Proud to be GMPian

They made us a part, they made us support them, they made us believe in them and they made us all win.

Today all the GMPians had a party for the win of the so called “experienced oldies, “are we??? Let us confirm that today!!!" I think we all have a right to call ourselves the youngest of the crowd. I thought we will be spending all the weekends the same way but noooooooo... we all had a rocking week end just like the usual Mumbai night life.

Hat’s off to all of them who not only won but also participated in the dream run, attended classes and still rocked the party..... When I am writing about all who won how can I miss writing about my next door neighbour............... It used to be a fight to wake her every morning but today it was reverse, as she had to fight against time to wake me up , all thanks to the sleepless nights I spent at my dear cousins wedding. She fought her desire to sleep, went to work for CII YI, participated in the dream run and won............... Wow I am proud to have friends like her who achieve more than expected in life as they play at the right time to utilize their skills to the brink.

Three cheers........... Hip hip hurray...Hip hip hurray...Hip hip hurray...GMP

The Beginning of the END

An achievement for all the GMPians.....they turned 3/4th MBA's yesterday. This marks the end of the 3rd term and also the beginning of an end (i.e. 4th Term - the last term). But do we get a term break for relaxing? Noooooooooooo....... Though these words were disheartening but I still know that every GMPian must have noticed my reply. This stretch of 'No' is familiar right, yes everyone, I am refering to our Professor Uday Damodaran. We get to learn a new subject of 'Security Analysis and Portfolio Management' from him in this new term, under his very own unique teaching style and guidance, not to forget with the related stories to the difficult subjects narrated by him. I can rightly call him a Fin guru because even when we don't get a single day's break or should I say an evening break (due to the unavoidable meeting), we were all looking forward to attending his class.

We, the fin. students, had a good start for this term with the morning class dedicated to 'Financial Analysis, Planning & Control'. Not to forget, I was appointed CR for the course. A post that lasted merely half a day as now the classes for the subject would be combined for both the sections of GMP and our Section A CR can represent the whole batch.


Before we all start on the road of the last term and eventually to our successful careers, lets have a short recap of the 3rd Term:
A term that had a golden chance of welcoming bright & cheerful faces that had just returned from International Immersion. Only the first term had shared a similar kind of feeling. Why do I say similar feeling and not same feeling? Because the first term began after a three day Induction programme wherein the classes began at 9 AM and ended at 9 PM.


In this term we started with our Elective Courses. My preference: Finance & Strategy. I learned the concepts of Infrastructure Project Financing, International Financial Management, Mergers & Acquisitions along with other courses.


A term which rightly stole away all our nights along with all our holidays (including Sundays & Republic Day)


But a term which rightly inculcated within us the fundamentals of the elective courses chosen by us.

GMP, the real diamond mine

A year back when all had applied for admissions to GMP, everyone knew that this a one year executive MBA and so would be fast track and demanding. But each, an expert in his / her own field was ready to take this challenge in order to enhance and polish their skills so as to be able to shoulder higher responsibilities in their future organizations. Little did they know what they were getting into? But they had made this conscious decision as they knew that in their work life, they had had the required exposure and had already faced pressure to be able to do justice to the course.

The middle level managers managed the first two terms with dignity and ease. So was expected of the third term and so has been achieved. But everything has its own price tag. Straight back from the international immersion, the GMPians started the third term with high vigour. But the exhaustive term was a month full of lectures, case studies, projects, CEO visits, placecom activities and most important (all this) without a single holiday. All this meant sleepless nights, skipping meals and sacrificing much more to produce qualitative outputs (in classes, interviews, projects, case studies). But now when I stand near the finishing line of this third term race and just look back at the journey, it seems exhausting but when I look at each GMPian, there is a twinkle in the eye and a smile on the face.

This delight is the result of accomplishment and pride. Without a single holiday (neither a Sunday nor a Republic day holiday), the GMPians crossed the path of the term without facing much hiccups and now they are at a juncture where many (or I say everyone) are sad. Not because they fear exams or the grades thereafter but because they know that the time for the course to end is approaching – just three more months left. Everyone is thinking about the bond that they created here with each batch mate, professor and entity at XLRI, the days that they have spent, the happiness and sorrows that they have shared and not to forget the knowledge that they have garnered......

PARTY TIME

3 IDIOTS

All thanks to Christmas, we are blessed to get a break from the hectic schedule and relax. So here in the chilling cold hostel rooms neatly wrapped under two blankets, we all have a lazy start on the 25th of Dec. As we go down for breakfast we realize that the space in front of the hostel building has been turned into Eden Garden and some of the GMPians are playing their most obsessed game, the CRICKET. But as they realize that few other of the cricket lovers are awake and the required number of players can be arranged they head their bats towards their age old LORD’S stadium. After the strategic victory of one team, both the teams return the hostel while discussing the strategies for the future matches.

The morning went by and the time strikes for lunch. In the mess we have a mouth watering lunch and after relishing every single bite of the ravishing lunch, everyone is geared up to make plans for the first free evening after the return from the International Immersion. Sitting on the flower bed edging, enjoying the hot sun, a plan for the evening got incarnated in one of the bright minds. Everyone zeroed in for going to watch the first day evening show of Raju Hirani’s “3 Idiots”. Before anyone could even realize the sun had almost set and we all are set to march towards the sole decent theatre in the city. The rickshaw journey was spent cherishing the cold winter wind. But were we in for a nightmare? Guess we were...

The group of 31 GMP guys tried to encircle the two brave GMP girls (who were brave enough not to run back to the hostel after looking at the cool theatre crowd) to protect them from the mob that was trying to push their way through the theatre gates and into the hall. Let me tell you why the crowd was so eager to get in the theatre, the seats were not numbered and was available on first come first serve basis. I had never seen such madness but yes I was witnessing it and my fellow mates were enjoying the reactions on my face. It was a task to make our way through the crowd and get some seats together though many were scattered in the large theatre.

As soon as we sat down we realized that the hall was suffocating and the seats were uncomfortable but as the movie started these realisations took a back seat. We were left laughing our guts out as many of the characters in the film were felt to be taken directly from our own vicinity and as and when any joke was cracked in the film, we all turned to each other taking names of the fellows from our own real world, the GMP. Oh God!!! It was just amazing and then comes the interval but not many leave their seats as everyone knew that the seats are not reserved and could be blocked by someone else by the time you returned. But we had an advantage of being in a big group so few of the guys go to buy the snackies while we all sat their keeping a close eye on their vacant seats.

By the time movie ends, every one of us has had a hearty laugh and is ready to head back to the hostel but with a new concept in mind, “aal is well”. There are few learning’s from the movie though how many of us implement on them is a totally different thing. Like how to study without keeping the focus on exams, marks and grades, how to be true to ourselves and to the society at large and how to follow the passion for life........

STAY AT NEW ORLEANS

Continuing from the previous blog this blog will take you through our explorations of the city, New Orleans. The first week seemed hectic with all the 29 GMPians running from Tulane University to Idea Village, hogging sandwiches and burgers. At the Idea Village, we all worked on four different entrepreneurial projects, Body Evolution, Feelgoodz, NuMe & Schedulists.

BODY EVOLUTION – This team worked on the market research for a product to improve the body image.

FEELGOODZ - A flip flop slipper, the ethical green product made of rubber, yes this was the product of this team. They worked on the market analysis and planning strategy.

NUME – My team worked on the industry and market analysis of the Medical food for Breast Cancer patients.

SCHEDULISTS (the team awesome) – This awesome team worked on scheduling the shifts of the staff to improve retention and also on preparation of prospectus and pricing strategy

After the Idea Village, it was time for the fun evening with tons of places to visit, the Bourbon Street, the Harrah’s Casino, the French Quarters, St. Charles Avenue, Magazine Street and lots more. The week end began on Friday evening after the work at Idea Village. The evenings were mostly spent at the pubs which had brass bands performing live jazz music. Most of the day time was spent exploring the city on foot, taking in the beautiful architecture and also spent some time aboard the steam-driven river Paddlewheeler.

On completion of the first week, we all were virtually dying for Indian food and that is when we discovered a Pakistani restaurant at walking distance from our hotel. Now this became a daily dinner destination for most of the GMPians. Our classes at the Tulane University were successfully completed and we started working full time at the Idea Village. This week cannot end without the mention of Xavier Pires, the star of XLRI, who made it to the Garland Robinette radio talk that highlighted the Entrepreneurship in New Orleans. On that day, Xavier had an audience of approximately 6 million listeners and Xavier completely rocked the show. Without flinching even once, Xavier charmed others by his comments, viz. GMPians sharing expertise; pure determination and will power of the entrepreneurs and the best - Americans party better than Indians. Here is the link to the talk show:

http://audio.wwl.com/m/audio/27511276/11-20-09-garland-s-entrepreneur-challenge-10am.htm

For the following week end we went to the Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. A 600 mile drive one way was a cake walk for all of us, thanks to the infrastructure of US and the driving skills of the two GMPians.

Finally the last week at New Orleans began. Everyone was immersed in their respective projects. After the final presentation of the projects to the clients on Tuesday, Idea Village took all of us for an excellent dinner. The next day was the wrapping up and the debriefing session for the GMPians at the Idea Village and then the much awaited lunch at the Indian Restaurant, Nirvana.

After this it was only the party time for all of us, roaming, gaming, partying was all we did from Wednesday evening to the early hours of Friday. And finally the back home journey began, some (including me) were excited as they had an extended vacation to their respective home towns but the others were cheerless. How can I end this trip without the mention of my two Guardian Angels who made every possible effort to make my trip a memorable experience.

Yes now we all are back at XLRI and the grinding has begun, but let us all respect the past in the full measure of its desserts, but let us not make the mistake of confusing it with the present nor seek in it the ideals of the future.

From Jamshedpur to New Orleans

The 44 hour long journey with parts of it spent on chair car in trains, domestic flights, international flights and domestic flights with a few breaks in between got us to the brink of crashing. But this journey cannot be termed as a strenuous journey alone because when a batch of 48 GMPians, just out of the exam mode, come together on the journey, it could only be an awesome experience with lots of fun onboard. Just like a local bus journey the journey of some GMPians ends at O’Hare Airport, Chicago and finally the 28 GMPians took the flight to reach their destination, their home for the next 3 weeks. After this fun-filled yet tiring trip, and on reaching New Orleans, the Queen sized beds at the Staybridge Suites, Tchoupitoulas seemed very inviting and everyone finally retired for the day with a few late night owls still roaming in the city.

The next day began with a gourmet breakfast at the hotel and a pleasant walk to the Idea Village with Daryn Dodson, the Director of University Partnerships at the Idea Village. The Idea Village is a an organization with a mission to identify, support and retain entrepreneurial talent in New Orleans by providing business resources to high-impact ventures. This organization works on a very basic mantra: “Trust Your Crazy Ideas.” The Idea Village follows the POPCORN STRATEGY where you start with some oil in the pan, add popcorn and then sit and wait patiently all ears for the noise of the puffing up of the popcorn. In the organization they gather the entrepreneurs, with innovative ideas, support them by providing business strategy, marketing support and financial direction and then wait patiently for the growth of the ideas and retention of high impact entrepreneurs.

The Idea Village supports high impact entrepreneurs with innovative solutions that fuel long-term and sustained economic growth and those with the ability to become role models that encourage others to innovate and take risks. They do not charge the entrepreneurs upfront rather wait for them to contribute after they achieve success, even if the gestation period of the project is too high. They believe that failure is good and that success which comes after failure brings with it a different kind of kick altogether.

Then we marched towards the bus for the city tour. We went to see the area which was devastated by the Hurricane Katrina and has still not recovered from the same. Now the houses, there, are built on stubs, at least to give them some additional height to fight smaller water tables. Then we went to the rather developed areas where the construction could be briefly described as revival of Renaissance and Gothic Architecture with a few delightfully colonnaded mansions and villas. All this seemed to be a treat to the sleepy eyes of the long lost architect within me.

The City Park was untouched by the hurricane and so had massive sized Oak trees all around. The garden also accommodated few beautiful white and black swans in the free flowing lake, botanical gardens, story-land, museum, sculpture garden and few facilities for the visitors like boating, golf, tennis courts and Park view cafe.

The ride through the city also took us around the French Quarters, the Jackson Square, the St. Louis Cathedral, the World War II Museum just to name a few. How can the city tour be complete without a mention of the City of the Dead! Sounds scary... it’s actually a beautiful city with above-ground tombs in the cemeteries. The sun bleached tombs had beautiful rusted ironwork which decorated the entry to the tombs, the crosses and the statues adorned the roof tops. These tombs have vaults that house coffins of all the deceased of one family. Actually not the coffins of all members but something similar to that, let’s not get into the details which might give some eerie feeling. It is said that the Cities of the Dead is alluring to the eyes but dangerous.

Finally we head back to the Idea Village to meet the Entrepreneurs for whom we all, in groups of 7-8 each, are supposed to work. Since I am not supposed to reveal the details of the project let me just say that it is a related to the R&D of a health care product. And then at last we are free for the day at 5.00 p.m. and we head back towards our hotel rooms. Everyone gets connected to the whole world online and also make plans for the long evening. Some head towards Walmart for grocery shopping, some march towards Harrah’s to play gamblers for the night and some relax for the evening and then head towards the French Quarters for a few drinks.......