My "fraud" b'day mail

Today is my "fraud" birthday, thanks to my IIMB friends. It was the wildest surprise ever for me. I had gone to L^2 to celebrate other's birthdays, suddenly saw people rushing towards me and then it was all history. Thought I should "preserve" my birthday mail. Here is the "edited" version of the mail.
Strong Disclaimer: This mail has no resemblence to any person or place in reality. It is a fiction work engineered by my friends here at IIMB.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

“Go miser go, for money sell your soul.

Trade wares for wares and trudge from pole to pole,

So others may say when you are dead and gone.

See what a vast estate he left his son.”

My motto in life is that every penny is worth a million dollars and spending even a penny on anyone else is a forbidden sin. I am a maha lichhad (ultimate miser and greedy pig) DML2 who does not believe that securing a CGPA of 3.76 is reason enough for a small treat to close friends. My time is also a very precious commodity and I believe that studying with lesser mortals slows me down. Therefore I study in groups only when I see a distinct advantage.

I have an overwhelming programming fetish which I often use for self gratification, and this orgasmic passion has driven me to join SIGMA in search of exotic codes. I have had diverse experiences as a coordinator of SIGMA, where I bluntly dismissed frantic calls for computer repairs and restoring internet connections. At IIMB, I have supplemented my programming skills with ‘Global’ abilities, which is evident from my global CP and a 4.00 in BGS.

Apart from the love of my life, there is another woman (PGP2) behind my success. She is the only one I consider worthy of my Day 0 treat. The fact that I was planning for this treat and refused one to my friends speaks volumes of my judgmental skills and persistence. I am a thorough perfectionist, which is evident from my reaction to a score of 3.59 in QM- “Yaar yeh course to mujhe pehle se khatak raha tha”. My weaknesses are that in spite of being AIR 39 in IITJEE, I am extremely down to earth, simple and honest person.

I believe that my abilities and diverse experiences have prepared me well for a grand hooshing tonight. I am extremely confident that my butt will be able to last the beating and challenge you to prove me wrong.

Credits: Pankaj Goyal

Break over..

Last 3 days were good, infact great. A break after a month almost where preparation for summers had taken its toll on me. Had a great time over this weekend, slept, watched movies, and enjoyed with friends. Missed the class trip to an extent though....
Now all good things come to an end and same for this break too. I am lacking behind by miles this semester in acads and surely need to do some catching. A new beginning from tomorrow.....

Galaxy -- Was it worth it?

I thought I had left those memories back. But then things keep coming back to hit you and leave you unguarded. I came across this article about Galaxy by Abhishek Verma and suddenly I found myself struggling with the same question, "Is (Was) Galaxy worth it?"

The question will raise many eyebrows including some of my closest friends'. Galaxy has always been treated by those passionate about it as a sacred truth; no one can question the sanctity of the event. I had been passionate about it myself, though I must admit not to such an extent as some of my wing mates. But, it has been close to my heart, especially since I have seen it being scrapped twice and being subjugated to petty student politics and whims and fancies of certain individuals.

Sometimes not being a blind follower helps you to ask questions. And I was fortunate enough to be in such a position. This question has haunted me right from my third year when I was in the team having the passion about the event. I have been on both the sides - in the first year, I did some "labor" work and then in my third year, I was little bit involved in organizing things as well (For reader's record, both the times galaxy got scrapped).

So, the question remains. Was Galaxy worth all the passion, talk, and hype? As a first step, let's see who gained from Galaxy.

Galaxy was never conceived as an event for experimentation, it was always about excellence. So, who got to participate in all the cultural events like debates, skits, drama, music and dance? Those who already knew it! Same 2 debaters, 5-6 excellent dancers, 3-4 actors and 7-8 musicians were motivated to perform throughout the year at every moment possible. Total number of actual performers did not exceed more than 50 out of a hostel of 500 students. So, where is the learning or personality development of an average guy who has done nothing in his school but wants to try out things here? I will discount all those workshops held in the hostel and few individual exceptions. Those were more "fund generator" exercises than anything. No culsecy felt like really organizing those workshops.

So, what were the other arguments for "motivating" people? "You will work 24 hours for 7 days. You will work for the team." blah, blah.....Fine. Acceptable. But, what will I do during that time? Carry bricks, cots, or be one of those "falling walls". Where is the value addition? How will an average guy who does only “labor” feel passionate about the whole event?

What about ideas? Who generated them? Again, few "das" from Hall 1. No contribution from your side for sure.

I don't want to get into political implications of Galaxy. It was always used by Cul Secys as a guard against doing nothing for most of the part of their terms.

In such a scenario, how was Galaxy helping a majority of students? Institute festivals were screwed, all the Gymkhana clubs were inactive, and all the hostel cultural activities were in jeopardy. Who was benefiting from all this?

I have attempted to bring to spotlight the other side of Galaxy. It is not an attempt to disregard the feelings of people from past batches of IIT Kanpur and my batch who have been passionate about Galaxy, who still can "feel" it. In fact, I demand answers of these questions from them...... After all, I haven't seen Galaxy ever!!

Yours truly In news!

Though it is a shameless footage seeker post, but who cares, this is my blog :)

Thanks to the media cell, IIM Bangalore, I got some footage in media coverage on IIM Bangalore summer placement. Here is one such online article,

http://www.business-standard.com/search/storypage_new.php?leftnm=lmnu7&leftindx=7&lselect=8&autono=205138

Management guru dead

All time great management guru, Peter Drucker dead at 95.

http://www.ndtvprofit.com/charts/homepage/news.asp?id=223215

Summer Placement: Emotionally draining

In last 4 days, I have seen it all. I myself went through periods of lows and ups. Sometimes, it seemed all is lost; other times you have a feeling of achievement; and there are some times where you feel; is the whole thing worth it? I have seen people losing hope when they had to go from one company's process to another to another, and continue doing it. I have heard people feeling guilty of coming here to IIMB itself.

By God's grace, I was out of this grilling process quite early. I have been a volunteer from there on and I could afford to have a bird’s eye view on the whole process. People had to go from one GD/interview to another, one company to another; and it continued from 8 AM to 12 Midnight. This has been continuing for the last 4 days!!

Uncertainty, "arbitness" and lack of transparency of the process add to the complexity and anxiety. As some of the seniors put it, "The system is fair to all, unfair to some." If you happen to belong to that "some", you can feel pretty devastated.

What about people with work experience? Well, this place is not for them. In most cases, they don't get what they deserve. Questions like, "How is your work experience related to this company?" are cruel jokes. Recruiters should realize that most of them are here to do an MBA for precisely this reason- shift over from their present field. But, I think I am expecting too much from them considering the fact that some of the recruiters are themselves fresh graduates!! An ISB is always a better choice for people with 2+ years of work experience.

And finally, did one have a choice in terms of type of job or company? Most of them did not. People with interests in IT didn't even get a shortlist from IT companies. Some who hate selling soaps and detergents ended up in FMCG marketing. I am quite sure that even some of those who got day 0 are not interested in I-banks as of now.

Mid-way through the process, it was more about getting "out" of the process, rather than getting an internship you like. One can guess the motivation and enthusiasm levels of people.
I just hope that final placement is a much more logical process.