Of Projects and some such...

am at home..chilling out...doing some of my most favourtie things...swimming, eating to my hearts content..watching TV!!..something which i sorely (or mayb not so sorely after 5 years of getting used to it) miss at times...also hav loads of pending work to do..who says finishing off with ur mba means no more work to b done??.but still i thot i shld update my blog once in a while to keep signs of activity..
so today i write about the numerous projects i hav done at iimb over the past 4 terms and the experiences i hav had while working on them...this will be done as part of a 4 part series with Term I coming first and so on coz there is so much to write for each of the 4-5 projects we do each term that condensing it in one post is close to impossible..
i choose this topic since i personally feel that even tho some mite cry themselves hoarse saying projects are usually fraud, ctrl c ctrl v work...there is definitely some value add associated with them...mayb not in terms of academic learning in all cases but definitely in terms of generic learnings which mite just help u ona rainy day wen least expected....to get the hang of wot i just said..read on..

Term I

1.The Managing Organizations Project: Tho i never liked this course and did very badly in it too...i thoroughly enjoyed the Project...for a lot of reasons..firstly, it was my first project at iimb...so the whole funda of doing a grp project became clearer while working on MO...secondly it was my first exposure to the ''corporate world", third my group had a dml who did most of the work...and a guy who at that time had ambitions of becoming a dml (tho who didnt)...but put together these 2 fiters allowed us to relatively chill out...the rest of the grp comprised of normal ppl who took notes copiously at the Philips Software Centre office..btw this was the project..analyzing the organization structure of the PSC and the prof was nice enuff to hav gotten us the contacts...
we went thr twice and also ended up visiting painted platters...a place selling horribly expensive but still verry delectable desserts...and managed to get the second highest in the project too!

2. The FinAcc project: Not a very good experience. Got below average in this one...which was a surprise coz i had a loud mouthed CA in my grp who ultimately cracked a 4 in the course..probably thats y the project held little importance for him..but it was crucial for my grade as it was for the trhird member of the grp....wot was irritating was that we started on the second last day with the CA adopting a 'holier than thou' approach and ultimately it ended with me and the third guy just typing out wot he dictated....minimal value add i must say...(project was to analyze the financial statements of United Breweries Ltd and comment on the effect of the recent de-merger)

3. QM Case: Not much of a bother..all grps got full marks...also r grp managed to put something together without much hassle...however i got the same grp for MPPO in the second term...and that was a bit of a different story...( a one page case involving statistical methods to reach a solution was the project)

4. Eco Project: Good fun..didnt do too much heavy duty research..and this was perhaps the first and last grp for me in iimb where i was the leader thru and thru...in terms of marks we did ok..4th highest i think...and here we had the choice of making r own grps so was with friends...the task was to analyze the effect of WTO rules and regulations on Indian Agriculture...a task decently one i must say...

so that was all for the term 1 projects...thankfully BGS and Mancomm didnt really hav projects to b done so v got off with just 4 for this term...how ever wot was the biggest learning vis-a-vis projects was the fact that everything happens
SomeHowInTime.. (shit!)...and so we shldnt bother if v r nowhere towards completion on the last but one day...

Home

a four letter word which means the world to some and the universe to some others....
me falling in the latter category...but perhaps i shld quote i.m. on this issue...
she has written a poignant piece on going home and i reproduce bits of it...edited to

supplement my views on the matter...
(blatant plagiarism is fair when u r talking about the dearest place in ur life...!)

My portions in italics....

"Going home has always been a romantic notion. It is often associated with these

misty feelings of nostalgia, of return, of rest, of finding a place where you belong,

of someone waiting to see you. The longing to go home is all too familiar to us –

that ‘phew!’ you let out when the last question of the last exam has been answered,

the last meal at the mess before you head for home-cooked grub.Maybe you expect

that after five years on your own, going home wouldn’t be such a big deal.

Maybe you would think, it doesn’t matter as much as it did in your first term of

college...

where the desire to go home emanated out of a combination of getting to run away

from the suffocation of the environment coupled with genuine homesickness....

But not surprisingly, it still does!

No matter that you catch a bus and head home for the weekend or you trace a

long journey back...me having gone thru both.. Your home is a whole different

universe when compared to a Delhi or even...a Bangalore.
Everything is smaller – the roads, the buildings, the signs on the shops, the masses

of people on the street – everything more familiar and you know you have arrived

to where you truly belong.

You sleep peacefully and wake up to the sounds from the kitchen. You devour and

destroy whatever is laid out on the dining table..and at the risk of sounding boastful

i proudly proclaim that my home food is the best home food in this whooole world...
In the evening, you sip your cup of coffee, sitting in the lawn, watching the campus

hum about in its existential dilemmas...

You would like to believe that no matter where you go, what you do and

who you become, you will always have this place to go back to.

You crave for travel and adventure, you never want to get bored with the mundane

aspects of life – but you always wish that nothing changes at home. It's almost as if

you’re keeping a memento of yourself, so that when weary with work and life,

you can head back and refresh your memory on who you really are.

When you were younger, at times you couldn’t wait to get out from there. Your

soaring ambitions felt stifled in the restrictive nature of the city...much like r

bunty and babli...

but as time passes you realize that this was the primary catalyst for you to aim

high in the first place!
And now you know you need to get back too.

But what for me is by far the most important is the fact that you are returning

to your loved ones. Who would never judge you by any external factors...

for them you are the best no matter what and this unshaken belief provides

you with the confidence to carry on
come rain or shine...thats why going home is so essential...wish i had the

option like some lucky few to stay home forever...!

Of elitism, disappointment...and salvation!!

ok so george binoy thinks i am 'elitist'....many ppl out here at iimb think 'stephanians' are elitist...and in my summers company ppl felt 'iimb-ians' are elitist...wonderful paradox i am living in...elitism to the power 3 i guess...but then wot do ppl really mean wen they use that word?!...there is a tendency among many to just use words for the heck of it....cmon atleast giv the so called elitists a chance to defend themselves!...
on a more sombre note celebration time on campus and a time for me to sit back, reflect and plan for the future...given that the past has been a mixed bag..hope the future is more of a bonanza...but if wishes were horses then beggars would ride...or some such...
another issue which i was following with keen interest was that of the resignation of our college principal....a very sudden sort of news which took me by surprise...but now it seems things are back to where they were a few days ago..except that a girl is now SUS president...i happen to know the female a bit and in first yr she definitely didnt seem the sort who would 'ascend' to the throne of president....surprises are a part of life eh?
i will be home on sunday and will catch salaam namaste then...wow!
lastly, i am officially over with my MBA today...its been a tough 4 terms....yes i have realized how to stretch my limits...yes i have matured (tho nish has different views on the matter)..and yes i have learnt to overcome disappointment and keep smiling thru it.....
15 months ago...a starry eyed 'kid' entered the stone walls of the bannerghatta road campus...yes he was the second youngest...yes he totally didnt expect to be in this place and yes he was recuperating from a sudden virulent attack of some unknown bacteria....but 4 terms down the line the innocence still remains (or so i would like to believe)...the kid still is as sentimental as ever, gets hurt easily and sets too high standards for himself to emulate...
he still maintains his strong likes and dislikes for people and loves wasting time...despite knowing the opportunity costs can be pretty high at times...
he is pretty competitive even now and doesnt like to lose....and hopes of a better future...
is that being too cynical?..
cheerio...

It feels great....

Becoming the MicroEco tutor for Section B was i think one of the wisest, best and most rewarding decisions i hav taken in IIMB...here r some snippets validating this hypothesis...


Divir,

On behalf of Section B, we would like to thank you for tutoring us in Micro-Economics
for this term. We really appreciate all your efforts in preparing tute-sheets,
clarifying doubts and helping us with the course.

We wish you all the best for your exchange term at Univ. of St. Gallen (Switzerland).
Hope you a great time there! J

Sec B Junta- Divir is leaving for exchange tomorrow. Let us wish him all the best!

Thanks & Regards,
PGP2005 Section B
(from Praveen Kumar--QAG)


Dear Divir,

Please accept my heartiest good wishes before going on ur exchange program.

U were easily the best tutor that sec B had in this term.

Many thanks,
Alok Pande
D-301


Hi Divir,

U'r doing a fab job.Tx a lot.

cheers!
selvi


Hi….the tutorial class was quite impressive….definitely a lot of effort from ur side…..
much better than the tuts in quant or finacc..
Looking fwd to the rest of semester …regdz….arjun…


and last but defffffinitely not the least...'the' message...totally unexpected but then who
said life doesnt have its share of surprises??


Hi Divir,

Just wanted to wish you best of luck before you leave :) Am sure you will have a wonderful
time there…

Warm wishes,
Indu.