EXPGP and Sarovar Portico !

The fourth term first phase, classes started on the 14th of June 2008! During this time some MDP's (Management Development Programs) were also planned simultaneously. I believe the administration goofed up the plan as our stay at MDC clashed with MDP's of senior management personal of some big corporations. However, this turned out to be a boon in disguise, as we were moved to a star hotel in central of Indore called Sarovar Portico. Needless to say, the hotel could not have been at a better place. It was located right above the biggest shopping mall in Indore called “Treasure Island”. Right from the start of our course in Oct 2007, we did not have any opportunity to see Indore. Whatever opportunity we got, was by the way of traveling to either the airport or the railway station on our way back to our homes! This was a golden opportunity and I believe 31 of us who moved to the hotel thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. It seemed to us as if we were on our vacation! We traveled everyday at 8.00 am from the hotel to IIM campus to attend classes and then back to the hotel at 6.00 PM by IIM bus. Even our grueling class sessions could not hamper the spirit of our stay there .It was difficult to study in the hotel, because the hotel had everything that could make even a studios person go on a Roll! We tried studying the first night, but the temptations to enjoy the night life were too much! So, most of my class mates landed up in the mall or the PVR or the hotel bar and it continued all the three nights, we were there! Fortunately for us, this was the start of the 4th term, so the work load was at its minimum. What we enjoyed most was the swimming pool on the 9th floor of the hotel. The pool was shallow, so everyone right from the expert to the novice was inside and in full force. The only thing we regret is, we got only @ 1.5 hrs everyday to enjoy the pool experience! It was great fun and thereafter. Obviously, under such circumstances the studies had to go in for a complete toss, for the 2 days and 3 nights we were there. This also gave us an excellent opportunity to see the city and experience it first hand. Let me tell you, I loved the city and the people, who seem to be much more courteous and polite as compared to people in the city where I come from!
It was very difficult to come back to our hostel once the guests left! We thought perhaps, the experience could last for some more time! But we had to come back to our abode at IIM, the MDC and we did!

i CAnvas: From IIM Indore to Wharton School !

Thursday was a very important day for all of us at IIM Indore. Our B school magazine "i CANVas" entered into a partnership with the online business magazine from the Wharton SChool of the University of Pennslvyania titled indiaknowledge@Wharton. "i Canvas" will initially carry article excerpts from the online magazine and a link will be provided at the end of the excerpts, which will direct the user to the actual article on the Wharton portal. It would have been great , had we got the rights to publish the articles in full, but due to an earlier agreement of Wharton School with Economic Times in India, we will not be able to publish the entire article in print. However, we can publish complete articles on the student portal of IIM Indore under the name of i CAnvas, as there is no such restriction on publishing articles online. I believe this is really a very big achievement for our magazine, our batch and also our institute, considering the fact that we are hardly few months old! I think what clinched the deal was the way i Canvas is designed and presented. Its a unique concept in itself, and I think the editor of ik@Wharton was really impressed by our concept and the way we are progressing on the magazine front! I think all Big things take shape this way.The best part of the agreement is that ik@Wharton will mentor us for our future magazine initiative.This agreement would not have been possible without the active help and support of Divya Nagar of Gutenberg, who is also the representative of ik@Wharton.Many thanks to her for making this possible.We look forward to her continuing support in all our future initiative and our relationship with ik@Wharton.

As we start collecting articles for the 3rd issue and seek sponsors, my mind has started thinking about the future of i CAnvas, what happens once we are gone from the campus. There are many options to that, but i think we really need to start thinking on those lines. Its high time, because time has really flown by and will flow even faster in the coming future.Whatever we decide, but one thing is paramount, we need to have a framework in place which will ensure that i CANvas story goes on and on irrespective of the batches passing out of IIM Indore and independent of the individuals!I think it will need a collaborative effort from the EPGP, PGP student fraternity and the faculty, who are sort of permanent to IIM Indore!As we move on to global scene with i CAnvas, our resolution to succeed and excel in whatever we do has grown many folds! We have seen and observed that how an idea can shape up and grow, with sheer dint of smart work and will power! The learning that we have from the i CAnavs inititave is no less then what we are learning from our course at IIM Indore.

Journey to Excel

Half the journey is officially over. We have completed 3 of the 6 terms of EPGP. But in reality we have covered more than half the course considering the learning we have had. Quite interestingly, more than half still remains. Because we have “miles to go before we sleep”.
Someone has very correctly said that every situation in life is a management situation. Excelling in life is not a war that is over within a stipulated time but a continuous battle. So one has to ensure excellence by choice and not by chance. Most of us generally learn through experience – mostly cognitive in nature… a few of us choose to practice prior to confronting the best teacher in the world – experience; yet there are a handful few who choose to undergo this gruelling session of EPGP for excelling over the excels. The academic part is merely a paltry percentage of the whole platter.
If someone asks me what is the biggest gain at IIM Indore, I would be attributing the same to the learning of “Art of Balancing”. Balancing your studies with your office, your leaves with your classes, your boss with your professor, your family with your off campus assignments and your exams with your appraisal leading to promotion. It is inevitable that many will succumb eventually and will do compromise on one front for the other, but believe me if you have your goal fixed, nothing in this world is impossible for human beings for they are the most adaptable and elastic lot among all.
Talking about goals, I used to believe that people in a group may diverge in opinion but they converge in the goal (at least in premier organisations). But seeing what’s going on around I find that goals have become very individualistic in nature. Everyone has a goal in mind but that’s for fulfilling his personal needs. “Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi ki har kwhahish kam nikle” – this perhaps fully explains the current state of most organisation goals.
We can only expect of a better tomorrow… a tomorrow where “the mind is without fear and head held high”, where excelling doesn’t mean cannibalizing, where competition is ‘healthy’ in the truest sense and where there is a common single goal to strive for.