Quarter 1 ... What? I think it was last year ... It
just flew off in a flash ...
Orientation, the journey
began informally here. With a pre-orientation assignment which was required
to be completed before we step into the campus. Surely wasn't the gate pass to
enter it but was interesting as it had diverse cases to be solved in groups of
5. The first day @campus saw everyone happy & smiling having cracked into
the premier institute for management and visualizing themselves 2.5yrs later in
the convocation coat & hat and off-course with the degree. That
is where the visual was blurred & everyone was woken up :) ... The word
orientation actually meant 360deg brain twist which would align it to take the
ride called PGSEM. The starter was "Books" which many of us would
refer to as "once upon a time i used to study from...". And the binders
were also given to us as top-ups which made everyone all the more happier ;-).
Those 3 orientation days had seminar's which still rule the minds of many (Peak
Oil), deliberate & intentional late night cases by seniors which helped us
stay alert and awake all 3 days :P and off-course fun activities which acted as
ice breaker for the batch-mates. The orientation ended on lot of gyan &
maarg-darshan which formed the grounding base for us. Thanks to senior's for
putting their days & nights out from the precious 1 month year break,
in organizing the orientation program.
Q1 formally began 20days after the orientation. 3
Subjects in the quarter- Microeconomics which dealt with theory of supply &
demand, Accounting to help us improve our knowledge about finance &
Strategy Management which would give us insights into firms from various
industries and how the CEO's form strategies to solve problems. The batch was
high on energy and enthusiastic about learning though everyone took their own
time in managing getting up early & staying awake in the lectures.
Microeconomics was a web of graphs each one similar to the previous and adding
to the confusion with every session. The Accounting Balance sheet & Income
statement balanced everything except the confusions. Strategy was more or less
a sleepy venture with energy levels on an all-time low. If we plot a graph of
energy vs. time we'll get a "Bell curve", rising slowly from sleepy
eyes in Microeconomics it peaked highest during Accounting (being a math based
subject) & finally diminishing in Strategy. We were asked to form groups of
5 (thankfully) to solve cases which the professors insisted us to read/solve
before coming to the lectures for our own good and getting more benefit from
the discussions.
The Quarter had hardly begun and we had our first
event organizing opportunity with "Pehel", kind of fresher
party and a medium to felicitate the senior students who had done well in the
program. Managing time for the event along with studies and work got even
tougher. The enthu was high being the first event participation for all and the
preps though began late were managed somehow. It was lot more
interesting finalizing events, participants, practice sessions, teams
for handling various sub-events and the volunteers. The program was
well perceived by everyone and we pulled it off well.
The joyous mood of the event had not even ended
that we realized the midterms sitting on our head. We were still to
open our eyes from the sleepy early morning sessions & woke up only to find
ourselves sitting after a long time in an "Exam" aka fight for
grades. As a discount or thankfully we had midterm for only 2 subjects
(Microeconomics & Accounting). The third subject
was utilized to create exam strategy by everyone (How to give
midterms). The exams format was unknown to all and for this the Profs
helped us with some sample papers and hints on the type of questions. The
midterms ended in mixed reactions with some calling it a disaster, some others
leaving the exam room smiling and even before time (which only added to the
tension of those still writing) and others with an average reaction on face and
still others with reactions like "hogaye midterms bas...thats an
achievement".
The midterms ended only to invite the Final exams
which followed in a couple of weeks. All the more tension prevailed with the
project submissions and presentation along with them. The projects got more
complex every time we asked more details from
the Professors. The expectations were high and we were all thinking would
we be able to make justice with the projects. Finally we got an extra week after
exams for project submissions and that was a huge relief as everyone could
concentrate on the finals and mend the destruction done by the midterms. The
final exams ended on a high note with people finally able to see the end of Quarter
1, and with only a week more of slogging for the project submissions. The
projects were not an easy affair either with lot of thought process involved, gruelling
late night discussions, trying to fit in the funda's we had learned in
class. Finally the projects finished with people submitting their hard
worked reports to the Professors with expectations in return. Expectation of
what? That's what we call "GRADES" ... Waiting anxiously...
The 3 subjects not only formed the solid base for future quarters/subjects
but also gave us immense learning in a short time span. Microeconomics helped
us understand the consumer and the firms using demand and supply curves,
Factors affecting these and how firms and consumers react. The Professor made
us understand the subject in the most intuitive way i.e. by real economic
scenarios. Accounting, more on playing with the numbers helped us understand
how to look at a company’s financials (profit loss statements, balance sheet,
cash flow statements) how to analyse them quickly and make conclusions. The
cases, class discussions and the patience of the professor to handle all
queries helped us immensely to grab the essence of the subject. Strategy opened
a wide dimension to our knowledge with the sessions involving only real life
cases addressing problems faced by the company and then forming strategies for
the same. Learning various models (Porters Five forces, RBV analysis etc.) to
form a strategy gave us a glimpse of how strategic analysis is done. In short
the subjects though 3 gave us insights & knowledge no less than an encyclopaedia.
Managing studies, office projects, activities,
family etc. or to say Real-time Multitasking was all the new experience for
everyone in the batch. It was uncomfortable as the journey started but I guess
everyone has got accustomed to it. Time management was one subject not
included in the syllabus but I guess everyone learnt it the hard way (without a
professor or a book) or are still trying to master it. The Quarter ended with
an unmatched gain for everyone, though everyone took a big breathe of relief
having bid Q1 adieu and thought to take a sleep after the gruelling 10
odd weeks but not yet... "picture abhi baaki hai mere
dost....."
Only to realize there's no sleep for another 11
Quarters ... Q2 begins next week and with a bang (Books & Binders already
in hand) ... The Journey continues -> Q2
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