Life@IIM Shillong

Knowledge of management is indispensable for the smooth functioning of any organization. Imparting the same education in an environment consisting of lush green flora and misty mountains adds to the learning. This may be the shortest introduction to IIM Shillong, seventh among the institutes to be a part of the legacy. A typical day in the institute begins with the golden rays of the sun kissing the dew covered blades of grass and the dulcet chirping of birds. The rigor of curriculum notwithstanding, participants of the IIM are always involved in some intellectually enriching activity that not only adds to their business acumen but meaningfully contributes to the welfare of society as well. The academic schedule of IIM Shillong is highly rigorous inspite of which participants live their moments of leisure in the innumerable sessions of table tennis, badminton and sometimes cricket. The long walks to the night canteen, chat sessions in the mess hall and trekking expeditions to the adjoing hillocks help recharge the exhausted minds of the participants.

The current batch of participants consists of individuals from diverse academic backgrounds, displaying tremendous enthusiasm and zeal in any co-curricular or extracurricular activity. There are people who have excelled in academics and brought laurels to their previous organizations. There are professionally trained dancers and musicians. The institute is proud to have an internationally acclaimed movie critic as its alumni. Additionally people who have been part of several reputed companies now occupy the lecture halls of IIM Shillong.

The faculty profile is equally impressive.The Director of the institute Mr. Ashoke K. Dutta has worked in over 40 multinational corporations, Indian Business Houses and Public Sector Enterprises. He is a visionary with stupendous academic foresight and corporate exposure. The Dean academics and Chairman of PGP Mr DK Agrawal, is another illustrious personality with a marvelous academic track record and a prolific teaching career. Dr. Sanjoy Mukherji, an alumnus of IIM Calcutta and a distinguished name in the world of academia imparts he knowledge of “Business Ethics”. Besides carrying out his duties as a faculty of IIM Shillong Professor Mukherji is also the Editor-in –Chief of the biannual international journal of Human Values published by Sage. Another eminent member of the teaching fraternity is Dr. Swapan Kumar Majumdar. A renowned scholar having a unique combination of research, teaching, consulting and industrial experience Prof. Majumdar is also the chairperson of SusCon- The annual international conference on sustainability organized at IIM Shillong.

IIM Shillong not only aims at creating world class management professionals but also ensures that they imbibe a sense of inclusive development along with the principles of management. This purpose is very well illustrated by the fact that sustainability as a subject is an integral part of the IIM Shillong curriculum. The concept of sustainability is not limited to the confines of classroom. A holistic awareness is created through guest lectures by notable faculties from international universities and execution of projects aimed at environmental conservation and livelihood generation among rural youth. The onus of propagating the theme of green management lies on the participants of IIM Shillong and efforts in this direction have been taken up by one of the participants club named “Ecobiz”.

As a matter of fact life in IIM  Shillong is replete with student driven activities. Apart from various student committees looking after placements, public realtions, alumni network,IT implementation, hostel affairs, cultural activities and general student issues ,various interest clubs in the field of marketing, finance, human resources, operations, consulting, technology implementation and quizzing operate in the institute. The members of these student bodies learn the practical aspects of team work and management while simultaneously contributing to the well-being of the institute.

Summarily, excellent training in management, sensitization in sound business practices and an eventful two years in the lap of nature makes study at IIM Shillong an unforgettable experience.

A vent of emotions.........

The business communication class on 8/9/10 @ IIM Shillong witnessed some high adrenalin scenes .The topic of competition vs self satisfaction was broached by a dear friend which took the entire class into a mode of frenzy.Issues of stereotypical grooming,monotonous upbringing were brought up.The very fact that people do not explore the multitude of options that life offers leads to dejection and withdrawal at a later stage.We all have blinkers attached to our temples that make us see only in one direction,thus narrowing our aim to petty materialistic needs.People claimed that parents and relatives have a significant contribution in molding us into machines who are deprived from exploring creative facets of their personality.I beg to differ here.Parents hold the most important places  in our lives and the reason for their sermons is pure concern.Probably the fault lies in our communication and conviction.We can say "I am not really affected if I score low,I am in for knowledge" but how many of us actually mean it.How many of us can stand up for ourselves and choose the unconventional path thus pursuing it with determination.These are questions we need to ask ourselves.Mahatma Gandhi said "The greatest court of law in this world is Man's own conscience".So any moral dilemma can be best resolved through self introspection.I am confident that if every individual does contemplate on this issues of life,our country would rise to the zenith of glory with its bevy of enlightened human beings.

Kurukshetra

What is life if full of care,we have no time to stand and stare.The Kurukshetra or inter wing cricket tournament that took place in the old boys hostel of IIM Shillong from 24/8/10 to 29/8/10 was a welcome break from the grueling  schedule that has been followed so far.The matches took place in the open lobby of C wing of the hostel.Rules had been suitably modified.to prevent boisterous shots that could lead to any unwanted damage.High pitched hooting,sledging and a lot of energy filled the atmosphere every day when the teams battled it out.Inspired by the electrifying atmosphere created by the mens team the ladies also had a very close encounter that enthralled the audience.The matches were charecterized by 4 innings two per team and generally lasted for an hour.Some beautiful bowling actions and master strokes made all the contests memorable.We had active participation from almost the entire Ist year either in the form of players,audience,photographers or simply publicity although within the batch.Hoping for more such events in future so that life at IIM Shillong turns out to be worthwhile.

MY FIRST DAY @IIMS.

Achieving success is difficult ,but living up to the achievement is more challenging. This realisation came to me when I dug into the profile of the PGP2010 batch of IIM Shillong after getting the admission confirmation .There were branch toppers, trained singers, people having accomplishments in national level sporting events and of course the most formidable lot, people with substantial work experience from reputed firms across the country. At that point it was clear to me that life from now on wouldn’t be a smooth sail. Let us fast forward to the D day.

After a four hour ride from Guwahati through the mist and curves of the comely hills ,I finally reached Shillong on the first of july. After some shopping at police bazaar ,I reached the IIM campus late in the evening. My first encounter was with a group of seniors playing basketball . I got out of the car and thought of approaching them to get the directions to the hostel. On second thoughts , I went up to the security guard at the gate and found the way to old boys hostel. The explanation to this behaviour still evades me,may be I wasn't out of my shell yet. As ,I reached hostel I met Manav Jain, the hostel committee member in charge of room allocation. As I entered the hostel, the first room that I saw was B-9 which was locked. "Oh I will get another room ",I thought. I picked up my slip and B-9 it was. Room allocation rules were fixed and nothing could be done ,but problems weren’t over for me. My prospective roommate wasn’t available. Disappointed I went back for dinner with my father. We had delicious Chinese food at a posh restaurant named La Gallerie located in the heart of the city.I was greedily devoured chicken hakka noodles putting the tiredness of the day on a back burner.

Though I couldn’t stop myself from sharing the happenings of the night of first july, my first day at IIM Shillong actually began on the 2^nd of july which was the day of registration. The ceremonies started of with an inspiring speech by the director of the institute. Beginning ,with the importance and hopes attached to this new IIM situated in this beautiful part of the country he urged us to live up to the expectations of the institute. Quite lucidly he briefed us about the core principles around which IIM Shillong hopes to build itself. He specifically highlighted certain points where this institute differentiates itself from the older established IIMs. His encouraging words of growth and progress were meant to ignite in us the zeal to work towards building a professionally enriching caree. The chairman of PGP carried the discussion on a more serious note stressing on the importance of professional conduct and an inquisitive bent of mind. Learning transcends beyond the pages of books and confines of classroom. A good manager not only learns to do business but also to be upfront and proactive. With all this inspiring words our spirits were elevated. After brief introductions of all staff members we started off with our registration process which occupied most of the day. Bored and tired of waiting since my turn hadn’t come I along with a friend set out to explore the campus. We were impressed by the well maintained campus and lush green view all around.To top it the sight of clouds hanging over the mountains was breath taking. Ohh , pardon my forgetfulness, but I must mention that by this time I had met my room mate and shifted all my luggage into my new room. After the registration process I interacted with many seniors. A few interesting things that I remember include “learn from peers”, ”numbers will be your lifeline”, ”be professional, you aren’t a student” and “MBA is about 3Gs “.Even papa after interacting with some of the faculty members reiterated the rigors of MBA. That night we had a dinner party for the new participants and their parents. It was an awesome evening, where young men and women dressed in their prim business suits ,putting up their most decorous manner got a chance to share their experiences. After a fulfilling dinner party and loads of Kodak moments ,it was time for father to leave . There were a few other hugs and farewells.

That was a long night on my first day. After such a eventful day we were again called by seniors at night for an informal interaction. However the seniors made sure that the introductions were more a exploration of our personality than our professional competencies. During this session I realised how diverse my batch was ,in terms of student background. After a two hour long rendezvous with seniors that unravelled some very fascinating incidents in senior batches we retired dead tired to our hostels. As our eye lids drooped I am sure each of my fellow participants would be contemplating “will such a night ever come again at IIM shillong”.

Raavan -All 10 heads hung in shame

I would begin by apologising to Mani sir ,because I tried very hard but failed to appreciate the movie.I had not expected this from Maniratnam who has blockbusters like Roja,Bombay,Yuva and Guru to his credit.Raavan fails to bring about any freshness to movie making .The story is good but presentation is bland .A lot of effort has been put in to make each character connect to the plot which fails to bear fruit.There has been some painstaking shots amidst the woods but the whole flow seems to be missing.

The movie seems quite predictable from the start and at no point does the audience feel elated as having seen something unexpected. Govinda has done a good job trying to depict Hanuman from the original Ramayan,but the whole purpose of this depiction seems lost. As usual

AR Rehman has done a tremendous job with his scores. Junior B fails to impress the with his occasional hysteric utterances and contortions whose very purpose of inspiring a sense of fear among the onlookers stands defeated.Tough cop Dev (read Vikram) and henchman siddharth (read ravikishen) have done justice to their roles but Ash' seems inconspicuous.Seems Mani sir served dal roti to his biriyani hungry audience.

Better luck next time sir.

first experience of a tremor

The time of night(Tuesday,11/8/09,1.40 am) was no different from the many gone by.I was on my bed,legs outstretched,enjoying a episode of "sach ka samna"(an off track reality soap paying u for spilling the darkest secrets of life).The weather was pleasant and night was still.Occasional humming of trawlers,sporadic activity at the cop station beside my house were the only audible phenomenon.Then suddenly the ground shook below me.My bed trembled like it had never before.I was shocked to the core.Was I one of the victims of Tulsi Ramsay's horror flicks.Were hands going to emerge out from under my bed and the stifle the life force out of me.These were some of the weird thoughts that clouded my imagination before a inner force urged me to jump out of the bed before the worse happens.I looked out of the window.Everything was as calm as before.There wasn't any sign of activity.Probably people in my colony were in deep slumber and so least bothered.As I stood holding the railings of my bedroom window it happened again.The iron bars were trembling in my hands and so was my heart.The horror of realization forced me out of my room.As I knocked at my parents' bedroom door,mom opened it.Both Dad and mom were wide awake.We were preparing to come out of the house lest another rumbling should raze the roof to the ground.But ,fortunately no more such tremors occured for another hour.With the hope that we won't go through the experience again we retired to our beds.By the grace of God,the last two days have been calm and may the tranquility prevail.

will educational reforms hamper learning

The latest among a slew of reforms suggested by the new,energetic HRD minister shri Kapil Sibal is making the Xth boards optional.Further a committee of NCERT recommended that the final examiner of a student at 10th level should be his school teacher so that the warm teacher student relationship is maintained,a far from practical argument in favour of doing away with the 10th board exams.Mr.Sibal further goes on and argues that an all india examination with central evaluation traumatises the candidate and hence a percentile system should be the parameter to assess his knowledge.I highly admire the minister's efforts to take some load off the shoulders of thousands of youngsters .But i would like to put forth a simple question.After more than 10 years of schooling and intellectual grooming under the watchful eyes of parents and teachers if the child isn't ready to face a national level competition then probably his school education should be questioned.A national level competition in 10th standard challenges,the mental faculties of a student and gears him up for the greater challenges ahead.Further,during 10+2 every student opts for some particular stream (arts,science,commerce...) where the number of subjects come down but each one becomes more intensive and complicated.Hence a proper marks based assessment in matriculation will help a student to discover his strengths and accordingly choose a particular discipline.I would like to stress that a percentile system as suggested by the honorable minister doesn't solve the purpose.This is because,percentile gives you relative evaluation of your performance,which may be apt for an entrance examination where candidates are tested for speed and analytical ability.But board exams are different .They measure the knowledge of a student as well as his preparedness to carry out further studies in any particular subject.They are rightly called qualifying examination as they assess whether a candidate qualifies to learn further.Awarding grades is again insufficient as it projects a range of marks and not the exact score of the candidate.What can be done is making provisions for selection of subjects during the academic year.This has to be done keeping in mind the requirements of pre university.Many students face difficulty in the sciences while some find language papers difficult to tackle,so here they can clearly go with their choice.Hence i strongly oppose scraping of the board exams which are an essential means of merit based evaluation in our country.