HR is not all Gass

An Oil Depot, though a part of a gargantuan organization, is a small company in itself. We have our own set of customers, our own products, a separate finance department and an operations department. Products are the different types of fuels. The team which is responsible for filling these products in Tanks and dispatching them can be called an operations department. The Supply and Distribution(S&D) Deptt gets daily orders from customers and assigns tank trucks to meet the demands on a daily basis.

For the past few days I have been shuttling between the two departments of my office – the client facing S&D and the operations. And I can clearly see how susceptible they are to conflict.

S&D has to cater to the demand of all the customers – from the next door retail outlets to the far flung, many times inaccessible parts of the crown state of India. Sitting in an S&D room means non-stop phone calls, people barging in through to know the status of their demands. You cannot turn them away as the product is an essential good.

Coming to the operations part. Filling of Tank Trucks (TT) as directed by the S&D is just the basic requirement. In addition to providing the right fuel with right quality and quantity, operations also has to take care of the safety aspect as we are dealing with a highly inflammable product here. It has to take care that the TTs have all the safety fittings on, the drivers and helpers who are filling the product are doing so in a safe fashion. And add to that the normal operational hazards of dealing with erratic behaviors of both man and machine.

Now this creates a potential Mahabharat type situation.

For example, a customer is pressuring the S&D to dispatch the product at the earliest.

But while filling of the TT, one of the following occurs:

-       The loading mechanism goes out of order for some reason in the middle of the filling

OR

-       The less educated worker makes does not follow the safe filling procedure and has to be reprimanded so that he does not repeat the mistake. (old school methods)

OR

-       There is some deficiency in the Truck for which it is not safe to fill it with the product

In any of the situations above, there will be delays in meeting the customer demands.

Primarily no one is at fault and are doing their job but it creates a conflicting situations where there will be fingers pointed at each other.

This is at a much smaller scale. I am sure big organizations face this conflict at larger levels.

So what is the solution to avoid such conflicts. One classic solution which we generally used to write in the MBA exams was Job Rotation - people involved in both the jobs be rotated so that each other can understand the pain points of other.

But it has other associated problems of handling the ego conflicts and the human resistance to change.

The point is that all problems at the end involve Humans or in other words are HR problems. May be the HR subjects in MBA courses need to be marketed well to students – after all that is what they need to know the most!!

Asiad to HRC: The MBA Journey

Well, strange way to define the MBA journey but this heading got stuck in the head when I entered HRC on the last day of my MBA life – which if I see in hindsight was a 2 year of dream journey. Something I had hoped but never expected in my life.
It all started at Hotel Asiad. Amit and I had just landed up in Mumbai and after dumping our stuff in the hostel-flat – later branded as 3HMV(and we as 3Hmvees), were looking for a place to eat a hearty (and economical) meal on a hot and humid day. We walked and searched till we reached Hotel Asiad. Looked fine, had AC and with some butter chicken and Naan, the Mumbai life had begun. What we later learnt was that Asiad was ‘The’ place for NMites. You won’t find a person in the batch who doesn’t know Asiad.
Our vice-chancellor on the opening day had said that time here will pass so quickly that you will never come to notice. It indeed did – specially the first trimester. It was hard work fitting in lectures of 10 subjects in 3 months. And on top of it there were those multiple assignments, tests and aahh.. the presentations.
The presentation part was a weak point and something I wanted to focus on. And indeed, it was a long journey as regards giving presentations is concerned. I remember the first presentation. Trying so hard to get it right. Consulting books whether one should prepare a script and cram it by heart or remember points and speak naturally on stage. Everything was tried. For once, I even tried recording it and analyzing it as part of the preparation. Cut to 2 years later. There were 2 presentations in the last trimester. Just before one of them, I was participating in a dance competition. Rushed to the class immediately after, saw the slides and gave some gyan. I had at least seen the case before hand in this case. The last presentation – I didn’t even know the topic and spoke for 3 slides. Un-imaginable.
The second remarkable aspect was the hostel life. It was for the first time I was living in a hostel kind of environment. Although it was not a perfect Hostel but quite close to it. And it is here that first of the 3 incredible group of friends was formed – the 3HMVees. 3 meaning 3rd floor and HMV for the building name – Hemu Villa. The amazing part was we had people from 4 religions and 4 corners of India living together. Hemu Villa was witness to innumerable discussions (especially when the internet was not working), India’s 20-20 world cup victory, playing dart games and ‘marann pitti’ at 2 in the night, coke bathing on each summer placement, Alok ki kheer, 10 different ways of studying (and non-studying) for exams and the unforgettable 3HMVee awards – all coming together. We had plenty of choices for food here but Hotel Nithyanand is a hands down winner for most orders from 3Hmvees, which includes a record of eating chicken biryani everyday continuously for more than 2 weeks – set by who else but me!! The irony is even after 2 years of ordering food from Nithyanand (conservative personal expenditure estimate of around Rs 15,000 – Rs 20,000) I have not even seen where the hotel exactly is. The best part – after 2 years he even recognized my voice and I just had to give the order!
The second trimester was similar in intensity in terms of subjects and presentations but I guess how to ‘manage’ things was being learnt. So it was not all academics now. Some extra-curricular activities started. And that led to the formation of the super group called Bulls. We started as a class project group and from that emerged a group which brought so many laurels that it got a special mention at the convocation at the end of 2 years. A deadly mix of people, we had the NM flag flying high from Mumbai to Pune to Chennai to Indore to Delhi and all the way to USA. Bulls grossed around Rs 8 lakh worth of prizes by the end of 2 years. The Bull run at the sensex – which inspired the group name, may have turned bearish but this Bull run continued unabated for more than 1 year. What the rosy picture doesn’t tell is the hard times, some failures and some hard fought debates behind the scenes. This was a group of friends largely responsible for the 2 years being a dream that it was. I remember a wonderful discussion – we had sheets of paper strewn across the table, chai and cold drink were sweating away in the side and the special part was the surroundings at Prithvi Café. Prithvi is something unique – in the center and still away from the hustle & bustle of Mumbai, creativity is in the air and you will find such a wide variety of people. From KK Menon having cutting chai, college students doing masti with their gang, people in formal suits pouring into their laptop, Shashi Kapoor idling out in his kurta pyjama, Markand Deshpande in his dreamy world, someone enjoying the intriguing peace with a book and coffee, and an occasional glimpse of other bollywood stars – amazing place.
After the first year, things became a lot chilled out on the academic side - except the 4th trimester which was intense than the whole MBA put together. Anyways, after that with the 5th trim setting in there was that placement pressure lingering on one side and on the other hand another group of friends was in the formation – the fun and party group called KIRDSS. It was KIRDSS who was responsible for the unlimited parties, hanging out, bekar ki bakar – basically chilling out and me finally falling in love with Mumbai. The times were tough (placements!!!) and it was due to this frequent chilling out sessions that some sanity could be maintained and pressure released. And it was not only fun we were having. There were discussions that helped us in our placements too. Improvement on the weaknesses, lending a helping hand wherever required, preparing for those typical interview questions were some alternative aspects of the group apart from other reflections on life as such. Now that the main aim was hanging out so it was now that some favorite addas were born. The first choice was usually Cooper Hospital Canteen. It is hard to fathom that after a meal, we used to leisurely stroll out in front of the emergency ward of the hospital where in sometimes you could hear cries of pain from inside. Ontoes was another hot spot specially after people started getting placed. It was a place when one was in a mood to be a bit lavish. More frequented and lighter on the pocket was Alfredos. Then there was the unmatchable rooftop and the Bhurji-Pav outside Cooper which was reserved for dinners after 2AM.
The last trimester was a haze. Trip to US, participating in dance, play, frequent parties. In fact it had become tough to just manage the parties by the end. Even the farewell by the juniors happened right in the middle of exams – no time for it before or after. And then that feeling of end as everyone started departing one by one. Suddenly it was the end of 2 years of post graduation. And it was decided to celebrate the last day in Mumbai in style at Hard Rock Café – the best one in town. And it was truly amazing. One huge place with rock music written all over it. The memorabilia, the music, the atmosphere– in an instant it became the favorite for all of us.
The journey which had started from Asiad where 5 people could eat stomach full in Rs 350 ended at HRC where a chicken burger cost that much. The progress from Asiad to HRC is just a metaphor to describe the unusual amazing journey which only went upwards in the 2 years at one of the most wonderful place one can have for a student life to be in.
I am one of the lucky few who have been able to enjoy a student life in a cool, laid back place like Chandigarh as well as in a fast paced, hectic, never sleeping and truly rocking Mumbai.

The "New" Year!!!

The New Year indeed brought some new rays into my life. The 3rd day of 2009, which is being considered lucky by many (for different reasons like numerology, stars, planets etc etc) got lucky for me too as I got placed in Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL). The process lasted the day starting early at 8 and ending around 5 after which I found myself to be the chosen one!

It was an irony of sorts for last 2 days wherein the Oil PSU Officers were on strike. On one hand, the whole country, including me were facing lots of problems and on the other hand if the strike was successful in managing hike in salaries, it was me who would be getting the benefit. May be the ironical situation is more prominent because presently, I am more a common man than an IOC employee.

Going forward, time to set some new goals. Have atleast 3 things to look forward to. The US trip and preparation for that, alumni meets next week and an attempt at Enduro. Another attempt will be to update the blog more often and do some more work on the newly started MBA gyaan blog!!!

IIM Indore, Bulls and the Dream

It was potentially the last Bulls assignment of the year – a B Plan Competition at the prestigious Iris @ IIM Indore. An IIM competition meant a kind of a dream and ending things on a high. As we came to know later, the plan was selected out of 104 B plans across India after a tough filtering process. The start itself was unforgettable – an overnight train journey with only 2 confirmed seats for four of us. After so many AC class journeys, we were ill prepared for a sleeper class journey and the chilling environs kept us awake the whole night.
It was a beautiful IIM Campus that greeted us in the morning. Perched on top of a hill with its curving roads and a magnificent view, in a way it signified what IIMs are known for: a tad above the rest!
We had 3 days and a case was given which had to be analyzed and presented next day. The discussion which followed on the case was one of the high points of the trip. A kind of a small research was conducted by asking friends Amit, Amrut, Anu about their views. Others also brought in ideas. All the ideas were collated and then started the debate among 4 of us – a high voltage, heated, sparks flying, countering each other’s points with venom. The important thing was the understanding that these are attacks not on the person, but his ideas. Ground was conceded and then attacked again. Tempers finally stopped flying around at 4 AM and the plan was finalized. The passionate presentation went well. We broke the clutter with our 3 slide, zero word presentation. It was marked by last minute improvisations and a true team work. The judges seemed pretty impressed and we felt confident. The result was to come late.
A great evening followed at Indore city with 2 of Ankit’s friends from Indore joining us and giving valuable insights – of the ground reality – away from the rosy picture that MBA paints around us. Meanwhile, we were informed that we did not win the case study competition. Slight disappointment but was covered up by knowing that it was a job well done nonetheless – an internal satisfaction overcoming the external disappointment.
It was the final one the next day - The 1.25 lakh prize money and a ticket to Seattle for the Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition. Great amount of hard work was put in the morning to spruce up the presentation and include the points told by the mentor, which had been assigned to our team. 5 teams, 5 closed door presentations. After 4 hours the results were announced and it was not us.
I don’t remember many occasions where Bulls have not won a prize after being in the finals of a competition. We were not the winners here, but didn’t feel so. It was the feeling of a winner. Soon it was time to catch the bus back.. time to hit the road – one which we had not ridden on before.

Chaubees (24) Ghante!!

One should keep on trying new things…. One thing that I had not done was to go 24 hours without sleeping even for few minutes.. Last month while on a trekking trip I had gone 22 hours out of home. But again, that was a long travel and was dotted by a couple of half hour naps on the bus.
So today it was a new record of sorts. It was a long day which started at 7.00 .. Had 2 exams today in quick succession. And not some ordinary ones. Usually we have exams of 2 hours each. Today the 1st one was of 4 hours and the second lasted 2.5 hours.. Special consideration given due to them being case based exams. The energy sapping 6.5 hours of writing was not the perfect ending I was looking to end the exams – but due to the mental and physical exhaustion, it was satisfying to know that they are over!!!!
It followed a ‘bakar’ session at prithivi theater café over bread pakodas and cutting chai.. We happened to see Shashi Kapoor there, who had come for the Rajat Kapoor Play – Hamlet. My friends found it disturbing to see him so old and vulnerable. It was actually unbelievable to see him that way with the image of “bhai.. tum sign karte ho ki nahi” and “mere pass maa hai” still so fresh in mind.
Raka, Deepak, Sanchit and me then moved to the beautiful roof top @ Deepak and Sanchit’s place where the bakar session went a long way into the night with a lovely weather and excellent breeze to give us company. The session broke off at 3.30 AM with the awesome weather finally giving in to the rains.. I have a train to catch at 8, so there was no point sleeping after coming back at 4.00. It was realized that packing was still to take place so the activity was undertaken on priority followed by completing a project report, due for submission.
It is a bit odd to realize that you need to brush your teeth and take bath when you don’t actually get up after a night’s sleep. Now, as I rush in to take a shower, it is 23 hours since I got up and with the time to leave for station just half hour away, I am positive I would achieve my record of 24 hours – may be more!! I guess the train is the place which will now act as a lullaby…
It’s Time to carry on as I hear the birds chirping and a new day setting in!!

It feels good to be busy.. Sometimes :)

Life has been pretty busy recently. College actually brings a lot of activity along with it. And these activities are not monotonous like a job. In the past one month since the college started it has been a mixture of academics, some serious extracurriculars, some masti – basically a good masala mix. The sufferer in the process I guess has been this blog and lack of creative juices flowing inside the head – lack of time you see!
Well, where to start with.. The Game I guess.. It was one of the biggest and most complex simulation games played. With 250 decisions every round, 4 rounds and over 2 months long, it was indeed tough. But the prize money was huge – 8 lakh rupees (12000 euros to be precise) which divided by 5 Bulls (of NMIMS Bulls fame) came to around 1.5 lakh per bull. The Bull Run carried on fine till the semi finals. In the semis too, we were the 1st 60% of the time. The shocker came in the 4th year of semis (the simulation involved running a company for certain number of years in each round). We were pushed to 4th position. The next day was a marathon, ending at 3.30 AM after some 20 hours of serious business. It was a rare sight at college at that hour. The campus which is buzzing with at least a thousand people had only 5 zombies at that time. But all that effort was put to dust when the results came. We were 3rd and could not advance to the finals!!
Coming to some masti aspect of the past month, it was time to be on the better side of the interview table. Being a core member of the alumni cell of the college, one of the fun jobs includes recruiting first yearites for the cell. And what better way to recruit than interviews. 40 interviews in 2 days was stressing but lots of fun. It started with going easy on the newbies – just like what u would like an interview to be to getting a bit nasty (just like a interviewer wud like it to be) later. I hope the juniors are not vying for my (or my other collegues’) blood when we meet them tomorrow.
As far as academics go, there has been only 1 subject for the college and it is called SFM or Strategic Financial Management. Our new dean, an eminent prof from IIM Ahmedabad is teaching it on the exact lines of Harvard Business School (even the cases are same- acc. to him). It demands a lot from the usually ‘chill’ crowd of NM but is insightful – even for people like me who don’t have finance as their specialization. The cases are 30 pages long and reading material double the size. Needless to say, the whole college seems to be studying SFM these days.
SFM or no SFM, masti remains an integral part. It was a trip to Malshej ghats and Shivneri fort (where Shivaji was born) this weekend. The place is unbelievable, especially if you are coming from Mumbai. Awesome roads, greenery everywhere - the whole setting seems you are in some Switzerland or something. Cloud kissing hills, cool weather, country side setting and a history to round things off. It was seriously one of the most scenic places I have visited.
Back to Mumbai, it was a proud moment for NMIMS when C.K Prahalad, the #1 Management thinker in the world addressed us giving his vision of India in 2022.
Accompanied with this High was the Low of the sad tradition of NM – Parampara. Despite efforts taken to not repeat what happened last year, the boundaries were broken, insults were the order of the day and mockery prevailed. Show offs from second year were there in numbers – trying to hog limelight through idiotic behavior. The rumor of Dean finally interfering in the matter and taking a strict note of it is heartening to hear. As the saying goes, “Laaton ke bhoot, baton se nahi maante”

Update: Just heard the news that the tradition of Parampara has finally been laid to rest by some quick action by the Dean.. Things have started changing in NM!!


Just 50 km from Mumbai

What does MBA teach us?

Management or MBA to be specific has become a buzzword lately. With inflated salaries and a lot of hoopla (IIM’s placement getting to the front page), it often makes people wonder, what is that these guys learn that makes them get so much attention. Well, I haven’t seen what the scenario is in the hundreds and thousands of B schools around India, but can comment on the experience I had over the past 1 year. So here we go in no particular order.

Working under intense deadlines: Consider the scenario. - 2 days for trimester end exams to begin and people are running around from morning till evening. For what? To find one of the basic necessities of humans – the ‘Makaan’ of the famous trio of Roti, Kapda aur Makaan. The college doesn’t provide residential facilities as it trusts the managerial skills of its students who will find a home to live in – in one of the prime locations of Mumbai at affordable prices. Mind you there are plenty of other constraints put up by the ‘invisible hand’ of the market. Just a small example – the landlords of the area don’t really prefer students of some particular religion. Mind you, no deadline can get more realistic and pressurizing when you know that you don’t have a roof on your head after you get over with exams.

Improvement in Patience levels: people today are joining yoga classes; going to baba’s to learn to be patient. But learning to be patient comes as an integral part of the whole college experience for us. The teacher is the Internet speed. When it takes an eternity to open a google search page and you know you have to do it because of that project submission next day, it really improves your self control. Sometimes our young managers try a detour through the computer center where around 20 – 30 high class computers are kept for students to help transcend horizons. I once had a look at the super computer’s specs. The RAM was 128 MB – certainly beyond any logical horizons.

Boss is always right: A famous saying and a rule to follow if you want to grow in your job. However absurd the boss’ decision or reasoning is, you need to follow that – at times against all your natural logic. Well, our college obviously wants us to succeed. We are groomed to do this. Plenty of rules which many times go beyond your abilities of understanding. But still you have to follow them. Just a small example which many times you notice at the entrance itself – you are allowed to enter through 1 gate but are not allowed to exit through that – and mind you it’s not a small Jallianwala bagh kinda gate.

Dealing with Customers: ‘Customer is the king’ – goes a popular saying, especially in the marketing circle. It is fine to read it and appreciate it. But to understand it deeply, you need to practically feel it. Now how does the college help? By showing it to you, how the customer feels when he is NOT treated properly. Now, you may not be a customer literally but it is something similar when you go to a library. And there, quite often you feel what a customer can feel when someone loses customer focus in his activities.

Taking on Responsibilities: Another important aspect of a corporate life. You will be asked to lead teams, launch brands, handle mergers and acquisitions etc etc. So you need to be responsible enough. How is it achieved without students knowing that they are learning something? Again consider a situation. The internet in your hostel is not working (of course we students don’t know it’s part of a training module called “working in constraints”) and you go for the person concerned to get it rectified. Complaint noted but nothing is done. After 2 - 3 complaints too, nothing is done. Finally we are forced to take the responsibility and handle it ourselves. In fact many times we are asked to do it, forcing us to think if it was really our responsibility in the first place.

These are only a handful of learning which I could derive out of the first year experience. I guess there would be many more to come. My friends reading this are most invited to share their learning apart from the above

Branding...

It was a class project that was different. It was fun doing it and at the same time brain draining too. Well, it is generally fun but it becomes brain draining when you have deadlines hanging on the head.
It was a long week and I think, it was good that this branding presentation was slated last. It provided a befitting end to the series of presentations. Coming to the project, the whole class was given some brands which had failed or were not doing well in the market. Each team had to rebrand these products and make them sellable. Products were like Sweekar, Sunfeast Pasta, Hamam, Indian Express, HMT etc. Ours was a ‘hatke’ one - Indian Airlines. It started with deciding on the Repositioning (Positioning is the image of your product that the consumer has in mind), deciding on the target markets, defining the brand identity. Next came the print ads, TV ads, Radio ads, designing new logo, new taglines, new packaging, new events, and sponsorship proposals. People were living their products and involved like real Brand Managers. For an exercise such as these, you need ideas. And ideas can come anytime, anywhere. They came while reading, attending lecture, on the shit pot. Everywhere. There were inputs and suggestions from friends and families. New Brand Ambassadors emerged. Amitabh Bachchans,SRKs and Sachin Tendulkars gave way to the guys and gals from class with that ‘boy/girl-next-door’ image. Even real life mothers came on reel. Finally, everything merged into an afternoon where each group put up its stall and displayed the hard work they had put in. It was a mix of this diligence and creativity with lots of fun thrown in that was on display. People coming to your stalls, admiring your work. You going to others and feeling in awe of their work. No matter how much we cribbed about it (we do it all the time.. nahi?) but the whole experience was simply exhilarating.

Any one at Indian (formerly Indian Airlines) listening ?? Guys, we have rebranded you.. you can leave a comment if you want to hire us :-)

A quotable quote on the exercise from our Marketing Stud Rohit Hegde..He says, 'unbelievable times i tell ye..of toil, of hilarious times,of snapping at each other, of irritation, of bruised egos and massaging egos....and finally the sweet taste of success...now thats wot i call "teamwork"! '

Surviving Armageddon

There were 2 competitions and the Bulls were in a fix where to go. It was decided to split into 2 and it was Raka and me who booked the tickets to Chennai. A new dimension was added to the definition of 11th hour for me. Ayan also decided to join us – the decision taken at 6.30 PM for a journey which had to start at 8.30 PM. It was a fun filled journey thereafter. Chennai greeted us with wide roads, language problem, lovely LIBA campus and some strict rules. The next 2 days were more hectic than any at NM. The days passed in participating in some challenging, mind and body draining events while nights were reserved for making strategies and preparing for presentations. There were no breakfasts or lunches – direct heavy dinners for 2 days. I had a chance to become a commodity broker, bid in the auctions like they do in movies [that was quite fascinating], spoofing advertisements, drawing using colors after I don’t know how many years… Armageddon was the toughest event. When I had read about it, I was like ‘what the hell!!’
4 rounds – all eliminating and involving good creativity. We cleared the 1st round – an ad spoof. 2nd round experience was deadly. They show u 3 ads [no Indian ad] while simultaneously asking absurd questions demanding detail answers. Then after the ads they quiz you on the ads like what was the name of the person, how many trucks were there, what was the color of the dress etc etc.. While I was being badly grilled here, Ayan had to argue both in favor and against a topic in another room. After clearing this too, it was time to handle the colors- making an ad campaign poster for a beer company with global warming in perspective – the whole process spanning just an hour where we barely managed to complete the drawing.


The school memories of C grades in drawing came rushing while doing this piece of art!!
The result was announced late night and there were some anxious hours that passed between the event and the confirmation of selection for the final round!!
The presentation on a B Plan was prepared for,through the night and the results were not a surprise but great elation – We were the winners. 2 days of grueling hard work had paid off! And a belief was strengthened – Think that you will win and you will win!
The return train journey was equally exciting. Dadar station came at 4.00 AM – while everyone was in their lovely dreams. Suddenly it was realized and within seconds everyone with their stuff was on the platform, heading towards home and then college where some more excitement in forms of 2 tests awaited us !!

A Tryst with Entrepreneurship

It was literally a Big event - more than 50 teams across the country displaying their entrepreneurial skills in a Business Plan competition. Yes, The NMIMS Bulls were there too. There was a ultra-strong Financial Planning (courtesy the CFO - Ankit), a wide and ‘real’ information of the operating costs prevalent in the market by the COO (Rahul), a decent marketing plan (CMO – me!!) and constant motivational doses and guides by our CEO and HR head..(Sreejith). The prize was Big – cash prize and a chance to be funded by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) to actually start the business.
The first stage was cleared and top 16 teams were invited to present their B Plan at SP Jain Institute of Management and Research. Of course, we were there otherwise I wouldn’t have been writing this piece. Our CEO presented the plan in front of Financiers from Dena Bank, Member of NIF and Faculty of SP Jain.
And not surprisingly we were there on the podium. We stood second and our team was selected for incubation of the project. Though incubating the project is complex and requires much more effort from our side..Hope we live up to it..
Indian Express covered the event - http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Five-innovations-to-be-incubated-at-SPJIMR/273581/


Ankit, Me, Rahul and Sreejith

Below the surface!!

It was the University day in our college today. Having to come to college for a half day seminar on “India’s Tryst with Urbanization” in the middle of our Trimester examinations had left most of us irate. But what we got was worth the time. The last speaker on the forum was Dr. Jairaj Phatak - Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai. It was a rare opportunity when we got to listen to the Government Perspective of things. He spoke extensively on the problems and some facts, which are perceived wrongly by the common public but which are much deeper than what looks on the surface and are in fact good for public. We should have made extensive notes on his speech but alas, by not taking the seminar seriously, we were carrying iPods, books, Newspapers to pass time. Some of the things which made impact and I can remember are as follows:

1. The topic was on the financial powers of the Municipal Corporation and if techniques like Public bonds (Ahmedabad Corporation is using this technique) can be used to gather more money to be used for city development. Dr. Phatak remarked that Mumbai MC was a quite rich and had surplus equivalent to a year’s budget. But the problem was that we are a democracy and though he can sanction crores of rupees but he has to consult with the advisory bodies consisting of MLA’s, MP’s etc. And it is there that the problem lies. But in a sense that is good too. It is the 2 sides of the democracy. On one hand it binds your hands and on the other hand, if such checks were not there it would lead to autocracy and free will of some people.

2. An interesting incident he told was where he prevented constructing individual rooms in a Government Hospital. Normally it would look ridiculous that the development of a hospital is being stopped and Government/MC is not acting for the benefit of ‘common man’. But there was a reason. Had the big dormitories (which house 6 – 8 patient beds in a room) been converted into rooms, it would have led to richer people to get admitted in the hospital. Consider this. Would you, a well to do person, prefer going to a private hospital or get admitted in a hospital where you are lying in alongside 6 others who may be a rickshaw puller or a laborer. Of course, we would want a better hospital. Had the dormitories been converted into rooms, people like us wouldn’t have minded going to the ‘cheaper’ Govt Hospitals, which again would have led to people with rooms getting preference of the doctors, nurses (we pay more.. we should get better service!!). Result: neglecting some unfortunate ones who also demand attention.

3. Another fascinating reason was behind the queues we see at the Ration Shops for rice, wheat, kerosene etc. It is actually designed such that there SHOULD be queues at such a place. It is a way of providing subsidies to only those who need it. Say, the subsidy provided on rice is Rs 20. And due to the queue it takes around 1 hour to get the rice at a ration shop. Now only that person will go there whose value of that 1 hour is less than Rs 20. If I can utilize my 1 hour doing something which will earn me more than Rs 20 (this is a hypothetical number) in that hour, ideally I do not need that benefit. If this doesn’t happen then there can be a case where a daily wage earner after saving Rs 200 for the whole month goes to the ration shop to get subsidized rice and finds that all of it has gone. Taken away by people who actually don’t need it. Hence, the Queues !!!

There were many other issues, cases he touched upon like Pavement dwellers, cross subsidies and lots and lots of figures and facts. The vastness of the knowledge and ability to link seemingly different things were displayed by Dr. Phatak with panache. Though MBA may have left the charm of IAS far behind, but I guess IAS officers are far much knowledgeable, well read and effective than many of the Business Managers. I was impressed. And so were my batch mates which was evident from the applause which continued for quite some time after his presentation.

Parakram

The buzz had begun a month earlier. A team involving people from all functions – Finance, Marketing, HR, Operations had to be formed for a 3 stage Inter B school event. We called ourselves NMIMS Bulls. The Bulls were Ankit, Abhishek (Finance),Rahul a.k.a Raka ( Operations), Sreejith (HR) and me (Marketing). The first stage online quiz narrowed the teams to 20. There were IIMs and ISBs to intimidate us in the 2^nd round Case Study competition. But the Bull was on a run and it came surging to the final round confidently beating the competition and being among the top 5 teams . Then came the real thing which made all the previous stages look minuscule.

It was a Business Simulation game which was to last 12 Straight hours. They say that it is the learning you should focus, not the result. And it was indeed a tremendous learning experience. There was plenty of material to be read and understood before the game started. So a lot of time was spent on the analysis of the information. And before we launched into the 12 hour marathon, we had a rough plan ready. The basic aim was to build a manufacturing company (with 3 million dollars given to us) and run it for 4 years with various constraints like Market demand, other teams’ strategies, attrition in the company etc.

Our strategy focused on being aggressive. We started with 2 plants, demand being not there in the market. The process started with us giving our strategy like number of plants to be constructed, salesmen to be hired etc for the first year in numbers to the administrator. The admin fed it in the simulator and gave us data like Balance Sheets, Profit Loss Statement, Cash Flows, Sales, Industry reports, future trends, views of industry people on the trends in the industry, R&D developments, attrition of Salesmen etc etc..

Within 15 minutes, we had to analyze those reports, plan for the next quarter and fill out the details like Selling Price, R&D expenditures, Expenditure on Sales Promotion, Salesmen hiring, No. of units to produce etc. This was then given to the admin who fed it again and gave us the same reports for the next quarters. The situation and company performance changed on basis of market conditions and other teams' strategies. The same process moved on for 16 quarters. The start was not well for us in terms of numbers. Due to the huge capacity we had built there were loads of inventories we accumulated each quarter. The second year went on with profits in the red for us. We were producing more than we could sell. Considering the aggressive strategy, we hired the max salesmen and at one point our cost on salesmen Salaries were eating into the profits like hell (32%). Our debt was at all time high and the bank was charging a hefty interest every quarter. But we persisted. Then came the lucky break for us. In the third year, due to the high R&D expenditure, we got a breakthrough in technology which made our product more salable for next 2 -3 quarters. But the problem was that it was a recession period in the economy and demand was quite low. But again our planning for future helped us. There came a huge export order and we were easily able to bid for it at relatively lower price (all teams had to bid for the order). That helped us see the profits in the positive for the first time in 3 years !!!! (They again went in red the next quarter is a different matter ;))

But we had recovered quite a bit by now. At least we were making good sales. At one point after 13 quarters we were quite confident that we were well ahead of others. The future plan for the last 3 quarters was well in place. The Market demand was at all time high. We had increased the price by around $1500 and were still selling. We had sufficient inventory and from the market reports we were buying we were sure that others were not producing even close to us. Victory was in sight. But then came the shocker. Along came an import order, where teams could buy products. We lost the bid. So now there was a good chance that all teams had plenty of finished goods. The market was good. So the line of reasoning suggested that prices would go high. We rubbed salt to the wound with this strategy. By quoting an exorbitant Selling Price, we could sell merely 36 units as against market average of around 250 – 300. The inventory had risen to 500 (huge number) and with 2 quarters left, we were almost in a soup. Suddenly we were thankful that we didn’t get the import bid because that would have added more finished goods. There was a light at the end of tunnel when a team approached us with offer to buy units (trading between teams had been going on in the past too). We sold most of the unsold items of previous quarter to this team who went by the forecast of huge surge in demand for next 2 quarters and bought the goods from us. The next problem for us was the huge production we were having in our factories. They had to be sold in the next 2 quarters. So we pulled back and lowered the price. The Sales team or “Pathe” as we jokingly called them were in place (we had not let the sales force decrease for all 4 years).

With these details we filled out the final data for the final 2 quarters (they had to be together this time) and waited. Waited to see if the light we had seen was the end if tunnel or the oncoming train. It was like the last ball if a thriller. We could be out or hit a six – anything could happen on that last ball. The problem was we didn’t know about what the other team(s) had scored. We waited for results for a long half hour. The results for last 2 quarters were being printed. It was a time when we discussed aimlessly. What does the expression of the admin is telling. That strategy was wrong. That was right. Was it really right? Fruitless discussions but discussions nonetheless. Nerves were on an all time high. Then the quarterly results were given. The first page opened was the Profit-Loss statement. It was positive – 17 lakhs profit. Then we saw inventory – zero. Bank debt – zero. Things were looking good. But we still didn’t know we had won or some other team had!!

The admin (who also designed the game) again made us wait for some 15 minutes and then gave his analysis. Under each analysis heading, Team 1 was coming on top. Team 1 did best in this and Team 1 in that. The strategy if Team 1 was best in this aspect and in that aspect. And we sat there holding the arm of the chair, the chair hurting under our forces. Then at the end of 12 long hours, we had 5 ROI’s (return on Investment) on the projector screen (along with results of 2 other separate modules – more about that later).

Team 1 had a big ROI of 179. The admin announced, “Team 3 were playing very well but they lost at one place in the middle due to XYZ reasons. Team 2 came close but for them it was more of a fluke than a real strategy(they had ROI of 139). But the team which had long term vision and strategy and blah blah blah in place was Team 1 and they are clear winners.”

All hell broke loose for Team 1 as they cheered, celebrated, shouted.

Team 1 was NMIMS Bulls.

Our Team had won the coveted Parakram with a prize money of cool Rs 50,000.

And Miles to go Before I Sleep...

This is only a part of To-Do projects and presentations to be completed in the next few days. The wall still does not know about the tests, specially the variety called surprise tests. They say that "Deewaron ke bhi kaan hote hain" (Walls also have ears).. so can it be the case that the wall in my teacher's room knows that when a surprise test is planned.. and if it knows then can it somehow inform this wall of mine which can update itself as when some information reaches it...

And is all this bull shit I am talking, effect of the late hour or can it be called 'Out of box Thinking'.. I mean we may have something like this in distant future.. Who knows...

Oh.. and by the way only the academics find place on the wall..the big annual corporate event of our college - Paragana, which is coming up next week is missing...
As some guy called Robert Frost has said..
The woods are lovely, dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And Miles to go before I sleep
And Miles to go before I sleep

Coming through.....

It is strange, how days can be entirely different. One day, you fail in everything you do. And the next day everything starts falling into place and the same you succeed in what you are doing. How it happens is the intricacy of the human brain. But it sure does happen.

The exam time was a tough, sleep depriving time. But the tougher times had to follow - the summer placement time. When you see 250 people sitting in a room, vying to become the couple of people that a company selects – then you know what competition is! Actually the same happens in during MBA entrance also but somehow it didn’t feel that way then. Things here are definitely different considering that the 250 people with you are the ones that have been creamed out of 35000 in the country.

Anyways, the first day of the summers was a big disappointment. Around 10 companies, 5 shortlists for GD’s and not a single convert. It was the first time I experienced mass recruitment – that means many companies coming in a single day within hours of each other. As soon as you are out of 1 GD and reach the waiting room, calls are being made to locate you for the second one. And to add to it, you need to submit CV’s for another 2 companies. It can be quite harrowing at times. More so when you are not getting selected. Starting the day at 6.30 and running to college with no breakfast. 3 Group Discussions in a row and it is almost lunch time. And when you are called for another discussion without anything in your tummy for 20 hours, then sometimes the expected happens – a black out. Blanked mind. That was exactly what I experienced on day 1.

Day 2 started not very differently. No breakfast and running quickly to be in time for CV submission. First GD was a surprise for me. I had never done that well. Result: selected for the interview. A considerably long interview and as I come out of the room, I am being looked for another GD. Then as soon as I am out of that, I am being called for another interview. The mind actually gets numb and sometimes you mechanically move around. And one thing I noticed. When before the interview you have time in hand to think about things, then inside the room it doesn’t go well. When you have time to think, it allows the nerves to get in and sometimes a mixture of negative thoughts. It happens the same way in cricket also. When you start thinking about the next ball you are going to face, about the bowler, about how he spun the last ball viciously etc, you are bound to get out. That is a question I have always wanted to ask greats like Sachin that what do they think between balls. Rahul Dravid once said that he concentrates on his breathing between balls. That is how he keeps himself from distractive thoughts.

Anyways coming back to interview. With 4 people before me, I had plenty of time to think before the 1^st one. And that reflected during the process. It didn’t look natural. To some of the standard questions like Why MBA, Why marketing etc, there was no spontaneity – all answers coming from the short term memory where they had been stored minutes before the interview. The second one was different. It was almost like out of the GD room and into the Interview room. No time to think and so the answers came more naturally instead of vomiting all the crammed answers. Result: on spot selection after the interview. The thought is bit scary though. When you know that a spot offer policy is being followed and when at the end of the interview the panel just says, “Ok. Thanks for your time sidharth” – there is a definite feeling of uneasiness.

Anyways as they say, everything is well that ends well. And sure it did.

The struggle continues......

A day in life of MBA..

7:00 PM: Discussions for the Presentation next day..

9.00 PM: Working on the ".ppt's"

12.00 AM: Preparing for the Presentation and trying to time it to perfection. Takes 300 minutes to get a 30 minute presentation correct.

8.30 AM: The final look before the final thing..

9:00 AM: The final Presentation - for that day!!

12.00 PM: Glad to have finished it...

4.00 PM: Getting the much needed sleep.. (generally beds are for sleeping length wise... but after consistent night outs.. who cares!!!

Challenges..

As I wrote earlier... these days I am living by days.. Every day is a new chapter with a new challenge..
The latest challenge is quite interesting and well.... challenging :)
Its 2.30 AM now.. and we(my whole group) have 2 back to back presentations tomorrow starting at sleep defying 8.30 AM..
If we wade through these two and expect to fulfill the sleeping needs.. well its again a day dream... because day after - early morning another 'major' presentations awaits us.. that even has a strict time limit.. so a lot of practice has to go in that!!

I had once read in a book about how things go at mckinsey...it said that people make presentations till 4.00 AM and then give presentations to clients next day... that time i had thought - is it really possible or is it exaggeration!!
Now I know!!

Juicy Nights..

Late night hours bring along with it various things.
A strange floaty feeling... a slight trance... craving for something to fill your tummy
To fulfill the last need... every week end almost all of the 3rd floor goes to Big Bazaar/Food Bazaar and comes back stuffed.... A variety of things from biscuits, namkeen and the best of it - cheeslings can be found on the tables, in drawers or cupboards..
But the latest thing to catch the attention has been juices... 20 - 30 liters of juice makes it way almost every week end from the food bazaar shelves to out fridge.. many freebie schemes are going on for the past few weeks and this has resulted in increase in expenditure... so much so that it is rare to find anyone drinking water in the house... every one drinks Real, Tropicana...
OK.. its 3.15 now. and I have a class in the morning... so let me have some juice and sleep
(I need to finish this apple flavor so that my favourite - orange, which is next in line can make way to my sipper..

Yeh hai meri kahani......

A tag by fleiger, a blog interview with cuckoo – all pending.. Off late my blog life has been seriously affected due to studies and college work..

Today, after I got ‘another’ project, I just decided to put to paper, what will be my next 2 week schedule like…(mostly next week only)

It goes something like this…

Presentations: 4 subjects (Information Systems, Economics, Operations, HR)

Written Reports to be submitted: 4 subjects (Marketing, Economics, Operations, Financial Accounting)

Tests: 6 subjects (Economics, Decision Theory, HR, Mgmt Theory & Practices, Law, Cost Accounting (which will be surprise and can happen tomorrow also!!!!)

So now you know why the blogger in me is shying away from one of my favorite activities.

These days it is like living day wise. Many times at 9.00 PM, when you are returning from the college, you collate the things to do for the next day and then try to finish off whatever you can till the time the brain, with help from the eyes tells you to stop.

But nonetheless as they say, “When the going gets Tough.. the Tough get Going…”

Parampara - A Sad Tradition

A Performer's view of the Hall
Officially it is the fresher event of the college and unofficially it is a ragging session. But I wonder, if ultimately it is a ragging session, then why prepare for it. It should be on the spot. People spend hours after college to prepare for events. The logic behind it is that it will help us make more friends and we will get to know more people from other sections as well. Very well. I am fully with this part of the tradition. And the second part of the logic behind the event says that, we will provide entertainment for the seniors. I am with that too. But strangely, again the idea of fun is completely different. Guess I am repeating the words used in one of the previous post. But I do think the sanctity of a Stage should be maintained. Yes, if one doesn’t like the performance, he is free to shout “1 2 3 4.. band karo yeh atyachar” or may be clapping in between performances. But it should be off the stage – as an audience. A rowdy audience is 1 thing. Handling that demands quick thinking and guts on the part of the performer. But an audience who climbs on to the stage or close the curtains while one is showcasing something which he has hard worked for days – that is simply pathetic. You see actors bow down and touch the stage when they go on it – it is a sacred thing. And today I saw people being made ‘murga’ on that very stage just to have fun. Not to mention some really sad non veg jokes – again on stage. Well, not everyone has the same perceptive and I am sure many of the attendees loved that but without mincing any words here, I would say that I hated this tradition, this parampara of my college.


Dressed up for the Play