“Discourse on the Method”

I pinged someone on gtalk just like that and came to know of a case study competition at DMS, IITD Discourse on the method. In fact it was the only competition whose end date has not expired. I decided to go ahead with it. My only team member was busy with some larger issues of life. I had only 32 hours to respond, but it was determined to send atleast something. So there I was flipping the pages of the case study, in the background enlightening lecture was going on and someone was least bothered about it.

Night passed away and now only 20 hours were left. Till now I just knew vaguely about the case, and nothing about ERP and change management, the theme of the case. I sat down and started with something. That something was almost nothing. But they say nothing is impossible. Hence I decided to hang on, Googling in a hope to come out with something meaningful.

One fine moment, destiny took its turn, and one found someone who was compassionate enough to share my passion. He was nothing less than “manna from heaven” for me. Leveraging the synergy we two started to come out with something meaningful. Another 6 hours of effort and we were half way through. But now only 2 hours were left and our hopes to produce a winning doc were fading away. In no way we could have done justice to the case study in 2 hours.

I had a hope that deadline for the submission will be extended, so I kept checking the website. Finally I was proved vindictive. Now we had 17 more hours.

By 2 AM we were able to produce first draft of the doc. We needed more time. But our eyes and mind were not with us anymore, we had to go for a sleep.

Next day my team mate (manna from heaven) took the pain to review and format the document. It took him 3 hours to give shape to the same but I must admit that he did a fantastic job. I pressed the send button exactly at 5.01 PM, just 1 minute late.

I had a strong intuition that we will make it and again I was proved vindictive. But the real story begins now. We had 120 hours to draft our response to the second set of question. But the catch was that we had HRM exam in 48 hours and with meager prior preparation, I needed those 48 hours for the preparation. Out of 72 hours 32 hours were reserved for travel by train. So we effectively had 2 day to prepare our response.

This prompted me to take help of some eminent personalities. Luckily I got help from one of the research scholar and our MIS Professor. They both gave us some real thought provoking ideas and practical insights on change management. As a result our response was very much practical and did not include any theoretical model on change management, which infact proved to be a blessing in disguise.

Before leaving for Delhi we had a rough idea of the presentation. At the same time, the 32 hour journey in sleeper class only added to our woes. But determined we were to utilize that time. During the course of the journey my partner (larger issue) came up with the winning idea. The idea was to put a 1 minute video showing history and culture. We were pleased with the idea but had little idea of how to go about it.

We reached Delhi at 8 AM and were suppose to meet at my partners place after 12 hours. During these 12 hours we were suppose to meet our near and dear one to recharge our batteries.

I took me 2 hours to reach to my partners place. After sumptuous dinner we sat to work on the presentation. By 3.30 AM we were able to make a nice PPT and good video, which was infact the hallmark of our presentation. I woke up at 9.30 AM and by 9.35 AM, was again on the PPT. My partner joined me at 10.30 AM and we had our first rehearsal, which made us realize that we still are half way through and lots of effort is still required.

At 12.30 AM we started for IITD. During the entire 90 minutes journey we rehearsed and discussed about the presentation. I must admit there were some butterflies in my stomach. At 3 PM the event started. As always, our presentation was the second last one. Judges were top echelons of TCS. They played heavy with the psychology of the contestants. I was more like a stress view, where the interview is ruthless. Every team received a cool thrashing from the Judges.

We started our presentation on a good note but soon received the same ruthless (purposeful) treatment. But something had already happened in the train that had already sealed our fate. THE VIDEO. We got it for our video and for the concept we used for the video. It happened all of a sudden when one the Judge announced that we are winners. Joy of winning was clearing trickling down from our faces. Next 15 minutes were even more exiting when one of the Judges shared some of his experiences of change management. His two stories turned everybody speechless and numb.

We came out of DMS, had a cup of tea (my partner will die without it) and went back to our places. But the music of victory was still playing in our minds, our hearts.

32 hours journey back and an exam was awaiting us…

JUICE WAS WORTH THE SQUEEZE

Two weeks in 318: Defining moments

Last two weeks were among my most memorable days of DoMS. They were a perfect combination of Grill and Thrill. But I must say that the Juice was worth the squeeze. The time from 4.30 PM to 2 PM in the legendary room no 318 was the hallmark of this time, which was nothing less than a highly exaggerated epoch.
The daunting task of sailing smoothly through 7 exams was staring us on our faces. We were already in ICU, one more blow and we could have departed from all of you. Something needed to be done. So we all came together and strategized for our better tomorrow. It was a perfect example of Stockdale paradox. Present was worst but the hope of better future kept us alive.
Group was an amalgamation of few passive aggressors, few true aggressors, few “Don’t care a damn” attitudes, and few innocuous creatures. Everyone has something or other to contribute to the group.
After taking our customary tea (one of our group’s member is paranoiac about tea at 4.15 PM) at 4.15 PM we used to flock at 318 to prepare ourselves for the better tomorrow. In the coming 4 hours the only tangible thing we used to achieve used to be Ambiguity, THE AMBIGUITY. We created and thoroughly enjoy this ambiguity.
But what was this ambiguity???
Present value of cash flow, the one which is free, Quality statistics, gensi genbutsu, muri, mura, OM (+ it’s PJs), 4/30 in PDW (our worst ever performance, I mean among the worst), 16 innocuous HBRs; everything lead to only one thing, THE AMBIGUITY. This ambiguity created lots of creative abrasion amongst our team members. Tempers used to run high as no one wanted to cede the ground in those high engrossing and intense discussions. For few people those discussions were muda and highly E-. For few they were something which gave them the “The Kick” . But much could be said on either side.
As I have said umpteen times that life is not about options, it’s about compulsions. But at about 8.30 PM (time for E+ dinner) one can’t afford to go for compulsions. It boils down to choose between two options: CRAM or Perish. Now all the ambiguity used to disappear. Sometimes it helps to take the things as they are, without questioning. It helped us too. Without showing any disrespect to anything we learnt to take the Ambiguity as it was. Sometimes some angels would fly to our nest, enlighten us and would fly back. But enlightened Ambiguity (now respected) would persist in our enlightened grey matter.
The most awaited day came. Everything ended. We were overjoyed. But somewhere someone was conspiring against us. He was not happy to see us happy. He wanted us to be jubilant. After 6 hours of intense battle we won the Tambi cricket tournament. We arrived in the most emphatic way. As they say everything else is history now…

These moments reminded us of something which we have forgotten for long, I am studying in IIT and these are the last 2 years of our student life. This is the last chance to learn,celebrate, enjoy, make strong bonds of friendship, commit mistakes, fight, play and be mad......Defining moments of life...

Vikas

Reporting for 318

Internship Experience

13th Oct 8 AM

Like everyone, I was also apprehensive about the market – The job market. Virtually goods jobs were drying up. “Grab what ever u get” was the mantra given to us by everyone.

I dint make it in the shortlist of Citibank, consoled myself by saying that from the very beginning banks are not the place where I want to go.

Strangely IBM found me worthy enough to shortlist me. It is the same company which I dint joined few years back ever after getting selected. None the less now IBM was a hot pick for everyone. There would be a GD with 12 members each and 4 groups in all. Maddening competition it was. Being the first day of the summers everyone was beaming with energy. Everyone was dying to perform to get out of the race, the race of rats.

GD started and was anything but a fish market where everyone was trying to sell their ideas, dying to sell their ideas. I also raised my voice a bit and threw some crap. I had to speak, there was no other option. It ended, thank God it ended. I was calm, waiting for the shortlist.

I made it in the first GD shortlist. They selected 13 and my lady luck worked. As always my interview was at the end, name with “V” has some disadvantages and this is one of them. After 2 hours of wait I went inside with some confidence of making it through. They took just 1 and I was not that lucky one. Sleep was the only thing now which was playing in my mind as next war was on 8 hours away.

14th Oct 7.30 AM

Sleep, though not as sound as I would have liked it to be, helped me to recharge my batteries. Infinity research, Wipro and Avalon were lined up for today. Day started up by not making in the shortlist of Infinity research but rays of hope were still there in the form of Wipro and Avalon, so I ignored this temporary despair.

Avalon GD started. We were only 5 candidates (as they call) discussing some bizarre topic. As always I spoke, had to but we all were lost and were blabbering. I knew it and I dint make it in GD. But Wipro was still there. Competition was getting intense and people were becoming more aggressive.

1 more GD with 12 people in one group and 4 groups in all. I made it in this GD. This time my interview was not at last so some respite. I was observing strange pattern in my selection. Shortlist in every alternate company, every alternate GD shortlist and after one rejection I was hoping to make it in Wipro, hoping to maintain my logic.

“Sometimes I wonder if it’s better to wait for the interview or wait for the result”...

With all the thought lingering on in my mind I entered into the interview room with a big smile which was not that fake. It was 12 minutes of blitzkerg. 3 hours of wait for the result. But they we were informed that results will not be declared today so I went back to my nest trying to control my thoughts and calm myself. I logged on to the internet and saw message “Summers@Wipro”. It was from one of my classmate who also gave the interview and I got to know that I dint make it in top 5.

First real setback. I was putting all my energy to keep calm. It was only 10.30 PM but I slept, which is early by any standards. I needed rest. I needed to replenish my energy because the race was still on. I wanted to prepare myself...mentally, physically….

“My BE placement experience was coming very handy to keep the situation/thoughts under control”. This always strength my belief in experiencing, good or bad, everything in life as it always come in handy in the later part of your life.

15th Oct

Day started with so called bad news

I dint make it in TCS shortlist

I dint clear the aptitude test of Latent view

Body was starting to break...mentally, physically. 12 hours of wait and watch game daily was taxing.

But some hope was still there. “HP sales” was coming tomorrow. I was trying my level best not to put pressure on myself for HP sales. I was trying to ease the pressure by saying to myself that I am not born to work with HP so it’s ok, relax. I was constantly talking to myself…keep cool was the mantra. I did look in few marketing topics but that was it, nothing more than that. Then got the good news that TCS has selected 8 candidates and not the count was 22...the lucky one who were out of the race, the rat race.

16th Oct

General mood of the class was numb. People were loosing impatience to grab summers. Anything would do was the attitude. The wait was driving everyone crazy.

I read few things here and there and Dint attends the class. Listen to some nice music.

I reached the department in the after noon. The energy levels were really low. I could see lots of grim faces all around. I would not say that I was fully cheerful but I was still not broke. I was somehow managing the stress.

GD with 12 people and 4 groups was more or less the standard format. This time everyone tried not to make GD a fish market because few companies have given the bad feedback regarding the same. I fired few nice points in the GD, while trying my best not to confront anybody. When I came out my heart was pounding hard, sinking. I knew that my GD has gone fine but I was not acknowledging it as I know expectations hurt. It hurts when they are shattered.

I made it in the top 10. But competition was still hard because they might not take anyone was the verdict. Again the last interview. 8 minutes of blitzkrieg…crap...crap...crap...

Came out with no idea of how it went.

I made it…HP sales people found me worthy enough to select. I was numb for some time. Only thought that was coming to my mind was that of exit form the rat race. I was finally out of the rat race, the maddening race.

Every dog has its day

Today was my day…

It is nothing more than that.

Last four days have reinforced my belief in luck. Even as a science student I strongly believe in it. Yes hard work is important. It is a necessary but not a sufficient condition. I you want to make it, improve your luck. There are ways to improve your luck… “Being a good human being” is one of them.

Keeping calm in the most stressful situations is the most important mental condition one can strive for. One can’t fake it because it’s internal and not external. You have to develop it, slowly but surely. I took me two years to learn it, though I still need to go a long way.

Looking at the bigger picture is also imperative. One loss here and there does not make a difference. Your overall average should be good. You have to keep faith in your capabilities.

First 3 days @ DoMs--> Revisited

When we landed in Chennai we knew that coming two years are going to be the best time of our lifetime but barely did we know that everything will start the way it started. First three days at DoMS had a profound effect on all of us. Those three days looked like a long journey with hundreds of defining moments.
Let’s experience this unique experience.

Day 1

with millions of thoughts lingering in their minds bunch of students entered legendry Room no 101 without really knowing what to expect. It was there first class of MBA. We had lots of perceptions about everything and everyone was trying to judge everyone. Smart bunch of colleagues, great and kind faculty and great infrastructure overturned many of our apprehensions. Day started with the address from our HOD, faculty and was followed by a confusing lecture of "thinking globally" by entrepreneur from the Industry who confused everyone with the clarity of his thoughts. This was a nice part of the day. Quick lunch at Tiffany's as no1 wanted to go to mess in scorching heat. Non availability of cycle was starting to hurt almost everybody, especially by not so fairer gender.
At 5 PM seniors barged in, told every1 to give presentation on "How to sell DoMS" and write how we landed in DoMS till 9 PM. It seems that four hour is a good time for this. But no food, long distances made everything difficult. None the less everyone assembled and presentations started and went on till 1 AM in the night. PPT on Mausi proved to be a benchmarking performance and made a entry in the golden and elite pages of DoMS history. Hunger was almost killing everyone. Going to sleep was everyone's dream. But that dream could last only for 4 hrs as next day was a campus tour which was scheduled to start at 6 AM.

Day 2

waking up at 6 AM is not difficult especially when you don’t sleep at all. Campus tour started at 6.15 Am. This serene campus already had taken everybody’s breath away. This tour only added to it. With great flora and fauna and some nice sport facilities, the only reactions invoked were “WOW". Cricket stadium, Banks, Hospitals, Departments were all hidden behind a tick forest. This one hour walk revealed many hidden things. At 7.30 Am the only thing I could think was to catch some sleep before I again start the day at 9.30. But I always say you don’t get what you desire. Half asleep we barely managed to enter the class at the right time discovering yet another shortcut to the department. Lecture on CSR by Ex Editor of Frontline unveiled a lot of things and sensitized everyone for this noble cause. It was followed by a very sleepy lecture on IIT facilities and hierarchy. This still was good time.
History repeated itself and we were again told to give presentation on some weird topics. At the same time challenge was thrown open to people to get registrations for PAN IIT Meet from the Alumni’s who were present in the campus in big number for tomorrows 45th convocation. After quick dinner everybody again assembled in #101. Four hour of interactive session followed. Everyone was happy to finally end the day at 2 PM after having some enlightening discussions with super seniors who came to give us some Gyaan.


Day3

Some more Gyaan from Alumni who was working with CTS. It was followed by a presentation on “Choosing Career Path” by HR Head of Nissan-Renault. Auspicious practice of sleeping in the lectures had already begun with people struggling to keep their eyes as well as ears open. Finally free after 2 PM people decided to go out of the campus for the first time. Some reached ASCENDAS, one of the most famous places in Chennai with Chennai’s only MacD and KFC. Few decided to explore the campus and few decided to interact with the fairer gender which could make their stay at DoMS a pleasant stay. This was nice time for everyone. We felt like free birds dying to soar high in the sky. Food was already an issue almost among most of people especially North Indians as they are fondly called. To have something seemingly north Indian lots of people decided to Basera for dinner. Basera was not a big disappointment and we had found at least one place where we can come to satiate our quest for some Good Food. At the same time IIT Madras was already growing on everybody. We felt it when we went out for few hours. The whole ambience of IIT Madras had an occult effect on all of us.


By the end of first three days things have started to fall on place for all of us. We have started to developed strong bonds with each other. We have started to dream about our future, future of a successful person…

Epitome of Inependence

15th Aug 2008 8 AM

All of the India was celebrating its 62nd Independence Day. Everyone was Commemorating the independence of India. At the same time in a small room some where in Chennai some unique celebrations were going on. They were also celebrating Independence. But this was a distinct celebration of some other kind of independence. We all celebrated independence of 25 visually challenged girls of Goodwill foundation. Undoubtedly they epitomize true spirit of independence. Their independence is not about freedom of land from foreigners but it symbolizes the freedom of their soul. Efforts to make these talented girls independent have started to bear fruits which were displayed by the beautiful stage performances by these girls. Everything came up really beautifully.

Let’s experience this unique experience…

Room no 101 of DoMS, which surely is our second home was buzz with excitement. The whole atmosphere was electrifying as well as patriotic with everyone carrying small flag on their white kurtas, which was our de facto dress code. Big red tilak could only add more flavor to our theme. Entry of our 25 visually challenged momentarily altered the ambience of the room. Everyone now was calm and confused with what to expect next. It started with a meaningful welcome note by Shiwani and was followed by lamp lightening ceremony which was made international by presence of our Germans friends . CR sir added his own flavor prodding these girls by assuring his unstinted support to these girls. “Rang de basanti chola” changed everything all over again. With everyone singing and clapping it brought everyone back to high energy levels. Then a performance on Tamil song, which half of us dint understand, captured imagination of everyone present. It indeed was a gem of a performance by our talented young singers. Vipul played the guitar skillfully and I am sure he must have earned few hidden admirers. Now it was the time for our girls to come to the stage and showcase their singing talent. For the next 20 minutes there was an utter silence in the room. No body moved even an inch. Everyone was thoughtlessly thoughtless. Only one thing was playing in every bodies mind and soul and it was being sung by our hugely talented guests…………Without an iota of doubt the best performance of the day or perhaps of the long coming time.

As MBA students a lot of us use to think that when it comes to expressing their idea no one can beat us but all of us were easily proved wrong in the free style elocution competition in which our girls show cased their talent. Someone talked about Gandiji and some talked about Nahruji. But each one of the performer had something unique to offer. It again left us spellbound. Till now all most everyone present must have started to admire these hugely talented and confident girls who have decided to take on the challenge of the life head-on.

Next 2 hours were complete fun when we played few music games. It was extremely gratifying to see them laugh, clap and smile. We ended on a small prize and gift distribution ceremony where every volunteer and faculty present gave away the prizes and all of the girls.

I don’t have words to describe a lot of moments which all of us experienced subconsciously. All I can say is that when I was walking back to my place, my soul was completely at peace. I was completely void of thoughts…

This has marked an end to one phase of our efforts. Now we plan to start all over again. Miles to go before we sleep because a lot still needs to done…. …

Inching towards true Independence

15th Aug 2008 1 PM

It was an effort of more than 15 motivated students of DoMS IIT Madras to make this Independence event a unique experience for everyone involved. Everyone was busy giving finishing touches to the preparation till 1 AM in the morning. From small goodies bag to donation boxes to posters everything was made by all of us. A mere look at all the stuff we made everyone proud. But I must say that it was more of a fun , with everyone sitting in one room working dedicatedly and at the same time doing all kind of crap. Singing (perhaps) sutta and XLRI song gave everyone especially Vyas their well deserved break. Bragdeesh’s hidden talent was unveiled when he sang some strange English song with his melodious throat ;). Everyone now claims that Shiwani has grown up watching TV 24 7. The way she still remembers all the Nirma ads and chandarkanta title song is enough to prove this. Ranjith grew double of his size through his project on the wall. It (size) must have given everyone a heart attack. There were few silent members who truly believe in “Quiet excellence demonstrated”. Rangoli, Yukti, Swarnali ,Yuvraj truly form a part of this elite and not so vocal group. They gave a strong foundation to our preparation. Everyone just wanted one thing and that was to make our guest truly special and privileged.

With only few hours to go it was time to grab few hours of precious sleep…
Aloha

True spirit of Independence

We (Jyotika team) when sit and look back at our journey of one year with Goodwill reactions invoked are nothing but satiating. Achieving milestone was not the idea rather it was the journey towards that milestones that mattered. We definitely were able to leave some subtle prints on the hearts of the young and dynamic souls of Goodwill.

Glimpse of our journey of last one year…

Last year was a mix of every possible reaction humans can experience. Self reliance of these visually challenged girls was of paramount importance. Realizing this, we decided to fund the various trainings like Music, computers, handicrafts that these girls were undergoing. Every related and unrelated person made some wonderful contributions that helped us inch toward our first goal of making them self reliant. Watching them grow, learn, laugh, feel in front of our eyes was a gratifying and enthralling experience. Their appetite and passion to learn amazed each one of us.

To further take the whole Goodwill organization to the next level need for more space was felt badly. At that time we dint had that kind of money. But money is the last thing that could have come in their way. Like manna from heaven Ravi came in contact with Goodwill. He made a small documentary on the Goodwill and sent his nomination in international film festival that was going to be held in Austria. God could not possible have crashed millions of dreams that everyone had. It was the best documentary and prize money enabled us to move to our desired location.

Now we all want to celebrate. We want to celebrate the independence of these passionate and full of life souls. We want to tell them that there are people who are standing strongly behind you and they want all of you to soar high in the sky. So a three hour event has been planned on 15th August 2008 to celebrate their journey of last one year.......

Contact me on my mail id if you think you can contribute in any sense for this noble cause..
vikas.pec2002@gmail.com