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

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

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

 

 

 

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.

Racing to the Finish Line

You know its not going to be a podium finish, but you still run the race like mad, just because you need to be ackowledged that you ran the race. Here I am 5 45 in the morning, doing my last set of presentations, case assignments and tests. The course ends on 23rd, and we have a test on 24th. After that its a briefing session for the next 5 days with our junior batch, and on 30th, we get royally kicked out of college, via a convocation. Sometimes, the 1 year MBA itself becomes a drag, given the number of days that we spend sleepless nights, the 2 year course must be a test of patience. I might flunk in yesterday’s FSAV exam, and if that wasnt enough there’s Investment Banking’s end term tommorow. There’s only so many D’s and F’s that I can afford. I hope I get a D in FSAV, that leaves me affording one more D in Investment banking. 3 D’s and I still pass the course.God Save me!

Life at Great Lakes-The past year!

Life in the past year has been a roller coaster ride at Great Lakes. Life has seen the joys, the moments of exhilaration, the darker moments and disappointments also. When one comes to a B school, every body comes with the aim of becoming a transformed person who then goes on to make his mark later in life. Transformation- The English dictionary defines it as , especially extreme psychological or character change, as in the context and vocabulary, but a B schooler wants something more. Well to get an idea, how’s this for that something more? Financial transformations on the paycheque from being software engineer to a strategy consultant/investment banker. A Bschoolers life ideally revolves around first getting subscribed to the fact that this one year is going to be a no-pay year, and they would have to keep costs low, and manage accounts well. They are into the second month at B school and their accounts seemed to be managed well so far, until Financial/Management Accounting comes and reminds them that there is lot more to accounting than what meets the eye. They start to pay closer attention to terminologies like CREDIT and DEBIT, by looking hard at their online bank accounts, and figuring out that life could be so much more easier without so much complex accounting. If those were the first instances of troubling your normal life, here comes the killer whale in the dreaded Stats. Statistics, made us realise how important was it to stay afloat on the sea of numbers and formulae, and we all started paying serious attention to that ubiquitous software called Microsoft Excel that you borrowed from your friend. Apart from all this was to wait in Eastern Philosophy for the noose to be hung around your neck when your chance came to answer, and it was in those moments that I discovered my strengths of predicting my probability of answering a question right was far closer to what Aryabhatta called zero, and depended on arbit and desperate participation to get some points against your name.

B school life is not all that dull and boring, with exams and pre reads. It depends on how you want to make use of the time post dinner. Dinner at the nearby dhabas became a good networking ground for most folks and conversations frequently hovered upon how one got good North Indian food in Chennai, which would unanimously turn out as the next mass networking joint. When folks were too tired after dinner, and didn’t want to devote their attention to the pre reads that were outstanding from the previous information transaction called Class, a bunch of intelligent folks found out how to form a movie club and play movies in the classrooms that were deserted at night. The MNMC(Mid Night Movie club) had movies of all genres and at times even was the host of many stress breakers like the all night carrom tournament and the Counter Strike networking sessions.While some saw strategy in Kotler and Porter, others swore by Age of Empires. In between the din and chaos of the gamers, were silent souls who in other classrooms would be holding a joint meeting to analyse the case given the previous day even as sleep would threaten their logic and resolve.

3 months into B school, one is used to snooze sessions in between classes (for 15-30 minutes) to catch up on those divine moments of peace, extra snooze sessions in classes, and crazy expectation of profs to accomadate pre reads and case study analyses. We learnt the importance of qualititative multitasking and forming strategic joint ventures, so that the group did well in the next days presentations. We still pride ourselves for becoming detectives at night, solving cases all night, to discover that 10 other groups have done much better than your so-called-solution. I for one started hating the word competition for a while, competition in class rooms, cases, pre reads, and even competition to eat lunch beating the queues. Nirvana for a B schooler is snooze, and some like minded friends to step away into a utopian world for a while, as it relieves the stress of the previous day. Life at Great Lakes has helped us to bond better and fight better, keeping the larger objective in mind.All these interactions have helped us see the corporate world and the possible problems that may arise, and the attitude required to take firm decisions.

6 months into Great Lakes, we braved ourselves for the first monetary and functional competition in the race for internship slots. The internship was a peek into the big bad corporate world and just a reflection to remind you that the world out there is not as linear and utopian as a B schooler starts to think after what he calls his “best strategy” in the cases he used to solve.

9 months into Great Lakes, the Pressure and tension was at a all time high, with heavy courses and assessments, competing with monetary dreams, as placement season looms large. Placement season saw a battle that each one was fighting as an individual and as a team, for that was the most tangible take away from the course apart from the eye opening interactions during the courses. Placement season rained jobs and offers, and once that was over, you hardly have the inclination to put even half the effort into the courses scheduled after placement season. The challenge now is to come to college, and not about offering your 2 paisa worth arbit and desperate class participation.

Now as 15 days remain for the program to end, you realise that all that buzz and activity has now settled down in fine dust, that would leave behind traces of an era that just got over. The Junior Crusaders are passing out… and its time for some new wine in the bottle called B school. Long Live the B Schooler’s Life!

Whats Cooking at Great Lakes?

Sessions of Carrom, in between classes

Last doses of Assignment tension and Tensionless sleeping

Desperate measures to copy all important files-presentations done over the year

Fin Guys ruminating over the absolutely bad health of the financial sector.
The page talks about nothing, but JOB CUTS…
Hat Tip( Thanks to Koushik Barua for pointing this out)

Pooran has just returned after being sprayed with colours and slushy water

I look like an alien with my vest and shirt ripped apart in Holi madness. Thats the first time I celebrated Holi in my life

It makes quite a difference when a corpulent guy like Neeraj is made to remove his shirt. Neeraj seemed to give quite a complex to some of the girls with his build

We could have easily been mistaken for colourful beggars, but standing outside a business school with a Strategic Profitability Management book and talks on Financial Statement probably gave it away that we were B schoolersIts the last month at B school, and its these moments that make life lighter. Here I am at 4 am, trying to infuse some mood to sit and type my term paper case on Strategic profitability Management, even as 2 other cases stare at me. Its actually fun, when you slog on a case and you have presented your points well at the end. Felt it with so many presentations over the year. But right now, the freeloader in me is coming alive, and I am sure Logendra and Archana Avaneendran would acknowledge that.

When did some one say Sunday’s were resting? Whoever said it did not have a B schoolers life on his mind at all.

The Day never ends…or does it?

Life seems to drag on. Earlier we used to slog, with placements in mind as the scenario. Placements happened, or rather its still happening for specific profiles, and life looked like it had changed with a sense of freedom. The assignments are back, late nights are back, 3 am cofee sessions are back…all with a month to go for our course to end. Cant believe that one year has passed so quickly. It was only last April that we joined, and its already 11 months. I realised the pinch, when the results for Great Lakes 2008-09 batch was released last night. I seem to have rusted in the month of february, and with a month to go, the adrenalin is slowly getting back. I guess its time, I hit the sack, as I need to be fresh to be able to present something that makes sense to the former Chief election commisioner of India- Mr T.N.Seshan. Any answer I give in class, he makes me think whether what I uttered was worthy of attention at all, makes me rethink on my statement again and again, that when I speak to him, its a highly doctored version of my viewpoint that goes through 2 stages of “dhulai” within my mind and then comes out. Its also time for Tata Crucibles quiz later in the day, which I have been awaiting, after the rather dissapointing performance in the ET in campus quiz, where we came 4th. Finishing in the finals did make me happy, but getting stuck on stage at crucial moments was our undoing. Ok, I keep promising that I would hit the sack, but this time, I am ending the post right here right now as mosquitos in Chennai seem to be on a rage to explore my pants.

72 Hours to Placement Season! Whats Cooking up?

Even I have started to visit the library, as I need to get some gnyaan on Marketing.


After Nihit did his internship at Fashion Networks, he seems to have learnt to
pose like a model

Akash Vaze, seems to be sunk in the wave of the Sensex crashing, and is keeping track of what stocks to sell and buy.

Swaminathan, seems to be making last ditch efforts to collect more xerox copies of notes,while also simultaneously slogging out as part of the admission comittee.

Jaideep Chanda generally doesnt make sense, when he reads a book, as he gives me hot competition to doze off, but since moolah is at stake, JD is all about Brands, and would love to sell himself as the self proclaimed progeny of Kotler.

Karthikeyan, seems to be pissed about something, as he chats with friends over careers in the Financial domain

Pravar Saxena, seems more bothered about hefty biceps and abs, as a method to cool off before placements

Sudhir has his goals for corporate life, LOUD and CLEAR!

Prakritish, generally a Travel/Audio/Movies freak, has changed for the call of the moolah.

Talk about Yuppy Onsite Dreams to USA!

Shweta Reddy dozing over business news!

Shweta Reddy trying her best to come over dozing at the Library. Funny antics a’int it?

Rahul and Prachi at 2 in the morning! , and some people never get tired!

Midnight Birthday bashes. Sometimes it pains the heart that such a tasty cake finds its way all over the body except the stomach, when cake smashing happens. I for sure did feel that way

What a way to welcome a person into his 2nd quarter of existence?

Thats what a person gets for playing pichkari at the boys giving the birthday bumps

Mobbed and Chocolated all over! A pity that he was reading Consumer Behaviour, a while before this happened. He could do nothing to stop the mob behaviour .

If somebody gives too much Gnyaan especially when one is tense, his fate is sealed! Kota discovers the hard way

Birthday Cake all over Rishikesh Sinha, as Anubhav seems consoling him, to leave the last bit of Chocolate cake for him.

Abhishek Rai and Himanshu Pahuja, exchanging pleasantries! (errrr…..!!!!)

Vibhor, with the ruins of the “cake battle”. His glasses were quashed in the mad cake melee

So Thats it for now. I have quite a few companies lined up on various slots, plus a music show to attend, and cram whatever time is left for some studies. Actually pretty Jam packed week, but quite an important one. Keep clued on to the blog, to see many behind the scenes sneak previews.

Reported by the Veeranam Times Syndicate!

T.N.Seshan Joins Great Lakes as a Permanent Faculty

T N Seshan, the fiery former election commissioner of India, has joined Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai as a full time faculty. He took his introductory class on January 21.Mr. Seshan shall be teaching a course on Leadership at Great Lakes called Leadership, Influence and Managing power from February.  

The 10th Chief Election Commissioner of India, T.N. Seshan served in office between December 1990 and December 1996. Born in Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, he is known for his introduction of many electoral reforms and his uprightness. Prior to his stint as the CEC, he served as the Director, Ministry of Atomic Energy; Joint Secretary, Ministry of Space; Secretary, Department of Agriculture; Government of Tamil Nadu; Member (Personnel), Oil & Natural Gas Commission(ONGC), Additional Secretary, Ministry of Space, Cabinet Secretary and many other posts.

During his stint as the CEC, he came in confrontation with many politicians because of his strong desire to ensure free and fair elections in many parts of the country. He contested for the post of President of India in 1997, where he lost to K.R. Narayanan. He was awarded the Magsaysay Award for Government Service in 1996.
He has been active even after retirement, founding the Deshbhakt Trust, an NGO devoted to social reforms in India. 

The founder dean of Great Lakes Dr. Bala Balachandran was present at the occasion of Mr Sheshan’s introductory lecture.  

At Great Lakes there was a palpable excitement among students and all of them were looking forward for the course to formally begin. The introductory class was listened to with rapt attention. A transcript of the lecture would be put shortly.

L’ Attitude 13 05′ Deadlines Extended

Please take note of the Extended deadlines for our Management Fest L’ Attitude 13 05′.
“He who has overcome his fears will truly be free”
Aristotle 
Ancient Greeks lived and died for Pride, Honour and Prestige. The ancient Olympics epitomized their zeal to win and symbolized all that they stood for. That fearless spirit of the ancient Greeks would be unleashed in Chennai at L’ Attitude 130 05′. 
L’ Attitude 130 05′- The B-School fest of Great Lakes Institute of Management is an amalgamation of the smartest minds from top business schools, executives from the corporate world and some renowned leaders of our country. It is back again to keep up its tradition of providing an enthralling experience to its participants, and is scheduled for 14-15 December, 2007.
L’ Attitude 130 05′ brings before you a gamut of games from all spheres of management which includes one game exclusively for corporate, to challenge your acumen and test your nerves.
To triumph and be crowned with the olive branch, take your first leap…….. log on to http://www.greatlakes.edu.in/lattitude0708.htm and register. 
 
Important Dates
Last Date for Registration – 05th December, 2007 (EXTENDED)
Date of the Event – 14th and 15th December, 2007
 
For details visit – http://www.greatlakes.edu.in/lattitude0708.htm
For queries
Email – lattitude2008@gmail.com
             nagappan.chidambaram@greatlakes.edu.in  
                       OR 
Call – Nagappan Chidambaram (09841208939)