Living at the Riot House…

For me, and many others, this was the first time we’re living in a hostel. Now, one is sufficiently educated about the etiquette one is expected to follow while at a hostel. Rules handed down from elder brothers which if not followed, can result in a fairly unpleasant time.

Before I continue, I need to step back in time and give a small history lesson from the great generation of rock and roll. The Andaz West Hollywood is a 257-room Hyatt hotel located at West Hollywood, California. In the late 1960s and 1970s the hotel became the preferred accommodation in Los Angeles for traveling rock bands, due largely to its close proximity to popular clubs such as the Whisky a Go Go. It was during this time that it was given the nickname Riot House on account of the wild antics carried out by band members there, most notably those of English rock groups such as Led Zeppelin, The Who and the Rolling Stones. The hotel was known to be the types that had madness and activity round the clock.

Back to Kannathur village (that’s where the new campus is located). The boy’s hostel is no different from the Riot House. And we do have actual riots. Just last night, after a grueling week of exam after exam, most of the boys were deep in slumber; having dreams of chi-square tests, hypothesis tests, GDP, fiscal deficit and all the data that we had stuffed into our craniums over the week. One would expect the hostel to be as silent as a tomb owing to all the lack of sleep during the week. But then, we’re all rockstars….in the sense, we’re living the rockstar life style. Sleeping was a big mistake.

At 2 in the morning, we have this parade of guys making rounds in all the floors and blocks banging on the doors and waking people up. They were especially merciful to those who had the audacity to shut their lights out and actually sleep. In every hostel, sleep is a blasphemous concept which finds no mercy. Thou shall be woken up at odd hours with regard to mundane things. For me, it is normally a wake up call to ask for my guitar. To top it all, once the parade has passed by your door, a bunch of guys begin playing volleyball. This is at nearly 3 in the morning. Round about the same time, not wanting to feel left out of all the pandemonium and chaos, I turn on ‘Lamb of God’ at full volume, but to no avail. My speakers are not meant for competing with natural noise.

Jam sessions go on late into the night. If that fails, we have Counter strike matches over the LAN which normally begins around midnight. You always have the sincere bunch of future CEO’s and CFO’s with their noses buried in their books and similar paraphernalia. There is always a decent contingent of coffee drinkers. The canteen for quick snacks such as bhel puri and ice cream is almost always occupied by some one or the other. The hostel almost never ever sleeps. And a golden rule, as explained to me was it is futile to resist and oppose change and the natural greater order of hostel etiquette.

Hostel life is nothing but a learning to exist and co-exist in chaos. I remember seeing a description of how the Riot House looked, back in the day on television. We’re almost there. We ought to break-even as far as chaos goes by the end of this term. I guess, we are our own riot house. And the inmates..sorry….students are nothing less than loud, unconcerned rockstars looking to rule the world. Welcome to the Riot house….hope you have a nice day.

- Nikhilesh Murthy

Can I have some fries to go with that order please?

Looks like this is the real deal. A taste of things to come. If we thought things were tough so far, I think we were all fooling ourselves. As of this week, the batch has been quite graciously welcomed by the true spirit of the one year MBA course. And in quite gallant fashion one might add. And to think, we all volunteered for this.

For many of us, we thought that taking our normal sleeping hours from 8-9 and bringing it down to perhaps 5 hours was perhaps the greatest sacrifice we were making, but try not sleeping at all. This seems to be the order on the menu until the end of this week….a week whose end we are all clearly looking forward to. Despite being subjected to the brutalities of the workplace where the extra few hours put in seemed almost barbaric, this week has us redefining the word ‘insane’. Allow me to read out the menu… 3 exams, 1 product launch, 1 case study presentation, 1 presentation to be done on chart (as you would have read earlier) and 1 book review of at least 1500 words…all to be done in a span of 3 days. And the three exams are all biggies…Economics, Statistics and Operations management. For all of us who were drawn into a false sense of security that we had seen the worst, life just upped the ante.

It’s the second night in a row that we’ve gone with a maximum of an hours sleep. People have been showing up to class in a near zombie state. We’ve all reached a stage where our mere sub-conscious seems to have taken over daily activities. And the profs haven’t been given us any mercy what so ever. Attendance and class participation is being monitored even more seriously now. A respectable number of people have fallen victim to sleep in the middle of class, only to be woken up by the professor asking them a question regarding what was being taught. I am quite sure that the cafeteria’s business has nearly tippled thanks to the sale of only tea and coffee. Quite obviously, this would go hand in hand with an increase in the sales of cigarettes in the small shop just outside the campus. The stubble on my face is not because I’m trying to cash in on the whole rugged look, but is an indication that we need way more than a mere 24 hours in a single day. And for each of us, there are our own ways in which we sport the bruises of the last few days. Dark circles and blood shot eyes are the most common scars.

But, all the agony aside, I think this is probably a good thing. At some deep level, this is a sign of the kind of responsibility that industry expects from us and for us to be students with both experience and an MBA degree, we’d all probably look back at days like these and laugh it off thinking it was all a piece of cake. Like Steve Jobs said in his speech at Stanford, “ A lot of things make sense when you connect the dots backwards.” So, the lack of sleep, brain wracking, number crunching, practice and reviews is probably a good thing. At least for me, a great comfort comes from the fact that we don’t have a single reported case of mental insanity or mental breakdown from our seniors, so maybe this is all part and parcel of the order called an MBA degree. Since I’m digesting so much, can I have some fries on the side please? Actually, I had better not ask for any more….lest it leads to indigestion.

– Nikhilesh Murthy

Buckle up your shoes-it’s a Great Laker’s b’day.

Everybody is studying for the test or busy with the assignment or doing pre reads in the evening. Suddenly the laptop flashes a mail with the subject “Birthday Boy”(BB) asking us to congregate in the hostel lobby or the auditorium to celebrate one of our batchmate’s birthday. We, being the time management gurus set the alarms in our clocks and cellphones to wake us up at 12 am(no way can one afford to sleep as early as 12 am but why take a chance). The mail has changed our priorities now. Preparations are on, No not for the assignments or pre reads or tests but for the bumps.

I was in a fix as to how to make a memorable impact (you know where, right??) in the ‘bumps’ ceremony. An idea flashed and I called up Sippi productions to enquire whether they still retained thakur’s shoes( Ref: sholey movie. Customized shoes with nails. ). Obviously they were not willing to part with them. After all, film industry people too have birthdays. Anyways an urgent brainstorming session was called and everybody pitched in with their ideas about delivering the best (kicks). Everybody reminisces the last day when he kicked his friend so hard that he flew up to his room on the first floor. Mind you, this is serious stuff and nobody laughs. Rather other guys come up with their own ‘Real’ stories. Guess, all news channels overheard us someday and resorted to showing ‘Breaking news’. In a nutshell, each story says, ”I am Hercules. Nobody can stand my kicks, Period”.
Ok, 15 minutes remaining to 12 o’clock and everybody departs to come back with sports shoes on in just 5 minutes. I wish this could be the parameter for marks on punctuality. One small observation,” The Product life cycle of a shoe = duration of birthday bumps”. This rule applies to all ‘birthday bumps enthusiasts’ irrespective of political, social, economic and technological factors ( Ref: PEST. Go to www.wikipedia.com). It’s a blot on your self esteem and integrity if your shoe doesn’t wear off after giving bumps. We knock the birthday boy’s room and no response. No problem, happens all the time. We trace our friend down huddled in the wash room’s corner. May be, that’s why they say,”Men are dogs”. However a subtle difference here- we didn’t even have to smell any of the BB’s belongings to track him down. No wonder, FBI and CBI are coming for the campus placements this year.

Amidst this hue (colors of our excitement) and cry (of our BB) we take him to the green auditorium. BB, a dynamic manager otherwise suddenly transforms into a meek mouse begging for mercy. Huh, how the hell did this mouse forget the last time he played a ‘forward’ from the ‘birthday bumps’ team. Some innovative statements like, “I have a slip disc”,”Doctor has recommended bed rest” or rather “An ant died under my car so I am depressed”. Who knows an insect lover goes soft on our BB with this strategy. Moreover girls are around to watch the show so our BB has to request for mercy in a hushed tone as well as try to cover his nervousness with a fake smile to look his manly best. This is how one learns crisis management.

The cake is brought and the BB is forced to nose dive into it. Every nook and corner of his face is religiously smeared with cake. Photographs are taken though in most pics BB is the least visible. What else can be expected when 261 people vie for their pics at the same time? Anyways we preserve our BB from getting lynched for the most awaited activity, “Birthday bumps”. Four guys lift our friend at a respectable height. However we have the facility of customizing the ground clearance as per individual demands. The harder you kick the more sense of achievement dawns into you. Just one loud cry of the BB and the frustration of grueling lectures, long assignments, lengthy chapters goes off into oblivion. Nothing else can be more satisfying than the punching bag itself complementing your kicks with different versions of cries. A good business idea for ‘Artificial Intelligence’ guys. I want my percentage in the profit.

Sometimes it so happens that any other guy who tries to be more vocal and act smart while kicking lands himself in a soup and gets bumps without any reason. So try to be low profile while doing such kicking activities. Do your duty and quietly make an exit. Moreover be ready to run anytime as the crowd may celebrate your unofficial birthday. I do not have the photographs of the bumps session as the photographer himself was busy giving bumps. Some questions remain unanswered till now -Did anyone wish “Happy birthday” to our BB? Where is he? If he’s in his room then who took our swollen friend back to his room? Not sure about the answers. Anyways it’s alright to forget silly things while much more important tasks are being executed. In the next day class our BB is the most noticeable guy, marketing different brands of pain relievers. All in all this 45 minutes celebration is one of the best stress busters and we all eagerly wait for someone else’s (not ours) birthday to come everyday.

P.S. These bumps are given by thorough Great Lakes professionals. So, I would reiterate Guru John Cena’s words ,”PLEASE DON’T TRY THIS”.

Cheers,
Ayush Aswal.

Some of the birthday pics:

pic 1: Scary Vighnesh(Kindly avoid seeing if suffering from Heart problems)

Pic 2: Farid nose diving.

Pic 3: Sumit (blue tshit) with his wife and two fellow goons infront of the canteen.

Charismatic Dr Harkant Mankad

Few lecturers inspire with their calm and ease as Dr Harkant Mankad. The three hour lecture passed by, and I remained seated for how long I do not recall even as the great man exited the hall.

The composed, focused and thought provoking content of economics delivered at an almost luxurious pace is testimony enough of the grey haired man’s resolve. There comes a time, when a student comes across a teacher he would wish to emulate, today was that day for a great many ‘great lakers’. His compelling quality in deliverance coupled with an almost intangible security, an assuredness that he would let the thoughts settle in all by themselves, that he would not weigh them upon us added a flavor of trust.

Even a good lecture has only few moments of stealing curiosity on the part of the student that precedes affirming and revelatory notes offered by the lecturer. A great lecture has the revelatory notes packed so closely together in it that the student is suffocated with the failure to apprehend the substance in entirety. A truly magical lecturer is at ease, puts the student at ease, establishes connection at the lowest terms of economic reciprocation and adds value to the bridge of the connection as the lecture proceeds. By the end of the lecture, the weight of the concrete connection casts a shadow of delight on the student and the student rests under the shadow for a greater part of the student-teacher relationship. Today’s lecture was this and much more.

“It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.” -Bertrand Russell.

In Dr Harkant Mankad’s economics, rationality is explored to the limits of illimitable stretches; in his economics rationality fails to find a place. In his economics, rationality is dethroned and is replaced by an innocuous facility ‘sentiment’. He holds the ‘micro economic anatomy’ in his ‘market’ and strips it conveniently until the exposed ‘sentimentality’ is stripped to a bare minimum- nubile flesh. He calls it ‘irrationality’.

His contention that the ‘odyssey generation’ fails to acknowledge the passage of time and that the whole generation unanimously refuses to admit adulthood, his explorations into the ideological differences between the two generations, all of these could have been misunderstood as philosophical inquiries, if not for his talismanic abilities to weave the net with micro economics.

The generation that refuses to give up-one that he belongs to- for him is a representation of a pool of burgeoning ‘purchasing power’. The demographic imbalances in the north and south India are for him are mere distribution of power on the former (owing to the overwhelming population numbers) and distribution of prosperity on the later.

We are a generation of men and women dragging ourselves to the shopping malls.

‘Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes’ -Chuck Palahniuk.

But, for Dr Harkant Mankad, it is demand that chases purchasing power, it is value of money that chases prizes.

Space Trauma-part 1

That night, as I was walking towards the water dispenser to fill water in my bottle; I noticed a massive space ship landed beside my hostel block. It was badly damaged, lacerated all over the spherical surface fuming red hot sulphuric acid gases. On its way, the space ship must have hit the light post and the adjacent compound wall, for the wall was no more and the flag post melting under the exposed heat of the ship’s surface. The spherical ship was balanced on a tripod that extended into the ground floor corridors of the hostel block and curiously enough, one of the legs pierced through the cement structure above the stair case as if the structure was virtually inexistent for the sphere’s legs.

 Everything was happening so fast that I failed to notice the sphere’s apparently wavy surface. With every foreign particle that hits the surface of the sphere, the disturbance created by the impact traveled through the cross sectional surface of the sphere in waves or undulations, it was as if one was holding a mat at one end and flipping it.

 Then as if I struck the right chord of my memory coil, it occurred to me that the sphere might as well be a projection of a five dimensional body into the world of four dimensions. The ship was not complete, what I saw was a projection of ship, a gross reduction of actuality.

 Now a clank and then with a hissing noise, the door of the space ship opened. As minutes passed by, I watched the unfurling of the episode with great curiosity. But, for a long while, nothing dramatically significant happened apart from the light inside the sphere dissipating. I could not fight the irresistible urge to enter the ship any longer, so I descended the stair case to reach the door, pulled open the door ajar and the door fell onto the floor caressing the ground on one end, while still latched in its position on the other end. The insides of the ship were infinitely superior to any technology I was hitherto exposed to on earth; some consoles had differential equations written on it. A huge screen in the middle of the ship displayed numbers and their equivalents in music compositions written in chord progressions. Perhaps the mode of communication was no longer English, it was perhaps mathematics and music.

 A case with words ‘to earth men’ inscribed on it was left in a protective shield encased with a plastic resin of some sort that I never found on earth. I carefully loosened the grips and removed the case from its original locked position. It was closed with a number lock. I looked around and could not find anything, and then I turned the case upside down to reveal in a dent carved in the bottom, a series of numbers. It was a puzzle, I sat down and after few failed attempts, I was able to open the case. The case had a metallic disc in it protected in a plate of viscous fluid. I cleaned the disc off the fluid and made a vain attempt at comprehending the grooved inscriptions on it. Something was bothering me, the thought that the whole episode unfurled as if someone deliberately planned it like this, for I was previously acquainted with the particular number series, otherwise I wondered, if I would have ever deciphered the truly ingenious puzzle. The viscous fluid trap was also easy, for I knew beforehand that the tip of the object should be held up exactly vertical for over two minutes and the fluid slips off the plate all by itself. Without prior knowledge, one would have hurt himself terribly with the fluid’s awfully superior property of eating into human’s skin and bones.

It took a while, but eventually I accepted the unnerving conclusion that the disc was indeed designed by me in 2009. Blenched with fear, I began palpitating incessantly, how long have I been asleep? What is the current year?

Regressing from B-school to school

It’s a known fact that innovation is the basic requirement in every marketing assignment; where the whole idea is to let open the flood gates of creativity and let the waters flow. And the professor made sure we took creativity in ‘presentation’ to a whole new level by making us return to the way we made presentations in school. And I can quite easily say that a lot of us found the whole experience quite amusing.

Anyone who has worked for at least a couple of years in industry would completely agree that we are solely dependent on good old Microsoft PowerPoint for any sort of presentation. The moment the boss asks us to make a presentation, conventionally, out comes PowerPoint and people furiously adding animations and slide transitions. And for many of us, to think about presenting a subject any other way is blasphemy. There remains a certain comfort in reading from slides and seeing the usual standard graphics and templates offered to us by the software. And all of us have frowned at someone who has dared to be different. When the professor announced that the various study groups had to present their topics on ‘Creative Destruction’, for the majority, our heads must have started working out what animations to include and the usual jazz that comes along with MS-PowerPoint.

However, much to our surprise, our horror and our disbelief ( and other synonyms that indicate we were completely uncomfortable with status quo). The professor asked us to present the topic using chart paper. Chart paper? Yes…chart paper. He said he’s had enough of seeing mundane presentations and it’s high time we got innovative. And by innovation, he took us back to school. He was serious, and this wasn’t one of the double takes I have come to expect. He actually meant it. We were expected to make use of good old chart paper and colour markers to make the presentation. At least for me, this was tantamount to stepping back into the Stone Age. What was he going to ask us to do next? Cave drawings on the new spiffy campus walls?

The college almost resembles a collage-making competition like the ones we had back in school. Mature adults – behaving like school children, drawing on chart paper, sticking pictures, using coloured sketch pens and the works. One can’t but help laugh that life has gone full circle. People are running around taking print outs, and for once cutting and pasting does not involve ctrl+c and ctrl+v. For a lot of us who have grown up having poor old mum or an aunt do these assignments while we indulged in a game of cricket, this was absolutely unfamiliar territory. Come to think of it, I guess that is the whole purpose of this course, to prepare you to expect the unexpected. Looks like we can expect more such innovative methods to be back in vogue quite soon. Who knows, the next time we might have to resort to the use of shadow puppets or mimes to promote a product.

- Nikhilesh Murthy

Dr. Rocky’s phenomenal session

Lots of pre reads, assignments, presentations, quizzes had already drained me and again a 3 hours lecture of Dr.Rakesh Singh aka Rocky Sir(as he is fondly called) seemed to be the icing on the cake. All the four sections of our Patriots batch had to sit together and our class looked like a big colosseum. Even I, a literal book worm – who can eat a book but never read it- had gone through the pre read, an article on “India on rise since independence’. I hope this says more than enough about the gladiator who was about to enter the colosseum and leave us vanquished with his armour of questions and assignments. While the class was sitting with bated breath and trying to memorize the inflation rate, CRR, SLR, growth rate and other economic concepts, the gladiator entered. The gladiator, our Rocky Sir fitted the collar mike and greeted through the bose speakers. I, trying to look confident and enlightened (Reference Empirical Study: 99.7 percent cases have shown that if you appear confident and see eye to eye with Rocky Sir, you won’t be asked questions), greeted back in chorus with the class.

Our professor started with the introduction to India’s growth rise since independence. India had already tasted the ill effects of foreign interference by East India Company so it went for complete self reliance policy and avoided any foreign help. Imports were discouraged and small scale industries were given full co-operation.’ License Raj’ as it was called, the Indian policies mandated a large scale industry to acquire such a huge number of licenses that it was almost impossible to think of setting up a large scale industry in India. To keep the facts straight 80% of the Indian budget was allocated to small scale industries and 20% for the Large scale ones. Government gave subsidies to bankrupt industries and thus itself was running out of cash. Agriculture was not given it’s due attention. This all led to the 1991 economic crisis.

The lecture touched upon diverse areas related to our economy like the failure of Mysore Sandal soap, Mr. Manmohan Singh’s performance as the finance minister, SIDBI, ENRON, etc. Before I realized 2 hours were over and our Prof was still going great guns with sheer passion, telling each and every detail of our Indian economy. So much knowledge and that too delivered from the horse’s mouth, I couldn’t ask for more.
I was elated to have such an informative session and relieved too because by this time I had realized that there would be no questions asked today. This lecture helped me overcome my two phobias – getting caught by my friends taking notes in the class and fear of falling asleep in a long lecture. Taking notes is not considered as an ‘in thing’ and if a boy is found doing that by his ‘all boys’ group an irreparable damage to public image is assured. Endowed with an entrepreneurial streak, I TOOK THE RISK but I would say it was worth it. Nobody can afford not to jot down so much information which otherwise would take at least 1 month if one tries to find on internet. Moreover never ever in my life I have been awake and so much attentive in a lecture but this spell bounding session just sailed through and the whole class was left asking for more even after 3 hours.

Every sentence uttered in the lecture was packed with data and awakening information. Comparison of Chinese policies with India’s, National Rural Employment Guarantee program of India, Labour laws, 1995 Maraccus agreement, Ganganagar project in Rajasthan and much more was covered in just less than 3 hours. Such was the impact of the lecture that I, a passionate ‘Page 3′ and bollywood news reader switched to economic times right from that day and am still sticking to the same newspaper. Just like one feels like hitting a gym after watching an Arnold Schwarzeneger’s movie I felt like delving deep into economics after this lecture. I am indebted to Rocky Sir for bringing this transformation in me.
A real Prof is the one who can change the attitude of a student for the best and I would say that our reverent Dr. Rakesh Singh possesses that rare quality. The seed of questioning, reasoning, finding answers myself and most importantly where exactly to search for solutions, has now sprouted in me and I will keep watering it with my earnest desire to learn more and more.

One free tip for future Great Lakers: Never ask Rocky Sir to postpone the deadline of an assignment. Chances are that it may get preponed but never extended. So be contended with whatever you have in hand.

Cheers,
Ayush Aswal.

Deserted Springs

Throughout our journey to the village, looking through the window I noticed a vaguely familiar disquiet. I could not put my finger on it, but the emptiness remained palpable. The wind caressed the tip of the green fields and they swayed in obedience, the tall trees with shifting leaves let the sun slip through the maze every now and then. A dog approached us, tail wagging and mouth gaping, eyed us curiously.  

 Few women from the village sat together conversing over tobacco. One woman with an air of authority reached into the man’s pocket- who was nonchalantly staring into the field-and pulled out a stale dark brown dried leaf and poured the crushed tobacco over it, flipped it over, rolled it onto itself and began smoking from the joint.

 A child standing before the dilapidated mud house ran into the fields as if in a mad rush, a woman went past the field balancing a pot on her head. Was it the balance I wondered, for she swayed her hips with a precision worthy of an artist’s admiration! A tractor shot past me and the woman gradually slipped into the muddy darkness.

 ‘Are you here for social work?’ a gentleman enquired curiously. He was wearing a checkered dhoti folded above his knees and a red shirt with collar smudged of dry sweat, his teeth were all brown and paunch overwhelming. He walked us all to his house, and the children followed us as if in a procession. Another gentleman identified himself and addressed us as we all proceeded towards the house. Greenery everywhere around us, the carpet of green stretched along the pathway on either sides neatly punctuated by tall trees here and there. Behind the trees, lied hidden in the dark were the huts. The huts were made of dry wood sticks staked against each other from opposite ends completing a triangle. The roof was laid out by dry grass that covered the entire structure. The slanting sides of the huts seen together in a row on the pathway was so romantic, the lady that stood against one of the hut walls added the last drop of paint on this romantic scene. The painting was done, once and for all, it just stood there completed.

 As we stood before the house, it began raining and the gentleman offered us shelter in his house. Once inside, we all stood against the walls in the hallway to allow a little lamb to pass into the house, the lamb with it’s mincing steps proceeded slowly towards the door. It was pretty dark inside; the gentleman lit a candle and carefully balanced it on a plastic chair. His wife was heating milk, stuffing small chunks of dry wood into the stove as the little lamb worriedly watched. The lamb had a curious way of watching; he would shift his head as if by a jerk to a different posture and fix it there for a while before shifting it to a different angle suddenly. The interludes in the process were the most romantic, where he would stare into the house transfixed as if staring into a vacuum. Contrastingly, his head movements indicated an expectation, of something vague and uncomfortable. He would tap into the ground when he gazed absorbingly; we all stood there and shared his discomfort. I wanted to tell him that it was alright.

 Then, as if in a flash, it all came back to me. It was this time and place, the romantic village that was so overwhelming that I found the city life dull and boring, as if the birds of spring have deserted the place. Here, in the village, it was always springtime.

 Great lakes has offered us all great lakers an opportunity to renounce the barren wastelands of the cities and embrace the romantic atmosphere of the villages.

Great Lakes New Campus: From Scratch to Concrete

Once upon a time, a professor from Kellogg School of Management     painted a picture of having a B-School   in      India which would walk the same steps with the best in business. In 2004,     the first batch entered and since then the school has travelled a long way. It was a journey marked with innumerable      potholes, speed-breakers, railway crossings and dead snakes. At times it was raining, so heavy that the umbrellas would seem like leaves.  The  trip  went  on. And when the school reached a certain amount of stability, the pressing need for a new campus was felt deeply by the Great Lakes fraternity. One said” The school has the best faculty   that    other    Indian     B-Schools can only stare with an eye of un-diminishing envy.

Classrooms

A curriculum that is well merged with the global scheme of things and the quality of the batches is getting exponentially better with each passing year. What we perhaps need to think about is an icing on the cake. And what better way to have that than have a full fledged state of the art campus” . The thought was put on paper, the plan frozen and sent off for implementation. Varsha & Pradeep, celebrated architects were roped in to come up with the campus blueprint. It wasn’t a matter of any surprise when they proposed a beautiful prototype of the structure. Mr. Godrej (of the Godrej industries fame) was one of the pioneers of the concept of Green Building (The Godrej CII Green Business Center, Hyderabad) . Inspired by the same it was decided that Great Lakes would have a platinum rated, state of the art , green campus, the first of its kind in the country. MARG, a major infrastructure firm won the contract of making the campus ready for the Class of 2010.

Hostels : In and Out

Work went underway about fifteen     months back  and the first phase of the construction is a few     days away from completion. The next batch is all set to enter the brand    new    glass      and concrete    package from the session starting April 2009 .

A couple of features that  stand out as far as the infrastructure and facilities are concerned :

-          0% waste: Upon completion , Great Lakes would contribute zero % waste ( this includes smoke,   paper, organic , sewage) to the ecosphere. All garbage would be recycled into something      environmentally useful and stratospherically friendly.   A good percentage of the power   that   would   be   generated     for in-house consumption would come from renewable sources. It’s a small way of saying “long-live-planet-Earth”

-          For the Finance Czars and the D-MAT-fortune makers, the campus will have Virtual Trading Terminals where live feeds of BSE,NSE and other stock indices would populate the various screens .

-          A Transcendental Meditation Center for the students , where the folks would get an opportunity to lift themselves up  and leave behind the vagaries of a materialistic life and enter the realm of infinite calm. This would be a sure shot place for mind-enhancement, IQ booster and the numerous positive things that one needs to crack any cryptic crossword that The New York Times has ever published.

Main Blocks

Apart from that the campus would also have a well-equipped gymnasium for the folks to sweat the stress out , a 24*7 canteen and an open air amphitheatre . Let alone the common study room, library, general store, air-conditioned and furnished accommodation/classrooms etc. Also, the beach is just a couple of miles away.

With the campus unfolding each passing day the excitement is gripping tighter and tighter. We are all waiting for the day when the lamps are lit and the first class happens.

(Prakash Randheer  & Suryya Sarkar, Class of 2009)

 

Splash!

Holi-Day: For a change we did not have classes on the 11th of March .It all started when a few decided to shirk off their days sleep in pursuit of something more colorfully meaningful.  They went to the market to hunt for all possible coloring options. It was no day for dance and frolic for Asian Paints or Camlin. However, every year the ‘Hathras colour manufacturing industry’ located in UP waits for that one single day when they sell to make a living for the entire year.

Color Blinded!

After getting back with bike loads of shades, they went on a painting frenzy, rubbing the dyes on each other till each could be recognized only by a DNA test. Next, the apartments which houses fellow batch-mates were targeted. Waking up others from sleep and painting them red, yellow and crimson became the order of the morning. A few went steps ahead with oil paints, liquid bombs and such other minor non-explosives. Eggs were smashed ruthlessly. But this time it was not on pans over the cooking stoves.

Who's who?

 

Srinagar Colony is a place where most of the Great Lakers stay .Until five years back it was not known for streets blanketed with sheaths of multi-hued stuff or lane dogs shaking off tons of colored powder. Then Great Lakes happened and Holi started showing its true ‘colors’. The party which started with just two people grew into a huge congregation of about seventy, each more unidentifiable than the other- the white of the eyeballs striking out from a mass of painted skin that once were faces.  A few looked close to breathing scare-crows. White T- shirts weren’t white anymore.

The party went on till about midday when everyone dispersed under various showers . Consumption of Soaps, Shampoos, Face-Wash on that day must have saved Hindustan Unilever from any economic setback this quarter.

It takes many of us in a trance when we think how the Holi celebrations would look like next year round. The new campus would be fully operational. ECR Highway, the road connecting Chennai and Pondicherry runs parallel and within meters of the Bay of Bengal . The campus is located east of the highway , which means that the Class of 2010 would  be hearing the splash of waves hitting their ear drums while they are busy painting each other with numerous hues . An endless beach, mild breeze hitting the skin, the infinite waters and the waves kissing the feet !!

…Smelling great. 

(Suryya Sarkar)

Kris Gopalakrishnan of Infosys was here…

Whenever there is a power talk scheduled, life seems to hit a flattish speed-breaker. Generally the first half of the day is when most of the power-talks happen and all classes, group-jobs take a break. Good for some.The guests who come and give the talks are the best in class and no one would like to give it a miss even if tons are at stake. So far Great Lakes has seen Indra Nooyi( CEO Pepsico), Narayanmoorthy( Infy), Kotler ( Kellogg), Ravi Kant( Tata Motors) , Gururaj Deshpande, Muthuraman ( Tata Steel), Montek Singh ( Planning Commission) and a couple of pages full of other similar colossal masterpieces.

This time it was Kris Gopalakrishnan , head of Infosys.

On Feb 16^th , Kris took us through the many chapters of the economic downturn. He went on saying that this period of so called pessimism is a perfect case study material. The key is to come out stronger, wiser and more savvy . The hour and a half of incisive, content packed delivery presented new angles and faces to the topic that is talked about everywhere under the pale blue sky. A practical , down to earth, reality encompassing deliberation it was .

The session ended with a note of ambivalent positivity. The general scheme of things are intriguing indeed with endless complexities . We need to keep staring ahead as the curtain is raised a bit further. However for now, we cherish the fact that an hour and a half was well spent…

For a media snapshot on this,click below:

Economic Times

(Suryya Sarkar)

The Spirit of Great Lakes!

Are heroes born? Or do they take form when they are most needed? History seems to prove its the latter. There are times when adversities bring out the best in people, times when personal priorities take a back seat and people come together for a cause they feel is important to them. 13th February was one such life changing day for the 162 students and the 20 odd staff at Great Lakes.

The present campus of Great lakes is located at the upmarket Saidapet Colony in Chennai. Serving the needs of the colony are a group of 10 families living in 1 roomed thatched shacks adjacent to the main colony. The men folk of the slum either work in construction sites or are auto drivers and the women folk work as housemaids in the upscale houses of the colony. These are people who live from one day to the next with little or no savings except their personal belongings and the support of their families. Some of these women also worked as maids in some of our houses.

On the night of 12th February, 2009 tragedy struck in the form of an inferno which engulfed these fragile lives. What started the fire is still being speculated. Some say it was a cigarette butt. Some say it was an electric spark. Some say it was a politically motivated arson move them out of the area. Whatever be the reason, by the end of it 6 houses were razed to the ground and 6 whole families (about 30 people) were left homeless…

I woke up to the news of the fire, but didn’t think the extent of the damage would be much. What I witnessed on my way to college at 7:30 AM for the first of my classes, sent a chill down my spine. Until then, I had never seen the look of total loss in anyone’s eyes. But the vacant look and flowing tear in the eyes of the women there gave me a glimpse of their horror. The fact that one of them was my maid, somehow gave it a feeling of personal loss.

By the time I reached college a task force had already been put in place to try and help the affected. People were abandoning classes to try and do their part. Here was no dearth of volunteers who wanted to pitch in to do their part. In half hour a committee was formed to oversee the donation drive that was put into force. We asked people to contribute whatever they could – money, clothing, food. Anything. And donations came pouring in. We needed 3 people fulltime to just keep track of the money and to keep accounts. We setup a collection box for people to drop all other things. By the end of the day we reached about 40% of the class and stall and managed to collect close to Rs. 19,000/- We contacted the alumni, who also assured assistance. The college, thanks to Prof. Sriram, also pledged to equalise the contribution that we were putting together.

Among the victims was a small time trader who used to trade in scrap paper, metals and glass. This person had close to Rs. 80,000/- in inventory in his shop and lost it all. The remains of the bundles of newspaper were still smouldering till late in the evening. Allen and Vidya took over the task of going from house to house of all Great Lakers living in the area and collected old newspapers, plastic and glass bottles etc that we will be handing over to the person so that his loss may be minimised. The humour in this was that they went about with the collection in a Toyota Corolla!!

The college staff helped out too. Ms Uma, Deputy manager, pulled all the strings that she could and got the ladies of the colony to donate old saris towards the cause. Mr. Balasubhramaniam, Placement Cordinator, literally emptied his pockets when we went to him for donations. All the other staff helped out to the best of their ability.

Parallel to this, we also went over to the affected and asked them what they wanted (In management parlance – Requirements Gathering). Once we had a broad idea of their requirements, we discussed on it and filled the gaps of the bare basic that the families would want (Requirements Analysis phase). Our final list consisted of Cooking vessels and utensils, straw mats and sheets, rice and dal, basic clothes for children and towels. By about 2 PM, 4 of us rushed to Saravana Stores and procured the list of items that we had finalised, taking care to pick up 6 numbers of each item (Operations). By 5:30 PM we were back at college with the items. By that time the others had collected clothes, food items, mattresses etc.

Without further delay, we called the womenfolk of the families and distributed all the items in equal measure and also handed over Rs 500 per house for the other needs that they might have (Delivery). The rest of the money will be used judiciously to by way of helping the children in the families further studies or will be put to such progressive work (Maintenance).

What stood out during this entire exercise was the solidarity and compassion shown by Great Lakers on the whole. There were many people who were out of town, but many of them contacted us and assured help as soon as they were back in town. The way a few of the Great Lakers unselfishly, at the cost of their classes, ran around the entire day, tirelessly working towards a solution was highly commendable. Of special note was Kavitha, Sijo, Rahul Prakash, Sheeba, Vidya, Allen and a few others. The passion shown by each of the Great Lakers was unparalleled.

What is more heart warming is the fact that it will be this set of 162 individuals who will be holding aloft the beacons of the Indian Industry in a few year’s time. And from what was witnessed, it can be safely said that the beacon will shine high and bright for years to come.

Celebrating the spirit of Great Lakes – Global Mindset Indian Roots. 

George Mathew

Class of 2009

Quelling the blaze…

12 AM ( 0000 hrs) Between 12^th and 13^th Feb : A few of us were sitting in the college library reinforcing our management ideals. By 11 :59 , just when the closing bell was rung, our security guards came running in, frantically yelling “Firing!!” four times. That was too unusual under any standards. Instantly our minds ran through an intricate network of images and recent memories. Could firing mean a terrorist attack near Great Lakes? Simultaneously a few more neurons negated the thought telling that Chennai could not be a football field for terrorists …yet. For a moment, the grey cells reprocessed the word “Firing” – this time adding facts like the variations in the word usage , and thus removed ‘-ing’ . “Fire” , throbbed the gut. All of us rushed to the college gate and what we saw shook us momentarily.

The workers colony which is located just left of the turning ahead of the college gate was up in flares. The houses were not the concrete kinds and were made up of organic matter – all an easy fuel for any kind of splinter. The flames, engulfing the shelters , were standing tall and threatened to take on the adjacent houses along . Cables , trees , window panes and curtains of adjoining pukka houses were already caught in the onslaught . It was midnight and the blaze killed all darkness around painting a heart-sinking, scary picture. Loud explosions from Freon cylinders of the neighbors’ air conditioners sliced through the midnight quiet. The inhabitants of the four houses were all out into the street looking helplessly at all their belongings getting swallowed by the ruthless conflagration. There were men, women and children. The elders were trying in vain to douse the fire by splashing water from buckets that were getting filled at the nearby tube well. But it was too little an arm against the monstrous inferno that would not budge. The fire brigade arrived . However it was too late . Within a matter of an hour or so the dwellings were reduced into a barren ground carrying the charred remains of the homes that once used to be. The occupants, some crying at the huge loss were inconsolable at first .They took shelter in one of the temples close by.

The next morning saw Great Lakers pouring in immediate support to the victims. A central aid team was formed who talked with the victims, the mayor and others concerned to understand the ways through which help could be channelized. A fund collection cell was formed and generous contributions from all the students, faculty and staff poured in at once. Great Lakes Management announced an equal contribution to all the collected fund . By evening , the core team expanded and went on collecting used /unused clothes, utensils , utilities etc . to make sure that the basic requirements were immediately taken care of. Within a span of half a day a considerably large relief package was ready for deployment.

The rest is history…

(Suryya Sarkar, Class of ’09)

The thing about an MBA.

The moment I type “Slumdog Millionaire” on one pristine blank document unearthed from the unending repository of Microsoft Works , a corrugated , wavy line appears beneath Slumdog. Spell check error. Right click -> ignore all; only to see all the Slumdogs in the document breathing a sigh of utter relief on being wafted ashore. No. I really do not mean that those red corrugated underlines reminded me of a lake full of parasites. What I try pointing is that land and water are but the only two things left on Earth and being on one of them is but stark inevitable.

2009 is turning out to be the most happening of years that top B Schools are facing . The economy (or rather the lack of it ) on one hand and the campus placements across schools on the other hand. It has already taken a shape of a war.

How long will the time last , we don’t know , but what we do know is that the world is never going to look the same again. Here’s why :

One. An MBA will no more be treated as a short -term -end -realization -shot -in –the- arm. Only those who want to get educated in the field of management science would plunge into it. Value addition is guaranteed and a return in the long term would be assured.

Two. MBA will stop being a buzzword for most wannabe hip-hops who are so often seen munching burgers and slurping gelatos in the thousand malls carelessly strewn across the city landscape in mainland India. It would make sense only to the select little who has got grey cells running extra time and really want to do something worthwhile with their lives.

Three. Fields like Research and Development, Engineering Innovation, Traditional Sciences, Literature, Arts and Defense would suddenly start making sense to a good number of people in ‘India’, whose heart lied in the same but ran a risk of getting dislodged by the mega tornado called MBA.

Four , Only those who have it in them to make a ‘business’ leader will take up the MBA. The ones who see themselves turning into a Kalpana Chawla, Stephen Hawkins or George Clooney will continue doing what it takes to reach there. That’s because all professions will gain a recognition equity .Performance in any field is what is going to be the decider. Be it Design, Arts , Rocket science or yes, Management .

In short, we welcome the new world order. For the time being , am playing the role of an overgrown optimist of guessing that we will reach a day when 10% of all  2009-MBAs globally, will have two job offers and the rest – three. Keeping the fingers crossed in the shape of a “+”.

[Disclaimer: The post is in no way an attempt to influence any decisions or perceptions. It’s just an output of a well working laptop and a few fingers left alone which had no other use for an hour between two back to back marketing lectures. ]

- Suryya Sarkar

Great Lakers make a clean sweep @ DHL Simulation contest in Germany

Students from Great Lakes won all the prizes on offer at the DHL Fast Forward business simulation contest in Germany. The objective of the business simulation contest was to make a virtual logistics company the world leader by means of forward-looking management decisions, and to secure world quality leadership. The contest was launched in April 2008 under the patronage of German Foreign Minister Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The event had over 8500 participants from 120 countries.

Starting from an initial pool of over 8,500 participants, 46 participants from 12 countries made it to the final round, where they competed in 10 international teams. 5 of these 10 teams had a Great Lakes student as a member. Prasanna Joshi, Oza Rutvij Siddharth, Rohit Menon, Parth S Bhimani and Adarsh Nand Bahadur flew to Germany to take part in the final round that consisted of two highly realistic cases studies, and were judged by a jury of highly placed experts. The teams competed live for two days at the Post Tower in Bonn, Germany. At the end of the grueling contest , Prasanna Joshi’s team – that consisted of a German, a Turk , an American and an IIFT student- bagged the top prize worth 25,000 Euros.

While all of the finalists demonstrated a very high skill level, the strategic approach, creative ideas and very professional presentation delivered by Team ARBOCADON(the winning team) made a particularly favorable impression on us

noted Walter Scheurle, Board Member for Personnel at Deutsche Post World Net.

 

Team ARBOCADON(the winning team)

 

 

Rutvijj’s team (consisting of a German, an American, a Mexican and an ISB student) won the second prize worth 15000 euros while Rohit’s team (consisting of a couple of Germans, a Filipino and an IIM-C student) got the third prize worth 10,000 euros.

- Muralidhar S
Class of 2009

Montek addresses Great Lakers

Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning commission, addressed students from Great Lakes during his visit to Chennai on January 8, 2009. Prof Bala V Balachandran, our founder and honorary Dean (fondly called Uncle Bala) set many tongues wagging by introducing Dr. Ahluwalia as the future finance minister of the country!!! In his welcome address, Uncle Bala recalled his close association with Dr. Ahluwalia dating back to the days when they both worked to set up the executive program at MDI, Gurgaon.

Mr. T.N Seshan, the former chief election commissioner and currently a full time faculty at Great Lakes, was delighted to play host to his old colleague and was as eager as the students to listen to the Oxford educated bureaucrat.

Dr. Ahluwalia after paying glowing tributes to Mr. Seshan and his culinary skills ( Dr. Ahluwalia broke the news that Mr. Seshan is a great cook!!), delivered an eloquent and a succinct lecture on the Indian economy, the global credit crunch, the efforts taken by the government to mitigate the crisis and his thoughts on overcoming this tough period. Dr. Ahluwalia strongly felt that investment in infrastructure and agriculture are extremely crucial for the long term competitiveness of the Indian economy.

Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia with Great Lakers

When the floor was opened for questions, Dr. Ahluwalia handled the volley of questions from students with panache. It took all of Mr. Seshan’s efforts to slightly rattle Dr. Ahluwalia with a couple of incisive questions. The national media that covered the event lapped up the lively exchanges and captured every moment of it on their cameras. In just over 40 minutes, Dr. Ahluwalia was done and the media converged for an impromptu press meet.

I found the press meet to be simply fascinating. This was the first time I was physically present at a press meet and I must add that the vibrancy of the journalists was contagious. The entire battery of media persons wanted to grab a sound byte on the Satyam saga, but , much to their disappointment, Dr. Ahluwalia cautiously ducked all questions (the story was still emerging and the full details weren’t known at that point in time)

I left the venue star struck picking up lessons not only in economics but also on how to handle a super charged media!!

- Muralidhar S
Class of 2009

Admission Update : Deadline extended till Jan 30,2009

There is good news for applicants. The deadline for submitting applications to enter the class of 2010 has been extended to January 30,2009. Forms will be available at IMS centers and at Great Lakes office till Jan 24,2009. The online forms will be available till Jan 30,2009.

For more details and to apply online, visit: http://www.greatlakes.edu.in/pgpmHowToApply.php

- Muralidhar S
Class of 2009

When stars descended on Great Lakes….

How often do you see Dr. YV Reddy, Mr.Ravi Kant and Mr. Seshasayee gracing a B school event? How often you think you can see the captains of the industry rubbing shoulders with eminent academicians and engaging in a lip smacking panel discussion much to the delight of an enthralled audience that just doesn’t seem to get enough of the action? If you are a Great Laker, you would have witnessed both. A spectacular array of guests shared deep insights about the current business environment, their outlook and how their organizations are coping with the current crisis. On Dec 20, 2008, as part of L’attitude 13°05′ – the annual B school fest – a CEO conclave was organized by Great Lakes Institute of Management. That morning, despite being in a tearing hurry to receive Dr. Gururaj Deshpande- the key note speaker- and escort him to the venue, one news item caught my eye while flipping through the online edition of The New York Times. The article virtually credited Dr. Y.V Reddy , the ex governor of RBI, with shielding India from the current global financial crisis. Two hours later, I found myself listening to Dr. Reddy deliver a spell binding lecture on the very crisis that he saved us from!

Our ever cheerful uncle Bala set the tone for the rest of the day by welcoming Dr. Gururaj Deshpande , Chairman , Sycamore networks, with a warm hug. Uncle Bala in his welcome address called Dr. Deshpande a “serial entrepreneur”. I doubt whether anyone could have coined a better word for someone who not so long ago was the second richest Indian billionaire. Dr. Deshpande’s key note address touched a chord among the audience when he cited alumni contribution as an important reason why universities like MIT and Harvard stand towering above the rest. He exhorted Great Lakers to emulate them and we couldn’t agree more. Following the eminent entrepreneur’s address was that of an eminent academician. Prof. MS Krishnan , Michael R. and Mary Kay Hallman Fellow & Professor of Business Information Technology; Chair of Business Information Technology at the Ross school of Business , University of Michigan, Ann Arbor delighted the audience with a scintillating address that touched upon the several facets of marketing- services marketing in particular

It was now the turn of the who’s who of Indian companies to hog the limelight. Mr. Ravi Kant, CEO&MD of Tata Motors spoke about the auto industry, strategies to survive the current downturn and of course about the Nano. Mr. R Seshasayee, MD Ashok Leyland echoed Mr. Kant’s views and expressed confidence that the auto industry will successfully negotiate the current rough patch.

The stage was now set for what can be termed the mother of all panel discussions. Moderated by Mr. T.N Seshan, the former Chief Election Commissioner of India and currently a faculty at Great Lakes Institute of Management, Dr. Y.V Reddy, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India,Uncle Bala, J.L. Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Accounting and Information Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.  USA and Honorary Dean of Great Lakes Institute of Management, Mr. Sundar Rajan, CMD of Indian Bank and Dr. Ajit Ranade, Chief economist, Aditya Birla group analyzed the sub prime mortgage crisis and the current global economic scenario threadbare.

After food for thought, it was now the stomach’s turn. The CEO conclave ended with a power lunch and the audience feasted on the lavish spread counting the stars they spotted since morning.

- Muralidhar S
Class of 2009

Slog overs start for Admissions 09-10

The Admission window for the year 2009-10 that opened in October will close on Jan 10,2009. The last date for receiving applications is Jan 15,2009. With just around15 days to go, the admission process is truly into its slog overs. The current batch of students wishes all the applicants good luck. We hope to see you soon at the sprawling new campus coming up on the scenic East coast Road.

To know more about the admissions and to apply , click here.

Muralidhar S

Class of 2009

NASMEI 2008

Another day, or rather a bunch of them, just passed by and left a good number staring in awe at the sheer brilliance of the scheme of things.  The NASMEI (North American Society for Marketing Education in India) international conference of this year came to a full stop on the 23^rd. A two day research conference, NASMEI is conducted every year and is hosted by one of the top B Schools in the country. For the past years it was being organized by schools like the IIMs, ISB etc.  It has been for the first time that the conference is getting done by the same school twice in a row. Great Lakes has been the event partner for NASMEI 2007 and now 2008. Kotler Srinivasan Centre for Marketing Research at Great Lakes has been the platform.

What is it all about?

It is the final conference word in the field of marketing in India. Research papers are invited from all round the world. Professors, Post doctoral students, Independent research fellows etc. put across their work for review and selection. The selected entries are put aside and their authors are summoned to present their papers amidst a house of eminent marketing scholars and other invited authors.  It’s a matter of prestige and admiration when someone gets an opportunity to present a piece of work in this forum.                   

                                                                        ***

It was the morning of December 22, 2008 and unlike many other parts of the country which might be having room heaters burning their coils to keep people warm under the angora blankets, Chennai was refreshingly pleasant.  The air was subtly crisp and was accompanied by the fragrance of sandalwood flavored shampoos escaping out of various private residential washrooms.  A few of us, who had taken up the job of organizing the event, were out in the open and towards the ten seater which was assigned to carry us to the venue. The preparations started about sixty days before the D day.  Calling for papers, publicizing, chalking out operational details, seeking for sponsors, general coordination were part of the menu for making NASMEI a hit. So quite a few lungful of expectations had unknowingly built up during the course of the preparatory phase and was clearly showing up every now and then. A slight chill here and a few taught nerves there – we all were hoping for a great show awaiting us in the next two days.

The conference was inaugurated by the likes of the greatest minds in management academia.

·         Dr. Deepak Jain, Dean, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and Sandy and Morton Goldman Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies

·         Dr. V ‘Seenu’ Srinivasan, Adam distinguished professor of Marketing, Stanford University.

·         Dr. Bala V Balachandran, Founder & Honorary Dean, Great Lakes Institute of Management and J.L. Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Accounting, Information Management and Decision Sciences, Northwestern University

Sitting:L to R:Dr. Tauna, Dr. Deepak Jain, Dr. Seenu Srinivasan, Dr. Bala, Dr. Sankaran, Dr. Sriram

Two spacious conference rooms were simultaneously running the presentations. The venue chosen was one of the best hotels in Chennai. The chandeliers were well placed mildly lighting the halls, the carpets below sucking out the trifle sound waves that would otherwise have escaped into the ear lobes. A few carefully chosen paintings were placed deftly on the surrounding wood-engraved walls. Overall, it was throwing out a neat sense of sophisticated serenity.

The day churned out some of the best works that we have ever come across. The event was more or less populated with distinguished professors from of the best of b schools from around the world. California, Stanford, Michigan, Carnegie Melon, Ross, Tuck, IIM-B, IIM-K, IIM-A, MDI- Gurgaon among a host of others.  There were eminent personalities from various corporate who are also currently perusing their research interests.

The evening to remember:  It was dinner time. The dignitaries and the organizers assembled. The course of things made it one of the most memorable evenings that we have ever had. Getting to dwell in a conversation with none other than the legendary icon, Dr. Deepak Jain for more than an hour is hard to come by in anyone’s life! After an ‘inspiring’ dinner we dispersed at around ten in the night for getting back the next day.

23^rd unfolded with insightful papers and after a hectic yet enriching day which comprised four sessions of six speakers each, the closing bells were rung.

Team - NASMEI'08

P.S. For technical details please visit :

http://www.greatlakes.edu.in/nasmei.php

(Suryya Sarkar , Class of ‘09)