Exam time !

Ah, I know I have not been around for more than a month now on this blog :-( ... well, its been pretty hectic here.. assignments, projects, mid terms, classes have kept me pretty busy all this while ..and yeah, truly BUSY.... then there was a minor health problem that I had which thanks to Tata hospital here is gone now.

Unfortunately, cant write a bigger post now also as this is the time for my end terms..Just came from Quant-1 paper (the most dreaded one here !! ).. the next one is on Monday now.. infact have 6 papers on 4 days starting Monday.. dont know how would I be able to manage all that..

But I have some interesting posts lined up which explores how the GMP is going which I plan to blog after end-terms.

Jamshedur- the city of talent !

This week I am gonna talk about the city where I am currently. Thanks to my friend Abhishek, who gave me this link Jampot Jalwa which talks about people who have been from the steel city. Tanushree Datta, Sidharth Basu, Imtiaz Ali, Priyanka Chopra are some of those.

For people who have a 'predetermined' notion about Jharkhand, got to come here and see for themselves how beautiful the city is. It rains and rains, however, there is no waterlogging, the roads are clean and lined with trees. Compare this with Delhi or any other place. Every rain makes the city crumble and newspaper get some material to write.

The XL campus is the most beautiful and you got to see the pics (refer to my earlier post with the link to the same) to convince yourself.

Pics from outbound

Sorry, for the delay. Here are few pics from my adventure program. The lady in last pic is none other than Bachendri Pal, the first Indian lady to climb mt Everest.

Rediscovering Myself !

Last week, I had a chance to go for an adventure trip. As I had already mentioned in my previous blogs, a 3 day adventure is part of the GMP course and is mandatory for all students here. My turn was to go with 32 other souls last Friday.

We landed up at the adventure spot at 8 in the morning and after breakfast started with couple of management games. Then came in obstacle clearing which is more on the lines of whats done in Army' SSB interviews, there is monkey crawl, a tarzan rope, move from tyres, crawling through barbed wire cave and others. In the evening we were shown video from 1984 Mt Everest expedition.

The next day we started with obstacles again and then followed by rock climbing and caving. Even by a conservative estimate, the rocks would have been 100 ft tall with varying amount of steepness thrown in. The caving ensured that one had to crawl in different anatomical positions ! In second half, we did treasure hunt and rock down sailing. The down sailing was from a rock 70 ft high.

The third day, we went to Dimna Lake and did rafting followed by making our own boat and then sailing it through the waters.

All these days,
- we slept in tent without any mat or fan and had to depend on mother Earth for air,
- drank water from hand pump, no bisleri thrown in,
- were allocated utensils and had to bring for food e'time and also wash them after each use,
- eat just rice with fixed rotis and cooked vegetables/dal with no scope of local kiryana to buy something else.
- without any bath for 2 days,
- get up at 5 and sleep at 9, different matter though that not all could sleep 8 hrs.
- go for loo in open trenches !

Now, if it scares you, it did scare me as well when I heard my previous batch tell about their experiences. But as you go through, it makes you mentally tough. As Bachendri Pal told us that this trip is not about your physical prowesness but about your mental strength. Everybody can work in comfortable conditions but only people with mental toughness can survive in adverse conditions. [Bachendri Pal was the first Indian lady to climb Mt Everest and is the chairperson of the TSAF, the group which organized our trip. She came in the first day and addressed us all].

When I look back, I don't think I had imagined that I would be able to do all these activites. To be honest, I was actually thinking of a suitable reason to abstain if need arises. But somehow, I not only managed to complete all of the activities but also completed in allotted time ! Its fun to think how could I climb down a 70 feet wall with ropes or how could I sail through a boat that I have created in water which is 100 ft deep or how could I crawl in a cave which is barely tall for me to lie down. And thats why I say 'Rediscovering Myself' !!!


Coming Up Next- Photographs from the trip !

Football and Mining !

These pretty much sums up my activities during the weekend that just passed by.

Football - Not a big deal for people, but a big one for me, because I played after nothing less than 15 years !!! So, while I ran here and there, I did manage to put in one goal for my team out of 5 hey had in total. :-).. By the way, my team could tell, how much did I failed to convert too !!

Its a different story though that by the end of match, I was fairly exhausted and I decided to take rest for the complete week to be ready physically for adventure trip next week.

Mining Visit - As part of educational visit, I went to Uranium mines at Narwapahar, 28 kms from XLRI. After the usual chai-pani that was offered to all students, we were taken to four different levels under ground, with the least being 350 mts. Since this was my first visit to any mine, I cannot put down a comparison, but what I could see and gather was that this was one of the best mechanised mines in Asia. The mines had provision for collecting and recycling of water coming out of extraction, drilling and collecting of rocks, proper air circulation and multiple routes for workers. The fun part was to see 3 mtr tall trucks at different levels for drilling and collection. The other noticeable thing was highly motivated stuff and the enthusiasm and pride with which they displayed the entire mines !

Unfortunately, I couldn't take any pic as my camera phone was collected at gate itself !

Hear your inner voice !

This post talks about speech made by Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple Computers. This has got nothing to do with the GMP course, but I put it here because its such a powerful speech and I thought everybody should give it a read atleast once. I have read it multiple times since the first time I read, sometimes last week, and everytime I read, I am charged up !

I am quoting few lines from the speech ---
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Very true and very relavent, isn't it !!

Ok, now here is the link --> Link

XLRI in pictures

Prof Madhukar Shukla has posted some nice pics of XLRI campus and its students.

1. Virtual Tour through the XLRI Campus: http://lifeatxl.blogspot.com/

2. The XLRI over the years: http://tinyurl.com/64ds3c

Status Update -1

Thanks to 3 day break starting tomorrow :-), I am able to write down this post. I am gonna cover what has happened in last 10 days and whats gonna happen in next 10 days ....

1. Official Dining Hall Inauguration- As I wrote in my last post , a new dining hall has come up exclusively for GMP students. This was officially inaugurated on 25 June. The event was a good way to unwind and talk to the faculty along with wonderful dinner and cocktails. Few of the enthusiasts clicked couple of pics too. Here is one ... Well, I am being selfish enough to pick the one where I am in center :-)


2. Different Committees- As in any civil society, you need people who can volunteer to work that extra mile to achieve something that can be mutually beneficial for the entire society, you need these volunteers for the betterment of the GMP juntaa too. How much do these volunteers actually volunteer and how much result can they bring forward is a debatable question though ;). Nevertheless, we had elections (yes, you read correctly elections- we did closed ballot voting, open voting, selection ) to elect members to these committees. Members to Media, Admin, Brochure, Finance, Extra-currics were elected.
I happen to be part of Media committee..:-)


3. Outbound Program- The entire batch of 100 has been divided into three groups. Starting this Friday- Sunday, for three consecutive weeks, one group will be going for an industrial visit to Tata Steel/ mines, one group to Outbound trekking program and third group to bed (Ahhh, that elusive sleep) !!! Its gonna be fun in either of these activities and I am especially looking forward to Steel plant and mines visit. Coming from a Comp Sciences background means I have always been playing around with 'dabba', little seen the big furnaces and deep mines..


4. Academics- I specifically put this down in the last, so that I can write long notes on this. I am not gonna talk about longgggggg study hrs or 6 hrs sleep or case assignments, which is a norm here but rather about things that make me feel excited -
Lets start with micro economics.. there are functions, typically production functions that help you predict what quantity of prodn. is the optimal quantity.. anything less or more will make you lose profits...

Macro- Economics- The big daddy of economics, helps you predict where the national economy is going. You look at country' figures and find for yourself if the economy is sound enough for investment !

Accounting- Checking the balance sheet of companies and trying making meaning out of the same. Where has the company hid its money is something thats interesting ! Will take some time to learn Enron's- creative accounting though!

Quant- Helps you figure out the expected value of anything, like, for example, how many people would visit my blog today? Or whats the probability that people coming to this site will read my friends blogs too !

Ethics and CSR- Interesting to see how people are working for betterment of society and still making money, a win- win situation for all.

Organization Behavior- Different exercises have enabled me to see what kind of person I am and what shortcomings do I need to work through !

The reason why I find all this interesting is that it gets closer to real life problems per se, unlike the java or .net where your only partner is a compiler !! With 20 days of course, I am already feeling enlightened ! and Thanks to the wonderful profs here who have made their subjects pretty interesting !

GMP at PG

The increase of seats in this year GMP program has found a mention at PagalGuy.
The news also talks about the batch profile of current students.

GMAT Prep !

Some of people asked me for my GMAT prep. I am summarising here all that I did. Please take a note that individual strategy differs and what applies to me may not apply to others.

To start with my score was 700, not a high one, but givent the time constraints I had, I think it was pretty decent for me.

Ok, for total time, I took approx 3 months, with approx 2 hrs per day on an average. You might have a higher or lower time depending on how much time can you devote and whats yiour grip of subjects at hand.

Started with Kaplan Premier, a very basic book, it helped clear my basics. There are 3 tests towards end, keep that for last. Dont attempt in the start. While working through this book or otherwise, make sure, you are revising wrong questions too. Follow this strategy all through the prep.

Next, I started with OG (Official Guide) 10/ 11, which ever edition you lay hands on. I bought photocopied notes from a shops in Ber Sarai area in Delhi, near JNU. Other Indian cities would have similar 'stores'. If want to read online, its here--> OG 11 . This book has extensive questions, practise them thoroughly, don't worry about wrong ones, make sure you are revising those.

The third an final book I referred was Kaplan 800, again bought as a photocopied material. (Google it and am sure you would find a dump some where on net). Now, this was the book that I found to be most useful, had the toughest questions and is said for people who are aiming for perfect 800. Attempt this only after you are done with OG.

Other references- You would find plenty of stuff over net if you google 'GMAT prep'. Would suggest dont go over all that as it would unnecessarily confuse you. Depending on what your weak areas is, focus on correcting that.
1. SC- Spidey’s (Dump ) and Saahil’s SC Notes
2. SC- Manhattan SC Guide ( Dump )
3. Quant- Didnt refer any other book.

Finally, I started with tests, gave two tests that came with GMAT CD (you get when u register for exam), Kaplan 3 tests and couple of other tests that I laid my hand on net.

Suggested Reading-
1. GMAT Experience- Link
2. Another GMAT Experience- Link

Last but not the least, here is the bible of all gyan-
PagalGuy
In fact, I owe my GMAT success to PG. Long live PG !!

Thats about it, should you have any questions, drop me a comment.

First Week

Sunday, 11.30 PM, by time the blog gets published it would be 12 and that should officially mark the close of first week of GMP ! So here is the week that went by ---

First the schedule- Better than last in terms of time that I could spend on myself. Infact more things are happening outside the class, with all clubs, escpecially consulting, getting live and people gearing up for the same.

For classes, we are now in terms with ledgers and journals, with the rising inflation and how to measure the GDP/ GNP and how to find the expected profit of a company. Suddenly, I have started to feel that Mr. Chidambaram might take in an advice from students of GMP ! We also had classes on managing human behavior, organization behavior and ethics with ethics class being taken by Prof Ghandy, former Director, TELCO.

I also took some time to explore Jamshedpur city. There are two shopping areas here- one Sakchi and other Bishtapur, with me paying a visit to Bishtapur for evening snacks at a restaruant. I also visited Jublee Park with my pals. On a whole, the city is fairly well designed and whosoever has any concerns about security in this part of India may relax.

One more topic before I ask google to publish my blog, our mess changed from shared MDP to one specifically for GMP. And that means a new caterer and a new menu. Well, apart from the usual change in food, which I must confess is really awesome and I would have tough time controlling my weight, is the service in the mess. A person from the mess staff gets in water at each and every table for each student, something akin to water serving in restruant. And not only that, the staff would also take turns to seek your feedback on food and also serve you anything that you would need right on your table. With the pampering, I almost feel like an IAS officer. Would have a tough time getting back to corporate world !!! :-)

Day -2 to 0

Day -2
Well this day was no different from Day -3 in terms of the classes as it went from 9 to 9 as usual and the followed by a case study dicussion which we had to do in newly formed groups of our own.

Day -1 and Day 0
Well, these were my first official half days as on one of these days classes ended at 5.15 and on other at 2. No matter that these days were Saturday and Sunday and I could have been watching movie at PVR on one of these days back home or simply idling. Isnt that great !! :-) Well, that the life at XL !

One thing, that has stuck me in last few days is the pure passion that the faculty here carries. There is lots of positive energy that flows over whenever the classes are conducted. I am really impressed by the knowledge the profs here have and at the same time be modest enough and patient enough to answer students queries.

From whatever the profs have told the class, the institute and the profs have big ambitions and dreams about the GMP program and its students. No doubt that the intake this year was doubled fom 55 to 100.

Day -4 and Day -3

Day -4
This day is not on the official XL chart but has a personal significance for me. This is the day when I traveled the longest train journey of my life time. Initially intended to be 22 hrs journey from Delhi to Jamshedpur, it took 26.5 hrs and I reached the XL campus at 1.30 AM instead of 8 PM. By the way, I had actually booked Purshotam Express, the train I took, 2 months in advance for simple reason that this is the best train on this route. My co-passengers who all claimed to be frequent travelers on this route told me that this is the first time the delay has happened to this train and I was wondering whether I am the ‘chosen’ one by God !! :-(
Preventive Action (after all, I need to think like a management student now :-) ) – Take a plane from Delhi to Ranchi and then cab from Ranchi to Jamshedpur !
Moment to cheer about- I probably set a travel record for myself which would be hard to beat in life again !

Day -3
Ok, this is the first day of my XL life. And if you have been guessing why have I been putting down a negative number against the day, its because the officially classes start from Monday, that’s what would be counted as Day 1.
Now, for the day. With less than 4 hrs sleep last night I got up in the morning with the expectation that the Day -3 would be out for induction and student interaction and I should be back to bed for making up. What emerged was not only induction but host of other classes as well. We had classes on economics, statistics, and probability today with classes stretching till 9.15 PM starting from 9 in the morning. And couple of assignments to take back home and come back next day. I guess my ordeal has started :-(. I guess, I am already getting a taste of the coming year.
By the way, I am impressed by the infrastructure out at XL. The batch, faculty is just amazing. Would get back details on this soon.

My last day' approaching !

Well, my last day in the organization would be 10th, Tuesday and I would be boarding the train for Jamshedpur the same day in night. Unlike my GMP friends, who took somewhere between 1 week to 1 month of off before joining the course, I chose to continue till the last day. The reason for break, as most cited, was getting fresh and charged up for a gruelling year ahead. I somehow feel sick sitting at home and therefore decided to continue till the last day. Lets see, which approach is better. Future GMP aspirants can reach out to me for an advice couple of months later !! :-)
And yes, working till the end also offers me some more money at hand in a 'jobless' year ahead :-)

Status Update !

The course is to commence from 12 June and 10 June would be my last with my organization. Thereafter, a quick 22 hour train would land me to my dream destination, Jamshedpur. With couple of days left for the course to commence, this is what I am doing nowadays -
1. Reading up on different blogs hows life in different b-schools is and what can I expect in next one year.. less sleep, limited holidays, surprise quizzes, competitive batches to list few of scary things :-(
2. Making sure my 'Gurgaon' relieving is on track... that my house loan has sufficent number of cheques to keep my balance in low, my passport is in order, my medical etc policies are paid for !!!
3. Interacting with new friends that I have made up over last one month. These friends are my fellow GMPians who would be my company for next one year now :-). My orkut, google groups have got a fresh breeze of life again !
4. Writing a blog. :-) With one previous attempt at blog not a very successful one, I hope this one continues for atleast one year and captures the GMP life 'thru my eyes'.

By the way, if you were surprised by the title of this post, blame it on the agenda of my weekly meeting with my US Project Manager. I hope to coin a better term as I progress in the year ! :-)

Why did I chose GMP?

There are quite a few reasons. Here are some of them-
1. One year course- For working executives like me, this ensures quick return to the industry.
2. Peer learning- The batch has people from diverse sectors with varied experience. The current batch has people from sectors such as IT, Telecom, Banking, Retail, Manufacturing, Defence with experience ranging from 5 to 20 years. Lots of the students bring in considerable international experience.
3. Excellent Faculty- XLRI has full time faculty thats unparallelled in Indian schools.
4. XLRI brand name- XLRI has been ranked as the best private college in India across multiple surveys conducted. Overall, it stands as 4th best school in India.
5. Placements- The course offers lateral placements with students being placed in plum roles. Last year' average was 17.8 L.

To start with - About the Course

Most of the lines below has been picked from XL website and typically talk about the course in general. Good way to start the blog. Isnt it ??? :-)

GMP (General Management Programme) is a one year full time resedential programme of the prestigious XLRI. The Institute awards the Executive Postgraduate Diploma In General Management to the participants who successfully complete all the requirements of this programme.

The programme consists of Core & Optional courses specially designed for fast track executives with work experience. They provide the essentials of management education with the flexibility of individual exploration in their chosen area of interest. The entire programme spans for more than 1000 contact hours in class spread over four terms.

The programme incorporates a group project which will be based on live problems from the industry and involves an important part of the learning process.

An international project is also part of the course which exposes the participants to international perspective of business, so that the participants can effectively function in an environment different from their “home culture”.