator and the senior teams of all the committees were present to announce them! Each enunciation of a selected candidate’s name was met with loud cheering! Some successes, some disappointments i.e. life in a nutshell; we then walked around campus until day-break; some guys even got a game of football going!
By 7 a.m., just as the world was waking, all of us plopped into bed and promptly fell asleep. The applications for Activity Clubs were also thrown open- another week of pre-processes that’ll end in elections!

2nd August- the day of the Section Wars finally dawned- and we slept through the first half of it, waking up early in the evening and gathering in the FPM Common Room to run one final practice of whatever we’d managed to piece together!
At 5:15 p.m., I got to attend my first ever PGP Media Comm meeting- the main agenda was to have the entire team together, looking at each other; of course, there was work too! There’s an event on the evening of 4th August and even though most things are in place, there’s always the need for publicity and last-minute additions!
We’d ordered Section T-shirts that finally found their way to campus at 7:30 p.m.; we were all in the auditorium by 8 p.m., all geared up to win the Section Wars! A round of enthralling performances, most met with loud heckling, followed- each section put on display the best that they had to offer- dance, music, videos, mimicry and even live art! Two of our section-mates created a larger-than-themselves painting of MJ, with Section-E branding in the background- all in the 15-20 minutes that the rest of us spent dancing and attempting to entertain!
There was to be an hour’s wait on the results and we spent that time walking down to the newly constructed/occupied IPM hostels- they are beyond beautiful, with a large, well designed central space that houses a badminton court and seating space perfect for a party! The rooms themselves are very spacious and come with a balcony each! We were delighted but mostly envious and left soon.

Once at the Night Mess (for that’s probably now a permanent fixture on our daily itinerary), we got ourselves fried rice and Mountain Dew. At 1 a.m., we gathered at the Melting Pot again, standing with our respective section-mates! Section H won the section wars, with Section A coming a close second; Sections D & F both finished third. Section E received the consolation prize and a special mention for our magical artists!

The entire Section Wars experience has definitely helped in awesome bonding- both within the section and cross-section!
Looking forward to our Section Party, this week! And, the Spreadsheet modelling course that begins tomorrow!