Pain, relief, nonchalance and ecstasy!!!…and back to the grind…

After the much feared yet highly anticipated first mid-term exam was out of the way we were awaiting with baited breath, the outcome of our efforts or a lack of them. While most of us took the oft-taken approach of studying, learning and teaching our peers (in short…burning the midnight oil and looking for more oil once it ran out) some of us chose a slightly different approach of not studying at all and relying completely on the learning in class (if nothing else it was to test our understanding in class and our preparedness for a very rigorous course…OK I’ll say it…I’m plain lazy and I love excuses).

When the results did finally come, they didn’t disappoint us completely. Some of us scored above our expectations, some of us guessed our scores perfectly and some of us realized the extreme need to pull up our socks. Well I classified the class into the following; the expected heroes, the underdogs turned into heroes, the ‘we need to pull up our socks’ gang, the pretenders (that’s just me and maybe my roomies…everyone else is pretty awesome here!) and the rest of us content with a decent performance.

The reactions of my ilk (the pretenders) varied from pretence (Oh…I didn’t study at all…I’m a born genius) to pretence (Oh…I don’t care…it’s just an exam, it’s not the end of life) but then we didn’t matter that much…we had the heroes to cater to.

The real heroes were the unsung, the unmoved and the unassuming underdogs whom no one expected to top the class, yet it was exactly them who did. The modesty on display in the midst of their obvious ecstasy was, to say the least, commendable and comforting.

Then were the expected heroes…those who stood out in class from day one and those who didn’t disappoint when the results did finally prove them to be heroes. Theirs was a simple attitude of nonchalance (the story was scripted well before the movie began…so why the ecstasy?).

The majority of the class…a decent performance…some expectedly so some not so expected…feelings of pain and joy in equal measure ultimately manifested into the purest of feelings…relief.

And finally (though I wanted to keep this article humorous this needs to be mentioned too) some of us hit the brick wall…our scores were lower than what we had expected them to be…slightly lower than the rest of the class…there was pain alright…but there was a lot of introspection too…and there was a lot of help forthcoming from the rest of the class…together now, we champions will endeavor to pull up our socks and be ready to face the next exam as a team…all of us scoring as well as all of us can…and here lies the spirit of this great institution…the spirit of oneness in this very competitive course of management education…

Ah! I’m done with the emotional part…so here’s what comes next….BACK TO THE GRIND…one moment we have the result next moment all of us grappling for time for the next mid-term…and guess which one? Statistics!!! From the previous blogs I’m sure you’ll understand the rationale behind the exclamations…no? Find out for yourself by reading the post ‘165×1 – Disaster!!!’

(Rakesh Jaddu, Class of 2009)

Rain!!!

The sun is covered, its glory lost;
The earth shivers, shrouded in frost.
As the light of day faded,
Clouds of rain paraded.

The tender leaves, in an infant green,
In mirth unknown,
Bend towards the ground.

The wavering rain, in steady breeze,
Drive home, the restless bees.

The water trickling down the blade of grass,
Steadily forms a puddle ever so vast.

With reckless ease and effortless grace;
Down the slope,
The ever-widening streams race.

The chirping of the birds, the hum of the breeze,
The sweet sound of the raindrops
And the swinging trees.
An enchanting melody here sung.

- Rakesh

The setting was perfect…an entire day of lectures and assignments that overheated our cerebral circuits…the fear of the approaching mid-term exams only heightening our anxiety…the sweltering summer heat…

The setting was indeed perfect for the rain to come and wash away the heat, the fear and the anxiety…

(Rakesh, Class 2009)

165 X 1 – Disaster!!!

Disclaimer: This piece has been published after explicit permission from Prof. Vishwanathan

Solve this riddle: What happens when you pit 165 of the best brains in the country against one of the best professors in the statistics? Who wins? The Prof or the students? After all, its 165 against 1. The odds for the students winning is almost a given. Ahh well, such a battle was played out at Great Lakes on Friday.

4 weeks into our course we had our first twin mid-term exams – Financial Accountancy and Statistics. First up was Financial Accountancy. It was challenging. 3 Qns, 1.5 hours. We came out of the exam hall all confused about the answers. 165 of us had 165 answers. Well, atleast we had answers!!!

Then after 2 hours of Macro Economics lecture, we went in for Statistics. Our professor Prof. Vishwanathan had told us it would be an open book – open laptop exam! Cool.. No need to study any formulae.. No need to do any revision… What more could we ask for… “This exam’s gonna be a breeze, man” I heard someone say…

Well, he could not have been farther from the truth. Prof. Vishwanathan projected on to the screen what he said was a “simple problem designed to challenge our minds”. That was the understatement of the year!!! Before we knew it, we were hit with one single problem which encompassed almost everything that was taught so far in statistics. Decision Tree, normal distribution, EVPI, etc, etc, etc…

By the time the stipulated half hour was over (Prof. Vishwanathan even granted us 15 minutes over the limit), the entire class was in a kind if trance. Some were gawking around open mouthed, some were staring at the board with a lost expression, some were even crying… All-in-all, we were stumped!

Prof. Vishwanathan had, in his own simple and humbling way, shown all of us our rightful place. Hats Off!

For some reactions during and after the test, Please see pics below.

What?! Is that a question??

EEeehhhh… {Drool}

Dude! I dont even know what that means!!

AArrrrgggghhhh!! Someone tell me how to solve this…

Boo Hoo Hoo… there goes my GPA…

George Mathew

Class of 2009

We are moving, soon!

East Coast Road, the express highway that connects Chennai to Pondicherry and runs along the Bay of Bengal Coastline, has beautiful sights to offer. The road which boasts of a number of attractions for the tourists will now have the best management students flocking to it.

Great Lakes Institute of Management will soon have a new address. Construction is on in full swing at the site of new campus. The Institute will move into the new 13.11 acre campus which is located 55 kms from Chennai, on the scenic East Coast Road (ECR). The Wi-fi enabled building will have three wings, namely residential, recreational and academic and is using the Green Architecture techniques of construction. A Green building ensures that harmful impact of the construction on environment and human health is minimum. Such a construction reduces energy usage, waste material and operation/maintenance costs. The sprawling new campus would be platinum rated – the highest possible rating for any Green building.

More formal coverage of this news here:

http://www.indiainfoline.com/Bschool/innernews.asp?storyId=66198&lmn=13&val=1

and here:

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/12/02/stories/2006120201870200.htm

Some pictures taken at the site 3 months back

Pillars of Excellence

Architect’s rendition of things to come:

To watch the virtual campus in action click on the link below:

http://greatlakes.edu.in/manamaiAnimation.php

The Karma-Yoga Experience

At Great Lakes, it is part of the course on Intelligently Interacting With Others to do a Karma-Yoga project. In essence, it is social service. Karma – means Action, Yoga – Meditation (well, a crude definition). So it is “Meditation through action”, in raw terms. But is it? Well, that’s what it says…

Every group (consisting of 4-5 members) is required to put in atleast 3 hours of field work every week working with the people from the under privileged section of society. When Prof. Venkat told us about the Karma-Yoga project most of us were unhappy about it. Not that its not important (I’ve been part of CSR activities in the companies I’ve worked in), but, I mean, we don’t have 2 hours to spare from the grind here at Great Lakes, and now we are to put in 3 hours for this? To top it all, no two groups were to be associated with the same target group (same NGO). Bohuth naa insafi Hai Yeh…

Reluctantly all of us searched far and wide (actually as close to the college as possible so as to waste the least time in transportation etc.) to figure out an NGO that we could be associated with. After a few hiccups, my group finally got attached to Puthiyadhor. The NGO works with children of day labourers and launders of the Besant Nagar area of Chennai. They study in classes 1 to 12th.

Its a Govt. run community center where the children come to play, mingle, learn etc during the vacation time and during school time it serves as a tuition center to teach the children. Mind, its a Govt. run community center. So it is a luxury to have a working fan there. But all that does is to circulate the hot and humid air already present what with the ventilation being next to non-existent.

From having interacted with some other NGOs for the Karma-Yoga project, we had built up a mental picture that while NGOs were sincere in their approach to help the needy, they had gotten bogged down from innumerous requests from groups like us who come in for small periods of time. So much so that they viewed us with suspicion and contempt. And they said they would dictate the kind of work we do. But at Puthiyadhor it was very different indeed. It is run by mainly two people – Mr. Balaji and Mr. Vinod. They welcomed us and told us we have complete freedom in what we contribute as long as it benefits the children there. 

The first day we met a few of the children too. They took us around showing us the presentations that they had made using chart paper (They were presenting facts and figures of each state in India each day). The children showed no qualms in interacting with us and after feeling content that we had chosen the right place, we returned after spending close to 2 hours there. It was pretty stressful that day and by the time I got back, I had a splitting headache and was wondering how I would cope for the next 18 weeks of this. (I get these splitting headaches if im out in the heat for a little while)

And then this week happened. As planned, we reached Puthiyadhor at 3 PM after class on sunday. But boy, were we in for a surprise. The children had been practicing some cinematic dance all these days and they decided to put a show for us!!! Ofcourse, all play and no work makes our project a failure. Hence we sat with them and taught them a bit of English, math etc. To interested parties, we taught Hindi and Chinese too!! Well, for me it was kinda like learning with them. 

I was surprised at the grasping power shown by some of them. Some of the children go to English medium schools!! There is a boy called Mahesh who is in 8th standard. He is one of the brightest there and he laps up any new information that we give. He is he most fluent of them in English too. Infact I would go to the extent of saying that he is almost at par with many of the children who go to private schools. Anyway, after about 2 hours or so, we sat down to enjoy the show they had put up for us. And they did put up a very good show. 

Now, why do I find it so important to sit and write this stuff at 3AM on a Monday morning? Well, coz I thoroughly enjoyed myself today. For the record, today saw one of the highest temperatures for the year in Chennai. On top of that I had 4 research papers to read for the Empirical study lecture class and 185 pages of Financial accounting to account for and a Chinese oral test and one a chapter on Binomial and Poisson theorem for statistics and an assignment for Macro Economics apart from the innumerous pdfs to read for my empirical study plus prepare a detailed synopsis of my empirical study which I have to send to my potential guide today, social psychology chapters to read with exams round the corner… The list is endless. 

And yet, the whole time I was there with the children I never thought of all this. I was… Free… Not worries, no hassles… And wonder of wonders, no headache either!!! Karma-Yoga seems to be achieving just that for me. Mediation through Action. And that’s not all. Each of us is learning something new from them too. As I mentioned before, I learned Hindi and Chinese with them and I’m learning Tamil from them. My teammates have had similar experiences too. 

So to sum up the experience I, who was initially reluctant at doing the Karma-Yoga project, am a changed man. So much so that I’m actually looking forward to going there, being with the kids and spending time with them.

George Mathew

Class of 2009

A few pictures

Green Coconut Days

My alarm clock can even turn a graveyard into a deranged discotheque. Probably a step closer to a medieval fire siren. That’s what one exactly needs when he wishes to be woken up in the middle of a deep slumber that started just three hours back. 25^th April: a day before the outbound was scheduled; the entire batch of Champions (That’s what our batch has been named by our very own Uncle Bala.) had some long sessions of interactions with visiting professors and lonely CEOs. So by the time we hit the bed it was close to 3 A.M and we had to catch one of the morning busses which were assigned to transport us from the school premises to the resort – Green Coconut.

The clock did it’s job (arghhh!) and by 7 in the morning of 26^th April, I was tying my shoelaces .After a ultra-light breakfast at the college canteen where a good chunk of the junta had already assembled , we headed towards the busses . Three of them were lined and by around 8 we were on our way towards the resort. It is located by the ECR Highway, the road which connects Chennai with Pondicherry and runs parallel to the beach. It took us around three-quarters of an hour; thanks to the morning traffic. The place was spacious spread over a few picturesque acres; lawns, a spa, a swimming pool, play courts; in short a well laid out leisure spot.

We assembled on one of the lawns where the team from Mantra was waiting. Mantra an organization which is probably the pioneer in attitude consulting. The team comprises a bunch of smart professionals from many walks of life. They keep taking such courses for many organizations and top B Schools across the country. After a warm welcome we were asked to split ourselves into three teams which was  pre-decided on one of our earlier get together. Each team would follow a set of two Coordinators from Mantra and spend a good lot of time with them before making it to the other set of coordinators. There were four separate sessions spread over the two days.

1- Games , skits , introductions( indoors)

2- Learn salsa in 3 hours, 7 minutes.

3- Out door challenges

4- Yoga, Fashion show, scavenger hunt.

On Day 1 , our team had the first two sessions . One in the morning was interesting indeed. Innovative ways of remembering names .Apart from that we had a skit challenge. Our team was split into four for having a contest . It was a pleasure seeing everyone come up with twenty thousand ideas for each shot. After the skits and the results , we were again split into two to play the “man gun down the bear” game. The session was wrapped up just before lunch and after a relatively heavy lunch we headed towards Part 2: Salsa.

A crash course was the least one could say to describe the scheme of things that happened on the dance floor. It was a dream come true for many of us who never had a chance to learn the dance. The instructor was a hyper-smart ex- Indian Air Force squadron leader. One thing about these guys at the Air Force – When it comes to versatility and attitude, it’s hard to beat them. What happened in those three flash-hours punched deep into the memories of many of us. There were guys who hated dancing from the core of their hearts to the tip of their finger nails. But the three hours turned them into hard core Salsa fans. The session ended at about 5:30 in the evening.

Rooms were assigned to each one of us and we were asked to assemble at the new hall before dinner. The next two hours were open. Everyone could do what they felt was fine.

Some hit the swimming pool, some went for hitting the volleyball, some went for a beach walk and some decided to take a dreamless (!) sleep in their respective rooms.

All of us met at 7:30 in the new hall.

It started with a Glen Campbell country classic “Rhinestone Cowboy” sung by the DJ aka Salsa Specialist aka x-IAF aka talented forty-something .The numbers that followed soon turned the entire hall into a dance floor .We had an excellent time and after a good dinner we were left to ourselves with a reminder for us to report at 9 in the morning for the sessions of Day 2.

Next day each team reported to their respective coordinators sharp at 9. We went for what turned out to be a remote mix of fashion show, scavenger hunt and yoga. The ramp walk was more of a resource management display. Newspapers at their minimalist sartorial best. The slot lasted for around 4 hours and after lunch we moved in for the last session which was conducted by someone mega-enthusiastic. We had about three outdoor activities and an indoor one. The one which stole the session was where each sub-team was asked to build a stable and robust weapon using the given resources which in turn were hidden in clues. It was a well balanced test of intellect, team-spirit , time crunching, engineering and running around without sunscreen.

That was not the end . The whole batch recollected in the new hall where after a bit of light ‘networking’ the red signal to the programme was shown. The busses were waiting outside and a few group photographs were the last remaining to be done before another grueling day at the classrooms and library waiting for us the next morning.

“In United State”

‘The RockED band”

- (Suryya Sarkar, Class of 2009)

The Clubbin Champs!!

TCB – What does it stand for with reference to Great Lakes? The Champions Batch… But a more relevant expansion would be The Clubs Batch… I reckon that’s what we are going to be known as.

Why? Coz as of the last count, there are 3 new clubs formed by members of the present batch. GLick – The Great lakes Click a photography club, The Fountain – A management book discussion club and a Yet-To-Be-Named Financial Markets Club. Mind, this is apart from the umpteen number of committees that we already have here at Great Lakes. And I’m pretty sure there are a couple more ideas floating about in people’s minds.

They say that the idle mind is the devils workshop… But I beg to differ. We dint come up with the Clubs for the sake of it. There is an agenda behind each of them which is integrally connected to Great Lakes in a direct way. If The Fountain is striving to instill the habit of reading up on and understanding management books so that managers can take better decisions, the Financial Markets club is trying to teach interested parties the nuts and bolts of trading and investments while GLick is heavily into branding on the institution. Ours is a very gung-ho batch with a never say die spirit. By the looks of it each of these clubs will not only survive, but go on to be quiet successful setting precedents for the coming batches.

And that’s what you get when a group of highly motivated MBA grads are holed up in a seminar hall and left to fend for themselves. They come up with the weirdest and innovative of ideas… Pitch it to the Professors and students… Gather support… And make sure that they see it to completion. At first glance, it seems to be a very ambitious to have so many Clubs, committees apart from all the extra curriculars coming our way. I mean, the seniors din’t have any of these clubs and associated extra work to content with and yet they barely scraped thru the year due to the nature of the course. With work and studies piling up, all of us have started to feel the pinch too.

So the real question is, is our enthusiasm misplaced? Will we succumb to the pressure and get bogged down? Will the clubs meet a premature demise? Will Harry meet Sally? So many questions, so lil time to answer…

Its true that only time will tell, but sometimes you just know, y’know…

George Mathew

Class of 2009

Convocation 2008 – the full story

April 30 was a red letter day for Great Lakes. The Jaycees [Class of 2008] and their EMBA friends graduated with top honors in the presence of Uncle Bala. This is the first time both the PGPM and the EMBA students are graduating together. Mr. N Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu and Mr. Ramalinga Raju , Founder and Chairman , Satyam Computer Services Ltd graced the occasion with their presence and addressed the students. The day also saw the inauguration of the Champions (Class of 2009).

Uncle Bala in his witty and energetic welcome speech paid glowing tributes to the guests on the dais. He also took the opportunity to formally welcome star personalities like Prof T.N Seshan , Dr. Nirmal Gupta, Prof. Narendra Rao, Dr. Rakesh Singh and Dr. Taruna Gupta who have agreed to guide Great Lakers in their quest for knowledge. He expressed confidence that the next convocation will be held in the sprawling new platinum rated campus being built along the scenic ECR.

Mr. Ram in his speech exhorted the business ready managers of Great Lakes to work together to improve the not so impressive Human Development Index of our country. Commenting that China and India are crucial to the stability of the regional economy, Mr. Ram stressed the need for inclusive growth to maintain the current growth momentum. Being a political editor, he commented that Great Lakes is just as old as the present UPA government and in a lighter vein said he would stop the comparison there. He attributed the stellar success of Great Lakes to the clarity in vision and purpose, good curriculum, staff members, efficient admission policy, good infrastructure, linkages with industry and knowledge sector, and involvement of students and faculty. Mr. Ram singled out the Mandarin language (taught here as part of the curriculum) for specific praise.

Delivering the valedictory address, Mr. Ramalinga Raju spoke of the need for students to not just become good managers but also able leaders. Cautioning against complacency, Mr. Raju urged the graduating students to leverage knowledge and technology to fully exploit the tremendous opportunity awaiting them. He opined that such an approach is imperative to be successful in today’s dynamic business scenario.

The eagerly awaited moment unfolded soon after the speech by the guests. Watched by proud parents, bright young men and women walked up to the podium for their moment of glory. The students were in for a pleasant surprise as uncle Bala and a faculty who does not want to be named announced surprise scholarship awards for select students. Vedajna V from the EMBA class of 2008 walked away with top honors. He was in the dean’s list for terms 1,2,3 and 4 and was awarded the Magna-Cum-Laude. His Jaycee counterpart B Bharat was equally impressive. Bharat , in addition to being the overall topper was on the dean’s list for two terms. He was the best student in HR and Strategy and was appreciated for his contribution to the Admission committee. He was also among the recipients of uncle Bala’s surprise scholarship.

A sumptuous lunch followed the certificate distribution and the Jaycees got busy right away – thanks to Sangamitra scheduled for the evening.The event received wide coverage in the media. Some of the reports:

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IE920080505004416&Title=Chennai&rLink=0

http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/01/stories/2008050157310500.htm

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/05/01/stories/2008050151941000.htm

http://www.indiainfoline.com/Bschool/innernews.asp?storyId=66779&lmn=13&val=1

http://www.mbauniverse.com/innerPage.php?id=ne&pageId=1169

http://www.coolavenues.com/bschools/080512/glakes-convocation-1.php

- Muralidhar .S

Class of 2009

Sangamitra!!!

Salsa!!! Well salsa did come to the rescue that fateful day, but more on that later.

After the awesome experience that was the convocation, us Champions were really looking forward to ‘Sangamitra’ (The cultural function performed twice a year). And boy wasn’t it a treat!

‘Sangamitra’ took off very aptly with a rendition of ‘Ashaayein’, ‘Maa’, the hugely popular Tamil song ‘Manjal Veyil’ and undoubtedly one of the best performances of the night ‘Beetein Lamhe’.

Unfortunately Uncle Bala had to leave early. Before leaving though, he sang a beautiful song from Sivaji Ganesan’s ‘Irumbu Thirai’ that personifies the family values that exist here in Great Lakes. The seventy one year old Uncle Bala singing like a seventeen year old youth deservedly got a standing ovation from everyone in the audience.

The songs continued for a while after that and this included an impromptu performance from Bharat, the topper of the outgoing batch. The Jaycees then threw open the stage for the Champions and we’d like to believe that we didn’t let them down with our own impromptu performances.

There were more surprises coming our way when the Jaycees decided, basically, to play a prank on us. Two unsuspecting girls and guys from the Champions were asked to give flowers/propose to the best looking guys/girls from amongst the Jaycees. Well this is where the Salsa came to my rescue…and various other activities from the outbound to the other three! Some were seen jogging around the whole hall and some were on their knees to gift the flowers.

Mercifully for us this was over soon and it was followed by three amazing dance performances danced to varied tunes beginning with ‘Mahaganapadan’ and ending with ‘Alha Duhai Hai’.

In the midst of all this razmatazz though it was of course very thoughtful of the Jaycees to recognize the contribution of every single member of the staff. All the staff members were felicitated by Prof. Sriram, Prof. Sankaran and Prof. Rakesh Singh.

The evening ended with a memorable performance of various symphonies. The last symphony was composed specifically for ‘Sangamitra’ and it served as the last note for the function.

(- Rakesh Jaddu & Murli Naidu)

A Fortnight After the PGPM Degree.

Its been a fortnight, since we the batch of 08, were conferred our PGPM degree. It suddenly feels eerie and lonely to get out of the student life mode. Gone are the days we chatted galore over special tea at Tamil Nadu stores, the endless Ghee dosais at Purushottam, night Noodles in the Canteen, Midnight parties, Early morning Movies on Projector, Beach walks at 4 in the morning. Now the sandstorm of a year is over and  the dust has settled down and all of us are back again into the corporate world to carve our niche.

 

 I had a made a video for the Sangamitra Night about our past year at Great Lakes with the help of Sham Shet and Athma. Actually replaying this video time and again to relive memories at Great Lakes. I guess I will also miss the time I had posting the Great Lakes Blog, but I guess I would love to chip in as an alumnus on the Blog, whenever I get some time.

Here is the link to the video played on the 30th April at Sangamitra-

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkODMALFBjo

There were a couple of other Nostalgic Videos made during the Year. The interested folks can point their mouse right here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpdC_X6OJwc&NR=1 - Life after 3 months at GREAT LAKES(Class 2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADylLCvDw8A&feature=related- A Day in the Life of a Great Laker(Class 2008)

Regards

Kartik Kannan

PGPM Class of 08, Great Lakes Inst of Mgmnt

 

 

 

Farewell Party for Jaycees at Flame

Fresh from a two day outbound at the scenic Green Coconuts Resort, I was high on the newly formed friendships and hung over on the fun we had there as a team. Everyone I knew was desperately looking forward to test their newly learned salsa skills on the dance floor. The opportunity came to us in the form of the Farewell Party.

The Champions (Class of 2009) bid adieu to the Jaycees (Class of 2008 ) in style at the Flame Le Club, La Royal Meridian. We made sure that the outgoing class had one last wild night of partying they would cherish forever.

The college buzzed with activity on the day of the party. Students collecting their invitations, the events group rehearsing their acts and all of us just wanting to fast forward to the evening. Everyone rushed home after the last lecture to change into their party clothes.

The venue was one of the most happening nightclubs in Chennai, Flame Le Club, or so I had heard. As soon as we entered the club I knew we are in for a great evening. The shiny disco balls made me dizzy, the music was entrancing, the bar well stocked with drinks and snacks but I decided to put everything on hold and headed towards the pool table. I shot pool with Champions and Jaycees and lost all the matches, which was no surprise since I was totally out of practice. Giving up, I headed to meet the other Great Lakers who were pouring in as the time for the events to begin closed in. There was a huge crowd near the stage area but I found a convenient place atop a table to watch the on-goings.

Sijo and group set the flavor of the night by singing and playing along to Papa Kahte hain and Sutta Na Mila. This was followed by two rocking dance performances and Jaycees and Champions alike were pulled in to the dance frenzy. Nostalgia was invoked by a video depicting different stages of Jaycees’ one year journey through the PGPM.

After a couple of rounds of complimentary drinks and snacks, everyone was set to hit the dance floor. With the DJ churning the best of latest dance hits, the atmosphere was electric. The Great Lakers put on their dancing shoes and set the dance floor on fire.

What followed on the dance floor could best be described by the pictures given below.

Not even the sumptuous dinner could pull people away from the dance floor and the partying continued well into the night.

~ Prakash

“creAdivity unlimited” quotes ERGO

The startup led by Sitashwa Srivastava from Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai seems to be making news and was recently covered by Ergo & this is what they have to say “Looking for an ad campaign for a new geographic region your company is targeting or for acquiring a new brand or a new clothing line to be launched this summer? Or anything for that matter? The main prerequisite being you cannot shell a whopping sum which advertising agencies usually charge but need the best creative idea nevertheless”.

To Read the complete article hit http://www.goergo.in/?cat=373.

All the best dude! 

Great Lakes Alumni Meet – Delhi Chapter

9th May 2008 saw the first ever Great Lakes Alumni Meet – Delhi Chapter.

In 4 yrs of establishment, Great Lakes has been able to gain mileage across the corporate world & a lot of the credit for the same goes to the alumni. With annual meets in Chennai, Great Lakes was all set to start building up regional chapters and a move towards building a more closer relation between alumni & college.

Delhi saw the first such meet & though small, marked a historic move towards building a stronger & closely knit family. The meet happened at Soul of Punjab, Greater Kailash II – M Block & was attended by people across batches.

And as in any other alumni meet within minutes the memories of those cherishable past was refreshed & all those memorable moments remembered. Whether it was walk at the beach or a booze session post exam; it was all discussed, laughed about & cherished.

Imagine when you have two Assistant Vice Presidents of one of the biggest BPO, Consultants from India’s top 4 IT cos., Investment Bankers, Marketing & Product Managers from manufacturing industry & Sales People from IT basking in the memories of past the only thing that comes to mind is “Great Lakes Rocks”!

Great Lakers at Delhi gets reunited! 

Convocation of PGPM Batch of 08

The 4th Batch of Great Lakes flagship program, PGPM along with EMBA students graduated on 30th April 2008. The event saw Chief Editor of Hindu N Ram & Satyam’s Ramalinga Raju addressing the students.  They urged business schools not to ignore factors such as the national deficit, the country’s poor human development indicators and the massive challenges of poverty, illiteracy and poor healthcare.

The event was covered in various news dailies & links for some of them are mentioned below

http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/01/stories/2008050157310500.htm

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/05/01/stories/2008050151941000.htm

With every year Great Lakes has been able to make a mark in the industry & this year too saw the brand equity of “Great Lakes” going higher than expected.