Strike One: The Foundation Examinations

Week 2 got with it some bad news in the form of examinations on the foundation course (the 2 month e-learning module). The exams began on Wednesday, 13th June and there were not one... not even two but three examinations on that day....Hence, the entire day was spent in giving the exams... The exams for the day were Fundamentals of Economics, Fundamentals of Mathematics and Basics of Computers. Luckily, these subjects were easy and the syllabus was not too big. I should I clear all three of them...atleast I am expect to do so... Don’t think that computers was a cake walk for me (since I have an IT background) as we had to do a lot of stuff in 3 hours and historically this subject also has many people flunking. Anyways, i just managed to complete the test somehow.

Then there were two scheduled for Saturday the 16th, namely Principles of Management (who the hell made them) and Basics of Financial Accounting. However, on 15th, the professor who is taking our Finance Accounting decided to postpone the Financial Accounting FC test to a later date. So the entire batch erupted in joy and the news spread like a fire. But, the joy was short lived...as it was around this point of time that Subbu Sir decided to do what he enjoys doing (I guess the news reached him too)...Screw us...he sent out a message that he would be reviewing the progress made by each division on "Newspaper Research Project". Now, as usual, we guys had not even started any work on it and it was already 5 pm in the evening plus we had an exam at 11 the next day and that also the most theoretical one...so it was decided that we mass flunk the FC exam (we had heard from the seniors that last time 70% of the batch flunked POM and they didn't have any re-exam) the next day and concentrate on putting together stuff for the newspaper project.

On 16th, we had our test at 11 am in the morning. The test turned out to be objective one and was one which I could have cleared easily... but then to clear an exam one has to study isn’t it and this sadly wasn’t the case with me this time around. So as of now it can go either ways for me. Keeping my figures crossed and hoping (against hope) that I clear the damn paper...

The next sets of examinations were Behavioural Sciences and Fundamentals of Statistics and were held on 20th June. Meanwhile, during the week we had briefings on the activities of the various students run committees of the college and their selection process. So we had to make a resume and submit it to our seniors...Anyways getting back to the Foundation exams, now Behavioural sciences was again a theoretical subject and into the boring stuff such as physiology, motivation, perception, blah blah blah...So again had to try and memorise most of the fundas...As regards to Stats, our Stats teacher is a complete nutcase...she just jumps from one topic to other. Hence, the understanding of the topic was low...anyways had to stay awake till late in the night trying to understand stuff. Thanks to the Spanish lecture in the morning before the exam, I managed to study some stats. The exams which were scheduled from 11:30 – 1 and 2-3:30 went out fine and here again I hope I clear them both.

After this only one written exam remained i.e. Basics of Financial Accounting. This exam was rescheduled for 24th June Sunday, early morning 6:30 am. However, by god’s grace it was again rescheduled for a more human time of 11:15 am the same day. Now accounting was again a confusing subject for many, but I had gained a pretty good understanding of it thanks to my father and my Fin Acct professor. However, the exam was definitely one of its kinds... It was an objective paper with multiple choice answers and negative marking too. I heard that they were initially planning to take it online. In addition, our results were declared the same day after about 3 hours. And guess what I managed a 41 out of 50 in it and am the highest amongst the non-commerce students of my class J J J

Last of the FC stuff remaining was the Presentation on the Field Assignments. This was held on the following Wednesday, the 27th. The presentation covered the following:

• Manufacturing Firm visit – I had visited Star Orechem International Limited, Nagpur
• Interview of CEO – I interviewed Mr. Arun Bhandari
• Interview of Entrepreneur– I interviewed Mr. Sukesh Gandhi
• Book review – The Kite Runner
• Movie review – Rang De Basanti
  

I don’t know whether it was by luck, I had not been asked to redo the book review, after more than half of my batch having to do so for reviewing some very common books for the list. Anyways, the presentations went out fine and I was able to handle most questions of the evaluator.

So this concludes my first tryst with SCMHRD examinations... It was fun and had its own set of surprises. God only knows what all Subbu sir and SCMHRD has in store for us.

- Akshat

The Outbound Learning....

Here comes more on the OBL....

We had our Out-Bound Learning on 3rd June. The idea behind the entire affair was to break the ice between the new students and help them get to know each other and help each other out. It was held at a place called "Lekha Farms" which was about 15 min from SCMHRD on the Dehu - Katraj highway (just off the Mumbai - Pune Expressway).

We left from college around 7:30 am (you heard me right...7:30 am...) and we in the venue by 8. The SCMHRD batch of 2009 is of 197 students out of which about 170-180 odd must have been to the OBL. Hence, we were divided into more manageable groups of 40. We called our group as "The Incredibles". This group was further divided into 4 groups of 11-12 each. We called ourselves "We".

Now, two such groups together initially went through an ice-breaking exercise, wherein we were made to stand in a circle and given a ball. We basically had to throw the ball to each other after calling out the person's name. This helped us in remembering the names of few of our batch mates.

Next, the four groups of "The Incredibles" were made to compete in three group tasks. Points were allotted based on the performance of the teams in each of the tasks. Each task focused on a different area if team work. First task was "The Chariot Game", wherein 2 team members had to become the chariot for the third one by holding hands in a given manner and then carry the third guy across to the finish line. This process had to be repeated for each team member. Next, was the game where the team was divided into 6 pairs and each pair had to cover a certain distance with their backs facing each other and a ball between the backs. Of the ball fell down, then the pair had to stop and restart the race from that point after putting the ball back in the desired portion. Last one in this segment was a race wherein the entire team had to form a chain by holding each other’s hands in between the legs. In this segment, my team we the winners but from the other side :) :) :)

In the next segment, we had a confidence building activity, which basically involved Burma bridge crossing...Some of us also managed to convince the instructor to allow us to do some money crawling. This activity was a lot of fun...with some people really trembling at the thought of walking on the rope...

Next was a Group task called "The Cobweb”. In this task, the 'cobweb' was basically a structure of two poles about 7-8 ft in height placed about a meter apart. The poles had five ropes tied at equal distance through its height. The poles and the ropes and the some area around the poles was supposed to be electrified and mined. Hence, we were not allowed to touch it. The idea was to cross the cobweb at each level and each of the team members must do so at each level before the team can move on to the next level. Incase, somebody touched the rope/poles, he or she would have to redo the task at that level. During this task, Subbu (the director) dropped in and made the task all the more difficult by preventing the use of those body parts which were "blasted off due to the mines". The task was hilarious and a lot of fun...We really had a ball while strategizing our plan for each level and revisiting the plan, when it didn't succeed. Overall, the lighter ones sailed through, the the heavy ones, (who initially did most of the carrying and supporting of the weight), giving us a tough time. The highlight was the daring of Ananya (a batch mate of mine), our genie pig, to cross the top most level 1st (only two had to cross at this level) as she had to completely trust her teammate's instincts to be sure that she wouldn't fall...this was definitely on of the games where we had some great time.

After lunch, we had an average stuff for some time. In this segment, we were reorganised into groups of three and were supposed to introduce one of the group members and draw his/her caricature...the event was time consuming and only a few of the profiles had a funny touch given by the presenter...anyways, during this time rain played a spoil sport for some time...

Next was the "Plank Game" which focused on developing our skills on working as a one. Here, we were given two wooden planks about 6 fts long and about 10 ropes. 6 members of the team had to cross the designated area, which was mined and hence, none of the team member could lay his/her foot on it. We also had four lives or replacements incase anyone does touch the mined field. In the 5 min planning time given, my roomie Ajay came up with the idea of tying knots in a certain way, which we quickly managed to test a little. However, this planning and testing gave us very little time to actually tie the knots. So ultimately, when the race was started, 6 of us got on to the two planks, a leg on each one. Only 3 of us were knotted to the planks. After some initially setbacks wherein we lost 2 of our members just about a meter into the race, we managed to beat the hell out of the other 3 teams as we finished way ahead of the rest. Infact, when we finished, 2 teams were just about a meter in and the 3rd one had covered only 25% of the distance.

After this comprehensive win, we came to the last segment. This segment was focused on the communication skills and we played a game called "The Shepherd and the Blind Sheep". Here, there were 10 blind sheep (10 team members were blind folded) and a shepherd. The task of the shepherd was to direct all the sheep into the pen and his only means of communication with the blind and mute sheep was a whistle. Using this whistle, he was supposed to direct the sheep to the pen. We had developed a series of whistles to indicate various instructions such as turn left, right, walk, stop and the sheep which is being guided to the pen. It was fun to develop communication skills and we were told in importance of clarity, understanding and brevity in communication.

This ended the day...We had a good time...There were various positives such as we got to know our batch mates; ourselves and our ability to work as a team, and learned the importance of quick strategy formulation and execution along with some do's and don'ts of communication.

This was all about the OBL...Will tell you about the updates until week 3 soon.

The 1st week at SCMHRD

Here is my initial MBA experience...

I reported to SCMHRD on Friday, 1st June after my Last day at Kanbay on 31st May.
Came I around 8:30 at nite as I had reported in the morning.

To start with college activities, we had our induction on Saturday, 2nd June. Mr. Jagdish Khattar (MD, Maruti Udyog) graced the occasion. He really gave a good and motivating speach. I would good to here to such a big persoanlity on day1 of college. After Mr. Khattar, our director spoke to the gathering and passed on a very clear message to us. "This is not a teaching institute its a learning institue" and that "The is no fun without pain....I am here to give the pain and you are thee to enjoy it!!!" So the college seems to be posing an interesting propotition...

The induction was followed by some breifings by various authorities on a varitey of things including the rules of the college and SIC. We had an OBL the next day, which was quite good. More about the OBL a bit later.

So, Monday onwards began my college life again. Classes, classes and more classes. Well, It has been pretty hectic week here...I am learning to sleep in bits and pieces...Reason ---> have to wake up at 5:30 am Tuesday to Friday as we have compulsory yoga/aerobics from 6 and the hostel is about 1 km from the college campus. And since no bikes allowed :( I end up jogging the distance to the health club.

The regular classes are on, so each one of them brings some work in form of pre-reading/reading/assignments/case studies. Each professor expects us to do the assignment before the next class. So with 18 subjects, the picture isn't rosy at all.

The director is a very strict guy. You never know when he will pop up and spell some bad news..read additional work... for you...But he has a vision for the college. Says he is on a 5 year sabbatical from his work (3 of which have passed) and plans to make SCMHRD on par with the IIM's by the time he leaves.... So hopefully all the above things are for my good in the future.

The campus has good facilities. Food is much better than the food at Kanbay :). So, I am better off in this regard. The Hostel rooms are also pretty good. We have a swiming pool, gym, etc. so a good overall exposure and development possibility. How much of this I use, that only time will tell. Speaking of Hostel life.. how can i forget my roomies...there are two of them...one is Aditya Ramesh from Bangalore...an engineer with a 3 yr work-ex..has done some ERP implementations too and other is Ajay D'souza, a techie geek from Mumbai also an engineer with 2 yr work-ex....

And ya, the batch is pretty good here. 70% of the batch has prior work-ex and also the batch is quite green too...So i am sure would would like to visit us during our college fests :)

-Akshat