Eshwar's First day @PGSEM

Here is my recount of the inauguration day.
The day started at Bangalore City Railway Junction after the bangalore mail chugged in to the station at 5:30 a.m. Chidambaran, Prasad and I set our feet in the IIM B hostel block and collected our keys for hostel rooms. The rooms were well maintained and some had some interesting quotes too.:-) We had a quick morning shower, did a last minute revision of the case study. It was 7: 30 by then. We wanted to have a quick breakfast and thought we were going to the hostel mess but instead went to the canteen intended for employees. I guess our memory were little stunted by the early morning drowsiness ;-). With each of us having a different route in mind, layout of the institute proved to be a puzzle little tough to crack. Having gone in to every other place in the institute, we thought we no longer need the campus walk scheduled in the afternoon, ;-) We ultimately arrived at the registration desk at 7:50 and with separate lines for chennai and bangalore batch students, we could quickly finish the registration. We were given receipt of the earlier fees paid, code of conduct and students brochure. We were then photographed, may be to help us notice the halo behind our head after completion of the course ;-). After two and half years, whether the glow will be behind our head or on the scalp of our head is another matter altogether ;-)We then went back to the hostel and had our breakfast and came back to attend the inaugural function. It started with lighting of the kuthuvilaku by the Director Dr Prakash G Apte, Chairperson Dr. Rajendra K Bandi, a 2006 batch student, a 2007 batch student and Mr K.M. Bharathi.Then Director awarded medals to the top ten meritorious students of 2006 batch. It was followed by a speech of the director and chairperson. We were profusely congratulated by the director, chairperson and alumni students. Later they also expressed their deepest sympathies for our family members and for us, as we will spend lesser and lesser time with our families and with our hobbies. Director also urged the female students for a proportionate representation of them among the meritorious list. At 9:30, the discussion on "Learning approaches in Mgmt Education: The Case approach" started. Professor L.S. Murthy defined case study to be "a true to life description of real-life business situation needing analysis and unstructured decision making". Then he explained the structure of a case-study. This was followed by the discussion on the example case study. The problem was defined and an analysis of the operational issues faced by the company was listed after an interactive discussion. The session however, ended with an open question as to whether this should be considered as a problem, as these are inherent to a R&D organisation. :-) After a 15 minute coffee break, Mr Bharathi introduced to us, various IIMB facilities and administrative office members. He said that an email id with iimb domain name would be provided and it would serve as the means for continuous communication between the students and the institution,as the mail id will continue to exist beyond the course duration. Also an user id will also be provided which can be used for taking "reasonable" quantity of print outs in the computer center. He forewarned us on the strictness in following class- timings. Prof Bandhi also mentioned that an attractive scheme to buy a PC, is available for PGP students and hence if any of us are interested, the scheme details would be made available. Rajiv gave a presentation on the various SAC activities and karthick on his experience with the course. The alumni meet, cultural meet and PGSEM brand-enhancing rendezvous were some of the get-togethers conducted by SAC. Karthik quoted from stevepavlina's website and had interesting analysis on the types of people he encountered in the program, the types of quizes he got through(announced, surprise, announced-surprise and surprise-surprise). Peter represented the chennai center and explained the facilities available/not-available in the center. He reminded us of two proverbs namely- "If the going gets tough only the tough gets going.." and " If you're going through hell, keep going". Various questions on exchange program, transfer of credits, cultural events were asked. Means to achieve the least possible time to complete the course( 2 years and 3 months) and most possible time (6 years, you know how to achieve it ;-)) were explained. It was made clear that the course is not for faint-hearted and a hectic, grueling two and half years would be welcoming us. After a sumptuous lunch, and books collection, we had a campus walking tour. It finally ended in the classrooms and informal questions were asked. - whether there are any blind-spots around, ROI for the course, how to get the desired electives, whether our knowledge is equivalent to PGP. The seniors extolled us to participate in brand enhancing activities and SAC activities, so that we can carry forward and enhance brand PGSEM. At the end of the day, after this tryst, I am sure that we carried back home, not only the onus of books but also, the obligation and responsibility as a PGSEM student. :-)So it was clear that for the next 2.5 years, weekends would be busier than the weekdays,would preach that education should not be viewed in a narrow angle of placements, would drop jargons in conversations just to flaunt what I study,would argue that part time programs are more strenuous than regular programs,would have a lighter annual pay packet,and would be traveling about 200kms in 2 days.(for a chennai student)

Regards, Eashwar N.

PGSEM at IIM B