As mentioned here, the same was the case in the final placements too. This post is not to criticize anyone or any industry/ organisation but just to let people know that life is not rosy as it seems to be!
During the final placements, few of the I-Banks also came for recruitment. But, the shortlisting criteria was a little confusing to see. If one had a bank internship, a shortlist was more or less assured. But on the other hand, a ranker (read top 5) who was not an intern in a bank (though a PPO holder from a leading FMCG) could not make it to any of the ahortlists.
According to me, its quite unfair as again the performance during the MBA is counting at all! It is not that grabbing a bank intern is an easy task but to large extent, it depends on one's pre-MBA track record...
"Strange" is the only word that comes to my mind after witnessing all this!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Traveling on the Burning Train
After shifting base to Mumbai for over a decade, I never got a chance to travel to Pune though I had an opportunity to use the Mumbai-Pune expressway for my 2 trips to Lonavla and Khandala. But when recently, I had to stay in Pune for 2 weeks for my job, I got to see the city.
Since it was a 2 week stay, I decided to come back to Mumbai over the weekend to my home. Pune Mumbai travel was done using Indrayani Express but for the return journey, I booked on the very well known Deccan Queen Express from CST. It is indeed fast train skipping some important station like Dadar with clean coaches and courteous staff. Everything was on track and we were cruising on time. Just a kilometer or so, our train stopped. Since it was an abrupt stop or something, I thought maybe its a routine signal stop. I was engrossed in the music and did not sense anything wrong but a lot of people were moving in and out of the compartment.
After 15 minutes or so, when the train did not move, I got a little curious and asked my co-passenger if there is any issue. I was shell-shocked by his answer. He told me that the ENGINE WAS ON FIRE!
Knowing that this is an unheard incident, I decided to get down and walk to the engine to see it. The thick smoke coming out from the engine had engulfed the complete area. It was more than 20 minutes already and no fire-tender was in site. Some of the pictures of the same are here.
After an hour or so, the first fire tender arrived but the fire was just too much to handle. In the next hour or so, 6 more fire tenders came in and doused the fire. After that, a new engine came to our rescue and we started our journey back on. The only saving grace was that lights and the AC was working in the compartment.
A total of three and a half hours were wasted. Add to that the delay of other trains on the same line and cancellation of local trains which run on Kalyan-Karjat line. This incident clearly highlighted the pathetic emergency handling skills of the railways. This fire did get some space in the press!
Since it was a 2 week stay, I decided to come back to Mumbai over the weekend to my home. Pune Mumbai travel was done using Indrayani Express but for the return journey, I booked on the very well known Deccan Queen Express from CST. It is indeed fast train skipping some important station like Dadar with clean coaches and courteous staff. Everything was on track and we were cruising on time. Just a kilometer or so, our train stopped. Since it was an abrupt stop or something, I thought maybe its a routine signal stop. I was engrossed in the music and did not sense anything wrong but a lot of people were moving in and out of the compartment.
After 15 minutes or so, when the train did not move, I got a little curious and asked my co-passenger if there is any issue. I was shell-shocked by his answer. He told me that the ENGINE WAS ON FIRE!
Knowing that this is an unheard incident, I decided to get down and walk to the engine to see it. The thick smoke coming out from the engine had engulfed the complete area. It was more than 20 minutes already and no fire-tender was in site. Some of the pictures of the same are here.
After an hour or so, the first fire tender arrived but the fire was just too much to handle. In the next hour or so, 6 more fire tenders came in and doused the fire. After that, a new engine came to our rescue and we started our journey back on. The only saving grace was that lights and the AC was working in the compartment.A total of three and a half hours were wasted. Add to that the delay of other trains on the same line and cancellation of local trains which run on Kalyan-Karjat line. This incident clearly highlighted the pathetic emergency handling skills of the railways. This fire did get some space in the press!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
7 Cs of Life@IIM-C
Following my post on Ps of MBA, here is my post on the Cs of MBA life and especially true for IIM Calcutta!
1. Crashers - These are basically sessions for information dissemination about anything and everything. They are generally conducted by placement team for giving out requisite information, or by Student Council for knowledge ramp up for the incoming batch, or by the seniors for juniors for the summer placements regarding CV making, subject knowledge, interview prep et al and finally by the subject experts before the exams so that whole batch is able to scrap through the upcoming rough waters..!!!
2. Competitions - For people who want to showcase their talent in any field, there is no dearth for platform to do so. All the major B-Schools in the country have their cultural and business festivals annually, which is a huge opportunity to participate in various facets in functional events like marketing, HR, finance etc and also in talent events like dance and music etc. Adding to that, there are sports meet which happen with XL, IIM-B and IIFT-Kolkata, so sport enthusiasts also have opportunities to showcase their competencies.
3. Curriculum - The backbone of any B-School! Curriculum in the first year is pretty much fixed but a lot of options are available in the second year to choose from. Also, the first year subjects keep undergoing changes according to the new knowledge generated in the outside world.
4. Case studies form an integral part of pedagogy. Though, it is not 100% case-based in C, most of the subjects cover a decent number of cases for practical understanding. On a personal note, more than anything else, these case studies add to one's general knowledge a lot! If one fails to analyse the case, the key take-away can be the GK enhancement. Also, case studies are used as a tool during examination times by some of the faculty. Exams sometimes just consist of the case and questions are related to them. Also, case can be distributed a night before or during the exam.
5. Campus life is possible because of the residential nature of the program. The sense of time table is clearly broken when staying in a campus. With deadlines sometimes being 3 in the morning to 7 am, the sleep cycle goes for a toss. Also, staying in the campus 24*7 makes it possible to have things running throughout the day and night too! One never feels lonely once inside, as always there is atleast other person who is awake at any time of the day.
6. Culture of any B-School is imbibed in every soul who has been a part of the institute. It may be the inter-hostel competitions or the intra-hostel ones to exam taking strategies or treating a sister institute ;) or dealing with a particular prof! But my personal take away has been never-say-die attitude of so many people around which made me believe nothing is really impossible.
7. CV - No discussion about MBA is complete without mentioning about placements. And, nothing holds more value than one's CV, as this is the first impression a company receives about an individual. Trust me, sometimes it is not easy to pen down your life of about 23-25 years in one page highlighting the peaks of one's journey on this planet. But, the effort put on CV is a major determinant for the things to follow...
1. Crashers - These are basically sessions for information dissemination about anything and everything. They are generally conducted by placement team for giving out requisite information, or by Student Council for knowledge ramp up for the incoming batch, or by the seniors for juniors for the summer placements regarding CV making, subject knowledge, interview prep et al and finally by the subject experts before the exams so that whole batch is able to scrap through the upcoming rough waters..!!!
2. Competitions - For people who want to showcase their talent in any field, there is no dearth for platform to do so. All the major B-Schools in the country have their cultural and business festivals annually, which is a huge opportunity to participate in various facets in functional events like marketing, HR, finance etc and also in talent events like dance and music etc. Adding to that, there are sports meet which happen with XL, IIM-B and IIFT-Kolkata, so sport enthusiasts also have opportunities to showcase their competencies.
3. Curriculum - The backbone of any B-School! Curriculum in the first year is pretty much fixed but a lot of options are available in the second year to choose from. Also, the first year subjects keep undergoing changes according to the new knowledge generated in the outside world.
4. Case studies form an integral part of pedagogy. Though, it is not 100% case-based in C, most of the subjects cover a decent number of cases for practical understanding. On a personal note, more than anything else, these case studies add to one's general knowledge a lot! If one fails to analyse the case, the key take-away can be the GK enhancement. Also, case studies are used as a tool during examination times by some of the faculty. Exams sometimes just consist of the case and questions are related to them. Also, case can be distributed a night before or during the exam.
5. Campus life is possible because of the residential nature of the program. The sense of time table is clearly broken when staying in a campus. With deadlines sometimes being 3 in the morning to 7 am, the sleep cycle goes for a toss. Also, staying in the campus 24*7 makes it possible to have things running throughout the day and night too! One never feels lonely once inside, as always there is atleast other person who is awake at any time of the day.
6. Culture of any B-School is imbibed in every soul who has been a part of the institute. It may be the inter-hostel competitions or the intra-hostel ones to exam taking strategies or treating a sister institute ;) or dealing with a particular prof! But my personal take away has been never-say-die attitude of so many people around which made me believe nothing is really impossible.
7. CV - No discussion about MBA is complete without mentioning about placements. And, nothing holds more value than one's CV, as this is the first impression a company receives about an individual. Trust me, sometimes it is not easy to pen down your life of about 23-25 years in one page highlighting the peaks of one's journey on this planet. But, the effort put on CV is a major determinant for the things to follow...
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