Finale..... Farewell Academics!!

Dear all,

       Sorry to cut this blog short... but, just had so much going on in the second year.. may be a book would be a great idea.. Archish in February was the classic climax to academics for me... (My placement which came to happen in March seemed a close competition!)... Also, as a part of Hunterz Ignite (MKTG), organizing MERCATUS was a dream come true really. Being the part of Barcodes (RETAIL), I had the great opportunities to do so many things I really wanted to do - Session Planning , Debates and of course, the Grand Quiz Competition (it was great experience from the other side of the table)...

    Well, but, at last the time has come to bid adieu to this phase of my Life... LIFE @ IBA... Retrospecting .. I can say this place gave me all I could have asked for... Some things I never dreamt of getting. I enjoyed my two years... Solving Cases, Relationship, Friends, Exams, Parties and the lovely romantic campus at night! It gave me everything I hoped from MBA... 

    I have written loads of stuff irritatingly comical about the place.. But all with true good feeling behind it... This place has made me more mature, sensible, realisitic yet believer in emotional connects, practical yet philosophical.. Overall, an excellent crisis manager! Since some of us have had a rugged start by living like Spartans in Bayanpalya Hostel (RPG), we had learnt lessons time-to-time about independent thoughts and united action. 

   Our Life @ IBA had stretched from humble beginnings in outskirts at RPG to Lavish living on the third floor of NBH... from disorientation about careers to convergence on career path.. it had been a pleasure. 

   I cannot leave without a word about the juniors. After an initial tug-of-war of egos, over the period of time, we gelled well.... I had an honour of staying with them in same hostel.. They are really who made my life during Year 2 really special.... We shared movies, games, strategies and life stories and blended well... I hope to continue my touch with most of them....

  So here I say Ciao IBA! I will be back for help anytime anyone asks for it!!

Regards and Signing off,

Makrand Patwardhan

STAGE 2 --- The Senior Year (the beginning)

Firstly , sorry to all of those who might have gone over to my blog for last many months…. Nearly an year and saw no updates….. I did not mean that to happen.. Just was not able to write about thousands of wonderful things happening in IBA..

But let me summarize them for you in the next few posts before I bid adieu to this place (which gave me the most since years… much more than I expected :P :) ). 

 It had been 6 months when I stepped on the campus ground beyond 9:00 PM (outside students not allowed beyond 8:30 PM). I gave me an immense pleasure to come back and find so many people waiting for me inside… Now, a brief description of each set of people whom I met…

1. Personal Close Person: It was a heaven on earth that time. I just got to see someone I had not for months and longed to see. It was really great… Similar expressions carved on the other person’s face. I understood at that moment that sometimes “Distances do being People Closer”. 
2. Friends / Batch-mates: Well, there I got some really cocktail of reactions on seeing me in. Some were ecstatic, some were OK and some were scared as the “#1 irritating Kidding and Disturbing man” is Back (I do not care for such opinions as I always found that their count is far too less to disturb)
3. Staff: A neutral reaction from them. As most of them never lost me (me Being a regular visitor to campus during GREAT RETAILING GAP), it was kind of OKish….
4. FINALLY, Juniors: Being in Barcodes (Retail Club), I had met most of the new PGPRM ppl already and had a mixed bag of reactions for them. But, I enjoyed being with them more than my batch-mates themselves.. Other juniors were confused about me…. ( Some came here after reading the blog and also the PAGALGUY updates about IBA… Few of them could kill me as our opinions about IBA are quite opposite… It was a great feeling being a senior.

Things around the campus were undergoing plastic surgeries (In detail later). Also, there were these great rules for being in campus .. Let me list a few and tell the beauties about them a bit.

1. All should be in formals during college hours of 9 AM to 6 PM.

i. Best time to be out in a day to observe behavior was 5:45 – 6:00 PM. Because, it is the time when people keep checking the watches to change to NORMAL. Some who are rebellious enough to do so before time, keep an eye out for an authority figure (Rajkumar Sir, Ramamoorthy Sir, Mr. V.K. Agarwal Sir and great Ashfaq sir(re-read with special pronunciation)) as they might impose a fine of Rs. 500

ii. The best part of the Fining was “Shoot at sight”… Not the bullet but the Mail on Outlook to the whole college. So that whole college knows that YOU GOT CAUGHT!!!

2. One should always wear ID Cards or Rs. 100 fine (again Shoot at sight)!
i. This led to emergence of new fashion trends for ID Cards-
1. Schoolkid Style: Wear it systematically around the neck.
2. Doggie style: Wear the card but most of the time it is on your back rather than front.. looking as if it is your leash!
3. Professional look: Card is tied on the belt, just coolly… few improvements can be made with a special extensible hook attached

4. Hand- Sling: Well, the card is never worn but kept in Hand’s reach on the arm and they keep swinging it around in foolish tashan!

5. Invisible: The whole system of ID card band and cover is intact and kept secretly inside the pocket... Only problem is that it does not have a card inside!!!! Rarely such ppl get caught.. :)

Some more happenings of Year 2 later…. Ciao for now!

Dear Readers and my dearest Blog,

In my last post I covered the most important out-of-campus feature of IBA, the AOL 3 – day camp. One of my friends very accurately said that, “Every year, many singles go inside the AOL campus, some more couples come back to IBA roll”. This year also, many followed the suit to maintain the legacy.

Now, I have got some more responsibility to shoulder as I finish my first year in this institute. I am a senior now. So I decided to share some more insight deeper and closer to academic yet far from it.

Giving the last 9 months a deep thought, I understood today exactly what my life here has taught me. Those of you who have gone through my earlier posts must have by now got a mental picture regarding IBA and match it with the real physical image and you can get the complete picture.

Life @ IBA is, as foretold by those who passed the gates before me, a miniature Corporate Jungle. There are moments of triumphs and also of flat-face defeats. Overall, what I learnt here is that life really needs to be lived diplomatically for survival.

Sometimes, one has to reassess one’s list of friends and foes. Everyday, here I have seen new alliances being made and some unexpected ones among them. Also, I have seen some really weird M&As (Mergers & Acquisitions). In the end, it is all dirty politics and you really cannot stay on the edge of this mud pool and live. It is worse than dying. Always remember hence, that those who are very close can end up being the worst enemy. Always beware of the great mankind policy of “Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend”. As I have seen many fall due to this foolish ideology.

Another serious point which needs to be put up for all those who end up being in this institute is that “IBA is like a place full of mirrors”. If you see good around, you will feel good and have a good year. If you spot darkness, you will live in darkness and misery. I have lost count of the number of times I have heard people crib about the reason they are here and the misery they have to go through just because they are in IBA. Even you will hear thousands of them in future. It is easy to crib and make a hue & cry about the wretchedness of the life here, but, think “Won’t it be better if you can make a difference here? Can you make it a better place?”

Some of us have tried and also some succeeded in doing so. The best example is the Mess Committee. All had issues with the food served in the mess. These guys & gals took the situation in hand and the results are in front of all. They have made the close-by mini-fast-food places lose their business. Another example is the way PGPRM had a talk with CEO and arranged for the books related to Retail Management in Library. There is always a way to do things. One just needs to look at it.

So my message to all those newbies at IBA is that “Be Proud of where you are and if you are not, then, make the place proud of having u there”.

Next Post: The Beginning of the Stage 2 of LIFE @ IBA. And the clubs and committees too… for sure.

AOL >>> The "out-of-IBA" experience

IBA is a green campus situated at the outskirts of Bangalore. Due to this, it happened to be a place close to the great AOL Ashram of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Since the day I have came to IBA campus, I have seen many students (generally in couples! :P) going to AOL for just a timepass trip. It is a general trend in IBA to visit AOL nearly every few days, a trend which I cannot really understand as the place is same, has a similar yet bigger collection of grass & trees to IBA. Now, let’s start the story about the AOL 3-day course.

It was the night of 18th December 2007. The air was cool (and cold for most people) and flowing steadily. Good number of IBAians 07-09 batch students was in IT Lab, doing Assignments for record and simultaneous chatting, orkutting and the new business in IBA, FACEBOOKING. Some couples were strolling around in campus while some were idling on Omega circle. All of them discussing the workload (all sorts) for the rest of the week. Then, from a room on the first floor of Admin Block, someone called the CEO, IBA shot a mail across the network via Outlook titled “AOL Program” from 19th Dec” and the scene changed dramatically. The news about the long delayed AOL program spread like fire. Most of the students, who were lost in the deep misery of submissions, were revived by the news.

The next evening, all the first-years were standing near the Admin Block looking out for their friends and thinking about what is going to come up next. And within next hour and half, all are at the reception counter of AOL. The place of sanctity & peace becomes a Fish Market. The reason was that the people were to stay in groups of 4 and all wanted to stay with their so-called best buddies. Gangs of IBA sent their best man to stand and get the rooms and all other members were patrolling his/her position in the Queue. Among these Sunsilk Gangs and Bands of Boys were some minions who belonged to no specific groups hence, were trying to get inside some other groups. But, watching all this was pure fun. The best part was when the officials declared that there are only few rooms with a 4-people system and other rooms left were of 3 member system which led to rise of newer gangs. Also, just beside this line, those who had got registered were being photographed for records, where people were giving oddest of all expressions time-to-time.

After registering and entering the rooms, we were greeted by few more elements of surprise. The rooms were a beauty and had all the amenities. And believe me, once you start to live in a hostel, you find such places like palaces. But, there was also a bad element of surprise which was that we were supposed to get up at 5:30 next morning to attend the first session at 6:30 am and a delay will cause a hole in the wallet of size Rs. 100! But, at last we were inside AOL.

Morning, the session was really a eye-closure yet, we gave respect to the elder person who had come for teaching us the basic YOGA methods. Later that day, we first time came in direct contact with a typical AOL instructor Mr. Bawa. He was a neo-guru with a great running business and long hair tied in ponytail. He instructed us for long hours about life and methods to tackle problems…. It was really a learning session for those who had lived their lives without giving it a second’s thought.

Similar sessions were conducted over next two days too. Following were the salient features of the course:

1. The place was a perfect change of lane from the fast and stressful pace of MBA life.
2. We had nice sleep for 3 days
3. Couples got greater scope for being with each other in & out of sessions.
4. We learnt an important lesson that “If something is supposed to happen, then, it will surely do anyhow”… I got a concrete proof of this in few days only.
5. Remember that enjoy every moment you spend in AOL as they make together an unforgettable experience…. So SO-HUM!!! (take a deep breath in……………….. and breath out!)

Next: Clubs & Committees in IBA and their special place in Life @ IBA

IBA in deep part – II

Assignments or better as misspelt version “ASSINGments” are piling up. The exams just got over and they thought some rest is around… but not for long. But, man, that is True Management Student Lifestyle!!!!

Another Beautiful aspect of IBA Life is its great Wi-Fi network. IBA’s network must have been inspired from the old BPL mobile network (updated as Vodafone today). It is always weak when you need it the most. The best example for this is the Early morning class (7 AM) of Prof. Ramesh. He asks you suddenly to go to the Datadepot on the network and download the case-study to be undertaken during class. You will never find any network in the academic block. If u end up finding one, then, it is down! (Well, a solution to this is downloading any damn new file in his folder the night before the class). The network has a tendency to go down whenever you have assignment submission on the knife-edge deadline. Still, appreciation should be given to IBA because even if the network is weak at majority of places, it is at least provided in IBA which has helped in reducing the Load of rubber insulated optical fibres in the campus. This facility is still not provided in many campuses.

In economics, there is a concept of Monopoly. It can be easily studied in IBA at the great Indian GOWDA shop. There are only few shops around IBA other than His. But, for the IBAians, it is His Almighty Shop which is the only one approachable once the gates get closed. Even when u plan to have a bite during the ultra-short break during a lecture, it is his shop which is the Ultimate Solution. Due to all these reasons, one finds the prices of the local Eatables being hiked by at least 5-20% (For example, case of 20% occurs when he sells a Veg Puff for 6 Rs hich originally comes for 5 Rs.). It is also a great place to study the marketing gimmicks. [For example, he removed the stock of “Mazza” & “Amul Milk” and place the Real Juice Fridge in front and sold at nearly 2 rs. Higher price and got great sales].

NEXT: The “ART-OF-LIVING” IBA Special!!!!(A hilarious yet spiritual trip)

My Research on people in Exam Time

So back..at last! Sorry to all those who have read this page before that I have not been able to update this page since long time.

We (well, at least some of us) were facing the firing squad of the Emperor “Exams”. This was the first experience of the Exams in a B-school. It is the phase when u end up finding that the hours u have slept earlier were the ones which u will end up losing during exam phase.

Everybody is having one or another sheet of paper in their hands. The eyes continue to roll over them functioning as a mental tongue. The books which were never touched during the whole trimester are found laying open on beds. Let’s study some personality types which I have come across during these phase–

1) Dominators: Some guys take this opportunity to try out the Australian Strategy of Psychological Domination. They will approach you and hit u with a barrage of questions of which they know the answers. All they want is the satisfaction that they know more than others. They will teach others, but, leave some important bits and pieces which are important for the answering phase.

2) Helpers: But, all aren’t the same. Some are good enough that they help u in the subjects they are strong. They will sometimes end up over-helping but still are the band of good guys which is very small in size.

3) Co-existers: These guys know that they are not very intelligent and need to survive in this competition. Such guys clump together and study. They are very tightly knit groups. All the members have their set of Strengths and Weaknesses, but, they tend to nullify each others’ weaknesses.

4) Leeches: These are the dangerous sub-species of Dominators. They tend to work in tandem with Dominators. They are the dangerous guys who take over-advantage of helpers. They should be watched out for with dominators.

Hopefully, this data will help out those who find themselves in difficulty while exams.

An Insight on Faculties at IBA

Hello, fellow IBAians, alumni and future IBAians and also the other people who are visiting this blog /forum. Well, it’s time to analyze the faculties whom I have come cross in my first few months at IBA. (Statuatory Note: These details aren’t about their academic and professional excellence, for that, visit the IBA website!)

1. Vijay Raja (Financial Accounts): This person is one of the people about whom u might have dreamt or heard. He is a topper in nearly all the qualifications he has (believe me he has too many to be told). It’s bad that he is a visiting faculty. He is one of the best VF (Visiting Faculty)IBA possesses for the 1st years. He is a gem of a teacher and also person. He knows the nerve centers of all students. He is only teacher who has an Orkut Fan Club. His jokes sometimes can seem to be stale or patchy, but the presentation makes them also laughable and laudable… Love you sir!
2. S Ramesh (Cost Accounting) : Ramesh sir is a teacher who has a spine-chilling methodology of teaching. He is pretty strict about the way students should behave and work. His class is the only one which is at 7-8:30 am. All the sleep we have in our eyes scampers off when he approaches. But, I ended up liking his teaching after some time. In each class, once at least, he has to say “ WE R BENCHMARKING IIMs and CAs”!! In each of classes, some warriors of Section-D fall for QCTs(Quiz –cum –Test). It is renowned fact that if u get Zero in Ramesh Scorecard then, u r pretty good as most of the times, scores tend to be in Negative!!
3. Prof. Shankaranaryana (Economics): I had always carried a dream of being taught by a teacher who never asks me to follow a regular path and syllabus. On doing his class, I got my Teacher. I never knew that Economics can be such an awesome subject. His methodology is all about questions. He will dig into your minds and give you simplest answers for most complex questions. Even the students, in my class who had learned Economics for last 3 years, find his class as a place of something new. His concepts are crystal clear. He loves teaching that can be seen in his expressions. He also simultaneously gives us tips about the corporate world outside. His best dialogue to date is “I do not need PowerPoint Presentations, as my words are to the Point and they have enough Power”!!
4. Prof. Anant Murthy (Statistics): He is the most jovial teacher in IBA. The kind of rapport he shares with students is cool. His classes are never boring even if the subject is very much!! He has a knack of cracking really weird jokes at times.
5. Prof. Chitra Parathasarathy(Communication): She is the only female teacher we have for our class. She teaches communication. She is pretty over-disciplined at times, but, I can understand that she is preparing us for the outside world. But, she has an impeccable taste for fashion. At her age, she is awesome at carrying herself. Always, her dress and jewellery are perfectly matching. She is never late as per class timings.
6. Prof Staju Jacob (Marketing): Staju Sir is the near-perfect teacher for marketing. Coming from a great work-ex with a graduation degree in my subject, he is good at teaching. I like his PPTs. But, he gives us the highest workload of assignments .Each week we have two assignments. Add the Additional Reading Articles he gives us to read, and u get pretty strong headache and eye-ache ( Laptop problem). Also, surprise tests keep cropping up. He cuts marks if u r found to be talking in class, answering out of turn or mobile rings… even if u r late in class. For all such instances, he just says “CR write his/her name please”. But still love him!
7. Prof Thandavmurthy (Understanding Behaviour): He is the most soft-spoken among all faculties. He teaches in a cool and composed manner and always appreciates a good response from a student appropriately. He gives a free rein to us about giving examples of behavioural features. His feedback about the presentations were very helpful and frank.

Next Post: Literal Tourism of IBA, Bangalore